The Nutrition concentration is designed for BS Health Sciences students who want to pursue either graduate work in nutrition or dietetics, or immediately move to a career in the field. The field of nutritional sciences draws upon several disciplines, including biological sciences, to understand the relationships between food, nutrients, and human health. The concentration in Nutrition offers health science majors courses concerned with the nature and biochemical function of essential and non-essential nutrients, nutrient requirements, the role of nutrients in gene expression, and the role of diet in both risks of chronic disease and treatment of existing disease states. Students completing the concentration in Nutrition most often choose to continue their education in graduate school and pursue careers in the applied aspects of nutrition or in laboratory-based or epidemiological research.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program requirements, graduates will be competent in areas of responsibility that define the role of an entry-level nutrition specialist. Learning outcomes for nutrition concentration include :
- Promote and support awareness of the benefits of optimal nutrition for overall well-being for themselves and in patient education.
- Understand nutrition guidelines, label reading highlights, and tools to locate and summarize peer-reviewed journals for nutritional advice.
- Educate on the fundamental information of biochemical and physiological science knowledge to enhance comprehension of nutritional interventions and applications
- Demonstrate professional behavior that is ethical, science-based, collaborative, and culturally sensitive when providing nutritional education, highlighting the boundaries of nutritional coaching when not licensed.
- Provide a diverse pool of nutritionl focused courses that can support a majority of health professions pathways. These courses align with the pre-requisites needed to apply to the accelerated master’s in Human Nutrition program.
- Extend a health coaching certification (American Council on Exercise, ACE) along with their bachelor’s degree that can enhance job opportunities whilst pursuing a higher degree in any health profession.
Accelerated master’s degree: BS-MS Human Nutrition option
An accelerated master’s degree: BS-MS Human Nutrition option is available for eligible UB undergraduate Health Science students with a concentration in Nutrition. Students will be able to complete the coursework1 for both degrees within five (5) years of their initial matriculation in the undergraduate Health Sciences program. Students in this program take the prerequisite courses for the MS in Human Nutrition program while working toward their bachelor’s, which will earn them nine (9) credit hours of advanced standing in the MS program. Qualified students2 will also take up to seven (7) credit hours of graduate core curriculum courses during their senior undergraduate year. These seven credits will double-count as undergraduate electives and MS Human Nutrition graduate credits.
1 All courses for both degrees can be completed in five years. Comprehensive exam must be taken 2-3 months after the completion of master’s course work as a requirement of earning the MS degree.
2 To qualify for this accelerated program, the student must complete CHEM 113/114, HSCI 230, and BIOL 113/114 with a grade of B or better prior to their senior year and have completed 90 credits of undergraduate course work. Overall GPA must be 3.0 or better as the student enters their senior year.
