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Program Details

Graduate Program: Nutritional Sciences (MS)

General Information

Request Information
Program/Degree
Nutritional Sciences (MS)  
Program Description

The School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness (NSW) is leading the way in cutting-edge research into diverse areas of human health, from variables affecting body composition, to nutrigenomics and precision nutrition, to cancer prevention. Other active research programs include investigations in diabetes, obesity, immunity, musculoskeletal, physical activity and cardiovascular diseases.

Our interdisciplinary faculty hold appointments in the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, and College of Public Health, as well as research centers of excellence including the Arizona Cancer Center, Steele Memorial Children’s Research Center, Arthritis Center, Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, Sarver Heart Center, Center on Aging, and the BIO5 Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch and Collaboratory for Metabolic Disease Prevention and Treatment.

  • From 2010-2021, 58 students have graduated from the Nutritional Sciences Graduate Program (NSGP), 34 (59%) with a Master of Science and 24 (41%) with the Doctor of Philosophy. This includes 14 individuals from underrepresented groups. Read more on our current students or where our recent graduates are employed.
  • Students can select a mentor from among 28 faculty members representing multipe disciplines. Read more on faculty and joint appointed faculty research interests.
  • Graduate research projects reinforce strategic linkages between basic, translational, and applied nutrition research. Read more on the research strengths of NSW.
  • At the University of Arizona, the School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness is a leader in providing an outstanding graduate program that advances the discovery and translation of the role of nutrition in optimizing health for people in Arizona, the nation, and the world.

More information on our program can be found on the website - https://nutrition.cals.arizona.edu/nsgp.

 
Department/Academic Unit(s)

School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness

Thank you for considering the School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness at the University of Arizona for your graduate studies! Please email grad-nsw@email.arizona.edu with any questions.

The School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness at the University of Arizona offers traditional graduate research programs leading to a Master of Science degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Nutritional Sciences under the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. A minor in Nutritional Sciences is offered to Ph.D. students. The School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness also offers online graduate programs, including a Graduate Certificate in Applied Nutrition designed to be completed in only 8 months, an Applied Nutrition - Nutrition & Wellness emphasis professional science master (non-thesis) designed to be completed in 18 months as well as an ACEND accredited Future Education Model - Graduate program, Applied Nutrition - Dietetics emphasis Professional Science Master’s program.

 
College

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

 
Campus where offered

University of Arizona - Main - Tucson

 
Contacts
Admissions Contact
Fanisia Bundage
520-621-1186
Graduate Program Coordinator
Peggy Rupert
520-626-0970
Director of Graduate Studies
Richard Simpson
520-621-3096
Graduate College Degree Counselor
Tammy Tran
520-621-0119
 
Tuition and Fees
Please refer to the UA Bursar's Office Tuition and Fees Calculator for up-to-date information about tuition and fees. 
Please refer to the UA Registrar's's Office Special Course Fees for up-to-date information about special course fees. 

Admissions Information

Admissions Requirements

Course Requirements for Admission

  1. One semester of Organic Chemistry (3 units) with laboratory (1 unit), equivalent to Chem 241 A, B and Chem 243 A, B
  2. One year (minimum 6 units) of upper division Biochemistry (junior or senior level)
  3. One year (6 units) of Biology, equivalent to BIO 181R and 182R (Microbiology can count toward one semester of this requirement)
  4. One year (minimum 4-6 units) of Human Physiology equivalent to either PISO 380 or PSIO 201 and 202
  5. One semester (3 units) of upper division, undergraduate Nutrition Science, equivalent to NSC 408 Nutritional Biology
 
Standardized Tests

The GRE test is not reguired if you have taken it you may add it to your application. 
Required GRE Subject tests: None

Recommended tests: None
Recommended GRE Subject tests:None

Minimum TOEFL:

Internet-based) Score 79

(Paper-based) Score 550

Minimum IELTS: 7

 
Funding Opportunities

Financial aid is available on a competitive basis in the form of teaching and research assistantships and tuition scholarships sponsored by The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona Graduate College, The University of Arizona General Education Program, and The School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness.

