Our Team
Jacob Bowie
Ph.D. student
Kyle Mahoney
Master’s student
Emma Krebs
Exercise Science Researcher
Zachary Macdonald
Ph.D. student
Ashanthi Snell
Exercise Science Researcher
Caroline Webb
Exercise Science Researcher
Brianna O’Brien
Master’s Student
Daniel Majkut
Exercise Science Researcher
Soohyun Oh
Exercise Science Researcher, University Scholar
March 2020
February 2020
Our alumni
Dylan Rausch
Anthony Viola
Walker Morison
Colleen Munoz
Jenna Apicella
Staci Thornton
Patrick McGlone
JJ Bivona
Virgilio Lopez
Abby Colburn
Valerie Charbonneau
Lisa Rusch
Ekow Dadzie
Cyrus Brown
Anu Dwarki
Allie Hill
Maddie LeDuc
Alyssa Varanoske
Carly Haskins
Colin Melford
Emma Manuel
Erik Rossi
Gabe Colon
Haley Hasty
Jacob Zinn
Jasmin Folch
Jessica Lavine
Jodi Magyari
John Landis
Jonathan Foster
Kaitlin Carter
Kevin Kelly
Leslie Dunn
Maria Anna Vromans
Marina Bleiler
Michael McGonnigle
Michal Dyrda
Min Young Chang
Nicole Strong
Patrick Balch
Roberta Linares
Ron Abraham
Hyungyu Sean Suh
Jiyeon Jung
Ronnie Tamburro
Skylar Wright
Spencer Beaulieu
Timothy Kranz
Victoria Fainstein
Zoha Sarwat
Allison Hillmon
Treasure Gordon
Kenny Zheng
Abraham Abdel-Hack
Sean Harper
Daniel Yu
Michael Li
Seda Sahin
Giovanni Peauteau
June Lee
Alan Ky
Aidan Fiol
Keiona Khen
Danielle Jordan
Samantha Reynoso
Our Collaborators
Julianna Danielle
B.S., NASM-CPT, CNC (in preparation)
Julianna is a coach, consultant, and trainer who specializes in personalized approaches to strength, health, and well-being to support career longevity and performance, particularly among performers and dancers. Her expertise comes from her academic training at both Penn State and the University of Connecticut, and personal success and experiences as a dancer, gymnast, and in theatre.
Our lab and the University of Connecticut Human Performance Laboratory in the Department of Kinesiology consult with Julianna in the area of sport and dance/performer performance, longevity, strength and stability, sport nutrition, and other innovative areas of applied exercise/sport science.
Dr. Staci N. Thornton
B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Dr. Thornton completed her training in Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University before pursuing graduate studies in Applied Genomics at the University of Connecticut and Neurobiology at the University of Basel and Friedrich Miescher Institute (Basel, Switzerland). She is a former athlete and avid outdoor enthusiast who is interested in -omics and integrative physiology of stress and exercise. She has experience in a wide depth and breadth of laboratory techniques in applied physiology and molecular/cell biology, immunology, and imaging. She is managing DoD- and DARPA-funded projects investigating responses of women and men to acute and chronic exercise and environmental stressors. Dr. Thornton also plays a critical role in management of the Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut Human Performance Laboratory.
Dr. Thornton is the senior postdoctoral fellow in the ecleelab and also is developing her line of research in neurobiology of exercise and stress.
Dr. Michael R. Szymanski
B.S., M.S., LAT, ATC, Ph.D.
Dr. Szymanski received his training in Athletic Training (B.S.) from Salisbury University (Salisbury, MD) before pursuing graduate study Exercise Physiology/Exercise Science at Central Michigan University and University of Connecticut, Korey Stringer Institute. Dr. Szymanski has been a licensed clinical practitioner since 2017 and teaches in undergraduate and graduate Athletic Training programs. Dr. Szymanski has experience in applied, clinical, and basic science and technical expertise in surgery and clinical techniques, applied physiology protocols, and wet bench work in -omics, cell/molecular biology, biochemistry, and immunology. Dr. Szymanski manages multiple federally and industroy/corporate-sponsored projects on human stress response and adaptation.
Dr. Szymanski is developing a line of research investigating how the gut microbiome impacts heath, pharmacokinetics and dynamics of medications, stress resilience, and how stress exposure and adaptation affect the microbiome in multiple body compartments.