Founded in 1865, WPI is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts. It has around 4,500 undergraduate students, 2,000 graduate students, and 430 full-time faculty members. Most WPI students pursue degree programs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Unique among all STEM-focused universities, WPI requires all undergraduates to complete a research project called the “Interactive Qualifying Project,” or IQP. The purpose of this project is to impress on students that technological solutions cannot be developed in a vacuum; a STEM professional must understand the social context of a particular challenge in order to develop effective solutions.  The majority of WPI students go off campus to conduct their IQPs through WPI’s Global Projects Program, which offers project opportunities in roughly 60 locations around the world, including Armenia.