Project-Based Learning Fellowship Benefits Faculty at WPI—and Beyond

Four WPI faculty members have been selected for this year’s cohort of faculty fellows at the Center for Project-Based Learning (CPBL). Now in its third year, the fellowship program is proving a successful—and increasingly popular—multidimensional growth opportunity for WPI faculty.
“Our faculty fellows program is a wonderfully symbiotic way for WPI faculty to engage in their own professional development while also producing a practical tool, like a resource guide or sample lesson plans, that enriches the field of project-based learning scholarship and teaching,” says Kris Wobbe, director of the Center for Project-Based Learning.
This year’s cohort includes Zoë Eddy, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies; Ryan Madan, associate professor of teaching in the Department of Humanities and Arts; Stephen McCauley, associate professor of teaching in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies; and Daniel Treku, assistant teaching professor in The Business School.
Over the summer each fellow will research an area of their choosing, then produce a related resource that will be accessible to faculty at WPI and beyond.
Faculty fellows also meet regularly as a group to discuss their topics and either teach a workshop or coach a team at the Institute for Project-Based Learning. For engaging in the program and submitting their final resource, each fellow receives $10,000.
The program is an especially beneficial opportunity for younger faculty who are working toward tenure and promotion, in part because each fellow creates a resource that becomes publicly available. Wobbe notes that the community that develops among each cohort is likewise valuable, regardless of where the fellows are on their professional journey.
“Over the summer the fellows have regular meetings, engaging in rich conversations about each other’s projects, providing not just guidance but also new ways of looking at things,” she says. “Faculty don’t often spend much time talking to each other about how they’re teaching or why they’re teaching something in a certain way. The fellows are given the opportunity to have those conversations—and they really enjoy it.”
They’ve also told their colleagues: Interest in the fellowship program has grown substantially since it began in 2023, with 23 faculty members applying for this year’s four spots. Last year the CPBL received 13 applications.
Thanks to her dual role as senior research associate at the CPBL and at the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, Kimberly LeChasseur has been able to see and appreciate the fellows’ work from multiple perspectives. She and Wobbe expected the fellowships would yield some exciting insights to the scholarship of project-based learning—which it has. That the fellows have also made significant contributions to the field of research about teaching and learning—all while growing themselves as teachers—has been a happy surprise for LeChasseur.
“These fellowships are not really seed grants, but they are investments in people. And they pay off,” she says.
Case in point: Fiona Zoutendyk, associate professor of teaching in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a 2023 fellow, developed a toolkit to help instructors integrate projects with real-world applications into capstone courses, offering guidance on how to gradually increase the level of challenge for students throughout the term.
After the fellowship ended, Zoutendyk continued her research into teaching complex, multilayered concepts. This summer she and LeChasseur are presenting a paper to the American Society for Engineering Education about how to teach systems thinking in capstones.
“For Fiona, the fellows program became a springboard to go further into the scholarship of teaching and learning,” says Wobbe.
Another example of a long-term benefit that has come out of the CPBL fellowship program is the AI Toolbox for Academic Research and Writing, by Laura Roberts, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies and a 2024 fellow. The toolbox has been accessed by more than 1,000 unique users since December 2024, and Roberts continues to get invitations to speak about her work.
Two successful fellowship cycles have prompted Wobbe to anticipate that each new cohort will surprise her in some way. As the start of this year’s fellowship draws near, she is eager to watch the 2025 fellows grow individually and as a group, all while developing insightful resources that can benefit the entire WPI community as well as teachers and learners around the world.