Ford named prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholar

UC Davis men’s soccer senior Brian Ford, a Corona del Mar High alumnus, has been named one of 29 recipients of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the collegiate governing body recently announced.

Ford, a defender for the Aggies who wrapped up his playing career this past fall, is the fourth UC Davis student-athlete to be awarded the scholarship in the university’s Division I era.

As a Division II program, UC Davis had the most NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners in the nation, and ranked No. 12 overall among all levels.

The scholarship is based on academic achievement, athletic accomplishment, community service and leadership. Nominations go through a regional selection committee with regional finalists forwarded to a national committee. In the fall, only 29 male and 29 female winners are selected with a balance between Division I, II, and III schools.

On the field, Ford was a two-year captain of the Aggies’ soccer team, earning All-Big West Conference second-team honors as a junior and senior. Following his final collegiate season, during which he appeared in all but 33 of UC Davis’ 2,047 total minutes on the field, he was one of 30 college seniors invited to participate at the San Jose Earthquakes combine. That came after a season in which he helped the Aggies lead the Big West in fewest goals allowed (16) and a conference-best 0.70 goals against average.

Ford was named to the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America’s Scholar All-West Region team and the Capital One Academic All-District VIII team, while also earning three Big West All-Academic awards during his UC Davis career.

A neurobiology, physiology and behavior major with a cumulative 3.61 grade-point average, Ford is the 2014 Big West Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Year from UC Davis. He’s made the College of Biological Sciences Dean’s List multiple times and was selected by college faculty for the 2014 Student Snapshot, an online academic profile that highlights the diverse population of academically successful students within the college.

In addition to his academic achievements, a well-rounded Ford has served as an intern in the cardio thoracic postoperative recovery unit at the UC Davis Medical Center, is a SAAC officer, a Title IX committee member and a performer at Aggie Idol, a student-athlete talent show. He is also a member of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. Club, a featured artist in The Art of Athletes, a member of the Athletics Advisory Committee, an invited speaker at New Student-Athlete Orientation, and an AgAdemics volunteer.

In 2014-15, he is one of seven undergraduates from pharmaceutical chemistry, biomedical engineering, and NPB selected for the yearlong Big Bang Competition, currently working with his team on creating a prototype for an entrepreneurship idea to optimize patient recovery that they will present to a board of investors during spring quarter.

Ford will graduate in June 2015, but begins a year-long interdisciplinary internship this April with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the UC Davis Medical Center, where he will work collaboratively with researchers from molecular biology, genetics, physical medicine, and pharmacology to research neuromuscular diseases. His personal research project over the next year will focus on the properties of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the neuromuscular junction.

Ford will serve as a camp counselor for the 2015 Muscular Dystrophy Assn. Summer Camp and has been selected for a six-week full-time international immersion internship next fall in Colombia that will give him the opportunity to learn medical Spanish while working in a clinic with underprivileged children and families.

He plans to begin a Ph.D. or M.D. in the fall of 2016 and focus his graduate research on neuromuscular activity advances that may someday restore mobility or protect patients with physically disabling diseases.

The NCAA founded the postgraduate scholarship awards program in 1964. To qualify, student-athletes must excel both academically (minimum 3.2 GPA) and in competition, must be in their final year of eligibility, and plan to pursue graduate studies. Additionally, candidates must be “outstanding citizens and excellent role models for the institution and intercollegiate athletics as a whole.” A maximum of 87 men and 87 women receive the $7,500 stipend that accompanies the award.

— From UC Davis Athletics