A minimum of 30 hours of credit at the graduate level for students with an MS degree or 60 hours of credit at the graduate level for students with a BS degree must be earned, with a minimum of nine hours of credit for the dissertation project (NFS 9000). The curricular requirements include:
- Demonstration of competency in core areas of food science, including food chemistry, food preservation, food composition and analysis, and food microbiology through previous course credits in these areas or through passing of a comprehensive examination given by the instructor in each area
- Three hours of NFS 7071 Seminar in Nutrition and Food Sciences (1), nine hours of NFS 9000 Dissertation Research (1-12 per sem.), and a minimum of 18 hours of electives in 7000 level courses in addition to the 30 hours of coursework required for MS students in food science
- All coursework including electives approved on the departmental-level academic course plan by the student’s advisory committee
The minimum requirement for the Ph.D. degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences from Louisiana State University is 48 semester hours of graduate credit (exclusive of credits in NFS 9000) plus 9 credits for dissertation research (NFS 9000). At least one-third of credits toward a graduate or a post-baccalaureate professional degree must be earned through instruction offered by the institution awarding the degree. Graduate credit is not allowed for courses numbered below 4000 or for correspondence courses.