Building on the milestone achievement of training more than one million coaches in youth development and mental health practices, the EEC cohort focuses on what comes next: strengthening the systems, structures and supports that make quality coaching accessible to all young people.

As part of the partnership, �����ƽ�� will receive $250,000 to support the University’s mental health guidelines project led by Meredith Whitley, PhD, professor of health and sport sciences, a leading scholar in sport for development, which intentionally uses physical activity, play and structured sports as a vehicle to drive social change, peace building and community development.

“To combat the escalating youth mental health crisis, this project establishes a pathway to transform a fragmented, high-pressure sports ecosystem into a psychologically safe environment by equipping adult leaders with actionable, evidence-based guidance,” said Dr. Whitley. “We are deeply grateful for the continued support of , and we are thrilled to be an inaugural partner in the Million Coaches Challenge Empower Every Coach cohort. Joining this national cohort of 10 organizations allows us to collectively advance systems-level change in youth sports through policy, research, narrative change and organizational practice.”

In addition to �����ƽ��, the 2026 Empower Every Coach Learning Community includes the following partners and projects: The Ad Council, Center for Healing and Justice through Sport, FundPlay Foundation, National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), The Sport Industry Research Center at Temple University, LiFEsports at The Ohio State University and the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Positive Coaching Alliance, United States Soccer Federation, and University of Washington Center for Leadership in Athletics (UW CLA) and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Facilitated by Aspen Institute’s Project Play, partners will collaborate over the next 18 months through quarterly convening, shared learning opportunities and collective problem-solving designed to accelerate systems-level impact across the youth sports ecosystem.

About Million Coaches Challenge

The is a national initiative launched by the Susan Crown Exchange in 2021 to transform youth sports by training coaches in evidence-based youth development practices. Backed by leading organizations across sports, research and youth development, MCC works to equip coaches with the tools to create positive, inclusive environments where young people can thrive on and off the field.

About Susan Crown Exchange

is a grant-making foundation with a mission to prepare youth to thrive in a rapidly changing world. SCE supports organizations that promote social and emotional learning and youth well-being, explore the relationship between technology and society, and build critical life skills through youth sports.

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The residency of Dr. Banerjee, a distinguished management scholar and experienced academic leader, was sponsored by and affiliated with the prestigious Levermore Global Scholars program—a program for students interested in global study and leadership.

A Historic First for �����ƽ��

The opportunity to become a Fulbright Fellow was brought to Dr. Banerjee by Hanna Kim, PhD, professor and chair of the �����ƽ�� Department of Anthropology and co-director of the Museum Studies Program. While honored, he initially hesitated due to his commitments at Ashoka University, where he was overseeing the commissioning of a new management school. “I wasn’t sure if I could get away for a whole semester,” he explained.

With strong support from his colleagues, Dr. Banerjee ultimately accepted the opportunity, adding that his motivation was “to try and understand the shifting sands in higher education that the U.S. is living through.” He felt that these insights would inform ideas and strategies to help build world-class global institutions in India.

As the first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence ever hosted by �����ƽ��, Dr. Banerjee’s appointment carries special significance. “It is a matter of great honor for me,” he said.

Advancing �����ƽ��’s Global Educational Initiatives

Dr. Banerjee was sponsored by and affiliated with the Levermore Global Scholars program and the College of Arts and Sciences. During his time here, he helped advance �����ƽ��’s global educational initiatives by collaborating with scholars and engaging with the campus and local community.

Throughout the semester, Dr. Banerjee delivered three different lectures to �����ƽ�� students and faculty.

• Careers at the Edge of Change: Global Stories and Innovation in Emerging Markets provided insight into real-world business challenges, innovations and strategies.
• From Classrooms to Ecosystems: Time for Higher Education to Evolve in the Global Innovation Economy dove into how university education, particularly American higher education, looks to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of global realities.
• Innovation Ecosystems Unlock Civilizational Potential: The Case of India explored how campuses, startups and cultural narratives transformed entrepreneurship for young Indians and why building impactful organizations is a powerful expression of ambition, purpose sand leadership in contemporary India.

