Arkansas Food Scientists in Top 10 for 'Scholarly Productivity'

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s department of food science was ranked in the top 10 nationally for “faculty scholarly productivity” by Academic Analytics, which recently released its 2006-2007 ranking of doctoral research programs at 357 universities and colleges.

In the agricultural sciences category, the University of Arkansas was ranked No. 22. Only two other Southeastern Conference schools, Florida and Kentucky, were also ranked in the top 25 for agriculture.

The index, partly financed by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, objectively rates scholarly output based on the number of book and journal articles published by faculty members, journal citations, awards, honors and grants received. Rankings are published online at http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity.

This is the third year of what Academic Analytics says is a purely objective measure of doctoral research programs in contrast to other rankings that rely heavily on reputation, says founder Lawrence Martin of Stony Brook. The company also provides a variety of studies to help institutions evaluate programs.

At No. 10, the Arkansas food science program, with 12 faculty members, is in the company of larger universities with double or triple the number of faculty members. Wisconsin is ranked No. 1., the University of California at Davis is No. 9, and Florida -- the only other Southeastern Conference school in the top 10 for food science -- is No. 8.

Twelve faculty members direct Division of Agriculture research and extension programs and teach courses for B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in food science awarded by the Fayetteville campus.

Ron Buescher, food science department head, said there are 45 undergraduate food science majors this fall and 38 students working on M.S. or Ph.D. degrees.

“Exciting and rewarding careers for our graduates are plentiful in Arkansas and the global food industry,” Buescher said. “Our graduates are hired to design and test new products and processing technologies, assure food quality and safety, and improve human nutrition and health.

“The high regard for our faculty in the food industry and research community assists with recruiting high quality students and placement of graduates in nationally competitive positions. The high rank serves to document that our faculty are among the best in the nation,” Buescher added.  

Research Programs. Buescher said Arkansas is nationally known for research in functionality and health benefits of foods; food microbiology and safety; food processing and packaging; rheology and sensory analysis; food carbohydrate, lipid (fat and oil) and protein chemistry; and developing value-added products using cereal, oil seed, fruit, vegetable and meat commodities important to Arkansas.

Areas of faculty expertise include the following.

• Terry Siebenmorgen directs a rice processing program supported by the Arkansas rice industry and processing companies to increase processing efficiency and the quality of rice products.
• Justin Morris directs the enology and viticulture program, which includes a patented system for mechanized vineyard management being tested in commercial wine vineyards in California.
• Jean-Francois Meullenet’s rheology and sensory analysis program develops new ways to evaluate food quality and consumer preferences. It includes a professional sensory panel that conducts tests for food industry clients.
• Functional foods research by Luke Howard is identifying bioactive components in foods and developing ways to improve their retention. The research identifies and characterizes health beneficial phytochemicals.
• Michael Johnson, Steve Ricke and Phil Crandall focus on food-borne pathogens and prevention of food-borne illnesses. Ricke holds the Donald “Buddy” Wray Chair in Food Safety and is director of the Division of Agriculture’s Center for Food Safety.
• Ruben Morawicki focuses on food processing issues such as byproduct utilization, waste management, energy efficiency and packaging.
• Research programs by Ya-Jane Wang, Navam Hetiarachchy and Andy Proctor focus on the chemistry and functionality of three primary food components of carbohydrates, protein and lipids, respectively. They address issues that impact food quality and functionality. They also develop new products such as edible protein film coatings for fresh food, soy oil with enhanced conjugated linoleic acid content, health-promoting oligosaccharides and probiotics (beneficial bacteria).

Each program area includes a staff of supporting scientists and graduate students who contribute to the nationally ranked scholarly productivity of the faculty, Buescher said.