Martha T. Conklin, associate professor of hotel, restaurant and recreation management in the College of Health and Human Development, has been appointed by the speaker of the American Dietetic Association House of Delegates to serve on the ADA's Research Task Force, effective August 2001.

The recently established task force was started to help the 69,000-member organization establish its research agenda for the next three to five years.

Prior to coming to Penn State this fall, Conklin served as the director and senior research professor for the Applied Research Division of the National Food Service Management Institute.

This division of the institute receives annual funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct applied research in the management of child nutrition programs.

Conklin earned her bachelor's degree in foods and nutrition and her master's degree in foodservice systems management from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She earned her doctorate in food, nutrition and dietetics from New York University.