By residing in an on-campus apartment and judging high school students at �����ƽ��’s annual Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, Dr. Banerjee gain firsthand insight into the American student experience.

Sponsored by Students With a Global Mindset: The Levermore Global Scholars

�����ƽ�� students call the Levermore Global Scholars “an unconventional honors program.” And that’s really what it is. Levermore Global Scholars is an innovative academic community dedicated to preparing students to become leaders in a changing world and enhancing their global mindsets. It recognizes the importance of social responsibility and justice, civic participation, community engagement, global awareness and global activism.

Current students in this program are studying a core global studies curriculum alongside 37 different majors, including international studies, business, nursing, political science and biology. In addition to classroom studies, students participate in a variety of cocurricular and experiential learning activities, including cultural excursions to New York City, service projects and activities at the United Nations.

Most Levermore Scholars also participate in study abroad, as well as credit-bearing internships.

A Distinguished Academic Leader From India

Born in Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal, India, Dr. Banerjee has led a distinguished academic career. He earned both a PhD in economics and marketing science and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, as well as a BS in economics and mathematics and statistics from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata. From his 18-year tenure at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad to his transformative roles as dean at Ahmedabad and Shiv Nadar universities—where he pioneered industry-academia collaborations—Dr. Banerjee has consistently elevated educational standards. He is currently the head of the Havells School of Management and Leadership at Ashoka University.

India and �����ƽ��: Deep Ties and Collaboration

Although his semester at �����ƽ�� is over, Dr. Banerjee sees significant potential for further collaboration between �����ƽ�� and institutions in India. He highlighted India’s growing importance in global higher education, fueled by a burgeoning student population eager to learn. “India has been the largest source of international students for �����ƽ��,” he observed, indicating that this creates a strong foundation for strategic partnerships. He also noted that �����ƽ��’s prime location in New York, combined with its thoughtfully designed and cost-effective programs, means that Indian student interest will only continue to expand.

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Along with a wide range of e-posters, exhibits and oral presentations from students in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, this year’s Research Day will introduce new events with a particular emphasis on the arts and creative projects, including a 24-Hour Play Festival from theater majors and thesis presentations from art majors.

This year’s conference also offers another exciting first: a keynote address delivered by a Nobel laureate, William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, senior physician-scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Dr. Kaelin received the . He also recently endowed a prize at �����ƽ�� in honor of his mother, who graduated from �����ƽ�� in 1954.

We spoke with Research Day co-chairs Karolina Lempert, PhD, assistant professor in the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, and Wei Liu, PhD, associate professor in the College of Nursing and Public Health, to learn more about the exciting new developments to the conference and �����ƽ��’s commitment to showcasing student-led research.

What are some of the new additions to Research Day this year, particularly those focused on the arts?

Dr. Lempert: For the 24-Hour Play Festival, theater students will write, direct and act in 10-minute plays based on abstracts of research that will be presented at the conference. They’ll receive the abstracts the day before the conference and will only have 24 hours to create and rehearse them before performing in the University Center (UC) ballroom from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This will be a different kind of presentation and it definitely involves more of the arts, which has generally been less represented at the conference.

Dr. Liu: Another new addition is the Senior Art Gallery Presentations. David Pierce, assistant professor of art and art history, will have seven students present their graduating theses in the UC art gallery from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. While we’ve had students display their art in past conferences, this year, they’re going to be there so they can converse and discuss their work with attendees. We’re also going to have anthropology students from two different culture and society classes display photos from their midterm assignments.

Are these new events the result of an effort to incorporate more creative disciplines in Research Day?

Dr. Liu: �����ƽ�� has always tried to promote interdisciplinary collaboration with the conference, but inevitably there are some departments that have less representation. We’re very lucky to have worked with Laura Mroz [associate director of executive communications], who played a critical role in conducting outreach to other departments.

Dr. Lempert: There’s a norm in the sciences of presenting posters at conferences, while arts students have other ways that they display their work. So I think changing that culture and showcasing arts and humanities may take some time, but this is the start of the effort. This year, we’ll have the biggest representation from those fields so far.

