OXFORD, Miss. – The School of Applied Sciences at the University of Mississippi has opened a new Office of Food and Nutrition Security at the South Oxford Center.

Although David H. Holben, professor of nutrition and hospitality management, has been producing food security research at UM since he arrived in 2015, he and his students finally have devoted space to analyze data, conduct focus groups and interviews, and engage with community members.

“My vision for the Office of Food and Nutrition Security at the University of Mississippi is to be the recognized leader in providing innovative solutions for food insecurity in Mississippi, the United States and the world,” said Holben, who has been studying the problem since 1997.

“I’m hoping that we can have a global impact. I think (establishing a formal office) just reinforces the support that the university and the school have for this issue of food insecurity.”

Food insecurity is a lack of regular access to enough food to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle. According to the USDA’s 2017 estimates, some 15 million American households were food insecure.

More than 13 percent of rural households reported food insecurity, much higher than those in metropolitan areas. Between 2015 and 2017, food insecurity in Mississippi was among the highest in the nation, at 17.2 percent.

The university community is committed to helping solve this problem through its Flagship Constellations initiative, which seeks to find meaningful solutions through multidisciplinary response to health and social issues affecting Mississippi communities, the nation and the world. One of those constellations is Community Wellbeing, which works to find solutions to the challenges affecting rural communities to build stronger and more vibrant communities.

Holben brings food security expertise and research from the Office of Food and Nutrition Security to this collaboration.

Students and staff conducting research through the Office of Food and Nutrition Security have presented their findings at international conferences, including discussions of seven studies at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ annual conference in October.

Doctoral student Prabhdeep Sandha, of Jalandhar City, India, earned the Mead Johnson Nutrition/Research Dietetic Practice Group Student Research Award at the conference for her study, “Impact of a Produce Intervention on Parental Produce Intake and Behaviors,” co-authored by fellow graduate student Michelle Weber, of Cincinnati.

“Our (office) is continuously working to make a difference in Mississippi through fresh produce and healthy food interventions, community engagement and community education,” Sandha said. “With our previous projects, we were able to see some great results, which I hope will be evident in our future projects.”

Undergraduate students also are gaining research skills through the new office. Katelyn Tarr, a junior dietetics and nutrition major from Pawnee, Illinois, presented a study on “Food insecurity and type 2 diabetes risk of adults with school children” at the conference, with funding from the first Undergraduate Travel Grant awarded by the UM Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

“Dr. Holben brought me in to learn how to write an abstract and make a poster for a conference, which is something that graduate students would normally do,” Tarr said. “It really helped me prepare for my post-graduate career.

“I was excited to work on nutrition research, but it turns out this really hits close to home for me. I’m from an area that has high food insecurity, so it was awesome to be a part of that.”

Five of the abstracts presented at conference stem from the Farm-to-YOUth! Project that Holben and his students have been working on since 2016, studying varying nutritional and educational interventions and their impact on food security in a rural Mississippi county.

From produce tastings and take-home produce for elementary school children to summer nutrition education and feeding programs at the public library, the faculty-student team has examined different ways to improve food security for people living in rural areas.

This fall, the office rolled out a new study in Calhoun County to examine food education interventions for high school athletes.

Holben, along with an external consultant, develops the twice-weekly programming that includes a lesson, snack and educational handouts. Graduate students Marta Dees, of Oxford, and Rebecca Henry, of The Plains, Virginia, teach the lessons and give each football player a take-home bag of fuel for the week, including peanut butter, yogurt, fresh fruit and granola bars, to implement the practices at home.

“We’re primarily hoping to change the food environment at home,” Holben said. “They’re learning eight to 10 basic principles about food and nutrition that we’re helping them to implement through take-home food packages.

“I think we can play a really key role in teaching basic sport nutrition principles to high schoolers, while keeping performance nutrition at the forefront of the coach’s mind. The hope is we can fill in the gap if they do have food insecurity in the home to help them to implement some performance nutrition principles since they’re athletes.”

Holben, lead author of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ most recent position paper on food insecurity in the United States, is elated with the opportunities that come with having an official office at the South Oxford Center. He looks forward to playing a significant role in fulfilling the university’s commitment to creating healthier, more vibrant communities.

For more information about programs of study in nutrition at UM, visit http://nhm.olemiss.edu/.

