Karabin Receives NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) – Carnegie Mellon University senior women's track and field athlete Michelle Karabin (Ruffs Dale, Pa. / Greensburg Central Catholic) has been selected to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for excelling academically and athletically while showing leadership and commitment to the community. Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women across all three NCAA divisions. Karabin becomes the second Carnegie Mellon women's track and field athlete to receive the scholarship, as Debarati Bhanja earned the honor in 2018-19.
Karabin, who was recently named the University Athletic Association (UAA) representative for NCAA Woman of the Year, was named the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Elite 90 winner and became the first Tartan women's track and field athlete to receive the award. She earned the honor for achieving a 4.0 GPA during her college career, majoring in mechanical and biomedical engineering.
The four-year track and field student-athlete is a two-time College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America first team honoree and plans to pursue her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh starting next month.
Karabin qualified for the 2020 NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships in the pole vault following her indoor career-best mark of 3.72 meters at the Battle for the Obelisk versus Case Western Reserve University in January. It was her first trip to the indoor championships and her second to an NCAA championship, as she placed eighth and claimed All-America honors at the 2018 outdoor event. She is a six-time All-Region recipient in the pole vault.
This past fall, Karabin worked on the Scoliosis Simulator project where she led a team in research and development of a physical model of an adjustable deformed spine to aid engineers and surgeons in surgical tool evaluation. She is a member of Pi Tau Sigma and was an intern for the Human Engineering Research Laboratories at the University of Pittsburgh last summer. She also interned at Naval Nuclear Laboratories as a technical intern in 2018. As a team captain, Karabin holds leadership roles on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) where she served as the vice president and secretary. Karabin was the lead organizer of SAAC Field Day last year and has also volunteered at Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home.
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 spring 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. Women spring sports sponsored by the NCAA include golf, lacrosse, outdoor track and field, rowing, beach volleyball, softball, tennis and water polo.
Karabin is the third Carnegie Mellon student-athlete to receive the scholarship this academic year, joining football senior Anthony Kennon in the fall and women's swimmer Emma Nicklas-Morris in the winter.
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.