Former students, connect with us and tell your story!

We know our graduates go on to do incredible things — from working with communities, to research, to clinical work — and we want to hear about it! Whether you are pursuing another degree or chasing the career of your dreams, reach out to us with your story. We would love to showcase all of your success, and hear about where you are and what you've been up to since your time with our department in Aggieland.

Email Serina DeSalvio with your story at serina.desalvio@ag.tamu.edu.

NURISh students present progress at program's halfway point

The department's first cohort of Nutrition Undergraduate Research Immersion in the Summer, NURISh, students are setting a high bar for years to come. All eight students gave phenomenal presentations outlining their research from the first five weeks of the program this month.

If you're interested in learning about everything the students have worked on this summer, please attend the university-wide poster session hosted by Texas A&M LAUNCH on Wednesday, July 30.

Hye Won Han named finalist in Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science competition

Hye Won Han, a doctoral candidate in the lab of Yuxiang Sun, Ph.D., was selected as a finalist for her poster presentation at this year's American Society for Nutrition conference in Orlando. Her award-winning poster was titled "Intermittent Fasting Improves Aging Immunity by reprogramming Systemic Myeloid Lineage and Tissue Inflammation."

Han was supported in part by a travel award from the Department of Nutrition to attend and present at the conference, NUTRITION 2025.

Recent graduate Rachel McKnight passes registered dietitian credentialing exam

Please join us in congratulating Rachel McKnight, who just completed the dietetic internship portion of the Master of Clinical Nutrition program and passed the registered dietitian credentialing exam!

We are so proud and look forward to seeing what she does in her new role as a consulting dietitian with a nursing facility in Waco.

Healthy Living team presents at international conference in New Zealand

The Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture's Healthy Living team had five presentations at the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Conference in Auckland, New Zealand, including four oral presentations and one poster presentation.

Faculty and staff hone their communications skills

The Department of Nutrition recently welcomed media relations experts Laura Muntean, Blair Fannin and Leslee Hackett from the Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications professional service unit for a media training.

The event aimed to help scientists learn how to best communicate their work with the media, including journalists, TV and radio hosts, podcasters, and influencers. They learned about the importance of connecting with the media and broader public, received resources on how to prepare for an interview, and finished the day with mock interviews — which they rocked!

Nutrition students visit Greece for study abroad

This summer, students visited Ikaria, Greece, one of the world's blue zones on a study abroad trip co-led by Christian Lynch, nutrition lecturer. A blue zone is a region in the world where people are believed to have exceptionally long lives due to a lifestyle combining factors like physical activity, low stress, rich social interactions, particular diets and low disease incidence.

Ximena Paez completes leadership program LEAD AgriLife

Please join us in recognizing Ximena Paez, Ph.D., associate department head for administration, for her completion of the LEAD AgriLife program.

The LEAD AgriLife program is designed to prepare future leaders within Texas A&M AgriLife. The program equips individuals with the vital skills and attributes to thrive in existing and future leadership roles. As part of the program, Paez completed a capstone project that explored strategies for using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in organizational administration.

Two faculty members in the Department of Nutrition have been chosen to participate in the 2025-2026 LEAD AgriLife cohort: Yuxiang Sun, Ph.D., professor and associate department head for graduate programs, and Karen Beathard, Ph.D., instructional professor and associate department head for undergraduate programs. 

We are so excited to watch these two associate department heads pick up new skills through this opportunity.

James Zheng Shen, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the Sun lab, received a travel award at the Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research, TiCER, 2025 Symposium for his poster presentation, "Aging macrophages have suppressed nitric oxide production under inflammatory state."

Chad Rethorst, Ph.D., will participate in two symposia accepted for presentation at the upcoming Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, taking place Nov. 20-23 in New Orleans. The symposia are titled:

1. Moving to Rest: Exploring Exercise as a Pathway to Better Sleep in Psychiatric Populations

2. Expanding Access to Evidence-Based Intervention: Adapting Behavioral Activation for Diverse Groups Across the Lifespan

Chaodong Wu, Ph.D., and Teresa Davis, Ph.D., were elected to serve on the Department of Nutrition Graduate Program Committee. Their perspective and insights will be invaluable to the advancement of graduate programming across the department. They will begin their three-year terms in the fall.

Five members in the lab of Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., contributed to an article published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled "Gut microbial community and host intestinal gene expression with combined fish oil and soluble corn fiber compared with corn oil and maltodextrin: A randomized crossover trial in healthy older individuals." The study produced a novel, cost-effective, non-invasive method of assessing the impact of dietary interventions on the human gut.

The Chapkin lab's invited commentary in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences reviews a novel molecular signaling mechanism that drives colon tumor development. The article discusses new findings that will allow researchers to design targeted therapeutics for colon cancer.

Publications

Da Mi Kim, Q Pan, Z Liu, W Ai, H Han, S. Banu, R. Tsai, G. Wright, S Guo* and Y Sun* (* equal contribution) GHSR-Foxo1 Signaling in Macrophages Promotes Liver Fibrosis via Inflammatory Response and Hepatic Stellate Cell Activation. Advanced Science, https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202504223.

