SPEAKERS

Gary Reineccius

Is a Professor Emeritus and a past Head of the Department of Food Science & Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. He has been actively involved in flavor research since obtaining his PhD from Penn State University in 1970. During this time, he has published over 250 research articles. Prof. Reineccius has spent sabbatical leaves with Fritzsche Dodge and Olcott (New York City, flavor creation and production), Nestle (Switzerland, process flavors), and Robertet S.A. (France, taste modifiers and manufacturing). Gary has taught courses in chemical and instrumental analysis of foods, food chemistry, food processing, and flavor chemistry and technology. He has written, edited, and contributed to a number of books on food flavors.

He is an honorary member of the Society of Flavor Chemists. He has been granted the Palmer Award for contributing to chromatography by the Minnesota Chromatography Forum. He has received the Distinguished Achievement and Service in Agricultural and Food Chemistry Award and become a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. He has been presented the Stephen S. Chang Award by the Institute of Food Technologists. Most recently, FEMA (Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association) has given him their most coveted award for lifetime contributions to the flavor industry. He also is a recipient of IFT’s Chicago Section 2015 Tanner Award. He often speaks at public schools and other groups. His favorite lay topics are chocolate (he spent three years researching chocolate flavor for his Ph.D. thesis) and the chemistry of gourmet cooking. From a professional standpoint, his favorite topic is flavor encapsulation. He has been actively researching this area since it was his M.S. thesis project.

Fereidoon Shahidi Ph.D., FACS, FAGFD-ACS, FAOCS, FCIC, FCIFST, FIAFoST, FIFT, FISNFF, FRSC,

is a University Research Professor and Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Biochemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has authored over 1,000 publications as research papers and book chapters, 78 books, and ten patents. His research interests are primarily in the areas of nutraceuticals and functional foods, with particular attention to lipids, proteins, polyphenols, natural antioxidants, and oxidation control. His work has been cited widely (see Google Scholar). He has received numerous awards from different societies, including the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS), Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST), among others. He has served on and chaired many international committees, evaluating different programs nationally and globally, such as the nutraceuticals and functional food research at the USDA and as a member of the Washington-based Council of Agricultural Science and Technology on nutraceuticals.

He is the President of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) and a former chair of the Scientific Council of the International Union of Food Science and Technology. He received the Ea=xemplary Leadership Award from ACS-AGFD (2024) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from IUFOST (2024). He serves as the editor-in-chief (EiC) of the Journal of Food Bioactives (JFB) and the Journal of Food Production, Processing and Nutrition (FPPN). Shahidi is the principal founder of the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (ISNFF), a Disciplinary Interest Group of IUFoST, and Founding EiC of the Journal of Functional Foods for which he served in that capacity for 10 years. He was a principal founder of the Nutraceutical and Functional Food Division of IFT. He has trained nearly 200 graduate students, highly qualified personnel, visiting professors, scholars, and PDFs, and now his colleagues in over a dozen countries.

Michael C. Qian

is a full professor of flavor chemistry at Oregon State University and a fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Chemical Society- Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division. He received his B.S. in Chemistry MS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and PhD from the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Prof. Gary Reineccius. Prof. Qian’s research interests at Oregon State University include aroma/flavor chemical and biochemical generation in food and beverage systems, focusing on wine and wine grapes, berry fruits, and dairy products.

Prof. Qian organized many scientific symposia and conferences. He is the initiator and the Chair of the International Flavor and Fragrance Conference series. Due to Prof. Qian’s scientific contribution, he was elected as the Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and Fellow of the American Chemical Society Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division. Prof. Qian received the Distinguished Lipid and Flavor Science Award from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the FEMA Excellence in Flavor Science Award to recognize him as a highly acclaimed global leader in the flavor science field.

Graham Eyres

is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihuwaka, New Zealand, where he teaches and researches food chemistry, flavour science, and brewing/fermentation. His research aims to understand the factors that influence the sensory perception of flavour in foods by investigating the interactions between food, food processing, flavour chemistry, and sensory science using advanced analytical methods. A/Prof Eyres’ flavour expertise is applied in a range of projects, including (1) the impact of food processing on food quality, (2) hop flavour in beer, and (3) flavour generation through fermentation.

A/Prof. Eyres is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) and Chair of the Otago-Southland branch. He is an Associate Investigator at the Riddet Institute and a member of Food Waste Innovation, a University of Otago research theme.

Charles Spence

has consulted for many multinational companies, advising on various aspects of multisensory design, packaging, and branding. He has also researched human-computer interaction issues on the Crew Work Station on the European Space Shuttle. Prof. Spence and his group are currently working on problems associated with designing foods that maximally stimulate the senses (together with Heston Blumenthal, chef of The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray). His group also has a very active line of research on designing auditory, tactile, and multisensory warning signals for drivers and other interface operators (together with Toyota). Charles is also interested in the effect of the indoor environment on mood, well-being, and performance (together with ICI).

Dani Reed

graduated from Yale University, is the Chief Science Officer of Monell Chemical Senses Center, as well as the Member of Monell Chemical Senses Center. She is interested in why people differ in their sense of taste and smell and how inborn genotype contributes to these differences. For instance, some medicines taste extremely bitter to some people, whereas others perceive them as tasteless or nearly so. These differences are due in part to genetic variation in the bitter taste receptor genes, and these genotype differences can differ based on ancestry.

Her related work focused on why different SARS-Cov-2 variants differentially affect taste and smell, and we hope to develop methods to study this question.

Robert J. McGorrin

is a professor of flavor chemistry and past head of the Department of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University and joined the faculty in 2000. His career spans over 45 years of academic and food industry research in flavor chemistry and technology. Prior to OSU he conducted strategic research at Kraft Foods Research & Development in Glenview, IL and at the Quaker Oats Research Laboratory in Barrington, IL. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in organic/medicinal chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Prof. McGorrin’s flavor research includes (1) the identification of key aroma compounds in cheese and dairy foods, hazelnuts, and farm-raised seafood, (2) the chemistry and interaction among flavor and food components, and (3) the effects of processing and packaging on flavor and off-flavor generation. He has co-edited four books on Flavor-Food interactions, Dairy Flavor chemistry, Thermally Generated Flavors, and Thermal Generation of Aromas. Prof. McGorrin is an elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the Institute of Food Technologists, and a recipient of the ACS Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division’s Distinguished Service Award.

Keith R. Cadwallader

Received his B.S. degree from the University of Georgia, and his M.S. and PhD. degrees from the University of Florida. He worked as an assistant professor at Louisiana State University, as assistant/associate professor at Mississippi State University, and then joined the faculty of the University of Illinois, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) in 1999. He is currently a professor of food chemistry in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.

Prof. Cadwallader has made fundamental and applied contributions to our understanding of flavor chemistry and analysis. He received the 2007 Stephen S. Chang Award for Excellence in Lipid or Flavor Science (Institute of Food Technologists) and the 2021 FEMA Excellence in Flavor Science Award (Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States). In 2010, he was elected Fellow of the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division (American Chemical Society). He was awarded the University of Illinois 2016 College ACES Senior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research and the 2017 College of ACES Paul A. Funk Recognition Award, which is the College’s highest honor presented to faculty for outstanding achievement and major contributions to the betterment of agriculture, natural resources and human systems. Dr. Cadwallader was elected 2020 Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and 2021 Fellow of the American Chemical Society.