Igniting Innovation: A Look at Recent Faculty Achievements
A viewing tower at the top floor of the Garden Learning Center visually expands the scope of the Malhare Community Park, part of the “Grounding Their Vision - Nairobi, Kenya” project.
Wentworth Institute of Technology Faculty are well-known for engaging students in hands-on learning experiences in the classroom, but that’s just one facet of their role.
They are constantly engaged in an impressive array of work outside the classroom, including research projects, creative and scholarly works, and industry partnerships. They are also awarded grants and are recognized for their contributions to their respective fields.
Here’s a sample of what our faculty members have been up to over the last year.
School of Architecture and Design
John Ellis led a Fall 2023 Global Research Studio entitled “Grounding Their Vision - Nairobi, Kenya.” This community design project was coordinated in collaboration with the University of Nairobi and the United Nations - Habitat. The project encapsulates a range of programs and focuses primarily on community-led design and a participatory approach to reimagining the future of Mathare Community Park.
Antonio Fugiuele participated on a panel at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) symposium AI’s Impact on Architecture, which featured experts from practice, academia, artificial intelligence, and construction management. The panel was organized by Al Spagnolo, a member of the Wentworth Board of Trustees and chair of the firm SGA.
Garrick Goldenberg’s appointment to serve on the Designer Selection Committee for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development was extended by Governor Healey’s office for an additional two years. In 2023, the DSC awarded 21 projects to desig firms with a total budget of $31,567,509 and $3,326,450 in designer fees.
Lora Kim co-authored “Shifting the Architectural Body: Designing Sensory Ecologies Across Scales” which was published in Envisioning Architectural Scales in the Analogue and Virtual Representation of Architecture: Proceedings of the 16th EAEA conference.
Rob Meszaros received eight awards for various photographic competitions in 2023.
Jeffery Michael exhibited his ceramic art and design at the Casella Gallery (above).
Mark Pasnik’s teaching in conjunction with Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston engaged Wentworth students with high school teachers and students in rethinking the future of an existing school building.
Ann-Catrin Schultz delivered “Telling Stories from Academia, Design and Life overall: Learning about Carlo Scarpa through the voices of his Collaborators” at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Teachers Conference 2023 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Additionally, she published “Geologies of Architecture and Urbanisms – The Layered Forces of the Anthropocene” in issue 11: Sediment of RM1000 UC Berkeley’s graduate architecture journal, and she published “Reverberations of the Gift of Life – Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Memorial” in Scopio Newspaper accompanying the exhibition “Carlo Scarpa Brion Memorial” in Porto, Portugal. She and a research partner received a Humanities and Arts Grant from the University of Oklahama for their project “The Collaboration of Carlo Scarpa and Carlo Maschietto – Force and Form in the Space of the Cangrande Statue at Castelvecchio.” She also received Wentworth’s 2023 President’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship.
School of Computing and Data Science
Memo Ergezer received 3,000 Euros in funding from The Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ), and has joined Amazon as a visiting academic and is assisting them part time. He co-organized “Social Impact of AI” at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI, above) with fellow Wentworth Professors Yetunde Folajimi and Salem Othman. He presented a full paper at the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) and also presented at EAAI: The Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence - Mentored Undergraduate Research Challenge 2023.
Aspen Olmsted published his first book, Visual Basic Quickstart Guide (Packt Publishing, 2023).
Weijie Pang conducted marketing analysis and wrote a report regarding recruitment of students from China.
School of Engineering
Saurav Basnet received the Student Choice Award for Excellence of Teaching and the IEEE PES Boston Outstanding Volunteer Award (above).
Gautham Das co-authored the paper “Understanding PFAS Contamination: A Comprehensive Analysis of Occurrence, Risk, and Mitigation Strategies” published in Indian Water Works Journal, Vol 55, Issue No. 3. He co-presented on this topic at the 39th Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water, and Energy, where he also co-presented on carbon sequestration in lawn grass using compost. This latter topic was also the topic of a presentation he co-delivered at the 2023 Muddy River Symposium.
Uri Feldman was awarded a Wentworth Spark grant and engaged in a collaboration with Boston Children's Hospital
Mary Machado was awarded a Wentworth Spark grant and a Hamilton Syringe Grant.
