Jacob Szeszulski, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Healthy Living within the Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, and the Department of Nutrition at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Szeszulski’s research agenda broadly focuses on the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of school- and community-based nutrition and physical activity programs. Specifically, he is interested in understanding individual-level factors (e.g., psychosocial behavioral determinants), policies, systems, and environments that affect nutrition and physical activity outcomes; identifying organizational and contextual factors that affect the delivery of school- and community-based programs; and using community-based participatory research approaches to improve health behaviors and subsequent health outcomes.
He has over a decade of experience conducting school-based chronic disease prevention, nutrition, and physical activity research with preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school-aged children. He is a Principal Investigator (PI) for an NIH/NIMHD R01 funded study “Strong Teens for Healthy Schools”; several American Heart Association funded studies focused on improving Extension’s implementation of evidence-based programs through the Healthy School Recognized Campus Initiative, and a USDA funded project, “Texas MyPlate Food Ambassadors Changing Environments and Schools (Texas MyPlate FACES)”. Other examples of community-engaged projects that he has contributed to as a co-investigator include the NIH/NIMHD and NIH/NICHD funded Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE) studies and Deep in the Heart/Strong Hearts, Healthy Communities.