Dr. Scott Kanoski, PhD
Principal Investigator

Professor (Nov. 2023-Present)
Human and Evolutionary Biology Section
Department of Biological Sciences

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,
University of Southern California

President-Elect, President, and Past-President of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB; 2022-2025)

Co-Director of the USC Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute (DORI; 2021-present)

-B.S. in Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1996-2000)
-M.S. in Psychology, Purdue University (2003-2006)
-Ph.D. in Psychology, Purdue University (2006-2009) (T.L. Davidson Lab)
-Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (2009-2012) (H.J. Grill Lab)

-Assistant Professor of Human and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California (1/1/13-4/4/19)

-Associate Professor of Human and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California (4/5/19-11/20/23)

olivia moody

Lab Manager (2024-present)

-B.S. in Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens (2024; Neuroscience emphasis; Minor in Biology; Minor in Human Development & Family Sciences)

Dr. léa décarie-spain

Postdoc (2020-present)

-Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Université de Montréal (2020)

-MSc. in Neuroscience, Université de Montréal (2014)

-Honours Bachelor of Nutritional Sciences, University of Ottowa (2013, Magna cum laude)

-Alzheimer’s Association Fellow (2022-2024)

Molly Klug

Ph.D. Candidate (2021-present; Integrative and Evolutionary Biology Program)

-B.S. in Psychology, B.A. in Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago (2020, Summa cum laude)

Zander Bashaw

Ph.D. Candidate (2022-present; Neuroscience Program)

-B.S. in Biology and Italian, Vassar College (2018)

Lab Alumni

Dr. Ted Hsu

PhD in Neuroscience from USC (2013-2017)

-George A. Bray Dissertation Award (The Obesity Society, 2018)
-NIH F31 NRSA Fellow (NIDDK; 2016-2017)

-Harrison M. Kurtz Memorial Award (for most outstanding PhD student in biological sciences at USC, 2017)
-Graduate Student of the Year Award (USC Neuroscience Graduate Program, 2016)
-G.P. Smith Award (for best graduate student presentation at SSIB, 2015)
-Postdoc in the Roitman Lab at UIC and an NIH F32 NRSA Fellow (2017-2022)

-Presently a freelance science writer

dr. Vaibhav Konanur

Lab Manager and First Officer (2013-2016)

-PhD in Psychology from the Roitman Lab at UIC (2016-2022)

-Presently a postdoc in the Zak Lab at UIC (2022-present)

Dr. Emily Noble

Postdoc, Research Assistant Professor (2015-2019)

-K01 Award (NIDDK; 2019-2023)
-NIH F32 NRSA Fellow (NIDDK; 2016-2018)
-Early Career Grant Challenge Competition Winner (The Obesity Society, 2017-2018)

--Ethan Sims Early Investigator Award (The Obesity Society, 2017)
-Harry L. Kisseleff Award (for best postdoc presentation at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, 2015)

-Presently an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the University of Georgia (Athens), Noble Lab.

UNDERGRADUATES, POST-BACCS, AND PHD ROTATIONS (2013-Present)

• Arun Ahuja (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2024; Trustee Scholar; Outstanding Neuroscience Student of the Year Award, 2023; 1st place for USC Undergraduate Research Symposium research presentation, 2023; Provost Scholar)

• Kenneth Phung (B.S. in Biological Sciences; SOAR Fellow; SURF Fellow)

• Natalie Tanios (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Provost Fellow)

• Anna Nourbash (B.S. in Biochemistry, 2024; SURF Fellow; Provost Fellow)

• Ryan Wisniewski (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2024; SOAR Fellow)

• Lucy Panagos (B.S. in Human Biology, 2024)

• Megan Marentes (2023; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Iris Deng (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2023; USC Presidential Scholar; Provost Fellow; SOAR Fellow; SURF Fellow)

• Grace Schwartz (B.S. in Psychology, 2023; USC Dean’s Scholar; Provost Fellow; SOAR Fellow)

• Kara McBurnett (B.S. in Health and Human Sciences, 2022; Provost Fellow; 2022 1st place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Alicia Kao (B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology, 2022; URAP Fellow; Dornsife Neuroscience Fellow; USC Outstanding Neuroscience Student of the Year Award, 2022)

• Isabella Gianatiempo (B.S. in Computational Neuroscience, 2022; Dornsife Neuroscience Fellow; Provost Fellow; URAP Fellow; WiSE Fellow; Recipient of the Brian Phillip Rakusin Neuroscience Scholarship Award; SOAR Fellow)

• Rita Ohan (B.S. in Human Biology, 2022; USC Trustee Scholar & Norman Topping Scholar; Recipient of the Milo Don Appleman Award; SOAR Fellow)

• Chinaza Udekwe (2022; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• John Ramos (2022; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Lana Bridi (B.S. in Human Biology, 2021; B.S. in Mathematics; USC Stamps Scholar, USC Dornsife Ambassador, Recipient of the Okin Scholarship in Biological Sciences)

• April Li (B.S. in Human Biology, 2021)

• Rae Lan (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2020; USC Trustee Scholar, Recipient of the USC Neuroscience Outstanding Student of the Year Award, Recipient of the Global Scholar Prize for Graduate Study, Recipient of the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship, Recipient of the Rose Hills Research Award, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow, 2nd place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Logan Tierno (2019; USC Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research [SPIDOR] Program for outstanding underrepresented students in science and medicine)

• Jamie Clarke (B.S. in Human Biology, 2019; USC Trustee Scholar, Recipient of the Don Milo Appleman Award, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow, 1st place for USC Undergraduate Symposium research presentation)

• Lekha Chirala (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 2019; URAP Fellow)

• Victor Lee (B.S. in Human Biology, 2019; USC Presidential Scholar, Provost Fellow, SOAR Fellow)

• Ryan Fatemi (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2019; SOAR Fellow)

• Emily Wan (B.S. in Neuroscience, 2019; USC Grace Ford Salvatori Scholar, USC J. Wesley Robb Endowed Scholar, USC Sylas and Rose Marx Meyer Scholar)

• Tanisha London (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2019)

• Anish Reddy (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2018; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow)

• Emily Nakamoto (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2017; SOAR Fellow, Provost Fellow)

• Kaitlin Sontag (B.S. in Human Biology in 2017; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Natalie Demirjian (B.S. in Human Biology in 2017; SURF Fellow)

• April Banayan (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in 2017)

• Ahyun Jung (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2017)

• Danielle Rider (Postbaccalaureate Premed Program, 2016-17)

• Caroline Szujewski (Postbaccalaureate Researcher, 2016-17, B.S. in Neuroscience in 2014)

• Allison Apfel (B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in 2016; Provost Fellow, URAP Fellow)

• Nikita Shirsat (B.S. candidate in Neuroscience; WISE fellow)

• Lilly Taing (B.S. in Health and Humanity in 2016; Recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Award, Provost Fellow, SURF Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Jessica Thai (B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2016; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, Provost Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Sandhya Prathap (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2016)

• Monica Song (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2015-16)

• Augstina Kim (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015; SCynergy Awardee, Provost Fellow)

• Ryan Usui (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015; Provost Fellow)

• Joanna Liang (B.S. in Psychology in 2015; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow, Psychology Honors Graduate, USC Deans Scholar)

• Mehul Trivedi (B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2015; Provost Fellow, URAP Fellow, USC Presidential Scholar)

• Hrant Gevorgian (B.S. in Human Biology in 2015)

• Jonathan Cheung (Neuroscience Graduate Student Rotation, 2014-15)

• Ashley Lam (B.S. in Neuroscience in 2014; SOAR Fellow, SURF Fellow)