 

OXFORD, Miss. – Matthew Frakes, of Columbus, Ohio, and Prabhdeep Sandha, of Jalandhar City, Punjab, India, won first and second place in the doctoral category in the recent Three Minute Thesis Competition sponsored by the University of Mississippi Graduate School.

This annual competition asks graduate students to present a compelling oration on their research thesis topic and its significance in just three minutes. They are allowed to use one PowerPoint slide.

“My 3MT topic was looking at a nutrition intervention at the time of concussion diagnosis or suspicion of a sports-related concussion throughout the athlete’s concussion protocol until the athlete returns to baseline measurements,” said Frakes, a doctoral student studying sports nutrition in the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management.

Frakes said the nutrition intervention helps support overall energy and nutrient intake that is potentially diverged due to athlete’s loss of appetite or nausea symptoms experienced in concussions.

“I am also observing athlete symptomology and assessing total calorie intake and overall dietary intake, where these observations and recordings may be related to the return to baseline measurements from pre- and post-concussion assessments,” he said. “The goal of my study is to contribute to the findings on sports-related concussion recovery, and the impact overall energy intake has on return to baseline recovery time.”

Melinda Valliant, professor of nutrition and hospitality management, oversees Frakes in his doctoral research.

“Matthew has done an excellent job learning from and managing all facets of his pilot research project,” Valliant said. “His success in the 3MT competition is a testament to his willingness to take feedback and apply it.

“Matt has demonstrated that he is not afraid to step out of his comfort zone and take risks, and I am so happy that has received this well-deserved honor.”

Sandha’s thesis also examined nutrition, but her research interest is in food security.

“One in eight Americans, or 40 million Americans, experience some form of food insecurity in a 12-month period,” said Sandha, also a doctoral student in nutrition and hospitality management.

“My research examined the impact of produce intervention on produce intake and behaviors of parents/caretakers of elementary school students in an economically distressed, highly food insecure, rural Appalachian Mississippi region.”

Three schools participated in the study; two were control schools and one was the intervention school. A six-week intervention was implemented with three important parts: cafeteria tasting station twice a week, nutrition education, and provision of take-home materials and gadgets.

Every Friday, participants at the intervention school also received $15 worth of fresh produce to replicate tasting station recipes at home.

“We utilized a validated 10-item USDA Household Adult Food Security Survey Module, which had questions like, ‘We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more’ or ‘We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals,'” Sandha said.

Sandha and her research partners found the perceived willingness to try new fruits and vegetables was significantly higher in the intervention group parents, compared to the control group.

“With this project, we were able to transform the household food environment to make it more likely that the family members have an adequate amount and access to healthy foods,” Sandha said. “This program also enhanced the university’s Flagship Constellation mission, which is to transform life through community outreach and community well-being.”

David H. Holben, professor of nutrition and hospitality management, oversees Sandha’s research.

“Ms. Sandha is very deserving of this award,” Holben said. “She is a servant-leader who excels in the classroom, in her assistantship at the Institute for Child Nutrition and in a research setting. This award recognizes her excellence.”

For more information about the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management, visit http://nhm.olemiss.edu/.

OXFORD, Miss – Greenwood native and University of Mississippi alumnus William Fisher has joined the university’s School of Applied Sciences as its new development officer.

Fisher has been a member of the Ole Miss family for as long as he can remember.

“Ole Miss is a family affair,” he said. “I am a third-generation student at the university, including two of my four grandparents, both of my parents and my brother Martin, who is the associate director of admissions.”

Fisher graduated from UM in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, featuring minors in public policy, history and journalism. He began his career as a graduate assistant for the Office of Conflict Resolution and Student Conduct and later was promoted to coordinator within the office after earning his master’s degree in higher education.

He served as chapter president of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. During the 2014-15 academic year, Fisher helped raise $40,000 for the fraternity’s philanthropy, Delta Streets Academy, a Christian-based alternative school for at-risk youth in the Mississippi Delta. He remains active as a chapter adviser.

Through efforts with his fraternity and later in his graduate position, Fisher worked with different campus offices and organizations, quickly learning to work with people from all backgrounds. Since the School of Applied Sciences has the highest enrollment of historically underrepresented students of any professional school on campus, his background is important to the school’s leadership.

