Welcome to the department of Nutritional Sciences!

Welcome! 

The Department of Nutritional Sciences is housed in the Texas Tech University College of Health & Human Sciences (CHHS). The department and the college place significant emphasis on instructional, professional mentoring and research support resources to facilitate teaching, research, and outreach and engagement. 

The department has very strong undergraduate, M.S. and Ph.D. programs, including two fully online M.S. programs, and an outstanding dietetic internship program. We are proud to have undergraduate and graduate students of several nationalities, and faculty members who are award winning teachers and internationally known for research. Many faculty members are leaders in their professional organizations at the state, national or international levels. 

Our graduate students receive constant encouragement, and appropriate guidance and training to promote learning opportunities in many forms, including very popular study abroad programs and online courses. Many outside speakers are invited for seminars and graduate students are highly encouraged to interact with visiting faculty. They also have many opportunities to participant in graduate student research competitions held on campus. Leadership and engagement of graduate students is promoted by Graduate Nutrition Organization, a graduate student organization. The department has many graduate research assistants and teaching assistants. A large number of undergraduate and graduate students receive research or travel awards from Texas Tech University as well as external sources including preeminent international scientific societies such as American Society for Nutrition or The Obesity Society. The department and the university make every effort to support graduate student travel when they are presenting research at scientific conferences. Graduate students are also supported by offering the doctoral dissertation completion fellowships, grant-in-aid funding and several other fellowships or scholarships. 

Research expertise of faculty members of Nutritional Sciences range from molecular biology, animal models, clinical studies to community nutrition, biostatistics, Artificial Intelligence,  and their research collaborations include researchers from many disciplines.  Research focus areas in the in the department include obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, liver disease, Alzheimer disease and other chronic diseases. The department has matching facilities and equipment including several recently renovated basic science laboratories with very modern equipment, dedicated clinical research facilities, and teaching laboratories. The department has strong research activity, and faculty members continue to be very successful in receiving extramural grants from federal and non-federal sources.

Another exciting asset is our "Nutrition and Metabolic Health Initiative (NMHI)," a state of the art facility for nutritional counseling of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity,  and infrastructure support for clinical nutrition research.  This over 12,000 sq. ft facility also serves as a catalyst to facilitate basic and community research, community outreach and provides hands on training for students of our programs. It is estimated that less than 2% of the nutrition departments in the country have such facility. 

In summary, Texas Tech, CHHS and the Department of Nutritional Sciences offers a very vibrant environment that is specifically cultivated to facilitate learning in many forms. Learning in and outside the classroom and a strong research environment is strategically encouraged by creating opportunities and by committing resources.

I hope we get to visit with you and showcase in person our dedicated staff, faculty, and energetic students in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Please feel free to contact us with questions or for more information.