NCAA Recognizes Tulsa Soccer Student-Athlete Katy Riojas with Walter Byers Award

The NCAA has selected University of Tulsa soccer student-athlete Katy Riojas to receive the 2016 Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship, it was announced today.

Established in 1988, the scholarship honors the contributions of former NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Riojas will receive a $24,000 renewable postgraduate scholarship.

Riojas will continue her education at Vanderbilt for a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. She is the first female Byers Scholarship recipient from a Top-100 National University since 2009, and the first woman from an FBS program to win the award, also since 2009.

Riojas, from Parkville, Missouri, has maintained a 4.0 grade point average and was awarded with the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2015-16. The senior was a four-year letterwinner for the Golden Hurricane women's soccer team, playing in 72 games during her career.

Riojas, who hopes to make a career developing innovative medical device solutions, already has taken many steps toward that goal. With two classmates, she founded Make a Difference Engineering, a student-run organization dedicated to the design and fabrication of devices to improve the lives of people with disabilities. As a summer researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, she designed and fabricated hardware and software for a user-centered robotic wheelchair interface. Last summer, Riojas and a professor created Magpie Products LLC, a startup company focused on designing and fabricating affordable devices for people with disabilities.

Walter Byers was the first executive director of the NCAA. He served from 1951 to 1988.

Recipients of the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship must demonstrate both academic and athletic excellence and have a grade-point average of least a 3.5. They also must show leadership abilities and demonstrate that involvement in athletics has promoted their growth both personally and academically. The scholarship is presented each year to one female and one male student-athlete.

NCAA Recognizes Tulsa Soccer Student-Athlete Katy Riojas with Walter Byers Award

Players Mentioned

Katy Riojas

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