“Seeing my academic training translate into practical solutions has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my graduate experience”
Bisola Adeleke, a community health Ph.D. student, at her internship for Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. (Provided)
While still working on her Ph.D., a University of Illinois community health student researcher landed an internship at the biggest national laboratory in the Midwest.
This summer, Bisola Adeleke has conducted user experience research at Argonne National Laboratory, a federally funded science and engineering lab in Argonne, Illinois.
“Although my research focuses on older adults, the principles of human-centered design are universal,” Adeleke said.
This summer, her UX research has taken place in the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, which provides supercomputing and AI resources to academic researchers, government agencies and industry scientists.
“Even world-class computing systems need intuitive, user-centered design,” Adeleke said. “The researchers who use ALCF are experts in their scientific fields, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they should have to struggle with complex workflows or documentation.”
What she’s seen so far: good user experience can make these advanced computing resources operate more efficiently and accessibly, allowing the researchers to spend more time on discovery and less navigating technical barriers, Adeleke said.
Members of the ADAPT Lab, led by Shannon Mejía (left).
An extended time working with professionals from computing and tech backgrounds has strengthened her ability to communicate across a diverse set of disciplines.
“One of the things I’ve valued most about my time at the University of Illinois is the emphasis on applying research to real-world challenges,” Adeleke said. “My coursework has provided a strong foundation in public health and research methods, while my internship at Argonne has shown me how those skills can be applied to improving technologies that support scientific research.
“Seeing my academic training translate into practical solutions has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my graduate experience.”
Before joining the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Adeleke’s academic journey spanned two continents: she obtained her bachelor’s in health education from Lagos State University in Nigeria, and her master’s degree in research and development in educational studies from Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
After 35 years, Steve Petruzzello leaves the University of Illinois the same way he built his career: putting people first
Professor Steve Petruzzello, associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, is retiring from the College of Applied Health Sciences after more than 30 years at the University of Illinois. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)
There are easier ways to measure an academic career.
You can count publications. Research grants. Awards. Citations. National rankings. For Steve Petruzzello, those numbers are certainly impressive. For 35 years at the University of Illinois, the Health and Kinesiology professor helped shape the scientific understanding of how physical activity affects mental health, conducted influential research that improved firefighter safety, mentored generations of graduate students and earned a place on the University’s List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent more than 60 times.
But ask Petruzzello what mattered most, and he’ll answer with a single word.
People. The students who walked into his classroom every semester. The graduate students whose ideas he encouraged—even when those ideas challenged conventional wisdom. The colleagues who opened laboratory doors for a young professor before they had any reason to trust him.
Those relationships, more than any publication or promotion, became the defining thread of a career that unfolded in ways he never expected.
“When I came here,” said Petruzzello—who came to what was then known as the Department of Kinesiology in 1991—“I knew I’d set up a lab, get my research started and begin teaching. I don’t think I could have ever predicted the twists and turns it would take over 35 years.”
Petruzzello, known to students as “Dr. P.” and to most others as “Steve P.,” never had a rigid vision of where his career was headed. Looking back, he believes that may have been one of his greatest strengths.
“I’ve always tried to remain open to possibilities,” he said.
Sometimes those possibilities appeared in remarkable acts of generosity.
Fresh off earning his Ph.D. from Arizona State University, Petruzzello arrived at Illinois with little more than ideas and ambition. Established faculty in the Psychology Department—many of them nationally recognized researchers—offered him access to their laboratories and equipment.
“They didn’t know me from Adam,” he said. “And they were willing to let me do anything I wanted.”
Other opportunities arrived by pure chance.
One afternoon, exercise physiology professor Jim Misner mentioned he was conducting research with firefighters. Petruzzello immediately recognized a connection to his own work studying body temperature and the psychological effects of exercise.
A hallway conversation became a decades-long research partnership that would eventually influence firefighter training across Illinois.
For Petruzzello, that became a lesson he carried throughout his career: some of the most important moments aren’t carefully planned. They’re recognized.
From Olympic Archers to Everyday People
His path into research was equally unexpected. Growing up in Wisconsin, Petruzzello was always active. Summers were spent outside, not in front of screens. Football games with his brothers continued through snowy winters. Later came competitive swimming.
The turning point arrived during college. A teammate developed a peculiar pre-race ritual. Before every race, he disappeared into a dark hallway, lay quietly beneath a towel for several minutes, then emerged to dominate his event. Petruzzello couldn’t stop wondering why.
That curiosity led him into sports psychology, graduate school at Arizona State and eventually research on elite athletes, including members of the U.S. Olympic archery program. His team measured brain activity and heart function while elite archers shot arrows, searching for the mental ingredients behind world-class performance.
