Student Enrichment
Overview | NORC Members | Faculty | Postdocs | Students | Community |
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 and graduate students seeking hands-on experience, to be exposed to the research at Pennington Biomedical. 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. 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. This year, 2 of these students received awards at the 2020 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 are working 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 is a current trainee in the T32 “Training in Obesity Research” program under the mentorship of Drs. Amanda Staiano and Peter Katzmarzyk.
![]() |
Undergraduate Thesis Opportunities: The following students have worked with Mentors at Pennington Biomedical on their undergraduate or graduate thesis research.
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 |