HABLAB news from prior years appears below:
- April 2022: This month, Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen, a collaborator from the University of Texas at Austin, led the publication of "Family food insecurity, food acquisition and eating behavior over 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic" with HABLAB co-authors Mackenzie Ferrante, Juliana Goldsmith, and Steph Anzman-Frasca. Check out information on other recent publications from our team at Publications - Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, Ph.D. (weebly.com).
- March 2022: This month marks 3 years in the lab for PhD student, Hope, who primarily contributes to the Play With Me Study.
- February 2022: This month we welcomed a new Project Manager to our team. Cliff Minter, MPH, will be leading lab administration and the implementation of the UB Restaurant Study. Welcome, Cliff!
- January 2022: Congratulations to Hannah A. for 2 years in the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. This month we also welcomed a new graduate research assistant, Rosy, who will be helping lead data collection sessions for the Play With Me Study, and new undergraduate research assistants Emily and Khushi. Welcome! You can read more about our new team members in the Team tab.
- November 2021: This month, PhD student Sara Tauriello presented research from the INSIGHT Study at the Obesity Society's annual meeting. Her oral presentation was entitled INSIGHT Obesity Preventive Intervention Effects on Parenting and Child Behavior at 3 and 6 Years. We are also celebrating two of our honors undergraduate research assistants who received grants from the University at Buffalo Honors College to fund their independent research. Congratulations to Hannah Anderson, who is working on an online survey of food parenting behaviors, and Callista Zayatz, who is working on researching links between outdoor recreation, stress, and sleep. Opportunities to participate in their upcoming research will be advertised in our Participate tab and on our social media @ubhablab. Callista also celebrates 2 years in the lab this month!
- September 2021: We are ecstatic to welcome back UB students to campus and see some of our lab members in-person this semester after over one year's worth of principally remote work. To add to the excitement of having some in-person work occurring in the lab, a bunch of new RA's have joined our lab this Fall. We are glad to welcome Hannah Mwelwa, Opeyemi Ibitayo, Bradley Rao, Vaishali Gupta, and Olivia Hopko to our team as research assistants. We're happy you're here! This month also marks Cindy's 1 year anniversary as a member of HABLAB, and PhD student Sara, who started with us prior to beginning her PhD journey, has spent 5 years on the team!
- August 2021: This month marked 3 years on the team for staff member Juliana Goldsmith, who started out on our team as an undergraduate research assistant. We are happy you're here, Juliana!
- July 2021: This summer, graduate research assistant Sara Tauriello, postdoc Mackenzie Ferrante, former undergraduate research assistants Sherey Tan and Lindsay Lassetter, and Dr. Anzman-Frasca all presented and participated in the virtual Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior Research conference. In addition, this summer has brought several new research assistants to our team through various UB summer internship programs. Elizabeth Johnson is a medical student intern, Courtney Cole is a dietetic intern, and Maisha Rahman is an intern through the Collegiate Science & Technology Entry Program. This month also marked 1 year on the team for postdoc Mackenzie, and Maisha participated in the CSTEP Research Symposium. Check out the gallery tab for a photo of her poster presentation. Welcome to all of our new team members!
- June 2021: This month, HABLAB staff member Juliana presented findings from her honors thesis research to an international audience! Juliana delivered an oral presentation entitled "Examining parent stress and child schooling/care location as predictors of restaurant-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a nationally representative survey" as part of the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity's annual meeting, which took place virtually this year. Postdoc Mackenzie Ferrante also presented data from the same survey study at this conference. Her oral presentation was entitled, "U.S. families’ food acquisition and restaurant use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a nationally representative survey."
