It has been another busy year for the Division of Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences (FNES)! I am grateful to all staff and faculty as we are together making progress in our land-grant mission – serving students and stakeholders while advancing research.
FNES welcomed 104 new undergraduates in August; the total combined opening day enrollment in our two majors, Food Science & Nutrition and Nutrition & Exercise Physiology (NEP), was 395, in addition to 62 graduate students.
Back in June, we welcomed Laci Fuhlage as a full-time academic advisor to serve our growing student body in FNES. Laci is a recent graduate of CAFNR and has been an outstanding spokesperson for our academic programs led by Dr. Cathi Peterson, Associate Director of FNES. Laci is also focusing on recruitment.
For the faculty side, we now have two Curators’ Distinguished Professors in our division – Dr. Mengshi Lin (named in 2024) and Dr. Scott Rector (2025). In addition, Dr. Jacqueline Limberg was awarded the Millsap Distinguished Professorship in 2025, funded by the Marvin and Rose Ann Millsap Memorial Trust Fund.
Dr. Andrew Clarke is retiring effective March 1, 2026. As a dedicated meat scientist, Dr. Clarke has been a strong advocate and leader in our food science program since 1987. We sincerely wish him the best in his new chapter of life – happy retirement!
We are also excited to witness our fermentation lab renovation with an estimated mid-2026 opening, while also planning to build a value-added processing lab. This space would house an expanded Buck’s and a new creamery along with a pilot plant and test kitchen.
Read on also to learn more about our CAFNR Column Award winner for FNES this year, Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, M.S., RDN! She has been a strong voice of nutrition and human health, currently serving as CEO of International Food Information Council, a non-profit organization promoting communication between/among academia, industry, government and the public.
Please reach out to me any time – I always enjoy hearing from our alumni and learning where your path has taken you since you left Mizzou!
Dojin (DJ) Ryu
Director, Division of Food, Nutrition & Exercise Sciences