Hannah Terry, Biology Major

Author: Hannah Terry | Major: Biology

My name is Hannah Terry, and I just finished my bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Arkansas. Since graduating in December, I have moved to Kentucky where I am preparing for my future plans of attending medical school. My mentor was Jamie Baum, who is a part of the Food Science department. It was very interesting to me to do my research in a department outside of my major because of the everyday life applications I learned about through a different lens.

For my thesis, I researched the effect of protein supplementation during time restricted feeding on regulation of appetite and food preference. To do this, our participants were given instructions to follow a time restricted feeding program and were split into a protein supplementation group and a control group. We then tested for changes in appetite and food preference along with changes in anthropometrics such as weight, BMI, and waist-to-hip ratios. This topic gave us the advantage of having real-world applications that most people are very interested in. Weight and body composition changes are frequently thought about and studied. This approach allows participants to eat whatever they would like and whatever quantity as long as they do it within a certain timeframe and take the protein at the correct time. Many people would find this interesting because it does not require significant changes to how they typically go about their day, but can provide health benefits. While our results did not match our hypothesis, we were able to see many areas for possible future research to fully test this feeding pattern.

Dr. Baum was an amazing mentor to work with and was very encouraging to me throughout my research and thesis preparations. Other students in her lab, including other honors students and graduate students, worked together on their own parts of different projects to help each other fully understand the workings of the lab. While it was not what my research was looking at, seeing other students results gave me insight into how the body works during times of time restricted feeding, or incorporating other supplements into their diet.

COVID-19 was the biggest challenge I faced during my research as it postponed start times, made in-person visits tricky, and even made participants less eager to begin. Dr. Baum helped me through this challenge as she told me things I could be studying virtually and participated in many Zoom calls to assist me when I got stuck.

Though my results did not teach me what I thought they would, my time doing research in Food Science will hold an impact on the way I approach my nutrition and makes me eager to learn more about this field. For the next few years, I plan to work in a medical environment and advance my knowledge of how the human body works before attending medical school. I will always be grateful for what the Honors College Research Grant has given me and allowed me to learn.