Title: From Campus to Community to Country: Connecting Local, State, and National Responses to Food and Nutrition Insecurity
Description:
Food insecurity extends beyond food access to the nutritional quality of foods available, yet experiences differ across populations.
Campus: UConn surveys from 2023 (N=6,095) and 2025 (N=2,871) found 39% and 37% were FI, with higher FI among Black, Latino, female, Pell grant-eligible, first-generation, and regional campus students. Awareness of Husky Markets was strong, while utilization remained low.
Community: A 2025 study of 220 low-income, diverse Hartford families with toddlers found FI above 40%, nutrition insecurity above 90%, and 84% perceived living in food swamps.
Statewide: A 2025 survey (N=524) from 17 Connecticut FoodShare pantries found more than 80% relied on pantries for at least 25% of groceries; 76% reported choosing between food and housing, utilities, transportation, or medical expenses.
National: 2026 focus groups with food banking professionals and pantry guests found stigma limits pantry utilization. The Dignity & Equity in Food Banking Framework was developed to identify structural strategies to increase dignity and utilization. Related research recommends improving nutrition standards and culturally preferred food procurement.
This roundtable will highlight the nutritional quality of foods accessible to FI populations across campus, neighborhood food swamp, and pantry settings, and examine linkages with other SDOH. Discussion will identify how community-engaged research can strengthen equitable FI responses from campus to country.

Framing questions:
1. Housing instability appeared alongside food insecurity among students, Hartford families, and pantry guests. What would it take for food and housing supports to work together at the campus, municipal, and state levels?
2. Pantry guests most wanted more fresh produce, meat, and dairy, and many received foods they didn't know how to prepare. How can producers, food banks, and Extension improve the nutritional quality and cultural fit of emergency food?
3. As national SNAP eligibility changes and stigma continues to deter use, what research, data, and partnerships are needed to make food assistance both accessible and dignified?
4. What role should people with lived experience play in creating and evaluating solutions to improve food and nutrition security?

Desired outcomes:
• A shared picture of food insecurity among students, urban families, and food pantry guests, identifying common drivers such as housing, income, and transportation, as well as gaps specific to each group.
• A map of where local, state, and national efforts connect or fall short, with points where campus programs, community organizations, Connecticut FoodShare, and federal programs could coordinate better.
• A list of priority research needs, such as longitudinal work on housing and food insecurity, consistent measures across studies, and evaluation of dignity-centered pantry practices.
• Potential collaborations among UConn researchers, Extension, Connecticut FoodShare, and campus basic needs offices, on integrating food and housing support in Connecticut.

Facilitators:
Kristen Cooksey Stowers, MPP, PhD (Allied Health; Director, Health Equity Lab for the People; Rudd Center)
kristen.cooksey@uconn.edu
Kritee Niroula, PhD (InCHIP)
Ubl24004@uconn.edu
Brook Lyn Mercado (Allied Health)
Fgl26002@uconn.edu
Anna Ramos, MS, RDN (Allied Health)
Anna.ramos@uconn.edu
Maria Gombi-Vaca, PhD (Rudd Center)
Maria.gombi@uconn.edu

Title: Accessible Nature for Health: Bridging Physical, Informational, and Community Barriers

Description:
Access to parks, playgrounds, athletic fields and courses, trails, and other natural spaces can support physical activity, mental well-being, and overall health, yet barriers can prevent many people from realizing these benefits. This roundtable will examine access to nature through a One Health lens, with particular attention to people with chronic conditions, disabilities, and mobility limitations. Discussion will consider social and physical facilitators and barriers to
trails, transportation, safety, awareness, and the availability of clear information about whether outdoor spaces are appropriate for individuals with different abilities and needs. Climate change introduces additional challenges to both the safety and accessibility of these environments. Sudden flash floods, extreme heat, poor air quality associated with wildfire smoke and ozone, wildfire risk, erosion, damaged or impassable trails, and wildlife encroachment can affect public safety and disproportionately affect individuals who have chronic health conditions and/or limited mobility. For example, uneven or deteriorating trail surfaces, steep grades, standing water, inaccessible entrances, inadequate rest areas, and the absence of accessible routes can transform environmental hazards into substantial barriers to participation for people who use wheelchairs, walkers, canes, or other mobility devices.
Participants will discuss how health professionals, community organizations, and educators can work together to better connect people with accessible opportunities for nature-based and outdoor activity. Existing efforts such as NatureRx and CT Trail Finder provide examples of how health promotion and outdoor-resource information can be provided. The roundtable will focus on moving from identifying facilitators and barriers to developing practical strategies, partnerships, and potential research and Extension initiatives that improve equitable access to nature, especially in the face of climate-related hazards, and subsequent health benefits.

