Rick Vaz

Rick Vaz is an Adjunct Professor in The Global School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), affiliated with the Interdisciplinary & Global Studies and Liberal Arts & Engineering departments. He established WPI’s Center for Project-Based Learning in 2016, focusing on advancing experiential and global learning. His expertise spans project-based learning, global education, curricular reform, and institutional change. Vaz holds a PhD in electrical engineering from WPI (1987) and previously worked in engineering roles at Raytheon, GenRad, and MITRE before transitioning to academia.

Education:

• BS in Electrical Engineering, WPI, 1979
• MS in Electrical Engineering, WPI, 1984
• PhD in Electrical Engineering, WPI, 1987

Research Interests:

• Project-based learning methodologies
• Global learning initiatives
• Curriculum design and institutional transformation
• Internationalizing engineering education

His scholarly work emphasizes the long-term impacts of project-based learning, including gender disparities in STEM and employer perspectives on curricula. Media features highlight his advocacy for WPI’s educational model, such as op-eds in Inside Higher Ed on interdisciplinary problem-solving and women in STEM.

Advising and Grants: Vaz advised hundreds of undergraduate research projects across 12 countries (Australia, England, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, the Netherlands, Thailand, and the U.S.). He served as Dean of Interdisciplinary and Global Studies for a decade, driving institutional change through project-based initiatives.

Labs/Teams: Director of the Center for Project-Based Learning, collaborating with global institutions to scale experiential education programs.