Iowa State University alumna Majd Abdulghani has just been named the recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, becoming the first ever Rhodes scholar from Saudi Arabia and the first Iowa State Rhodes scholar since 1995. Majd received her Master's in Genetics and Genomics where she worked on understanding certain aspects of placental development related to disorders like preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. Since receiving her Master's degree, Majd has begun work on RNA at the University of Michigan. While a student at ISU, Majd applied for the Rhodes Scholarship, a well known scholarship for individuals who are eager to enact, and show enormous potential to affect, positive change in the world. In Fall of 2019, Majd will receive a fully funded education at Oxford University to pursue a PhD in Medical Sciences. Majd completed her Rhodes Scholarship application with the encouragement from Laura Good, Assistant Director for Nationally Competitive Awards, and the Center for Communication Excellence (CCE), especially writing consultant Mitch. Majd remarks:

I barely dared to dream of even making it this far, but here I am! With Mitch's help, I learned to better understand and articulate myself and my goals. He is a superb person to work with: easy to talk to, encouraging, and has a really good grasp of what scholarships are asking for. Mitch helped me develop writing skills that have not only been beneficial as I applied for scholarships, but also for my professional skills in general. Thank you to everyone in the CCE! You guys are awesome!