Careers
Educate. Inspire. Instruct. Improve the health of people or animals by advocating and influencing diets through a career in nutrition.
The Master of Nutrition is an online master’s degree program that explores the science of nutrition as it relates to human or animal nutrition.
Many of our students who choose the Human Nutrition track build careers as nutritionists upon graduation. Nutritionists are experts in food and nutrition. They advise people on what to eat in order to lead a healthy lifestyle or achieve a specific health-related goal.
Human nutritionists typically:
- Assess health needs and eating habits of individuals and communities
- Develop nutrition programs tailored to their target audience
- Provide nutrition education to individuals or groups
- Evaluate the impact and efficacy of nutrition programs
- Conduct research in the community or a lab setting
- Assist in food product development in industry
- Create policies that influence the health of towns, states, the country, and world
- Write grants to support nutrition programming and research
- Design nutrition-related social media and marketing materials
Unsure if you want to work as a nutrition technician, nutritionist or dietitian? It’s important to understand the difference between these three positions. Nutrition technicians are required to have an associate’s degree or higher; licensed nutritionists in North Carolina must have a master’s in nutrition. Registered dietitians hold a bachelor’s degree at minimum, and often a master’s degree. In North Carolina, dietitians must achieve certification in Didactic Program in Dietetics in addition to possessing a master’s degree. Licensure varies from state to state.
NOTE: North Carolina State University does not offer the Certification in Didactic Program in Dietetics for students seeking to become a Registered Dietitian in North Carolina. This program provides the credentials necessary to work as a nutritionist.
Our Animal Feed Science track provides the knowledge and skills necessary to work as a food and agricultural scientist specializing in animal nutrition. Focusing on food production, they typically:
- Conduct research on domestic farm animals, exploring animal genetics, nutrition, reproduction, diseases, growth and development
- Develop efficient, humane and sustainable ways to produce and process meat, poultry, eggs and milk
- Advise livestock owners regarding issues such as housing, feeding and general husbandry maintenance
- Provide guidelines for standards that will lower animal death rates, increase growth rates or otherwise improve livestock quality
Employers
Common employers in the nutrition industry include but are not limited to:
- Non-profit organizations
- Governments and schools<
- Cooperative Extension
- Sport nutrition consulting companies
- Feed mills
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Food manufacturing consulting firms
- Food industry manufacturers
- Food industry quality assurance/quality control consultancies
Job Titles
The online Master of Nutrition degree program is carefully designed to prepare graduates of a bachelor’s program for qualification for human nutritionist and feed scientist positions. Our graduates often find career advancement in the following positions:
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