Department News

Stocking Hall auditorium name will honor PepsiCo

March 29th, 2013By Amanda Garris, Ph.D. '04

The Department of Food Science is recognizing a proven supporter and advocate for food science excellence at Cornell with the naming of one of the premier educational spaces in the renovated Stocking Hall. Next fall, students in several large food science courses will attend classes in the newly designated PepsiCo Auditorium.

“PepsiCo has initiated innovative research projects, supported under graduate education in food science, and is our partner in developing programs to retool the workforce in New York State and around the world,” said Dennis Miller, Ph.D. ‘78, professor and chair of the Department of Food Science. “We are pleased to recognize their generosity by naming the auditorium in honor of the company.”

The 124-seat auditorium will be used for large classes, department seminars and special events, such as scientific conferences. Its design caters to specialized sensory learning; for courses where eating or drinking are often required, the space will be equipped with technologies that allow students to electronically register responses to their sensory perceptions and see the data analyzed in real time.

“PepsiCo is proud to support Cornell, as it is home to one of the country’s premier food science departments that is doing cutting-edge research to better understand food, nutrition and agriculture in ways that will lead to important new discoveries,” said Greg Yep, the senior vice president for long-term research at PepsiCo.

PepsiCo has many ties to Cornell. Two of its scientists, alumni Kirk Kealey, M.S. ’78, Ph.D. ’85, director of raw material food safety, and Jonathan Licker, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’99, senior manager for research and development in snack seasonings and flavors, are currently serving on the Cornell Institute of Food Science Advisory Council. The company is also a significant supporter of the Food Science Excellence Endowment Fund and numerous sponsored research programs that cut across several CALS departments, including food science.

“Support for the Excellence Fund is particularly meaningful because the endowment structure will help sustain the department over the long term,” Miller said. “It will provide critical support for the department as we grow and enhance our programs in teaching, research and extension.”

GLOBAL EXCHANGES

Cornell has global aspirations, and working with a global company like PepsiCo is enabling CALS to build its expertise abroad, including new ties to the Russian dairy industry.

A team of six scientists and extension specialists led by Carmen Moraru, associate professor of food science, was dispatched in January to help PepsiCo assess the operational efficiencies of a key dairy facility located just outside of Moscow. Their purpose was to help PepsiCo align production quality and measurable standards with an overarching aim of assessing areas for continuous improvement.

This fall, associate professors of animal science Tom Overton ‘91 and Mike Van Amburgh, Ph.D. ‘96, along with Daryl Van Nydam, DVM 1997, Ph.D. ‘02, associate professor of population medicine and diagnostic sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will welcome Russian dairy farmers to campus for workshops on dairy production.

“This collaboration with PepsiCo is a great opportunity to strengthen the global reach of Cornell’s expertise, and we value the opportunity to share our experience,” Overton said.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

PepsiCo employees closer to home are also benefitting from joint efforts in workforce development with a training program for workers at the new Muller Quaker yogurt facility in Batavia, N.Y. Led by Cornell’s Food Science Dairy Extension Team, a comprehensive training program has been developed in partnership with a regional alliance including the Genesee County Economic Development Center, Ecolab, Inc., the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, and the Food Processing Cluster Initiative from Rochester’s Institute of Technology.

The curricula being shared with PepsiCo and the resulting increase in dairy expertise among the workforce is playing an important role in the continuing economic development of the Upstate region.

“Dairy is one of the most regulated industries, and many of the regulations will be new to workers recruited from other manufacturing sectors,” said Tristan Zuber ‘08, dairy processing specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s regional Harvest New York project.

“This holistic program will cover everything from basic micro and food safety regulations to make sure the processing will result in a safe and high quality product.”

PepsiCo also continues to be a supporter of the Food Science Summer Scholars Program, which brings top undergraduates from around the country to Cornell for an intensive research and mentoring program designed to cultivate the next generation of food scientists.

“PepsiCo has been one of the major supporters of the Summer Scholars program, and they continue to hire graduates of the program,” said Martin Wiedmann, Ph.D. ‘97, professor of food science. “It’s a classic win-win situation.”

“There is no finer example of a public-private partnership than what the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has with PepsiCo,” added Joseph Vinciquerra, director of corporate and foundation relations. “The intersection of academic research, economic and workforce development, and critical support through philanthropy is the very definition of a mutually beneficial relationship between industry and university.”