Masoud Olia presented “Effectiveness of Short Lecture Videos During the Covid Pandemic and Beyond” at the 2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Congress, where he also co-presented “Electromechanical Instability of Polar Elastomers.” He co-presented “Improvement of Materials Science Physical Labs” at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference. He also received the Students’ Choice Award for Excellence - Electromechanical Engineering.
Jenny Song presented “Model Evaluation of Thermal Effects Created by Cell Membrane Electroporation” at the 2023 International Conference on Biomedical and Bioinformatics Engineering. She co-presented “Using Telecommunication Instructional Modelling System (TIMS) in Electrical and Computer Engineering Courses” at the 2023 ASEE conference with Douglas Dow and Wayne Bynoe. At the same conference she also co-presented “Summer Robotics Program for High School Students” with Gloria Ma, Douglas Dow, James McCusker, Suzanne Sontgerath, and Ilie Talpasanu.
Serdar Tumkor led student participation in the American Foundry Society’s Metalcasting Congress and the 2023 Cast in Steel Competition.
John Voccio, Andrew Seredinski, Mansour Zenouzi, and several students published “Electrostatic Charge on Smartphone Surfaces” in the ASME Open Journal of Engineering. Seredinski and Voccio also collaborated with Jenny Song, Ali Khabari, and several students to publish “Low-frequency electric fields at smartphone surface” in AIP Advances. More can be found at wit.edu.
Mansour Zenouzi is representing Wentworth on a variety of committees at three professional associations: the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He also serves as an advisor to Wentworth’s ASME club.
School of Management
Payam Bakhshi, Afsin Pourmokhtarian, and John Cribbs collaborated with MIT researchers to develop a report on "Public Policy for Net Zero Homes and Affordability" in Massachusetts. They presented their findings at the Massachusetts State House to help shape new policies on affordable housing and energy efficient homes. This 18-month study involved several undergraduate and graduate research assistants from Wentworth's Construction Management program (above).
Michael Mozill received the Business Management Award for Teaching, voted on by the 2023 Management seniors and the CIS (Computer Information Systems) Award for Teaching, as voted on by the 2023 Computer Information Systems seniors.
Hariharan Naganathan led efforts to develop a collaboration with the National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) University in India.
Rick Trilling was accepted to speak on cybersecurity management at CyberUK, the UK government's flagship cyber security event; NATO Cycon, the annual international conference on cyber conflict hosted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence; and European Mensa.
School of Sciences and Humanities
Ron Bernier co-edited the new book Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord (Routledge, 2023).
Jody Gordon presented “Teaching Archaeology Within Global, Digital, Knowledge Ecosystems: The Potential of Open Data” at the 120th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, and co-presented “Déluge or Détente? Becoming (Late) Roman in Seventh Century Cyprus” at the Shifting Frontiers Conference XV: Romans in New Worlds. He also led a new study abroad course in Cyprus in the Summer of 2023 and received the 2023 President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Allison Lange, Cynthia Williams, Kristen Rosero, and Jelena Nikolic worked together to create a new course, “Women in the 21st Century,” which debuted in the Spring 2024 term. The course is a model for interdisciplinary faculty collaboration and collaboration between faculty and staff to further Inclusive Excellence as part of the curriculum. It is sponsored by the Women@Wentworth Undergraduate Leadership Experience.
Gloria Monaghan published her sixth book, Cormorant on the Strand (Lily Poetry Review Books, 2023). Her film on the artist Nancy Ellen Craig, ‘Daughter of Rubens,’ was accepted into the 25th annual Provincetown Film Festival.
Andrew Seredinski, John Voccio, Mansour Zenouzi, and several students published “Electrostatic Charge on Smartphone Surfaces” in the ASME Open Journal of Engineering. Seredinski and Voccio also collaborated with Jenny Song, Ali Khabari, and several students to publish “Low-frequency electric fields at smartphone surface” in AIP Advances. More can be found at wit.edu.
Allen Wong presented on “Immigrant Ethnicities and Criminal Victimization: An Individual-Level Analysis on the Nexus of Immigration and Victimization” at the 2023 American Society of Criminology annual conference. He collaborated with Nadine Stecher to develop “CSI: Wentworth,” a forensics course that combines criminal justice and biology.
