(414a) Opportunities and Challenges Mingling Chemical Engineering into a Graduate Course of Food Colloids

Excellent opportunities are present to integrate chemical engineering with food science curricula. This is especially important in the context that food science has evolved from commodity-based to fundamental research. Food Colloids is such a course because numerous food systems are colloidal in nature and understanding fundamentals is important for improving food quality. However, food science curricula are significantly different from chemical engineering. Instructing such a Food Colloids course needs to consider the shortage of students' preparation in physics, mathematics and other factors. This paper describes the approaches used in a one-credit, introductory graduate-level Food Colloids course. One of the key emphases was to link fundamentals with specific foods. Students' feedbacks were mostly positive in that they experienced the connection between fundamental theories with realistic products. The approaches used may also be adaptable to educate chemical engineering students since food systems are familiar examples offering excellent opportunities to elucidate fundamental principles.