Marlen Gonzalez
My work takes a behavioral ecology perspective on understanding the reciprocal relationships between environments, brains, and behaviors in humans. Specifically, my lab, the Life History Lab, looks at how social and physical affordances in development and in the present impact neural sensitivity to rewards and punishment, vigilance, cognitive load, and stress as well positive stimuli like social support and contemplative practices. These sensitivities can encourage certain behaviors and be influenced by them, creating emergent ecologies
- Dec 12, 2025
- Holistic Human Health
Hanlon advances personalized nutrition through microbiome research
Kalem Hanlon's work sits at the intersection of dietary fiber, the gut microbiome and precision nutrition: a field that explores how genetics, environment and microbiome composition shape individual responses to food.
After experiencing gut issues for much of his life, he became driven to uncover why the same food can benefit one person while offering no advantage, or even discomfort, to another. And when he's not studying how diet shapes microbial health in the Angela
- May 14, 2025
- Community Engagement, Alumni
Veteran 4-H leader Alexa Maille to guide NYS 4-H into the future
After a national search, Alexa Maille ’04 was appointed director of the New York State 4-H Youth Development Program. Maille has held key leadership roles with NYS 4-H, serving as STEM Specialist since 2014 and interim director since January 2024. NYS 4-H is the youth development program for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and is in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR).
“I’m excited for Alexa to launch this next chapter for NYS 4-H,” said
- Jun 20, 2024
- by Emily Groff
- Holistic Human Health
Communication between tissues facilitates thermogenesis
Daniel Berry, assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, and graduate students in his lab have identified the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern adaptive thermogenesis, a biological process that researchers believe could be the key to treating obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.
Their study, published in the journal Cell Reports, outlines the complex intra-organ communication that allows brown adipose tissue to burn calories to produce heat to
- Feb 9, 2024
- Holistic Human Health
Untangling the relationship between loneliness and isolation
During the early days of the pandemic, Anthony Ong, professor of psychology, made a curious observation: Some of his friends were thriving in isolation. Yet others have felt lonely even when surrounded by others.
Ong, who is also professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, knew that loneliness and isolation had negative health effects, including on cognition, and that older adults were especially at risk. Some studies had investigated whether loneliness or
- Sep 25, 2024
- Community Engagement, Social Impact + Justice, Sustainability + Society
A research trip to India’s indigenous communities makes global health personal
Last July, a group of Cornell students sat on mats in a wooden pavilion at the edge of a forest in southern India, passing around plants. A traditional healer from a local indigenous community explained which ones ease menstrual cramps, treat joint pain and soothe colicky infants.
The visit was part of a five-week program that brought seven Cornell students — including four from Cornell Human Ecology — to the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, a protected