2026 Virginia A. Beal Lecture
Join us for a lecture on "Virtual Assistant Designed and Tailored for Food Insecure Populations."
Content
The Department of Nutrition will host the 38th Annual Virginia A. Beal Lecture on April 13, 2026. This year, the department welcomes Christopher Stuetzle, Eleanor Shonkoff, and Elizabeth Natale from Merrimack College as they present "Virtual Assistant Designed and Tailored for Food Insecure Populations."
Food insecurity remains a public health issue, disproportionately impacting low-income and marginalized communities. This study details the design and development of a virtual assistant that addresses key aspects of food insecurity by supporting users’ access to culturally appropriate meal planning, affordable and healthy foods, support for nutrition assistance programs, navigating public transit and locating affordable options.
Registration required as seats are limited. Please RSVP here.
The deadline to register for the dinner is April 1, 2026.
Program Agenda:
5:00 pm: Nutrition Student Poster Presentation
5:20 pm: Opening Remarks & Introduction of Guest Speakers
5:30 pm: Lecture
6:30 pm: Dinner
7:40 pm: Nutrition Department Student Scholarship Ceremony and Closing Remarks
About Christopher Stuetzle, PhD
Christopher Stuetzle is Academic Dean of Computational Sciences and Co-Director of the School of Engineering and Computational Sciences at Merrimack College. He earned his PhD in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a founding member of the Food Justice Research and Action Cluster (FJRAC), which actively tackles local food insecurity and promotes food justice by engaging with community partners and applying its expertise in problem solving efforts in conjunction with their partners. The cluster has published papers, run Food Justice Summit events, and exchanged data and resources with community partners.
About Eleanor Shonkoff, PhD
Eleanor Shonkoff is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Merrimack College. She earned her PhD in preventive medicine from the University of Southern California and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University. Her research examines the links between parent factors (e.g. feeding practices, stress), child dietary intake and child obesity risk, particularly within underserved populations facing food insecurity. She is also a co-founding member of the Food Justice Research and Action Cluster.
About Elizabeth Natale, DCN, RD, CSOWM, LDN
Elizabeth Natale is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Merrimack College. She earned her MS in health and wellness management from Merrimack College, and a bachelor's degree in nutrition and dietetics from Simmons University. Her research interests focus on outpatient/ambulatory nutrition care, chronic disease and obesity, food and nutrition security, and food as medicine.
About the Virginia A. Beal Lecture Series
In 1989, Professor Emerita Virginia A. Beal, a pioneer in the field of nutrition and a longtime member of the nutrition faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, established an endowment to provide students, faculty, dietetics professionals, and alumni and friends, with an opportunity to discuss the challenges and advances that are currently at the forefront in the Nutrition field. The Virginia A. Beal Lectureship has become an anticipated annual tradition. The evening is a celebration of nutrition research, and an opportunity to acknowledge the department's finest students through the presentation of endowed scholarship awards, one of which bears Virginia Beal’s name. Professor Beal presented the first lecture in 1989, and in the intervening years, nationally-renowned researchers in nutrition have spoken at this annual event.