- May 2021: This year we saw several of our undergraduate research assistants graduate. Congratulations to Sarah Bargnesi, Adwoa Dadzie, Juliana Goldsmith, Elizabeth Kubiniec, Lindsay Lassetter, and Sherey Tan on this big accomplishment! Former undergraduate research assistants Elizabeth Kubiniec and Juliana Goldsmith transitioned to staff roles as research support specialists here on the HABLAB team. We’re so very happy to continue having them on the team! Research assistant Sarah Bargnesi has continued on to the City University of New York where she will be pursing her Master of Public Health, Adwoa Dadzie has joined Dr. Orfeu Buxton’s Sleep, Health, and Society Collaboratory at Penn State as a Research Technologist, Lindsay Lassetter will be attending the UB School of Dental Medicine this summer to pursue her career in Pediatric Dentistry, and Sherey Tan is now working as a medical assistant in a New York City dermatology office in preparation to apply for medical school. Last but not least, former HABLAB Project Coordinator Lily McGovern was accepted to the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and will begin her journey as a medical student this summer. Congratulations and good luck Sarah, Abi, Lindsay, Sherey, and Lily! Also, congratulations to Elizabeth for her oral presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting this month and for 3 years on our team!
- April 2021: This month brought lots of virtual conference activity for the HABLAB. PhD student Hope White presented her work on the development of the Play With Me parenting intervention at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, where Dr. Anzman-Frasca also participated in a symposium on expanding child food preferences research to include innovative interventions, individual differences, and under-represented populations. In addition, the University at Buffalo Celebration of Academic Excellence featured 5 HABLAB student presentations: RAs Sherey, Lindsay, and Sarah B. presented on the UB Grocery Shopping Study; RA Juliana presented her thesis research on families' restaurant-related behaviors during COVID-19; RA Elizabeth presented her senior project examining effects of the INSIGHT responsive parenting intervention on child inhibitory control; RA Abi presented on parenting sensitivity, also in the context of the INSIGHT Study; and PhD student Sara T. presented findings from a systematic review linking child temperament, parent feeding, child eating, and child weight status. Great work, all!
- March 2021: Dr. Anzman-Frasca and her colleagues presented ideas about how to extend current research on children's food preferences during a symposium at the Society for Child Development Research's biennial meeting, which was virtual this year. The symposium was entitled "Expanding research on child food acceptance to include individual differences, innovative interventions, and under-represented populations", and the four symposium presenters are now working on a manuscript based on this symposium.
- February 2021: This month marks 1 year in the lab for volunteer research assistant Christine. Christine joined the team to help with the Play With Me Study, which we look forward to restarting soon after a COVID-19-related pause. Other updates this month include new restaurant-related publications led by postdoc Dr. Mackenzie Ferrante and PhD student Sara Tauriello. Co-authors on these papers include other HABLAB team members Elizabeth, Juliana, and Lily. Sara's work was also presented at The Obesity Society's annual meeting last Fall. Congrats!
- January 2021: This month marks 1 year in the lab for undergraduate research assistants Hannah and Sarah B. Hannah and Sarah joined the lab during the Spring 2020 semester, and we all know what happened that Spring... we are glad Hannah and Sarah stuck with us throughout these past few non-traditional, remote semesters, contributing to various HABLAB projects, such as behavioral coding for the INSIGHT Study, working remotely with participants and data from the CTSI Grocery Shopping Study, and our Diversity & Equity and Social Media committees.
- December 2020: Congratulations to RA Lindsay on her graduation! Lindsay will continue as a volunteer research assistant with the lab this Spring before moving on to pursue her goal of becoming a pediatric dentist.
- November 2020: A big congratulations to postdoc Dr. Mackenzie Ferrante and her family as they welcome baby Rowan to the world this month. In addition, this month RA Callista celebrates 1 year in the lab, and we have a new publication to share in which we test a board game designed to promote young children's delay of gratification. We measured delay of gratification skills using the "Marshmallow Test", which may be familiar to those who have taken an introductory Psychology course (or who spent time following social media trends during the pandemic!).
- September 2020: This month, former RA Jake had his honors thesis research published in Public Health Nutrition. Check out his first-authored paper on examining taste testing and point-of-purchase prompting as strategies to promote healthier food selection from food trucks here. Jake is now a PhD student in the Department of Community Health & Health Behavior at the University at Buffalo, where his research interests include primary and secondary prevention of HIV and promoting quality of life among people living with HIV.
