Welcome to the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology
Letter from the Chair
I am pleased to describe the long-standing successful educational and research programs in the department and share with you the recent accomplishments of our department and some exciting things on the horizon.
The Nutrition & Exercise Physiology Department is the only department on campus that spans three colleges (School of Medicine, College of Human Environmental Sciences, and College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources). This unique configuration poises and challenges us to be a model of interdisciplinary research and education on campus.
Our department has a long tradition of educational excellence at the undergraduate and graduate level. We have three outstanding undergraduate programs (Dietetics, Nutritional Sciences, and Nutrition and Fitness) and two outstanding graduate programs (Nutritional Sciences and Exercise Physiology), both offering MS and PhD degrees. Our undergraduate enrollments are at record levels. We also offer three study abroad programs which were recently featured on the MU News site.
As the newest basic science department in the School of Medicine, we are actively engaged in education of medical students in the first two years of medical school in lectures and as problem-based learning tutors. Our Nutritional Sciences undergraduate major provides pre-medical students with a rigorous exposure to applied biochemistry as well as a strong background in human nutrition that will provide them with a unique advantage in medical school. We also offer a summer research internship program for MU students.
We have made new faculty hires in all three colleges and are currently recruiting three more faculty.
Our research programs are grant funded both nationally and locally and include research in human exercise physiology and metabolism, bone density and exercise, vitamin D and bone growth, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, molecular mineral nutrition, and obesity research. On this web site we have tried to highlight some of the national attention that our scholarly work receives. Our research infrastructure is about to receive a major enhancement with a complete renovation of Gwynn Hall (estimated completion date of September of 2013) that will create the MU Nutritional Center for Health (MUNCH) which will include a research kitchen, a teaching kitchen and an observational behavior lab. This project received substantial help from the J.R. Albert Foundation. In addition to MUNCH, a new human research facility will allow studies of the interactions of exercise and diet on metabolism, human performance and development or prevention of disease. These new facilities will be adjacent to the Child Development Lab allowing for some research to be focused on issues related to health of children including childhood obesity.
We invite you to browse the site, look at open positions, opportunities for graduate study, or to find exciting undergraduate educational programs to prepare you for a future in improving human health.
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Chris Hardin, PhD For More Information contact: Mary Ann Steyaert |
