Experiences Abroad: Scotland
Stacy Rahat, Dietetics
Sept. 16, 2009

Stacy Rahat takes time to explore Scotland during her internship.

“This research internship in dietetics was a great real-life way to put my major to use, while still being a student,” Rahat said. “The experience was so crucial to me pursuing my dreams of traveling to another country.”

Stacy Rahat, a senior majoring in dietetics in the UA School of Human Environmental Sciences, completed a summer research internship in nutrition at Queen Margaret University near Edinburgh, Scotland. The pilot program called DietPhone involved mobile phone technology to collect dietary intake data to help analyze people’s diets. The dietary project continues the work that former UA Bumpers College students Sarah Douglas and Carolyn Treloar completed last summer.

Rahat organized a list of foods in a logical easy-to-use system, according to Michael Clapham, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at Queen Margaret University. He said she reviewed food diaries hand written by people from ages 13 to adult and identify any discrepancies between the handwritten food diaries and the DietPhone.

Rahat said her job was primarily to critique the application by finding food items that were missing and by helping to better organize the lists of foods.

“Each person doing a food diary has to record everything they eat each day,” Rahat said. “Instead of hand-recording all of one’s food items for the day, the DietPhone allows each person to choose the food item from a list of foods organized into specific categories.”

The work environment, Rahat said, was very rewarding. She said she worked alongside registered dietitians who also were working on different nutrition projects. Rahat said Clapham also taught her how Scottish culture is intermingled with the choice of foods.

“I learned so much about Scottish culture and the interaction of culture on food choices,” Rahat said. “I was able to put to use skills I’ve learned in the classroom and learned new things that will help me in my future studies.”

Studying abroad, Rahat said, gave her the opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone and realize there are bigger things apart from her own little world.

“I learned so much from this experience, and I would not trade it for the world,” Rahat said. “I would definitely recommend study abroad programs to other students."

A graduate of Fayetteville High School, Rahat received one of the Cordia Harrington “The Bun Lady” International Experience Endowed Scholarships to help finance her travel expenses.

Global Studies Program
Dr. Raymond W. Barclay, Director
425 Hotz Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701
479-575-6727 • rbarclay@uark.edu