Public health student brings personal experience to Purdue’s Military Family Research Institute through research support

Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, rhoffa@purdue.edu

Autumn Reynolds sits in her cube as a Measuring Communities intern at the Military Family Research Institute.(Photo provided)

Autumn Reynolds, a Purdue University Department of Public Health Master of Public Health student in the 4+1 program has always found ways to merge her interest in health with her passion for working with children. When she encountered the opportunity to join the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) as an interviewer for Operation Military Experience — a national study that aims to capture the experiences of families who have undergone parental deployment — she found a way to connect these interests with her own personal experience growing up in a military family.

“I love seeing both perspectives (parent and adolescent) and being a person they can talk to, even if I can’t respond on an emotional level; I can show understanding in my facial expressions,” Reynolds said. “Especially the adolescents, hearing them say things that I might have experienced or sentiments I might have felt when I was younger has been very interesting — learning about the military family academically, with my connection, has been interesting as well.”

Autumn Reynolds(Photo provided)

As an interviewer, Reynolds collects data for the project by interviewing current and former military service members, military spouses and their children about their experiences during deployment. For Reynolds, this experience allows her to make a difference for a population that resonates with her on a personal level.

“Sometimes I get emotional or have to pause after an interview because it gives me an understanding of what my parent or sibling went through while on deployment,” Reynolds said. “It hits a little close to home — I think motivation is there because of that especially. Coming from a military family and then being involved in military family research is very impactful because I can help kids like me, or I can potentially impact military policy. The potential of the work is very important to me, being able to positively impact the communities I’ve come from.”

In MFRI, Reynolds has worked under the guidance of the institute’s director Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, who has seen Reynolds’ growth as she’s strengthened her research, communication and critical thinking skills.

“I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to offer students opportunities to collect data for Operation Military Experience,” MacDermid Wadsworth said. “Autumn has helped her teammates learn so much because of her personal experience, but what I find really exciting is the way that her own learning has grown by leaps and bounds.”

For Reynolds, MFRI is directly entwined with public health topics, from food security to behavioral health and mental well-being.

“I’ve gotten to see all of the moving pieces of an organization and how they work together to help a specific population, and I’ve gotten to be a part of that and hopefully my work will make an impact,” Reynolds said.

In addition to her work as an interviewer in MFRI, Reynolds also completed an internship with the institute in summer 2025, working on the Measuring Communities project, which helps provide data that strengthens community efforts to support veterans and military families.

“We talk a lot in the MPH program about working with specific populations,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes it’s defined geographically; sometimes it’s defined demographically. There are limited opportunities I’ve gotten to work within the veteran population in the classroom. It’s a whole part of having experiential learning in parallel to your classroom education, so you’re getting multiple perspectives.”

After she graduates with her MPH, Reynolds hopes to go abroad to do public health-related work. She noted one of her most rewarding experiences as a Purdue student was her time abroad in the Dominican Republic with the Public Health and Health Care in the Dominican Republic program.

“Seeing health care differently from America’s health care system was very rewarding,” Reynolds said. “We got the cultural aspect, but we also got to visit hospitals and talk to people who are working on the ground in public health. I talked to an epidemiologist and was able to hear from medical center directors. Being there and seeing the work be done was really inspiring.”

Ultimately, Reynolds noted she’s pleased with the opportunities Purdue has provided to apply public health widely, both within her department and beyond it.

“Public health is so broad,” Reynolds said. “It doesn’t have to be one thing. You can be tech in public health. You can be an engineer or statistician in public health. You can be so many things.”