NSCI welcomes three faculty members this fall

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The College of Education and Human Sciences Department of Nutritional Sciences welcomed three faculty members this fall: Dr. Lauren Amaya, Dr. Sam Emerson, and Dr. McKale Montgomery.

Amaya is full-time teaching faculty and is a teaching assistant professor. Emerson and Montgomery are assistant professors and have research appointments in addition to their teaching duties.

Amaya is a registered dietitian and completed her Ph.D. in nutritional sciences at Oklahoma State University. She will be teaching courses in medical nutrition therapy and science of food preparation.

“Dr. Amaya is an experienced instructor and we look forward to the differences she will make in the lives of our students,” said Stephen Clarke, interim NSCI department head.

Emerson received his Ph.D. from Kansas State University. His research specializations include metabolic and inflammatory responses to meal consumption, physical activity and nutrition interactions and aging and metabolic health.

 “Dr. Emerson and members of his laboratory are interested in the metabolic and inflammatory responses following the consumption of a single meal and how these responses can be modified by factors such as exercise, dietary intake, aging, glucose tolerance, and the gut microbiome,” Clarke said.

After receiving her Ph.D. in NSCI from OSU, Montgomery was a post-doc fellow at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. Her research specializations include roles of nutrient metabolism in cancer progression, epigenetic regulation of metabolism and nutrient-gene interactions.

“Using cell culture model systems, Dr. Montgomery’s group is determining the unique micronutrient requirements of individual cancer cells to develop more effective anti-cancer therapies,” Clarke said.