CALS senior wins national student employee award

For her work in developing and teaching nutrition and food justice curricula to adolescents in New York City, Hannah Rudt ’23 has won the 2023 National Student Employee of the Year award – the first Cornellian to ever receive this honor.

Rudt has worked for four years in the research lab of Tashara Leak, assistant professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Human Ecology, who nominated her for the award. The research focuses on addressing how structural racism and poverty impact health and wellbeing.

Her interest in the intersection of data science and public health drew her to a project in the research group where she interviewed low-income Latina mothers in New York City about their breastfeeding experiences. She organized their stories into relevant themes to inform a mobile, culturally relevant infant-feeding education program.

“I gained a better understanding of what representation means and why certain existing broad guidelines don’t apply to everyone and don’t work for everyone,” she said.

Rudt also received the 2023 Community Work Study Program on-campus Student Employee of the Year award, given by the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement.

For more details, see the full story in the Cornell Chronicle