Handbook of Sustainability for the Food Sciences

Ruben O. Morawicki, Ph.D., The Author has 6-year degree in Chemical Engineering from Argentina, a Masters in Industrial Engineering with concentration in Engineering Management from State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in Food Science from the Pennsylvania State University. During his graduate school years, he also took classes at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), in Syracuse New York, when he became an advocate of environmental issues. Dr. Morawicki's career as a scientist started in Argentina where he worked as a research scientist for five years in the area or simultaneous heat and mass transfer during drying of food products. He moved to the US in 1997 to pursue graduate studies. After graduating with his Ph.D. in 2002, he immediately joined Tyson Foods as a Senior Research Scientist and work in the area of development of new products from industrial co-products. In January of 2005, he left the corporate world to become a Faculty member at the Food Science Department at the University of Arkansas in the rank of Assistant Professor in Food Processing and Packaging. Currently, besides teaching Food Processing, the author leads a research program on Green Food Processing with focus on the development of technologies that minimize the environmental impact of food processing plants and create sustainable practices for the food industry. Some of his research interests are: The replacement of energy intensive processes by alternative technologiesUtilization of co-products from the food industry and agricultural commodities to generate value-added productsUse of waste streams to produce or isolate valuable compounds or fuelProcess OptimizationGreen technologies applied to food processing and packaging The author has a very well rounded and diverse academic background in the areas of management, chemical engineering, food sciences, and the environmental. This background - that is strongly complemented with industrial experience in the largest protein animal producer in the world - gives Dr. Morawicki a clear view of the broad picture that is necessary to write a book of this nature as a single author.