Before the COVID-19 pandemic – when losing the sense of smell and taste became a common sign of infection – Kevin Monahan says most people took smell for granted. “Smell has really been underappreciated,” said Monahan, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. His research into our sense of smell earned him recognition as a 2022 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar. “It was not the focus of our attention like hearing and vision until COVID took the sense of smell and taste away from people and they realized how important it was to them,” he said. To read the full story.