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Research

Highlights of Research Programs in Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition:
Washington State University is ranked among the top research universities in the United States according to U.S. News. In the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Washington State University, you will receive an incredible one-on-one education and research opportunities from our world-class faculty.

High-Quality Programs.
World-Class Faculty.
Opportunity to Become Completely Immersed in Program.
- It takes a lower than average number of years to complte.
Financial Support.
- Majority of graduate students here are full-time students and receive support.

Research Areas:

Graduate Program in Human Nutrition

Kathy A. Beerman: Effects of isoflavones on health parameters in postmenopausal women and the impact of breastfeeding on postpartum, amenorrheal women.
Sue Butkus (WSU Puyallup): Development of nutrition education programs for high risk, low-income population groups. Recent research has focused on ways to make nutrition education more effective and improve the evaluation and accountability of those programs, and, to identify ways to increase access to food in the low-income populations. Most recently, projects in this are evaluated how field gleaners used food that was gleaned from the fields after the commercial harvest. Most recently, she has been involved in a diabetes awareness and education project and evaluating its effectiveness. The emphasis is on reducing the complications and death from diabetes among minority populations.
Miriam Edlefsen: Nutrition education with an emphasis in the area of hunger and food security in the US and food safety. Related areas of research interests include preadolescent attitudes and behavior towards calcium rich foods.
Shelley McGuire: Understanding of how breastfeeding and lactation influence both maternal and child health and well-being. This research is multifaceted and encompasses many types of experimental designs and models; both human and animal models are used. Recent research has focused on investigating how maternal diet influences milk fat content and, thus, energy intake and fatty acid consumption of the breastfeeding child. In addition, studies focused on the regulation of postpartum amenorrhea are of interest to this group.
Jill Armstrong Shultz: Sociocultural factors that influence dietary practices with an emphasis on minority and understudied groups. Primary research areas are diabetes education, food insecurity, and cultural issues in community nutrition programs. Related areas of interest include social science research methodologies and statistical analyses. Recent research projects include understanding goal setting experiences of patients with Type 2 diabetes, determining coping strategies of food bank clients, and evaluating the impact of 5-A-Day For Better Health educational materials on WIC clientele.
Terry D. Shultz: Determining the relationships between vitamin B-6 nutritional status, immune function and human cancer development. Vitamin B-6 metabolism is being studied in the context of dietary intake, nutrient requirements, folate (i.e., one-carbon) metabolism, DNA synthesis and cancer prevention; human cancer cell response and modulation of DNA synthesis and repair gene expression; and immune response. Specifically, human metabolic feeding studies and cell culture studies are ongoing to investigate vitamin B-6 adequacy and gene/nutrient interactions, immunity, and cancer prevention.

Graduate Program In Nutrition (Ph.D.)

Kathy A. Beerman: Effect of isoflavones on health parameters in postmenopausal women and the impact of breastfeeding on postpartum, amenorrheal women.
Miriam Edlefsen: Nutrition education with an emphasis in the area of hunger and food security in the US and food safety. Related areas of research interests include preadolescent attitudes and behavior towards calcium rich foods.
Shelley McGuire: Understanding of how breastfeeding and lactation influence both maternal and child health and well-being. This research is multifaceted and encompasses many types of experimental designs and models; both human and animal models are used. Recent research has focused on investigating how maternal diet influences milk fat content and, thus, energy intake and fatty acid consumption of the breastfeeding child. In addition, studies focused on the regulation of postpartum amenorrhea are of interest to this group.
Jill Armstrong Shultz: Sociocultural factors that influence dietary practices with an emphasis on minority and understudied groups. Primary research areas are diabetes education, food insecurity, and cultural issues in community nutrition programs. Related areas of interest include social science research methodologies and statistical analyses. Recent research projects include understanding goal setting experiences of patients with Type 2 diabetes, determining coping strategies of food bank clients, and evaluating the impact of 5-A-Day For Better Health educational materials on WIC clientele.
Terry D. Shultz: Determining the relationships between vitamin B-6 nutritional status, immune function and human cancer development. Vitamin B-6 metabolism is being studied in the context of dietary intake, nutrient requirements, folate (i.e., one-carbon) metabolism, DNA synthesis and cancer prevention; human cancer cell response and modulation of DNA synthesis and repair gene expression; and immune response. Specifically, human metabolic feeding studies and cell culture studies are ongoing to investigate vitamin B-6 adequacy and gene/nutrient interactions, immunity, and cancer prevention.

Labs/Research Facilities:
Facilities include a well-equipped pilot plant, tissue culture room, research laboratories, a sensory evaluation lab and a live-in human metabolic unit. Central research facilities at Washington State University provide opportunities to become competent in statistics, computer science, ionizing radiation, electron microscopy, state-of-the-art instrumentation, laboratory nutrition, food service systems management, and the processing of dairy, cereal, fruit, meat and vegetable products. Modern departmental research laboratories are well equipped for chemical, physical and microbiological analyses, and for human metabolic studies

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