Six seniors’ portraits have been added to Rhodes’ Hall of Fame on the second floor of Southwestern Hall. They are K’nori Bone, Jacob Fontaine, Betsy John, Hannah Johns, Sydney Jones, and Mary Thomas. Selection to the Hall of Fame, which was established in 1931, is based on individual merit, leadership in student activities, service to others, and overall contributions to the campus community. Honorees are chosen by their peers.

Although robots have been designed to do simple repetitive tasks in the home and workplace, there is more research to be done before robots can perform more difficult autonomous tasks. Computer science majors Shane Elder ’21, Osman Celikok ’22, and Marisa Hudspeth ’22 have been working with Prof. Ross Sowell on human-robot interaction research. Also, the students have had their work supported by summer fellowships.

Motivated to find a more efficient way to plan a night out, Ben Vickers ’21 hatched the idea for MEET, an app that provides users a glimpse into their favorite bar or restaurant before leaving home and a way to message—and then hopefully meet—other users of the app once there. With the help of co-founder Taylor Smith ’21, Megan Wassef ’21, K’Nori Bone ’21, alum Kerry Love ’20, and DU senior Meier Werthan, the app has been successfully funded and launches in March.

Mathematics majors Lawton Walker and Evuilynn Nguyen recently presented posters at the annual Joint Mathematics Meeting, known as the world’s largest mathematics gathering. Both students are seniors and pursuing minors in computer science.

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.

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.

The researchers have been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant of $267,970 to study brain activity involved in body movement using 3D motion capture technology. “This equipment is going to put Rhodes College on the map as a serious contributor in the movement science research space,” says Dr. Dan Blustein, principal investigator and assistant professor of psychology. “We are really excited about the diversity of projects we have planned and about getting students from all over the college involved.”

Rhodes will have a new supercomputing center, thanks to a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $389,662. Dr. Brian Larkins, associate professor of computer science, is principal investigator, and José Rodriguez, chief information officer, is co-principal investigator for the project, which is titled “CC* Compute: A High-Performance Computing Cluster To Accelerate Research, Education, And Training At Rhodes College.”

Facing a remote end to his senior year and a cancelled final baseball season due to COVID-19, John Medich ’20 set his sights on a new goal: in the fall, the Sewickley, PA, native will be competing with ACC powerhouse Georgia Tech as a graduate transfer while pursuing an M.S. in Quantitative and Computational Finance.

Dr. Erin Bodine, associate professor of mathematics; Dr. Sarah Boyle, associate professor of biology; and Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes, professor of chemistry and director of scholarly and creative activity mentoring, are members of the inaugural cohort of the Advancing STEM Careers by Empowering Network Development (ASCEND). ASCEND is funded by a nearly million-dollar National Science Foundation grant that runs through September 2024.