More than 50 years ago, the WPI faculty rebuilt the undergraduate program with project-based learning as the guiding philosophy. They did not ask “What courses must every student take?” but instead asked “What should a student be able to do with what they have learned?” The Major Qualifying Project defines what a student should be able to do with all that they have learned in their chosen discipline. This is the place where students are challenged to bring it all together but also demonstrate that they can fill in the gaps and explore new territory when necessary. Research, discovery, design, and innovation are core to the undergraduate experience at WPI!

This site has been created as a showcase for some of the most recent research and project work completed by WPI students under the guidance of their faculty advisors. You will see presentations by individuals and by student teams from almost all majors offered at WPI. You will hear seniors talking about their Major Qualifying Projects as well as students as early as their first year completing special research projects. Please visit and browse the galleries!

May 2021 Message:
This has been a most challenging year for our students and our world! This is a year in which everyone at WPI has been challenged to work in new ways, learn in new ways, and collaborate in new ways. All of the WPI community, faculty, staff, and students, have survived and thrived. We hope that the sights, sounds, and substance of the work our students are sharing in the Virtual Undergraduate Research Showcase D2021 serve to bring us together in proud celebration.
We miss all of our students and we especially dedicate this site, with love, to the class of 2021!

Dean of Undergraduate Studies Arthur Heinricher