HDFS graduate student Abbey Horton received an APA Division 43 Student Travel Award due to her highly rated abstract to help offset the costs of attending the APA conference this August.
Students
Rui Wu awarded UConn 2022 summer fellowship
Congratulations to graduate student Rui Wu, who was awarded a UConn 2022 Wood/Raith Gender Identity Living Trust summer fellowship!
Undergrad Sophie Lindsay earns two HDFS awards
Congratulations to undergraduate student Sophie Lindsay who earned two HDFS awards! Sophie worked for two years with the DASH project, the first year fully on WebEx before she met anyone in person. Sophie participated in a range of projects, held her own with a group of graduate students, trained and supported other students, and collaborated on multiple conference presentations, so has earned the Outstanding Involvement in HDFS Research award.
In addition to all of her research accomplishments, Sophie also supported the department as a member of the curriculum committee, and by volunteering her time at multiple departmental recruiting events, so has also earned the Outstanding Senior in HDFS award.
FS Undergrad Council hosts Social Sciences Career Night
On March 28th, the Family Sciences Undergraduate Council hosted a Social Sciences Career Night event. Ten career experts offered their time to 70 UConn students. The career experts included representatives from the fields of Marriage and Family (Emberleigh Luce, Jill Donohoue, Jennifer Anderson), advising (Kristin Van Ness ‘09 BA, ‘14 MA), entrepreneurship in real estate (Cheryl Hilton, ’91 HDFS), Early Childhood Education (Nancy Walsh), Career Development/Higher Education (Lisa Famularo), School Counseling (Wheeler Deangelis, ‘15), Social Work (Ashley Dyer ‘19), and the Juvenile Justine Judicial Branch (Catherine Foley, ’92 HDFS).
Many of the career experts that participated were UConn HDFS alumni—professionally, products the career experts have become widely recognized and accredited by the state of Connecticut, published novels, and have taught their own classes. Thanks to Ryan Watson, the faculty advisor, who helped the FSUC members organize the event!
Eleanor Fisk- experience as an SRCD State Policy Fellow
Graduate Student Eleanor Fisk was the April Spotlight for SRCD. Eleanor is currently an SRCD State Policy Fellow in the CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC). Learn more about Eleanor’s experiences here: https://www.srcd.org/news/april-2022-spotlight-srcd-us-state-policy-fellow-eleanor-fisk
Qianxia Jiang, HDFS Graduate Student Spotlight, May 2022
Qianxia Jiang has an interdisciplinary background in obesity prevention and intervention, psychology, health equity, and agricultural economics. She plans to graduate with her Ph.D. in May 2022. She is interested in the factors that contribute to obesity-related disparity and inequities, including the influences of built environments on health risks in marginalized groups, and applying this knowledge to inform interventions to promote healthy living. Qianxia first discovered her passion for obesity research as an undergraduate when she conducted research assessing how a food selection inhibitory control training game of children’s response inhibition affected eating behavior.
Qianxia has worked with professors from different departments on multiple projects at UConn. She conducts both quantitative and qualitative research with her advisor, Dr. Kim Gans, on an NIH-funded evaluation study of a multicomponent intervention that supports and empowers family childcare providers to improve the food and physical activity environments in their homes. She first learned about health equity and policy research by working with Allied Health professor Dr. Kristen Cooksey Stowers on multiple studies related to built food environments, disparities in food insecurity status, health quality, diet quality, and weight status. Beginning last summer, Qianxia was involved in an interdisciplinary grant that examines the association between the changing market structure and health outcomes. She also examined how changes in food retail market concentration relate to racial and ethnic inequities in food access over time. Qianxia has published several peer-reviewed publications and presented her research at both international and national conferences.
Following graduation, Qianxia will become a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles and Nutrition, Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. This fellowship opportunity will provide training in novel ways to measure physical activity, behavioral epidemiology, and implementation science.
In her spare time, Qianxia loves hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, and traveling. She plans to get advanced open water certificate in Hawaii this year. She has two cats (Tiger and Coyote).
Sabrina Uva featured in UConn Today
Sabrina Uva (HDFS ’22) was featured in UConn Today for her advocacy work: Read the article here.
Tracy Walters wins CETL Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award
Tracy Walters in the winner of the CETL Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award! Tracy served as a solo instructor for two courses, remotely, during the 2020-2021 academic year, and has also served as a TA and a graduate student advisor for the department. Congratulations Tracy!
Kaleigh Ligus receives fellowship at Academy Health
Graduate student Kaleigh Ligus was recently selected as the inaugural summer public policy fellow at AcademyHealth. In this fellowship, she will work alongside the Director of Advocacy to advance the mission and objectives of AcademyHealth through advocacy, public policy, education, and policy communication.
Samantha Lawrence featured in ConscienHealth
Graduate student Samantha Lawrence’s recent publication on family-based weight stigma was featured in an article in ConscienHealth: Read the article here.