August 2021 | AIChE

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August 2021

Chris Simmons

Dr. Simmons' research focuses on improving energy and water use efficiency in food processing by reclaiming energy from waste biomass streams and developing strategies for waste water treatment and recycling. Specifically, high-throughput, massively parallel sequencing and bioinformatics approaches are used to characterize microbial communities that are able to deconstruct waste biomass into fermentable sugars under industrial conditions. These data are used to discover enzymes and molecular pathways that can improve industrial bioconversion of waste biomass into biofuels. Additionally,...Read more

Darren Cagle

Greg Curtzwiler

Dr. Greg Curtzwiler is an Assistant Professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at Iowa State University and is affiliated with the Polymer and Food Protection Consortium. His research is focused on sustainable materials for packaging and coatings in the food industry including bio-based, biodegradable, and recycled polymers.

Dr. Curtzwiler received a B.S. in Biochemistry and M.S. in Polymers and Coatings Science from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA. He received a Doctorate in Polymer Science and Engineering from The University of Southern Mississippi...Read more

Ned Spang

Dr. Spang’s research focuses on characterizing and optimizing the efficiency of linked water, energy, and food resource systems. He is particularly interested in applying methods for measuring and monitoring these systems and their interrelationships in high-resolution and across multiple scales, both geographic and temporal.

He further seeks to understand the influence of external markets, technological innovation, and policies on this integrated food-water-energy nexus. His recent publications explore the linked relationship between water and energy resource systems, the...Read more

Timothy Childs

Timothy Childs is a parallel entrepreneur, supertaster and award-winning innovator whose personal approach to creative disruption champions the deployment of new systems to update archaic industries. A pioneer in the food+technology space, Timothy is co-founder and CEO of Treasure8, a San Francisco-based food innovation and technology company on a mission to solve the nutritional challenges and environmental stresses of a growing global population. Timothy and his team develop, patent, and deploy game-changing, delicious food ingredients, processes, and products that are healthier for...Read more

Dan Kruzrock

Dan Kurzrock is the Co-Founder and Chief Grain Officer of ReGrained, a mission-driven ingredient platform that leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. 

Dan spent his free time in college brewing his own beer. After he was finished with each batch, he was blown away with the amount of grain was left over. For every 6-pack he brewed, he had almost a pound of grain that he would throw in the trash, a by-product of the brewing process. Overtime, he grew uneasy with how much waste the process was creating and wondered if there was a better way to...Read more

Karli Verghese

Associate Professor Karli Verghese is a Principal Research Fellow in the Industrial Design program of the School of Design, RMIT University, Melbourne. Her research projects have included the development of decision support tools for packaging, resource efficiency, food waste, Eco-design and one currently being developed for Australia's Antarctic research station (Casey). Research themes include the role of packaging, packaging sustainability, food loss/waste across supply chains, resource efficiency, waste management, and life cycle assessment.Read more

Susan Selke

Susan E. Selke is a Professor Emeritus at the Michigan State University School of Packaging, where she had been a faculty member for 30+ years. She received a Distinguished Faculty Award from MSU in 2012. She holds MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Michigan State.

Her research interests include environmental impacts of packaging; sustainability; plastics recycling; biodegradable and biobased plastics; composites of plastics with natural fibers; life cycle assessment; nanotechnology and packaging, and other areas. She has authored or coauthored several books on...Read more

Claire Sand

Claire Sand is a Global Packaging Leader with 30+ years of broad experience in the food science and packaging spectrum. She leads food packaging efforts involving packaging solutions to food waste and more sustainable packaging, as well as provides compelling technology business cases and implementation roadmaps to ease the path of innovative technologies.

Dr. Sand is Owner and Founder of Packaging Technology and Research, LLC and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and CalPoly as well as Food Technology’s monthly Packaging columnist. She...Read more

Michael Okoroafor

Michael Okoroafor is McCormick’s Vice President, Global Sustainability and Packaging Innovation.  In his role, he is responsible for the strategic direction, policies, development, and execution of agricultural, ingredient, product and packaging sustainability, as well as global packaging innovation.

Dr. Okoroafor joined McCormick in March of 2015 as Vice President, Global Packaging Innovation.  Prior to his tenure at McCormick, he was Vice President for Packaging and R&D at H.J. Heinz Company, where he was responsible for setting overall global strategy and...Read more

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