The work fascinated him. But eventually another question seemed even more important.
Instead of asking how to help elite athletes improve by fractions of a percent, what if researchers could understand how exercise affected everyone?
That realization redirected his entire career toward studying the psychological benefits of physical activity—a field that has since become central to public health.
“It was like, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’” he said.
Science with Immediate Consequences
Many researchers hope their work eventually changes lives. Petruzzello got to watch it happen. Working alongside the Illinois Fire Service Institute, his laboratory studied how firefighters respond to extreme heat, dehydration and physical stress during training exercises.
Initially, researchers simply evaluated whether a structured physical training program improved fitness. It did. But the partnership quickly expanded into something much larger. Petruzzello’s team measured core body temperature, hydration, heart rate and cognitive performance during live-fire training scenarios. Their findings revealed how heat stress could influence decision-making, reaction time and safety.
The practical implications were immediate. Departments adjusted hydration practices. Training evolved. Better information led to better decisions for firefighters entering dangerous environments.
“We’re finding things we can give back to these folks,” Petruzzello said, “and they can use them to make changes in how they do things.”
For someone whose research centered on improving people’s lives, there was no greater reward than watching science move beyond journal pages.
I’ve always tried to remain open to possibilities.”
Steve Petruzzello
Outgoing associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Despite an accomplished research career, Petruzzello never viewed teaching as secondary. Quite the opposite. Years ago, when asked to become director of graduate studies, he was offered the standard incentive: a reduced teaching load. He declined.
“If that’s what I have to do to take this job,” he told his department head, “I don’t want it.” He took on the role without giving up any of his teaching responsibilities.
Teaching wasn’t something to escape. It was the reason universities exist.
“We don’t have a job if we don’t have students,” he said. “Teaching has just been the best thing.”
Students sensed that commitment.
Every semester, Petruzzello updated his lectures rather than recycling decades-old material. He greeted students before class—eventually with fist bumps that became something of a tradition. He noticed who looked distracted, who hadn’t attended recently and who might simply need someone to ask whether everything was OK.
When students encountered illness or personal hardship, he tried to offer understanding before judgment. Sure, he admits, a few people probably took advantage of that kindness. He has no regrets.
“I don’t want to be the one that says, ‘I wish I would’ve given that student a little more leeway because they really needed it.’”
That philosophy explains why his teaching evaluations remained exceptional for decades. Students remembered not only what they learned, but how they were treated.
A Mentor Who Stepped Aside
Petruzzello’s impact extended far beyond the classroom. One of his proudest moments involved doing remarkably little.
Professor Steve Petruzzello says he’ll miss students and teaching. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)
Early in his career, doctoral student Panteleimon “Paddy” Ekkekakis approached him with four ambitious manuscripts questioning accepted ideas within exercise psychology.
One of the manuscripts was critical of the questionnaire developed by a more-senior faculty member. The faculty member was livid, Petruzzello said.
“He said, ‘How dare you let a graduate student do that?’ And I just sat there. And I thought, how dare I not? If it’s garbage, then the peer review process will point that out.”
Instead, all four manuscripts were accepted.
The work fundamentally changed how researchers study emotional responses to exercise and launched Ekkekakis into one of the field’s most influential careers.
Ekkekakis, now a professor and chairperson of the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University, said he first learned of Petruzzello in 1991 when he was an undergraduate student, and Petruzzello published a meta-analysis on the effects of exercise on anxiety in a leading review journal.
“Needless to say, at the time, for an undergraduate student in faraway Athens, Greece, the furthest thing from my mind was the notion that I could, one day, study for my Ph.D. under the guidance of Dr Petruzzello,” Ekkekakis said. “As fate would have it, a couple of years later, I met Dr. Petruzzello, in the flesh, at a conference in the U.S. We kept in touch and a few years later, I found myself driving a U-Haul truck through a major winter storm toward Champaign-Urbana, to enroll in the Ph.D. program under his guidance. I came to Illinois after a traumatic period of studying for my master’s, having experienced numerous variants of negativity, from racism to condescension and everything in between. In stark contrast, every interaction with Steve was like a breath of fresh air. In an early experience I will never forget, I observed him interact very calmly with a belligerent student in the classroom. I thought to myself ‘I wish that, one day, I will be able to develop this level of professionalism and self-control.’ Outside the classroom, Steve exhibited the perfect balance between providing guidance and cultivating autonomy. That’s a rare skill that I have also tried to emulate, but probably unsuccessfully.
