Loren Cherry

Hometown: Granite Bay, CA

Undergraduate: Carleton College, 2014

Major/Minor: Psychology/Cognitive Science

Future: Tentative plan to pursue a career in food science, ultimately doing research and development for a food company.

Summer Projects:

Tragedy of the Commons: For this study I am working with one of the Post Docs in the lab. This was his brainchild applying an economic principle to eating behavior. The project had hit a wall and needed more man power to collect data. This ended up being a huge time commitment of collecting data, then starting coding, and doing some of the background research.

Thanksgiving Indulgences: Dr. Wansink emphasized the importance of leaving this summer with something to show for it, so each of us interns was assigned a project that would be our paper, which in theory by the end of the summer will be at a publishable state. My topic is indulgences and overconsumption at celebratory meals, such as Thanksgiving. This project has been a huge help for me to learn how to write and read academic papers with a much faster pace than most schools teach you.

Advice for Future Interns:

Come prepared to do a ton of work. I’m having a great time working hard and having a lot of fun with the other interns, but this is not a normal 9am to 5pm job. Everyone in the lab has a strong work ethic and is very self-motivated to get things done and propose new things at the same time. Before this summer I really had no insight on what the world of academia was like. After working at the Food and Brand Lab for about ten weeks I feel like I’ve gotten a glimpse at many different aspects of what it means to be an academic. From writing papers, having deadlines and brainstorming research to interviews for PBS, presentations for public gatherings, and running a lab, there is never a day when things are slow.