Adam Epstein '05

Today marks the start of A-Term and a new academic year at WPI.  So much for all of those ’summer’ posts… it is hard for me to believe that the end of last year was only one day shy of four months ago!  That’s right: WPI’s summer is four months long!

With the start of the term comes the meeting of the Crimson Key tour guides and Admissions Interns tonight.  Between that and travel planning, I have quite a busy day ahead of me!

I am having a hard time keeping track of all of my travel itineraries these days!  Among flights, hotels, cars, high school visits, evening sessions, interviews, college fairs, and actual days in the office and all of the associated confirmation e-mails, it’s pretty difficult!  Not to mention that I’ve been booking various items for well over a month.  I think I finally have all of the flights, phew!

At our staff planning day yesterday, I mentioned to my colleagues the travel Web site TripIt.com.  TripIt is a fabulous resource for people in my position or for more casual travelers.  Simply forward any and all of your confirmation e-mails to TripIt, and your itinerary will be immediately formatted in a logical, readable manner.  Check it out!
More to come soon on specific travel destinations…

Today is the day that the members of the Class of 2012 arrive on campus!  We worked hard getting to know these students throughout the application process, are proud of their past accomplishments, and are excited that they are joining our community.  This year’s incoming class at WPI is our largest and most diverse ever: the largest number of international students, most ethnically diverse, largest number of students from outside of New England, largest number of women.  The class also has some great accomplishments already, and I’m sure they’ll continue to achieve greatly at WPI.

I wish you each the best of luck and extend a warm welcome to the WPI community:

