IOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa track and field athlete has been named a Rhodes Scholar.
Marissa Mueller is the 22nd University of Iowa student and the second female to earn the honor.
Mueller will graduate in May with a degree in biomedical engineering, and will then spend two years studying stem cells and regenerative engineering at the University of Oxford in England.
Mueller is from Ontario, Canada, and competed in javelin on the women's track and field team.
She said her Rhodes scholarship and other achievements would not have been possible without the help of dozens of people at Iowa.
“So many people at the university believed in me," Mueller said. "They helped me take advantage of all these opportunities and helped me see the potential in each of them, and in myself when I didn’t see it. They inspired me to chase my dreams. I am beyond humbled and thankful. There is no way anything like this would have happened without that community of support.”