“It is hard to put in a nutshell what Steve means to me as a mentor and academic role model. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for helping me build a research program that has taken me all over the world and a professional career that I still find fulfilling. I consider myself enormously lucky that our paths crossed, especially considering how extremely improbable this encounter seemed back in 1991.”
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences and a colleague since 2016, said Petruzzello “distinguished himself as a scholar, teacher, mentor and leader whose influence has shaped generations of students, faculty and staff.
“Steve’s leadership within the college has left a lasting mark. He has guided academic programs, supported student success initiatives and helped shape the educational experiences of countless undergraduate and graduate students. His steady guidance, thoughtful perspective and unwavering commitment to this college have strengthened our mission in countless ways.
Saying Goodbye
After three and a half decades, Petruzzello says he won’t miss committee meetings. He laughs about that. What he’ll miss are the conversations before class. The questions students asked that made him think differently. Conversations with fellow faculty members and colleagues. The faculty and staff members who quietly kept the department running every day.
Mostly, though, he’ll miss the students. For years, he joked that standing in front of classrooms full of 18-to-22-year-olds was the closest thing academia had to the fountain of youth.
Now, as retirement begins, he hopes the next generation of faculty remembers why universities exist in the first place. Help students. Be the best teacher and mentor you can be. Build meaningful research. Speak up. Stay curious. Those ideas sound remarkably similar to the principles that quietly guided his own career.
When asked for one final message, Petruzzello borrowed words that have long inspired him.
First came Maya Angelou: Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
Then, with a smile, he reached for Winnie the Pooh.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?”
For thousands of Illinois students, colleagues and alumni, the answer is easy. They were lucky to have Dr. P.
There are several ways caregivers can tailor their meals to their relatives’ health needs (Google images)
My first science experiment was in sixth grade, for our county’s science fair. Over three months, I tested how my grandfather’s blood sugar responded to green leafy vegetables versus brown rice at dinnertime. My mom would prepare traditional South Indian meals including those foods, and my dad would supervise as I measured and administered insulin and recorded my grandfather’s blood sugar levels.
It was the first time I observed how complex it is to feed a relative with a complex health condition.
Today, as a health services researcher studying how family caregivers manage food and nutrition as part of taking care of older family members, I know that helping an older relative eat well doesn’t just support their health. It can also bring them joy, boost their energy, prompt nostalgia or offer a chance for experimentation with flavors.
Too often, caregivers are left to manage these substantial responsibilities alone, with limited resources and information about nutrition. Here’s what you need to know.
Changing nutrition needs
Nutrition needs change with age. Older adults generally need fewer calories, but require more protein, fiber and other nutrients to maintain muscle, bone and overall health.
And the shrinking number and size of taste buds and reduced saliva production can affect which foods people enjoy or are able to eat.
More than 7 in 10 older adults have more than one chronic condition such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia or osteoporosis. Some conditions are risk factors for developing others—for instance, having Type 2 diabetes raises the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, and both are risk factors for dementia.
Optimal nutrition is critical for managing these diseases—and often for reducing the risk of developing them. Over 60 million caregivers in the U.S. support a relative, friend or neighbor with daily activities, and my colleagues and I have found that roughly a quarter of family caregivers of older adults help with nutrition. They are often responsible for every aspect of providing it—from planning meals to grocery shopping and making sure the food gets eaten.
Associate Professor Minakshi Raj, outside near Freer Hall, is an expert on caregiving issues. (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
But different health conditions require different approaches to dietary changes, and those changes can be even more nuanced when someone has multiple conditions. For example, someone with Type 2 diabetes can benefit from eating fewer foods with refined carbohydrates found in cookies, candies and sodas, and more foods high in fiber, protein and fats to stabilize their blood sugar.
If that person also has kidney disease, they might need to restrict their consumption of foods that are high in potassium, such as potatoes and tomatoes as well as foods that are high in phosphorus, such as nuts, to avoid straining the kidneys.
Caregivers often don’t have the knowledge to help them with their nutrition responsibilities, such as making sure the food they provide includes the necessary amounts of macronutrients—proteins, carbohydrates and fats that the body needs. Many are also unsure of how nutrition affects their relative’s health condition and lack training on meal planning, budgeting and cooking for themselves and for a relative with chronic health conditions.
Key kitchen strategies
Online resources, such as those offered by the American Diabetes Association, can provide ideas for recipes as well as information about nutrition and management of specific health conditions. For caregivers who need to make dietary modifications to traditional, non-Western cuisines, resources such as Oldways can provide global culinary examples that meet specific nutritional needs.
