Food Science Graduate Student Association at UC Davis

First FSGSA event of the year, and of course, we have food!

The next food science graduate student we would like to introduce is Truc Pham!

"I'm Truc (pronounced Trook), and I'm a chemist by training but have always had a strong interest in food science on the side. After earning my bachelor's degree from Colorado College, I attended culinary school and soon after started working in analytical biochemistry labs in Colorado and Michigan where I've been for the past several years. I'm interested in alternative proteins and am currently rotating in the Barile and Bell labs. I enjoy cooking and baking, dining at new restaurants, mountain biking, hanging out with my cat Masala, and eating potatoes (in all forms). Please stop me to say hi if you see me around - I'd love to get to know you as well, and maybe get a new restaurant recommendation :) "

We're excited you're here Truc!

A new school year is here and that means we have new faces in our groups! We will be introducing our new food science graduate students on this page, and we hope you reach out to welcome them to UC Davis.

First, we have Maany Ramanan:

"I am pursuing my PhD in Food Science and will be co-supervised by Dr Glen Fox and Dr Christine Diepenbrock (Plant Sciences Department). I am interested in studying the effect of climate change on barley cultivars, in relation to its effect on malt and brewing quality. I have over 7 years of industry experience working for food companies such as Mars and Campbells Soup in Australia, in product development and quality assurance roles. I completed my Masters in Biotechnology from University of Queensland (Australia) in 2015 and my Bachelors in Biotechnology from Anna University (India) in 2013.

Contact information
Email: [email protected]"

Welcome Maany!

We had our second virtual paint night this past Friday! Shoutout to Amanda for guiding us through this creating these beautiful papaya!

The UC Davis College Bowl team went undefeated in this year’s Regional Competition, held virtually by Washington State University and University of Idaho, placing first among tough competition. The team consisted of Katie Uhl (graduate student and team captain), Claire Lefebre (undergraduate student), Megha Ramesh (undergraduate student), Maria Shaposhnikov (undergraduate student), Amanda Sinrod (graduate student), and Angela Weber (undergraduate student). The team has been coached by Tiffany Wiriyaphanich (graduate student, former College Bowl National Champion).

This year’s College Bowl competition brought together students from UC Davis, Oregon State University, Utah State University, Washington State University/University of Idaho, and Brigham Young University. During the College Bowl competition, questions about food chemistry, processing, microbiology, sensory, regulatory affairs, and more were asked in this double-elimination bracket competition. The UC Davis team had a strong showing throughout the competition, winning their first round against BYU (24 to 14), then two final rounds against OSU (24 to 16 then 16 to -4) to win the entire competition! The team congratulates all competitors from this weekend and thanks all of the organizers for the event. They are looking forward to competing in the National Competition at the IFT event this summer.

Interested in what kind of research our graduate students do? Check out this brand new article featuring two of our Food Science research groups led by Dr. Selina Wang and Dr. Daniela Barile. First author Amanda is a second-year student in our program!

Congrats to this group for publishing this fascinating study on bioactives in wine grape waste products!

A second life for wine grapes: discovering potentially bioactive oligosaccharides and phenolics in chardonnay marc and its processing fractions Chardonnay marc (pomace), an agricultural waste product, has demonstrated significant potential health benefits in previous studies. This study repres…

Last Saturday we hosted our first virtual cooking class, and we had so much fun making risotto and an apple crisp with everyone! We threw some fun food science facts in during the class, too, of course, like why apples browns and why we cook the Arborio rice in fat first.

Look at these delicious shots! If you want to join us for our next cooking class, leave your email below or sign up for our mailing list on our website, www.fsgsa-ucd.com

We had our first Paint Night (virtually) on Friday, following a Bob Ross video! We had so much fun creating these masterpieces!

If you've ever joined us for one of our cooking classes on campus, you know how fun and tasty they are! We've moved the fun online, and we have our first virtual cooking class coming up: join us Saturday, February 13th 5-7 pm for a perfect Valentine's Day weekend meal: creamy risotto and a delicious apple crisp!

Visit our website (www.fsgsa-ucd.com) to register for the event on Zoom, then send payment to our group through Venmo or PayPal (details on website). We are using a sliding scale payment option for this class, ranging from $5 to $15, to improve accessibility of the class.

Reach out if you have any questions. We can't wait to cook with you!

Happy Friday! Today we're introducing our tenth first year student, Zhuosheng:

"Hi all, I am Zhuosheng Liu. I am a first-year Ph.D. student from Dr. Luxin Wang's lab. I was born and grew up in Changsha, China. I got a B.S. degree in food science from UC Davis in 2019 and M.A. degree in biotechnology from Columbia University in 2020. When I studied in New York City, I missed everything in Davis. Davis is the place where I truly belong to.

Dr. Luxin Wang brought me into the field of food microbiology when I was an undergraduate. I studied the survivability of common food pathogens on dried apricots treated by sulfur dioxide. During this research, I developed great interests in microbial food safety. In the future, I truly want to be an outstanding food microbiologist and trendsetter in the field of microbial food safety.

Fun fact about me, I am a food lover with great interests in developing fusion cuisine inspired by my best friends Gorden and Klay. Last time, I developed tacos filled with Hunan style chili stir-fried beef. Hope I can get more ideas about fusion cuisine in the future. "

Welcome back to UC Davis Zhuosheng!

This quarter, we will be highlighting the accomplishments of our amazing graduate students!

First up is Derrick Risner, a third year PhD student. He was awarded the IIFH (Innovation Institute of Food and Health) fellowship (https://foodaghealth.solutions/2020-cohort-6-innovator-fellows-announcement/). Derrick and his PI Dr. Spang also published their preliminary techno-economic assessment of animal cell-based meats in Foods (https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/10/1/3). See some of the figures from that paper below.

Congratulations Derrick, and keep up the great work!