Securing the Future of Nutritional Sciences Through Integrative Graduate Education1,2

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The new millennium has ushered in unprecedented opportunities for research and discovery in the nutritional sciences. These have arisen from major advancements in the social and biological sciences, notably genetics, genomic technologies, computational statistics, and behavioral sciences. The most exciting academic challenges and employment opportunities for nutritional sciences graduates interface with other disciplines, and doctoral training programs in the nutritional sciences must respond to the wealth of these emerging opportunities. The American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS) Graduate Nutrition Education Committee suggests that three major challenges face the nutritional sciences: (a) to train doctoral students to be full and active participants in interdisciplinary research and discovery, and (b) to achieve this goal while maintaining nutrition's unique academic identity and (c) fostering a cohesive academic community. The committee proposes that these objectives are best engaged at the level of graduate education and that the future of ASNS will be secured by strengthening graduate nutrition programs. This manuscript reviews educational strategies that address these challenges and advocates that ASNS actively engage graduate doctoral programs in nutritional sciences.

Key words:

American Society for Nutritional Sciences
nutrition
graduate education
integrative science
interdisciplinary education

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1

This manuscript resulted in part from two workshops held in Davis, California, in March 2001 (supported in part by Kellogg's Corporate Citizenship Fund, Battle Creek, MI) and Ithaca, New York, in July 2001 (supported in part by The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Research Triangle Park, NC).

2

To whom correspondence should be addressed: Chair, GNEC, American Society for Nutritional Sciences, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda Maryland 20814-3990. E-mail: [email protected]