 
Admissions Deadlines

Domestic & International Applicants:

  • Fall:December 15 of preceding year. Example - Fall 2024 admission, applicaition deadline is Dec 15 2023. 
  • No Spring Admission
 
International Conditional Admission

International applicants may be considered for conditional admission to this program at the department's discretion.

Other Information
The GRE Institution Code for The University of Arizona is 4832

Completion Requirements

Minimum Credit Units

30 

Core Coursework Requirements

Regardless of your interests, experience, or background, the program requirements for your degree will be similar to other students in the program. You can find a detailed description of our MS prorgam requirements outlined at http://nutrition.cals.arizona.edu/master-science-program-requirements. Successful students will visit this document regularly to assure they are meeting required "markers" along the way.

It is the goal of the NSGP that students entering with no or only one course deficiency will complete their MS degree within two years. To accomplish this, MS students must specify a laboratory for their thesis research by the end of their second semester; the earlier in the semester the better. With the guidance of their advisor, students must select an Advisory Committee to guide their master’s research. An approved Plan of Study must be completed by the end of the first year (1 August).

Required Courses

  1. NSC 501 Statistics for Applied Nutritional Sciences I (1 unit)
  2. NSC 502 Statistics for Applied Nutritional Sciences II (1 unit)
  3. NSC 608 Metabolism and Energetics (3 units)
  4. NSC 610 Nutrition and Disease (3 units)
  5. NSC 624 Micronutrients (3 units)
  6. NSC 675 Advanced Nutrigenomics (3 units)
  7. NSC 699 Laboratory Rotation (3 units)
  8. NSC 595 Emergencing Topics in Nutritional Sciences (1 unit) M.S students take 2x
  9. NSC 562 Communicating Nutrition and Health (1 unit) M.S students take 2x
  10. NSC 910 Thesis (6 units)
  11. Electives, remaining units needed to fulfill Graduate College requirements of 30 total units. (maximum of 3 units of house-numbered courses in your elective units)* 

* University-wide house-numbered courses comprise two categories of courses using alternative teaching formats: (1) courses offered in small group settings, and (2) courses taught on an individual basis. An example of a university wide house-numbered course would be 595 or 699.

 
Elective Coursework

Potential Elective Courses

Nutritional Sciences

NSC 515 Advanced Sports Nutrition, fall

NSC 515L, Advanced Sports Nutrition Lab, fall

NSC 542 Advanced Medical Nutrition Therapy, fall

Agriculture Leadership and Communication

ALC 511 Principles and Applications of Organizational Innovation, fall

ALC 522 Communicating Knowledge in Agriculture and the Life Sciences, fall

Animal and Comparative Biomedical Science

ACBS 567 Computation in Biomedicine, fall

Biostatistics (College of Public Health)

BIOS 576A Biostatistics in Public Health, fall, spring

BIOS 576B Biostatistics for Research, spring

BIOS 576C Applied Biostatistic Analysis, fall

Business Administration

BNAD 510 Business Fundamentals for Scientists, fall

Cancer Biology

CBIO 515 Mechanisms of Human Diseases, spring

CBIO 550 Drug Disposition and Metabolism, spring

CBIO 552 Cancer Biology, contact department

CBIO 553 Advanced Topics in Cancer Biology, contact department

CBIO 597a Experimental Design, 1 unit, contact department

CBIO 630A Cellular Communications and Signal Transduction, spring

CBIO 630 B Cellular Communications and Signal Transduction, fall

CBIO 631 Pharmacogenetics/Pharmacogenomics, contact department

Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine CMM 518 Population Genetics

CMM 537 Immunology Basics, fall, spring

CMM 550 Inflammation and Immune Pathology, fall, spring

CMM 577 Principles of Cell Biology, fall

CMM 595H Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases, spring

Epidemiology Classes (College of Public Health)

EPI 573A Basic Principles of Epidemiology, spring

EPI 573B Epidemiological Methods, fall, spring

EPI 573C Advanced Epidemiology, fall

EPI 585 Public Health Fundamentals for Researchers

EPI 615A Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, fall odd years

EPI 615B Cancer Control, contact department

EPI 645 Nutritional Epidemiology, spring

Environmental Health Sciences (College of Public Health)

