Honors Program

Students are encouraged to take NS 3980 during the fall semester of their sophomore or junior year, as it serves as an introduction to research and the DNS Honors Program. Those planning to graduate in the spring should apply in the spring semester of their junior year, while students graduating in the fall should apply no later than the fall semester of their junior year.

To be eligible for the program, students must first be accepted into a Cornell University faculty’s research team before applying. Ideally, applicants should have worked with their research faculty advisor for at least one semester before submitting their application.

Components of the electronic application

1. Survey — questionnaire about the applicant, their faculty research advisor, and research project.
2. The faculty advisor’s agreement attachment — the form must be completed and signed by your Cornell research advisor (the principal investigator of the student’s lab).
3. Project description attachment — a summary of the applicant’s planned research (1-2 pages, without counting references). This document should include details on the public health problem the research project addresses, the research question(s), hypothesis, study design, and references.
4. Timeline — this attachment should include the expected dates for completing key research milestones, Honors Program coursework, and writing tasks. It should also provide a short description of the student’s planned meetings with the research faculty advisor. The timeline may be presented in any format, though it is most commonly organized as an outline, table, or Gantt chart. 

Deadlines

All materials must be submitted by the deadline. 

Spring applications

All materials are due on March 26, 2027, 5:00 PM EST.

Fall (late) applications

All materials are due on August 30th, 2027, 5:00 PM EST.

This application has additional requirements (see below for details).

Late applications

Applications submitted in the fall semester are considered late applications and are subject to a more stringent review. Namely, late applicants and their mentors will have to demonstrate the student’s readiness to complete an honors thesis on a shorter timeline.

In addition to the materials required for all applications, late applications must also include:

• A detailed description of the research project — The general description should include information about the research project (e.g., research goals, hypothesis, and study design), but also details of the work completed to date, plans for data analysis, and a descriptive timeline. The latter should include plans on how the student will catch up with the Honors Program's deadlines.

• Letter of support from the faculty research advisor (~1-2 pages) — In this letter, the faculty research advisor should describe how the student’s research to date supports their ability to complete a strong Honors thesis on the necessary timeline. For example, a faculty mentor should describe the length and nature of the work; relevant knowledge, skills, or professional characteristics the student has demonstrated; and the faculty member’s assertion that the necessary work can be completed on the Honors Program timeline.

Deadlines for Major DNS Honors Program Milestones

Once students are accepted into the DNS Honors Program, they will need to enroll in 3 credits of NS 4990 Honors Problem during their final two consecutive semesters to fulfill their research credit requirements. This course provides structure, feedback, and a defined timeline to help students complete the program milestones outlined below. Specific dates and check-in points will be posted on the course’s Canvas site. 

First semester enrolled in NS 4990.

Students Graduating in the Spring:
    •    Progress report — Last week of September
    •    Literature review draft — Mid-October
    •    Abstract and literature review — Last day of instruction

Students Graduating in the Fall:
    •    Progress report — Last week of January
    •    Literature review draft — Mid-March
    •    Abstract and literature review — Last day of instruction

Second semester enrolled in NS 4990.

Students Graduating in the Spring:
    •    Complete thesis draft — Mid-March
    •    Honors Thesis — Last day of instruction
    •    DNS Honors Symposium — First or second week of May

Students Graduating in the Fall:
    •    Complete thesis draft — Mid-October
    •    Honors Thesis — Last day of instruction
    •    DNS Honors Symposium — First or second week of December

Applying to complete an Honors thesis with a non-DNS research group

Students may complete an honors thesis under the mentorship of a non-DNS faculty research advisor (e.g., one in food science, human development, or biological sciences). However, the faculty research advisor must be a Cornell University faculty member who is affiliated with and based on the Ithaca campus. 
In general, students pursuing an honors thesis with a non-DNS faculty advisor are held to the same program requirements as those working with DNS faculty. These requirements include meeting all program deadlines, fulfilling Honors credit requirements, and presenting their research at the DNS Honors Research Symposium.

Application links

DNS Research Honors Program Electronic Application

The DNS Honors Program is an in-depth, structured experience involving original research and both written and oral scientific communication. As part of the Honors Program, students must meet the following requirements:

1. Achieve and maintain a minimum GPA. To graduate with honors, the student must have applied with and maintained a minimum GPA of 3.2.
2. Take NS 3980 Research in Human Nutrition and Health (recommended for the fall sophomore or junior year). 1 credit, S/U only. In addition to providing an overview of the DNS Honors Program, this course introduces the approaches and methods used by researchers, ethical considerations in research, searching and assessing the scientific literature, working with data, and more.
3. Gain acceptance into a faculty member’s research program (by the fall of junior year). Because applications are due in early spring of the junior year (for May graduates), students should be working with a prospective faculty PI by the fall of their junior year. By the end of that semester, the student should have their own research project with clear research goals, hypotheses, and experimental approaches.
4. Complete 6 credits of NS 4990: All DNS Honors students must complete a total of six credits in NS 4990 Honors Problem. Students must complete three credits of NS 4990 in each of their last two semesters. The DNS Honors Program Director supervises these credits and monitors the student’s progress alongside their faculty advisor. Importantly, NS4990 credits include the completion of the Program's writing tasks and the presentation of the research project at the DNS Honors Research Symposium. The writing tasks include a progress report, abstract, literature review, full thesis draft, and final thesis.
5. Complete a literature review and full honors thesis (final two semesters). While enrolled in NS4990, students will conduct a library search, critically appraise the literature, and write a literature review, abstract, and honors thesis. The completed honors thesis will include an abstract (approximately 300 words), introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections (totaling over 25 pages), references, and any relevant tables and figures. For detailed submission requirements and assignment descriptions, please refer to the sections below.
6. Present at the DNS Honors Research Symposium (end of final semester). Honors students must attend and present their research at the DNS Honors Research Symposium. This symposium takes place at the end of the semester.

