Student Enrichment

Pennington Biomedical is a non-degree granting institution of the Louisiana State University (LSU) system. Our center is located approximately 4 miles from the main LSU A&M campus and approximately 60 miles from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. However, we are fully committed to training students in obesity and nutrition research endeavors.

In 2012 we launched a Non-Employee Training Program to allow undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate and medical students undergraduate, graduate post-graduate and medical students. Trainees are given the opportunity to shadow faculty and postdoc mentors and to learn about all areas of biomedical science and to interact with cores and services offered through the NORC. Every NORC regular member at Pennington Biomedical and every core of the NORC has trained students in this program. Since 2012, we have trained over 500 interns who have represented 73 universities in the United States and abroad with the majority of these students being from Louisiana Institutions – LSU (200), LSU-HSC (27), Southern University (23), Southeastern Louisiana University (58), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (17), and Tulane University (15). Our Non-Employee Training Program also offers an avenue for undergraduate students who are conducting Honors Thesis at LSU to partner with NORC labs and mentors.

Trainee and Internship Opportunities: Students can participate in various research training opportunities. Please visit the Pennington Biomedical site for more information.

In 2020, 2 of these students received awards at the LSU Discover Day, an undergraduate research symposium. Sai Pochana received 2nd place recognition in the overall slide show presentation category and Gracie Williams received 1st place recognition in the Humanities & Social Sciences category. Both students worked with Drs. Amanda Staiano and Chelsea Kracht in the Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior Laboratory. Dr. Staiano is a NORC faculty member and an alumni of the T32 “Training in Obesity Research” program. Dr. Kracht was a trainee in the T32 “Training in Obesity Research” program under the mentorship of Drs. Staiano and Peter Katzmarzyk.

In 2021, Analisa Taylor, a Biological Sciences Major at Louisiana State University was chosen as the most outstanding presenter out of 220 students at the 2021 Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium held at Rice University. The data she presented was collected as part of her work on the pre-clinical evaluation of a mitochondrially targeted drug in Drosophila melanogaster. Analisa’s work was essential to the observation that the compound of interest extends lifespan and health span in flies and improves mitochondrial respiratory function. Annalisa worked with Drs. John Kirwan in the Integrated Physiology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory. Dr. Kirwan is a NORC faculty member.

Mentor	Year	Student Name	University and Department
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2019	Lanell Craig, PhD candidate	Southern University, Nursing
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2018	Erica Joseph, PhD candidate	Southern University, Nursing
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2018	Nicole Dominique, MD/MPH Candidate	LSU Health Sciences Center
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2017	Caroline Barbaree, MBA Candidate	LSU
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2016	Amanda Weathers-Meyer, PhD Candidate	LSU, Kinesiology
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2017	Amber Jarell, MD Candidate	LSU Health Sciences Center
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2015	Michelle Liu, MD Candidate	LSU Health Sciences Center
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2014	Madeline Morrell, MPH Candidate	Tulane University, Epidemiology
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2015	Noelle Hadley, MPH Candidate	Tulane University, Biostatistics
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2018-2020	Sai Pochana	LSU Honors College, Psychology
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2017-2019	Elizabeth Joseph	LSU Honors College, Psychology
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2016-2017	Hannah Haddad	LSU Honors College, Psychology
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2016	Ansleigh Thibodeaux	LSU Honors College, Kinesiology
Heike Gruening, PhD	2019-2020	Sanjeev Gummadi	LSU, Biological Sciences
Robert Noland, PhD	2018-2019	Nabil Essajee	LSU, Biological Sciences
Stephen Heymsfield, MD	2019	Savanah Birch	LSU, Math
Leanne Redman, PhD	2020	Morgan Alston	LSU Honors College
Leanne Redman, PhD	2015-2016	Alexis O’Connor	LSU Honors College
Leanne Redman, PhD	2016-2019	Kelsey Olson	LSU Honors College
Leanne Redman, PhD	2014	Bo Zhang	T35 Medical Student
Leanne Redman, PhD	2012	Mary Silverberg	T35 Medical Student
Leanne Redman, PHD	2012	Alden Littlewood	T35 Medical Student
Jacqueline Stephens, PhD	2017	Taylor Millar	LSU Honors College
Jacqueline Stephens, PhD	2019-2020	Alycia Boucher	LSU Honors College
Jacqueline Stephens, PhD	2019-2020	Ngung Ngo	LSU Honors College