After earning her doctoral degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, Rhodes received a highly competitive Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Rhodes appreciates that IRACDA recipients bridge the relationship between large research and minority-serving institutions. Through the program, she served as a faculty member at Virginia Union University, a historically Black university. There she experienced firsthand how professors can balance teaching and research. She discovered a profound love for working closely with students, which drove her to seek tenure-track positions that would allow her to cultivate those close connections. This quest led her to Berry, where she found an excellent environment to run her own research lab while actively teaching lab classes and other courses.
Rhodes Lab
When Rhodes came to Berry, her lab centered on vector-borne bacteriology, with a particular focus on tick-borne diseases. Bryce Thomas, graduate of Berry and doctoral student at Vanderbilt University, frames this focus as “hard-core molecular microbiology.” Students in her lab collected ticks to analyze for various tick-borne pathogens, providing them with invaluable firsthand experience. Notably, many of the students who participated in these initial projects are now pursuing their own doctoral studies, a testament to the strong foundation Rhodes instilled in them.
During the summer of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Rhodes shifted the focus of the lab to S. equi, after one of her former undergraduate research students had brought it to her attention. This understudied pathogen causes strangles, a serious and highly contagious upper respiratory infection in horses. The S. equi pathogen has characteristics that make it an excellent research subject for undergraduates: it is easy to grow in the lab, and the materials needed to work with it are inexpensive. Additionally, Rhodes notes, much more knowledge about the pathogen remains to be discovered, offering ample opportunities for ongoing research.
This pivot has revitalized her research program, Rhodes says. She collaborated closely with Thomas to transition the lab for work with strangles. Both wrote successful intramural grants to secure essential materials, and Thomas dedicated long hours to reorganizing the lab, moving outdated equipment to storage, and familiarizing himself with the new technology.
As the Rhodes lab began to focus on how this organism causes the disease, Thomas became the first student to work on that project, securing the first grant for it. They initially wanted to determine whether S. equi can form biofilms, which are complex microbial communities. In disease settings, Rhodes says, these biofilms can be formed of single species. Thomas found that S. equi did form a single-organism biofilm in the presence of CO2; their article about this research is in pre-publication now.
Rhodes wants her students to be familiar with every step of the research process. “When I take students into my lab,” she says, “I try to make sure they are not just hands. After spending one term shadowing, they all apply for funding. I take them to scientific conferences, and we publish. They get a whole research experience, from conception to funding, research and presenting on it, then writing it up.”
Transdisciplinary Strangles Research
Berry College offers the One Health minor, a unique area of focus in which students “learn to adopt a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach to solving health-related problems, a model embraced by global health authorities such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” the website states. Thomas explains that the One Health framework envisions environmental health, animal health, and human health as all interconnected.
As a One Health minor, Thomas had an idea for a project in his Geographical Information Services class with Zachary Taylor, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Studies at Berry. Thomas hypothesized that climate might make certain months more likely for strangles to spread. Taylor said the idea was too big for a class project but recognized its potential for publication. Rhodes agreed to work with Thomas on the idea. Thomas points out that the interdisciplinary nature of the project led them to work with faculty in multiple departments on campus as well as making connections across the country with specialists such as veterinary doctors and scientists. Alice Suroviec—professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry and dean of Mathematical and Natural Sciences—says that while Rhodes leads her students in their research, they have latitude to contribute their own ideas and suggestions; this collaboration with Thomas and others demonstrates the way that Rhodes develops effective collaborative relationships with her students.
In a novel way to approach examining the spread of bacterial diseases, Thomas worked with Rhodes and the other collaborators to build a GIS model as well as a multivariate statistical model to analyze the spread of strangles. Thomas appreciates Rhodes’ willingness to step outside of her own area of expertise and serve as one of the principal investigators on the project. The research team ultimately found that there are key months for strangles outbreaks in central U. S. states, though a warmer climate may not be the sole cause.
Innovative Instructor and Student Mentor
Suroviec praises Rhodes as an incredibly innovative instructor who does hands-on, intensive work with her students. Rhodes has developed her pedagogical approaches collaboratively; she often discusses shared approaches to teaching with colleague Angela Poole, associate professor of Biology at Berry. These conversations were particularly beneficial, Poole notes, when they each made the change to the more engaging flipped classroom model in response to COVID-19.
