Nutritional Sciences | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

Several adults work together to move and organize food donations in a food donation center.

New minor in Nutritional Studies

The Department of Nutritional Sciences now offers a new minor in Nutrition Studies for students of any major to apply the fundamentals of nutrition to their career paths. 

Learn more about this minor 

A row of single room homes are along a dirt with outdoor market carts and people standing around the carts.

Improving nutrition in low-income nations

Newly minted Ph.D. Teresa Schwendler and her advisor Stephen Kodish, assistant professor of nutritional sciences and biobehavioral health, answer questions about how to meet children's nutritional needs and help them grow up healthy.

Read a brief conversation about their work

Meet NUTR's Instagram Ambassadors, Viviana and Lindsay!

The HHD Instagram Ambassador initiative highlights our majors through the eyes of the students within the program. We invite you to follow their accounts to learn, explore, and experience our program.

Follow them on Instagram!

Nutritional Sciences at Penn State examines how humans gain energy from food and how nutrition choices affect our health over time.

Solidly rooted in chemistry, biology, physiology, psychology, neuroscience, behavior, and development, our body of work covers the effects of nutrition at all levels, from the molecule to the organism, to the population at large. Our programs aim to nurture a new generation of leaders in bench and behavioral sciences who will push the limits of our understanding of nutrition as it relates to human health.

Faculty and students in a test kitchen at Penn State

Start your undergraduate journey

Explore this undergraduate degree for students interested in how the human body transforms food into usable energy that fuels our daily lives.

Learn more

Student organizing plant starts at the Penn State student farm.

Learn about graduate training

Discover how research and graduate training provides students with the knowledge needed to contribute to the field of nutritional sciences.

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Explore research areas

Understand the variety of research areas and current projects that push the boundaries of knowledge in the field.

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The Diet Assessment Center

Explore how the department collects and analyzes dietary data to help researchers understand what, how, and when people are eating.

Learn more

Student Spotlight

Casey Ostrowski named student marshal for spring 2024 commencement

Casey Ostrowski served as the student marshal for the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the spring 2024 commencement ceremony. Casey worked as an Emergency Medical Technician for Penn State Emergency Medical Services and was a research assistant in the Micronutrients and Pregnancy Lab. Congrats Casey!

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A man holds a piece of bread and uses a knife to spread pureed avocado on the bread. The table has a loaf of bread, tomatoes, and other slices of avocado and bread.

An avocado a day may improve overall diet quality, researchers report

A few members of the Culinary Medicine club are pictured in the kitchen of their soup kitchen event.

Culinary Medicine club awarded Student Engagement Network Grant 

A view of the street near the market in Forecariah, Guinea

Q&A: How can we improve the nutrition of children born in low-income countries?