The cost of attending conferences and professional development events can often be a financial burden for students. Such events are key to their success as scholars as they provide an important opportunity for students to network with peers and experts in their fields. 

Our goal is to raise $3,000 to help cover expenses like event registration, travel, and accommodations for students. With your support, the Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology can encourage students to seek out professional development opportunities locally and nationally.
 
Among other initiatives, your support will help us send members of our Exercise Physiology Student Association to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Quiz Bowl. This travel scholarship will allow undergraduate students to experience a scientific conference where they can network with university faculty and students across the southeast region of the United States. Undergraduate students will get to hear the latest research being conducted by faculty and students, participate in mentoring programs, meet with faculty during a graduate fair, and compete for FSU in a Jeopardy-style quiz bowl against 30 other universities in the southeast. 

"By attending events like the Southeast American College of Sports Medicine conference, we're able to network with professors face-to-face that we normally wouldn’t be able to," said Lillie Rentería, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology doctoral student. "We're also able to see the variety of research being conducted within our fields that we might not have even known existed, which can spark inspiration for a career path. As a graduate student, I'm able to network and make connections with people that are giants in the field. If in the future I need to reach out to someone, we have typically already spoken at a conference, which usually makes them more receptive of what I have to say."