ATHENS, Ohio (Oct. 21, 2008)— Jana Hovland, FoodMASTER associate state director of Ohio, presented the FoodMASTER program on an international stage last month at the 15th International Congress of Dietetics in Yokohoma, Japan.

The conference is held every four years at locations around the globe and offers a place for dietitians and nutritionists to report new findings and share ideas. The event holds educational lectures, workshops and poster presentations about different nutritional programs and research.

After submitting an abstract about FoodMASTER, the program was chosen for poster presentation at the conference.

“It was received well,” Hovland said. “People were there to talk about the program the entire time, and even past time.”

FoodMASTER, which uses food and nutrition as a way to teach math and science to third-grade elementary students, was created in partnership between Ohio University and East Carolina University with funding from the National Institute of Health Science Education Partnership Award grant.

More than 260 students from a three-county region were taught the curriculum last year as part of the first phase of the initiative. Subjects covered include biology, chemistry, microbiology, nutrition, and health, as well as math concepts such as numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and problem solving.

FoodMASTER is beginning phase two, with additional two-year funding from NIH-SEPA, in which administrators will focus on implementing the program in to 10 Ohio and North Carolina schools and, on a smaller scale, an additional 100 schools nationwide.

“It’s been wonderful to receive positive feedback about the curriculum in its first level of implementation,” Hovland said. “We’re excited to receive continued funding to expand the curriculum.”

For more information about FoodMASTER, visit www.foodmaster.org.