IFT Honors Achievement Award Winners and Fellows

During the President’s Awards Banquet at the 2004 IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo® in July, the Institute of Food Technologists presented Achievement Awards to 14 individuals and one company and recognized 18 newly elected Fellows for outstanding contributions to the profession of food science and technology.

Achievement Award Winners
Each year, IFT honors outstanding individuals, teams, and organizations for contributions to the profession of food science and technology by presenting awards. Descriptions of the awards can be found on the IFT Web site at www.ift.org.

Sheryl Barringer, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science, Ohio State University, received the 2004 Samuel Cate Prescott Award, which is presented to an IFT member who is less than 36 years of age or has received his or her highest degree within the previous 10 years and has demonstrated outstanding ability in food science research.

In the nine years since she began her academic career, Barringer established a widely recognized program in liquid and powder coating by electrostatic and non-electrostatic methods, and she directs the only laboratory for electrostatic coating of food in the United States. As part of her research in this area, she has been successful in extending the shelf life and reducing the dustiness of shredded cheese and reducing waste by applying powdered calcium to tomatoes instead of the traditional liquid dip. She has also  developed an innovative method for spraying oils and emulsions electrostatically.

In addition to her research on liquid and powder coating methods, she has conducted research on the dielectric properties of foods at pasteurization and sterilization temperatures, which is needed for the modeling used for understanding, optimizing, and obtaining FDA approval of these procedures.

Barringer received her Ph.D. degree in 1994 and since joining the Ohio State faculty has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2000. She was recently nominated by her colleagues to a pending promotion to the rank of Professor. She has published more than 35 peer-reviewed journal articles, six book chapters, 12 bulletins and technical reports, and more than 65 reviews and abstracts.

As a professional member of IFT, Barringer has devoted a significant amount of time to the organization during the past few years as the editor of the Fruit and Vegetable Products Division newsletter, chair of the Ohio Valley IFT Section, and current Technical Presentations Committee representative for the Food Engineering Division.

In addition to receiving accolades for her scholarly research, Barringer has been recognized for her excellence as a teacher. She is the recipient of the 2001 College Teaching Award, and she has won two teaching grants.

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Larry Beuchat, Distinguished Research Professor, Center for Food Safety and Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, received the 2004 Nicholas Appert Award, IFT’s highest honor, which recognizes an individual for preeminence in and contributions to the field of food technology.

Beuchat’s contributions to advancing knowledge of environmental and ecological conditions influencing the survival and growth of foodborne infectious bacteria, toxigenic molds, and spoilage microorganisms have been recognized around the world. His research contributions have resulted in a better understanding of the effects of processing and storage technologies on control or inactivation of microorganisms of public health concern, as well as those that spoil foods or are used to enhance the nutritional and sensory qualities of foods through fermentation.

Beuchat conducted much of the pioneering work to better understand the ecology of human pathogenic bacteria on raw fruits and vegetables. His research in the early 1980s revealed for the first time that while modified-atmosphere packaging of raw vegetables can extend shelf life, high populations of pathogens can develop without adversely influencing sensory qualities.

Through his research, he has demonstrated the ability of pathogenic bacteria to infiltrate various raw fruit and vegetable tissues upon exposure to a wide range of washing, processing, and handling conditions, thereby providing protection against exposure to sanitizers. His expertise in the area of produce microbiology led to an invitation by the World Health Organization to write a review and make recommendations on disinfection of raw fruits and vegetables.

In addition to his work in the area of food bacteriology, Beuchat has made significant contributions in the area of food mycology. His research has determined the effectiveness of preservatives to control the growth and prohibit the production of patulin and fumitremorgins by molds in fruit concentrates, juices, and drinks. He has also produced data to predict the rates of thermal inactivation of several spoilage yeasts and newly discovered species of heat-resistant molds in fruit products.

An active member of IFT, Beuchat is a recipient of the Samuel Cate Prescott Award and the IFT Philadelphia Section Lectureship Award. He was elected a Fellow of IFT in 1985, won the IFT International Award in 1996, and received a Distinguished Service Award for his work for the IFT Food Microbiology Division in 2001.

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Andrew G. Ebert, Senior Vice President, The Kellen Co., received the 2004 Bernard L. Oser Food Ingredient Safety Award, which honors a member for contributions to the scientific knowledge of food ingredient safety or for leadership in establishing principles for food ingredient safety evaluation or regulation.

Ebert, who earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Purdue University, has comprehensive experience in management and demonstrated achievements in scientific and product safety matters, all of which have contributed to his worldwide reputation in the areas of international food safety and regulation. He has had a variety of management and scientific responsibilities in local, national, and international food and drug regulatory, scientific, and legal matters.

In addition to serving several trade and technical associations in scientific and managerial functions, he served several years as a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Science and Nutrition Advisory Committee; he was one of only four representatives selected from industry when the committee was formed. He currently serves on the Committee of the Food Chemicals Codex, which revised, updated, and published the fourth and fifth editions of this comprehensive standards compendium and supplement.

The author of several dozen papers, abstracts, and book chapters, Ebert has also contributed editorial columns, given numerous talks and briefings to industrial and consumer groups, and testified as an expert witness before the Select Senate Committees on Nutrition and Human Needs and Labor and Human Resources. He has also been a guest lecturer in the Dept. of Nutrition and Food Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ebert is founder and chairman of the International Glutamate Technical Committee, a multi-national group of physicians and scientists interested in all phases of the biochemistry, toxicology, pharmacology, and food technology of glutamic acid and its salts. He is a Fellow of IFT and a member of Sigma Xi, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Society of Toxicology. He also is a member of IFT’s Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division, which he served as chair in 1995–96, and he chaired IFT’s Committee on Codex Alimentarius.

Richard Hartel, Professor, Dept. of Food Science, University of Wisconsin, received the 2004 Research & Development Award, which recognizes a member who has made a recent, significant research and development contribution to the understanding of food science, food technology, or nutrition. Hartel’s internationally recognized research and outreach efforts throughout the past 15 years have demonstrated how to improve confectionery manufacturing through an understanding of the principles behind phase transitions of sugars and fats. His developments in the laboratories and pilot plants at the University of Wisconsin have been successfully translated for industrial use and have helped the confectionery industry to improve the shelf life of candy and chocolate products.

