Macy Award goes to Lee; Keener teaches in Russia

Join IFT for 75th Anniversary Celebration
Commemorate IFT’s 75th anniversary alongside fellow Members during the Diamonds & Donations event, which will be held from 9 p.m. to midnight on Sunday, June 22, during the 2014 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo^® in New Orleans, La.

The celebration will take place at Generations Hall, a one-time sugar refinery built in the 1820s that now serves as a state-of-the-art event space. Works by prominent artists George Schmidt and Xavier deCallataÿ decorate the walls with splashes of the Jazz Age, transporting partiers back in time as they dine on hors d’oeuvres and dance the night away to the rhythms of the Brass-A-Holics band. 

Proceeds from the event support Feeding Tomorrow, whose programs include student scholarships, the Summer Scholars program, the Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Competition, and the Food4Thought food science STEM initiative. Tickets are tax deductible and can be added to existing registrations. The cost is $75 per ticket ($50 for students) for 0–9 tickets and $68 per ticket for 10 or more. Visit https://reg-amfe.ift.org/ShowIFT141/default.aspx for more information.

Registration for the 2014 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo, which runs from June 21–24, is now open. Complete details are available at www.ift.org/ift14, and a comprehensive preview of the event appears in this issue of Food Technology.

Lee receives Macy Award
The Minnesota Section of IFT presented Ken Lee with the 2014 Harold Macy Food Science and Technology Award, which recognizes outstanding food technology transfer or cooperation between scientists. Lee will have the opportunity to address the Section members and will receive an honorarium.

Lee, a Professional Member of IFT, currently serves as the Director and Principal Investigator at the Ohio State University Food Innovation Center, which works to advance the human condition by way of food, and he is also a professor in the Dept. of Food Science and Technology. In the past, he helped plan and build food science facilities at Ohio State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He has served as President of both Phi Tau Sigma (ΦΤΣ) and the Food Update Foundation, which he helped found. Within IFT, Lee was elected Fellow in 1997, won the Carl R. Fellers Achievement Award in 2007, chaired the IFT Awards program, and served as an IFT food science communicator. 

The award, which was established in 1981, honors Harold Macy, Dean Emeritus of the University of Minnesota and a founding Member of IFT.

Keener reflects on teaching food science in Russia
Purdue University professor Kevin Keener has spent the last three months at Moscow State AgroEngineering University in Russia, teaching food science, safety, and engineering through a Distinguished Fulbright Fellowship. The experience has been both rewarding and challenging. 

Though Keener, a Professional Member of IFT, has spent time in Russia previously as a consultant, he was surprised by how difficult the language barrier has been. He teaches one class in English, but the other is translated into Russian. Because of the time this takes, Keener can only get through about half of the content he would normally teach in English. In addition, because Russian uses adifferent alphabet from English and other Latin-based languages, communicating technical food safety terms can be difficult; there literally aren’t words for a lot of the terms U.S. and other global companies rely on in their facilities.

But this last challenge is part of what Keener finds so rewarding about his experience. He sees a great deal of potential for Russia and other countries to develop programs within the universities to teach faculty members more about food safety and share that knowledge with other faculty members and students. “There are a lot of companies that want to implement food safety but lack the expertise,” said Keener.

Opportunities like his are out there, Keener added, and he encourages studentsand young professionals to take advantage of them. He believes working globally to be one of the best ways for food technologists to grow professionally, enhance their understanding of how other cultures think about food production, and promote visibility of the discipline around the world. “The world’s a pretty big place,” said Keener, “and broadening your understanding will make you a better scientist.”

FONA International hires Holocher
Peter Holocher recently joined flavor manufacturer FONA International as Director of Customer Innovation. He will focus on developing strategic partnerships to explore new technologies and guide FONA in adopting these innovations to meet customer and market needs.

Holocher, a Professional Member of IFT, comes to FONA with more than 15 years of experience with business and product development, food science, and innovation in flavor, beverages, and nutraceuticals. He received a B.S. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Washington and continued his education with professional certificates from the University of Minnesota.

Section & Division meetings

Puget Sound
June 3: Golf outing. Auburn, Wash. Contact Russ Haehl at 425-637-7171 or [email protected], or visit http://pugetsoundift.org/golf-tournament. 

In Memoriam 

Sue Monckton, an active IFT Member for 38 years, passed away on March 20, 2014. Monckton received a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she researched cheese. Moving to Kraft after completing her studies, Monckton worked in the Cheese Division and Research Department, and she was a recognized expert in cheese and dairy technology, securing 17 patents for her work. Monckton’s enthusiasm was not limited to her job,though: she served on many IFT committees and held many Chicago Section positions, such as Program Chair, Treasurer, and Executive Committee member. She served as the Chicago Section Chair in 2003, and the Section presented her with the Ellery H. Harvey Service award for outstanding dedication in 2006.

Melanie Zanoza Bartelme,
Associate Editor
[email protected]