2024 IFT Achievement Award Winners

Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of Nicolas Appert
Harjinder Singh, PhD, Massey University, New Zealand

Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh is currently the director of the Riddet Institute, based at Massey University in New Zealand. His leadership has contributed to the creation and advancement of new multidisciplinary alliances, most notably between food science and nutritional sciences. Dr. Singh’s career has advanced the understanding of food colloids, protein functionality, delivery systems, and food digestion. His prolific research output is evident in his approximately 500 publications (H-index 104) and 25 patents. Beyond science impact, his ability to translate fundamental science discoveries into industrial outcomes has been a significant achievement, as indicated by the sustained funding ($100 million) he has secured from government and multinational companies and his recent involvement as a cofounder of two startup companies. Dr. Singh has mentored 50 doctoral students and 37 postdoctoral researchers; many have become leaders in their field. His international standing and outstanding contributions have been recognized by several prestigious awards: the William Haines Dairy Science Award, Marschall Rhodia International Dairy Science Award, JC Andrews Award, Shorland Medal, ADSA Distinguished Service Award, International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing, and the Prime Minister’s Science Prize, the highest science honor in New Zealand. He is an elected Fellow of IFT, the Royal Society of New Zealand, and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.

Distinguished Career Award in honor of Carl R. Fellers, PhD
Rakesh K. Singh, PhD, University of Georgia

Rakesh K. Singh is a distinguished scholar in the science of food. He obtained his undergraduate degree from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in India, a master’s degree from the University of Manitoba in Canada, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served as an assistant professor at the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University) in Canada and at Purdue University, where he ascended through the ranks to professor. From 2001-20, Dr. Singh was head of food science and technology at the University of Georgia, where he remains a professor. His research focuses primarily on emerging technologies for food processing and has resulted in 193 refereed journal articles, four books, and 33 book chapters. He is editor-in-chief of LWT-Food Science & Technology and serves on the editorial board of International Journal of Food Properties. Dr. Singh’s contributions have earned him numerous awards. In 2008, he was named an IFT Fellow, and in 2009 received IFT’s Humanitarian Award for Service to the Science of Food in honor of Elizabeth Fleming Stier. In 2020, he became a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in India and a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. He received the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Congress on Engineering and Food, highlighting his significant impact on the field.

Collaborative Research Grant in honor of Marcel Loncin
Carmen I. Moraru, PhD, Cornell University

Carmen I. Moraru is a professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. She joined the Cornell faculty in 2003 and has served as department chair since 2019. Dr. Moraru’s teaching and research program focuses on using engineering principles and novel processing methods to improve food quality, safety, and sustainability. Her areas of research include high-pressure processing as a food structuring method, membrane filtration for microbial removal and nonthermal concentration, microbial inactivation using light-based technologies, and others. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, books, book chapters, and proceedings, and has given more than 100 invited talks in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Moraru is an IFT Fellow (2020) and Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania (2019). She has received the Cornell CALS Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award (2021), the SUNY Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2020), the IDFA Teaching Award in Dairy Manufacturing (2015) and in Dairy Foods Research (2013), and the Teaching Excellence Award from Cornell Food Science (2012, 2008). She has also held or holds leadership roles with IFT, the American Dairy Science Association, and the Society of Food Engineering.

Public Health Award in honor of Babcock-Hart & Gilbert A. Leveille
Mehmood A. Khan, MD, FRCP, Hevolution Foundation

Mehmood Khan’s distinguished career has included several senior corporate roles, including vice chair and chief scientific officer of global research and development at PepsiCo and president of global R&D at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Before moving into the private sector, Dr. Khan was a faculty member in endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School where he served as director of the Diabetes, Endocrine and Nutritional Trials Unit. He also led programs in diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition in Minneapolis. Dr. Khan is a member of the Board of Directors of Reckitt Benckiser and of the Saudi Research, Development, and Innovation Authority, executive chair of Life Biosciences, a member of the Saudi National Biotechnology Strategy Steering Committee, and chair of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dr. Khan earned his medical degree from the University of Liverpool School of Medicine in England and completed a fellowship in clinical endocrinology and nutrition in the Department of Medicine and Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London, a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology, and an Elected Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford.

Outstanding Young Scientist Award in honor of Samuel Cate Prescott
Matthew Moore, PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Matthew Moore graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in food science from Cornell University in 2010, where he was fortunate to conduct food safety research in the lab of Dr. Kathryn Boor. Dr. Moore then joined the lab of Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University, where he conducted research on human noroviruses and earned a doctorate in food science in 2016. After one year in the Jaykus lab as a postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Moore joined the National Antimicrobial Surveillance Team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow in 2017. While there, he accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a position he has held since 2018. Dr. Moore has been fortunate to have many amazing mentors and colleagues, as well as internship and training opportunities that have significantly contributed to his success in food safety research. Similarly, he has been lucky to work with an amazing group of graduate and undergraduate researchers and visiting scholars who have also contributed dramatically to the lab’s success.

