WPI alum Sydney Packard, along with nine other former student-athletes, has been selected as a recipient of the NCAA Today’s Top 10 award and will be honored at the NCAA Convention in January.

The award recognizes former student-athletes for their exceptional athletic and academic achievements, as well as their contributions to their campuses and communities.

A 2022-2023 NEWMAC Student-Athlete of the Year award winner, Packard earned an undergraduate degree from WPI in Chemical Engineering, and went on to pursue a master’s in chemical engineering.  She earned CSC Academic All-American honors four times and was a six-time Academic All-District honoree. She was awarded the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship CEDAR Fellows Award in 2023.

As a track and field student-athlete, Packard earned nine first-team All-American accolades over the course of her career. She was a five-time All-New England Division III Champion, earning 15 All-New England Division III regional honors. She was an eight-time NEWMAC champion, and a 11-time NEWMAC all-conference honoree. She helped her team to back-to-back NEWMAC titles in 2021 and 2022 and was named the NEWMAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Year in 2021. She was awarded the 2022-2023 Sue Chapman Award, presented to the best senior female student-athlete over the course of her career.

Off the track, Packard is a graduate teaching assistant for senior level courses.  Her Ph.D studies are focused on advancing the understanding of bacterial biofilm infections. She has developed an image analysis method and has received a National Science Foundation fellowship in machine learning and data science, which we she will use to create Artificial Intelligence tools for biofilm characterization and treatment methods.

In August, Packard was named to the women’s track and field 25-Year All-NEWMAC Team. 

The Today’s Top 10 awardees were selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, composed of representatives from NCAA member schools and conferences, as well as nationally distinguished citizens, including past awardees.

The awardees will be celebrated Wednesday, Jan. 10, at the NCAA Convention Welcome and Awards Presentation in Phoenix.

NCAA Today Top 10 Award Recipients 

AWARD	NOMINEE NAME	SCHOOL NAME	CONFERENCE	SPORT
Top 10	Kobe Brown	University of Missouri, Columbia	Southeastern Conference	Basketball
Top 10	Callie Dickinson	University of Georgia	Southeastern Conference	Swimming and diving
Top 10	Aria Fischer	Stanford University	Pac-12 Conference	Water polo
Top 10	Divonne Franklin	Pennsylvania Western University, California	Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference	Indoor and outdoor track and field
Top 10	Noah Gulden	Lipscomb University	Atlantic Sun Conference	Soccer
Top 10	Sydney Packard	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference	Track and field and cross country
Top 10	Ashley Rogers	University of Tennessee, Knoxville	Southeastern Conference	Softball
Top 10	Trinity Thomas	University of Florida	Southeastern Conference	Gymnastics
Top 10	Anika Washburn	Case Western Reserve University	University Athletic Association	Soccer
Top 10	Turner Washington	Arizona State University	Pac-12 Conference	Track and field

About the NEWMAC

The NEWMAC is an association of 12 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with four Associate Members: Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), while sponsoring 20 sports.