Emily, Thaddeus, Paul, Cody, Elena, Assel, Abigail, Elizabeth, Corey, Nicolas, James, Shamma, Alexander, Joseph, Jessica, Marcus, Ryan, Jon, Alessandra, James, Gregory, Cynthia, Taylor, Joseph, Stephen, Naumaan, Danielle, Onyedikachi, Lorey, Erin, William, Courtney, Alyssa, Michael, Alana, Michael, Miranda, Kalim, Corrie, Tariq-Aziz, Elena, Eric, Joao, Matthew, Andrew, Clark, Pragathi, Justin, Ian, Benjamin, Isaac, Tyler, Daniel, Samuel, Kyle, Robert, Joseph, Julia, Nicholas, Cody, Alexander, Samuel, Andrew, Heather, Shane, Ricardo, Carlen, Dhia Elhak, Maxwell, Michael, Allyson, Joshua, Aakriti, Haleematu, Andrew, Daniel, James, Jacquelin, Zachary, Benjamin, Julie, Anika, Victor, Jessica, George, Concetta, Nicholas, Jonathan, Michael, Andrew, Christopher, Bruce, Edward, Amy, Valerie, Amanda, Jesse, James, Scott, Jeremy, Jared, Cody, Scott, Michael, Victoria, Richard, Maria, David, Andrew, Daniel, Alyce, Dana, Fiona, Sean, Timon, Caitlin, Kaylyn, Kathryn, Daniel, Robert, William, Adam, Zachary, Patrick, Andrew, Thomas, Frank, Krysten, Matthew, Christopher, Michael, Mariela, James, Dario, Mark, Joshua, Anna, Caitlin, Tiffany, Kunal, Manish, Likuvi, Qiu, Zhen, Xiuping, Francisca, Bryan, Chan Young, Tony, Norbert, Melissa, Stephen, Giuseppe, Stacie, Tom, Frederik, Jesse, Cassandra, Nigel, Catherine, Katelyn, Stephen, Matthew, Matthew, Nikole, Ethan, Jennifer, Ethan, Cory, Alison, Monique, Daniel, Sebastian, Alison, Neil, Randall, Katrina, Christopher, Rebecca, Carl, Jacob, Charles, John, C. Chapin, Matthew, Ewelina, Adam, Ashley, Shane, Samuel, Neal, Nicole, David, Joseph, Kien, Richard, Cortney, James, Andrew, Elizabeth, Michael, Nicholas, William, Elizabeth, Steven, Michael, Jaclyn, Craig, Chrystian, Matthew, Kristine, Melanie, Elizabeth, Punit, Eric, Sean, Jessica, Samantha, Matthew, Yi, Celena, Michael, Gregory, Joseph, Samantha, Michael, Kevin, Anthony, Emily, Ina, John, Adrian, Trevor, Morley, Hannah, Hiral, David, Forrest, Alison, Lauren, Michael, Andrew, Joshua, John, Luis, Jonathan, Michael, Rachael, Elena Therese, Blair, Christopher, Joseph, Nicholas, Neil, Shaoming, Jackson, Thomas, Laura, Laura, Sarah, Kyle, Eric, Ted, Erin, Michael, Robert, Holly, Alexander, John, Cailin, Samantha, Michael, Cristina, Kathleen, Brian, Timothy, Mari, Jean Carlo, RuoQing, Ningxin, Richard, Vladislav, Zack, Christopher, Jetta, Philip, Jonathan, Ryan, Joseph, Michael, Anthony, Brenden, Stephen, Rafael, Jennifer, Peter, Matthew, Maria, Emily, Matthew, Gregory, Brian, Kyle, Mikaela, Michael, Daphne, Justin, Alyssa, Ashik, Alexander, Jose, Douglas, Dennis, Allison, Matthew, Curtis, Tomas, Samuel, Haley, William, Reuben, Michael, James, Alexzandria, Lauren, Stephen, Paige, Yueru, Allison, Alex, Cody, James, Timothy, Alexandra, Ian, William, Mark, Colleen, Stephen, Shauna-Marie, Carolina, Mary, Sydney, Yadira, Samantha, Alexander, Ian, Stephanie, Nghia, Kyle, Richard, Jessica, Geoffrey, Kyle, Kenneth, Victoria, Michael, Zhao, William, Alp, Rachael, Christopher, Ariel, Andrei, Curtis, David, Md. Monirul, Ivan, Tayeisha, Robert, Aaron, Craig, Joshua, Jenna, Stephen, Tory, Ashley, Michael, Stephen, Elisabeth, Renzhi, Xing, Michael, Dante, Mark, Daniel, Daniel, William, Sadie, Branislav, Michael, Justin, Maximilian, Jennifer, Bhavya, Shahil, Benjamin, Gary, Patrick, Codie, Matthew, Suzanna, Caitlin, Kaitlyn, Brandon, Michael, John, David, Nathan, Samuel, Lauren, Taylor, Ellsworth, Thomas, John, Katherine, Samson, Catherine, James, Paul, Lawrence, James, Anton, Nicholas, Stephanie, Jason, Erik, Jillian, Steven, Patrick, Garrett, Timothy, Evan, Casey, Julia, John, Alex, Kathryne, Smita, Akerin, Alexander, Antonia, Stephen, Calvin, Alexander, Robert, Daniel, Ari, Jeffrey, Ethan, Houssam, Minh, Julianne, Artur, Stephen, Nathaniel, Bryan, Blaise, Nathan, Kristen, Jonathan, Kyle, Joshua, Jeffrey, Andrew, Thomas, Han, Chao, Yizheng, Zhichao, Andrew, Benjamin, Zhaochen, Yiwei, Mengjie, Pan, Chang, Tingting, Joseph, Ian, Nicholas, Russell, Zachary, Dimitri, Douglas, Diego, David, Malena, Lan, Scott, Andrew, Xiaoli, Rodrigo, Bryan, James, Marc, Andrew, Steven, Christopher, John, Sean, Fatima