- August 2020: This month, undergraduate research assistants Lindsay and Sherey celebrated 1 year in the lab. Lindsay and Sherey have worked closely with staff on our Grocery Shopping Study, transitioning into student leadership roles in the process. In addition, research assistant Juliana celebrates 2 years in the lab this month and is beginning to work on her senior honors thesis, and PhD student Sara celebrates 4 years! We appreciate all of these team members' hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm.
- July 2020: This month we welcomed a new team member. Postdoc Dr. Mackenzie Ferrante has joined us from Colorado State University, where she recently completed her PhD working with Drs. Laura Bellows and Susan Johnson. She is also a Registered Dietitian. Dr. Ferrante is enthusiastic about promoting healthy eating among children in restaurants and will be working on the UB Restaurant Study, as well as other projects. Welcome, Dr. Ferrante, we are so glad you're here!
- June 2020: Project Coordinator Lily McGovern celebrated 1 year with HABLAB this month. Congrats, Lily, and thank you. This month, we are also happy to welcome Abi Dadzie to our team. Abi is an undergraduate research assistant coming to us via the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program. Welcome, Abi! Finally, congrats to PhD student Sara Tauriello on her new publication, which examines two strategies to increase children's vegetable acceptance during summer camp: repeated exposure to veggies and pairing veggie tasting with group games. This paper is special to our team as it will appear in a special issue of Pediatric Obesity that is dedicated to Dr. Leann Birch.
- May 2020: Newly-published HABLAB research includes a publication describing a new measure of the relative reinforcing value of (i.e. how hard young children will work for) food versus parent-child interaction. Staffing updates this month include welcoming dietetic interns Andrea and Adrianna, who will be contributing to the Grocery Shopping Study this summer. In addition, research assistant Elizabeth is celebrating 2 years in the lab. Welcome/congrats!
- April 2020: News this month includes a new publication examining the potential of fundraising incentives to increase selection of healthier choices among families in restaurants. In addition, undergraduate research assistant Amber Wedderburn shared her senior research project as part of the Western New York Undergraduate Psychology conference, which was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An image of Amber's poster is available in the gallery. Finally, we would like to offer our well wishes to Project Coordinator Malena Savell, who is moving on this month to pursue her goal of continuing her research career in her home state of California. We know she will be successful in her new position at UC Davis. Congratulations also to Lily McGovern, who has been promoted to Project Coordinator.
- March 2020: This month marks 1 year in the lab for Malena Savell and Hope White, who have both been contributing to the Play With Me Study. Thanks for all of your hard work!
- January 2020: HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca is a co-author on a new publication offering brief videos and tip sheets for promoting vegetable snacks. In addition, Malena Savell recently completed her Master's degree and transitioned from graduate student to Project Coordinator in the lab. Congrats!
- November 2019: Associations between food group intake and academic outcomes is the topic of a new publication from researchers at Tufts University and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca. In addition, the HABLAB team attended The Obesity Society's annual meeting this month, with presentations from graduate student Malena Savell, medical student Kaley Reardon, and Dr. Anzman-Frasca. Photos of poster presentations appear in the gallery.
- August 2019: The start of the Fall semester marks 3 years in the lab for PhD student Sara Tauriello and 1 year for undergraduate research assistant Juliana Goldsmith. Thank you for your hard work and dedication!
- July 2019: A new publication led by HABLAB alumna Sarah Ehrenberg explores the use of repeated exposure through hands-on cooking as a way to increase children's preferences for fruits and vegetables.
- June 2019: We are excited to start our 5-year, NIH-funded Restaurant Study this month. More information on this and other current HABLAB studies is available in the Research tab. In other news, a recent publication from Dr. Anzman-Frasca and her colleagues at Tufts University explores partnerships between grocery stores and out-of-school-time programs as a way to promote healthier snacks during out-of-school time. A summary is available here.
- June 2019: Several new team members have joined HABLAB this month, including Lily McGovern, a recent Cornell graduate, who has joined us as a Senior Research Support Specialist, and Kaley Reardon, former undergraduate research assistant, who has come back for the summer to complete her research internship following her first year of medical school. Welcome/welcome back; we're glad you are here!
