Carli Moorehead
BS/MS student Carli Moorehead (BS Biomedical Engineering, MS Drexel Materials; advisor: Michele Marcolongo) has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Carli is the third Drexel Materials student to receive a Fulbright scholarship while enrolled as a student in the department, joining Sarah Lightfoot Vidal (2013 - Chile; advisor: Michele Marcolongo) and Aaron Sakulich (2007 - Morocco; advisor: Dr. Michel Barsoum).
Carli will be based at the Università di Bologna and ISTEC-CNR (Institute for Science and Technology in Ceramics) in Faenza, Italy. She will be researching "smart" bioactive ceramic-polymers, specifically working on iron doped hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and scaffolds to tune magnetic and biological properties for drug delivery and bone tissue engineering. Having the material be magnetically responsive allows for enhanced targeting, in the case of nanoparticles, or triggered drug delivery/MRI contrast, in the case of tissue scaffolds, which adds another layer of control to the regenerative medicine process. Her Fulbright will last for nine months and commences in October.
Carli is one of over 1,900 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and provide expertise abroad for the 2017-18 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries that are needed to solve global challenges. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.
Since the Fulbright Program’s establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Program has given more than 370,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Fulbrighters address critical global challenges - from sustainable energy and climate change to public health and food security - in all areas, while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States and the world. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 57 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 82 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government.
Fulbright recipients are among over 50,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is administered by the Institute of International Education.
This is just one of a number of prestigious awards Carli has received during her time at Drexel, having previously secured a Goldwater Scholarship and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP). She is also the recipient of Drexel's 2017 Fellowships Graduation Award, which recognizes a student who exemplifies the traits at the core of the fellowships process: academic excellence, dedication, self-reflection, and clarity of focus.