Nutrition Professor Receives National Award

Heidi Wengreen, associate professor of nutrition at Utah State University, recently received the 2015 Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The purpose of the award is “to recognize the teaching, mentoring and leadership activities” of a faculty member in a dietetics education program.

“A lot of my work involves research projects,” Wengreen said. “Providing research and learning opportunities for dietetics students is important to me.”

Wengreen completed her doctorate in nutrition and food sciences with an emphasis in nutritional epidemiology from USU in 2002. She joined the faculty in 2003.

“Heidi is a caring and compassionate individual with a unique capacity to understand the needs of students,” said Charles Carpenter, head of the Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences Department. “She empowers students to solve problems and accomplish goals.”

Wengreen’s research interests include examining links between nutrition and disease across the lifespan. She is a co-investigator of the Cache County Study on Memory, Health and Aging, a large study of genetic and environmental factors associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

She has also collaborated on the development of the Viva Vegetables! curriculum, a sensory-based, food-focused curriculum used in the Cache County School district to teach children about the benefits of eating vegetables through hands-on learning experiences.

“Many kids struggle with eating healthy, because they don’t know better or they don’t have access to healthy food,” Wengreen said. “Anytime we can influence what they eat, we can better support their health. That’s why my work is important to me.”

USU College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences

Contact: Heidi Wengreen, heidi.wengreen@usu.edu

Writer: Shelby Ruud, shelby.ruud@usu.edu