Public Health Professor Yu Ni receives Golden Apple Award
Yu Ni, an assistant professor in San Diego State University's School of Public Health, was named this year's recipient of the Golden Apple award. The award recognizes excellence in teaching and is given to a public health faculty member at the end of each school year.
“I am really honored to receive the Golden Apple award, especially because it comes from students,” Ni said. “This recognition feels less like an individual achievement and more like a reflection of the relationships I have been fortunate to build with students.”
Ni teaches in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, where she brings extensive knowledge and experience in environmental epidemiology. Her research often focuses on vulnerable populations, including children, women, and communities along the southern border.
For nearly 10 years, she’s worked with the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes cohort, supporting research that examines early environmental exposures’ influence on child health and development.
Some of her recent projects examine both the effects of ultrafine particle exposure on child neurodevelopment and of chronic noise exposure on child cardiometabolic health.
Ni is also involved in several SDSU-led projects. She is an investigator for the SDSU Healthy Water Healthy Air Study, which monitors community health through survey data and environmental contamination assessments, and a research member with SDSU’s Thirdhand Smoke Research Center.
“As a relatively new investigator, I value above all the diverse collaborations I am encouraged and supported to build and sustain,” she said. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to observe, participate, engage, and lead in both nation-wide and community-engaged research that can be translated into action in public health practice and in the classroom.”
The idea of being a mentor and a resource for students is what inspired Ni to become an educator in the first place. She incorporates the collaborative nature of epidemiology into her own classes, which she describes as "reciprocal learning” with her students.
Her goal is to create an environment where students are prepared with the most practical and relevant research skills. Even after receiving the Golden Apple award, she sees teaching as an important practice to continuously adapt and adjust to meet her students’ needs.
“[Receiving this award] suggests I am on the right track, while also reminding me that teaching is always evolving,” she said. “It motivates me to continue trying new approaches and remain responsive to students’ needs.”
