News

8/25/2025 Welcome Yu to join our group as Ph.D. student! Yu will be co-advised by Dr. Justin Barone at BSE department, and he will be focusing on developing sustainable packaging materials. 

8/1/2024 Our collaborated proposal on the "CyberFarm" has been funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia Node! This project will be led by Dr. Feras Batarseh, along with Matt Wolfe @ VT-ARC and Zeb Bowden @ VTTI-DTDD  to organize The Commonwealth’s 1st CyberAg Datathon! More to come soon. 

7/25/2024 We welcome our new group member, Dr. Ran Yang, joining us as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow! Dr. Yang received her BS in Jiangnan University, MS in University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS), and Ph.D. in University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  Check out this link to learn more about Dr. Yang: https://www.research.vt.edu/about/postdoctoral-associates/virginia-tech-presidential-postdoctoral-fellowships/current-fellows/yang-ran.html

7/10/2024 Our collaborated review paper entitled "Valorization of Seafood Waste for Food Packaging Development" has been accepted by Foods, congratulations all! Check it out here: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/13/13/2122

5/22/2024 Our paper entitled "Rapid and Non-destructive Determination of Oil Content and Distribution of Potato Chips Using Hyperspectral Imaging and Chemometrics" has been accepted by ACS Food Science & Technology, congratulations all! Check it out here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00196

5/17/2024 Our collaborated seed proposal entitled "A Cellulose Nanofibril-Enabled solution for Passive Cooling Food Packaging" is funded by the US Forest Service. This research will be led by Dr. Qing Jin at University of Maine.

5/12/2024 Our group member, Nikhita, will be finishing her MS degree in Virginia Tech. She will be joining ServiceNow in Santa Clara, CA. Congrulations and good luck!

5/8/2024 We received equipment donation from PepsiCo, which includes a suite of comprehensive material testing & characterization instuments including DSC, DTC and TGA, worth a total of $360,000. This donation will significantly expand our capacity in transforming seafood byproduct into valuable materials. We appreciate Dr. Yang, Lena, and Zach for streamline the process!

4/12/2024 Our collaborated proposal entitled "Evaluating the Impact of Saline Water Usage on the Quality of Fruits and Vegetables in Aquaponic Systems" is funded by the Virginia Agricultural Council. This research will be led by Dr. nicholas Romano at Virginia State University, and collaborated with Dr. Natasha Bell at the BSE department.

4/11/2024 Our collaborated proposal entitled "A comparative study to investigate the nutrition, flavor and consumer acceptance differences between Virginia blue catfish and farm-raised catfish" is funded by the Virginia Agricultural Council. This research will be collaborated with Dr. Renata Carneiro and Dr. Sean O'Keefe at FST department and Dr. Katheryn Parraga-Estrada at VSAREC.

3/19/2024 Our group member, Yue will be finishing her exchange program and leave Virginia Tech. She will be joining Wuxi AppTec in Suzhou, China after finishing her PhD defense. Congrulations and good luck!

1/12/2024 Our collaborated proposal entitled "Expanding the Aquaponics Industry in Virginia: Collaboration for Climate-Smart Agriculture Growth" is funded by the ICTAS. This research will be led by Dr. Natasha Bell at the BSE department,  and collaborated with faculties in VT and VSU with highly multi-disciplinary background!

11/1/2023 Our proposed work entitled "Control of strawberry pathogens by nano-encapsulated oils extracted from citrus fruit waste" is funned by the USDA-SCBGP program through CDFA! This research will be collaborated with Dr. Shashika Shivanthi Hewavitharana and Dr. Lauren Garner at Cal Poly. We appreciate the support from USDA and Cal Poly. 

7/21/2023 Our proposed work entitled "Sorting technologies for surf clams" is funded by the NSF-IUCRC program! We appreicate the support from NSF and University of Southern Missisippi. This research will be collaborated with Mr. Robert Lane, Dr. Jonathan van Senten and Dr. Fernando Goncalves at VSAREC. 

5/25/2023 Our proposed work entitled "Hyperspectral imaging for the real-time detection of microplastic particles in seafoods" is funded by the 4-VA program! We appreciate the support from the TLOS and the Virginia Tech Provost's Office. This research will be collaborated with Dr. Zhiwu Wang at Virginia Tech, Dr. Sandeep Kumar at Old Dominion University and Dr. Benoit Van Aken at George Mason University. 

5/17/2023 Our proposed work entitled "Comprehensive Utilization of Olive Byproduct for Improved Economic Feasibility and Environmental Sustainability" is funded by the USDA-SCBGP program. This research will be collaborated with Dr. Stephanie Jung at Cal Poly, Dr. Selina Wang at UC Davis and Dr. Haibo Huang at Virginia Tech. 

3/25/2023 Feng joins Virginia Tech as an assistant professor and extension specialist in Virginia Seafood AREC and Department of Biological Systems Engineering. 

12/15/2022 Congratulate to Kylie for winning the Fall 2022 CSUPERB Student Travel Grant! 

10/17/2022 We presented our ice cream research progress at Dairy products, processing & packaging innovation conference, and the presentation was featured by the Cheese Market News. Check out at (https://www.cheesemarketnews.com/stories.html#story5). 

9/19/2022 We welcome our new group member, Ningjing Hua, as a new MS student in food science! Ningjing obtained her BS degree in environmental science and management from Peking University and AOS in Baking and Pastry Arts from The Culinary Institute of America. She will work on a project that converts food waste to biochar for wastewater treatment to help California alleviate from critical water shortage. 

8/29/2022 Our collaborated manuscript with Dr. Wenjun Wang at Zhejiang University "Continuous flow modulates zein nanoprecipitation solvent environment to obtain colloidal particles with high curcumin loading" was accepted for publication at Food Hydrocolloids. Check out https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268005X22006099

8/11/2022  Our collaborated manuscript with Dr. Yun Yin at Virginia Tech "Encapsulation of hop (Humulus lupulus L.) essential oil for controlled release in the non-alcoholic beverage application" was accepted for publication at Food Hydrocolloids. Check out https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268005X22005598

6/23/2022 Our research proposal entitled "Machine Learning Assisted Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Real-Time Food Safety and Quality Monitoring" was funded by the CSU-Agricultural Research Initiative (ARI) seed grant. We would like to thank the CSU-ARI for the great support. 

3/4/2022 Congratulations to Kylie for being accepted to the blended MS program! Kylie will be working on two research projects on sodium reduction in cheese and sugar replacement in ice cream. Greatest appreciation to the California Milk Advisory Board and Cal Poly Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education (R-EDGE) for the generous support. 

1/5/2022 Congratulations to Kate for being sponsored for the Baker/Koob Endowments to conduct undergraduate research!

7/16/2021 Co-authored manuscript entitled 'Renewable fatty acid ester production in Clostridium' was accepted by Nature Communications (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24038-3 OPEN)

7/1/2021 Congratulations to Kaitlyn for receiving the CSUPERB Presidents' Commission Award to conduct undergraduate research on food waste valorization! We thank the CSUPERB for supporting undergraduate research projects!

5/22/2021 Co-authored manuscript entitled 'Complexing hemp seed protein with pectin for improved emulsion stability' was accepted by Journal of Food Science (Experimental Work performed at Virginia Tech) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.15810

3/11/2021 Congratulation to Kate for receiving the Hany Khalil Scholarship to conduct undergraduate research on food waste valorization!

1/4/2021 Started @ Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo as an Assistant Professor