- May 2019: HABLAB participated in the 4th annual University at Buffalo Ingestive Behavior Research Day. RA Jake shared findings from this thesis research, and grad student Sara presented her work using associative conditioning with a positive peer context to promote child vegetable acceptance, which she will also present at the Association for Psychological Science's annual meeting later this month. In other news, this month RAs Elizabeth and Eunice celebrate 1 year in the lab, and RA Jake celebrates 3 years in the lab. Eunice and Jake will be graduating this month with degrees in Psychology and Biomedical Sciences respectively. Congrats, everyone! We appreciate your hard work and ongoing commitment to the team!
- April 2019: HABLAB research assistants Jake Bleasdale and Eunice Mak presented posters at the University at Buffalo's Celebration of Academic Excellence. See our Gallery for photos. Jake also gave an oral presentation about his honors thesis research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Atlanta, GA, earlier this month. We're proud of all that Jake and Eunice have accomplished as seniors in the lab. Both will be staying on the HABLAB team as summer staff, so we don't have to say goodbye to them just yet!
- March 2019: It's been a busy month! First, a big congrats to HABLAB research assistant Jake Bleasdale & HABLAB alumna Cheryl Porzi for receiving the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence! Jake and Cheryl will be honored at UB's Celebration of Academic Excellence in April. Other recent HABLAB news includes the funding of our new grocery shopping study by the UB Clinical and Translational Institute and the addition of two HABLAB team members: graduate students Malena Savell and Hope White. Malena and Hope will be contributing to another new HABLAB study, the Parenting Toolkit to Promote Healthier Eating. Welcome!
- February 2019: Graduate student Sara Tauriello has accepted an offer to join the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University at Buffalo. She also received the Ingestive Behavior Research Scholarship from UB's Center for Ingestive Behavior Research. We are very proud of Sara and glad that she'll remain a member of the HABLAB team as she continues her studies. Congrats!
- January 2019: A new publication from researchers at Tufts University and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca evaluates the reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the Healthy Kids Out of School principles for obesity prevention during out-of-school time. More information on HKOS is available here.
- December 2018: This month Project Coordinator Anita Singh celebrated 3 years with HABLAB and moved on to a new position as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Roswell Park Cancer Center. Breanna Sharpe celebrated more than 2 years with HABLAB and moved on to another position within UB's Division of Behavioral Medicine. Best of luck, and thank you both for all of your hard work with HABLAB!
- August 2018: A new publication from Penn State and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca shows positive effects of a parenting intervention designed to prevent early childhood obesity on child weight outcomes at age 3 years. A related news release is available here.
- July 2018: This new book covers various aspects of children's eating behaviors and includes a chapter from Dr. Anzman-Frasca and HABLAB alumna Sarah Ehrenberg about the effects of repeated taste exposures on infant and child eating.
- July 2018: Graduate student Sara Tauriello presented findings from her Masters project at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior's annual meeting in Bonita Springs, FL. The title of her poster was "Associations between parental control and children's eating behaviors in a quick-service restaurant".
- June 2018: Dr. Anzman-Frasca published a paper with colleagues from Penn State, showing effects of the INSIGHT early obesity preventive intervention on infant negativity and regulation.
- May 2018: New student research assistants Richa, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Eunice joined the HABLAB team this month. Read more about them here.
- May 2018: Graduate student Sara Tauriello presented a poster at the third annual UBIB (University at Buffalo Ingestive Behavior) Research Day. See the gallery tab for a photo of Sara in action - great job, Sara!
- May 2018: This month marks 2 years in the lab for staff member Breanna Sharpe and research assistants Jacob Bleasdale, Jamie Morris, and Kaley Reardon. Many of our research assistants will be moving on to new challenges this summer after several semesters in the lab. We appreciate all of their hard work, will miss them, and look forward to hearing about their achievements in the future!
- April 2018: Honors research assistants Sarah Ehrenberg and Kaley Reardon presented their senior research projects at the University at Buffalo's Celebration of Academic Excellence this month. See the gallery tab for photos. Great job, Sarah and Kaley!
