Psychology alumna defines IUPUI experience through research and international opportunities

New School of Science graduate Morgan Rhodes will miss the friendships she’s forged during her years at IUPUI because she credits that strong support network with paving the way for her success. “The camaraderie I found in the School of Science—including the amazing faculty who genuinely care about their students’ success—is the greatest advantage I found as a science student,” said Rhodes, an Indianapolis native who earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology this past May.

From a professional standpoint, however, it’s the research experiences and opportunity to study abroad that she expects to propel success in her career. A participant in the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program, Rhodes also was the first recipient of the Indumati Sukhatme RISE Scholarship, which is dedicated to advancing the IUPUI RISE initiative (research, international, service learning and experiential learning).

“I feel like my experience as an undergraduate was about making the impossible possible for me,” she said. “I was able to do and achieve so many things, even starting out as a freshman, that I could have never imagined.

As she prepares to continue on to medical school or a graduate program in the medical sciences, Rhodes said she is most proud of the research work she completed, which included an examination of cultural attitudes regarding malaria for residents of a village in Honduras. As an assistant for Kevin Rand, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, Rhodes also examined how methods of self-control can affect academic performance and how intelligence affects romantic relationships.

The Indumati Sukhatme RISE Scholarship, established by former IUPUI Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculties Uday Sukhatme and named in honor of his mother, allowed Rhodes to study abroad for six weeks in Santiago, Chile. She had always had an interest in exploring new and unfamiliar cultures, which she found in her stay with a host family in Chile. She plans to work in child and adolescent psychiatry with a specific focus on Hispanic populations. “Being at IUPUI, I have grown as a person and learned so much about myself that I feel prepared to conquer anything that life has to bring in the future,” Rhodes added.