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So-Yeon Yoon is a Professor of Design and Environmental Analysis and the director of Design-User Experience-Technology (DUET) Research Lab at the College of Human Ecology, Cornell University. She is currently the president of the Design Communication Association. 
She practiced interior design and architecture in Korea and the U.S. With her education and industry experience in design with digital media, she taught the School of Design at the University of Ulsan in Korea and worked with industry

Yue (Jo) Jia is completing the dietetic internship program. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nutrition from Bastyr University, where her training combined evidence-based practice with a holistic approach to health. Yue’s professional and research interests focus on the intersection of disordered eating, cultural identity, and food insecurity, with an emphasis on fostering positive relationships with food through inclusive, community-centered care. Her hands-on experience spans clinical, food service, and community nutrition, and

Savita Sastry is a Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, mentored by Dr. Tolunay Aydemir. Her research integrates experimental and computational approaches to uncover how zinc deficiency reshapes spatial host–microbe–nutrient interactions in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Combining multi-omics analyses, region-specific murine models, and ex vivo organoid systems, she investigates how zinc availability influences microbial function, intestinal barrier integrity, and tissue regeneration. Savita also develops computational pipelines to translate murine genomics and metagenomics insights

Valeria Savtyreva is a Master’s student in the Division of Nutritional Sciences on the Dietetics track. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Science, with a minor in Biological Science, from Rutgers University. In 2020, she began working at a bariatric practice, an experience that sparked her interest in the relationship between nutrition and metabolic health. As an undergraduate, Valeria conducted research on the connections between the gut microbiome, metabolism, and women’s health. At

Matthew is a PhD student in the field of Nutrition with a deep interest in glucose homeostasis. After completing undergrad, he worked as a research assistant at the University of the West Indies where he investigated the effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on blood glucose tolerance in diabetic animal models. In his master's thesis he focused on the potential of moderate intermittent hypoxia to lower blood glucose and reduce pathological elevations in sympathetic neural

Lauren San Diego is a third-year PhD student in Community Nutrition. Her desire to leverage nutrition initiatives to improve community environments and individuals' well-being have been shaped by her education throughout the East Coast and Midwest United States. Her current work examines the impact of fruit and vegetable incentive programs on diet patterns and food security using mixed methods. She intends to build her career leading research initiatives that improve healthy food access and wellness

Nicholas is a Ph.D. candidate in Nutrition for Metabolic Health, working with Dr. Meng Wang. He earned a B.S. in Food Science and Technology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. Nicholas’ research interests focus on how metabolic processes influence disease development, with a particular focus on cancer and accelerated aging. In Dr. Meng Wang’s lab, Nicholas investigates aldehydes as a metabolic source of DNA damage and examines the mechanisms underlying