Hughes Mentor:  Tom Brenna

Department: Nutritional Sciences

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Faculty Profile- Tom Brenna

Tom Brenna is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. Throughout his career, he has strived to integrate experience in different fields to the study of Nutritional Science. He was interested in nutrition from very early in his academic studies. He was a Nutrition major as an undergrad, and thereafter got a job in a lab, where he decided that, as he says, “nutrition is really chemistry.” He then began to focus more on the chemical aspects of physiology in preparation for graduate school.

Professor Brenna began his graduate studies in Chemistry at Cornell, upon the recommendation of his mentor. After completing his graduate studies, he was employed at IBM. He found that working at a large company was quite different from independent academic study. Professor Brenna soon wished to take a more autonomous approach to research. This led him to pursue work as a faculty member and independent researcher. He told me, “I knew Cornell from grad school and from interacting as an industrial partner, and felt I could do a lot more if I could attract resources.” Thus he returned to Cornell for the second time.

Professor Brenna now has graduate field memberships in Nutrition, Food Science and Technology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Geological Sciences. The Brenna Lab currently focuses on issues that are widely applicable to public health. One particular current project that Professor Brenna mentioned seeks to estimate the requirements for polyunsaturated fatty acids in the perinatal period. This is applicable to determining the optimal diets for infants and for pregnant and lactating women. Professor Brenna is also focusing attention on how nutrition changes with aging.

Professor Brenna is excited to offer opportunities to undergraduates. He tells me, “I'm interested in students who wish to throw themselves into research for at least the duration of their projects. General interest in the area is a must. We can teach students who apply themselves.” I find that this is an excellent viewpoint to take in giving students opportunities. You can’t teach interest, a fact that Professor Brenna seems to know that from his experience.