Austin graduated from Juniata College with a chemistry degree in 2020. Since then, he has been a Ph.D. student in Gavin Sacks’ flavor chemistry lab at Cornell University. His research focuses on understanding and mitigating off-aroma formation in beverages stored in aluminum cans. Outside of thesis work (which is primarily wine focused), he is passionate about beer and coffee chemistry as well. He serves as president of the Cornell brewing club, Big Red Brewing and briefly worked as an innovation chemist for Atomo Coffee, developing “beanless” coffee grounds from upcycled food waste.