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Some of Hartel’s most important contributions to the candy industry are in the areas of controlling sugar phase transitions and moisture sorption. In some candies, crystals are desired to provide the necessary structure and functionality, but in others, such as hard candies, it is an undesired effect. Hartel has not only provided the general framework for controlling sugar crystallization, but also shown how to determine the optimal temperature for crystallization of sugar in fondant and conducted tests on the crystallization and drying of candies during hard panning. His work has also shown that various formulation factors and processing conditions affect glass transition in hard candy. Currently, he is working on a more empirical approach to controlling crystallization, one based on sugar-to-water and sugar-to-inhibitor ratios.

Another area where Hartel has contributed to the candy industry is in the understanding of bloom formation in chocolates and compound coatings. He has also studied the applications of milk fat fractions in chocolates and compound coatings, work which has extended the understanding of the effects of milk fat components on physical properties and bloom inhibition in chocolates and demonstrated the negative effects of milk fat components in compound coatings.

Hartel shares his vast knowledge of the confectionery industry as a regular speaker at confectionery conferences and as a consultant to candy companies and ingredient suppliers around the world. He is co-authoring a book, Confectionery Science and Technology, which is intended to be the primary resource for scientists in the confectionery industry.

Herbert O. Hultin, Professor, Dept. of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, received the Stephen S. Chang Award for Lipid or Flavor Science, which recognizes a member who has made significant contributions to lipid or flavor science. Until 1976, it was widely believed that lipid oxidation in meat and fish occurred only by non-enzymic processes; however, Hultin’s research showed that there is an enzymic system associated with the microsomal membrane of the muscle cell that is capable of catalyzing lipid oxidation in the presence of appropriate cofactors. This eventually led to a clearer understanding of the process of lipid oxidation in stored muscle tissue. He also found that the concentration of iron, and possibly copper, is a rate-limiting factor in the rate of oxidation in situ.

Hultin recently investigated the role of blood in the oxidative stability of fish muscle lipids and found that it was critical to remove the surface blood from fish fillets as rapidly as possible to eliminate oxidation. He found that while a one-minute delay in washing the surface of blood did not affect the shelf life of refrigerated mackerel fillets, it did reduce the shelf life and quality of those stored frozen. His laboratory recognized the critical role of pH in controlling hemoglobin-catalyzed lipid oxidation in fish.

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The results of Hultin’s research on oxidative processes in muscle has several practical consequences. Processors realize that minimizing storage temperatures and exogenous sources of iron is essential to decreasing rancidity in fish products. They also commonly bleed fish prior to processing or rinse processed fish to remove hemoglobin. Based on the knowledge of the prooxidants present in fish muscle and the mechanism of lipid oxidation they catalyze, an antioxidant combination system consisting of a chelator and lipid-and water-soluble free-radical scavengers was developed to further stabilize fish muscle. Using this system, even fatty fish such as mackerel can be stored for at least one year at –20°C without the development of rancidity. This antioxidant system is used by the industry in the formulation of precooked, frozen fish products.

Hultin’s reputation as an outstanding scientist in the field of food chemistry was recognized early in his career when he won the IFT Samuel Cate Prescott Award. He also received the Earl P. McFee Award from the Atlantic Fisheries Technologists, the Professional Excellence Good Guy Award from the University of Wisconsin, and the Outstanding Professor Award from the Eastern Food Science Conference. He was selected the First Invited Divisional Lecturer by the IFT Food Chemistry Division and served on the original IFT

Task Force on Food Chemistry, 1967–69. He also lectured at several IFT-sponsored events. In addition, Hultin was named a Fellow of IFT in 1989 and received the Fellow Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 1988.

Wayne T. Iwaoka, Graduate Chair of Food Science and a faculty member at the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, received the 2004 William V. Cruess Award, which honors a member who has achieved excellence in teaching food science and technology.

Iwaoka is described by his colleagues, peers, and students as a person committed to the education of students. He is a professor with skills, passion, and a unique approach to learning who promotes the development of the whole person. His classes are described as among the most challenging in the department, yet the most rewarding. They are designed so that the primary objectives are for students to learn and practice critical thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal skills while learning technical food science knowledge. He challenges his students to create their own understanding of the material, to analyze and evaluate information, and to draw their own defensible conclusions. His students say that they learn much more in this way than from conventional lectures, and more importantly, retain the information for a longer period of time. Given the requirement to write weekly in their academic journals, students are expected to reflect on what they learn, record now insights, and report on how their new knowledge relates to their pervious knowledge. His insistence that students work in groups helps them learn to work with each other collaboratively and resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise. Iwaoka deems the development of critical thinking, writing, oral communication, and interpersonal skills as foundations for being a successful individual.

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As a member of the IFT Task Force on Evaluating Outcome-Based Measures of Learning, Iwaoka successfully worked to have professionalism and interpersonal skills included in the IFT Undergraduate Education Standards for Degrees in Food Science. This was a way to ensure that students systematically learn to work effectively with others, deal with conflict, and develop their potential as leaders for the food industry. A co-founder of the IFT Education Division, Iwaoka served as chair, and still plays an active role in its meetings and activities. As the Scientific Editor of IFT’s Journal of Food Science Education, he has contributed numerous hours coordinating the solicitation and review of food science education manuscripts for publication.

Iwaoka has been an inspiration to many students as a professor, academic counselor, and mentor. The combination of his unique teaching methods, dedication, and enthusiasm for his students and their learning, as well as for the field of food science and technology, have positively influenced his students as they head for their first jobs or enter graduate school. He is committed to helping students succeed not only in his classes, but in life as well.

Dietrich Knorr, Professor and Head, Dept. of Food Biotechnology and Food Process Engineering, Berlin University of Technology, received the 2004 Marcel Loncin Research Prize. The prize honors and provides research funding to a scientist or engineer conducting basic chemistry, physics, or engineering research applied to food processing and improvement of food quality.

In his research proposal entitled “Inactivation Kinetics of Bacterial Spores, Viruses and Prions During Short-Time High-pressure Processing,” Knorr plans to develop pressure-supported high-temperature, short-time processes to achieve maximum inactivation of spores, viruses, and prions while retaining food quality and functionality.

Knorr has selected pathogens, such as Clostridium sp., Bacillus sp., bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE) agent, hepatitis A, and a Norwalk-like virus surrogate, that are of public health concern. After obtaining inactivation kinetics in model systems of spores, viruses, and prions exposed to a wide pressure range (0.1–1,500 MPa) and temperature range (20–135°C), he will identify the effects of pressure–temperature combinations on their inactivation.

Knorr has worked as a professor and visiting scientist at several universities, where he has conducted research in the areas of nonthermal processing, high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasonics, pulsed electric fields, and plant biotechnology. He received IFT’s Nicholas Appert Award in 2003, the IFT Nonthermal Processing Division’s Scientific Lectureship Award in 2000, and the IFT Biotechnology Division’s Scientific Lectureship Award in 1992.

A prolific writer, Knorr has served as editor and editorial board member for a variety of academic publications and has written more than 300 articles. He holds four patents.

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Gilbert A. Leveille, Vice President, Technology, Cargill Inc., is the recipient of the 2004 Industrial Scientist Award, established to recognize an IFT-member industrial scientist who has made a major technical contribution to the advancement of the food industry.

For more than 40 years, Leveille has distinguished himself as a leader in the private and public policy sectors, academia, and government. Throughout his career, he has been committed to leading the food industry to develop more-nutritious products and to help consumers to improve their health through proper nutrition. During the six years he spent at General Foods, Leveille led a team in developing a diet plan for healthy living, including weight management. The concept was translated into a successful marketing program called “The SetPoint Diet” and was followed in 1985 by publication of a book of that title by Leveille. He also lent his nutrition expertise to teams developing sugar-free versions of products such as Jell-O™, Jell-O Puddings™, Crystal Lite™, and Kool Aid™.

While at Nabisco, Leveille was instrumental in creating the reduced-calorie fat Salatrim™, currently being marketed as Benefat™. He was a key member of the team at McNeil Nutritionals involved in commercializing Benecol™, a spread containing stanol esters, a product shown to be successful in lowering blood LDL cholesterol levels. In his current position at Cargill, he continues to develop new food products that meet the health needs of Americans. He remains a strong leader in regulatory issues and was instrumental in convincing the Food and Drug Administration of the nutritional importance of using sterols and stanols in food, which resulted in approval for the use of these ingredients in food.

Before entering the private sector, he conducted research on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism while serving as Professor at Michigan State University and at the University of Illinois.

Leveille is the recipient of numerous awards and a member of many professional organizations. He served as IFT President in 1983–84. He was elected a Fellow of IFT in 1982 and was recipient of the Tanner Award from the IFT Chicago Section in 1989 and the IFT Carl R. Fellers Award in

Charles Manley, Vice President of Science and Technology, Takasago International Corporation (USA), received the 2004 Calvert L. Willey Award in recognition of his meritorious and imaginative service to IFT. 1992.

Throughout his 34-year career in the food industry, Manley has contributed his time to IFT as President (1999–2000); organizer of programs, symposia, and short courses; chair of numerous symposia; speaker; and role model to the youth of the industry.

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He is recognized around the world as an IFT leader and scientific professional and has frequently spoken at the international IUFoST meetings. In 1996, he was an IFT representative and keynote speaker at a Japanese food science expo cosponsored by IFT’s Japan Section. He has traveled to many other countries, speaking on the topics of food safety and biotechnology, and has involved IFT in a dialog with Chinese food professionals, which has led to the establishment of a “business symposium” that brings together American and Chinese food professionals to discuss mutual issues of need for the food industry in China.

A leading expert in the area of food safety, Manley founded IFT’s International Food Safety and Quality Conference. His task force developed IFT’s position paper on Use of Biotechnology in the Food Supply and IFT’s Expert Report on Emerging Microbiological Food Safety Issues: Implications for Control in the 21st Century. His actions established IFT as a go-to resource and preeminent professional organization in communicating food safety issues to professionals around the world.

Manley recently led a task force on reorganizing the worldwide activities of IFT, resulting in the development of more-efficient ways to manage the international needs of the IFT membership. From 1997 to 2000, he held offices on IFT’s Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Board. Additionally, he was Chair of the IFT Foundation and held offices in a number of IFT committees

For more than 30 years, Manley has remained involved in the New York Section of IFT, having chaired most of the major committees, served as Section Chair in 1982–83, and organized several short courses and the “Meeting-in-Miniature” for the Section. In 1989, the Section honored Manley by awarding him the Distinguished Service Award. He was elected an IFT Fellow in 1992.

W. Steven Otwell, Professor, Aquatic Food Products Lab, University of Florida, received the 2004 Myron Solberg Award, which honors an IFT member for providing leadership in the establishment and successful development and continuation of industry, government, and academia co-operative organization.

Otwell, a world-class seafood and safety expert, is best known for working to establish the National Seafood HACCP Alliance for Training and Education (SHA). SHA was actually formed to facilitate and implement the training aspects of the first mandatory food HACCP regulation developed by the Food and Drug Administration and the seafood industry. This regulation requires all seafood processors and wholesalers in the U.S. and foreign countries that export seafood products to the U.S. to integrate HACCP principles into their operation and be trained to properly handle seafood.

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As SHA originator and national coordinator for almost 12 years, Otwell successfully incorporated participation in the SHA by every pertinent state and federal agency, academic experts, key international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organization, and various industry associations.

The objective of SHA is to train the seafood industry to comply with state and federal regulatory agency personnel to enforce the HACCP regulation. Under Otwell’s leadership, SHA developed a uniform national HACCP education, training, and technical assistance program for the seafood industry and for federal, state, and local food inspectors. In fact, thousands of workers who monitor the nation’s seafood safety and quality have been trained as a result of his efforts.

He was elected an IFT Fellow in 2002 and has also won numerous awards from government agencies and trade associations, including the USDA Secretary’s National Honors Award for Excellence in Service, Special Outstanding Service Award from the Southeastern Fisheries Association, and Hammer Award from Vice President Al Gore.

Barbara Rasco, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Washington State University, received the 2004 Elizabeth Fleming Stier Award, which honors an IFT member for pursuit of humanitarian ideals and unselfish dedication that has resulted in significant contributions to the well-being of the food industry, academia, students, or the general public.

Rasco has served the profession and community at large through her efforts to improve the economic viability of communities relying on food or fisheries as a resource base. For more than 10 years, she has volunteered for two months per year on economic development projects in communities that are severely economically depressed including projects overseas. As a scientist, food science educator, and practicing attorney, her expertise and leadership have enhanced the production of safe, wholesome food, and her work has fostered business development and improved the market potential for a number of different products. She has provided recommendations on the development of food safety and security regulations and commercial law for governmental and private entities in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Ireland, Iran, and the United Kingdom. She has provided numerous food safety training programs and preparation of detailed U.S. and EU compliance documentation for aquaculture and food processing operations.

