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Date: 3/1/2018
WILBRAHAM – Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) student and Wilbraham resident John Kirwan recently spent eight weeks on Nantucket working at the Nantucket Energy Office focusing on the stimulation of solar energy adoption, while simultaneously working toward completing his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
When Kirwan was in high school he knew he wanted to attend a college that would challenge him; he didn’t want it to be easy. Kirwan’s father attended WPI, so at a young age he was already familiar with the campus. Following a trip to WPI during his sophomore year of high school, he decided he wanted to attend the campus due to its hands-on project-based learning. Now, in the midst of his junior year on the campus, Kirwan is taking part in one of the many opportunities WPI offers to its students to get out of the classroom and into one of their many project centers.
“Every junior at WPI has to complete an IQP, or inter-disciplinary qualifying project. It doesn’t have to relate to your major, it’s more humanities-based or focuses on helping the community,” Kirwan explained. “WPI has over 40 project centers all over the world. I looked at Russia, others ones in the U.S., in Greece. When I saw Nantucket, I fell in love with that because you get to bike all over the island, and I’m a pretty avid biker.”
As an Electrical and Computer Engineering major, when Kirwan heard that the experience on Nantucket would afford him the opportunity to work with electronics, it was another reason to look forward to the time he spent working on the island.
From mid-October to mid-December Kirwan lived on Nantucket at the Maria Mitchell Association in their natural science building. Kirwan explained that during his IQP, he didn’t take any other University classes, and it was treated like a full-time nine to five job.
Kirwan and the three other students that he worked directly with focused on creating an interactive map that would show places where solar energy was located all over the island.
“When we came in the records were all over the place, and they wanted someone to work on that. We pulled building permits, talked to the Building Inspector, went out on bikes and took pictures and catalogued different items and conducted a lot of solar owner interviews,” Kirwan shared.
Currently, Kirwan is employed at a start-up company in Worcester called Bluestream. Kirwan explained that Bluestream designs sensors that can be placed into or on a consumer’s valuable storage. The sensor then monitors and records temperature, humidity and conditions over time so people are able to monitor their valuables from their cellphones through an app. Kirwan plans to stay at Bluestream for the next two years, and he has the option of continuing with the company when he graduates from WPI in 2019. He noted that having the Electrical and Computer Engineering degree leaves him with plenty of career options for his future.