Congratulations to all of our 2025 WTS-Boston Chapter Scholarship recipients! 

The 2025 WTS-Boston Scholarship recipients will be invited to the WTS-Boston Annual Awards and Scholarship Dinner in June (details TBA) to receive recognition. 

2025 Graduate Scholarship Winners

Mary Jane O'Meara Graduate Scholarship

Angelina Caggiano

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Angelina is a PhD candidate in Civil Engineering at UMass Amherst, specializing in transportation safety. Her master’s thesis examined driver comprehension of traffic control devices, focusing on vulnerable road user infrastructure such as the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (PHB). Building on this work, her doctoral research explores policies defining vulnerable road users to recommend improvements to crash reporting. She also studies pedestrian behavior at 
PHBs, and models crashes based on user interactions, aiming to inform equitable policy changes, enhance safety, and influence user behavior through education and outreach. Angelina’s diverse internship experiences have strengthened her expertise in transportation safety and intelligent transportation systems, providing her with a comprehensive understanding of the transportation profession.  

As a young woman in a male-dominated field, she values strong mentorship in both academic and professional settings. She has mentored numerous undergraduate students through research projects and professional organizations such as ITE and WTS. Committed to education, she developed and teaches Transportation and Smart Cities, a first-year course designed to inspire interest in transportation careers. Angelina aspires to become a professor, where she can advance transportation safety research, mentor future engineers, and promote diversity and innovation in the field.

Ann Hershfang Graduate Scholarship

Aanchal Chopra

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Aanchal (she/her) is a Master in Urban Planning student at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Prior to graduate school, she worked with Boston Consulting Group as a strategy consultant to federal and state government clients, focusing on social housing, government service delivery, and disaster recovery. She later led the firm's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy in Australia and New Zealand where she focused on equitable and inclusive hiring and retention strategies. Through these experiences, she observed the critical role of transport systems in community resilience and access to economic opportunity and employment. As an aspiring urban planner, Aanchal is passionate about designing innovative, equitable transport policies and programs, especially for families and caregivers.

 

 

2025 Undergraduate Scholarship Winner

Jacquelyn R. Smith Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship

Xinyi Looi

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Xinyi Looi is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Northeastern University. Her interest lies in designing equitable transportation systems that serve the unique needs of the local community. The challenges that Xinyi’s hometown of Puerto Rico continues to face with neglected infrastructure, vulnerable roadways, and inaccessible transit services are principal drivers behind her commitment to sustainability and mobility justice. On campus, she serves as Vice-President of Sustainable Transportation at Northeastern (STAN)—an umbrella organization that coordinates initiatives between the ITE student chapter, the WTS student chapter, and Bike Enthusiasts at Northeastern (BEAN)— and cherishes her role as President of the WTS-Northeastern student chapter, which is now in the process of securing official recognition to provide better support and resources for its student members. Xinyi works part-time for the Transportation Department at Nitsch Engineering while taking courses towards her degree. She hopes to one day work in the public sector, at the intersection of engineering and public policy.

2025 High School Scholarship Winner

Transportation YOU High School Scholarship

Addison Collins

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Addison Collins is a high school senior at Tyngsboro High School in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. She plans to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study civil engineering in the fall of 2025. She currently is a member of the National Honor Society as well as an active volunteer in her community. Addison is also a high-level gymnast and a member of the track and field team at her high school. She hopes to continue her education in STEM in college to use in her future to make an impact within the field.