CPB Graduate Student Recognized for Outstanding Research

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Purdue Veterinary Medicine graduate student Kerri Rodriguez received top honors from the Purdue University Graduate School’s Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs earlier this month when she received the 2018 Most Outstanding Interdisciplinary Project Award (MOIPA). Kerri, a human-animal interaction graduate student in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, was recognized for her research titled, “The Effect of Psychiatric Service Dogs on Salivary Cortisol in a Population of Military Veterans with PTSD.”

The MOIPA is awarded to a graduate student whose research is considered, by a select faculty and administrative panel, to be particularly interdisciplinary, while also making broader connections to the world. Over 100 student research posters and multimedia presentations were featured at a reception held May 2 in the Purdue Memorial Union, which included a keynote presentation by Kerri on her research.  The study is part of a broader research project on service dogs and veterans with PTSD being conducted through the Center for the Human-Animal Bond and the OHAIRE Lab (Organization for Human-Animal Interaction Research and Education), under the leadership of Dr. Maggie O’Haire, assistant professor of human-animal interaction in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology.

Kerri was also recognized for her award at the annual Graduate School Awards Banquet May 7, which is held annually to honor graduate students and faculty mentors for outstanding teaching, mentoring, and research. Click here to read a complete list of awardees published in the May 10 issue of the Purdue Today.

The Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs was established in 2004 to promote and facilitate cross-disciplinary research at Purdue. Click here to learn more about the program and how to get involved.

Writer(s): Allison Carey | pvmnews@purdue.edu