This area focuses on food ingredients, properties and interactions, as well as food microstructures, micro-carriers, and nanotechnology for developing novel, nutritious, abundant, and affordable foods.

Faculty researching this area

Nicki Engeseth

Department Head and Professor

Food Chemistry: impact of environmental growing conditions, processing and storage on oilseed and fruit and vegetable quality and nutritional value, with emphasis on enzymatic action, lipids and natural antioxidants.

Nicki's Illinois Experts Research Output

Hans Blaschek

Professor Emeritus

Food and Biomass Microbiology: genetic and physiological manipulation of clostridia; plant cell wall deconstruction; fermentation.

Hans's Illinois Experts Output

Keith Cadwallader

Professor

Flavor Chemistry: chemistry and analysis of food flavor; development and application of instrumental and sensory methods of analysis; flavor development; physical chemistry of flavor systems.

Keith's Illinois Experts Research Output

Hao Feng

Professor of Food and Bioprocess Engineering, Site Director of Center for Advanced Research in Drying (CARD)

Food Engineering and Processing: novel food processing and preservation technologies, acoustic energy (ultrasound) and its use in food and bioproduct processing, food safety intervention technologies for fresh and fresh-cut produce, new dehydration (drying) technologies, heat and mass transfer analysis.

Hao's Illinois Experts Research Output

Youngsoo Lee

Associate Professor

Food processing, rheology, and microencapsulation: microencapsulation of bioactive compounds and probiotics, rheology and texture of food, soy protein processing, and extrusion. 

Youngsoo's Illinois Experts Research Output

Shelly Schmidt

Professor

Food chemistry: characterization of water and solids mobility, typically using water activity, isotherms, glass transition temperature and NMR, in food materials and their relationship to the physical, chemical, and microbial stability of food systems.

Shelly's Illinois Experts Research Output

Pawan Takhar

Professor

Porous media modeling of fluid and species transport in biomaterials; biopolymer thermomechanics; transport processes such as frying, drying and sorption; biopolymer expansion during extrusion; modeling at the nanoscale; continuum thermodynamics based fluid-biopolymer interactions; predicting quality changes in foods during processing.

Pawan's Illinois Experts Research Output

Yi-Cheng Wang

Assistant Professor

Food Safety and Engineering: rapid diagnostic technologies for the detection of foodborne contaminants; novel active/intelligent packaging; engineering technologies for improving food safety and quality; chemical and physical interactions among functional materials, environmental factors, foodborne contaminants, and food and biological products.

Yi-Cheng's Illinois Experts Research Output