Global Health

Affiliated Faculty              

K. K. Oates, Professor and Director Global Health; Ph.D. George Washington University; Biochemistry cancer receptors, Immune reactions, Thymic hormone characterization, community action research,

K. L. Billiar, Professor and Department Head; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Biomechanics of soft tissues and biomaterials, mechanobiology, wound healing, tissue growth and development; functional tissue engineering, regenerative medicine.”

 L. Harrison, Associate Professor Department of Computer Science; Ph.D.UNC-Charlotte; effective data visualization and pattern recognition for public health COVID-19 vaccine messaging, artificial intelligence interfaces for critical decision making.

D. Strong, Professor and Head of Department; PhD Tepper School of Business Carnegie Mellon University, Data and Information Quality, Task-Technology Fit, IT and Organizational Change, Health IT.

J. Bergendahl, Associate Professor  Chemical Engineering, Ph.D University Connecticut; Municipal wastewater treatment, practicing engineer in environmental and Water Resources and chemical processes for enabling sustainable design of engineered systems.

P. Weathers, Professor, Ph.D; Michigan State University; production of artemisinin and its therapeutically active phytochemicals for their efficacy in treating malaria and other artemisinin-susceptible diseases, therapeutic efficacy of medicinal plants.

B. Faber, Professor, Ph.D; University of Utah; Human factors influencing medical diagnosis, treatment, and patient care. a practicing paramedic with a rural ambulance squad and at a free urban clinic. Improving healthcare for uninsured/ underinsured at-risk patients, alternative systems for healthcare delivery.

P. Mathison, Associate Professor;  Ph.D MIT; Director of Sustainability, sustainability of water, energy, transportation, and waste management. Analysis and modeling of environmental systems, with an emphasis on areas such as water resources protection, resilience and climate change adaptation and surface water, water resources management, and transportation systems.

R. Paffenroth, Associate Professor; Ph.D University of Maryland, Machine learning, large-scale data analytics, compressed sensing, and the interaction between mathematics, computer science, and software engineering to solve global problems.

M. Radzicki, Professor; Ph.D University of Notre Dame; Simulation scientist who developed techniques for applying system dynamics computer simulation modeling to problems in complex socioeconomic systems, and created teachable and repeatable methods for turning these models into user-friendly games systems to solve global health problems and beyond.

R. Rao, Professor and Department Head. Ph.D Pennsylvania State University, emerging infectious diseases, specifically understanding and managing fungal diseases and genomic tools to study host-microbe interactions to explore fungal virulence strategies and identify novel therapeutics in a high throughput fashion.   

E. Rundensteiner, Professor. Ph.D University of California, Irvine, use of data and information effectively, towards achieving goals in digital health, data-centric web site management, information integration technology, database change management, large scale information visualization.

G. Smith, Associate Professor and Director of Interactive Media and Game Development program. Ph.D University of California at Santa Cruz. Game designer, merging AI and HCI with creative practice in textiles and games, to address social issues.

S. Walcott, Professor, Ph.D Cornell University. Combination of computer simulations and mathematical analysis.  This theoretical work is complemented by experiments emphasizing connections between math and other disciplines.

D. Albrecht, Associate Professor. Ph.D University of California, San Diego. The molecular and genetic basis of neural circuit, develop bioinformatic tools, design rapid cellular and whole-organism screens for therapeutic drugs utilizing living model organisms

Tsitsi B Masvawure, (DIGS), Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Pretoria, South Africa; medical anthropology, global health, gender and health, HIV; maternal health, menstrual technologies and menstrual wellbeing.

C.  Fowler, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Columbia University; biostatistics, epidemiology and the use of epidemiological applications, including in mobile health studies

E. Agu, Professor; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst; computer graphics, mobile computing and wireless networks; mobile application for chronic wound care; use of smartphone data for early detection of traumatic brain injury and infectious diseases.

D. Alatalo, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., The University of Texas at Dallas; engineering solutions for maternal-child health; developing bipolar treatment for women; multiscale modeling of biological flows, biomechanics, development of medical devices and wearable sensors, rheological characterization of biological fluids, and experimental heat and fluid flows.

L. Elgert, Professor and Department Head ; Ph.D., London School of Economics, UK; public health, environmental policy and international development studies; sustainable development, science and technology studies, interpretive and policy analysis

S. Johnson, Professor; Ph.D., Cornell University; work systems and modeling to design more effective healthcare delivery processes; lean improvement methods in healthcare settings

A. C. Incollingo Rodriguez (SSPS), Assistant Professor; Ph.D., UCLA; psychosocial stress and stress physiology, health behaviors, health disparities and health equity, stigma and discrimination, maternal health, chronic pain.

R. Krueger (SSPS), Professor and Department Head, Ph.D., Clark University; development in the global north and south, sustainability, economic development and institutional change, sustainable urbanism, economy-environment relations.

S. Mensah (BME), Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Northwestern University; global health, medical devices for low-to-middle-income countries, pathogenesis of cardiopulmonary disease, vascular health, therapeutic strategies for pulmonary vasculature

C. Ruiz (CS), Jurist Dean’s Professor and Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences; Ph.D., University of Maryland College Park; artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioral data patterns, applications to sleep, stroke, obesity, and pancreatic cancer.

S. Strauss (DIGS), Professor; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; medical anthropology, human-environment interactions and health, cultural constructions of health, climate change and sustainability, renewable biomass energy, built environment.

Admissions Requirements

Students applying to the M.S. Degree in Global Health are expected to have a bachelor's degree in areas related to the four concentrations, or a minor in Global Health, or some direct experience in the field. A strong applicant who is missing background coursework as needed for course requirements may be admitted, with the expectation that he or she will take and pass one or more undergraduate courses in this area of deficiency either during the summer prior to admission or within the first semester after admission. These remedial courses will not count towards meeting the M.S. degree requirements. The determination of what course or courses will satisfy this provision will be made by the Global Health Faculty Advisory Committee, which consists of faculty members from the participating departments at WPI. Students who are not WPI undergraduates or graduates will be required to submit GRE and international students will submit TOEFL scores. Students must complete a minimum of 30 credits of relevant work at the graduate level. The M.S. degree requirements have been designed to provide comprehensive yet flexible program concentrations to students who are pursuing an M.S. degree exclusively, and students who plan to pursue a Ph.D. degree later. Matriculated students will meet with the program director and be assigned a faculty advisor matching their concentration interests. In consultation with the academic advisor, the student will prepare a Plan of Study outlining the selections that will satisfy the M.S. degree requirements. This Plan of Study must then be approved by the Global Health director in consultation with Faculty Advisor.