IRVING, Texas (June 20, 2017) -- FIU softball graduate Sammi Green (Marietta, Georgia) was selected as one of 14 continuing student-athletes awarded the Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Award today. This is the ninth year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually awards the $4,000 Postgraduate Scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.
 
Green, who earned four letters with the FIU softball program and graduated cum laude with a physics degree in May, was the only person accepted this year into the Vanderbilt University Professional Doctorate in Medical Physics program and will work on the diagnostic track. She plans on becoming a medical physicist, working in a hospital setting. Green noted her inspiration in this field is Dr. Robert Laird, who is the Medical Physicist and Director of Imaging Services at the FIU Center of Imaging Sciences. He showed her what the profession is about, and got her interested in the field.
 
As a member of the softball program, Green played multiple positions on the team, setting personal-best totals in games played and started, hits, runs, RBI and walks, hitting her first three career doubles and first career triple in her final season. She helped lead the program to its first NCAA Postseason appearance since 2010 and third in the program's history after a 44-win regular season. The Panthers finished 45-16, setting the school records for most wins, fewest losses and winning percentage.
 
"I feel honored that only 14 people received this award, and that I made that list," said Green. "This is going to help me out a lot and I'm excited to receive this. This is not an inexpensive four-year venture that I am on and I am glad to receive the help. I want to say thank you to the conference and the faculty representatives for selecting me."
 
She reports for orientation in Nashville on August 21.
 
For softball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSoftball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSoftball) for all the latest FIU softball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
                                                                                                                    
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.