Travis Masterson named Broadhurst Career Development Professor

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Travis Masterson, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, has been named the Broadhurst Career Development Professor for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

Masterson’s research examines why people make the food choices they make and how technology influences those food choices. He utilizes technology, including immersive virtual reality, in his research to evaluate and understand how people interact with food.

“One of the things we look at is food marketing, particularly in livestreaming. Most people recognize food marketing and ads on TV or traditional streaming services like Hulu, but livestreaming on platforms like Twitch or YouTube Gaming is a relatively new phenomenon," said Masterson. "We’re interested in understanding how much food marketing happens on these platforms and how it affects people, particularly adolescents, because they’re typically the ones consuming this type of livestreamed marketing content.”

“Receiving the professorship is a recognition of the significant public health contribution that this research can have. It has implications for education, public health, and policy, and it’s important that the College of Health and Human Development is invested in supporting and contributing to a broader understanding of public health,” said Masterson, who plans to use the funds from the professorship to support grant writing and opportunities to present this research throughout the three-year appointment.

According to Meg Bruening, professor of nutritional sciences and head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Masterson’s work “is cutting edge and teeters on the interface of nutrition, neurobiology, and behavior, using modern technologies and computer-based simulations to investigate the response of children and adolescents to food cues, including food messages contained in marketing and social media. This professorship will help advance his innovative work in understanding what drives children’s eating behaviors.

“Dr. Masterson is an excellent scientist and a rising star in the field of nutritional sciences, and we are proud to have him amongst our faculty,” said Bruening.

Masterson joined the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University Park in 2020. Prior to his appointment, he was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Science of Co-occurring Disorders training program at Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine. He completed his doctoral degree at Penn State as a USDA Childhood Obesity Prevention Fellow.

The Broadhurst Career Development Professor for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, established by Penn State alumni James and Suzanne Broadhurst in 2010, provides faculty members in the first decade of their careers with funds to improve their research and teaching and support their professional development. Endowed support for young faculty also impacts students, as professors often use such funds to hire undergraduate and graduate students as research or teaching assistants, or to cover students’ independent research or professional travel.