Discussion Questions:

• What social, physical, informational, transportation, safety, and community barriers limit access to nature-based physical activity?
• How can health professionals, Extension, and natural-resource professionals better connect people with outdoor opportunities appropriate to their abilities and needs?
• What collaborative research, programming, or funding opportunities could address these barriers?
• How could interdisciplinary teams engage people with disabilities and community members as partners in identifying barriers and developing solutions? How can community-engaged approaches ensure that accessibility priorities reflect lived experience?
• What new funding opportunities might support interdisciplinary efforts among CAHNR faculty, Extension, students, community organizations, municipalities, and disability and rehabilitation stakeholders to improve equitable access to outdoor spaces?

Potential Outcomes:

• Identify priority barriers and practical strategies for improving access.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration among Kinesiology, Natural Resources and Environment, Extension, and community partners.
• Establish a framework for incorporating universal design and the perspectives of people with disabilities into future climate-resilience planning for Connecticut's public outdoor infrastructure.
• Develop potential research, Extension, or grant concepts focused on equitable access to nature and health.
• Identify interdisciplinary research and external funding opportunities focused on the intersection of climate change, outdoor physical activity, accessibility, disability, rehabilitation, environmental health, and community well-being.

Facilitators: Cristina Colon-Semenza and Sharon Gray

Title: Grant Writing to Support Integrative Education and Outreach

Description: This roundtable responds to a call for collaborative approaches that integrate landscape architecture and
plant science, synthesizing design- and science-based knowledge into a public-facing outreach program to support community organizations. The proposed roundtable draws on the ecological sciences, agriculture, arboriculture, engineering, medical sciences, and natural resources to learn from and strengthen methods for design-based scientific research toward securing an NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EDU) level one grant. The proposed Public Office is an essential part of the grant, where students will be in practice through service-learning projects. This experience will broaden our students' education, helping them develop the social competence to work with communities and educate the public on the underlying socio-ecological ramifications of landscape design, horticulture, soil science, and plant pathology, to support environmental and human health. With faculty support, students will develop designs for underserved locations while building strong working relationships across allied disciplines.

Framing questions:
1. What environmental, educational, and community needs could be addressed by the Public Office?
2. What opportunities exist for collaboration across these fields, and others, and what experiential learning models used in other disciplines might inform the Public Office model?
3. What knowledge and skills should students gain through this program?

Desired outcomes:
Outcomes from this roundtable include strategies for engaging communities through the Public Office program, a clearer understanding of the infrastructure needed to support it, and ways to align the Public Office concept and anticipated with faculty research interests and faculty-led community work.

Facilitators:
Jill Desimini, jill.desimini@uconn.edu,Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Mariana Fragomeni, mariana.fragomeni@uconn.edu,Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Nick Goltz, nick.goltz@uconn.edu, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Lauren Kurtz, lauren.kurtz@uconn.edu, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Mia Maltz, mia.maltz@uconn.edu, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Julia Smachylo, julia.smachylo@uconn.edu, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

Title: Poultry Health, Food Safety, and One Health: Connecting Animal Health, Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Public Health
Description: Poultry production intersects animal health, food safety, environmental health, and public health, making it a strong setting for One Health dialogue. This roundtable will bring together participants from animal science, veterinary medicine, food safety, public health, environmental sciences, Extension, and related fields to discuss shared challenges affecting poultry production and community health. Topics may include disease prevention and biosecurity, antimicrobial stewardship, foodborne pathogens, environmental considerations, and emerging production technologies.
Following a brief introduction to frame the topic, the majority of the session will be devoted to facilitated discussion. Participants will be encouraged to share perspectives from their respective disciplines, identify areas where current efforts overlap or remain disconnected, and consider how research, Extension, industry, and community partners can work together more effectively. The discussion will focus on identifying practical opportunities for interdisciplinary
collaboration and potential next steps that advance poultry health, food safety, and broader One Health goals.

