Department of Nutritional Sciences Newsletter - Summer 2015
Faculty News
Michael Green has accepted the position of chief scientific investigator for the IAEA's new Coordinated Research Program for "his world-renowned experience and expertise in mathematical modeling of vitamin A metabolism." In honor of his recognition, he attended the IAEA meeting in Vienna, Austria in June 2015.
Shawnee Kelly and Lynn Parker Klees completed the Online Certificate in Online Learning through the Faculty Development Office in Penn State's Outreach and Online Education Program.
Gordon Jensen is chairing an Institute of Medicine / Food and Nutrition Board workshop on "Meeting the Dietary Needs of Older Americans" scheduled for October 28-29, 2015 in Washington, D.C.
Vijay Kumar and Vishal Singh received 2015 AAI Careers in Immunology Fellowship.
Barbara J. Rolls, Ph.D. was awarded the The Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior 2015 Hoebel Prize for Creativity.
Danxia Yu, Ph.D., will join the department as a tenure line assistant professor in January 2016. She is a nutritional epidemiologist, coming from a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennesee. She received her doctoral degree from the Institute for Nutritional Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Graduate students making strides
Feon Cheng was selected to receive the Pennsylvania Space Grant Fellowship Award for Fall 2015 and Spring 2016.
Katherine Balantekin passed her Doctoral Defense and graduated Spring 2015.
Xiaoran Liu, Li Wang, Huicui Meng and Samuel Scott passed their doctoral defenses and graduated in spring and summer of 2015. Wendy Stein passed her master's defense and graduated in summer 2015.
Nicole Fearnbach took a trip to Scotland for the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) annual meeting. She received a graduate travel grant from the University Office of Global Programs, as well as a Professional Development Endowment Award from the College of Health and Human Development. Some of the Mary Frances Picciano Graduate Student Endowment in Nutritional Sciences funds also went toward supporting Fearnbach's travel for the ISBNPA meeting. Additionally, Fearnback received a New Investigator Travel Award at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior annual meeting.
Beng San Yeoh received a T-32 Training Grant and a 2015 Huck Dissertation Award.
Neil H-K Huang won a second-tier award in the 2015 Baxter Young Investigator Award Program.
Congratulations to our undergraduates
Haley Schlechter received the 2015 Edith Pitt Chance award from the College of Health and Human Development Alumni Society.
Sydney Micucci was selected to serve as the student marshal for the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the Spring 2015 commencement exercises.
Alumni Achivements
Jill Jayne '04 NUTR was nominated for an Emmy for her "Jump with Jill" nutrition music video.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service has recognized Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences alumna Susan Scarcia '85 NUTR for her work in preventing food-related hospitalizations and deaths in the United States and abroad. Scarcia is the district manager of the Philadelphia region of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, and oversees more than 1,000 federally-inspected establishments.
Faculty opportunities in Nutritional Sciences
Director, Online Master's Degree Program / Instructor of Nutritional Sciences
The Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State invites applications for a full-time, academic year (48 week), non-tenure track Instructor position beginning Jan. 1, 2016, to direct our new online Master’s program that is currently in development. The successful candidate will hold a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Nutrition or a related field and must also be a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN). Online teaching experience that includes online course development is also desired.
