WPI MQPs serve as a senior year capstone project, where “students gain real-world design or research experience within their major field.”

WPI IQPs are nine-credit-hour, interdisciplinary requirements involving applied research that connects science or technology with social issues and human needs. “Small teams of students work under the guidance of faculty members from all disciplines to conduct research, using social science methods, directed at a specific problem or need. Students deliver findings and recommendations through formal reports and oral presentations to project sponsors (often nonprofit, municipal, or government agencies) and faculty advisors.”

Undergraduate WPI students may compete to receive SURF stipends for research projects. Students work closely with a faculty advisor over two months during the summer.

WPI’s Student Activities Office outlines faculty advisor roles as such: “Each club or organization is required to have an advisor who is a full-time member of the WPI faculty, staff, or administration. The role of the advisor is to help the group meet its stated goals. The advisor should review the club or organization’s constitution in order to clearly understand its purpose and determine how s/he can best assist the group.”