Sherri Stastny, assistant professor of health, nutrition and exercise science, won the People’s Choice award for her poster presentation “Meet the Parents: Nine Steps of Meal Planning,” during the Foodservice Educators Network annual conference poster session in Las Vegas on Feb. 14.

The presentation illustrated a study that Stastny conducted to help students memorize the nine steps of meal planning and how to plan menus using the most important food selection criteria.

The “Meet the Parents” study was an assignment depicting a newly engaged couple that needs to plan a special meal for their diverse group of parents plus vegan siblings in a limited, small kitchen with no dining room.

The results of Stastny’s study showed improvement in knowledge for using food selection criteria in meal planning. Students’ comments and data also indicated that students did improve in knowing the nine steps of meal planning.

Stastny joined the NDSU faculty full-time in 2002. She previously was the director of Food and Nutrition Services for Dakota Heartland Health System where she worked with NDSU dietetic interns.

Her research focuses on undergraduate students in a comparison of restaurant nutrition claims, United States Department of Agriculture recommendations and lab analysis of restaurant foods. She also has completed several projects to assess best practices in teaching, learning and development of critical thinking skills.

Stastny teaches food principles, preparation and production. She is affiliated with the Food Educators Network and the Food Educators Learning Community.