CHS Doctoral Student Receives Nationally Competitive Scholarship
Marni Shoemaker, a student in the 2020 cohort of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, has been awarded a competitive $10,000 scholarship from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation’s Marie E. Knickrehm Memorial Fund, which historically funds only two to three students per year.
Shoemaker began her doctoral studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and transferred to UTEP in August 2020 to follow her major professor, Dr. Joel Cramer, who assumed the position of Associate Dean of the College of Health Sciences that same month. She noted that the kind welcome upon her arrival has helped her to assimilate well into her new life in El Paso.
“I love it here,” she said. “I also have so many great opportunities here to continue my learning process. I am very excited to see what the next two years brings! Plus, the weather is much nicer.”
In her first few months at UTEP and in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, Shoemaker has been incredibly busy, taking courses, assuming a position as a course instructor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and continuing her research. Shoemaker’s dissertation will focus on how nutrition and skeletal muscle blood flow and oxygenation impact performance and health outcomes. Following graduation, she hopes to assume a tenure-track position in academia to continue her research, teaching, and mentoring of students.
The prestige of receiving a nationally competitive scholarship is not lost on Shoemaker, who says she was humbled by the notification.
“It is a great honor to be chosen by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation as worthy to receive this award,” she said. “Over the years, I have put all my effort into my education and research experience and am extremely grateful that the Academy wanted to be a part of helping me continue in my future career.”
Go Miners!
For more information about the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, please visit: www.utep.edu/chs/ihs/.