Honors Program materials are only considered submitted and on time if they are:

• formatted correctly
• submitted with faculty advisor approval
• labeled correctly

Formatting requirements

• Page size: US letter (8.5” x 11”)
• Margins: Set to 1” on all sides
• Font: Arial or Times New Roman font, 11- or 12- point size 
• Font color: Use black font with a white background 
• Spacing: Use double spacing throughout all sections of the thesis, except for tables and figures, which may be single-spaced as needed for readability. 
• Page numbers: Number all pages except the cover page using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). Place the page numbers in the bottom-right corner of each page.
• Figures and tables: Number all figures and tables consecutively and refer to each figure in the main text. Provide each with clear, descriptive title or caption. Each figure should include a stand-alone caption. For the honors thesis, figures and tables should be compiled in their own section.

Faculty advisor approval

This essential step indicates that a faculty advisor has already read, reviewed and approved the final submitted document. This can be demonstrated by either:

1. a faculty advisor’s official digital signature (i.e., secure and time-stamped) on the submitted pdf, or
2. copying the faculty advisor on the submission email. 

In the latter case, the faculty member must reply directly to the Honors Program director by the deadline to indicate their approval.

Labeling requirements

Files should be labeled with the format “[Last Name] [Assignment] [Grad Semester]” in both the document name and in the header text on each document page.

Each assignment and each component of the full thesis has a specific purpose and a typical length. These are described below.

Progress report

A document that clearly and comprehensively outlines your work made to date, tasks remaining and an updated timeline. Any changes made to the project since you submitted the proposal abstract must be documented at this time. The text portion (i.e. not including the timeline) should be at least 1 and no more than 3 standard pages.

Abstract and literature review

The literature review and abstract should be related to the entire thesis in its current (updated) form. 

The abstract (~300 words) should be on a single separate page (use a page break) from the literature review, but saved in the same Word/pdf file. Key sections to include in the abstract are research goals/objectives, hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusions.   

The literature review should give the reader a comprehensive understanding of the scientific literature related to the thesis topic, while also demonstrating your capacity to summarize, reflect and critically evaluate primary literature that is relevant to the research question. The literature review is expected to be about 4-5 standard pages, depending on the research topic.

Full thesis draft

This is polished draft ready to be turned over to a thesis reader for review and comments (at least 25 pages, not including references, tables and figures). The full thesis draft includes several components:

1. Title page (separate page): Include your thesis title, name, research mentor(s), any source(s) of funding, and the date on which you're submitting the draft. A template will be provided in the NS 4990 Canvas page. 
2. Abstract (separate page, maximum 300 words): In its final form, this abstract should summarize background, objective, methods, results and conclusion.
3. Introduction (maximum 3 pages): The introduction provides the reader with the essential background information needed to understand what you did and why. The introduction section should draw from the literature review, but be more concise and targeted to the specific thesis.
4. Methods: Describe any methods and materials used, including but not limited to study design, recruitment, data collection, assays or other procedures, and statistical models. Someone reading this section should be able to understand and replicate what you did.
5. Results: Report only your findings; do not discuss or interpret them (“just the facts”). Where appropriate and helpful, include tables and figures.
6. Discussion: Interpret your results (what might they mean?); place them within the related literature (did your work reflect others’ findings or not? what did it add?); suggest future directions in research, clinical practice and/or policy; and relay the strengths and limitations of your work. Be careful not to just restate results here.
7. Conclusions: Presents takeaway messages in summary statements of key contributions and implications.
8. References (separate page): These must be formatted consistently and accurately in the style of your choice.
9. Tables and figures (separate pages, included after the References section): Each should include a title and caption, and should be referenced within the thesis text.

Final thesis with all corrections/revisions

Work with your faculty mentor to incorporate your reviewer’s feedback to improve your thesis. Turn in two documents:

1. Your final thesis, including all of the components described above.
2. A separate report describing how you responded to the reviewer’s feedback as well as any other revisions or additional work completed since the draft was submitted

Honors research symposium

DNS honors students are required to present their research at the DNS Honors Research Symposium. The symposium may be held as either a formal oral or poster presentation. If a poster session is scheduled, honor students will present their work to the Cornell community (1.5-2 hours). If oral presentations are scheduled, these take place in 25-minute time slots, and are followed by 5 minutes for questions. Regardless of the format, all honors students are expected to be present for the entire symposium. Family, friends, and the mentoring team are all welcome to the event.
Additional information about the symposium guidelines and format will be provided early in the student’s final semester of the program.

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