Veeramani Karuppuchamy was awarded a Seligman APV Travel Bursary to attend the Conference of Food Engineering (CoFE) 2024 held in August 2024, in Seattle, USA. Read his report below.
'The CoFE is organised every two years and brings together various researchers in food engineering. This conference is unique in a way that the primary focus is on the food engineering, unlike other conferences that focus on multiple aspects of food science and technology. The CoFE 2024 started with an opening mixer on August 25.
'Day 2 of the event started with a plenary session on “Research needs and funding opportunities for the food industry of the future”. The session had speakers from the industry, academia, and government. I learnt a lot from the talks on the areas where current research needs to focus. Following the plenary session, I participated in the technical session “Alternative processing technologies: Limitations and opportunities”. There were five very interesting research studies on technologies like ultraviolet C, pulsed electric field, and Ohmic heating. In the afternoon, I attended a second technical session titled "Food materials science” that delved into the physicochemical properties of food materials and modelling the processes as they undergo various operations in the food industry. I presented my poster during the allotted time to many students and researchers. My research investigates the utilisation of a food industry byproduct in food application using twin-screw extrusion. I also had an opportunity to see the exciting work presented by other student researchers. It was amazing to know about the cutting edge research studies happening across the globe in the areas of food engineering. Following this, I attended the final technical session “Food engineering education”. The presenters discussed the ways in which the food engineering curriculum needs to be modified to attract and retain the prospective students to the food engineering discipline.
'Sustainability was the major theme for Day 3 starting with a plenary session on “Sustainability in the food world”. The first technical session on Day 3 was “Sustainable food systems”. The presentations detailed different ways in which sustainability can be achieved in the food sector. In the afternoon, I participated in the session “Waste utilisation”. The presentations discussed the ways in which food industry byproducts like acid whey, soymeal waste and oat husk can be utilised to produce valuable bioactives. I chose to attend the final session for the day on “Advances in Food Technologies I”. Finally, the student division of Society of Food Engineering (SoFE-SD) hosted an event about how to prepare for a career in the food industry. Five experienced industry professionals shared their experiences and offered valuable insights for the student attendees. The panelists emphasised the importance of being flexible to learn new skills to excel in today’s job market.
'The final day of CoFE 2024 started with a plenary session on “Information technologies in food industry”. The two presenters gave an excellent presentation on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the food industry and how AI can be utilised to improve the efficiency of operations in the food processing along with real world examples. The last session of the CoFE 2024 was “High pressure processing”. While the HPP has been studied for a while, the recent innovations are very interesting. I am also planning to apply HPP as part of my dissertation research.
'This was my first time attending the CoFE and I had a great time and was very impressed with the conference and excellent programme. I had an opportunity to meet with accomplished food engineering researchers around the world. It was a great networking opportunity for a student/early career researcher like me to get very valuable suggestions that I can implement in my role. Knowing the research activities being done at various institutions will be helpful to conduct any collaborative research projects. I would be very interested in attending the next CoFE event.
'My participation and the wealth of information I gained would not have been possible without the generous support of Seligman Trust. It was an honor to be selected as one of the recipients of this Seligman APV travel bursary. I once again thank the award committee for the travel grant and highly encourage other students to apply for the Seligman APV Travel Bursary.'
Veeramani Karuppuchamy
PhD Candidate
Ohio State University
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