In addition to volunteering her time and lending her expertise to local and international community development projects, Rasco works to improve student quality of life. To accommodate students who do not have the financial means to stop working to attend college full time, she has developed curriculum and courses for degree and certificate programs in fisheries, food science, and food regulations. She has personally underwritten full-tuition scholarships for students with high academic potential but limited financial resources and covered living and medical expenses for students who could not afford them.

As an attorney, Rasco provides pro bono legal services to students and others who could not otherwise obtain representation. She has also worked as a domestic violence advocate and conducts supervised visitations for atrisk children.

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Barbara Schneeman, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition’s Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements, formerly the Associate Vice Provost of University Outreach and Professor of Nutrition, Departments of Nutrition and Food Science & Technology, University of California, is the 2004 recipient of the Carl R. Fellers Award. This award honors individual members of IFT and Phi Tau Sigma who have served and brought honor and recognition to the profession of food science and technology.

Schneeman’s research has demonstrated the physiological importance of dietary fiber, especially how various types of fiber affect nutrient absorption, pancreatic enzyme activity, plasma cholesterol, and apolipoprotein levels. Specifically, her research has shown that fiber’s primary mode of action is during its passage through the gastrointestinal tract and that fiber, especially polysaccharides that increase intestinal viscosity, modify the rate and site of nutrient absorption from the small intestine. Her teaching at UC Davis has focused on the impact of processing on nutritional quality.

Through her leadership in nutrition education and her role in developing and communicating food-based dietary guidelines, Schneeman has made distinctive contributions that have improved public health. She served on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in 1990 and 1995, demonstrating her commitment to use food and nutrition research to guide public policy that affects the health and well-being of the American public. Schneeman has been involved in drafting and interpreting nutritional guidelines and determining their use to promote healthy nutrition.

As a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization’s Food-Based Dietary Guidelines expert panel, she helped to assemble and draft a report that recommended the process that regions and governments should follow to develop guidelines relevant for their populations.

While serving as the inaugural President of the Dannon Institute for Nutrition Research and Education, Schneeman oversaw the design and implementation of the institute’s programs, including a leadership training program for recent doctoral students in nutrition and food science, media training for food and nutrition scientists, and community projects that result in improved health and nutrition at the local level.

She is an active member of IFT, having served on expert panels and as Secretary and Treasurer of the Nutrition Division; she currently serves on the IFT Foundation Board. She is a past recipient of the IFT Samuel Cate Prescott Award.

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Soliman Shenouda, Director, Kraft Foods International Latin America Program, Kraft Foods Inc. (retired), is the recipient of the 2004 International Award. The award is given to promote better international understanding of food science and the practical transfer of technology to a developing nation or to an economically depressed area in a developed nation.

For more than 25 years, Shenouda has worked to improve the quality, safety, and development of the food industry in the Middle East and South America. He led a group of food scientists and engineers to design and build a multi-purpose food pilot plant and provided assistance for trade reform in Egypt. To help reduce the numbers of Egyptian children with iron deficiencies, Shenouda and a team of nutritionists, food technologists, and medical doctors developed a low-cost, fruit-flavored, iron-fortified drink which has successfully raised the children’s iron stores to normal levels.

Among his other projects, Shenouda helped to develop a shelf-stable margarine for people in developing countries who do not have access to refrigeration. He has also trained government and industry personnel in the Middle East on topics such as HACCP, food labeling, shelf life, packaging, and food additives so they can improve their food regulatory and inspection programs. Additionally, he conducted HACCP policy and development training courses in Central and South America. He led a project to design and build a pilot plant in Iraq to produce and formulate fish products that appeal to the Iraqi consumer.

Shenouda also lends his expertise on the subject of improving food technology as a speaker at worldwide events and as a consultant for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, U.S. AID, National Academy of Sciences, and League for International Food Education. He has also organized and chaired symposia on international food trade issues, food allergies, and food proteins at several IFT Annual Meetings. He served for three years as Executive Director of IFT’s Aquatic Food Products Division and three years on the IFT Program Committee.

Bruce Watkins, Professor and University Scholar, and Director of the Center for Enhancing Foods to Protect Health, Purdue University, has received the 2004 Babcock-Hart Award, which honors an IFT member for improving public health through nutrition research.

For 25 years, his research in food science has improved food production and the nutritive quality of animal- and plant-derived products. During his early career in food microbiology, his research on gnotobiotic chicks demonstrated that lactobacilli competitively inhibited the growth of enteric pathogens and revealed that the indigenous microflora reduced the growth of pathogens by lowering pH and colonizing to exclude pathogens in the intestinal tract. His work has been translated into industry applications for use of Lactobacillus cultures as supplements.

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By demonstrating that altering lipid and vitamin metabolism could achieve significantly modified fatty acid and vitamin content in poultry products, Watkins’ research has led to the development of nutritionally enhanced, value-added poultry and dairy foods and lipid isolates for ingredient use in infant formula.

His recent studies found that both n-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids can be enriched in table eggs through practical rations. In a collaborative effort with his Center and the food industry, his work led to the enrichment of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, and cheese, and the development of a DHA-fortified milk sold in Europe. These new foods are important for child growth and bone development, attenuating inflammatory diseases, and supporting cardiovascular health.

Watkins has collaborated with bone and muscle biologists to conduct research aimed at improving musculoskeletal conditions associated with casting, disuse, disease, and aging. As a result of this collaboration, the group discovered that specific dietary fatty acids and antioxidant nutrients improve bone formation in the young and reduce bone lost in estrogen deficiency.

Watkins is an active member of IFT and has served on various committees and as a Food Science Communicator, Chair of the Nutrition Division, and organizer of several symposia at the IFT Annual Meeting. He has also developed the IFT Food Chemistry Book; Pizza Explorer CD-ROM and Internet version; Phytochemical Learning Resource, an educational tool for adults; and experiment books that promote a better understanding of food science and nutrition for grades K–12.

Tetra Pak is the recipient of the 2004 Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award for its Tetra Recart™ retortable carton packaging system. The award honors the developers of an outstanding food process or product which represents a significant advancement in the application of food science and technology to food production and which has been successfully applied in actual commercial operation for at least six months but no more than seven years.

After many years of research and the development of hundreds of prototypes, Tetra Pak scientists created Tetra Recart, the first retortable carton packaging system available on the market and an alternative to metal cans, glass jars, and standup food pouches. Made from plastics, foil, and a paper component that is able to withstand the rigors of a low-acid food retort process, the moisture- and heat-resistant package, once filled, can be used in a retort at 130°C and 100% humidity for more than 2 hours. After the heat treatment, the food product is shelf stable for up to 24 months. The package is suitable for soups, ready-to-eat meals, fruits, vegetables, pasta meals, salsa, pet foods, and other products traditionally found in cans and glass jars.

