Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Food Science, Purdue University, 2018
  • M.S., Food Science, Purdue University, 2018
  • B.S., Nutritional Sciences, Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, 2014
Professional Honors
  • Certificate of Excellence in Research Award, Purdue University Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs, May 2018
  • FASEB Mentored Platform Presenter Award, May 2018
  • IFT Feeding Tomorrow Scholarship, July 2016
  • Rose Marie Pangborn Sensory Scholarship, August 2017
  • 3 Minute Thesis Finalist, Purdue University Graduate School, April 2018
  • President, Ingestive Behavior Graduate Student Association, August 2016 – June 2018
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Nutrition, Member
  • Institute of Food Technologists, Member

Kelly Higgins is a clinical nutrition research scientist with training in the areas of nutrition science, food science, and public health and experience in evaluating relationships between diet and health. Dr. Higgins' technical skills include experimental design, execution, and statistical and biochemical analysis of randomized controlled trials and the design and conduct of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Kelly Higgins' doctoral training is in ingestive behavior, the multidisciplinary study of why people eat what they eat, when they eat it, and how this affects health. Other credentials include a MPH with an emphasis in health statistics. Kelly Higgins' dissertation work at Purdue University investigated the differential effects of low calorie sweeteners on body weight, appetite, and energy intake in two long-term randomized controlled trials each with over 100 participants where she developed skills in design and implementation of human randomized controlled trials and biochemical and statistical analysis. In line with her interest in energy balance and obesity, she also led a systematic review of over 8,500 articles for a meta-analysis investigating the effect of portion size and ingestive frequency on energy intake and body weight. Additionally, she has conducted work to analyze National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) datasets to examine the relationship between snacking frequency and adiposity.