St. Paul, Minn. (October 27, 2008) — AACC International is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2008 honorary awards. The awards were presented on Monday, September 22, during the AACC International Annual Meeting in Honolulu, HA. This year’s award recipients include:
Jan Delcour, a professor in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, received the William F. Geddes Memorial Award, one of the association’s highest honors. The Geddes award is given in recognition of the leadership and dedication of the late William F. Geddes. Created in 1961, this award honors the zeal and unselfish industry of an individual member and emphasizes the importance of his or her contributions to the work of the society.
C.V. Ton van Vliet has been honored with the C. W. Brabender Award. Ton van Vliet is an associate professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and project leader at TI Food and Nutrition. Currently, he is project leader of “Crispy/Crunchy Behaviors of Cellular Solid Foods.” This award was established to honor the distinguished contributions to the application of rheology in milling and baking.
Barry McCleary, Megazyme International Ireland Ltd. CEO, received the Edith Christensen Award for Outstanding Contribution in Analytical Methods. This award recognizes scientific and technical contributions that have advanced the grain science field. McCleary’s research is focused on the use of enzymes to modify, characterize, and measure carbohydrate polymers. His measurement methods are used in industry and research worldwide.
Christophe Courtin was awarded the association’s Young Scientist Research Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in basic and applied research to cereal science with the expectation that contributions will continue. Courtin is an associate professor of food biochemistry at the Laboratory of Food Chemistry at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He centers his research on cereal nonstarch polysaccharides, the enzymes that degrade them, and inhibitors that affect those enzymes.
The 2008 AACC Intl. Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to Deborah Rogers, AIB International. This award honors an AACC International member and teacher who has made significant contributions through teaching in the broad field of cereal science and technology. Rogers spent the first 18 years of her career in research at Kansas State University and AIB. Rogers developed “Principles of Cereal Science and Technology” as one of KSU’s first Distance Learning courses. Since 1995, she has focused her teaching on AIB’s Bakery Science and Technology course and many other varied seminars as an adjunct professor at KSU.
Louise Slade and Harry Levine have received the association’s Applied Research Award. This award is given to an individual or a team for their significant body of distinguished contributions to the application of science in the cereals area. Recipients of the award are also accorded the status of AACC Intl. Fellow for their contributions leading to this award. Slade, who retired in 2006 as a Kraft Foods/Nabisco Biscuit research fellow after 27 years in R&D with General Foods, Nabisco, and Kraft, heads her own consulting business, Food Polymer Science Consultancy. Slade and Levine have developed an innovative research program in food polymer science. Levine, an associate of Food Polymer Science Consultancy, retired in 2006 as a Kraft Foods/Nabisco Research Fellow after 30 years in R&D with General Foods, Nabisco, and Kraft. Levine has 29 U.S. patents for novel food ingredients, products, and processes.
Domenico Lafiandra, a full professor in the Department of Agrobiology and Agrochemistry at the University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy, has received the Thomas Burr Osborne Medal. Lafriandra’s research focuses on genetics, biochemical and molecular aspects of wheat storage protein, the relationship between protein composition and quality characteristics of durum and bread wheat, and manipulation of starch composition. This award, established in 1926 and named after the outstanding protein chemist Thomas Burr Osborne, recognizes distinguished contributions in the field of cereal chemistry. Recipients of the Osborne Medal are accorded the status of AACC International Fellow.
David R. Lineback and John R. N. Taylor were named AACC International Fellows in recognition of their outstanding contributions to cereal science and technology. The award honors achievements in research, industry, leadership, education, administration, communication, or regulatory affairs. Lineback, a carbohydrate chemist and food (cereal) chemist, is the president of the International Union of Food Science and Technology and the former director of the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN). Taylor, professor of food science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, teaches food chemistry and cereal science and concentrates his research on sorghum and millet chemistry and technology.
Nominations for the 2009 awards are now being sought. Descriptions of the awards, criteria, past awardees, and nomination deadlines are listed on AACCnet. AACC International is an organization of professionals who contribute to the research, development, and processing of grains and grain-based products.
