Dr. Zihua Ao received his B.S. degree in Food Engineering and M.S. degree in Fruit Science from Nanjing Agricultural University , China .  He earned a Ph.D. degree in Food Science at Southern Yangtze University (former Wuxi University of Light Industry) in December 2000.  In July of 2001, he joined Dr. Jan-lin Jane’s group at Iowa State University as a post-doc research associate.  His research involved studying starch structures and properties, and investigating effect of starch molecular structure on enzyme hydrolysis.  January 2005, he started working in the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research at Purdue University under Dr. Bruce Hamaker direction.  His current research focuses on the fundamentals of slowly digestible starch.

Dr. Adam Aboubacar earned a B.S. degree at Kansas State University, then an M.S. degree (1991) at Purdue under the direction of Dr. Allen Kirleis.  He joined Dr. Hamaker's research group in 1993 after a return to his home country, Niger.  His Ph.D. research project involved determination of starch and grain properties that affect the quality of sorghum-based couscous.  He was also involved with setting up an entrepreneurial-scale, couscous processing unit in Niger.  Adam was awarded his Ph.D. degree in December 1997, is working as a post-doctoral Research Associate in Dr. Hamaker’s lab, and is seeking employment.  Adam assumed a teaching/research position at University of Wisconsin-Stout in August 2003.

Alison Barth graduated from Cornell University (January 2002) with a B.S. in Food Science.  Following a six-month research position at Cornell, she joined Dr. Hamaker’s group in the Fall of 2002 in pursuit of a M.S. degree in Food Science with a focus in Cereal Chemistry.  Her project focuses on the relationship between sorghum starch structure and functionality.       

Betty Bugusu joined Dr. Hamaker’s group in January 1998 to pursue her graduate degrees.  Betty comes from the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute and received her B.S. degree from Egerton University in Kenya in 1991.  Betty works on the USAID-funded INTSORMIL project.  Her M.S. research focused on improving the functionality of non-wheat proteins in breadmaking systems.  She received her degree in May 2000 and is continuing her doctoral work studying slowly digesting starches.  

Yash Burgula is from Hyderabad, India.  After graduating in June 1998 with a Bachelors degree in Dairy Technology from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India he worked with Smithkline Beecham Consumer Healthcare (now GlaxoSmithkline) as a part of  their Operations team on the Horlicks TM manufacturing process. Yash then moved to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in June 2000 for his MS in Food Science. He graduated from UMN in April, 2003 where his research focused on food safety issues related to detection of Salmonella in cultured dairy products. Yash also worked for General Mills Inc, Golden Valley, MN at their James Ford Bell Technical Center as a Process Development Intern for 8 months in their Extrusion Processing Group. He joined Dr Mauer’s group in May, 2003 and his current research interests include working on developing FT-IR methods for detection of microbial contaminants in food for the development of a rapid detection device in collaboration with researchers in Mechanical Engineering Department at Purdue.

Hui Hui Chong, from Malaysia , earned a B.S degree in Food Science from Purdue University in May 2002.  She joined Dr. Reuhs group in August 2002 to pursue a M.S degree.  Her research involves the quality of pectin and its effect on processed tomato products.  She spent the summer of 2001 working as a quality control intern at Kroger Crossroad Farms Dairy, Indianapolis .  The following summer, she was an intern at Alcoa Closure Systems International, Inc., working primarily on research and development of plastic caps for beverage containers and extended-shelf-life packaging.   

Diego Granizo, from Ecuador, earned a B.S. degree in Agriculture with a focus on Food Technology from Zamorano University, Honduras. Prior to entering Purdue's M.S. program in Food Science, he had an internship in citrus production and processing in Bradenton, Florida. Diego joined Dr. Lisa Mauer’s group in August 2001. His research project concentrates on determining hydration phenomena and sensory characteristics of prebiotics in dairy beverages.   

Xianzhong Han obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in plant biology from Hangzhou University in the P.R.C. in 1982 and 1987, and received a second M.S. degree in cereal chemistry from Montana State University in 1996.  He joined Dr. Hamaker’s lab in January 1998.  His Ph.D. research involves a study of the relationship of starch granular and fine structure to functionality.  Han graduated in 2001 and is now a post-doctoral Research Associate under the supervision of Dr. Hamaker.  Han is currently working with Tate and Lyle in Decatur, Illinois.   

David Gonzalez graduated from Texas AM University (December 2001) with a B.S. in Food Engineering.  Upon completion of M.S. degree requirements, which include an investigation of the effect of endoxylanases on pasta production,  David will start his Ph.D. studies in Dr. Campanella’s lab focusing on the study of rheological changes in cereal processing and their effects on the physico-chemical properties of the product.  

Dr. Yulin Ji received her B.S. in Chemistry from Wuhan University and her M.S. in Physical Chemistry from Peking University . Her Master's thesis research focused on protein crystallography. She completed her Ph.D. degree at Iowa State University in Fall 2002. Her Ph.D. project was to investigate structure-function relationship of starch. Yulin is now working with Dr. BeMiller as a PostDoc, studying starch granule structure and its relation to reactivity.  Dr. Ji returned to Iowa December 2003.

