• Thesis research: 6 to 15 credit hours.
• A course in statistics (e.g. Stats 211).
• Research Methods in Nutrition and Food Sciences: (NFS 360): A graduate-level NFS course focused on advanced research methods, including grant preparation, Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements, data analysis and presentation.
• Nutrition and Food Sciences Seminar (NFS 350): Weekly meetings focused on research presentations and critiques within the department (2 credits required).
• Comprehensive Examination (GRAD 387): A written and/or oral comprehensive examination (decided up on by your advisor and thesis committee members).
• Research and Thesis: Original research (and a written summary of it) conducted under the supervision of your faculty advisor. (Most graduate students also submit their thesis results, usually in condensed form to scholarly journals for publication consideration).
• Thesis Defense: After presenting your thesis research findings at a public seminar open to the college community, a thesis defense committee (three University of Vermont graduate faculty members, one outside of the department) engage the graduate student in an oral defense of the thesis.

Yes if...

• You are interested in pursuing research in nutrition and food science and
• You have an undergraduate degree in nutrition, dietetics, food science or another science (such as biology or chemistry) and
• You have taken an undergraduate course in biochemistry, which has organic chemistry as a prerequisite.
• You took the GREs with satisfactory results in the general (aptitude) portion.
• A TOEFL score of 100 or above is required for a funded assistantship.

Interested individuals whose educational and/or professional experiences are not directly related to nutrition and food science are welcomed, too, but need to complete at least one semester of undergraduate-level biochemistry, which has organic chemistry as a prerequisite, before applying.

1. Attain and maintain an advanced level of knowledge in key content areas of nutrition and/or food sciences.
2. Demonstrate the ability to design and defend a scientifically valid hypothesis-driven project to advance the field of nutrition or food sciences.
3. Develop professional level oral and written communication skills designed to disseminate nutrition or food science research findings. 
4. Demonstrate critical thinking and the ability to critically evaluate current research in specific scientific areas related to the nutrition or food sciences field.
5. Conduct research for a successful transition into research, industry, government or other non-profit related jobs.

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