EDUCATION NEWS
Smart Is Visiting Professor
Viticulture authority Richard Smart joined the Cal Poly College of Agriculture in March as its first Distinguished Visiting Professor of Wine and Viticulture, charged with both teaching and viticulture research.
Smart began his research work in the mid-1960s in Australia, developing an international reputation for vineyard canopy management and its effects on wine quality. He works as a consultant with vineyard clients in more than 20 countries and writes regularly for trade journals. He is the Viticulture Editor of both editions of the Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Janis Robinson. His handbook Sunlight into Wine is regarded as an essential reference book for quality wine grape production.
He will teach advanced vine physiology and a new course he will develop on growing quality wine grapes. His research will concentrate on aiding wine grape growers in improving wine quality.
Hrazdina elected to Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Geza Hrazdina, Professor of Biochemistry in Cornell University’s Dept. of Food Science and Technology, has been elected a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS).
Hrazdina has been with Cornell at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station since 1966. In his research, he uses modern biochemical and molecular tools to investigate the physiology of fruit ripening, aromatic metabolism, and alternative strategies to chemical sprays in selected crops.
Memorial scholarship honors Foegeding
North Carolina State University has endowed a scholarship in memory of Peggy Foegeding. The Dr. Peggy Foegeding Memorial Food Science Scholarship Endowment will benefit undergraduate students in the Dept. of Food Science.
Foegeding, who died in January after a long battle with breast cancer, was an internationally renowned teacher and researcher in the fields of food microbiology and food safety. She joined the faculty in 1982.
Contributions to the scholarship endowment can be sent to the Dept. of Food Science, North Carolina State University, Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624.
Bidlack receives Wang Award
California State University presented its Wang Family Excellence Award to Wayne R. Bidlack, Dean of the College of Agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona in May.
Bidlack is Cal Poly Pomona’s fourth consecutive Wang Award recipient. “As Dean, his efforts have been an integral factor in the revitalization of our College of Agriculture,” Cal Poly Pomona President Bob H. Suzuki said. “His vision and direction have not only revitalized the college, but also raised its productivity, stature and visibility throughout the state.”
The annual award of $20,000 recognizes CSU faculty members/administrators for exemplary contributions and achievements through exceptional commitment and dedication.
Georgia Professor honored
Yen-Con Hung, Professor of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, received a 2002 Creative Research Medal (Lamar Dodd Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Sciences) from the University of Georgia Research Foundation in April.
Hung received the award for developing a process that uses electrolyzed oxidized water to destroy harmful bacteria and preserve nutrients which may be destroyed by heat. The process also eliminates excess chemicals in wastewater treatment and is an alternative to chemical and heat treatments.
BOOKS
INTRODUCTION TO FOOD ENGINEERING, 3RD EDITION. R. Paul Singh and Dennis R. Heldman, eds. Academic Press, 525 B. St., San Diego, CA 92101-4495 (www.academicpress.com). ISBN 0-12-646384-0. 2001. 659 pp. No price given.
As Ken Swartzel says in his foreword, “Since publication of the first edition, the Singh and Heldman text Introduction to Food Engineering has been the academic and industry standard.” The third edition continues the tradition. In particular, it uses a large, clean format, with ample marginal area for notes by readers. Also, the text pioneers integration through the Internet with animated figures on Paul Singh’s personal Web site.
The contents are similar to those of the second edition with a few small changes. Chapters 1–5 cover the important tools of engineering, such as units, system equations, phase diagrams, thermodynamics, and conservation of mass and energy; fluid flow, including a new section on non-Newtonian fluid flow; energy for food processing, including steam generation; heat transfer; and preservation processes, including aseptic processing. Chapters 6–10 cover refrigeration; freezing; evaporation; psychometrics; and mass transfer, including a discussion of food packaging. A new Chapter 11 treats membrane separations, and Chapter 12 covers food dehydration.
Appendices provide unit conversions, some physical properties of foods, and other useful information. References follow each chapter with 5–10 problems as well as numerous worked examples throughout. Several of the examples illustrate the use of Excel as a problem-solving tool and provide an opportunity to instruct students on good programming practices, such as labeling values, using adjustable constants, and taking advantage of built-in charting and regression capabilities.
The text covers material that is usually treated in greater depth and in multiple courses in other engineering departments, but is well-designed for its target audience, namely food science and food engineering students. It presents in one place most of the fundamentals that a practitioner needs to know at least a little about.
J. Peter Clark, Consultant to the Process Industries, Oak Park, Ill.