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Science stands alone as a word, but its true power lies in the plural efforts of many.
June -July 2025
During the summer , Dr. Tassitano and Dr. Tenorio traveled to Arapiraca, Brazil, to advance our ongoing collaborative work on school-based physical activity promotion. The visit was part of a funded research project and included data collection, visits to public schools, meetings with school principals and the superintendent of the school district to discuss barriers, enablers, and opportunities for physical activity promotion, and lectures to share our research findings and exchange knowledge with local educators, health professionals, and stakeholders.
June / July – 2025
In June, Dr. Tenorio and Dr. Tassitano traveled across the globe to participate in the International Congress on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Behavior in Auckland, New Zealand — one of the most important conferences in the field of physical activity and health.
Graduate Spotlight – Ankita Gupta
Today we celebrate Ankita Gupta, who has been a valued member of our lab since the beginning and recently earned her MPH. Her journey reflects courage and dedication. During her MPH, she was awarded the Outstanding Integrative Learning Experience Award for leading the Illinois Extension’s Eat.Move.Save Campaign, creating a digital health initiative to promote physical activity. She also presented her research, “Physical Activity Research in India: Insights from GoPA! on Regional, Demographic, and Gender Disparities,” at the first Illini Physical Activity Symposium, contributing to global discussions on health disparities.
Ankita, remember—you will always have a home at Lifetime Physical Activity Lab
2025 HK Awards Ceremony
Celebrating our lab’s undergraduate student success at the 2025 Health and Kinesiology Awards, held last Thursday at the UIUC! A big shoutout to two outstanding undergraduate students from the Lifetime Physical Activity Lab for their well-deserved recognition!
Collin Janusz – Helga Deutsch Award – 2025
Brina Arvanetes – Carita Robertson Award – 2025
April 8 – Lab Spotlight: Graduate Student Delivers an Outstanding Lecture
Edem, a PhD student in our lab, served as a guest lecturer in HK441 – Physical Activity and Chronic Disease, where he led an engaging session on Type 2 Diabetes and highlighted the role of physical activity in prevention and management. In addition to his lecture, the class reviewed and discussed one of Edem’s recently published papers on the topic, giving students the opportunity to explore current research and see firsthand how evidence is generated and applied in public health. Well done, Edem!
2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium – UIUC
✨ We are proud of our undergraduate students! ✨
All of our undergraduate researchers had the opportunity to present their projects at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium this week. Each presentation highlighted the hard work, dedication, and creativity they bring to advancing physical activity and public health research in our lab.
Congratulations to Collin, Brina, Peter, Max, Kristel, Rachel, and Heba for their outstanding presentations and contributions. We are inspired by their commitment and excited to see the impact they will continue to make as future scholars and professionals. 👏🎉
START program
During the 2025 academic year, we hosted two amazing students from the START program in our lab. Kristel and Heba did excellent work analyzing data from the Global Observatory for Physical Education (GoPE!).
2025 Illini Physical Activity Symposium (First edition)
We were thrilled to host the Illini Physical Activity Symposium in celebration of the International Day of Physical Activity! 🎉
Organized by our lab in collaboration with the La Passista Lab and the EPIC Lab, the event kicked off with a community walk from the Main Quad to Huff Hall, highlighting the importance of moving together. The symposium brought together 55 students and faculty, featuring 14 abstract presentations that showcased innovative research in the field, along with an inspiring keynote speaker who emphasized the role of physical activity in improving health across the lifespan. We look forward to building on this momentum and are excited to announce that next year we will host the second edition of the Illini Physical Activity Symposium!
Fall 2025
During last Fall, we had the opportunity to host Ambrose and Luka as part of the International Graduates Mentoring Program (IGMP). This semester-long academic training initiative was held in collaboration with graduate students from China 🇨🇳. Congratulations to both on their well-deserved recognition during the program! 🎉
We would also like to recognize Ramat and Edem, our junior mentors, for their excellent support and guidance throughout Luka and Ambrose’s experience at UIUC. What a wonderful connection between Brazil, China, and Ghana! 🌍✨
