The Human Ecology Alumni Association recently named seven College of Human Ecology student recipients of the Alan D. Mathios Research and Service Grants for the Fall semester. 

The provided grants fund undergraduate Human Ecology students’ research and service activities that further the mission of the College to improve lives by exploring and shaping human connections to natural, social, and built environments. 

“The Human Ecology Alumni Association is proud to support the work of these outstanding Human Ecology students,” said Torey Cummings and Dana Weiner, co-chairs of the Career Networking Committee of the Association. “The students are using their grant money for research and service projects in their fields of study that will have significant and exciting positive impact on the Cornell community and the world.”

Among those named are:

• Nicole Agaronnik '19, nutritional sciences major from Brooklyn, NY, who received the funds to present her work at Obesity Week, an international conference hosted by The Obesity Society (TOS) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASBMS).
• Lia Chen ’19, human development major from Moorpark, CA, who received the funds for a senior honors project to examine underlying neural mechanisms of healthy aging in older adults by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a central research tool.
• Jessica Estrada ’19, apparel design major from Pinehurst, TX, who received the funds for a  research project to identify the apparel needs of perimenopausal adult women who use an ostomy bag.
• Elena Gupta ’19, human biology, health, and society major from Ithaca, NY, who received the funds in support of the International Women's Day Conference at Cornell University.
• Chiamaka Ijebuonwu ’20, human biology, health, and society major from Larenceville, GA, in support of a multi-tier service project to help expand nutritional education, healthy snack options, and protein options for patients at the Ithaca Free Clinic, with a data analysis component following the project.
• Rebecca Li ’19, human development major from Bayside, NY, for a research project that takes a preliminary step towards linking how children's beliefs about the self may influence their achievement and goal-directed behavior, and whether these beliefs differ between low and high SES children.
• Stephanie Steinberg ‘19, human development major from Merrick, NY, for a project to explore unaddressed questions regarding the role of the cerebellum in cognitive tasks such as attention and memory, using neuroimaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological assessment.

The awardees proposed promising projects that seek to understand memory and cognition, develop innovative garments, disseminate ground-breaking research, and organize students to promote gender equality and empowerment.

The Human Ecology Alumni Association awards the Alan D. Mathios Research and Service Grant bi-annually to qualified undergraduate students in the College to help further the awardees’ academic interests, research, outreach, career preparation, professional development, and commitment to public service.

Renamed in 2017 in honor of Dean Alan Mathios’ service to the College and the Cornell community, the grant recognizes students who seek to apply innovative solutions to improving the lives of others.