He calls it “fire in the gut.” It’s the excitement, the burning drive to work through a problem and see the solution. It’s staying up at night, turning something over and over in your head and feeling exhilarated when you finally come up with an answer, says Chris Hardin, Professor and Chair of the Nutritional Sciences Department.

Citing an analogy used by those in public health fields, Tina Bloom explains that health providers wait on the banks of the river to rescue people who have fallen in and are drowning. But Bloom wants to help more and help earlier. “At some point, you start to think about what’s happening upriver,” she says. As an assistant professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing, her research focuses on safety planning for women in abusive relationships; specifically, she is designing and testing a website that might help women find ways to lessen their danger.

Although Hardin is wary of taking a stance on specific diets, he does recommend food that doesn’t cause blood-sugar spikes and an overall diet characterized by moderation. “Fundamentally, your grandmother was right," he says. "Eat your vegetables, don’t eat too much junk, go outside and play." And don’t worry: you can still eat pizza – as long as you don’t eat it all the time.