- February 2018: A new publication from the HABLAB team shows the promise of using placemats to promote healthier meal options to children in restaurants. Research assistant Laura Weiss created this infographic summing up this study's results.
- January 2018: This month, student research assistant Sarah Ehrenberg is celebrating two years in the lab. Congratulations, Sarah! Sarah's two years of hard work with HABLAB will culminate with the completion of her senior honors thesis this Spring.
- December 2017: This new research review from HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca, Sarah Ehrenberg, and colleagues describes how to promote healthy food preferences during the prenatal, infancy, and early childhood periods. An issue brief that sums up the review's main findings is available here.
- November 2017: Project Coordinator Anita Singh has been with HABLAB for two years. Thanks for all of your hard work, Anita!
- October 2017: Breanna Sharpe joined the lab as a Senior Research Support Specialist. Previously Breanna has worked as a research assistant in the lab. The team is glad to have her on board in her new role.
- August 2017: Research assistant Sara Tauriello celebrated one year in the lab and transitioned into a new role as a graduate research assistant this month. Congrats, Sara!
- July 2017: Dr. Anzman-Frasca presented findings from HABLAB's recent restaurant study at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior annual meeting. Read more about the study here.
- June 2017: New research highlights this month include a pilot study on promoting healthier eating among children in restaurants, with colleagues from Healthy Dining and ChildObesity180, and an examination of links between infant sleep location and sleep outcomes by the INSIGHT study team. Read more about the INSIGHT study in this New York Times article.
- May 2017: HABLAB team members presented research at the second annual University at Buffalo Ingestive Behavior Research Day on May 3, 2017. See the gallery tab for some photos. This month the following research assistants also celebrated one year in the lab: Jacob Bleasdale, Jamie Morris, Kaley Reardon, and Breanna Sharpe. Congrats!
- April 2017: HABLAB student research assistants presented research posters at the University at Buffalo Celebration of Academic Excellence. McNair Scholar Parveen Attai received an Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity award for the poster that she led, which included findings from her summer internship with HABLAB. See the gallery tab for more on the HABLAB poster presentations at this event. Congratulations to all of the student research assistants on their successful presentations!
- March 2017: This new research from ChildObesity180 at Tufts University and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca demonstrates the feasibility of objectively measuring children's dietary intake in restaurants.
- February 2017: Dr. Anzman-Frasca was featured in The Obesity Society's newsletter this month. Find the write-up here.
- January 2017: Congratulations to Sarah Ehrenberg who celebrated one year as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab!
- January 2017: A new study from ChildObesity180 at Tufts University and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca supports the need for health promotion efforts during volunteer-led out-of-school-time programs.
- January 2017: New restaurant research was published by HABLAB and colleagues highlighting families' and restaurant executives' views on healthy kids' meals and individual differences in ordering patterns in response to a healthy children's menu change. A related podcast is available here.
- November 2016: Anita Singh celebrated her one-year anniversary as a HABLAB project coordinator. Congratulations!
- November 2016: Dr. Anzman-Frasca won first place in a competition of brief oral presentations at The Obesity Society's annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. See the gallery tab for a photo.
- July 2016: New research from the UB Infant Lab and HABLAB shows that infants who enjoy being held close and who calm down quickly are less motivated by food.
- June 2016: Studies from Penn State and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca show positive effects of a parenting intervention designed to prevent early childhood obesity on infant growth and infant sleep. Related write-ups are available here and here.
- April 2016: New research from ChildObesity180 at Tufts University and HABLAB's Dr. Anzman-Frasca evaluates kids' meals at leading restaurant chains.
- February 2016: Dr. Anzman-Frasca and University at Buffalo colleagues Drs. Dave Pape, Myles Faith, and Leonard Epstein received a grant to develop and pilot-test new board games aiming to promote positive behavioral skills in young children. More information about this study is available here.
- November 2015: HABLAB investigator Dr. Stephanie Anzman-Frasca discusses research on healthier kids' meals here.