Three Awarded Prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) – Carnegie Mellon University football senior Rory Hubbard (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) and 2018 women’s soccer graduates Haili Adams (Kirkland, Wash.) and Tori Iatarola (West Dundee, Ill.) have been selected to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for excelling academically and athletically while showing leadership and commitment to the community. Twenty-one males and 21 females across all three NCAA divisions were chosen as recipients for fall sports.
Hubbard is the fourth Carnegie Mellon football player to receive the scholarship, following most recently Samer Abdelmoty who received the award in 2016. Hubbard was named to both the All-University Athletic Association (UAA) team and the All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) team this year following an injury prone season that witnessed the running back rush for 542 yards on 106 carries. His 5.1 yards per carry ranked fourth in the PAC. In the 42-27 win against Saint Vincent College, Hubbard ran back a kick return 95 yards for a touchdown, marking a new school record.
A mechanical engineering and robotics major with a 3.93 GPA, Hubbard was named an Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar for being an undergraduate senior who embodies Carnegie Mellon's high standards of academic excellence, volunteerism, leadership and involvement in student organizations, athletics or the arts. He is a member of Carnegie Mellon's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and was twice a Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Honoree for holding one of the top five GPAs among student-athlete juniors and seniors in his enrolled college. Hubbard has interned for Aerojet Rocketdyne and Marvin Engineering and is currently a research assistant for the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. Hubbard was also recognized as a Co-SIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America First Team selection this year.
Hubbard will be intern with Smart Ag this summer and return to Carnegie Mellon in the fall to pursue a master's in mechanical engineering.
Adams and Iatarola mark the second and third women’s soccer players to earn the award while representing the first time two Carnegie Mellon athletes from the same team have been honored in the same year.
The pair graduated in May 2018 after athletic careers that saw them each earn All-America honors and take their team to the NCAA tournament four consecutive seasons. Their senior campaign ended with the Tartans in the round of 16 for the third time in their playing careers with a final national ranking of 10.
Since graduating with a degree in biological sciences and a minor in Hispanic Studies, Adams has been working in a neuroscience research lab at the University of Pittsburgh and will be applying to master’s programs most likely in biomedical engineering this fall. Iatarola started her Master’s Entry to Nursing Practice at DePaul University in January. The program is designed for those who have a degree in a non-nursing area that still want to pursue a nursing career. Iatarola received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in development with minors in linguistics and cognitive neuroscience.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship is awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically, and are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition or have completed their athletic eligibility. The Association awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually, 63 for men and 63 for women. This season's NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients (21 men and 21 women) represent fall sports participants, who will receive a one-time, nonrenewable grant of $10,000 to be used for graduate study within one year of the award. Men's fall sports sponsored by the NCAA include cross country, football, soccer, and water polo, while women’s fall sports are cross country, equestrian, field hockey, rugby, soccer, triathlon, and volleyball.
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.