Zahra, John, Donald, Gregory, Alexandra, Fernando, Carlos, Adriana, Matthew, Bradford, Christopher, Nicholas, Mackenzie, Justin, Daniel, Sarah, Andrew, Anton, Amy, Patrick, Connor, Benjamin, Daniel, Kevin, Gregory, Mitchell, Gregory, Mary, Nicholas, Justin, David, Christina, Christopher, Jessica, Baillie, Nathan, Keegan, Jaymin, Rebecca, Arthur, Ernest, Tresha, Alison, Isabella, Maria, Marcus, Ryan, Nicholas, Daniel, Andrew, Satia, Katherine, Kyaw Thu, Sean, Michael, Dana, Craig, Alec, Evan, Lauren, Nicholas, Eric, Julian, Brian, Sasha, Jillian, Benjamin, Dennis, Gabriel, Kyle, Tyler, Robert, Jordan, Alec, Ryan, Michael, Abdurrahman, Cenk, Lisa, Stanley, Daniel, William, Alyssa, Edwin, Steven, Glorius, Bishop, Aaron, Suzanne, Mortada, Jeffrey, Nell, Jose, Richard, John, Killian, Andrew, Jacquelyn, Samuel, Bao, Vu, Tran, Shane, Allan, Erica, Austin, Daniel, Ricardo, Michael, Christopher, Catherine, Samantha, Ryan, Rachel, Carolynn, Thales, Erik, Ryan, Alexander, Juan, Erika, Franco, Michael, Dillon, Adeola, Christina, Robert, Gregory, Archibald, Kyle, Matthew, Francis, Quinten, Joseph, Kellen, Kush, Ricardo, Natasha, Emily, John, Marcus, Justin, Lauren, Kate, Pavel, Fernando, Tanawit, Jill, John, Kaj, Eric, Andreia, Michael, Binh, David, David, Daniel, Dylan, Alex, Janine, Eduardo, Maxim, David, Stephen, Joan, Stephanie, Molly, James, William, Kyle, Prabodha, Diego, Joshua, Ryan, Fioleda, Eric, Christopher, Aung, Yura, Hashaam, Yun, Yutong, Steven, Caitlin, Luis, Todd, Sabbir, Ravi, Briana, Kayla, Erick, Alexander, Kari, Andrea, Talha, Oliver, Scott, Olivia, Zachary, Breanna, William, Nathan, Casey, Peter, Kashane, Allison, Jessica, John, Juan, Michael, Benjamin, Andrew, David, Robert, Juliana, Matthew, Jeffrey, Dante, Nicholas, Vorayos, Nathan, Emily, Brandon, Stephen, Alexandra, Michelle, Cory, Matthew, John, Tayyar, Erin, Michael, Matthew, James, Kelsey, Johari, Christopher, Sabrina, Thane, Alexandra, Daniel, Carlos, Gregory, Michael, Kevin, John, Nicholas, Yann-Frederic, Jake, Emily, Brian, Tracy, Heather, James, Kushlani, Nathan, Samuel, Latiff, Joseph, Savonne, Timothy, George, Shigeng, Adrian, Bradford, Jessica, Olivia, Raymond, Rockwell, Jacob, Katharine, Sindi, Erik, Catherine, Samantha, Amanpreet, Gregory, Michael, Jodi-Lee, Kristin, Lucas, Kurt, Scott, Kelsey, Rebekah, Maarja-Liisa, Michael, Nicholas, Matthew, Shuang, Jose, Anthony, Courtney, Kaitlyn, Edward, Kirdan, Pamela, Christopher, Zachary, Corey, Andrew, Cassandra, Brendan, Joseph, Victoria, Alison, Evan, Daniel, Wen, Meng, Karyn, Caleb, Nica, Aikanysh, John Paul, Michael, Antonio, Muhammad, Matthew, Hailey, Thomas, Murtaza, Zachary, Kyaw, Daniel, Devin, Nathanael, Michael, Steven, Joseph, Benjamin, Jivesh, Richard, Sean, Vu, Mark, Scott, Jonathan, Chelsea, Nicholas, Marc, Carlos, Anastasios, Daniel, Mark, Arno, Russell, Jonathan, Dianna, Nathaniel, Gregory, Dustin, Kortni, Gregory, Juliana, Christopher, Michael, Ryan, Lauren, Eric, Jun, Zhixin, Xiaoyun, Siqi, Ethan, Kyle, Racheal, Michael, Christopher, Peter, Elliot, Matthew, John, Andrew, Mitchel, Mikkal, Machell, Tin Myo, Richard, Rachel, Andrew, Ethan, Jesse, Thomas, Ryan, Tyler, Kimberly, Nicholas, Ryan, Ryan, Joseph, Zhongjie, Sandy, Christopher, Yizhou, Yichao, Yuchen, Garrett, Han, Ke, Mohamed, Yow-Chyuan, Jirom, Calvin, Soojoung, Kristine, Jing, Xiying, Lu, Xiaolin, Xiaowen, Matthew, and Samir