International Food Security Award in honor of Bor S. Luh
Randy W. Worobo, PhD, Cornell University

Randy Worobo is a professor of food microbiology and food safety in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Dr. Worobo joined Cornell as an assistant professor in 1997 and was promoted to full professor in 2013. He has a long and distinguished track record conducting cutting-edge research in food safety and food microbiology and applying research results toward the development of technologies to improve food safety and food security. His research has produced more than 200 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals, with over 8,700 citations, and he has received numerous awards for his outstanding research accomplishments. Dr. Worobo is currently the associate director of the USAID Food Safety Innovation Lab and a member of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods.

Excellence in Education Award in honor of William V. Cruess
Clint Stevenson, PhD, North Carolina State University

Clint Stevenson is an associate professor of food science at North Carolina State University. He studied food science at the University of Idaho, Purdue University, and North Carolina State University. Prior to his current position, Dr. Stevenson worked in quality control and quality assurance through internships and jobs with Nestle, Kraft, General Mills, Heinz, and Schreiber Foods. He manages an instructional design lab that creates innovative learning objects and assesses their effectiveness. He teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level food safety and quality courses, all of which are certified by the Quality Matters organization for their adherence to online course design standards. His program also delivers several online food safety and quality offerings through continuing education courses and workshops. Dr. Stevenson is a lead instructor for the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, International HACCP Alliance, and the Seafood HACCP Alliance. In addition, he is engaged with projects that expand the number of secondary education teachers actively teaching food science and minimize workforce shortages in food safety auditing, inspections, and assessment. Outside of work, he is committed to his wife and two children, supporting local 4-H programs, fishing, and brewing.

Achievements in Microbial Research for Food Safety Award in honor of Gerhard J. Haas
Martin Wiedmann, Dr. med. vet., PhD, Cornell University

Martin Wiedmann received a veterinary degree and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, and a doctorate in food science from Cornell University, where he currently is the Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety. His research interests focus on farm-to-table microbial food quality and food safety and the application of molecular tools to study the transmission of foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms, including translation of associated research findings into reducing foodborne illnesses and food spoilage. His team has published more than 450 papers, which have been cited over 35,000 times. Students and staff who were previously associated with his team have pursued successful careers in a range of environments, including industry, government, academia, and not-for-profits.

Food Packaging Award in honor of Don Riester, Rees Davis, and Aaron Brody
Hyun Jin Park, PhD, Korea University

Hyun Jin Park is a distinguished professor in the Department of Biotechnology at Korea University and, since 1994, has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Packaging Science and the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Clemson University. Dr. Park works on nanoscale science in food, functional food, and food packaging, particularly in the areas of processing, application, and regulation. In 2017, he served as the 37th president of the Korean Society of Food Science and Technology. He was named a Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST) in 2014 and, since 2022, has served as chair of KAST’s Division of Agriculture and Fisheries. Dr. Park was named an IFT Fellow in 2015 and a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology and of the International Union of Food Science and Technology in 2016. To date, he has published more than 310 scientific papers.

Research & Development Award
Anwesha Sarkar, PhD, University of Leeds, England

Anwesha Sarkar is a full professor of colloids and surfaces at the University of Leeds in England. She also serves as the director of research and innovation for the School of Food Science and Nutrition. Dr. Sarkar received her doctorate from Massey University in New Zealand in 2010 and worked in the Nestle Research Centre and Nestle Global Headquarters in Switzerland before establishing her independent group at Leeds in 2014. Dr. Sarkar’s group focuses on multiscale understanding of dynamics of alternative proteins during oral processing and their textural perception to pave the way for the design of sustainable food structures with optimized mouthfeel. To date, she has published more than 120 international research articles and 10 edited book chapters and is the inventor of seven worldwide patents. Dr. Sarkar has been the recipient of several awards and honorary fellowships, including the Leeds Women of Achievement Award (2021), the Royal Society of Chemistry Food Junior Medal (2019), and the Horizon 2020 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (2017). She serves as an editorial board member of the journals Food Hydrocolloids, Food Hydrocolloids for Health, Food Structure, Journal of Texture Studies, Sustainable Food Proteins, and Tribology Letters. She is a regular keynote speaker at major national and international conferences.

IFT Achievement Awards Categories

The IFT Achievement Awards recognize individuals and organizations in a variety of areas of the science of food, including lifetime achievement, advocacy, research and development, innovation, international support for developing countries, and the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profession.

Select the category that interests you to find specific information about each award, including the individual award's criteria and eligibility requirements.