Brian Wansink

John Dyson Endowed Chair, Cornell University

 

 

Brian Wansink (Ph.D. Stanford 1990) is the John Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. He is the lead author of over 100 academic articles and books on eating behavior, including his most recent Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life (2014), his best selling Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (2006) along with Marketing Nutrition (2005), Asking Questions (2004), and Consumer Panels (2002).

 

From 2007-2009 Wansink was granted a leave-of-absence from Cornell to accept a Presidential appointment as Executive Director of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, the Federal agency in charge of developing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

 

Wansink’s award-winning academic research on changing eating behaviors has contributed to the introduction of smaller “100 calorie” packages (to prevent overeating), the use of taller glasses in bars (to prevent the over pouring of alcohol), and the use of elaborate names and mouth-watering descriptions on restaurant menus (to improve enjoyment of the food).