“We are excited to welcome William onboard,” said Teresa Carithers, interim dean of applied sciences. “He has already proven to be an asset in helping establish key funding priorities.

“Given his engaging personality and knowledge of the university, we have great expectations for the coming year.”

Fisher said he appreciates the contributions the school makes in the state and nation to create healthier, more vibrant communities.

“The School of Applied Sciences prepares individuals to go into the communities and improve the conditions and people around them,” he said. “I am excited to have a small part in assisting those students.

“I am equally thrilled that I have the opportunity to work with faculty members by helping them find the resources they need to continue their world-class research.”

With two large building renovations – Garland, Hedleston and Mayes residence halls, being renovated as the school’s new home, and the South Oxford Center wellness facility – nearing completion, ample opportunities exist for donors to get involved with the school, particularly in honoring or memorializing others with gifts in their name.

“It is an exciting time to be part of the applied sciences team,” Fisher said. “It is my hope that after three years on the job, I will have helped facilitate gifts that impact the lives of students and faculty members on our campus.”

The School of Applied Sciences offers professional preparation programs that integrate academic study, clinical training, creative research, service-learning and community outreach, leading to the development of leaders whose professional endeavors will improve health and well-being. The school’s vision is for academic excellence: that each department will be recognized by their respective scientific, professional and community organizations as a hub for scholarly thought, professional development and community impact.

For more information about giving opportunities in the School of Applied Sciences, contact Fisher at 662-915-2293 or wjfisher@olemiss.edu. To learn more about the school and its mission, visit http://sas.olemiss.edu/.

OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi School of Applied Sciences has named Meliah Grant, of Jackson, as its Graduate Student of the Month and Madaline Ball, of Oxford, as Undergraduate Student of the Month for September.

Having completed her undergraduate degree at UM, Grant is in her first semester of graduate school in communication sciences and disorders, or CSD.

“Meliah Grant is an Ole Miss Honors College alumna and McNair scholar who successfully completed her thesis entitled ‘The Effects of Prosthetic Tactile Feedback on Persons Who Stutter,'” said Gregory Snyder, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders.

“However, her more impressive research project, with data collection still underway, is ‘The effects of acetaminophen on emotional pain and stuttering desensitization.’ This latter dataset was presented at the Joint World Congress of Fluency Disorders in Hiroshima, Japan in July of 2018 and was well-received by international leaders in the pharmaceutical treatment of stuttering.

“Her research represents a legitimate paradigm shift in the efficacy and expediency of the stuttering treatment process, using simple over-the-counter medications.”

As part of the CSD graduate program, students are required to clock clinical hours. Grant’s clinical placements are with Aural Rehab, a campus support group for older adults; Early Intervention, helping children ages 0-3; and Augmentative and Alternative Communication assessment. 

“Grad school is definitely a lot harder,” Grant said. “It is a bigger workload, and then you’re also balancing clinic and things like that, but it is a lot of fun.”

Upon graduation, Grant would like to work in a hospital setting.                          

Ball is a senior CSD major. The Oxford native works part time at her family’s restaurant, Pizza Den, in addition to maintaining a 3.7 overall GPA, with a 3.8 GPA in her major courses.

“Madaline displays maturity and leadership that is exemplary,” said Amy Livingston, speech language pathologist and instructor. “This summer, as she worked with us at our Social Skills Camp as part of her undergraduate practicum, she showed natural clinical skills in high-pressure situations while working with children with moderate-to-severe language disorders.

“I often forgot that she was an undergraduate student. She always goes above and beyond to volunteer and help in the CSD department.”

This semester, she is working at Bramlett Elementary School, helping a student with autism transition to an inclusive classroom.

“Based off my summer experience, I was working with one of our clients, transitioning into her first year in kindergarten,” Ball said. “I was asked to help her out in the inclusion classroom.

“It was amazing to see the children. They loved her and wanted to be friends with her. It drew them to her, and it created a lot of social and language skills.”

Ball is considering graduate school at Ole Miss in hopes of pursuing a career in speech pathology.

The School of Applied Sciences calls for nominations by faculty and staff throughout the school to recognize students for extraordinary scholarship, leadership and service. Nominations should be emailed, along with a nomination form, by the fifth of each month to mloftin@olemiss.edu.

For more information about the School of Applied Sciences, visit http://sas.olemiss.edu/.