USDA REEU Nutrition BEST

The Nutrition Bench-to-Community Engaged Scholars in Texas (Nutrition BEST) program will fund students from South Plains College (SPC) and Texas Tech University (TTU) to engage in bench and/or community-based research focused on community nutrition, agriculture, health, and obesity prevention, all of which are areas of high priority in rural West Texas.

Leadership for the Nutrition Best Program is comprised of faculty and staff from several entities. For a description of the leadership, view our Nutrition BEST Leadership page.

The objectives of Nutrition BEST REEU Program at TTU are to:

Increase the number of students completing baccalaureate degrees in food, nutrition, and agriculture.
Develop the next-generation of a highly skilled and trained diverse workforce in nutrition and agriculture with high impact practices through research, extension, and experiential learning.

The goal of the Nutrition BEST REEU Program is to enhance learning in overall research methods including:

Basic nutrition science
Community-based research
Literature
Imaging
Data analysis
Machine learning application

Learn more about our students.

Apply by Clicking Here!

Participants in the program receive:

A Nutrition BEST Fellowship through a federally funded training grant from the United States Department of Agriculture
Paid research and internship experiences
Preparation for graduate school and/or entry into the workforce through a hands-on experience working with academic researchers and industry professionals
Mentoring by a multidisciplinary team of experts from TTU, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC), the University of Tennessee Extension, and Hamad BinKhalifa University in Qatar.

To participate, students must be:

A full-time TTU (preferably sophomore or junior) student by the time the program begins.
Be affiliated with TTU, SPC or another community college.
Interested in food, nutrition, and agricultural areas.
Interested in entering graduate school or the workforce in food, nutrition, and/or agriculture upon graduation.
Have a GPA higher than 3.0.
Committed to being actively involved in a one-year (2 academic semesters / Fall to Spring) research and training program at TTU.
Committed to participating in the evaluation of this project. This includes completing a series of surveys and interviews about your experiences.