In this episode, we sit down with WPI’s Athletic Director to explore what it really means to be a student-athlete at one of the nation’s top STEM universities. With college sports making headlines nationwide, we take a closer look at the Division III experience at WPI — where academics come first, teamwork is essential, and the lessons learned on the field connect directly to WPI’s project-based learning approach.
We talk about balance, motivation, competition, community, and why being part of a team at WPI is about much more than winning games. It’s about collaboration, leadership, and preparing students for life after graduation.
In this episode, we sit down with WPI’s Athletic Director to explore what it really means to be a student-athlete at one of the nation’s top STEM universities. With college sports making headlines nationwide, we take a closer look at the Division III experience at WPI — where academics come first, teamwork is essential, and the lessons learned on the field connect directly to WPI’s project-based learning approach.
We talk about balance, motivation, competition, community, and why being part of a team at WPI is about much more than winning games. It’s about collaboration, leadership, and preparing students for life after graduation.
For Fatimah Daffaie ’25, the path to studying at Worcester Polytechnic Institute involved early years living in Iraq, exposure to engineering while in high school in Worcester, and a pre-collegiate experience on the WPI campus.
In this episode of The WPI Podcast, Daffaie shares her experience as a biomedical engineering student, including how she completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in just four years through the BS/MS program, an accelerated degree pathway.
She talks about the support she received as a recipient of a Great Minds CoMPASS Scholarship, which is available to eligible first-generation students from Worcester Public Schools who attend WPI. She also discusses the lessons she learned through serving as a member of Crimson Key, a group of student tour guides who assist prospective students and families during campus visits, and in the Engineering Ambassadors program, which allows college students to share their passion for STEM and inspire future engineers by engaging with K–12 students.
You may also read the transcript below.