Country: Ecuador

Institution: Louisiana State University

Email: jenriq5@lsu.edu

Bio:

My name is Jean Pierre Enriquez and I am originally from Ecuador. I am a Ph.D. student in Human Nutrition, where I am studying several aspects of hunger and food insecurity. I am also pursuing a minor in Kinesiology with a focus on physical activity promotion. I began my doctoral studies at Louisiana State University in January 2022, and became a member of the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, in the student division and also in the division of Sustainable Food Systems in May 2022. Through my research experience, I’ve become familiar with issues of global as well as local food security, community needs, and outreach. As such, I have become critically aware of food insecurity and its particular toll on student and minority populations. I developed a working knowledge of barriers to food security and the consequences of food insecurity faced by university students. I observed the amplification of these barriers among international and other minority students, which has informed my proposed research objectives. I have taken the lead on a scoping review of snacks and snacking among US adults. The premise is that snacking provides nutritional and social benefits that can be integrated into food access and food security enhancement efforts.