A Student Perspective
Tim Matthiessen
Major Professor: Dr. Lucia Kaiser
After completing my undergrad degree in Health Science from UC Santa Cruz, I wanted to continue learning about nutrition and how to help people live healthier lives by eating better. I am also completing courses that are part of the Didactic Program in Dietetics, which is a necessary step in my plans to become a Registered Dietitian.
I am researching methods of dietary assessment of children, specifically for its use to evaluate nutrition education programs. My current work involves the use of digital photography as a way to keep a photo record of the foods eaten. If done over time, it may be possible to observe changes in dietary patterns as a result of a curriculum or intervention.
Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology
Graduate degrees in Nutritional Biology at the University of California, Davis, are offered by the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology, a cooperative interdepartmental organization of more than 63 faculty from 15 departments in two colleges (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Letters and Science; and the Division of Biological Science) and two professional schools (Medicine and Veterinary Medicine). A student may pursue the M.S. or Ph.D. degree in nutritional biology while studying under the direction of any member of the graduate group. Admission and degree requirements are the same for all students in the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology regardless of the specific department with which the student and the major professor are associated.
The great diversity of research interests represented by the faculty members (see faculty research interests) allows students to choose from a wide variety of themes. Areas of strength within the program include nutritional biochemistry, animal nutrition, nutrition and development, nutrient bioavailability, human/clinical nutrition, nutrition and behavior, nutritional energetics, community nutrition, maternal and child nutrition, nutrition and endocrinology, international nutrition, obesity/body composition, physiology of digestion, nutrition and chronic disease, culture and nutrition, nutrition and gene expression, nutrition and aging, nutrition and immunity, diet and exercise, dietary assessment, protein and lipid metabolism, food intake regulation, nutrition education. If they wish, doctoral students in nutritional biology can choose to be admitted into the Designated Emphasis in International Nutrition or the Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology.