Paradigm Shift in Graduate Education: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Childhood Obesity Prevention

The Transdisciplinary Childhood Obesity Prevention Graduate Program (T.O.P.) is designed to avoid the failed silo approach to obesity prevention and advance toward a team‐based participatory approach. The program combines expertise from South Dakota State University (SDSU) and the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln (UNL) in the areas of nutrition, early childhood education, family and consumer sciences, child development, exercise science, nutrigenomics and biostatistics. Students from a variety of disciplines implement and manage programs and research. The synergistic multidisciplinary team‐based learning approach enables students to foster working relationships and impact children, families, schools and communities. The program prepares students to 1) conduct research on the behavioral, social, biological, and environmental causes of childhood obesity, 2) implement evidence‐based transdisciplinary approaches to prevention, 3) expand understanding of the complex influences associated with excess weight gain and 4) develop and evaluate programs intended to prevent childhood obesity. To address health disparities, students participate in experiential learning opportunities in minority, underserved populations. Students graduate with a Master's or Doctoral degree from their respective college and obtain a T.O.P certificate. Funding: USDA NIFA Competitive Grants 2011□67002□30202.