EDUCATION NEWS

Powers honored with namesake campus room
The University of Georgia has dedicated a student activities room to former IFT President John J. Powers. Powers, the William Terrell Distinguished Professor Emeritus, headed the university’s Dept. of Food Science for 15 years in the 1950s and 1960s and established the university’s food science graduate program. Sixty-two graduates of the department funded reconstruction of a former abattoir to create the room.

Artwork in the John J. Powers Student Activity Room recognizes Powers’ roles in creating IFT’s Dixie Regional Section in 1950 and in obtaining $1 million in 1957 from the governor’s contingency budget for construction of the university’s Food Science Building.

Clydesdale named Distinguished Professor
The University of Massachusetts has named IFT award winner and Fellow Fergus M. Clydesdale a Distinguished Professor. Head of the university’s Dept. of Food Science, he was recognized for his prodigious academic publications, outstanding teaching ability, and numerous professional awards, including IFT’s Nicholas Appert Award, Carl R. Fellers Award, Babcock-Hart Award, and William V. Cruess Award.

Clydesdale received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. He has headed the Food Science Dept. since 1989.

University of Georgia student wins PDMA award
University of Georgia’s Erin Chavez received the Graduate Student Award from the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) of Georgia.

Chavez’s paper on a drinkable water gel targeted at children was judged best in the graduate student category in which she competed against students from universities throughout Georgia. Her entry was originally a term project in a course on Development and Marketing of Value-Added Food Products, part of the University of Georgia’s off-campus Master’s in Food Technology curriculum.

A graduate of Texas A&M, Chavez is Senior Research Scientist at DeGussa Food Systems.

PDMA is an international organization of professionals who manage new product development in industry and perform research on the process at the university and consultant levels.

Maryland unveils new food science center
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore opened a new food science and technology center in July.

The $14 million facility will advance the university’s research of food safety and the microbiological contamination of food. The two-story, 37,250-gross-sq-ft facility was funded by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the state of Maryland.

SECTION & DIVISION NEWS
Southern California
The 17th Annual Southern California Food Industry Conference, “Ready-to-Eat Foods: Trends, Technologies, and Health Implications,” will be held January 13, 2004, at Chapman University, in Orange, Calif.

The conference faculty, including IFT President-Elect Herbert Stone, will focus on emerging technologies, microbiological issues, current and impending regulations, nutritional implications, and sensory qualities of ready-to-eat foods. Teams of college students will also compete with exhibits and demonstrations related to the conference’s theme.

For further information and student competition guidelines, contact Anuradha Prakash at 714-744-7826 or [email protected], or visit www.scifts.org.