Human Ecology (Graduate Program)

Program Overview

The Human Ecology graduate program is currently in transition from a campus-wide reorganization effort that merged Nutrition with Food Science and created the Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising. This reorganization will in no way alter the faculty composition in these areas of research or the faculty’s commitment to graduate education.

Human Ecology has six concentrations: human nutrition, molecular nutrition, apparel design, historic/cultural aspects of textiles and apparel, merchandising, and textile science.

MS and PhD programs offer students choices within each concentration. Flexible interdisciplinary programs can be structured to meet each individual student’s specific interests. These programs may span human ecology and extend to other departments at LSU. Joint research efforts with many other departments exist.

Human Ecology also collaborates with the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station—the research unit of the LSU Agricultural Center—and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Additionally, external collaboration with institutions and industry partners such as the USDA Southern Regional Research Center and other external institutions extend educational opportunities for students.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials that come from third-party sources must also be submitted online. These paper documents are stored electronically and departments have access to all materials submitted by and/or on behalf of a student applying to graduate study.

Applications for admission are received and evaluated by the department as they are received, but usually for fall admissions these evaluations are completed by late March. Applicants must adhere to the application deadlines established by the Graduate School.

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable GRE scores, and three letters of recommendation. These letters should be from previous professors, mentors and/or employers and address likelihood for success in a graduate program. International students, whose native language is not English, must also submit an acceptable TOFEL, IELTS, or PTE score.

When all admission requirements are met, full admission will be considered. On very rare occasions, if a student does not meet all requirements, a student may be admitted provisionally.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact appropriate faculty members in the department to learn more about the program.

Financial Assistance

Limited financial assistance is available. Support may be available through the student’s home department or other units in the form of research or teaching assistantships. A student should contact his or her home department for more information on available assistantship positions. To ensure consideration for financial aid, all application materials should be submitted in accordance with deadlines established by the LSU Graduate School.

Human Ecology graduate fellowships and teaching and research assistantships are awarded competitively, based on qualifications and availability. The number and dollar amount of the assistantships vary depending on the available funding. The department nominates students for fellowships.

Graduate Faculty

(check current listings by department by clicking this link)

Family, Child, and Consumer Sciences

Jennifer J. Baumgartner (M) • Early care and education, involving families in early care, training and education of early care professionals
Diane C. Burts (EM) • Early childhood education; developmentally appropriate practices
Cassandra Chaney (M) • Married and cohabitating African American romantic relationships (emotional closeness and commitment), religiosity and spirituality among African American communities, faith and African American families
Cynthia F. Dicarlo (7M) • Early childhood special education:  preference assessment technology, instructional strategies, and environmental modifications
M.E. Betsy Garrison ( M) • Families and disasters; family stress, coping, and resilience
Frances C. Lawrence (M) • Welfare reform, economic development, family financial management, consumer decision-making
Loren Marks (M) • Faith and families, African American families, parenting
Katherine Stamps Mitchell (6A) • Child well-being, families, poverty and inequality, education, public policy
Sarah Pierce (6A) • Adult-child relationships; adult caregiving sensitivity to young children, development systems theory

Human Nutrition & Food

Catherine Champagne (7M) • Women’s and children’s health, diet for weight loss and chronic disease, Mediterranean diets, physical activity, nutritional assessment of diverse populations (PBRC)               
Stewart T. Gordon (3P) • Health and wellness of infants and children, including inervention trials aimed at improving health and wellness of infants and children
Thomas W. Gettys (3F) • Adipose tissue signaling (PBRC, Director of Experimental Obesity)
Maren Hegsted (EM) • Potential health benefits of functional foods, nondigestible carbohydrates, food intake and weight regulation
Gang Hu (3F) • Epidemiology of health practices and nutrition related to human diseases such as heart disease and diabetes
Darcy L. Johannsen (6A) • Insulin sensitivity, fat deposition, and energy expenditure
Michael Keenan (7M) • Food intake regulation with health effects of dietary fermentable fibers such as resistant starch including molecular effects; functional foods
Jeffrey N Keller (3F) • Basis for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease using mouse models and clinical research subjects, in studies ranging from basic neurochemistry to the conducting of worldwide pharmaceutical trials
Carol Lammi-Keefe (M) • n-3 fatty acids in pregnancy and development, diabetes, postpartum depression, cardiovascular risk, functional foods
Roy Martin (EM) • Obesity and diabetes, food intake control, nutrient sensing mechanisms in the brain and gut, regulation of gene expression, functional foods
Christopher Morrison (3F) • Animal neuroendocrinology and physiology, neuronal regulation of feeding behavior, body weight homeostasis, reproduction, growth and metabolism (PBRC)
Carol O’Neil (M) • Community nutrition, food insecurity, diet of adolescents and young adults, scholarship of teaching
Georgianna Tuuri (7M) • Dietary practices in the prevention of childhood overweight and promotion of bone health, body composition assessment methodologies, community nutrition, functional foods
Jianping Ye (3F) • Insulin and leptin signaling mechanisms (PBRC)

Textiles, Apparel Design, & Merchandising

Bonnie D. Belleau (EM) • Design, development, and evaluation of prototype apparel products; fashion theory; consumer, designer, manufacturer, and retailer knowledge of apparel products
Jenna T. Kuttruff (M) • Historic and sociocultural significance of textiles and apparel; analysis, interpretation and conservation of archaeological textile remains
Louis C. Kuttruff (3F) • Historic and cultural significance of textiles and apparel; archaeological textiles
Chuanlan Liu (M) • Consumer behavior, retail market research, retailing management and apparel merchandising and entrepreneurship
Delisia Matthews (6A) • consumer behavior, branding, and fashion consumer groups
Lisa McRoberts (6A) • Apparel design, body shape analysis, consumer preferences and satisfaction, functional design, prototype evaluation and sizing
Ioan Negulescu (M) • Textile science, chemistry of natural fibers and fiber-forming polymers, physical and chemical characterization of textiles
Laurel Dawn Romeo (6A) • Technology in apparel product development and manufacturing; technology in teaching and learn-ing; 3D garment design; 3D/4D body scanning; apparel fit and body shape; apparel and niche markets; updating anthropometric data of US population
Casey Rhea Stannard (6A) • Role of traditional textile handcrafts in contemporary society; sustainable aspects of apparel design; social psychological aspects of apparel design; creative scholarship incorporating fiber art techniques, theory based design, and 3D design technology

Programs

• Human Ecology, Ph.D.

• Human Ecology, M.S.