January 28, 2026

Keeping the Pipeline Open for Future Food Scientists

IFT President Peggy Poole considers the mounting challenges facing food science academia and the urgent need to support the next generation through mentorship, advocacy, and investment in science.

Peggy Poole

Food Technology Magazine

Every two weeks as a graduate student at Rutgers, I stood in front of three professors and a roomful of peers, heart pounding, to present and defend a research paper at what we called Journal Club. There was no PowerPoint, no soft questions—just discussion, debate, and sometimes discomfort. I can still picture my mentors, Dr. George Carman, Dr. Mike Solberg, and Dr. Bruce Wasserman, encouraging us to question everything, back up our positions with data, and communicate science clearly.

That experience taught me what it means to belong to a community of scientists—one built on rigor, mentorship, and trust.

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