EHS 584 Fundamental of Industrial and Environmental Health, fall

Environmental Science

ENVS 567 Introductory Statistics and Multivariate Statistics with R, spring

Genetics

GENE 595H Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases, spring

GENE 526 Population Genetics, contact department

GENE 670 Recent Advances in Genetics, fall, spring

GENE 677 Principles of Genetic Association Standards, spring

Health Promotion Science (College of Public Health)

HPS 530 Nutrition, Health and Development, spring

HPS 559 Management of Public Health Emergencies, fall, spring

HPS 560 International Nutrition, spring

HPS 578 Public Health Nutrition, fall

Immunobiology

IMB 519 General Immunological Concepts, fall

IMB 548 Basic and Advanced Immunology, fall

IMB 564 Advanced Topics: Function, Regulation and Dysregulation of the Immune System, spring

IMB 566 Cellular Immunology, fall

Instruction and Assessment

IA 697A Learner Centered Teaching, fall, spring

IA 697B Using Technology in teaching, fall

IA 680 Classroom Assessment, spring

Molecular and Cellular Biology

MCB 572A Cell systems, fall

MCB 580 Introduction to Systems Biology, fall

MCB 595H Problems in the Biology of Complex Diseases, spring

MCB 695E Science, Society and Ethics, spring

Neuroscience

NRSC 560Systems Neuroscience, spring

NRSC 588 Principles of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, fall

Physiology

PSIO 503 Cellular and Molecular Physiology, fall

PSIO 520 Exercise and Environmental Physiology, spring

PSIO 595K Inflammation and Disease, fall

PSIO 603A, Human Physiology, spring

Physiological Sciences

PS 595B Scientific Writing Strategies, Presentation and Bioethics, spring

Psychology

PSY 501A Principles of Psychophysiology, spring

PSY 578 Sleep and Sleep Disorders, fall, spring

PSY 587 Foundations in Health Psychology, fall

PSY 588 Behavioral Medicine Interventions, spring

Science Communication Interdisciplinary

Minor Courses https://science.arizona.edu/graduate-certificate-science-communication

Nine credit hours are required, comprising three classes of three credit hours each.

Students must choose at least two courses from Group I:

Group I

SCI 501 Science Communication

JOUR 506 Introduction/Advanced Reporting

JOUR 572 Science Journalism

Students must choose at least one course from Group II:

Group II

ENG 514 Advanced Scientific Writing MCB Scientific Communication

SLHS 649 Survival Skills and Ethics

JOUR 507 Reporting with Multimedia

JOUR 555 Environmental Journalism

ENVS 508 Scientific Writing for Environmental, Agricultural & Life Sciences

ENVS 515 Translating Environmental Science

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

SPH 649 Survival Skills and Ethics, spring

Seminars and Journals

CPH 596H Prevention and Control of Disease, fall

CPH 696A Epidemiology Seminar, fall, spring

CPH 696B Cancer Prevention and Control Seminar, fall, spring

CBIO 595A - Oncogenes and Signal Transduction, contact department

CBIO 595G - Cancer Biology: Focus on Breast Cancer, contact department

CBIO 596C – Cancer Biology Colloquium, contact department

CBIO 596H Cancer Biology GIDP Series, contact department

PSIO 696A Physiology Series, fall, spring

PSIO 696C Physiology Student Forum, fall, spring

 
Additional Requirements

No other requirements

 
Student Handbook

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.

 

Program StatisticsInformation about these numbers

Program-level Information
Application Acceptance Rate 8.33%
Avg. Time-to-degree (years) 1.86
 
Department-level Information
Enrollment Percent Male 8.51%
Enrollment Percent Female 91.49%
Enrollment Percent International 12.77%
Enrollment Percent URM 31.91%

Back to statistics
  • All application, admit, and enrollment data are from Fall 2022.
  • Average Time to Degree calculates how long graduates in the last 5 years (2018-2022) took to complete their degrees, counting back to the first semester entering their program.
  • Underrepresented Minorities (URM) includes domestic students of ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education: African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.

Persistent link: https://grad.arizona.edu/catalog/programinfo/NUSCMS
Last revised 07 Apr 2023
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