Discover Your Path
Across our master's and doctoral programs, you'll have a wide variety of existing specialization options to choose from that align with our faculty and research strengths. You can also build your own specializations with your advisor. Don't know exactly how to move through the program right now? You can discover what sparks your passion after you arrive. There's no need to declare upon applying to the School!
*Indicates specializations available in our Online M.S. program
Explore Specializations
The Agriculture, Food, and Environment specialization offers a comprehensive set of coursework that empowers you to critically analyze the linkages between the production of food, the natural environment, and the social and governance issues around both. You will learn about approaches for making agriculture and food systems more supportive of the natural environment and society they serve. This coursework will help you develop the expertise to create innovative, sustainable solutions for food production and distribution.
Featured Faculty: Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, Sean Cash, Timothy Griffin
Featured Course: NUTR 341 - Environmental Economics of Food and Agriculture
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Sustainable Food Systems
The Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition specialization offers rigorous training in the biochemical, physiological, and molecular aspects of nutrition, essential for developing science-based dietary and physical activity recommendations to prevent chronic diseases and promote healthy aging globally. This specialization is especially well-suited for you if you have interest in pursuing basic and clinical research and dietetics. Through training and collaboration with expert faculty at leading research centers, you will gain critical analytical, technical, and communication skills, preparing you for leadership roles in academia, industry, and government.
Featured Faculty: Sheldon Rowan, Alice Lichtenstein
Featured Course: NUTR 0236 - Practicum in Bioresearch Techniques
Related Research Themes: Nutritional Wellbeing
The Climate, Sustainability, and Food specialization offers an in-depth exploration of the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food systems, emphasizing climate risk assessment, management, and adaptation strategies. You will engage with key topics such as climate-smart agriculture, food policy, and governance, that equip you to tackle the multifaceted challenges of climate change and develop innovative solutions to enhance food security and resilience.
*This specialization is available for the Online M.S. program
Featured Faculty: Erin Coughlan de Perez, Parke Wilde
Featured Course: NUTR 0256 - Climate Change: Risk and Adaptation for Food Systems and Beyond
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Sustainable Food Systems
The Community Interventions and Behavior Change specialization offers coursework on innovative and effective strategies to promote positive behavior change for individuals and communities across the globe. You will learn the theory of behavior change and its application in intervention design from the individual level to the systems level, and how to implement and evaluate these in real-world settings, to improve nutritional well-being in the US and across the world.
Featured Faculty: Erin Hennessy, Helene Vilme, Larissa Calancie
Featured Course: NUTR 211 - Theories of Behavior Change and Their Application in Nutrition and Public Health Interventions
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity
The Data Analytics and AI in Nutrition specialization offers graduate coursework focused on statistical analysis, regression modeling, and data management in the health and nutrition fields. You will develop practical skills in using R/RStudio, STATA, and SAS for data exploration, statistical testing, and complex data workflows, while also learning to create high-quality data visualizations and apply AI-based tools ethically in research.
*This specialization is available for the Online M.S. program
Featured Faculty: Elena Naumova, Jiantao Ma
Featured Course: NUTR 390 - Introduction to AI-Based Applications for Nutrition and Health Research (AIRNH)
Related Research Themes: Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing, Sustainable Food Systems
Global food business impacts every facet of our food system, from what we produce and consume to the laws and policies that shape our choices, to the health of our planet and our bodies. Innovators and entrepreneurs are reshaping the food business landscape every day. The Food Business and Entrepreneurship specialization offers interdisciplinary coursework in food business, production, law and regulation, and entrepreneurship, that will position you to not only understand the evolving dynamics of this field, but also be equipped to make a meaningful impact in this exciting field.
Featured Faculty: Jimmy Edgerton, Nicole Ninteau
Featured Course: NUTR 0280 - Nutrition and Entrepreneurship
Related Research Themes: Nutrition Equity, Sustainable Food Systems
The Food Policy and Economics specialization offers foundational coursework in food and nutrition policy and programs in the US and globally. Courses cover the economics of policies and programs, including policy analysis and the design, implementation, and evaluation of nutrition programs – a key tool of policy. You will acquire skills to develop the evidence base to support and advocate for effective policy formation and program design. The specialization is fundamentally interdisciplinary. Topics include economic development, the impact of poverty on nutrition outcomes, the economic impact of healthy diets, and determinants of nutritional outcomes in the US and across the globe, food law and regulation, and anthropology of food and nutrition, as well as practical training in quantitative and qualitative research, study design, and survey methods.
