Austin Scott
  • mechanical engineering
  • Class of 2018
  • Waddington, N.Y.

Austin Scott of Waddington, N.Y., Named Academic All-District I, as Selected by CoSIDA

2017 May 25

Austin Scott has earned a spot on the Cross Country/Track & Field Academic All-District I team.

Seniors Brian D'Amore, Kim Kocienski, and Austin Scott, and junior Lea Strangio were all selected as Academic All District I Cross Country/Track & Field team members as voted upon by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The quartet increases WPI's total to 20 district selections for the academic year, which ties last year's record, and is now under consideration for Academic All-America status.

D'Amore, a biomedical engineering major and member of the NEWMAC Men's Relay of the Week (Apr. 10), is a three-time All-NEWMAC selection and 2016 100-meter dash champion. He is also four-time All-Division III New England and was All-NEICAAA (All-New England, All-Divisions) in the 2016 100m, and currently on the record board in the 100m, 200-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay. The Charles O. Thompson Scholar volunteers at a local ER working with mentally disabled patients. D'Amore's IQP involved environmental policy on oil spills with state senator James Eldridge. He went on to working with VitaThreads on skin tissue regeneration for his MQP.

Kocienski is a three-time All-NEWMAC and repeat 4x400-meter relay champion (2017, 2016) who recently picked up USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the 400-meter hurdles. The mechanical engineering major also collected five All-Division III New England and three All-ECAC nods and part of the outdoor 4x400 and indoor 4x800-meter relay records. A community adviser and library supervisor and member of Phi Sigma Sigma, Kocienski's IQP was titled "Sustaining Little Paradise in Flamingo Heights: Expanding Early Childhood Development Opportunities in an Informal Settlement" in Cape Town, South Africa. Her MQP improved haulage system for mountain porters.

Scott, the 2016 NEWMAC 1,500-meter run champion and All-NEICAAA performer, is an eight-time All-Division III New England in four events, four-time All-ECAC including indoor DMR and 4x800m champion. She also earned a NEWMAC Relay Team of the Week nod. The mechanical engineering major accounts for the 5,000-meter run and 4x800-meter relay indoor records, as well as the outdoor mile, 4x800-meter relay, and DMR standards. On the cross country trail, Scott was a 2015 NCAA participant and repeat USTFCCCA All-Region selection. He also finished seventh at the 2015 NEWMAC championships. A member of the student-athlete advisory committee and American Society of Mechanical Engineers helped determine the impacts of the operation of a dam in a New Zealand community for his IQP and made a trash lifter for the elderly for his MQP.

Strangio, is currently in Ohio for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, is a USTFCCCA All-Region performer in the indoor and outdoor 800-meter runs. A member of a NEWMAC Relay Team of the Week is a six-time All-NEWMAC, eight time All-Division III New England and three-time All-NEICAAA honoree. She was part of the back-to-back NEWMAC champion 4x400-meter relays and the 2017 800 champion. The 800 record has passed back and forth between Strangio and freshman Sydney Packard (Georgetown, MA) while Strangio is on the board as a part of four relays, both 4x400s, the DMR and the outdoor 4x800-meter relay. The Phi Sigma Sigma member competed her IQP titled "Exploring Market Opportunities for Women in Wine in the South African and Global Wine Industries."

The men's 4x400-meter relay takes to the track this evening at 5:45pm while Strangio and Packard take part in the 800-meter run Thursday at 3:45pm. The finals for both events are slated for Saturday.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.