How is �����ƽ�� engaging local high school students as part of the conference?

Dr. Liu: For the first time, we’ll be hosting a for a chance to win a full-tuition scholarship to �����ƽ��. The admissions office, which is sponsoring the competition, is encouraging high school juniors from research classes to submit their abstracts to be presented on conference day. We’ll have judges at the conference who will review their work and select the winner.

How else will the Research Day conference be larger in scope this year?

Dr. Liu: We received approximately 350 abstract submissions—100 more than we usually receive. This marks increased submissions in every single category, including e-posters, oral presentations and computer science exhibits. While we used to host computer science and gaming exhibitions in the charter room on the second floor of the UC, this year, we’ll actually use a bigger space on the first floor to accommodate more participants.

Dr. Lempert: This is also the first year we expanded the event out to the entire UC—not just the second floor—and I think that it will only keep growing.

What are your plans for Research Day going forward?

Dr. Liu: If this year’s conference is a success and we receive positive feedback, we can do even more outreach and incorporate more disciplines next year. We’re also hoping to receive abstracts for new presentation types, such as humanities panel presentations and film presentations.

What do you hope students and attendees take away from Research Day?

Dr. Lempert: I hope the conference empowers students to do research of their own and to engage in their own creative work. I also hope it brings students closer together and helps them see that research is for everyone.

Dr. Liu: I really want students and faculty to take away the message that �����ƽ�� promotes a strong community, and we encourage collaboration and inclusiveness. When we gather post-conference feedback from our presenters, we always hear that they appreciate people outside their own disciplines coming to see their posters or listen to their presentations. It’s just really encouraging, this knowledge-sharing among students and faculty across disciplines.

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But the Nordic voice hasn’t always spoken so loudly on the international stage. In 2003, Katie Laatikainen, PhD, professor and chair of �����ƽ��’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, published “” (Cooperation and Conflict), which examined the disappearance of the “Nordic voice”—the bloc of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden—from the United Nations.

At the time, the European Union’s (EU) progressive policies resonated strongly with Nordic states, who were willing to operate as part of a larger EU coalition. In the intervening years, however, those policies changed. “After they joined the UN in the 1990s, Nordic states felt they could push the EU to be as progressive as they were,” Dr. Laatikainen said. The Nordic bloc also believed the UN would remain a strong supporter of multilateralism, or the practice of multiple entities organizing toward a common goal, which is integral to the Nordic international identity. “But it became clear that wasn’t going to happen.”

The Once-Quiet Nordic Voice Starts to Speak Up

In the mid-2010s, Dr. Laatikainen noticed that the Nordic bloc was beginning to reclaim its voice, issuing collective statements that went farther than EU stances, sometimes alongside the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Now, she’s back with a new article that builds on a decade of research and observation: “,” written with longtime collaborator Karen Smith, PhD, of the London School of Economics. (In 2020, the two published the book Group Politics in UN Multilateralism, which won the Academic Council on the United Nations System Biennial Book Award.) The article was accepted into the , a showcase for world-class scholarship on the history of Nordic international relations.

Although the Nordic states have continued to release independent statements, “there’s been this emphasis on establishing a Nordic voice as opposed to a national voice as the main dimension of their diplomatic outreach,” Dr. Laatikainen said. While researching the article, she had been shown an internal document among the Nordic states that asked diplomats to emphasize a collective voice. “It was a conscious practice, and we wanted to figure out why.”

Fractures in the EU-Nordic Relationship

As a study on international practice theory once noted, “practices exist, first and foremost, in the eyes of practitioners.” Drs. Laatikainen and Smith spoke to 24 diplomats from the Nordic and Baltic states as well as the EU, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the UK. Their interviews revealed divisions between states and blocs that had formerly engaged in multilateralism.

Historically, Nordic concerns at the UN have centered on human rights, especially women’s, children’s, indigenous, and gender rights. But as several EU states grew more conservative, weakening the EU’s progressive agenda, progressive EU multilateralism fell by the wayside. With their values compromised, Nordic states were no longer content to work only within the EU’s diplomatic coalition.