A few targeted kitchen strategies, like meal planning, can go a long way toward helping caregivers navigate food decisions and nutrition needs of older relatives. You can start by thinking through what types of foods to include—or to skip—in order to meet your relative’s health needs. For example, they might need high fiber to slow digestion and prevent blood sugar spikes in diabetes. Or, they might need to add dairy to meals for good bone health.
Creating a list of meals for the week based on food groups—such as grains, protein sources, vegetables, fruits and dairy—can help ensure these items are part of each meal. It also enables you to shop with a specific list on hand, which can reduce food waste or spoilage.
One common dietary change for older adults is reducing how much sodium they consume. Packaged and prepared foods are often high in salt because it enhances flavor. To maximize flavor in low-salt foods prepared at home, try experimenting with different spices and herbs. If your relative seems to really enjoy a particular blend, you could even create your own mix to use in a variety of dishes.
In some cases, Medicare will cover the cost of consulting with a dietitian. A dietitian can talk caregivers through their family’s specific concerns and preferences about managing an older relative’s nutritional needs. They can also help families make sure that any dietary modifications safely align with their relative’s health conditions, as well as with their medications and other therapies. Since 2025, Medicare has allowed dietitians to train family caregivers on how to manage special diets for conditions like diabetes or chronic kidney disease, even if the patient isn’t in the room.
Steps like these can help caregivers continue providing this help and might even bring new foods and flavors into the home.
Editor’s note:
Minakshi Raj is an associate professor in the department of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This story was originally printed in The Conversation and The Washington Post.
New research suggests the liver retains a molecular memory of past workouts, helping the body respond more effectively when exercise resumes after a break
Diego Hernandez-Saavedra, center, says his study shows that the whole body, not just the muscles, remembers exercise. (Photo by Fred Zwicky)
For millions of people who have stepped away from regular exercise because of injury, illness, pregnancy or the demands of daily life, returning to fitness can feel like starting from scratch. New research suggests that may not be the case.
A new study, “Endurance Exercise Elicits a Hepatic Memory Associated with Improved Metabolic Function and Protein Secretion,” provides evidence that the liver retains a biological “memory” of previous exercise, allowing the body to respond more effectively when physical activity resumes. The findings, led by University of Illinois Health and Kinesiology Assistant Professor Diego Hernandez-Saavedra, point to a previously unknown adaptation in the liver that could reshape scientists’ understanding of exercise, metabolism and chronic disease prevention.
The research expands on earlier work showing that skeletal muscle can retain a memory of prior exercise. This study is among the first to demonstrate that another major metabolic organ—the liver—also appears to preserve molecular changes after periods of regular physical activity.
Funding for the study came from the Center on Health, Aging and Disability in the College of Applied Health Sciences as well as the Campus Research Board.
“Our study shows that exercise can help our body be healthier, specifically our liver, and that those ‘memories’ that we stored from the time we exercised can help us stay healthy over time,” said Hernandez-Saavedra, who is in AHS. “This is the first-of-its-kind study that shows that the whole body, not just the muscles, remembers exercise.”
The liver plays a central role in regulating blood sugar, processing fats and producing proteins that circulate throughout the body. During regular endurance exercise, liver cells activate genes that improve metabolic health. While many of those changes diminish when exercise stops, the study found the liver does not fully return to its pre-exercise state.
Instead, researchers discovered that the organ remains biologically “primed.” When exercise resumes, those dormant pathways reactivate more quickly and more powerfully than they did during initial training.
“If you had to explain this paper to someone in one sentence,” Hernandez-Saavedra said, “your liver remembers every workout you’ve ever done, and that memory makes getting back in shape faster, more effective, and more protective for your metabolic health than if you’d never exercised before.”
The majority of the mechanistic work was conducted in mice using carefully controlled endurance-training and detraining protocols. Researchers found that animals returning to exercise after a period of inactivity demonstrated stronger improvements in blood sugar regulation, reductions in liver fat and enhanced metabolic responses compared with animals exercising for the first time.
One of the study’s most striking discoveries involved a protein known as carboxylesterase 4A, or CES4A. The protein was secreted into the bloodstream only during retraining—not during an initial training program of equal duration—suggesting the liver distinguishes between first-time exercise and renewed exercise after prior conditioning.
Researchers also observed a dramatic increase in gene activity during retraining.
This is the first-of-its-kind study that shows that the whole body, not just the muscles, remembers exercise.”
Diego Hernandez-Saavedra
Assistant Professor, HK
“The liver went from expressing 18 differentially regulated genes after initial training to more than 6,000 after retraining,” Hernandez-Saavedra said. “That’s not a subtle effect.”