The package provides many advantages over metal cans, including the shape of the package that always presents the brand toward the consumer, a laser-perforated opening that requires no tools, and no sharp edges. Additionally, the package’s rectangular shape makes it easy to store on shelves and flatten for recycling or disposal. Up to 24,000 packages per hour can be filled, depending on product characteristics, comparable to speeds of canning lines.

The first commercial introduction of a product using the Tetra Recart package was with Nestlé’s Friskies dog food in 2001. In 2003, Europe’s leading vegetable manufacturer, Bonduelle, began selling premium vegetables in the package. Several other companies this year will launch products using the package.

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Newly Elected Fellows
Fellow is a unique professional distinction conferred on individuals with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience for their contributions in food science and technology. The Fellow must have been an IFT member for 15 years and a Professional Member at the time of nomination. If a nominee is an IFT Professional Member from outside the United States, the 15-year Member requirement may be waived by the Awards Committee.

IFT has conferred the Fellow designation on a select number of Professional Members every year since 1970. A complete list of Fellows can be found on the IFT Web site at www.ift.org.

James N. BeMiller, Professor, Dept. of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., was honored for his contributions to scientific discovery in the area of carbohydrates, and for his dedication in training future food science professionals.

BeMiller has devoted his career to studying the chemistry and utilization of carbohydrates. His most noteworthy research accomplishment went against the conventional assumption that water and aqueous solution penetration occurs in corn starch granules from the outer surface inward, and it supported the hypothesis that the area surrounding the hilum region in starch granules is the least organized region of the granule.

BeMiller and his research associates work to develop methods to produce improved modified food starches using existing approved reagents and substitution levels and found that in the granule matrix there are tube-like channels that open to the external surface. His research showed that the channels connect the internal cavity of corn and sorghum starch granules and the outer surface. The research also showed that pores at the surface of starch granules, the internal cavity at the granule hilum, and channels connecting the two are architectural features that have the potential to influence patterns of reaction within starch granules. In particular, he found that much of the cross-linking occurs on inner surfaces, rather than the outer surface, again contrary to conventional thinking.

Purdue University recruited BeMiller in 1986 to organize and develop a university food carbohydrate research center that had the involvement and support of an industrial consortium. The Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, which he directed until 2003, is the premier academic research center for the study of food carbohydrates.

A past chairman of IFT Carbohydrate Division and a current member of the Committee on Divisions, BeMiller has also held leadership positions with many other professional societies. He has served or continues to serve in editorial capacities for various academic journals; authored or co-authored numerous books, book chapters, and articles; and organized and presented short courses.

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Maribeth A. Cousin, Professor, Dept. of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., was recognized for her work as a leading food microbiologist/mycologist and her dedication to teaching students and leading workshops for food industry professionals.

Cousin teaches courses in food microbiology, food plant sanitation, food fermentations, aseptic processing and packaging, and scientific writing, and uses problem-solving exercises, group projects, writing assignments, and laboratory experiments to teach the material. Although Cousin has a reputation as a demanding professor who has high expectations of students, they usually say that she teaches one of the best courses on campus. Additionally, she teaches workshops to food industry personnel around the country and she has taught courses and helped to develop curricula at universities in South America and Asia.

Her research, which has dealt with the detection of molds in foods with a focus on rapid methods, has earned her a reputation as one of the top food mycologists in the U.S. and the world. Diagnostic companies that make rapid test kits for detection of microorganisms in foods have been interested in her research and one company has even licensed her research through the Purdue University Technology Transfer to use it as a basis to develop a rapid test for mold detection in foods.

Since 1984, Cousin has worked with the International Commission on Food Mycology to help standardize the methods for enumeration and detection of molds and yeast in foods. Research in this area lags behind that of bacterial enumeration and detection because not many researchers work with molds and the methods traditionally used for bacteria cannot be applied directly to molds. As a result of the work of the Commission, the Food and Drug Administration has adopted these methods for mold and yeast enumeration in its latest edition of the Bacteriological Analytical Manual.

Cousin has served as a chair or member of several IFT committees and divisions for IFT and the Indiana Section.

Stephanie Doores, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science, Penn State University, University Park, was recognized for her research in the area of food microbiology and for the tireless effort she has devoted to the teaching of food science and her capacity to understand and sympathize with students.

Doores’ research focuses on the physiology of Listeria monocytogenes in dairy and animal products, including its survival and growth in ice cream and refrigerated and frozen foods; the development of in-vitro macrophage system for detecting phagocytosis of Listeria; the influence of the environment and nutrition on the pathogenicity of Listeria; the thermal resistance of microorganisms as affected by heat, acid, sugar, or other chemicals and the effects of microwave energy on the survival of microorganisms; and the taxonomic, physiological, metabolic, and morphological characterization of Sporolactobacillus sp. and investigation of potential uses for this organism.

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In addition to teaching food microbiology courses at the university level, Doores also teaches food science courses to high school teachers and grade and high school students in programs such as the Minority Student Intern Programs and Pennsylvania Governor’s School in Agriculture Sciences and hosts workshops to provide hand-on food science experiments to high school teachers. She has participated as a Star Teacher in the Ms. Wiz program, which fosters appreciation of the sciences by girls in the fifth through seventh grades by providing hands-on laboratory experiments. In 2002, Doores won the Academic Advising Award from the Penn State College of Agriculture Science Alumni Society.

Her involvement in IFT began more than 25 years ago. She was one of the first members of the Food Microbiology Div. and has held nearly all of the offices possible within the division, including Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and Member-at-Large. She is an active member in the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Keystone Sections, has served on several committees, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Food Science.

Dean Duxbury, Director of Professional Development (retired), Institute of Food Technologists, Chicago, Ill., was honored for his contributions to the development of food sterilization techniques and packaging concepts and his significant leadership and service to IFT.

From 1957 to 1985, Duxbury worked directly in food research and consulting, starting his career as a quality control supervisor for Libby, McNeill and Libby, Blue Island, Ill. As a research manager at Swift & Co., Chicago and Oak Brook, Ill., he led a team of product developers in the areas of meat, foodservice, dehydrated foods, pet foods, and new products. He also supervised contact research for NASA to develop the first foods in space and for the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories to coordinate a team of five companies to develop retortable pouch shelf-stable foods for U.S. Army field rations. He joined a venture company that won $23 million in U.S. Government minority contracts to build the first commercial U.S. plant for the production of retort pouch packaged foods.

