Caroline Johnson ’26 Awarded Watson Fellowship to Travel the World While Studying the Economics of Artisanal Traditions

Caroline Johnson, a Rhodes College senior from Nashville, TN, has been selected for the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which provides a $40,000 stipend for a 12-month journey to pursue an original project on a global scale. She is one of only 40 fellows chosen nationwide for 2026. Watson Fellows have the freedom to decide where to travel and when to change course, without the need to affiliate with an academic institution or hold formal employment. The program is designed to produce a year of personal insight, perspective, and confidence.

Prof. Ross Sowell Receives National Science Foundation Award Supporting Innovative and Collaborative Robotics and Policy Research

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.

Rhodes College Faculty Member Catie Welsh Joins Distinguished Fulbright U.S. Scholar Roster

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.

Four Juniors Selected as Candidates for Nationally Competitive Truman Scholarship

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 Announces First-of-its Kind Partnership with the Posse Foundation

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. 

Prof. Sarah Boyle With 15 Rhodes Alumni Publishes Research on Animal Care, Thanks to Longstanding Partnership with Memphis Zoo

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.

Physics Students’ Participation on International Astronomical Research Team Opens Doors for Galactic Discovery

Rhodes sophomores Hadley Lim and Lily Whitesell are part of an international astronomical research team, thanks to the work their Rhodes physics professor Dr. David Rupke is doing in preparation for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to launch in 2021. The team of astronomers—made up of students, postdoctoral researchers, professors, and other scientists from around the world—have been writing software used to study quasars, which are bright, active supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.