Cara Cuite, assistant extension specialist, Department of Human Ecology.
Cara Cuite is an assistant extension specialist in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University. She started at Rutgers as a graduate student in 1995 and has never really left.
Cuite is a health psychologist who studies community food security, risk communication and public perceptions of food-related issues, including food safety and genetically engineered foods. In addition, she has worked with Senior Nutrition Programs around the country to understand the food security, food safety, and emergency preparedness needs of homebound seniors.
More recent projects have focused on communicating about weather-related emergencies and designing interventions to reduce household food, energy, and water use.
Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, New Jersey Sea Grant, and Johnson & Johnson. In 2016 she was part of a multi-university team that received a grant from the National Science Foundation, through their Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water program. The total grant was for $2,983,358. Rutgers received $419,184 for the project: Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation.
Cuite grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the ‘pre-hipster era’. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Psychology and Modern Languages from Union College. A member of both a book club and a knitting club, Cuite volunteers with Meals on Wheels in Greater New Brunswick, and loves going to concerts. She and her husband have two teenage daughters who keep them busy.
Because she started at Rutgers as a graduate student in 1995 (and never left) Cuite is fairly familiar with all things Scarlet. However, she did finally go to her first Rutgers football game a little over a year ago, and is looking forward to continuing this new Rutgers experience.
More important, in her new role as an assistant extension specialist, she is excited to expand the work she does in partnership with the New Brunswick community.
Editor’s Note: This faculty profile is part of an ongoing series highlighting new faculty hires and faculty promotions in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