Featured Faculty: William Masters, Beatrice Rogers, Patrick Webb
Featured Course: NUTR 0304 - Nutrition, Food Security and Development
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing, Sustainable Food Systems
The Food Systems Modeling specialization offers interdisciplinary coursework analysis of data related to agriculture and food systems, and on modeling and analysis techniques for studying food systems' sustainability and resource use. You will gain hands-on experience in GIS applications, life cycle assessment (LCA), and system dynamics modeling, equipping you with the skills to address complex agricultural, nutritional, and environmental challenges and to inform evidence-based decision-making in policy and industry.
Featured Faculty: Alexandra Thorn, Udita Sanga
Featured Course: NUTR 342 - Food Systems Modeling and Analysis
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Sustainable Food Systems
The Humanitarian Assistance specialization offers comprehensive coursework designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to address complex emergencies and humanitarian crises. Coursework includes topics such as the principles of humanitarian action, the application of international humanitarian law, gender analyses in conflict, climate change impacts, and the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for spatial analysis. You will gain practical field skills, learn to analyze research critically, develop policy proposals, and engage in simulations to improve the quality, effectiveness, and accountability of humanitarian responses.
Featured Faculty: Daniel Maxwell, Paul Howe, Dyan Mazurana
Featured Course: NUTR 229 - Humanitarian Action in Complex Emergencies
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity
The Nutrition Communication specialization will equip you with the skills to communicate often complex information about food, nutrition, and health in engaging and meaningful ways to diverse audiences through a variety of channels. Courses focus on the impact of communication on behavior change, and demonstrate how simple and effective health messaging and data visualization can promote positive health and nutrition for people around the world.
Featured Faculty: May May Leung, Corby Kummer
Featured Course: NUTR 0306 - Communicating Health Information to Diverse Audiences
Related Research Themes: Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing
Dietary patterns and nutritional intake affect health and well-being across the lifecycle from pregnancy to infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood. The Nutrition, Diet, and Disease Across the Lifecycle specialization offers foundational coursework in nutritional and biological science that uncovers how the food we eat influences the health and well-being of individuals and populations at all life stages. Courses range from introductory to advanced and include topics like precision nutrition, physical activity and health, and clinical and medical nutrition therapy.
Featured Faculty: Edward Saltzman, Diane McKay
Featured Course: NUTR 0248 - Precision Nutrition
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutritional Wellbeing
All people should have the opportunity to consume healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant foods that enable them to thrive. The Nutrition Equity specialization offers foundational coursework in food justice, nutritional and racial inequity, and anthropological food-systems research and advocacy, that will equip you to understand and work towards evidence-based strategies that enable all people to live their healthiest lives with proper nutrition.
Featured Faculty: Christina Economos, Sara Folta, LaPorchia Collins
Featured Course: NUTR 285 - Food justice: critical approaches in policy and planning
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Sustainable Food Systems
The Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition specialization offers foundational and advanced coursework in epidemiologic methods, with a focus on assessing dietary intake patterns and disparities in the population and understanding the complex interactions of dietary, metabolic, and genetic factors in chronic diseases. Courses include practical training in study design, dietary assessment, data management, and statistical analysis, ensuring that you are well-equipped with critical skills for clarifying the causal relationship between nutrition and health and translating the evidence into public health policies and interventions.
Featured Faculty: Fang Fang Zhang, Dariush Mozaffarian, Mei Chung
Featured Course: NUTR 305 - Nutritional Epidemiology
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing
The Nutrition Science and Policy specialization offers an interdisciplinary suite of courses that provide advanced study in nutrition science, global and US food policy, global nutrition programs, and applied research skills. You will be well positioned after coursework in this specialization to thrive in a variety of industries, including healthcare, non-profit/NGO, nutrition counseling, clinical research, academia, and food business. This is perfect if you are looking to change your career, or to level-up in your current profession.
Featured Faculty: Lynne Ausman, Will Masters
Featured Course: NUTB 238 - Economics for Food and Nutrition Policy
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing, Sustainable Food Systems
Not seeing the specialization you're looking for? Work with an advisor to create your own path of study. Available across all degree programs.
*This option is available for all M.S. programs
Need inspiration? Browse our faculty directory and learn more about our research.
Related Research Themes: Nourished Communities, Nutrition Equity, Nutritional Wellbeing, Sustainable Food Systems
Research
Research Themes
We've been working across all of these specializations in our research for a long time, but are presenting them in a brand new way. You can choose specializations that focus within particular areas of research, or create your own options that cross themes and disciplines.
Program Evolution
Interested in seeing how the newly organized specializations relate to the current program structure? We aren't changing the excellent programs and expertise that we're known for, but we are offering new ways for you to join the School that don't require declaring upon application what your focus will be. Discover what sparks your excitement for learning across our degree programs!