杏吧视频

Alexandra Gogel and Cassandra Partridge took a leap of faith to position themselves to earn the first doctorates in the history of 杏吧视频鈥檚 Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS).

When Gogel, of Gig Harbor, Washington, and Partridge, of Spokane, Washington, committed to pursue a doctorate in nutritional sciences at U of I, the program didn鈥檛 exist.

鈥淭here was communication about the hope that this would exist in the future,鈥� Partridge recalled.

Thanks to hard work and rigorous scientific research by the candidates, a willingness to build a doctoral program on the fly among FCS faculty and leadership and a bit of luck, Gogel and Partridge are poised to become the school鈥檚 first doctorate in May.

鈥淭o be frank, it was on a lot of trust that this would happen,鈥� Gogel said. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to see how this grows and benefits the university, as well as the students who want to learn nutrition.鈥�

Backup plan

The graduate students had a backup plan in case their FCS doctoral program didn鈥檛 materialize according to schedule. When they began their doctorate pursuit, they enrolled in the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences (AVFS), working under University Distinguished Professor Mark McGuire as their advisor. They were prepared to graduate with doctorates in AVFS if necessary.

AVFS affords doctoral students flexibility to take upper-level courses that are relevant to their dissertations, and Gogel and Partridge also took seminar classes in both FCS and AVFS, providing themselves with a broad range of knowledge about both disciplines. About two years ago, when the doctorate in nutritional sciences became official, they both switched to the FCS program, working under the school鈥檚 director, Professor Shelley McGuire, as their advisor.

Human milk research

Both of their dissertations involve research in human milk. Gogel has been studying how the milk microbiome may vary from breast to breast, within a day or within a single feed. She鈥檚 also collaborated with Johns Hopkins University on a study of how the human milk microbiome is associated with growth and size of infants in a rural Bangladeshi population.

Partridge is studying how a mother鈥檚 diet affects the components of her milk. A primary focus is the possibility of allergenic peptides and proteins from cow鈥檚 milk and soy to be passed on in a mother鈥檚 milk, potentially inducing an allergic reaction in the infant.

Gogel switches programs

Gogel earned a bachelor鈥檚 in zoology from Washington State University and applied for veterinary school at WSU, while also working full time at a Moscow veterinary clinic. After two consecutive years of getting placed on a waiting list for veterinary school, she enrolled in U of I鈥檚 master鈥檚 degree program in family and consumer sciences. She initially planned to reapply for veterinary school after completing her master鈥檚 program, which she figured would boost her resume. She changed plans, however, after she had the opportunity to present some of her first-year master鈥檚 research on human milk at a conference.

鈥淢y world just opened up. There were scientists from all over the world who were really interested in the work I was doing 鈥� who were nice and inviting and ready to talk to me and wanted to engage in milk research,鈥� Gogel said.

After returning from the conference, Gogel approached Shelley McGuire about switching from her master鈥檚 program to a doctoral program in nutritional sciences.

Partridge's Vandal roots

Partridge has a long history as a Vandal. She earned both her bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 in FCS from U of I, as well as a bachelor鈥檚 in Spanish and a registered dietician credential. She had an internship at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane and went on to work as a clinical dietician in the hospital鈥檚 intensive care unit for three and a half years but decided against making a career in dietetics. Instead, she enrolled in graduate school at U of I in 2018.

It鈥檚 really exciting to think of how many people will follow in our footsteps and continue to make the degree and the college more valuable to our community and the academic field.Cassandra Partridge

Two years later, after Partridge finished her master鈥檚 program, Mark and Shelley McGuire invited her to spend a year working as a research associate with their laboratory, where she served as research coordinator on a study that has become a dissertation project as she seeks to wrap up her doctorate in nutritional sciences.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something special about the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences that makes it even more special that we would get to be the first ones in the school鈥檚 history to do this,鈥� Partridge said. "It鈥檚 really exciting to think of how many people will follow in our footsteps and continue to make the degree and the college more valuable to our community and the academic field."