Mia Dustin: Scholar, Researcher, and Champion for Women’s Health

Since she first stepped onto a soccer field at age four, Mia Dustin has had a passion for sports. When she came to Utah State University, she discovered ways to participate in the science behind what she did in the field. 
Dustin’s curiosity, passion for sports and dedication to learning have propelled her outstanding work in classes and as a student research assistant, both of which gained her recognition as the 2024-2025 College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences Scholar of the Year. Dustin is a senior in the dietetics program and plans to become a registered dietician. She is a recipient of one of the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Sciences’ prestigious Dr. Niranjan R. Gandhi & Mrs. Josephine N. Gandhi Undergraduate Scholarships for 2024-25.
Her interest in the roles nutrition plays in led her to Associate Professor Stephan Van Vliet’s lab and ultimately to graduate student Connor Kemp’s master’s thesis project on how lactoferrin (a protein in the body that binds iron) and iron-enriched whey can improve female athletes’ iron intake. 
Iron deficiency is a common problem in all athletes, but it’s particularly acute in women. Over a quarter of U.S. women experience it, and the condition can lead to fatigue, heart problems, shortness of breath, and irregular menstruation. The supplements used in Kemps’ project were successful in alleviating deficiency symptoms, and Dustin played a key role in making the project a reality. She spent over 600 hours preparing more than 20,000 micronutrient-enriched supplements while managing the trial randomization process and all aspects of blood processing, among other tasks.
Kemp will submit a research paper resulting from the team’s findings to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this summer, and he thanks Mia for her contributions.
“Mia has on several occasions gone above and beyond what I expected of her,” said Kemp.
“I truly could not have managed this project without her consistency and reliability, and I look forward to her continued involvement in the project as we enter data analysis."
Dustin’s honors capstone project was inspired by her work with Kemp and focused on how lactoferrin can affect women with amenorrhea, or no menstruation, with ferrous sulfate supplementation. In addition, she contributed to a second capstone project where she and two peers focused on ways to address the female athlete triad — a condition resulting from the combination of disordered eating, menstrual irregularities, and decreased bone density — in sports. That project culminated in a workshop series for girls’ high school teams in Cache Valley on intuitive eating, body image, fueling strategies, and the female athlete triad. Participants reported a 78% increase in awareness of the triad, a 10.4% decrease in body dissatisfaction, and a 14.3% decrease in internalization of the thin ideal.
Associate Professor Katie Kraus, who nominated Dustin for the college award, noted that adding the two 40-hour capstone projects to Dustin’s already-full schedule was “no small feat.” 
“Mia truly is among the top students I’ve encountered in my eleven years of teaching,” Krause said in her endorsement of Dustin. “I therefore give her an outstanding recommendation without hesitation.”