Winthrop Students Earn Academic Honors

Opincaru Named to Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Fall 2018 Dean’s List

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has announced that Nicolae Opincaru of Winthrop, a member of the class of 2020 majoring in mechanical engineering, was named to the university’s Dean’s List for academic excellence for the fall 2018 semester.

A total of 1,595 undergraduate students achieved the criteria required for WPI’s fall 2018 Dean’s List. The criteria for the WPI Dean’s List differs from that of most other universities as WPI does not compute a grade point average (GPA). Instead, WPI defines the Dean’s List by the amount of work completed at the A level in courses and projects.

“WPI’s academic programs are rigorous and require a level of independence beyond what is required in traditional courses. WPI students go beyond the classroom to work on open-ended problems in and for communities around the world. The problems are important and the impact is real” said dean of undergraduate studies Arthur C. Heinricher. “Some of this nation’s best and brightest students come to WPI to study engineering and science and business and the humanities. Those named to the Dean’s List have excelled in all of their work, and we are exceptionally proud of these outstanding students.” WPI, a global leader in project-based learning, is a distinctive, top-tier technological university founded in 1865 on the principle that students learn most effectively by applying the theory learned in the classroom to the practice of solving real-world problems. Recognized by the National Academy of Engineering with the 2016 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, WPI’s pioneering project-based curriculum engages undergraduates in solving important scientific, technological, and societal problems throughout their education and at more than 45 project centers around the world. WPI offers more than 50 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs across 14 academic departments in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts. Its faculty and students pursue groundbreaking research to meet ongoing challenges in health and biotechnology; robotics and the internet of things; advanced materials and manufacturing; cyber, data, and security systems; learning science; and more. www.wpi.edu