The department held a spring reception on May 2 (pictures on facebook), and annual awards were presented:

• Outreach and Research: Jamie Zoellner and Jennie Hill
• Research: Dongmin Liu
• Outstanding Staff: Sophia Leedy
• Service: Young Ju
• Teaching: Frank Conforti (who is also retiring and was honored and recognized for his many years of outstanding service to the department and students)
• Fabio Almeida and Zhiyong Cheng were welcomed as newest faculty members.
• Angela Anderson, who defended her dissertation on May 1st, was honored with the Houston Memorial Scholarship.

Congratulations to HNFE's ILSB Research Poster Symposium winners:(pictures on Facebook)

• 1st: Kacie Allen, "Testing smart phone game applications for physical activity promotion in middle school students in after school programs at Boys & Girls Clubs"
• 2nd: Erin Smith, "Associations between middle-school characteristics, physical activity policy quality, and physical activity rates within a sample of Mid-Atlantic middle schools"
• 3rd: Kimberly Saunders, "Patient Preferences and Characteristics Influence Development of a Diabetes Prevention Program in Southwest Virginia"

• The Dan River Partnership for a Healthy Community hosted their 3rd Annual Community Garden Forum in Danville on April 19th. Attending were local residents who have participated in a community garden in the past and those interested in starting one, local VCE agents and Master Gardeners, academic partners, parks and recreation, and more! The evening began with an introduction by Jamie Zoellner, academic partner and former vice chair of the DRPHC. Graduate students Karissa Grier, Felicia Reese and Lorien MacAuley, all active research partners in the CG efforts, gave a presentation on CG progress including results from 2012 summer youth gardening program.

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  Kristen DeAngelis, Abby Forman, and Kelly Murphy

  Dietetics students presented their service learning work at the VT Engagement Showcase on April 17, hosted by VT Engage: The Community Learning Collaborative. Graduate and undergraduate students present posters demonstrating their community engagement efforts while attending the university.

• Elena Serrano was awarded a grant by The Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs for her project "The Effect of School Cafeteria Noise on Student Food Consumption and Waste."

  While Wansink (2004) has highlighted eating atmospheric factors associated with food consumption, such as temperature, lighting, odor, and noise, few studies have been conducted to fully examine the effect of these dimensions, especially noise, on dietary intake, particularly among young children. Serrano's study will utilize an inter-disciplinary approach to answer the research question: To what degree does school cafeteria noise, as well as potential mediators of noise, influence food consumption and food waste of young children?"

• HNFE Senior Emily Lauten was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi on April 15th and was awarded the Outstanding Senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for this organization.

• 2013 Summer Scholars announced: Emily Craft (Mentor, Jennie Hill), Justin Resendes (Mentor, Matt Hulver), Maja Tyhurst (Mentor, Jamie Zoellner), Lindsay Kummer (Mentor, Elena Serrano), and Maggie Reinhold (Mentor, Jamie Zoellner).

  Students attend a weekly seminar course, and the summer experience culminates with a symposium to present research results and to hear about ongoing summer research projects with other VT undergraduates and faculty.

• USDA Summer Scholars featured in VT News: Students develop skills and build relationships through summer undergraduate research programs

• VT News Feature: James Kiefer of Baltimore, a senior HNFE major, is busy taping injured ankles, molding mouth guards, and doing whatever else it takes to help get the Hokies ready for a big game. He is one of more than 50 HNFE student athletic trainers who help VT sports teams excel while gaining valuable experience for their own careers.

• USDA Summer Scholars highlighted in VT News: Students develop skills and build relationships through summer undergraduate research programs

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  Undergraduate Allie Sivak is the recipient of the Evan Turek Memorial Scholarship and the Mondelez International Internship from Feeding Tomorrow: the Foundation of the Institute of Food Technologists. Allie, a double major in Dairy Science and HNFE, will intern at Mondelez International this summer where she will apply her passion for food product development and production.

• Zhiyong Cheng was one of six assistant professors in CALS to receive a mentoring grant from the Provost's Office.