From 1993 until his retirement in 2003, Duxbury was IFT’s Director of Professional Development, with the primary responsibility for expanding IFT’s continuing education and career guidance activities. Under his direction, the number of member education seminars, symposia, and workshops increased from two per year at the Annual Meeting to an average of 30 programs per year, 10 of them at the Annual Meeting. While at IFT, he coordinated committee development of three food science career videotapes, four food science experiment booklets, a mini food science experiment booklet, a food industry career video on the IFT Web site, a variety of food science career information available on the National Health Museum Web site, and a program of exhibits and scientist and science educator seminars at National Science Teachers Association meetings. Since joining IFT in 1956, Duxbury has been an active member in the Chicago Section, having held the positions of chair,co-chair, and member of many committees.

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Lewis Franklin (Frank) Flora, National Program Leader, Product Quality/Utilization, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Md., was recognized for his outstanding national leadership to the U.S. federal government and in industry. In addition, he was commended for his outstanding service to IFT.

Among his many contributions to food safety, Flora managed USDA facilities grants which resulted in the construction of the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center at Michigan State University; Oregon State University Seafood Research Laboratory, Astoria, Ore.; and Food Innovation Center, Portland, Ore.

He also assisted in drafting the Federal Interagency Food Safety Initiative as a member of the Bioscience Research Working Group, represented the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service on a research working group to identify and prioritize food safety research needs for USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, and helped to develop a Southern regional food research project, including drafting the proposal that formed the basis for the project. At the request of and in cooperation with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and the Egyptian National Science Centre, he identified and recruited a panel of U.S. technical experts from government, academia, and industry and planned and executed a Food Processing Technologies Workshop in Cairo, Egypt. These efforts resulted in a new U.S.–Egypt Science and Technology Program.

Additionally, he also obtained funding for and organized two National Food Science Administrators Workshops in 1993 and 1995, which brought together food science department heads and program coordinators from across the country to address issues related to program management and leadership.

Flora has served on many IFT committees, subcommittees, sections, and divisions; he was the Charter Chair and Co-founder of the Keystone Section (1981–82).

Russell S. Flowers, Jr., Chief Executive Officer and President, Silliker Inc., Homewood, Ill., was honored for pioneering contributions to food testing as well as the safety of our global food supply.

He joined Silliker in 1979 as director of its Chicago Heights, Ill., laboratory, and under his leadership the facility conducted studies on the use of rapid methods for detection of pathogens in foods. These studies led to AOAC approval of the first raid enzyme immunoassays and nucleic acid hybridization assays and facilitated their industry-wide implementation. He also implemented a laboratory performance program to ensure the reliability and accuracy of data across the Silliker network; this program served as the prototype for proficiency programs used throughout the industry.

In recent years, Flowers has worked to define and establish operational standards for the nation’s food testing laboratories. As chair of the Food Laboratory Accreditation Working Group (1996–98), he helped develop the first accreditation criteria for U.S. food testing facilities. Under his leadership, Silliker became the first network of food testing laboratories in North America to be accredited under ISO Guide 25 and ISO 17025 by A2LA.

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Flowers has won numerous awards for his service to the food science industry, chaired national and international symposiums, taught workshops in Third World countries as a Project Sustain volunteer, served as an IFT, AOAC, and IAFP short course instructor, authored or co-authored more than 40 referenced articles and book chapters, and visited universities to promote food science as a career for college graduates.

A member of IFT since 1977, Flowers has participated in national, regional, divisional, and other IFT-related activities. He was a member of the executive committee of the Food Microbiology Div. (1982–84) and served as secretary/treasurer of the committee (1986–87). In 2001, he was appointed by the IFT President-Elect to serve on the Committee on Codex Alimentarius.

Susan L. Hefle, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, was recognized for her research and food industry outreach in the area of food allergies through her successful direction of the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP).

As co-director of FARRP, a program she helped found in 1995, Hefle participates in both research and extension/outreach to the food industry. Hefle’s laboratory develops immunoassays for the detection of residues of allergenic foods, food allergen identification, and characterization; assessment of the allergenicity of ingredients derived from allergenic foods; determination of threshold doses for allergenic foods; and assessment of the allergenicity of genetically modified foods.

Hefle is considered to be an expert on food allergies and food allergens. Her research has led to the development of commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays (ELISAs) for the detection of residues of allergenic foods that might contaminate other foods and creation of ELISAs for the detection of many peanuts, milk, eggs, almonds, and walnuts.

These ELISA methods have been successfully commercialized by Neogen Corp. and Beacon Analytical, are used in the food industry, and have aided in the protection of food-allergic consumers.

In addition, she develops and presents many workshops and specialized training session for the food industry on the issue of food allergens.

She has authored or co-authored more than 90 research publications, including peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and review articles offering practical information to the food industry. She has received numerous awards for her contributions to food allergen research, including the Samuel Cate Prescott Award from IFT in 2000.

As a dedicated member of IFT since 1985, Hefle has held leadership positions in several divisions, has been an IFT Scientific Lecturer, and is a member of the Biotechnology Issues Task Force. She currently is serving as a Council Representative to the IFT Executive Committee.

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Leslie J. Herzog, Principal Food Scientist, Unilever Bestfoods, North America, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., was recognized for his initiative, experience, and expertise as a product developer and his leadership and service to IFT.

For more than 25 years, Herzog has provided product development expertise and leadership at Unilever. He has been responsible for developing several proprietary ingredients used in the manufacturing of dehydrated soups including Lipton and Cup-a-Soup brands. He helped develop a novel process for manufacturing freeze-dried chicken meat for use at Lipton.

Currently, Herzog works for the beverage division of Lipton, where he has developed powdered soft drinks and various types of teas and improved the infusion performance of cold brew tea bags in cold water. The number-one complaint by consumers who make iced tea is having to boil the water and then cool the product. The cold brew tea bag proprietary technology eliminates the need for boiling water and allows iced tea to be brewed in less than five minutes. He and a colleague recently applied for a patent for an improved decaffeinated hot tea.

Herzog has demonstrated his commitment to IFT, first becoming a member in 1974 and then serving as a leader or member of various committees, subcommittees, and task forces. Additionally, he has held leadership positions with the New York Section, including Chair (1990–91) and Treasurer (1988–1990). In 1994, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New York Section. In addition to his service at IFT, Herzog is also an Advisory Council Member of the Cornell University Institute of Food Science and has served as a Cornell University Council Member.