Framing Questions:
1. What are the most important One Health challenges currently connecting poultry health, food safety, environmental health, and public health?
2. Where do gaps exist between research, Extension, veterinary practice, industry, and public health efforts, and how might these groups work together more effectively?
3. What practical next steps or collaborative opportunities could emerge from this discussion, such as joint research, Extension initiatives, educational resources, stakeholder partnerships, or future proposals?

Desired Outcomes:
The roundtable will aim to identify shared priorities, gaps, and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration related to poultry and One Health. Participants will leave with potential next steps for strengthening connections across disciplines and may identify ideas for collaborative research, Extension programming, stakeholder engagement, educational resources, or future One Health initiatives at UConn.

Facilitator:
Indu Upadhyaya, B.V.Sc., M.V.Sc., Ph.D.
Associate Extension Professor, Poultry Science and Food Safety
UConn Extension/Department of Animal Science
University of Connecticut

Title: One Health in Action: A Cross-College Project Development Roundtable

Description: A common challenge after a workshop or conference is continuing the momentum that translates into actionable outcomes and impacts. Based on participant analysis resulting from the previous two One Health conferences at UConn, this round table is structured in a workshop format to (1) identify pathways towards actionable projects, and (2) facilitate in-depth discussion amongst participants to identify connections between faculty, staff, and students around One Health projects. Participants will further their own One Health related research through this structured workshop where they will explore current priorities in One Health, existing or potential interest and engagement in One Health topics, as well as internal and external resources (interpersonal, infrastructural, and financial) that may be available to support implementation. By the end of the roundtable, participants will have created a roadmap of actionable next steps to help them pursue their One Health related project.

Framing questions:
What One Health related issue, project, or area of interest am I currently working on, or would like to pursue?
What resources, expertise, partnerships, or support could help strengthen, advance, or scale this work?
Where am I encountering challenges or seeking feedback?
What are the anticipated outcomes of my project, and how does this work contribute to UConn's broader
One Health mission and initiatives?

Desired outcomes:
Workshop participants will take away with them a series of responses to guided prompts that identify actionable next steps for advancing their one health projects. They will refine their ideas through discussion and feedback with participants while also expanding participant networks.

Facilitators: Julia Smachylo, julia.smachylo@uconn.edu, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (Lead)
Sara Tomis, sara.tomis@uconn.edu, Department of Extension
Cheryl Ordway, cheryl.ordway@uconn.edu, Allied Health Sciences
Sarah Reed, sarah.reed@uconn.edu, Animal Science
Stacey Sterns, stacey.stearns@uconn.edu, Cooperative Extension System

Title: From Kitchen-Table Conversations to Policy, Systems, & Environmental Research: The Community Action Task Force & Health Equity Lab for the People Research Partnership

Description: Since 2017, the Healthy Hartford Hub Community Action Task Force (CATF), a North Hartford resident coalition, has partnered with the Health Equity Lab for the People (HELP Lab; PI Dr. Cooksey Stowers) to ensure formative research for the proposed full-service grocery store is developed with residents and translated into policy and implementation. Their Community-Based Participatory Research collaboration reflects reciprocity and trust. Residents have helped identify research priorities, supported data collection, interpreted findings, shaped priorities, advocated for change, and stayed engaged through policy and implementation. CATF members co-author grant proposals and publications that emphasize resident knowledge as evidence.
Findings from NIH K01 research and Photovoice were presented to Hartford’s Mayor in February 2025 and incorporated into the City’s 2026 Request for Proposals for the proposed grocery store operator.
In addition to scientific manuscripts and presentations, the CATF–HELP Lab partnership has produced neighborhood food swamp profiles, a Hartford Health Equity in All Policies Audit, a Community Action Plan, and the 2025 North Hartford Health Report. Further, this decade-long partnership advances community-engaged research by demonstrating how resident-led collaboration can move beyond participation toward shared sustained reciprocity, priority-setting, co-interpretation, co-authorship, and collective action, translating community-generated evidence into policy, systems, and environmental change.

