March 20, 2007 |
1. Awards to be Presented at Honors Day Luncheon - RSVP by March 30
2. Alumni Society to Honor Seniors - RSVP by April 2
3. Food Science Ranked No. 4 in U.S. for 'Scholarly Productivity'
4. Poultry Science Students Win National Awards
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1. Awards to be Presented at Honors Day Luncheon - RSVP by March 30
Division of Agriculture and Bumpers College faculty and staff members are asked to RSVP for the Honors Day Luncheon and Awards Program on April 19. The event will begin with a buffet luncheon at 11:30 in the Arkansas Union Ballroom. Please RSVP by Friday, March 30, to Sandi Caster by e-mail (scaster@uark.edu). Include your name as you wish it to appear on a name tag. Student, faculty and staff awards will be presented following the buffet luncheon.
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2. Alumni Society to Honor Seniors - RSVP by April 2
The Bumpers College Alumni Society will honor seniors during the annual Senior Dinner on Wednesday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. in the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House. Please encourage your senior students to RSVP by Monday, April 2, to Ashley Harris by phone or e-mail: 575-7758 or awharris@uark.edu. Each senior will receive a gift, and a number of "awesome door prizes" will be awarded.
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3. Food Science Ranked No. 4 in U.S. for 'Scholarly Productivity'
The Department of Food Science was recently ranked No. 4 nationally for "faculty scholarly productivity" by Academic Analytics, which ranks 7,294 doctoral programs at 354 universities and colleges.
The index, partly financed by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, rates scholarly output based on the number of book and journal articles published by faculty members, journal citations, awards, honors, and grants received. Rankings were published online at www.academicanalytics.com.
The only universities ranked ahead of Arkansas in the food science category were at Cornell, Illinois and Massachusetts. Others on the top 10 list, after Arkansas, were Louisiana State, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado State, Pennsylvania State and Michigan State.
Twelve faculty members direct Division of Agriculture research and extension programs and teach courses for B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in food science awarded by UA,Fayetteville, through Bumpers College.
Department Head Ron Buescher said there are 48 undergraduate food science majors this spring and 40 students working on M.S. or Ph.D. degrees.
"Exciting and rewarding careers for our graduates are plentiful in Arkansas and the global food industry," Buescher said. "Our graduates are hired to design and test new products and processing technologies, assure food quality and safety, and improve human nutrition and health.
"The high regard for our faculty in the food industry and research community helps open doors for our graduates for good jobs and career advancement," Buescher added.
Buescher said Arkansas is nationally known for research in functionality and health benefits of foods; food microbiology and safety; food processing and packaging; rheology and sensory analysis; food carbohydrate, lipid (fat and oil) and protein chemistry; and developing value-added products using cereal, oil seed, fruit, vegetable and meat commodities important to Arkansas.
Areas of faculty expertise include the following.
+ Terry Siebenmorgen directs a rice processing program supported by the Arkansas rice industry and processing companies to increase processing efficiency and the quality of rice products.
+ Justin Morris directs the enology and viticulture program, which includes a patented system for mechanized vineyard management being tested in commercial wine vineyards in California.
+ Jean-Francois Meullenet's rheology and sensory analysis program develops new ways to evaluate food quality and consumer preferences. It includes a professional sensory panel that conducts tests for food
industry clients.
+ Functional foods research by Luke Howard is identifying bioactive components in foods and developing ways to improve their retention. The research identifies and characterizes health beneficial phytochemicals.
+ Michael Johnson, Steve Ricke and Phil Crandall focus research on food- borne pathogens and prevention of food-borne illnesses. Ricke holds the Donald "Buddy" Wray Chair in Food Safety and is director of the Division of Agriculture's Center for Food Safety. They and others conduct interdisciplinary research funded by the USDA Food Safety Consortium.
+ Ruben Morawicki focuses on food processing issues such as byproduct utilization, waste management, energy efficiency and packaging.
+ Research programs by Ya-Jane Wang, Navam Hetiarachchy and Andy Proctor focus on the chemistry and functionality of three primary food components of carbohydrates, protein and lipids, respectively. They address issues that impact food quality and functionality. They also develop new products such as edible protein film coatings for fresh food, soy oil with enhanced conjugated linoleic acid content, health-promoting oligosaccharides and probiotics (beneficial bacteria).
Each program area includes a staff of supporting scientists and graduate students who contribute to the nationally ranked scholarly productivity of the faculty, Buescher said.
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4. Poultry Science Students Win International Awards
Poultry science undergraduate and graduate students received awards at the International Poultry Scientific Forum Jan. 22-23 in Atlanta.
Krishna Hamal, doctoral student of Gisela Erf, received the Alltech Student Manuscript Award for his paper on maternal antibody transfer to offspring in broilers. This is the third year in a row a UA student has received this award.
Stacy Higgins, doctoral student of Billy Hargis, received a best poster award for a poster on probiotic treatment of chicks, and Sheri Layton, doctoral student of Billy Hargis, received a best paper award for her presentation on an avian influenza vaccine.
Senior Ashley Swaffar won the first ever undergraduate research award given at this event for her presentation on broiler breeder reproduction.
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