Early Career Researchers Program

ECR Advisory Board

Early Career Researchers Senior Editor: John Coupland, PhD, Pennsylvania State Univ.

Advisory Board members:

• Akinobode Adedeji, PhD; Associate Editor, JFS; Univ. of Kentucky, USA
• Kanishka Bhunia, PhD; Associate Editor, JFS; Indian Inst. of Technology, India
• Marciane Magnani, PhD; Associate Editor, CRFSFS; Federal Univ. of Paraíba, Brazil
• Donald Schaffner, PhD; Scientific Editor, CRFSFS; Rutgers Univ., USA
• Nagendra Shah, PhD; Scientific Editor, JFS; The Univ. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong / Australia

Editorial Scholars Program

New in 2026! A small annual cohort of Editorial Scholars will be selected for mentorship with our ECR Advisory Board, including activities such as mentored reviews and insight into the peer review and editorial decision-making processes.

We seek applicants who range from near PhD completion through Assistant Professor, or PhDs in their first 5 years of a career in industry, who have already published some of their own work, have been involved in reviewing articles, and are committed to developing their skills as reviewers and future editors. IFT membership is not required to participate.

The call for applicants to our 2027 cohort will open in fall 2026.

2026 Editorial Scholars Cohort

Six Early Career Researchers were selected for our inaugural 2026 cohort:

• Meetha Nesam James, Kraft Heinz Co., USA
• JiaQi Mi, National Univ. of Singapore
• Ana Rita Ribeiro de Araújo Cordeiro, Federal Univ. of Paraíba, Brazil
• Praveen Kumar Sappati, Indian Inst. of Technology Kharagpur, India
• Clay Swackhamer, Oregon State Univ., USA
• Ogechukwu Tasie, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical Univ., USA