Who We Are

Co-Chairs

Vito Polito
Department of Plant Sciences

Charles Shoemaker
Department of Food Science & Technology

Sensory Analysis

Jean-Xavier Guinard
Professor and Sensory Scientist, Department of Food Science & Technology

Jean-Xavier specializes in the sensory properties of foods and beverages, how humans perceive them, and how these properties affect food intake and consumer behavior.

Hildegarde Heymann
Professor and Enologist, Department of Vitaculture & Enology

Hildegarde specializes in the sensory sciences and has evaluated numerous food and non-food products, including wine, meat, ice cream, cereals, juices, cat litter, soap, and toothpaste.

processing

Charlie W. Bamforth
Chair, Department of Food Science & Technology

Charlie specializes in the science of malting and brewing.

John Krochta
Professor & Engineer, Department of Food Science & Technology, Director RMI Center for Advanced Methods, Materials, and Processing

John specializes in edible films and coatings, primarily from whey protein.

Charles Shoemaker
Professor, Department of Food Science & Technology

Charles specializes in food emulsions, micelles, microemulsions, and food separations.

Maria Marco
Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Food Science & Technology

Maria specializes in the ecology and molecular genetics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), required for the production of many artisanal and industrial fermented plant, dairy, and meat products.

Diane M. Barrett
Director, RMI Center for Fruit and Vegetable Quality

Diane specializes in the effects of raw material characteristics and processing on the quality of fruit and vegetable products.

Sharon Shoemaker
Director & Professor, California Institute for Agricultural Research

Sharon is the author of several patents on novel yeast strains to convert biomass-to-ethanol and novel bacterial strains to produce new forms of cellulose.

Paul Singh
Professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Paul researches heat and mass transfer in foods during drying, thermal processing, immersion frying, air-impingement processing, freezing, and frozen storage.

nutrition & public health

Liz Applegate
Director, Sports Nutrition, Intercollegiate Athletics, Department of Nutrition

Liz is a nationally renowned expert on nutrition and fitness.

Linda J. Harris
Director of Research, Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, Extension Specialist

Linda is the author of the UC revised pamphlet on home-curing olives. She also specializes in microbial food safety and applied microbiology.

Bruce German
Professor and Chemist, Department of Food Science & Technology

Bruce specializes in dietary and metabolic regulation of lipid composition, oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, the physical properties of lipids, and metabolomics.

Clare M. Hasler
Executive Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine & Food Science

Clare is an expert in functional foods and the role of phytochemicals in disease prevention.

Sustainable Agriculture

Karen Klonsky
Extension Specialist in Sustainable Agriculture

Karen specializes in farm management and production, sustainable agriculture, and organic agriculture.

Tom Tomich
Director and Professor, Agricultural Sustainability Institute, Department of Environmental Science and Technology

Tom is the founding director of the new Agricultural Sustainability Institute, inaugural holder of the WK Kellogg Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, and a professor of community development in environmental science and policy.

Olive Mill Waste Management

Peter Green
Associate Research Engineer, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Peter specializes in pollutant sources, air quality, and water quality, including toxics, tracers, particles, dissolved organic matter, ecological impacts, and elemental speciation.

Rhuihong Zhang
Professor, Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering

Rhuihong researches bioenvironmental engineering, focusing on organic waste management and air quality control. Organic wastes include food scraps, agricultural and food processing by-products, animal manure, and municipal organic residuals.

Pest Management

Rachael Goodhue
Associate Professor at UC Davis in Agricultural Marketing and Organization, Industrial Organization, and Contracting

Rachael is currently conducting research on the economic impact of the olive fruit fly on California.

Frank Zalom
Professor, Department of Entomology

Frank specializes in olive fruit fly research and integrated pest management.

Marshall Johnson
Entomologist and IPM specialist, UC Riverside

Marshall researches pest management of grapes, stone fruit, almonds and walnuts, as well as biological control of arthropods and pesticide resistance in pests and natural enemies.

Olive Production

Joseph Connell
Extension Specialist in Butte county

Joe specializes in almonds, olives, citrus, subtropicals, and ornamentals.

Bill Krueger
Extension Advisor, Glenn and Tehama Counties

Bill specializes in olive related issues in Glenn County, including research on the olive fruit fly and mechanical harvesting techniques for table olives.

Paul Vossen
Extension Advisor, Sonoma & Marin Counties

Paul conducts an educational and research program in olive oil, tree fruit, berry, and vegetable production in order to preserve the biodiversity of Sonoma County.

Louise Ferguson
Extension Specialist in olives

Louise has done research into developing an ecologically based management system for the olive fruit fly.

Vito Polito
Professor, Department of Plant Sciences

Vito researches the reproductive biology of olives, emphasizing development, morphology, and cell biology of pollination and fruit set.

Economics, Finance, & Marketing

Christine M. Bruhn
Extension Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology

Christine focuses her research on consumer issues with food safety and quality, including consumer attitudes toward new food production methods or processing technologies.

Shermain Hardesty
Director, UC Small Farm Center, Cooperative Extension Specialist

Shermain specializes in specialty food marketing, finance, and the structure and roles of cooperatives.

Dan Sumner
Director and Professor, Agricultural Issue Center, Agricultural and Resource Economics

Dan specializes in agricultural policy, including commodity programs, trade policy, and human resources and regulations, with an emphasis on agricultural trade in the Pacific Rim (especially Korea), dairy industry issues, and rice policy.

Jeffrey Williams
Agricultural and Resource Economics

Jeffrey specializes in commodity markets, financial markets, finance, public finance, mathematical programming, econometrics, and economic history.

Jim Lapsley
Chair, Department of Science, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, UC Davis Extension

Jim is an internationally known author, winemaker, and instructor. His main areas of research are the economics of wine production and marketing and the history of California wine.

Travis Lybbert
Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Travis specializes in economic development and rural livelihoods in North Africa and the Middle East, where olives have become a central element in agricultural development and agribusiness.

Oil Chemistry

Edwin Frankel
Adjunct Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology

Edwin specializes in lipid oxidation & antioxidation in foods & biological systems. He is currently researching the oxidative stability and effect of natural antioxidants on oils, emulsions & foods containing docosahexaenoic acid and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Alyson Mitchell
Associate Professor and Food Chemist, Department of Food & Technology

Alyson specializes in the influence of phytochemicals and whole foods on human metabolism and health.