Dallas G. Hoover, Professor, Dept. of Animal and Food Science, University of Delaware, Newark, was honored for his pioneering research in the area of high-pressure processing, dedication to his students through teaching and mentoring, and sustained service to IFT.

Hoover, an accomplished researcher on the effects of high-pressure processing on vegetative cells and spores, has also conducted studies on the use of bifidobacteria as probiotic cultures. His work on the regeneration of microbes after mild heat treatment and high-pressure inactivation has led to guidelines for appropriate storage times and temperatures of high-pressure treated foods to ensure their stability and safety.

Hoover has devoted a great deal of his time to IFT over the years. He has been a member of organizing committees for various IFT workshops short courses, and summit conferences and is a participant in the Distinguished Lectureship Program. He has lent his expertise in the area of food safety and collaborated with colleagues on two IFT white papers, Biotechnology and Foods and Emerging Microbiological Food Safety Issues: Implications for Control in the 21st Century. A charter member of the Biotechnology and Nonthermal Processing Divisions, he has held leadership and officer positions for these two divisions as well as the Food Microbiology Div. and various committees. Currently, he serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Food Science and several other academic journals.

Hoover has authored or coauthored more than 50 articles and book chapters and holds one patent for a process for treating foods using saccharide esters and superatmospheric hydrostatic pressure.

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Yen-Con Hung, Professor and Research/Extension/Instruction Coordinator, Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, Griffin, was recognized for his work in applying the fundamentals of engineering science to biomaterials to ensure quality and safety of food products.

Hung has conducted research in modeling heat transfer during freezing and the effects of freezing on the quality of frozen foods and developed a set of equations based on heat and stress analysis procedures to predict crack development during cryogenic freezing. This technology has been used to optimize the freezing processes for different foods to prevent cracking. In addition to his work with frozen foods, Hung has studied the use of water electrolysis as a nonthermal, environmentally friendly treatment to ensure food safety.

In addition to instructing students, Hung is the lead scientist for the university’s laboratories on water electrolysis and physical properties and coordinator for the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Program, which assists product developers.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Award from IFT, and he holds memberships in Gamma Sigma Delta, Sigma Xi, and Phi Tau Sigma.

Hung is an active member at all levels of IFT. He served as Treasurer and Councilor for the Dixie Section, Chair of the Refrigerated and Frozen Foods Div., and Chair of the Student Paper Awards and Professional Scientist Award committees for the Southern Regional Section. He has also organized and chaired many symposia and technical sessions at the IFT Annual Meeting, including two symposia at this year’s Annual Meeting.

Lucy Sun Hwang, Professor, Graduate Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, was honored as a leading food science researcher in Asia and for her dedication as a university educator.

Hwang was one of the pioneering food science researchers and leading faculty members of the Graduate Institute of Food Science and Technology since its establishment in 1976. She conducts research in the areas of food lipids, natural pigments, the health effects of food components, and the preparation, analysis, and biological evaluation of functional ingredients. She has also served on many advisory committees for government agencies, including the Advisory Committee on Food Safety, Dept. of Health, which evaluates all the food safety issues in Taiwan.

She currently serves as an executive board member of the John Tung Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes health-related topics and news in Taiwan. As a member of the board, Hwang helped develop programs that showcase nutritionally balanced “campus foods,” those food products that are allowed to be sold in the campus stores of elementary and junior high schools.

In addition to her service to international, government, and nonprofit organizations and agencies, Hwang has participated in symposiums at IFT Annual Meetings, including this year’s meeting in Las Vegas, and served on committees for the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, an allied organization of IFT.

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Howard R. Moskowitz, Principal, Market Research, Moskowitz Jacobs Inc., White Plains, N.Y., was recognized for his contributions to applied sensory analysis through research on the regularity of human response to foods and application of this research to the business world.

Moskowitz’s contributions to the field of applied sensory analysis include the intellectual development of the field and the large-scale commercialization of the approach. This work has changed the way companies conduct research. Since 1970, he has developed various psychophysical methods for sensory analysis and has written extensively on the topic.

His early psychophysical studies showed that evaluating individual taste and smell stimuli tells little about complex foods, and he preferred to study larger numbers of subjects, looking for trends rather than emphasizing the individual, as did conventional psychophysical studies. His work also involved hedonic scaling as a function of concentration, which lead to the inverted U (or V) function that is used today to identify optimal ingredient/processing/sensory levels of foods and beverages.

Throughout his career, he has developed new or updated previously released testing systems, research tools, and mathematical models used in sensory analysis; spoken to food industry professionals at events around the world; written 12 books on consumer evaluation; and authored or coauthored more than 300 papers on product testing, sensory evaluation, concept development, and the innovation process. He has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the Journal of Food Science (1980–83).

Moskowitz was a founding member of IFT’s Sensory Evaluation Division and a member of the Hot Topics Committee. In 2002, he helped to develop and interpret the results of a questionnaire that was used to determine a strategy for IFT’s future. He frequently serves as a presenter to IFT sections.

Shuryo Nakai, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, was honored for his innovative research on the molecular structure of food proteins and their structure– function relationships in food systems.

Nakai’s research has made significant contributions to advance understanding of the molecular structure of food proteins and their interactions in food systems. Beginning with his first professional position as the Division Head of Meiji Milk Products Co. in Japan in 1950 to his present position as Professor Emeritus in the Food, Nutrition, and Health Program at the University of British Columbia, he has been a leader and innovator in research on dairy products and food proteins. He has published more than 230 original articles in refereed journals, 12 research notes in refereed journals, and 12 full-length refereed review articles.

Since his retirement, Nakai has not slowed down; he has continued to mentor researchers in adopting the 21st-century tools of genomics and proteomics for food research and to understand the structure–function relationships of food proteins and enzymes.

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Nakai has won a number of awards for his scholarly and research work, served as a consultant to several food companies, and held positions on editorial boards and as a reviewer for several journals. He has actively served the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST), the IFT allied organization in Canada, as a book review editor, past member of the editorial board for the CIFST Journal, past member of the selection committee for Fellows of CIFST, and keynote speaker at the annual meeting of CIFST.

Barbara J. Petersen, Practice Director, Principal, Exponent Inc., Bethesda, Md., was honored for being an internationally recognized expert in food safety risk assessment and for her entrepreneurial spirit.

