Dec 05, 2025

2025-2026 Graduate Catalog

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2025-2026 Graduate Catalog

Nutrition Science (PhD)

Program Educational Goals:

Students will demonstrate the ability to identify strengths and limitations of different nutrition assessment tools, and choose appropriate ones for different settings.
Students will demonstrate written proficiency of the literature in a nutrition-related content area.
Students will demonstrate oral proficiency of the literature in a nutrition-related content area.
The student will demonstrate the ability to: (1) generate and code summary variables; (2) code and run appropriate descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable models; (3) interpret output for descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable models.
Students will demonstrate the ability to identify and answer a novel research question.
Students will demonstrate the ability to disseminate written scientific literature.
Students will demonstrate the ability to verbally present scientific results in a scholarly setting.

Program Policy Document:

Please see the Program Policy Document for more information.

Requirements for the Degree:

The Nutrition Science PhD Program requires successful completion of a minimum of 48 credit hours, completion of preliminary examination, dissertation proposal defense, dissertation defense and one publishable paper. The Nutrition Science PhD Program is designed to be completed over a 4-year period.

Core Requirements:

12 Credits

HBNS 812 - Current Topics in Nutritional Sciences Credit(s): 3
HBNS 822 - Research Methods in Nutrition Assessment Credit(s): 3
HBNS 855 - Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research in Health Sciences Credit(s): 3
HBNS 856 - Multivariable Biostatistics for Population Health Credit(s): 3

Statistics/ Data Analysis Electives:

9 credits

Choose three of the following:

ANFS 650 - Applied Biomedical Communication Credit(s): 3
HBNS 609 - Research Methods in Health Science Credit(s): 3
BISC 643 - Biological data analysis Credit(s): 3
COMM 603 - Communication Research Methods - Procedures Credit(s): 3
COMM 604 - Communication Research Methods - Analysis Credit(s): 3
EDUC 812 - Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling Credit(s): 3
EDUC 826 - Mixed Methods in Social Science Research Credit(s): 3
EDUC 856 - Introduction to Statistical Inference Credit(s): 3
EPID 603 - Biostatistics for Health Sciences I Credit(s): 3
EPID 604 - Introduction to Epidemiologic Data Analysis in SAS Credit(s): 3
EPID 605 - Epidemiology Methods I Credit(s): 3
EPID 610 - Epidemiology Methods II Credit(s): 3
EPID 613 - Biostatistics for Health Sciences II Credit(s): 3
EPID 614 - Biostatistics for Health Sciences III Credit(s): 3
EPID 615 - Epidemiology Methods III Credit(s): 3
HDFS 615 - Research Methods Credit(s): 3
HDFS 815 - Research Issues and Designs Credit(s): 3
KAAP 602 - Data Analysis and Interpretation in Health Sciences Credit(s): 3
MMSC 635 - Practical Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics Credit(s): 3
NURS 814 - Advanced Quantitative Research in Nursing Science Credit(s): 3
PSYC 809 - Research Design Credit(s): 3
PSYC 860 - Psychological Statistics I Credit(s): 3
PSYC 878 - Hierarchical Linear Modeling Credit(s): 3
SOCI 605 - Data Collection and Analysis Credit(s): 3
SPPA 718 - Survey Research Methods Credit(s): 3
SPPA 808 - Qualitative Research Methods Credit(s): 3
STAT 608 - Statistical Research Methods Credit(s): 3
STAT 613 - Applied Multivariate Statistics Credit(s): 3
STAT 615 - Design and Analysis of Experiments Credit(s): 3
STAT 617 - Multivariate Methods and Statistical Learning Credit(s): 3
STAT 656 - Biostatistics Credit(s): 3

General Electives:

3 credits of graduate coursework in any subject area at the 600 level or higher.

Nutrition Course Electives:

9 credits - please discuss any elective choices in consultation with Mentor

EPID 632 - Nutrition Epidemiology Credit(s): 3
HBNS 608 - Nutrition Program Planning and Evaluation Credit(s): 3
HBNS 610 - Weight Management in Adult Populations Credit(s): 3
HBNS 640 - Nutrition and Aging Credit(s): 3
HBNS 655 - Issues in International Nutrition Credit(s): 3
HBNS 810 - Nutrition Informatics Credit(s): 3

Research:

6 credits

HBNS 868 - Independent Research Credit(s): 1-6

HBNS Seminars

HBNS 665 is taken for 0 credits each spring (4 times).

HBNS 860 is taken for 0 credits each fall (4 times)

HBNS 860 - Graduate Research Seminar Credit(s): 0
HBNS 665 - Seminar Credit(s): 1-3

Dissertation:

9 credits

HBNS 969 - Dissertation Research Credit(s): 9

Credits to Total a Minimum of 48

Last Revised for 2025-2026 Academic Year