Nutritional Sciences News & Highlights

When undergraduates conduct original research, they experience far more than the joy of pipetting and mixing solutions.

After contributing to over 100 peer-reviewed publications while on the faculty of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, it is not surprising that Dr. Jeanne Freeland-Graves has one of the most highly cited papers in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Veteran reporter Leslie Rhode recently tagged along with Dr. Jaimie Davis and the Texas Sprouts program as they worked with children at Oak Meadows Elementary.  On that day, the fifth graders learned to distinguish whole from processed foods as well as make small caprese salads with basil harvested from their school garden.

Although biochemist Lorene Rogers (1914-2009) received her doctorate from UT Austin, the Chemistry Department refused to hire her as as a professor—and tried to pay her half as a lecturer—because she was a woman. She did find a professorship, however, in what was then known as the Department of Home Economics (School of Human Ecology).

Nutrition is being recognized more and more as great preparation for the medical profession. Recent graduate Jessica Reynoso knows this: she is one of the select students accepted to Dell Medical School's historic first class. Only 50 students (about 1% of applicants) were admitted to the program.