Framing questions:
1. What does One Health look like when residents are treated as knowledge producers and co-investigators—not simply research participants?
2. How do traditional promotion and tenure structures create barriers to sustained, community-engaged research partnerships, and how might universities better recognize the time, relationships, community outputs, and collective impact this work requires?
3. How can we better leverage extension’s trusted community relationships and statewide reach to sustain community-engaged research partnerships beyond individual grants?

Desired outcomes:
1. Identify principles and practices that support sustained, reciprocal community–academic partnerships.
2. Examine pathways for translating community-generated evidence into policy, systems, and environmental change across food, neighborhood, and other One Health domains.
3. Generate actionable strategies for CAHNR to better value, support, and institutionalize community engaged One Health research and partnerships.

Facilitators:
1. Kristen Cooksey Stowers, MPP, PhD (Allied Health; Director, Health Equity Lab for the People; Rudd Center),
kristen.cooksey@uconn.edu
2. Denise Holter (Healthy Hartford Hub), drlholter@gmail.com
3. Summaya Abdul Razak, MS, PhD (Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy), summaya.abdul_razak@uconn.edu
4. Kritee Niroula, MS, PhD (Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy), Ubl24004@uconn.edu
5. Olasubomi Ajayi (UConn Health), olaajayi@uchc.ed

Title: Data Centers in Connecticut: Weighing the Full Costs and Benefits for People, Farms, and Ecosystems

Description: Data centers are among the fastest-growing land uses in the country, and Connecticut towns are now deciding whether and where to host them. The debate is usually framed as jobs and tax revenue versus electricity prices, but the effects reach further. Data centers can draw large volumes of water for cooling, which competes with agriculture and stream ecosystems during drought. They can convert farmland and habitat, rely on diesel backup generators that affect local air quality, and produce constant noise that affects nearby residents and wildlife. Higher electricity costs fall hardest on low-income households and on farms, with consequences for health and food production. This roundtable, led by Agricultural and Resource Economics, brings together economists, natural resource scientists, plant and soil scientists, public health researchers, planners, and Extension educators to weigh these trade-offs together. Participants will discuss how to measure the full costs and benefits of a proposed facility, how host agreements and siting rules could share benefits more fairly, and what tools Connecticut towns need when a proposal arrives.

Framing questions:

• Which costs of data centers (on water, land, air, wildlife, and household energy budgets) are left out of current local and state decisions?
• How can host fee agreements, tax incentives, and siting rules be designed so that the communities bearing the costs also share in the benefits?
• What evidence and tools would help Connecticut town officials evaluate a data center proposal from a One Health perspective?

Desired outcomes:

• A draft One Health checklist for evaluating data center proposals, which could become an Extension resource for municipal officials
• Identified research needs and data gaps, especially on water use and effects on household and farm energy costs
• Potential interdisciplinary collaborations and a grant idea on the regional impacts of energy-intensive development

Facilitator: Shinsuke Tanaka, Shinsuke.Tanaka@uconn.edu, Assistant Professor, Agricultural and Resource
Economics

Title: Teaching One Health Beginning with OneSelf: A Sociological and Critical Pedagogical Approach

Description: I am currently teaching a new 4 credit sociology course titled "Human Societies and the Living Earth", which includes a weekly Lab. The approach to this course is taken from Indigenous author and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer's concept of the 'grammar of animacy', which she bases on her knowledge of different Native American languages. She argues that for many such languages animals, plants, and even places are seen as animate, alive and most saliently as kin. In this manner they are not referred to with the pronoun 'it' but rather using the same pronouns as one would for people. Additionally, there are many more verbs and so 'a bay' becomes a verb as in 'to be a bay', which includes all the other living parts-the trees, the creatures, the water..etc. Such an approach is so different to our own cultural lens and to our own English grammar that teaching and practicing it with students can form the basis for what One Health aims to achieve. However, doing so requires we begin with our relationship to ourSelves seeing that in my case 'to be Phoebe' requires all the other living forces to exist such as the trees, the ocean, the plants and the animals. Teaching this effectively further requires that students engage first in a sociological analysis of their social identities such as race, class, gender ..etc . Then they can discover through experiential learning the truth of their inseparability with all life, regardless of how they have been socially labeled. This process takes place through them applying class readings to the weekly activities they engage in during their outside LAB. These have included so far, a variety of contemplative practices such as drawing, meditation, labyrinth walking, yoga, journaling..etc. There are more activities planned, and I am already seeing profound changes taking place for many of the students. To support this claim, I would invite testimonials students not in the course, but who are working with me as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants, as well as possible former students who have also experienced aspects of these materials.

