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Family and Consumer Sciences

Ohio State University Extension

CFAES

Discovery Themes Hire for OSUE

March 7, 2017

Ingrid Richards Adams is the first Discovery Themes hire for Ohio State University Extension, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Her appointment commenced January 1, and for OSUE Family and Consumer Sciences, her focus will be on critical thinking and how best to approach behavior change that leads to better health and nutrition in diverse populations.

Ingrid currently serves as extension specialist in Food, Health, and Human Behavior and has dual appointments in OSUE, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and the Division of Medical Dietetics in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Before coming to Ohio State, she served as an extension specialist in Nutrition and Weight Management at the University of Kentucky. Ingrid earned dual PhDs in Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Nutritional Sciences from Iowa State University, and holds a BA and MA degrees in Family and Consumer Sciences from The Ohio State University.

Ohio State launched the Discovery Themes initiative to position the university to tackle the world’s grand challenges in eight areas of focus within the four Discovery Themes: Humanities and the Arts, Health and Wellness, Food Production and Security, and Energy and Environment. CFAES has faculty leading three of the areas of focus: Casey Hoy, Initiative for Food and Agricultural Transformation; Elena Irwin, Sustainable and Resilient Economy; and Mark Failla, Foods for Health. Discovery Themes funding is expected to allow for an 8 to 10 percent net increase in the tenured/tenure-track faculty.

CFAES expects to hire 28 new faculty serving in five of the areas of focus by August 2017: Brain Injury, Data Analytics, Foods for Health, Food and AgriCultural Transformation, The Humanities and the Arts, Infectious Diseases, and Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability. To date, 15 faculty have joined the college with nine units having one or more of the new Discovery Themes faculty. Of those new hires, 53 percent are from underrepresented populations.