A Little About Me
My name is Chelsie Miller and I am 28 years old. I grew up in Goodyear, Arizona but moved away in 2013 after joining the Air Force. Upon graduating from my training school, I got the opportunity to live in Okinawa, Japan for two years where I started my job in Security Forces. The job itself was not very fun but I met my husband while I was there and we got to explore the island together. My favorite part about living in Japan was hiking Mt. Fuji, which I can tell you more about another time! Once my time in Japan was finished, I followed my husband to Lompoc, California where we lived in the house we purchased for about 3-4 years. The central coast of California is unique because of all the wineries, hiking trails, and close proximity to cities like Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. I absolutely LOVED Lompoc and hope to move back after I finish school. In late 2019, I fulfilled the terms of my enlistment and my husband, myself, and our three animals moved to San Diego for school.
Presently, I am a senior at San Diego State University and hope to graduate in Spring 2023.
My Hobbies
When I am not in class, I am usually at a coffee shop or outside somewhere. I enjoy drinking hot beverages at local coffee shops in San Diego, trying new foods, trail running, weight lifting, hiking, practicing and teaching yoga, along with keeping myself updated on the latest plant-based nutrition research. My top two favorite coffee shops I’ve visited thus far have to be Public Square and Nutmeg Bakery & Café. If you haven’t tried them yet, I suggest popping in for a brown sugar cinnamon latte or a matcha with lavender! I have also found a love for Thai and Ethiopian food since moving here. In addition to my food-seeking adventures, I love getting out on the trails in and around San Diego. I took up trail running during the pandemic, which allowed me to explore some of the trails in East County. One of my favorites is Mount Gower in Ramona. Moreover, I truly enjoy any kind of movement, especially yoga. I earned my teaching credential in mid-2019 and have been teaching alongside my personal practice ever since. I have been able to offer classes to the members of my student organization over the past 2 years and it has been a wonderful experience. Ultimately, I realize there is a lot of overlap between movement and nutrition, so it has been my personal mission to stay current on new research. I keep myself updated by watching and attending seminars, reading current literature, and talking to faculty about new developments in the field. I am passionate about health and I am eager to share what I am learning with my future students.
My Research Endeavors
I am currently working with Dr. Shirin Hooshmand, assisting in the development of a new research study designed to investigate the effects of fruit on the gut microbiome, motor and cognitive function, and cardiometabolic markers in healthy adults. My immediate role is to create the inclusion criteria screening as well as solidify methods for fruit distribution and data collection. I am also working with Dr. Christal Sohl, assisting in ongoing research focusing on how metabolic enzyme mutations drive tumor growth in aggressive brain cancers. In addition to my study of enzyme mutations, I am exploring the affects of prunes on bone cancer as a collaborative project between both labs.
