Kita Karna is an HDFS undergraduate junior who received an IDEA grant to conceptualize and pursue a research study under the mentorship of Associate Professor Alaina Brenick. This grant will fund research exploring “Ethnic Identity Associated with Second-Generation, South Asian Young Adults” during the summer of 2021.

Ellen Pudney, MS, RDN, HDFS Graduate Student

 

Ellen is a fourth year doctoral student. She is also a registered dietitian nutritionist, with a master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Northern Illinois University, and a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from UConn. She will be defending her dissertation, “Parental weight talk with children: The role of stigma and social position,” in February 2021 and will be graduating with her PhD in May 2021. Ellen is interested in pursuing a career in research with the hopes of improving the health of children and families.

For the past four years, Ellen has worked as a research assistant at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity where she conducts both quantitative and qualitative research with her academic advisor, Dr. Rebecca Puhl, on topics related to weight stigma. She is particularly interested in parent-child communication about body weight, the factors that influence whether someone internalizes weight stigma, and the influence of weight-centric public health messages on families and child development. Ellen has published several peer-reviewed papers, including one, published in Pediatric Obesity that examines the associations among parental experiences and internalization of weight stigma and their engagement in weight-focused conversations and comments with children. In addition, she has presented her research at several conferences, including the National Council on Family Relations, the Society for Nutrition Education & Behavior, and the Future Directions Forum of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Prior to pursuing her PhD, Ellen was a Family and Consumer Sciences SNAP-Ed Agent for Virginia Cooperative Extension where she worked with health coalitions, community groups, and school districts to develop policy, system, and environmental changes to reduce health disparities. She is interested in addressing issues related to food insecurity and has experience working as a research assistant for the Northern Illinois Food Bank and the UConn Center for Public Health and Health Policy. Ellen also has experience working as a nutrition consultant for Head Start centers in both Illinois and Virginia.

Melissa Nowak (a junior HDFS and Psychological Sciences major) received a UConn IDEA grant for summer 2021 to support her project “Socioemotional Learning for Sandy Hook”, with faculty mentor Caitlin Lombardi.

UConn HDFS alumni Julie Daly Meehan (05) and Kim Bishop (07) were each featured in the MetroHartford Alliance. Julie is the MetroHartford Alliance Chief Operating Officer and Kim is Executive Director of Talent Attraction & Retention.

Dominique Courts (UConn masters, HDFS, 2017), served as a panelist as part of a workshop on the Principles of Kwanzaa, organized by the UConn School of Social Work Black History 365 Committee, available on Youtube (Watch the video here).

Undergraduate (and University Scholar) Julie Brisson is co-author of a new journal article on yoga as part of concussion treatment plans, which was featured in UConn Today. Read the article here.

Congratulations to graduate student Samantha Lawrence nominated by the Connecticut chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) for the international PEO Scholar Award competition.

Two HDFS/Gerontology undergraduate students are serving as Student Community Connection Ambassadors this semester as part of the UConn uKindness program. Thank you to DeNee Saunders (HDFS major) and Jaelie Jackson (Gerontology minor). Thankful for all that you are doing for the UConn community!