Hannah Blanton, senior Biology major at Berry, admires how devoted Rhodes is to her students, teaching them how to ask insightful questions and become more curious about their work. Beyond receiving a strong grounding in microbiology methodology and procedures, Blanton appreciates that she learned how to troubleshoot and solve the inevitable problems that frequently happen with research.
One of Rhodes’ lab classes offers the students an undergraduate research experience. In this class, she does not provide the answers—she makes clear to the students that they will develop answers through their research. She teaches them tools and techniques to take samples, isolate bacteria, and characterize and identify the bacteria they have found. Through such approaches, Poole points out, Rhodes fosters independence in her students; she “shines” in mentoring students in preparation for their next steps.
Most student researchers who work with Rhodes go on to graduate school or to competitive internships. For example, Blanton won the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, a national award for students in mathematics and natural sciences. During her first year on campus, Blanton joined the Rhodes lab and has been mentored by Rhodes throughout her time at Berry. During her Introduction to Scientific research class, Blanton wrote a successful grant for summer research; she ultimately spent all three undergraduate summers conducting research under Rhodes’ direction. Blanton has also presented posters twice at the Southeastern Branch of the American Society for Microbiology. Blanton explains that Rhodes’ mentorship extends beyond acquiring skills in microbiology; she also focuses on the soft skills needed to develop an effective poster, present it, and network at scientific conferences.
Blanton’s research on S. equi investigates whether it can form biofilms in the presence of mammalian cells. For this next step in the lab’s research, Rhodes and Blanton used HeLa cells, which are easy to grow and never die. While those cultures are growing, they are working on transforming S. equi with a green fluorescent protein. They plan to culture the transformed S. equi with the HeLa cells and use fluorescent microscopy to visualize their interactions.
Thomas remembers that he was nervous transitioning from a small liberal arts college in his undergraduate years to a major research institution for graduate school; he was not sure if he would be able to meet the standards at Vanderbilt University. Once he got there, however, he found that Rhodes had done an excellent job of preparing him on every level for the rigors of graduate school. Her mentorship, he says, has contributed directly to his success.
One area of success for Thomas has been publication of their collaborative research. The first paper that Thomas and Rhodes worked on together covered their techniques for stabilizing DNA from the mid-gut of ticks who had taken a blood meal. Thomas had originally joined the project to complete data analysis. When he discovered some inconsistencies, they decided to re-do the experiment and add samples as well. Along with co-author Gretchen C. Reifenberger, they published this paper in Microorganisms as “Comparison of DNA Extraction and Amplification Techniques for Use with Engorged Hard-Bodied Ticks.”
Rhodes not only publishes with her students; she also orients them to expectations of scientific writing. Poole notes that Rhodes excels in teaching her students to write academically, giving them an additional professional skill set. Blanton appreciates the mentorship Rhodes provides students in learning to critically analyze science, then talk intelligently about the research and write more effectively for the field of microbiology. To teach these skills in her 400-level Bacterial Pathogenesis class, Rhodes assigns articles and invites students to discuss and critique the protocols and procedures the authors used. Students also present information from reports written by the CDC or the NIH about current events relating to microbiology. Additionally, students report on their own deep dive into the given pathogen, writing up a literature review and critique of existing research. This process equips students with the analytical and composition skills essential for success in science.
Guiding Students at all Levels
Rhodes regularly influences students beyond Berry’s undergraduate population. In one such project, Rhodes is the biology representative for Berry’s innovative STEM Teach program. This campus-wide initiative, funded through a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to train and place strong science teachers in rural high schools. Students in the program are given scholarships to pursue a science undergraduate degree, then go on to complete a master’s degree in education.
Working with a much younger population, Rhodes helps to coordinate the science fair at the elementary school housed on Berry’s campus. Under her leadership, the fair has now expanded to all local elementary schools. Suroviec commends Rhodes for her investment in education at all levels, reflecting her commitment to fostering scientific literacy in the broader community.
Poole states that Rhodes excels in her diverse roles, while Suroviec asserts that Rhodes is an “exemplar of the teacher-scholar-mentor model.” Her work not only advances scientific understanding but also empowers the next generation of researchers, giving them the tools they need to excel in their future careers. Through her innovative teaching methods, commitment to mentorship, and dedication to her students’ success, Rhodes has made a profound impact at Berry College and beyond.