• Renee Eaton received a $45,000 grant from the Virginia Tech First Year Experience Office for the CALS First Year Seminar project, which has allowed for the creation and development of a first year program for six units within CALS. Components of the project include tutoring in first year sciences, a peer leader/mentoring program, and starting in 2013-2014, an optional one credit service learning course.

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  Matthew D’Aria (HNFE student) presents Jeff Schryver (plant manager at New World Pasta) the "Friend of HNFE" award, which was given in recognition of the company's hospitality in giving tours to HNFE students.

  Bill Barbeauand the Science of Food classtook the annual "Food, Nutrition, and Wellness Tour" to the New World Pasta company (which is one of the largest pasta makers in the country), and Hood Dairy (which makes Lactaid, Almond Breeze milk, and coffee creamers). Both companies are in Winchester,Virginia.

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  Felicia Reese, Committee Chair Jamie Zoellner, and Randy Grayson

  Felicia Reese, a George Washington Carver scholar, presented her thesis defense "Implementation and Evaluation of a Community Gardening and Nutrition Program among at-risk Youth" on March 18. Dr. Randy Grayson, director of the scholarship program, attended her defense.

• The following HNFE majors were recently invited to join Phi Beta Kappa: Jessica Li, Sarah Abbott, Jennifer Brigle, Renae Brooks, Danielle DiPaolo, Sarah Donnelly, Mary Jarosz, Kelsea Kirven, Emily Lauten, Michaela Semones, Aimee Sutherland, Elizabeth Trinchere, Travis Valdez, Joshua Yoon, and Laura Griffin.
  
  Fewer than 10 percent of the colleges and universities in the US have earned the privilege of hosting PBK chapters, and fewer than 10 percent of their students are eligible for PBK membership, so these students represent the very best!

• HNFE graduate student Adrienne Clark won the Virginia Dietetic Association’s "Margaret MacDonald Memorial Scholarship," which is awarded on the basis of scholastic achievement and promise of excellence in the field of dietetics.

• HNFE graduate students Angela Bailey and Tanya Halliday were both selected to be College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Graduate Teaching Scholars, which starts next fall.

• Nicolin Girmes-Grieco was selected as a "Favorite Faculty." This recognition program, hosted by the Favorite Faculty Committee of Housing and Residence Life, is a way for students to honor faculty members for their hard work, contributions to academia, and dedication to student learning and success. A reception was held April 3.

• Two alumni and one student were honored at the CALS Alumni Awards Ceremony in March: Outstanding Alumna: Chrissie Chawanje Mughogho (PhD, '98), Recent Alumna: Heidi Hertz (BS, '04), and Outstanding Ambassador: Kiley Petencin (BS, '13).

• Researchers have a 'gut feeling' about the link between a high fat diet and metabolic dysfunction: Matt Hulver, Kevin Davy, Brenda Davyfeatured in VT News.

• HNFE students helped organize events for Eating Issues/Body Image Awareness March 18-22, which promoted positive body image, encouraged healthy eating and fitness habits, and educated community members about how to recognize eating and body image disorders.

• Nicolin Girmes-Grieco was CAL’s Certificate of Teaching Excellence awardee for 2013 and will be recognized for this achievement during the college's undergraduate ceremony May 18th.

• Fabio Almeida participated in the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's The Center on Health, Aging, and Disability's Expert Roundtable, "Physical Activity, Health, and Well-Being in Brazil." This brought together experts from Brazil and the U.S. to discuss contemporary approaches to improve health and well-being through physical activity of the Brazilian population. Presentations and discussion groups helped stimulate new and effective intervention programs that will facilitate the prevention of non-communicable diseases in the Brazilian population.

• The Integrated Life Sciences Building (ILSB) is hosting the 2nd annual research poster symposium on Wednesday, May 1st. This forum is for HNFE and ILSB resident graduate and advanced undergraduate students to display their research and is a valuable opportunity to bring together students from different disciplines to share ideas and research findings with peers.

• Six VT students will present at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Gregory Rodden, a senior HNFE major, will give a poster presentation titled, "Chronic low-dose endotoxin treatment suppresses insulin signaling and impairs insulin-mediated glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle cells." Rodden was a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) at Fralin Life Science Institute.