{"id":234245,"date":"2025-08-27T07:23:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=234245"},"modified":"2025-08-27T07:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:35:13","slug":"cahnr-welcomes-new-faculty-members-for-fall-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/08\/cahnr-welcomes-new-faculty-members-for-fall-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"CAHNR Welcomes New Faculty Members for Fall 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

UConn\u2019s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR)<\/a> has hired several new full-time faculty members. This diverse cohort will bring new expertise and fresh perspectives to CAHNR\u2019s thriving academic community.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome these talented faculty members to several departments in our College,\u201d says Interim Dean Kumar Venkitanarayanan. \u201cTheir dedication to teaching, research, and community engagement through extension strengthens our ability to fulfill our mission with the communities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Lauren<\/figure>\r\n
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Lauren Sheldon Brinsko, Assistant Professor in Residence, Kinesiology<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Brinsko\u2019s research focuses on injury prevention. She received her PhD from UConn in kinesiology and also holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in athletic training from UConn. She worked as a visiting assistant professor at UConn last year. Brinsko is a licensed athletic trainer and has worked with communities in Connecticut and Florida.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Julia<\/figure>\r\n
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Julia Burkett, Assistant Clinical Professor, Pathobiology and Veterinary Sciences <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Burkett\u2019s research interests are neurodegenerative diseases, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and emerging zoonoses. Burkett received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from St. George\u2019s University in Grenada. She has been licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Connecticut and Michigan and holds an institutional license in Kansas.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Jerry<\/figure>\r\n
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Jerry Diakonikolas, Instructor in Residence, Allied Health Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Diakonikolas\u2019 research interests include oral microbiome diversity changes. He received his master\u2019s degree in health care genetics from UConn as well as his certificate in medical laboratory science. Diakonikolas has also worked at Yale New Haven Health as a medical laboratory science clinical instructor.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Maureen<\/figure>\r\n
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\u00a0Maureen Kahiu, Assistant Cooperative Extension Educator, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Kahiu\u2019s research focuses on turfgrass management and developing best practices for herbicide application. Kahiu holds a PhD in plant, soil, and environmental science from the University of Tennessee. She previously worked as a golf course superintendent in Nairobi, Kenya.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Avishesh<\/figure>\r\n
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Avishesh Neupane, Assistant Extension Professor, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Neupane\u2019s work focuses on sustainable agriculture through advanced soil microbiology to make soil more efficient at carbon storage and nitrogen use. Neupane holds a PhD in geography from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Tennessee.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Jacob<\/figure>\r\n
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Jacob Rohde, Assistant Professor, Allied Health Sciences <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Rohde’s research focuses on health communication and behavioral science. He holds a PhD in media and communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of public health from Harvard University. Rohde previously worked as a research scientist at RTI International and a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Megan<\/figure>\r\n
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Megan Woodrum Setser, Assistant Professor, Animal Science <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Setser\u2019s research focuses on animal behavior, welfare, and health related sciences to better inform decisions about animal production and care. She holds a PhD in animal and food science from the University of Kentucky. Before coming to UConn, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vermont and University of Wisconsin River Falls.<\/p>\r\n

Follow\u00a0<\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on social media<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bringing new expertise and fresh perspectives to an already thriving academic community, new educators join several CAHNR departments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":197965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2296,2298,2224,2304,2299,2302,2303],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-234245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allied-health-sciences","category-animal-science","category-cahnr","category-extension","category-kinesiology","category-pathobiology-veterinary-science","category-plant-science-landscape-architecture"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 08:30:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234245"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234480,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234245\/revisions\/234480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/197965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234245"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=234245"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=234245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}