Marissa Rice, a first year graduate student in the Department of Zoology, has just been awarded the Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Fellowship from the Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The BD Fellowship is a highly competitive program designed to encourage and support minority OSU graduate students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. BD Fellows are committed, mindful learners who are actively engaged in the process to become leaders within the scientific community at the national and global level. As a BD Fellow, Marissa will receive an annual stipend (up to $30,000) as well as funding for cost of education and an abundance of opportunities for personal and professional growth and networking. This fellowship will support Marissa’s research on the neuroendocrine influence on social and spatial memory, reproductive tactics, and behavioral plasticity in Alex Ophir’s lab.