UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State student Nate Carey, of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, has been nominated as a finalist for the 2025 Marshall Scholarship.
The Marshall Scholarship is considered among the most competitive U.K. scholarships for U.S. students. Students must be recommended by their university, and each year roughly 1,000 high-achieving students are considered by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and fewer than 50 are ultimately selected to study at the graduate level in the U.K. Carey worked closely with Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring during the application process and will complete one final interview on Nov. 20 in Washington, D.C.
Carey is enrolled in the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate Master of Biotechnology program in the Eberly College of Science. He is also enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Military Studies minors, is an Army ROTC cadet and a Schreyer Scholar. He was a recipient of the 2024-25 Goldwater Scholarship, 2025 Astronaut Scholarship and a finalist for the 2025 Rhodes Scholarship.
Carey has worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Rolls Lab under Melissa Rolls, Paul Berg professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. The research centers on an investigation of microtubule dynamics in neurons using Drosophila (fruit flies) as a model organism. This research provides fundamental information supporting drug discovery research for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
He has also worked as a research technician in the Sartorius Cell Culture Facility. Over the course of a year, Carey was in the lab daily to expand, passage and observe mammalian cells. Last year, Carey participated in the Max Planck School Matter to Life Undergraduate Research Opportunity at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and Campus Biotech in Geneva through the EPFL Excellence in Engineering Program. He described both experiences as “a blast.”
“I aim to eventually lead a research group focused on tissue engineering and oncology, and I fully intend to pursue international collaborations that will provide my research with diverse insights and large datasets from far-flung populations," Carey said.
Carey was a workforce development specialist for the Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology. Under Wendy Oakes, associate director of the center, Carey learned how to manage social media promotions and mass communications with thousands of professionals in the biotech sector. That experience, he said, informed his role at BioReact Inc., a company that is developing AI-based software for bioprocesses for cell growth and product yield.
He is a part of the Society for Distinguished Alumni Mentoring through the Schreyer Honors College, receiving mentorship first from Capt. Thomas Ulmer, U.S. Navy, and later Naren Gursahaney, former president and CEO of ADT and leader in companies such as General Electric, Tyco and Terminix.
Carey described joining Army ROTC as one of the best decisions he has ever made.
“Aside from incredible international experiences in Morocco and Japan and invaluable guidance from my cadre, I have benefited as a leader from perhaps the finest leadership development organization in the world," he said.
Applying for the Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship began in the early 1950s when the U.K. Foreign Office desired to deepen ties to the U.S. through a scholarship program to benefit American students. It is named for the Marshall Plan, which — through an act of Congress — supplied $12 billion in aid for postwar recovery in the late 1940s and early 1950s throughout western Europe. Seven hundred students applied in the first year for one of the 12 slots.
Similar to other competitive scholarships and fellowships, students must be recommended by their university to apply for the Marshall Scholarship. At Penn State, Undergraduate Research and Fellowship Mentoring (URFM) works with students to determine which scholarships they are most competitive for and helps to refine applications and prepare for interviewing. The Marshall Scholarship requires students to hold a GPA of at least 3.7 and further assessment is based on academic merit, leadership potential and ambassadorial potential.
This year’s U.K. awards committee at Penn State, which helped to select and prepare candidates for the Marshall Scholarship, consisted of:
- Tineka Lebrun, URFM director
- Josephine Wee, assistant professor of food science
- Song Tan, Verne M. Willaman Professor of molecular biology
- Jacob Bourjaily, associate professor of physics
- Nick Hartman, startup solutions architecture leader at Amazon Web Services
- Darrin Thornton, associate dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach and teaching professor of music
- Rich Stoller, associate dean, Schreyer Honors College
- Justin Brown, associate professor of biomedical engineering
- Melissa Johnson, associate vice provost and associate dean of undergraduate education
Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.