McNeely A, MacMillan Uribe A, De Mello GT, Herrero-Loza A, Ali M, Nguyen K, Olawuyi Y, Rethorst CD, Seguin-Fowler RA, Szeszulski J. Educators' Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing a School-Based Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Civic Engagement Intervention: A Qualitative Analysis. Frontiers in Public Health. (In press)

Kikanian G, Tapia L, Schaefers A, Gardner J, Butler P, Szeszulski J. Spending Patterns for Middle Schools that Deliver Multiple Evidence-based Physical Activity and Nutrition Programs. Translational Behavioral Medicine. 
2025;15(1):ibaf026. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaf026 PMID: 40512531  

Moosavi, D., Mullens, D. A., Davidson, L. A., Fan, Y.-Y., Goldsby, J. S., Ivanov, I. V., Levy, L., Kahsai, O. J., Curtis, K. R., Raftery, D., Purcell, H. J., Mather, E., Ammar, H., Randolph, T., Issaka, R. B., Navarro, S. L., Lampe, J. W., Hullar, M. A., & Chapkin, R. S. (2025). Gut microbial community and host intestinal gene expression with combined fish oil and soluble corn fiber compared with corn oil and maltodextrin: A randomized crossover trial in healthy older individuals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.04.031

Alfredo Erazo-Oliveras, Mónica Muñoz-Vega, Robert S. Chapkin, Targeting plasma membrane cholesterol as a novel anticancer therapy, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 2025, ISSN 0165-6147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2025.06.001.

Oral and Poster Presentations

Hye Won Han, Zheng Shen, Da Mi Kim, Hongying Wang, Zeyu Liu, and Yuxiang Sun.  Intermittent Fasting Improves Aging Immunity by reprogramming Systemic Myeloid Lineage and Tissue Inflammation. Nutrition 2025 of American Society of Nutrition (ASN), Orlando, Florida May 31- June 3, 2025

MacMillan Uribe AL, Seguin-Fowler RA, Fisher KP, Bender E, Eldridge G, Bailey RL, Ross AC, Mitchell DC, Shankar K, Gras-Najjar J, Early A. Identifying retention strategies for maternal and child health and nutrition research: Perspectives of women of child-bearing age and clinical practitioners. Accepted conference abstract for oral presentation.

Wang X, Borchers L, Nayga R, MacMillan Uribe AL. Evaluating the Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Community Café Model on Food Insecurity. Accepted conference abstract for oral presentation. 

George A, McNeely A, De Mello GT, Rethorst C, Seguin-Fowler RA, Szeszulski J, and MacMillan Uribe AL. School personnels’ perceptions of recruitment materials for Strong Teens for Healthy Schools. Accepted conference abstract for poster presentation

MacMillan Uribe AL, Borchers L, Wang X, Trevino V, Eicher-Miller HA, Nayga R, Seguin-Fowler RA, Szeszulski J. Characterizing Nutrition Security and Perceived Diet Quality Among Food-Insecure Guests at Pay-What-YouCan Community Cafes in the United States. Accepted as an oral presentation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Auckland, New Zealand. June 2025.  

MacMillan Uribe AL, Gupta M, Largacha-Cevallos E, Xin L, Trevino V, Szeszulski J, Seguin-Fowler R. Evaluating the feasibility of a produce prescription blood pressure management program among adults with elevated blood pressure from a low-income urban community in the United States. Accepted as an oral presentation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Auckland, New Zealand. June 2025.  

Szeszulski J, Putnam M, Gardner J, MacMillan Uribe AL, Rethorst C, Schaefers A, Seguin-Fowler R, Butler P. A Randomized Pilot Study Evaluating the Impact of a New Program and Implementation Strategy on Acceptability, Appropriateness, and Feasibility of the Healthy School Recognized Campus Initiative in Middle Schools in Texas, United States. Accepted as an oral presentation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Auckland, New Zealand. June 2025.

Beattie, C., Umstattd Meyer, MR., Wende, M., Szeszulski J., Vigil, J., Stroope, J., Enriquez, S., Holston, D., Pollack Porter, K. Rural Play Streets Implementation Strategies: Domains within the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Accepted as a poster presentation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Auckland, New Zealand. June 2025.  

Marstall K, DeMello G, Putnam M, Gardner J, Kirk A, MacMillan Uribe AL, Nguyen M, Schaefers A, Smith M, Steele M, Szeszulski J. MyPlate Food Ambassadors Changing Environments and Systems (FACES) in Texas, United States: Study Design and Baseline Nutrition Profiles. Accepted as an oral presentation at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Auckland, New Zealand. June 2025.  

Giving to the Department of Nutrition

The quality of education for nutrition students at Texas A&M University is shaped by the invaluable contributions of a diverse educational team. This includes not only faculty and staff but also donors, advisory committee members, guest speakers, industry leaders, internship supervisors, employers, community partners and many others. Together, they enrich the student experience and support the department's mission to advance the field of nutrition.

You can support the Department of Nutrition by making an endowed gift, which provides lasting support, or by contributing a non-endowed gift for immediate use toward a specific purpose. Your generosity plays a critical role in fostering student success and innovation in the field of nutrition.

About the Department of Nutrition

The Department of Nutrition at Texas A&M University is committed to providing students with an exceptional education that equips them with the knowledge, skills and expertise to excel as leaders in nutrition, health and food systems. Our students receive a comprehensive, science-driven education that prepares them for careers in health care, clinical nutrition, research, public health and more.

We offer a range of programs, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, minors and certificates, to help students expand and tailor their educational journey. With guidance from our experienced faculty and staff, who bring cutting-edge research and real-world expertise to the classroom, students are supported every step of the way as they prepare to address the complex challenges in the field of nutrition.

aglifesciences.tamu.edu | nutrition.tamu.edu 

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