Rhodes College biology alumna Morgan Fuller ’16 recently received the Student DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) of the Year award at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine-Georgia. She is a candidate for the national Student DO of the Year award, which will be announced this spring and is hosted by the American Association of Colleges and Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Ross Sowell, assistant professor of computer science at Rhodes College, is the recipient of an $84,657 award funded by the National Science Foundation for a research project contributing to advances in robotics and creating appropriate policies governing collaborative robots’ deployment in various social situations and public spaces. Three Rhodes students also will contribute to the research project.

Professors Hotz, Loynes, Stoddard, Goodman, and Marchand will present talks on the theme of equity for The Academic Minute program.

Dr. Catie Welsh, associate professor of computer science at Rhodes College, is joining a distinguished roster of Fulbright U.S. Scholars this semester. She will be a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program—a prestigious educational exchange program—selects American scholars, artists, faculty, and professionals for their substantial experience and leadership to lecture and/or conduct research abroad for up to a year.

Rhodes College President Marjorie Hass has announced J. Carey Thompson, vice president for enrollment and communications, will leave the college in May to become vice president of enrollment and educational services at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

Four Rhodes College juniors are competing for the 2021 Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders. They are Elizabeth Baldwin, Karim Garcia, Mariam Khayata, and Lauren Moore. The Truman Scholarship is a highly competitive national award, which provides up to $30,000 for a recipient to apply toward graduate school.

Rhodes College has formed a new partnership with The Posse Foundation to offer full-tuition leadership scholarships to diverse cohorts of students from Memphis and cities around the United States. Many of the cohort members will be the first in their families to attend college and typically attend high schools that are often overlooked in tradition student recruitment. 

For the past decade, students in Dr. Sarah Boyle’s Animal Behavior course have been granted access to the Memphis Zoo to design behavioral research projects in collaboration with the zoo. These research projects have addressed many topics, but 10 independent studies on 16 species have focused on the impact of zoo visitors on animal behavior. Now the research has been published in the journal Animals for its special issue on evidence-based practice in zoo animal management.