Adam Epstein '05

If you are of legal age to do so, please vote and let your voice be heard next Tuesday, November 4!

You’re planning on taking some courses at college, right? You’ve probably heard of some cool courses offered at colleges you’re considering. Of course it’s great to enjoy what you’re learning, and hopefully it will also be fun for you! I was speaking with a student earlier this week about some specifics of our Mechanical Engineering program, and while flipping through the course catalog, two courses caught my eye. The great thing at WPI is that you have the flexibility to take a diverse set of courses and experiment outside of your major.
One is one I have known about for some time and always wanted to take while I was a student at WPI:

ME 1520. The Technology of Alpine Skiing.
This course explores science and engineering issues associated with equipment and technique for alpine skiing, particularly racing. A diverse group of technical subjects related to engineering mechanics are discussed: tribology, beams, rigid body motion, material science, machining and biomechanics. Specifically we will examine: ski-snow interactions, technique for gliding, turning and stepping, selection of line in racing; equipment design, testing and performance; and ski injuries. We will also address issues in the epidemiology of skiing injuries, the calculation of the cost of ski injuries to society, the impact of ski equipment technology on litigation and the impact of litigation on equipment and trail design.

The second is one that I had never before heard of or seen:

ME 4860. Food Engineering.
An introductory course on the structure, processing, and properties of food. Topics covered include: food structure and rheology, plant and animal tissues, texture, glass transition, gels, emulsions, micelles, food additives, food coloring, starches, baked goods, mechanical properties, elasticity, viscoelastic nature of food products, characteristics of food powders, fat eutectics, freezing and cooking of food, manufacturing processes, cereal processing, chocolate manufacture, microbial growth, fermentation, transport phenomena in food processing, kinetics, preserving and packaging of food, testing of food.

Do those sound as cool to you as they do to me? I’m going to have to look through the course catalog to see what else is offered. Who knows, maybe I’ll enroll in one! To see our full offering of courses, check out the undergraduate course catalog. Which courses look most interesting to you?

It’s time again for the Carnival of College Admission, round 3!  Mark Montgomery of Montgomery Educational Consulting at greatcollegeadvice.com has seen the Carnival continue to grow.  In this third edition, I’m again featured, and there’s a lot of great information about admissions, testing, college life, and more from other bloggers.  Check it out!

And check out our newest Twitter account, @W_P_I, if you want to keep up to date and interact back and forth.  Strictly updates continue to be available @WPIAdmissions, @WPIAthletics, @WPIBlogs, and @WPINews.

I’ve been light in posting, and my excuse is travel (not a good one, I know)!  I’m on my second swing to the west coast this fall spending two weeks covering the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle/Tacoma areas.  It’s a lot to fit into two weeks, and I could easily spend much more time in each area.  I’ve had the opportunity already in the first few days of this trip to meet some wonderful students and visit some wonderful schools.  A much different experience than last year when I arrived in San Diego just as the fires were starting.

On the road I try to keep as well connected as possible.  You may have seen a recent survey indicating that consumers prefer Dunkin’ Donuts to Starbucks, but I have to disagree.  We do have a Dunkin’ Donuts on the WPI campus to keep us caffeinated, but Starbucks continues to be a very strong constant in my travels.  In fact I do prefer their beverage choices, but their offering of free wifi seals the deal.  I’m writing this right now in between high school visits at a Starbucks.

I have a few others posts in the works, so stay tuned!

Yesterday on campus at WPI we welcomed a very enthusiastic group of students and families for our first fall open house of the year.  In total we saw 471 students and 1,084 total people!  If you attended the open house, I’d love to hear your feedback about the day in the comments.

Two other quick items to share:

• If you planning to apply to WPI and have everything ready to go, you can submit the application by 11:59 p.m. October 15 (tomorrow) and we’ll waive the application fee.  If you haven’t started yet, don’t rush to get it done and make mistakes—you have plenty of time before the deadline!
• I’m featured again in the Carnival of College Admission, this time the second edition.  Check it out!

It is hard for me to believe that just a week ago I was still in Hawaii.  Since then I’ve been back home, on Long Island for two nights of interviews, and into the office to catch up and get ready for our first open house of the year!  That doesn’t even mention that I leave a week from today for another two weeks on the west coast.  I started this month in Hawaii, and I’ll end it in Washington with a lot in between!

Monday does mark our first open house event of the year in Admissions.  It looks like we’re expecting over 1,000 students and family members on campus!  The open house gives you the opportunity to see campus first-hand and get a flavor for academics, student life, athletics, and the facilities.  We’ll also give you all of the information you need about admissions and financial aid.

My role in preparation for the open house is primarily ensuring that we have enough tour guides to show you around campus!  With nearly 80 tour guides that may not sound like a challenge, but I need to get their schedules and ensure that there is enough assistance at each of the six hours when we offer tours.  And on top of that, visitors are unpredictable about what time they’ll take a tour (probably having to do with the flexibility we allow for visitors at the open house)!

If you’re reading this and are or were unable to make it to this open house, don’t worry.  We’re offering a second event this fall on Veterans Day: Tuesday, October 11.  Take a moment to pre-register if you’re planning on joining us.

See you at the open house or on the road!