Each year around this time, Beloit College in Beloit, WI publishes its “mindset list” for the incoming college class.  The list is a compilation of statements and comments about the students entering college this fall and the experiences they have had (or have not had) for the entirety or majority of their lives.  I have to admit that I’m not that much older than these students, and many of the items could apply to me from days before I have memory or wasn’t old enough to experience them.  A few of my favorites, however, about these students who were mostly born in 1990:

• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
• Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
• They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
• The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.

View the full list at Beloit’s site.

I took a tour of East Hall again this afternoon, and all I have to say is “wow!”  It is great, I wish I was living there!  The views of campus and the city are gorgeous, I don’t think there’s a bad room in the building.  As the green roof continues to take hold, it will be really interesting to watch it from the hill and hear about the student projects happening there.  My tour was actually led by a recent WPI graduate who is now working for the construction management company who built both this building and the Bartlett Center.

Stay tuned for more information soon about how you’ll be able to get a tour of the building as well as other recent developments on campus.

Only two days to move-in day!

The beginning of the school year buzz is back on campus this week with students arriving and returning!  Among other things happening, Residential Advisor training, Orientation Leader/Community Advisor training, Teaching Assistant training, football camp, EMSEP (Excellence in Math, Science, and Engineering Program), and International Student move-in and orientaion are all underway.  Not to mention, today’s weather sure does feel like fall!  Everyone is gearing up for first-year student move in day and the beginning of New Student Orientation which happens this Sunday.

Here in Admissions, we continue to be quite busy.  The stream of visitors has been very strong with many tours and information sessions.  The staff is busy coordinating plans for our fall travel destinations.  If you haven’t already, check out Ed’s Admissions Blog where he wrote about some of the travel we’ll be doing.  I’m busy preparing for the return of the tour guides and beginning another great year!

With just ten days to move-in day and the beginning of New Student Orientation, the campus continues to buzz with the final touches on a number of projects.  The landscaping looks gorgeous (perhaps having something to do with the active thunderstorm pattern we seem to have had), and I’ve seen a number of projects including digging holes, repaving roads, laying bricks, and mowing lawns.  East Hall looks better and better each day (if I could only take a look inside!), and the streets surrounding WPI have new crosswalk indicators for increased safety.  The new computer labs for Robotics Engineering and Interactive Media and Game Development should be ready any day as well as the renovated lab space in Goddard Hall.

Whether you’re about to move in as a first-year student, return from your summer away, or just beginning your college search, it’s a great time to be at WPI and we look forward to seeing you!

As part of the environmentally friendly construction of East Hall (you may remember I wrote about how the construction team is striving to have the building meet the requirements for LEED silver certification), the building has a live, green roof. Members of the WPI community planted the plants that will grow atop the roof several months ago, and the installation of the green roof—a donation to the university from alumna and trustee Judy Nitsch ‘75 and her husband—took place yesterday morning. The building is looking great, below are a few photos I took of the exterior last week. Only a few weeks until it opens and the students move in! You can read more about the green roof installation in the press release on the WPI Web site.