Although the strongest evidence comes from laboratory mice, the study included a six-week human exercise program involving 20 participants that produced encouraging results.
Researchers found that carboxylesterase activity increased after exercise in humans as well. Those increases were greatest among participants with higher cardiorespiratory fitness and a greater history of previous physical activity, mirroring the retraining response observed in mice.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Hernandez-Saavedra said. “The human data we present are preliminary … but the pattern is strikingly consistent with what we found in mice.”
The findings could have important implications for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The condition affects roughly one-third of adults worldwide and is closely linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Exercise remains one of the most effective treatments for improving liver health, but maintaining consistent physical activity over time remains a challenge for many people.
“If we can establish that a history of exercise, even interrupted, confers durable protection on the liver and amplifies the response to future training, that changes how we think about exercise prescriptions for people at risk of or already living with MASLD,” Hernandez-Saavedra said. “It also opens the door to new therapeutic targets.”
The researchers are now investigating whether those beneficial exercise memories can eventually be activated therapeutically, potentially allowing scientists to mimic some of exercise’s protective effects for patients unable to engage in regular physical activity.
Still, Hernandez-Saavedra cautioned against overinterpreting the results.
“Our study shows that prior exercise history provides a biological advantage when exercise resumes,” he said. “It does not show that stopping exercise is without consequence.” Many of exercise’s measurable benefits diminished during periods of inactivity, he noted, meaning the memory remains dormant until exercise begins again.
Instead, the research offers encouragement for people who have fallen out of an exercise routine.
“Start again, and don’t be discouraged by the gap,” Hernandez-Saavedra said. “The biology suggests that your previous exercise history is not gone; it’s simply dormant.” Even modest activities such as walking, cycling or light resistance training may be enough to reactivate those molecular pathways.
Scientists caution that several important questions remain unanswered before physicians can apply the findings clinically. Researchers still need to determine how long hepatic exercise memory lasts, whether it differs by age or sex, what types and amounts of exercise activate it most effectively and whether specific carboxylesterase proteins can serve as biomarkers of liver health in humans.
Even so, the study challenges one of the most common assumptions surrounding exercise—that periods of inactivity erase previous gains completely.
“People assume that if they stop, they go back to zero,” Hernandez-Saavedra said. “Our research supports a different view: exercise is an investment that accumulates biological capital in your tissues, including your liver, and that capital doesn’t fully disappear when you stop. The body keeps a record.”
While additional human studies are needed to confirm the mechanisms, the research offers a hopeful message to anyone hesitant to restart an exercise program after months—or even years—away: the body may remember more than previously believed.
The 2026 World Cup has been a real moneymaker for FIFA. Revenues from TV broadcasting rights, ticket sales and other commercial sources are projected to amount to nearly US$11 billion, making it the most financially successful event in the international soccer governing body’s history.
But what about the cities that hosted the tournament’s games? Recreation, Sport and Tourism Professor Yuhei Inoue—with assistance from postdoctoral researcher Alessio Norrito and research assistant Yohan Lee—writes in The Conversation about how the key to answering this question lies in the intangible social outcomes of hosting the World Cup.
Candice Solomon-Strutz and Chris Tidrick have in-depth conversations about what it means to be a leader today. Candice and Chris are IT leaders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collectively have more than 50 years of experience working in higher education. In this episode, they speak with new University of Illinois Chancellor Charles Isbell.
Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell was reappointed following her latest five-year review
Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell.
Following her 10th year leading the college, Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell has been reappointed as dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences, pending approval by the University of Illinois board of trustees.
Hanley-Maxwell, a three-time Illinois alumna, joined the College of AHS as dean in August 2016. Her latest five-year evaluation committee, chaired by College of Veterinary Medicine’s Dean Peter Constable, singled out her “effective and supportive” leadership, and her strengthening of the college’s teaching and research efforts.
“Through her advocacy for the college on and off campus; her encouragement of faculty research, creative, and scholarly work; and her commitment to the mission of the college, Dean Hanley-Maxwell is well positioned to guide the college forward in the years ahead,” Illinois Provost John Coleman said.
In the announcement of her reappointment, Hanley-Maxwell addressed the Applied Health Sciences community, pledging to strengthen research collaborations and transparency as the college develops its next strategic plan.
“I feel very fortunate to be part of this community,” Hanley-Maxwell said. “Thank you for your partnership, your openness, and your ongoing commitment to AHS and to one another. I am inspired by what we have built together and energized by what we will accomplish next, and I look forward to continuing this important work with all of you.”