Petersen founded Novigen Sciences Inc. in 1996, which was acquired by Exponent in 2002. This consulting firm provides food and food ingredient companies with scientifically based and practical risk assessment support to assist companies in food safety and related regulatory issues, as well as many other engineering and scientific services. One of her projects included evaluating dietary practices in countries around the world to permit evaluation by the National Cancer Institute of possible relationships between diet and cancer, and developing procedures for organizing a broad spectrum of food consumption and nutrition data.

She has developed risk assessment procedures for evaluating contaminants in food and the source of exposure that are used by the Environmental Protection Agency, California EPA, and California Office of Health. Her contributions to the profession also include creating procedures to collect representative food samples from retail markets across the U.S. in a cost-efficient and statistically reliable method to use in evaluating product quality, product turnover, regulatory compliance, and chemical contaminant issues.

A member of the IFT Codex Committee for six years and chair of the committee in 2000, Petersen also served as councilor and chair of the IFT Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division and a member of the Task Force on Biotechnology and Task Force on Single Food Agency. She is currently the chair of the Food Laws & Regulations Division, and she has also been an organizer and program chair for more than 10 symposia at IFT regional and national meetings.

Ralph L. Price, Associate Professor, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, was recognized for his significant contributions to the area of thermal food processing and food toxicology and for providing exceptional undergraduate education to his students. Price’s research on evaluation of thermal processes for detoxification has provided industry with practical detoxification strategies, especially for feed ingredients processed by extrusion. His contributions to the understanding of aflatoxin earned an award for the most significant research published by the journal Food Chemistry and Toxicology.

He has received several awards for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. He also offers his Better Process Control School short course several times a year around the U.S. and in several countries abroad. Fluent in Spanish and Portugese, Price has offered this and other courses and presentations in these two languages.

In addition to his academic work, Price has also contributed his expertise to the general food industry as the leading food safety expert and first resource for food safety questions in Arizona.

He has been one of the mainstays of the Cactus Section of IFT for more than 30 years, keeping programs, recruitment, and membership ongoing, as well as arranging transportation for students and professionals from southern Arizona to attend Cactus Section meetings. He has served IFT on the national level as a member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, the Committee on Sections and Divisions, and the Expert Panel on Food Safety and Nutrition; as a Regional Communicator for Arizona and New Mexico; and as a Councilor.

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Shridhar K. Sathe, Professor, Dept. of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, was honored for his research on the biochemistry of food proteins, particularly proteins in seeds, dedication to his students, and service to IFT.

Sathe has investigated molecular properties and functionality of food proteins and legume starches. The methods to isolate, purify, and characterize functional properties of legume proteins and starch that he developed are now used worldwide by many researchers. A co-editor of two books on phytates, he has authored and coauthored a number of articles and book chapters on legume biochemistry.

In addition to his research on legumes, Sathe has developed a cutting-edge basic science program at FSU that focuses on tree nut protein biochemistry with special emphasis on tree nut allergens. His research group is currently identifying key immunodominant epitopes on selected allergenic proteins from almond, cashew nut, and walnuts with the aim of developing immunotherapy to alleviate/eliminate tree nut–induced allergies.

Sathe, who has received three teaching awards and one advising award at FSU, started the “Honors in Major” program in the university’s Dept. of Nutrition, Food & Exercise Sciences to involve undergraduate students in research and developed an innovative course, “Food and the Consumer.” He was selected to be a named professor at FSU in 2002. The Institute of Scientific Information has listed him as one of the most highly cited authors in agriculture and food science.

Sathe has served IFT in various capacities, including as a reviewer for Journal of Food Science; contributing author to Food Technology; founding member, secretary, chair-elect, and chair of the Food Chemistry Division; judge for the Phi Tau Sigma Graduate Paper Competition; reviewer of technical abstracts; and member of the Diversity Committee, Committee on Sections and Divisions, Industrial Scientist Award Jury, and IFT Expert Panel on Nutraceutical and Functional Foods.

Shelly J. Schmidt, Professor and Associate Head, Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois, Urbana, was recognized for her extraordinary contributions to the advancement of education at the university, her research in the area of food chemistry, and her active service to IFT. Schmidt’s research focuses on elucidating the relationship between water, solids, and ion mobility and the physical, chemical, microbiological stability, and quality characteristics of food systems. She has contributed to the development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a noninvasive, nondestructive analytical tool for measuring the rotational and translational mobility of water molecules in foods.

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In 1994, she was named a University Scholar, which is the highest research-related recognition a faculty member at the university can receive.

Since her appointment at the University of Illinois in 1986, Schmidt has been an instructor, advisor, mentor, and role model to more than 4,500 students. She is also the university’s coordinator for the Illinois Junior Academy of Science, overseeing the State of Illinois Science Fair for junior high and high school students. In 2001, she received the William V. Cruess Award for her contributions to teaching food science and technology.

Schmidt, a Professional Member of IFT since 1984, has served IFT at a variety of levels. Because of her contributions to and passion for food science education, she was asked to chair the Committee on Education and to be part of two national IFT education task forces: Excellence in Food Science Education and Evaluating Outcome-Based Measures of Learning. She was a member of the organizing committee to create the IFT Division of Education and the Journal of Food Science Education.

Joseph G. Sebranek, Professor, Dept. of Food Science, Iowa State University, Ames, was recognized for his more than 30 years of work as a researcher in the field of meat science and professor and mentor of students.

As a result of research efforts for the past 30 years, Sebranek is recognized as an authority on meat processing technology and is a sought-after consultant and expert witness. He has studied applications of irradiation for processed meat products and demonstrated the doses necessary for successful control of pathogens on processed meats. He has also documented some of the quality changes that develop as a result of the irradiation process and has developed packaging systems that will reduce or eliminate the negative quality effects.

Sebranek’s contribution to education is best exemplified in his designation as “University Professor” in 1997 by Iowa State University. This title recognizes educational achievements; to date, 37 of the 1,720 ISU faculty have been granted the title. He has traveled around the world on behalf of the U.S. Feed Grains Council and the American Soybean Association to present educational programs on meat science and meat processing technologies.

Since joining IFT in 1972, he has been an active contributor to the organization as a member or elected officer of several Sections and Divisions. He won the Outstanding Service Award from the Iowa Section in 1994. The IFT Student Association has designated specific university faculty members as local “Champions” to help advertise IFTSA, recruit new members, and serve as an IFT resource person for both students and faculty. Sebranek accepted this responsibility because many students in his courses in meat science are not food science majors, and the resources available from IFTSA allow for more effective promotion of IFT to these students to encourage IFT membership.