Rochester Institute of Technology News
Dietetics and Nutrition MS

A remote networking session Associate Professor Brenda Abu attended for academics from African countries has led to a promising collaboration that extends her scholarship and the influence of RIT to communities in Ghana.

Tiger Nutrition’s peer-to peer education empowers students by making healthy eating advice relatable, accessible, and impactful.

Graduate students Olivia Towne and Meghan Taylor gave back to the RIT community with their graduate research projects, which focused on the nutritional needs of student athletes and the challenges facing people with food allergies.

When David, a third-year exercise science major, heard about the study abroad program offered through RIT Global, he was determined to go and to take his sister with him. In June, the Brassies left for the six-week program at Perrotis College, where they would study the Mediterranean diet and Greek culture.

A growing cohort of RIT students is enrolling in the university’s Combined Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Degrees program, which provides pathways for highly focused, goal-oriented students to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in a shortened, consolidated experience.

Researchers from RIT and the University of Rochester Medical Center are taking a closer look at nutritional factors during pregnancy and in infancy associated with severe tooth decay in young children.

RIT is offering a new master’s degree in dietetics and nutrition to prepare graduates to become registered dietitian nutritionists with a deep understanding of food as medicine. The two-year graduate program will start in the fall and enrollment is open now.

RIT’s College of Health Sciences and Technology is preparing for significant growth with a new streamlined organizational structure. The move clarifies direct reporting and aligns the college with the university’s model of grouping programs under departments.

Zoraa Victor, a fourth-year student in the dietetics and nutrition BS program in the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition, will spend six weeks studying the plant-based Mediterranean diet at Perrotis College in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece.

Brenda Abu, assistant professor in RIT’s Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition, seeks to understand the effect pica, iron deficiency anemia, and food insecurity have on maternal health during pregnancy. Pica refers to excessive craving and/or eating of non-food items, such as, clay, soil, paper, ice, and paint chips.

Barbara Lohse, head of RIT’s Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition, hopes to reach 10,000 New Yorkers with free resources promoting healthy nutrition and lifestyle tools that have been tested and shown to be effective.

For fourth-year dietetics and nutrition student Abigail Morrissey, sports nutrition is more than academics—it’s about debunking misinformation about food and body size that promotes unhealthy eating habits among young women athletes.