Food Science and Human Nutrition Interdisciplinary Master of Science

General Information

Earn your master’s degree in food science and human nutrition through the Department of Animal Science or Family and Consumer Sciences!

In this highly competitive graduate degree program, students gain direct experience with data collection, analysis, writing and publication through laboratory and classroom learning experiences. Program faculty are actively conducting research in the areas of eating behaviors, indigenous/traditional diets, micronutrient needs and deficiencies, food product development, sensory characteristics of food products, health and physical performance of active individuals, nutrition and disease, brain-reward pathway, microbial diagnostics, rumen microbiome, nitrogen/protein metabolism, lipid analysis and alternative feed/forages.

General Requirements

A minimum of 30 credit hours of coursework at the 4000/5000 level is required; only nine credit hours of 4000-level courses are allowed in this master’s program. A student may be required to complete more than the minimum credit hours to satisfy prerequisites or because the student’s committee determines additional coursework is required for the student to reach their professional objective.

Student may choose Plan A - Thesis or Plan B - Non-Thesis Project.

An oral defense of thesis or project is required.

Student must complete the following (approved by graduate committee):

• 20 credit hours of courses from food and nutritional sciences, biological, natural and social sciences
• 6 credit hours of supporting research courses
• 4 credit hours of FCSC 5960 - Thesis Research  

The student is responsible for meeting all deadlines, submitting all required forms, and for fulfilling all requirements for the degree.

Recommended Prerequisites

The following are recommended for students applying to the program:

• One semester of organic chemistry
• Human or animal nutrition, anatomy and physiology
• Introductory statistics

Application Requirements

Admission to our graduate program and selection for department-funded assistantships is highly competitive. Faculty in each program area will review the applications for their program area and priority consideration will be given to applicants who meet or exceed admission requirements and possess research interests that parallel those of the faculty. Applicants will also be evaluated based on their fit with the identified faculty member and whether the identified faculty member is currently accepting graduate students. Faculty members typically select promising students to interview before final decisions are made.  We do not offer conditional admission.

Application requirements can be found here: https://www.uwyo.edu/fcs/graduate-programs/index.html