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Amber Cecil, a 2025 engineering graduate from Hernando, will spend the next year studying at in France through . The award will provide education, airfare and living expenses during her master's program alongside mentorship and training opportunities.

"Amber Cecil embodies the very best of what it means to be a scholar: intellectually rigorous, deeply curious and driven by a commitment to improving lives through science," said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement.

"As a first-generation student who earned a perfect GPA while conducting research on nanoparticle drug delivery for neurological diseases, she has already demonstrated remarkable focus and impact."

Organized by the French cultural and education exchange and the , the fellowship was named after the , a Frenchman who was instrumental in the American Revolution.

As an undergraduate, Cecil worked in the lab of Eden Tanner, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, where she investigated ionic liquid-coated nanoparticles that could potentially deliver drugs to the brain. Cecil will continue her study of neurodegenerative diseases, and potential ways to treat them, during her master's program.

"In Dr. Tanner's lab, the research we focused on was, 'How can we make nanoparticles deliver medication to the brain?'" Cecil said. "That was my first introduction to studying drug delivery.

"The school that I picked, University Grenoble Alpes, has ongoing research about Alzheimer's, and that's a big interest for me."

When Cecil was young, her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"My grandma was my first best friend," she said. "I lived right across the street from her, so I would always be at her house and we did everything together.

"Seeing that disease take over her life made me realize that I want to be able to be the change that so that other people don't have to go through this experience like she did."

She created , a student organization that sends volunteers to visit and talk with residents in assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

"Caring Companions made me realize I have a passion for being able to care for people," she said. "In memory care (at one of the nursing homes), there was this one patient named Mr. Randy. He was an EMT, and he actually diagnosed his own Parkinson's before the doctors did.

"I was with him all four years at college, and so the bond that I created with him and the other patients only fueled my passion more for researching the diseases and trying to find a cure."

Since graduating last year, Cecil has spent nine months working with in Washington, D.C., but Caring Companions is still going strong.

"In our first meeting, we only had about 10 members, but when I left, there were more than 100 students in the group chat," she said. "Seeing it flourish even after I left has been really great."

As a part of the fellowship, Cecil will also join the , which offers a yearlong series of lectures, master classes, site visits and mentorship.

"Her selection for the inaugural Lafayette Fellowship, an initiative of the French government to cultivate future global leaders, is a remarkable achievement, and the University of Mississippi is honored to be represented in this first cohort," Ibrahim said.

"It speaks not only to Amber's exceptional accomplishments, but to her promise in advancing solutions to complex challenges like Alzheimer's on a global stage."

Top: Amber Cecil, a 2025 Ole Miss graduate, is among the inaugural recipients of a Lafayette Fellowship, a new scholarship created by the French government in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cecil created Caring Companions of Ole Miss, an organization that takes student volunteers to assisted living facilities and nursing homes to interact with residents. Submitted photo