Dr. Hyesook Son Lim earned a Ph.D. (1990) in the Department of Food Science at Kansas State University, followed by three years of post-doctoral studies in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, which in turn was followed by four years as a Research Associate in the Center for Advanced Food Science and Technology at Korea University.  With Dr. BeMiller, she is developing a new method of sugar analysis.  

Behic Mert earned a B.S. degree in Food Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey.  After working in the bakery industry for two years as food engineer, he began as a Master’s degree student at Michigan State University in 1998.  His M.S. research involved improving mechanical and barrier properties of whey protein isolate films as a packaging material.  He came to Purdue in January 2000 and is now a Ph.D. student of  Dr. Campanella.  His Ph.D. thesis research involves rheological characterization of materials with acoustical methods.  

Dr. Tuula Ojanen-Reuhs, from Finland, received a Ph.D. degree in microbiology from University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2000.  Her thesis research topic was cell-surface polysaccharides and proteins of Xanthomonas campestris.  She did postdoctoral work at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center of the University of Georgia, where she studied polysaccharide function in Medicago truncatula-Sinorhizobium meliloti symbiosis, M. truncatula, which is closely related to alfalfa, is being used as the model legume.  In November 2001, she began post-doctoral work.  Her research involves the analysis of complex polysaccharides from plants and bacteria.

Belén Prado, from Honduras, began pursuit of an M.S. degree following an internship in Purdue’s Food Science department and graduation from Zamarono Pan American School of Agriculture in Honduras.  Her research concentrates on the role of soluble branched and linear glucans of differing molecular weights on the textural properties of adhesiveness and cohesiveness.  She works under the advisement of  Dr. Hamaker.  

Kelly Anne Ross joined Dr. Campanella’s research group in August of 1999.  She earned a B.S. degree with distinction in Food Science in 1996 from the University of Manitoba, and obtained an M.S. degree in Food Science from the same university in 1999.  Her Master’s thesis research involved studying the texture of french fries from a fundamental mechanics approach.  Prior to officially graduating and starting her studies at Purdue, Kelly interned at the Procter & Gamble Company.  Kelly’s Ph.D. program involves completing courses required to become an ABET accredited engineer while performing research directed towards characterizing the phenomenon of extrudate expansion and the mechanical properties of extrudates.   

Jonathan A. Stapley entered our graduate program in August 2000, having been awarded one of Purdue’s prestigious Frederick N. Andrews Doctoral Fellowships.  Jonathan graduated with a B.S. degree from the Department of Food Science, Brigham Young University.  While an undergraduate student, he was employed as summer interns at West Agro (Kansas City) (twice) and at Nestle SA (Amiens, France).  He also did an 8-month internship at W.K. Kellogg Institute of Food and Nutrition.  Jonathan’s major advisor is Dr. BeMiller.  The goal of his thesis project is to determine if there are subpopulations of starch granules that react differently from other populations.   

Agung Tandjung graduated with a B.S. degree in Food Science from Purdue and joined Dr. Hamaker’s group in August 1998 in the M.S. degree program.  Originally from Indonesia , Agung came to the U.S. in 1995 following a year-and-a-half of study in British Columbia.  He recently obtained his M.S. degree on work on the role of corn zein protein in the functionality of breakfast cereal products.  His Ph.D. research is focused on popcorn quality.  

Ilan Weiss earned a B.S. in Food Science with a minor in chemistry from the University of Minnesota in March 1999. He then worked for two years in R&D at Gadot Biochemical Industries Ltd. located in Haifa, Israel. Ilan joined Dr. Lisa Mauer’s lab group in June 2002. His research focuses on determining the feasibility of wheat product utilization for long-term space missions.  

Sung Ho Lee earned his B.S. degree in Food Science and Technology and M.S. degree in Agricultural Biotechnology from Seoul National University, Korea.  His M.S. research involved modulation of cyclizing and hydrolyzing activity of thermostable cyclodextrin glucanotransferase and its application as antistaling enzyme.  He joined Dr. Hamaker’s group in January 2001 to pursue a Ph.D. degree.  His research project was on structural properties of hard-to-digest proteins and its relationship to potential allergenicity.   In July 2006 Sung Ho joined Dr. BeMiller's lab to work on identification of lipids and starch granules.

Alecia Shand graduated with a B.Sc. in General Chemistry & Food Chemistry from The University of the West Indies, Mona in her homeland Jamaica. She then worked for The Scientific Research Council in Jamaica for 1 1/2 years and in Fall 2005, she joined Dr. Mauer's group at Purdue University to do her M.S. degree in Food Science. Her research focus is to recommend cultivars, preservation methods and storage conditions to optimize food quality and nutrient profile of the stored food system, including bulk ingredients and the fresh food system for NASA.