Solving an Identity Crisis

The Nordic bloc had more in mind than accomplishing policy goals. “People think UN politics are about getting votes,” Dr. Laatikainen said, “but we contend that these diplomatic practices are as much about identity.” She and Dr. Smith drew on the concept of ontological security, or the need to experience the self as a continuous whole, to explain the reappearance of the Nordic voice.

“When we think about national security, we think about military security and arms races,” Dr. Laatikainen said. Ontological security, however, is about social and psychological desire. The safety of Nordic states had not been threatened by rising conservatism within the EU, but their existential position was. “These states were worried. ‘Are we losing who we are?’ We all want to maintain a sense of identity, whether collective or individual, in our relations with others.”

Looking to an Uncertain Future

In today’s unstable geopolitical landscape, certainty is in short supply. States will cling to—or create—practices that reaffirm their values and identities. For smaller states like the Nordics, the UN is a particularly important site of identity-making. The UN charter preserves the sovereign equality and political independence of all member states, “guaranteeing their existence as actors in the international system,” Dr. Laatikainen said.

Most interviews for the article were conducted in 2022. If Dr. Laatikainen spoke to her subjects again today, she believes she’d find “an even stronger attachment to the Nordic voice,” given tensions involving Russia and Denmark/Greenland. EU states are also seeking to disengage from a United States under President Trump’s leadership, eroding once-strong alliances and shifting the balance of power.

A Four-Decade-Long Scholarly Passion

Amid uncertainty in the world order, Dr. Laatikainen is proud to see a clear line in the continuum of her own work. Since going abroad to Denmark as an undergraduate, she has spent decades studying international relations and diplomacy, always harboring a particular interest in the Nordic region. “The return of the Nordic voice” will be one of her final publications before retirement. “This article is very meaningful on different levels,” she said. “It has historical echoes in both my personal and professional life.”

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Resolving child malnutrition requires identifying the most significant contributing factors, which can then be used to develop effective, targeted programs. To take on that challenge, Dr. Antony and his research team created a novel scoring framework, which was published in the article “” in Frontiers in Public Health (October 15, 2025).¹

Bridging the Gap Between Data and Reality

RISE (Relevance-based Integration of Statistics and Expertise) is a scoring system that prioritizes the most important factors driving malnutrition in children ages 0 to 23 months. While earlier frameworks relied solely on machine learning to identify these determinants, RISE integrates real-world data from the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre at KR District Hospital in Mysore, India.

Machine learning models play a valuable role, but they often prioritize variables that improve prediction performance yet overlook social realities. “You’re not only relying on numbers—you’re also giving importance to real-world clinical experiences and established scientific evidence to interpret the findings,” Dr. Antony said.

RISE combines three layers of analysis to create its scoring system. First, researchers took hospital records from 206 children admitted to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre between March 2024 and January 2025 who had been identified with moderate or severe acute malnutrition. Those records included data on 22 variables across three categories: child information, maternal information, and socio-demographic information. Then, researchers ran those variables through four statistical filter methods and a machine learning model.

“Instead of trusting one single method or one computer model, it combines three different ways of checking and identifying to find a balanced answer to the question of what leads to malnutrition,” Dr. Antony said.

What the Framework Found

With the scoring system in place, a clearer picture of what drives child malnutrition began to emerge.

The framework identified child anthropometry—weight, height, and mid-upper arm circumference—as the most influential determinant of child malnutrition. But the second-ranked factor was less expected and had been overlooked by traditional scoring models: the mother’s physical health and social status, including breastfeeding practices, employment, weight, height and even caste. The child’s birth order was the third most influential factor, with more than 56 percent of malnourished children being second-born or later, suggesting that resources become increasingly stretched as the family grows.

This hierarchy of factors highlights a dual burden: the child’s current physical growth status and the mother’s nutritional condition together strongly shape malnutrition outcomes.

