Jill Armstrong Shultz, a professor in nutrition and exercise physiology, is the new principal investigator of a Washington state Department of Social & Health Services grant that assists more than 150,000 underserved Washington residents each year. The grant is funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service and administered through WSU Extension.

The grant supports the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, which targets food stamp-eligible families. The SNAP-Ed grant will provide $6.5 million for nutrition education and obesity prevention to more than 150,000 Washington residents. The program will deliver services to 27 counties and four tribal projects, as well as via a subcontract with Central Washington University.

More than 420 partners in state and county government and local agencies and schools commit time and services to support SNAP-Ed.

The SNAP-Ed grant comes under the umbrella of the WSU Extension Food Sense program, which also administers money from the federal Farm Bill for the Expended Food and Nutrition Education Program that targets low-income families with children.

Asprincipal investigator on the grant, Armstrong Shultz will lead the WSU Extension Food Sense program and is responsible for strengthening the partnerships between university researchers and state and federal agencies.

Armstrong Shultz succeeds Linda Kirk Fox, who left her position in July as WSU Extension associate director for a leadership position at the University of Georgia.

Armstrong Shultz has a doctorate in nutrition and has contributed to research supporting more effective diabetes education programs, obesity prevention, and food and nutrition assistance services to low-income individuals and families. She has worked extensively with low-income, ethnic minority, and at-risk individuals and families, addressing information needs at the state and national levels

Her work has supported community nutrition programs found nationwide through an improved understanding of the needs of diverse clients and how to meet those needs. Through the years at WSU, her research program has trained 27 master's students and four doctoral students in the research methodologies required for community and behavioral studies.