TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Aeriel Murphy, a junior from Wetumpka majoring in metallurgical and materials engineering at The University of Alabama, recently received a 2011 United Negro College Fund and Merck Foundation Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Award.
The UNCF/Merck Scholarship will cover the costs of Murphy’s tuition and other related expenses at $25,000 per year along with a $5,000 summer internship at the Merck research facility in Rahway, N.J. During her internship this summer, Murphy is researching nanosuspended drug formulations for oral and in vitro drug delivery, specifically investigating drugs that are insoluble and have a slow dissolution rate in the body.
At the Capstone, Murphy is involved in Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, Golden Key international honor society and Cardinal Key honor society. She is the vice president of the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Student Advantage chapter and a McNair Scholar. In April 2011, Murphy was awarded the John C. Wilkins Excellence Award for her accomplishments in metallurgical and materials engineering.
She currently works in UA’s magnetic suspension melting lab where she researches the electromagnetic processing of metals.
On July 16-20, Murphy was formally recognized for her achievements at the UNCF Fellows Day hosted at the Normandy Farm Hotel and Conference Center in Blue Bell, Pa.
In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 3,100 students and over 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA TodayAll-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.
Contact
Mary Wymer, engineering public relations, 205/348-6444, mwymer@eng.ua.edu; Lauren Musselman, engineering student writer, at 205/348-3051