Framing questions:

• How can classroom materials and assignments, including in particular those that honor Indigenous Knowledge and practices, be key to personal transformations by recognizing global One Health as being inseparable from OneSelf?
• How can such an approach to teaching and learning be applied across disciplines and thereby be improved upon?
• What role can including student testimonials play in helping create more transparency between faculty and students, thereby improving overall teaching and learning outcomes?

Desired outcomes:

• A shared list of key Indigenous scholar's works that can further inform a 'One Health beginning with OneSelf' curricula.
• Strategies for integrating 'One Health beginning with OneSelf' practices into existing classes through additional case studies, as well as faculty and student testimonials.
• Opportunities for interdisciplinary faculty and wellness practitioners to collaborate on student projects that center 'One Health beginning with OneSelf' and expanding into enduring personal and community growth.

Facilitators:
Phoebe Godfrey, phoebe.godfrey@uconn.edu

Maria Boada, Graduate student

Title: How does healthcare provider behavior affect physical activity, wellness or community health?

Description: There is a growing body of evidence that the behaviors of health care providers impact health and healthcare outcomes. Healthcare provider personality, affect, and haptic communication have been associated with altering the trajectory of patient recovery, either in a positive or a negative direction. Given the impact of behavior on actual outcomes, we propose that the healthcare community should consider:
• What behavioral metrics are appropriate?
• How should those metrics be applied in healthcare institutions?
• What should academic programs do to prepare students to meet these metrics?
• Can adverse environmental and cultural health influences be corrected by improving healthcare provider behaviors?
• Should behavioral metrics (eg, personality measures) be a component of hiring decisions for healthcare providers?
We propose that the evolving understanding of provider behavior will be valued to improve collaborative and interprofessional approaches for achieving optimal health outcomes and are worthy of consideration from a OneHealth perspective.

Framing questions:
• What behaviors by healthcare professionals have an impact health outcomes?
• Can healthcare professional behaviors offset adverse environmental and cultural health influences?
• Should academic programs apply competencies, or grades, based on the behavior of healthcare students?

Desired outcomes:

Participants will appreciate the influence of behavior on the health and wellness of others, and leverage that for student learning expectations and future collaboration and/or research.

Facilitators:

Limberakis, George, george.limberakis@uconn.edu, Kinesiology
Cotton, Steven, steven.cotton@uconn.edu, Kinesiology
Batterton, Matthew, matthew.batterton@uconn.edu, Kinesiology

Poster Guidelines and Proposal

The UConn CAHNR Health and Well-being SVIC and One Health Conference Committee invites proposals for poster presentations for the One Health conference on Friday, November 13, 2026. Faculty, staff, undergraduates, graduate students, and community members are invited to submit poster proposals.

Proposals are due October 2nd and can be submitted through the form below. 

Example Poster Proposal

Comparative Pathology of Human and Caprine Thymic Thymomas: A One Health Perspective 

Kaylin Moctezuma, Emily Reinhardt, Julia Burkett

Thymomas are uncommon epithelial tumors of the thymus that display strikingly conserved morphologic and immunophenotypic features across species. In humans, thymomas have been extensively studied and classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) into distinct histologic subtypes with defined clinical and prognostic implications. In veterinary medicine, thymomas are rare and most often reported in small companion animals, although cases have been described in ruminants, including goats. This review synthesizes current knowledge of caprine thymomas;highlighting similarities and differences of human thymomas in clinical presentation, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular biology. A One Health approach underscores the value of comparative studies in improving diagnosis, fostering cross-species translational oncology research, and identifying opportunities for collaborative surveillance.