Pilot Project Grantees
Penn State’s Childhood Obesity Prevention Training Program has funded 17 pilot projects to support student-led research on childhood obesity prevention. All graduate students from the College of Health and Human Development were invited to submit proposals for this competitive grant mechanism. Proposals were reviewed by an external review board based on:
- Significance: Does the project address an important problem or critical barrier for childhood obesity research? Are the project’s translational goals clear and compelling?
- Investigators: Do the PI and collaborators have the expertise needed to conduct the project?
- Innovation: Does the project include a novel approach to solving a problem in childhood obesity research?
- Approach: Are the procedures and analysis plans well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims? Will the project provide the foundation for a compelling proposal for external funding and/or publication?
- Feasibility: Is the question proposed able to be answered with the allotted time and money?
- Likelihood of Future Success: How well does the project contribute to the supervising faculty mentor’s overall research program?
The Principal Investigators (PI’s) Co-Investigators (CO-I’s), Collaborators, and project titles for the grantees are listed below:
- PI Jessica Braymiller
CO-I Charles Geier, Kathleen Keller, Nicole Roberts, Shana Adise
Neural underpinnings of reward sensitivity in overweight and healthy weight adolescents - PI Nicole Roberts
CO-I Charles Geier and Kathleen Keller, Shana Adise
Examining reward sensitivity, impulsivity, and habituation in healthy weight and overweight adolescents - PI S. Nicole Fearnbach
CO-I Kathleen Keller, Collaborators: Danielle Downs, David Thivel
The impact of an acute bout of exercise on children’s eating behaviors - PI Heather Allaway & Jay Lieberman
CO-I Nancy Williams, Mary Jane DeSouza, Karsten Koehler, Barbara Rolls
The impact of weight loss due to calorie restriction on food intake following acute exercise in overweight young women: Role of eating behavior phenotypes and appetite regulating hormones - PI Wendy Stein
CO-I Kathleen Keller
A pilot study to test children’s willingness to try, liking, and intake of foods with novel spice blends - PI Shana Adise
CO-I Kathleen Keller, Charles Geier, Nicole Roberts
Understanding decision-making and reward for food choice in overweight and healthy weight children - PI Samantha Kling
CO-I Barbara Rolls
The effects of different beverages on eating behavior in preschool children - PI Alissa Smethers
CO-I Barbara Rolls
The effects of varying portion size over 5 days in preschool children - PI Allison Doub
CO-I Tim Brick, Meg Small
Collaborator Leann Birch, Sarita Yardi Schoenbeck
Maternal uses of websites, social media, and mobile applications to gather and share child feeding practices information - PI Jennifer Ford & Rachel Walker
CO-I Greg Shearer
Collaborator Mike Green
Identifying an accurate and feasible test to measure risk for obesity-related early onset Type 2 diabetes in children: A compartmental modeling approach - PI Krista Leonard
CO-I Danielle Downs
Collaborators: Jen Savage Williams, Daniel Rivera
Understanding energy balance in overweight and obese pregnant women: Novel assessment of mobile metabolism - PI Elizabeth Adams
CO-PI Jen Savage Williams, Orfeu Buxton, Ian Paul, Danielle Downs, Joshua Smyth
Effects of sleep and stress on energy balance and parent feeding styles in postpartum mothers - PI Cheng-Hsin Wei
Co-I A. Catharine Ross, Connie Rogers
The impact of vitamin A supplementation in the early postnatal period on metabolic regulation related to childhood obesity risk - PI Jessica Braymiller
CO-I Nicole Roberts, Shana Adise, Charles Geier
Examining the relationship between puberty and reward sensitivity in overweight and healthy weight adolescents - PI Katharine Grills
CO-I Cynthia Stifter
The associations among temperament, relative reinforcing value of food, and weight status during early middle childhood - PI Shana Adise
CO-I Nicole Roberts, Corey White, Charles Geier, Kathleen Keller
The role of reward and inhibitory control pathways in overeating in health and overweight children - PI Travis Masterson
CO-I Kathleen Keller, Amanda Bruce
The impact of food advertisements on brain response and eating behavior in children