From Research to Real-World Impact

The framework highlights that child malnutrition is not caused by a single factor—and that there is no single solution. Moreover, the determinants of child malnutrition depend highly on region: According to Dr. Antony, “in countries like India, there are rural-urban differences—local food practices, sanitation, family structure—these all affect contributing factors.”

By identifying region-specific factors that contribute to child malnutrition, RISE offers decision-makers in government and nongovernmental organizations clear, data-informed direction on where to direct limited resources.

It is also important to consider how those interventions are delivered. “I was in India for another study, and while people in some remote communities didn’t have access to some basic needs such as proper housing or toilets, they had televisions and cellphones,” Dr. Antony said. “So can we use cellphones as a tool and send small messages or small clips to educate people in the community?”

Next Steps to Resolving Child Malnutrition

Now that Dr. Antony and his research team have identified key factors driving childhood malnutrition, they are collaborating with clinicians in Mysore, India, to align the RISE framework with public health programs.

The RISE framework can also be replicated in other parts of the world—provided it’s culturally responsive. “What works in India might not work in another region,” Dr. Antony said. “But can the framework be modified? Absolutely yes.”

Regardless of what form the framework takes, the global issue of child malnutrition demands a solution. While governments and international organizations continue to implement policies and programs, tens of millions of children worldwide continue to suffer from wasting and stunted growth.

“Child malnutrition is something that is preventable—it can be addressed in communities,” Dr. Antony said. “You’re talking about a new generation. This is something happening to children that can be controlled, but we are not doing enough.”

¹ Research team: Arumbuliyur Natarajan Uma, Shruthi Srikantamurthy, Shalini Sankalapura Rangaswamy, Priya Govindarajan and Lalith Rangarajan

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Economists who study the effects of trade uncertainty tend to render market reactions in broad terms: aggregates, statistical indices, and macroeconomic scenarios. But Yue Han, PhD, associate professor of decision sciences and marketing at �����ƽ��, wanted to take a deeper dive. “Not all firms are affected by tariffs in the same way, even if they operate in the same country or industry,” she said.

In classical trade theory, tariffs are tools to protect and promote domestic industry. They affect a country’s balance of trade, the competition among its producers, and its overall welfare. Today, however, tariffs are also a form of risk, sparking changes to asset prices, credit conditions, and investor sentiment.

Along with Heng Emily Wang, PhD, of Elon University and Wenyao Hu, PhD, of the New York Institute of Technology, Dr. Han co-authored “” (Economics Letters, January 2026), a study proposing a new way to measure, as Dr. Han puts it, “how exposed a firm is to future tariff changes.”

Compiling Data to Measure Tariff Exposure

To develop their measurement, Dr. Han and her colleagues turned to corporate filings. They reviewed 10-Ks—a mandatory annual report filed with the SEC—from more than 3,000 companies nationwide, mining information about business activities and risk factors. For each firm, they identified any mentions of a foreign country, then weighted it by the “Liberation Day” tariff rate imposed on that country. This became the “tariff exposure index.” Next, the team merged the 10-K content with publicly available data on each firm’s accounting practices and daily stock returns. After running a series of regressions, they confirmed that firms with greater exposure to tariffs were, in fact, hit harder by “Liberation Day.”

Dr. Han explained, “Our study successfully illustrates that investors recognize tariff risk and price it into stocks. Firms with higher tariff exposure saw larger stock price drops after the announcement.” That relationship stayed strong even after controlling for a range of firm characteristics, such as size, valuation, or corporate event (think merger or IPO).

But why might one firm be more vulnerable to tariffs than another? Dr. Han says “financially fragile, future-oriented, or dependent on intangible assets” are the main factors. In other words, small firms with growth plans are more likely to be hurt by tariffs. So are firms that rely on debt or equity to operate.

Calculating Certainty in an Uncertain Global Economy

Dr. Han believes her work can add certainty to an otherwise risky economic landscape. Corporate filings have long been used to forecast risk and outcomes, and her team’s model may be able to predict how firms will weather future shocks as tariff uncertainty persists. Their model also demonstrates that markets have eyes and ears. In times of global trade turbulence, a firm’s returns will likely drop if it has telegraphed excessive tariff exposure.

This research stream is a fertile one, according to Dr. Han and her colleagues. Future studies could track the long-term impacts of tariff exposure, incorporating reactions from creditors, employees, customers, and other stakeholders. “Such extensions,” they note in the study, “would deepen our understanding of how protectionist policies shape firm behavior, market efficiency and the allocation of capital.”

Anyone with a basic grasp of economics could see how “Liberation Day” upended the global trade order. But as one of the first systematic examinations of market reactions to the announcement, Dr. Han’s study shows the true cost of tariff shock. Now, as shifting tariff policies rock the markets at home and abroad, firms should be aware of what information might signify their tariff exposure—and who knows it. “Trade policy uncertainty has become a firm-level financial risk,” Dr. Han said, “and markets respond to it fast, using information previously provided by firms.”

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This quote, recently shared on LinkedIn by �����ƽ�� student Elorna Pierre, offers a window into how drive and compassion combined with innovative thinking are powering the next generation of healthcare professionals to grow their knowledge and make a positive impact on patients.

We interviewed Elorna to learn more about what she hopes to get out of her studies in the �����ƽ�� College of Nursing and Public Health, how becoming a mother has changed her perspective and goals, and about her research that crosses technology and healthcare to address a healthcare topic that hits home.

Q. Thanks for agreeing to share your story with us, Elorna. Can you tell us about yourself and why you decided to continue your education at �����ƽ�� in healthcare informatics?

A. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Biology from Mercy University, where I discovered my passion for understanding how health and disease affect people’s lives. Working in healthcare showed me just how wide the gap between patients, providers and technology can be and how it can affect care. I saw how communication barriers, limited access and outdated systems can have real consequences, especially for underserved communities. Those experiences made me realize I wanted to do more than provide care. I wanted to help design systems that make healthcare smarter, more compassionate and more human. That led me to pursue my master’s in healthcare informatics at �����ƽ��, where I am learning how to use data and technology to create real change.

Q. How has being a mom impacted your experience as a student and the goals you set for yourself?

A. Becoming a mother changed everything. It gave me purpose, strength and perspective. Balancing school, internships and parenting is not easy, but my daughter motivates me every day. She reminds me that what I do matters, that my dreams are worth chasing and that I can show her what resilience and determination look like. Motherhood has also made me a more empathetic student and future healthcare professional. I now see every patient as more than a chart or a number. Behind every statistic is a person, a story and someone who deserves care and compassion.

Q. The research you presented at �����ƽ��’s 2025 Scholarship and Creative Works Conference explored a relatable and beneficial way to utilize AI, which is a popular news story at the moment. What was your research about, and what inspired it?

A. My research, “,” is deeply personal. It was inspired by my mother’s fight with colon cancer and my desire to make a difference. I explore how AI-powered digital twins, or avatars, can help detect cancer earlier, track treatment and give patients in underserved communities a better chance at prevention and survival.

Cancer symptoms such as nausea, immune suppression, weight loss, etc., require continuous monitoring, medication adjustments and lifestyle management. “Avatars for Health” incorporates gamified challenges, augmented reality interactions and daily health quests to increase engagement, promote adherence to healthy behaviors and close the gap between technology and human-centered healthcare. Through pilot programs and user engagement analysis, the study explores the potential of AI-driven digital twins to reduce the financial burden of healthcare costs, improve population health outcomes and revolutionize access to tailored healthcare solutions.

Presenting this work at �����ƽ��’s Scholarship and Creative Works Conference was one of the most meaningful moments of my journey. Standing there, sharing this story, reminded me that technology combined with empathy can truly change lives.

Q. In addition to your experiences with healthcare informatics at �����ƽ��, you recently completed a fellowship and have a great internship. How are all of these elements helping you work toward your career goals?

A. This year, I completed a Data Analytics Fellowship with , where I learned to use Python and data visualization to turn information into insights that can guide real-world healthcare decisions. I am now interning with the , learning how data flows across systems to improve patient care. These experiences have helped me connect what I have learned in the classroom to practical solutions that can make a difference. My goal is to continue building digital health tools that reduce disparities, promote equity and help people take control of their health.

About the Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics

The projects a 16 percent growth in healthcare informatics employment through 2032, due partly to the increased use of electronic health records and the enormous amount of data being produced by both people and systems.

The in the �����ƽ�� College of Nursing and Public Health is the first CAHIIM-accredited health informatics master’s program in New York, teaching both healthcare and nonclinical professionals to transform medical data into valuable insights that improve patient care.

All theoretical coursework for the MS in Healthcare Informatics is completed online, allowing flexibility for working professionals to balance their studies with their careers and personal lives. Students also complete a 100-hour practicum experience with a healthcare organization or related company, either remotely or in person. Faculty and staff provide guidance and support throughout placement to ensure that the practicum aligns with each student’s professional goals and program requirements. This experiential component enables students to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world professional settings and is essential to the degree program.

Explore the MS in Healthcare Informatics curriculum and .

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In their study, “ (The Journal of the New York State Nurses Association, July 2025), CNPH faculty members Marilyn Klainberg ’63, MS ’77, Irene Auteri ’79, PhD ’22, Joy Scharfman, PhD ’23, Bridget Maley, MS ’11, William Jacobowitz, EdD, Mercy Joseph, PhD, Patricia Pope, EdD and Catherine R. Bell wanted to test a seminal theory in gerontology: activity theory, which posits that staying socially and mentally active will increase positive health outcomes and life satisfaction.

Dr. Klainberg, first author of the publication, says she and her colleagues took on this work because aging is not simple. “The definition of successful aging is one thing,” she said, “but we wanted to see how older adults actually perceived their success.”

What Helps and Hinders Healthy Aging?

Successful aging involves a variety of factors. Some are physiological, like chronic health conditions or mental health. Others are linked to a person’s environment, background and finances. Aging also has social determinants, including independence, interpersonal relationships, community involvement and emotional support systems. As the CNPH study shows, self-perception plays a critical role, too. The more positively an older adult perceives their life, the better their quality of life may be. “If you look at the research,” Dr. Klainberg said, “even people with health issues who are socially involved will say that they’re well.”

The CNPH team took a multidimensional approach when designing their study. They considered the influence of chronological age as well as socialization, health determinants and self-perception of health. Team members interviewed 175 adults over the age of 65 who lived independently and did not have significant health-related limitations. In order to gather a cross-section of data that would support their conjectures, the CNPH team asked participants to evaluate their health and how they perceived it.

For Some Seniors, Age Really Is Just a Number

As Dr. Klainberg observed in prior studies, the two realities did not always overlap. Eighty-seven percent of participants perceived themselves as healthy, even though 62 percent had chronic illnesses. Despite their ages and health conditions, only 20 percent of participants reported feeling sad. Eighty-four percent did not feel lonely, even though 77 percent lived alone—but, as the CNPH team suspected, 89 percent socialized with family and friends, which made all the difference. Plus, almost all participants engaged in enjoyable daily activities, exercised and took rest breaks. Besides socialization, the CNPH team’s findings demonstrate that exercise and rest are integral for well-being among older adults.

Ultimately, the CNPH team confirmed what many of us believe: Sometimes, age is just a number. Mixed individual and societal influences shape older adults’ perception of their health. To ensure successful aging, care environments must emphasize older adults’ social, psychological and independence needs throughout the aging process.

The data collected from this study will be put to good use among healthcare providers. “Many older adults think, ‘I’ve done my time, I should just sit here now that I’ve retired,’” Dr. Klainberg said. “But our role as nurses and educators is to help them find ways to stay engaged, whether that’s joining an organization, going to the library or getting out to see friends. Now we have more data to explain why.”

Grant Funds Game-Changing Gerontology Education Tools

Other CNPH faculty are also undertaking work to enhance student education to meet the needs of older adults. Anthony Egan, director of the Clinical Education and Simulation Lab (CESil), received a grant from the nonprofit Aging in America for the “Gerontology Education and Simulation Enhancement Project,” which will expand �����ƽ��’s capacity to prepare nursing students for their future careers.

“At CESiL, we pride ourselves on providing top-tier education, but when we realized that the majority of our nursing simulations resemble younger patients, we recognized the need to better represent the population most nurses care for: older adults,” Egan said. He calls the partnership with Aging in America a “game changer” in improving nursing education for the care of older adults. The project will enable students to access realistic and diverse simulation-based learning scenarios, as well as targeted scholarships and new gerontology content across the curriculum.

Egan added, “We are beyond excited and proud to have Aging in America as a partner in this important work. Their commitment to improving geriatric care education aligns perfectly with our mission, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact this project will have on both our students and the communities they serve.”

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Dr. Caro, who studied human evolutionary biology at Harvard University before pivoting to zoology and animal biology at the University of Oxford for her doctorate, has spent most of her career researching the dynamics between bird parents and their offspring, integrating concepts from behavioral neuroscience, evolutionary biology and urban biology. “I’m interested in how birds’ social behavior evolves when there’s a tension between two evolutionary incentives: cooperation and competition,” she said.

Bird families are the perfect petri dish for this tension. Parents want their offspring to cooperate and survive, but they may also, as Dr. Caro puts it, “be a little selfish and want their partner to do more of the work.”

Publishing Research That Expands Understanding of Bird Behavior

Recently, Dr. Caro was the first author on an article, “” (Behavioral Ecology, May 2025), that adds a new dimension to our understanding of bird parent behavior. Among evolutionary biologists, conventional wisdom holds that bird parents respond to their offspring begging for food with fixed behaviors, or behaviors that have evolved over time into something specific and unchanging. But Dr. Caro suspected that parents are actually plastic, or flexible, when responding to their offspring’s signals, particularly in different environmental conditions.

Dr. Caro took to the woods to conduct an experiment. She gave half of the resident bird population extra food to simulate ideal environmental conditions. The other half experienced no change to their environments. Additionally, she cross-fostered broods to ensure that chicks in both populations would behave similarly, leaving environmental conditions the only remaining variable.

Over the subsequent week, parents did not concentrate their feeding on the chicks that were the largest or loudest. Instead, Dr. Caro’s theory proved correct. The parents who received extra food became “nice, equitable parents,” she explained, while parents in harsher conditions surrendered to survival of the fittest. “These parents selectively ignored the runts, which means they were making decisions about which of their offspring were most likely to survive when food was low.” Ultimately, parents displayed plasticity in responding to multiple sources of information, including local environmental conditions and their assessments of each chick’s size and behavior.

Exploring Parenting Differences Between Males and Females

Dr. Caro’s “” (Behaviour, July 2025) illuminates another bird family dynamic—this time couples. “In my work, I was noticing that male and female parents made decisions differently. Mothers took longer to make a decision and were more likely to change their minds,” often clashing with fathers over feeding. But, she wondered, were these conflicts purely the product of biological differences in birds?

To find out, she conducted a meta-analysis on 31 bird species, comparing how mothers and fathers responded to offspring begging alongside social and physiological traits that could influence conflict. The results were unexpected. “I went in expecting birds to show similar patterns to mammals, where females are almost always more responsive and provide the vast majority of parental care,” she said. “But across every bird species, sex difference was minimal. Only when I looked within species did I start to see other patterns.”

In bird species with strong bonds between males and females, fathers were more responsive to offspring begging for food. In species with less stable bonds, however, fathers were less responsive to begging, leading females to compensate by taking on a greater share of parental care. Rather than an innate difference among sexes, then, Dr. Caro’s findings demonstrate that varying levels of responsiveness among males and females are likely shaped by the types of bonds they form.

Whether she’s depositing mealworms in bird nests or running statistical analyses, Dr. Caro believes a mixture of research methods will always yield the best result. “Comparative meta-analyses allow me to see the big picture across species. Then I can zoom into the details with experimental work,” she said. “My findings from an experiment might lead me to do a meta-analysis or vice versa. This is just such a rich field with so many different axes to explore.”

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