Abdelmoty and Fatschel Awarded Prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) – Carnegie Mellon University football senior Samer Abdelmoty (McLean, Va./McLean) and men’s soccer senior Andreas Fatschel (Seven Fields, Pa./Seneca Valley) have been selected to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for excelling academically and athletically while showing leadership and commitment to the community. Abdelmoty and Fatschel are two of 29 male fall athletes to receive the award across all three NCAA divisions.
Abdelmoty is the fifth Carnegie Mellon football player and first since 2008 to receive the scholarship. Abdelmoty excelled on the field for the Tartans this season at defensive back, finishing second on the team with 77 tackles. He finished his career with eight interceptions including the game clinching grab when the Tartans defeated #21 Case Western Reserve University, 26-21, to finish the regular season.
A mechanical engineering major with a 3.70 GPA, Abdelmoty received a Boeing Scholarship which goes to three students in the mechanical engineering department at Carnegie Mellon who exhibit strength, leadership and experience in the aerospace industry. Abdelmoty is a Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Council representative and vice president of the Arab student organization. Abdelmoty is working on the CERLAB Research Project where he performs research to develop an autonomous UAV system that can navigate in an indoor environment for 3D geometric measurement and inspection. This past summer he interned for Aurora Flight Sciences.
A captain on the football team, Abdelmoty spearheaded a fundraiser event for members of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh by conducting a photo shoot and sale of a team calendar with all proceeds going directly to the hospital.
Like Abdelmoty, Fatschel is the third Carnegie Mellon men’s soccer player to receive the scholarship and first since 2013. A three-year starter at center back for the Tartans, Fatschel helped lead the Tartans to a 13-4-2 record and a first round win in the NCAA Tournament this year. The two-time team captain’s lone goal this season went down as the game winner against Westminster College on September 16.
Fatschel is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America and was named the CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year for men’s soccer this year.
A mechanical and biomedical engineering major with a 3.97 GPA, Fatschel has been a research assistant at the University of Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon and is currently involved in a research project at Carnegie Mellon. This past summer he interned at Philips Respironics. He has served as an academic counselor and participated in the emerging leaders program. A member of the mechanical engineering honor society, Fatschel volunteers with Team IMPACT, Special Olympics and his church by collecting clothing for the needy.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship is awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically, and are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The Association awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. This season's NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients (29 men and 29 women) represent fall sports participants, who will receive a one-time, nonrenewable grant of $7,500 to be used for graduate study. Men's fall sports sponsored by the NCAA include Cross Country, Football, Soccer and Water Polo.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports.