Jun 06, 2025

2025-2026 UH Mānoa Catalog

Nutritional Sciences, PhD

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The PhD in Nutritional Sciences program prepares future nutrition researchers to integrate the multiple disciplines of nutrition to serve the Hawaiʻi, Pacific and global communities. The mission of the PhD in Nutritional Sciences program is to prepare individuals to function as independent nutrition researchers who can take an interdisciplinary approach to nutrition issues. Students graduating with this degree are prepared for careers as university educators, research scientists or specialized professionals within the field of nutrition.

Students can attain a PhD in Nutritional Sciences in one of the following:

Human nutrition (related to biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, community/global, disease prevention, clinical nutrition, culture [indigenous nutrition], epidemiology, nutrition and cancer)
Animal science (related to nutrient utilization, physiology, disorders, growth, and aquaculture)
Food science (related to food chemistry, engineering and processing, microbiology, safety, and functional foods)

To ensure that graduates are prepared for these roles, students will be expected to demonstrate:

Comprehensive understanding of core nutrition knowledge;
Advanced scholarship in a specialty area (i.e., expertise in a least one overlapping biomedical discipline e.g., biochemistry, physiology, cell and molecular biology, food science/functional foods, epidemiology, biostatistics, medicine, etc.);
Appropriate exposure to social and career-building disciplines (e.g., education, communications, information technology, technical writing, social sciences, etc.); and
Ability to conduct original scholarly research, develop skills in research methodologies and grant writing, understand research ethics, and effectively dissemination research findings via peer-reviewed publications, seminars, and practical applications such as teaching.

To accomplish these goals, the PhD program integrates faculty and resources from the instructional and research programs across the university to create an inter-college PhD program of highly marketable, interdisciplinary graduates that can assume leadership roles in the field of nutrition.

Admission Requirements

The admission process is a critical step in ensuring the success and quality of the program and its graduates; therefore, applicants will be carefully evaluated and selected. The admissions committee is chosen and led by the graduate chair and is made up of graduate faculty with proven records in mentoring successful graduate students. To insure consistent quality of training and financial support, applicants admitted will be provided high-quality dissertation advisors and plan for support.

Applicants should have a BS or MS degree in nutritional sciences or a closely related biological science; however, highly motivated students with other degrees may be considered if they have excellent academic backgrounds and demonstrated strength in the biological sciences. Applicants are expected to demonstrate adequate preparation in nutrition, biochemistry, physiology, and statistics. If admitted without sufficient preparation in these areas, these prerequisites must be made up early in the student’s program. The admissions committee will determine course deficiencies in an applicant’s background.

Additional admission requirements include a minimum grade point average of 3.4 out of 4.0 for applicants with a BS, and 3.6 out of 4.0 for applicants with a MS or other advanced degree; submission of GRE general test scores that demonstrate performance above the 50% percentile in all areas; three letters of recommendation from individuals that can comment on academic and research potential, a personal resume, and a completed Graduate Admissions Application including a personal statement of objectives that includes reasons for wanting to attend graduate school, research interests, and career goals. Foreign applicants must obtain a minimum TOEFL score of 600 (paper), 250 (computer), or 100 (internet).

Interviews (in person or by phone) are required of all applicants deemed admissible by the admissions committee. In selecting applicants for admission, particular attention will be paid to the quality and depth of the personal statement, the strength of the letters of recommendation (i.e., they must indicate exceptional potential), and the professional qualities and academic depth presented in the interview.

The deadline for receipt of all application materials is February 1 for fall and September 1 for spring applicants.

Degree Requirements

The principal requirements for the PhD degree are:

Pass a qualifying examination,
Complete required course work,
Complete teaching experience,
Pass a dissertation proposal and comprehensive exam to demonstrate advanced scholarship in the field, and
Defend a doctoral dissertation that presents original, independent research.

Qualifying exam. (Form 1-Pre-Candidacy)

The purpose of the exam is to determine mastery of track-specific core Nutrition knowledge, determine if the student has a strong enough background to proceed successfully with their doctoral program, and enable advisors to assist the student in planning an appropriate program of study. PhD students who completed an oral qualifying exam as an MS student in one of the three departmental MS programs within the past 5 years may have the exam waived upon the student’s submission of their UH Mānoa Graduate Division Form I from their MS, as evidence of completion and exam equivalency with the PhD exam. Students from other master’s programs or those entering with a bachelor’s degree will be required to complete the oral qualifying exam.

The exam should be completed within one to two years of admission into the Nutritional Sciences PhD program. The oral qualifying exam will be administered by an oral qualifying exam committee composed of three faculty members, one to represent each subject matter under examination (track-specific) selected by the student together with their advisor and approved by the Nutritional Sciences PhD Graduate Chair.

The exam content is track-specific, outlined below:

Human Nutrition Track- three faculty members to represent subject areas that include Basic Nutrition, Nutritional Biochemistry, and Research Methods.
Food Science Track- three faculty members to represent subject areas that include Food Chemistry/Microbiology, General Food Science, and Research Methods
Animal Sciences Track- three faculty members to represent subject areas that include General Animal Sciences, Nutrition and Physiology, and Research Methods
All students will also be asked to provide a brief overview (e.g., problem statement and research questions) of their dissertation research ideas.

The student’s advisor is responsible for ensuring that the Nutritional Sciences PhD Program Qualifying Examination Rubric Form is distributed to and collected from committee members at the time of the exam. If the committee agrees that the performance met or exceeded their expectations, then the student will have passed the Qualifying Examination. If the committee agrees that the exam performance was not strong (i.e., did not meet or marginally met expectations), then the student will not have passed the Qualifying Exam. The student’s advisor collects the completed Nutritional Sciences PhD Program Qualifying Examination Rubric Forms from each member of the Advisory committee and tabulates the scores (per instructions on bottom of the Form). Completed Nutritional Sciences PhD Program Qualifying Examination Rubric Forms must be submitted to the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Program Graduate Chair no more than 2 days after the examination.

The exam is repeatable once after successful petition to the Graduate Chair. Students failing the qualifying exam twice must withdraw from the program.

Required course work

PhD students are required to have at least 18 credits of graduate level course work (excluding research credits) beyond their MS degree. If entering with a BS degree, at least 36 credits of graduate level course work (excluding research credits) beyond the BS are required. These course requirements are described below.

All students are required to enroll in Program Seminar for two semesters for a letter grade of (FSHN 681 or ANSC 641 )
Additional course work is dependent on BS or MS entry into the program as well as track-specific requirements. Courses are classified as
- Preparation for the qualifying exam (6 credits required)
- Advance specialty and research (18 credits)
  - 12 credits FSHN 699 or ANSC 699 research and 1 credit FSHN 800 level research are required and fulfill the advance specialty and research requirements
- At least 12 credits must be at the 600-level or higher, excluding 699 and 800

Course Deficiencies: These are prerequisite courses decided upon by the student’s advisor and/or graduate program chair.

Course Work to Prepare for the Qualifying Exam—Courses may be waived or substituted if student earned MS at UH Mānoa and has already taken the course.

Advance Specialty & Research Courses (should total 18 credits)

Advisor approved electives (specialty, career building) Credits: 6
ANSC 699 - Directed Research Credits: V
OR
FSHN 699 - Directed Reading and Research Credits: V
FSHN 800 - Dissertation Research Credits: V

Note for all:

A minimum of 12 credits must be at the 600-level, not including 699 or 800.

The student in consultation with his or her dissertation advisor will decide on the specific courses used to meet the above requirements. Examples of a model course of study for a student entering with a BS are available on our program website at: manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/nutritionPhD/program-overview/current-students/requirements/coursework-requirement/bs-plan/ and examples of a model course of study for a student entering with a MS are available on our program website at: manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/nutritionPhD/program-overview/current-students/requirements/coursework-requirement/ms-plan/. Examples of available specialty area courses and career-building courses are available on our program website at: manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/nutritionPhD/the-phd-program/student-learning-outcomes/.

Required teaching experience

To foster teaching skills, all PhD candidates must participate in a substantial teaching project during at least one semester of their program. All students are required to develop, with an instructor of their choice who agrees, an instructional experience using the teaching agreement form, approximately equivalent to a quarter time teaching assistantship (10 hours per week) that includes in-class lectures/instructional activities, or laboratory instruction. At the conclusion of the experience a teaching evaluation experience rubric must be completed by their instructional mentor and submitted to the graduate chair. Unsatisfactory evaluations will result in the need to repeat the experience until a favorable evaluation is achieved. Students entering with a BS must fulfill additional two semesters of instructional and those with an MS must complete one semester of instructional experience.

Dissertation Proposal and Comprehensive exam (Form 2- Advance to Candidacy)

In order to Advance to Candidacy in the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Program students must meet the Comprehensive Exam requirement and the Dissertation Proposal Exam requirement. For the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Program these two exams will be combined as described below.

Dissertation Proposal Defense and Comprehensive Exam (Graduate Division Form II): Students are required to defend their dissertation research proposal and pass the comprehensive exam to the satisfaction of their advisor and selected committee. The Dissertation committee should be comprised of four graduate faculty members in addition to the advisor. A majority of the committee must belong to the Nutritional Sciences PhD Graduate faculty while one of the graduate faculty members must be a faculty member from a graduate program other than nutritional sciences, selected to serve as a university representative according to the requirements of Graduate Division. The Dissertation committee must be approved by the Nutritional Sciences PhD Graduate Program Chair.

The purpose of the combined Dissertation Proposal and Comprehensive Exam is to determine the student’s comprehension of fundamental nutrition knowledge, expertise in any related discipline important to his/her plan of study, and competence in research, effective communication, and critical thinking skills as exemplified in the written and oral Proposal Defense. The Dissertation Proposal Defense and Comprehensive Exam serves as a capstone that assures that the student demonstrates sufficient research skills and has prepared an independent, feasible research plan, in order to proceed with the dissertation research. This examination can only be completed after the student has passed his/her Nutritional Sciences qualifying exam and has completed a majority of required course work.

The combined dissertation proposal and comprehensive exam will consist of a written dissertation research proposal and an oral presentation of the proposed dissertation research. Guidelines for the written proposal are provided in a section below. Based on the committee members’ preference, the student will provide a paper copy or an electronic copy one month in advance of the scheduled oral Dissertation Proposal Defense and Comprehensive Exam. The student, in consultation with his/her primary advisor, should apprise the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Graduate Chair of the planned oral defense date.

The Dissertation Proposal Defense and Comprehensive Exam is prepared by an examining committee composed of the student’s Dissertation committee and the exam is administered by the student’s primary advisor. The Dissertation committee members will assess the student’s knowledge of his/her area of expertise through questions related to the student’s dissertation proposal. The oral exam should not take longer than 3 hours. At the end of the oral exam, the committee will discuss the student’s performance on the written dissertation proposal and the oral exam sections and complete the associated rubric. If the committee agrees that the performance met or exceeded their expectations, then the student will have passed the Dissertation Proposal and Comprehensive Examination. If the committee agrees the exam performance was not strong (i.e., did not meet or marginally met expectations), then the student will not have passed the Dissertation Proposal and Comprehensive Examination. Form II should be signed according to the result. The exam is repeatable once after successful petition to the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Program Graduate Chair. After passing the exam the student is eligible to enroll for dissertation research credit (FSHN 800 ). A student must pass this exam to achieve Doctoral candidacy and to remain in the PhD program.

Dissertation (Form 3-Dissertation evaluation)

All PhD candidates must conduct scholarly, independent, original research that contributes new knowledge to the field. The candidates develop and conduct research projects under the direction of their dissertation advisor and committee. The doctoral committee is selected by the student in consultation with their dissertation advisor and must be approved by the graduate chair. The dissertation advisor (chair of the doctoral committee), and a majority of the committee members must come from the nutrition graduate faculty. The committee must have at least 5 members, with one member being from a graduate faculty outside the student’s field of study and area of specialization. At the conclusion of the research, students write a dissertation, i.e. a scholarly written presentation of their research. The dissertation may use a traditional format or a multiple manuscript format, as determined by the student in consultation with their advisor and dissertation committee. The student’s dissertation committee then conducts a Final Examination to assess the student’s ability to orally present their dissertation in a seminar format and defend their research and dissertation.

Performance on the Dissertation Defense is based on the PhD in Nutritional Sciences Program Comprehensive Dissertation Defense Rubric. If the committee agrees that the performance met or exceeded their expectations, then the student will have passed the Dissertation Defense. If the committee agrees that the exam performance was not strong (i.e., did not meet or marginally met expectations), then the student will not have passed the Dissertation Defense. The final exam is repeatable once after successful petition to the Graduate Chair and the Graduate Dean. Further information is available at: manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/nutritionPhD/program-overview/current-students/requirements/dissertation/.

Dissertation Submission (Doctorate Form 4)

This form is to be signed by the chair and a majority of the committee, including any committee member(s) who may have been physically absent at the defense. All those who sign must have read and approved the dissertation in its entirety. By signing this form, committee members indicate approval of the content and the form of the finalized manuscript.

The dissertation is deposited on ETD ProQuest.

A completed Form 4 is submitted to Graduate Student Services to process your graduation.