International Dairy Meet June 29 - 30, 2016 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Charles O Thoen conducts investigations on the pathogenesis of Mycobacterium bovis, M. tuberculosis, M. avium ss hominisuis, M. avium ss paratuberculosis, M. avium ss avium and M. avium ss intracellulare in domestic and captive wild animals.

Charles O Thoen research is to provide an improved understanding of host immune responses that can be used in developing more reliable in vivo and in vitro diagnostic tests.

Hasmukh Patel recently joined Land O’ Lakes as Senior Principal Scientist, Dairy Foods R&D. Dr. Patel nearly 20 years of valuable experience working in dairy industry and CPG companies as well as in Academia. Most recently, he served as faculty at Dairy Science Department, South Dakota State University, USA between June 2012 and July 2015, where he had very successful research program on “Structure-function relationship of milk proteins and design of dairy ingredients with tailored functionality, improved nutrition and health benefit”. Before joining SDSU in 2012, he spent 11 years at Fonterra Research and Development Centre, New Zealand and conducted ground-breaking research and led many projects in the areas developing value-added ingredients such as WPC, WPI, MPC. He has made significant contributions in the area of application of new technologies in dairy industry for functional and nutritional benefit of dairy ingredients and the effect of processing on protein-protein interactions and functional properties of dairy ingredients in various food systems including yoghurt, cheese, emulsions, powders and milk protein fortified beverages such as sports and nutrition beverages.Dr. Patel is a co-inventor of 6 patents and has more than 60 scholarly publications including several peer-reviewed papers in reputed journals, book chapters and several invited keynote addresses at the international conferences. He is also a recipient of several awards including Dr. Sherwood and Elizabeth Berg Faculty Award 2015 at SDSU and prestigious American Dairy Science Association Foundation Scholar Award 2013 and recognizing his world-class research and teaching in the area of Dairy Foods.

The main focus of his research is to help understand the basic mechanisms and provide new knowledge which enables design of new dairy and food ingredients, new products and processing technologies to solve the existing problems in the dairy industry. His research portfolio include fundamental and applied research related to range of topics in the areas of dairy chemistry and dairy technology with particular emphasis on milk powders and value added dairy ingredients (WPC, WPI, MPC and micellar casein) with improved nutritional and functional properties.

Alvaro Garcia is currently working as Professor of Dairy Science; Agriculture & Natural Resources Program Director at South Dakota State University, USA.

Dairy Science Management and Nutrition

Birsen Bulut-Solak graduated from Ankara University with a BSc in Dairy Technology. She obtained a MSc and a PhD in Food Engineering from Selcuk University (TR). She was awarded an International Post Doctoral Research Fellowship by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). She fulfilled her post-doctoral research in Food and Nutrition Sciences at University College Cork (IRL) under the supervision of Dr. Seamus Anthony O'Mahony between 2013 and 2014. She was a university lecturer in the Programme of Dairy Technology at Selcuk University between 2002 and 2013. Dr. Bulut-Solak is currently an Assistant Professor Dr and a department head in the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Selcuk University, Konya (TR). She has carried out research on a range of issues related to Cheese Technology, Dairy Science and Nutrition as well. She is currently involved in three significant researches that are concerned with food safety, consumer acceptance of traditional foods and the determinant of food choice. She also works closely with others internationally (e.g. University College Cork and University of Illinois). Her teaching interests in the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts include: Dairy Technology, Food Safety at Catering, Nutrition, and Traditional Foods.

Dairy Science and Nutrition

Lisa A Holden is currently working as Associate Professor of Dairy Science at Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Dairy Science, Dairy Management

Renita Marshall is a native of Mansfield, La. She attended Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, LA and received a BS degree in Animal Science in 1999. Dr. Marshall attended Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine where she received her DVM in 2003. Dr. Marshall later went on to complete a residency in Comparative Animal Medicine and a MS degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006. Her research there focused on reproductive physiology. Dr. Renita Marshall is now an Associate Professor of Animal Science at the Southern University Agricultural Research & Extension Center (SUAREC). She has a demonstrated record of successful and productive applied research projects in the area of major importance for health problems in livestock. She is a member of Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society of Agriculture. During Dr. Marshall’s tenure with the SU Ag Center, she has had eight (8) scholarly publications in the form of referred journals and secured $2,673,252 in federal funding as PI and Co-PI for SUAREC. She also has publications in the form of brochures, fact sheets, and handouts that were used to enhance programming in the areas of sustainable agriculture and animal science. These become additional methods for disseminating research results through educational programming efforts statewide. Abstracts and papers were published from conferences. Nationally, these abstracts were presented to educate and update scientist and producers of the new trends and ongoing research in the areas of animal and biomedical science. Scholarly research and extension programs and projects were conducted for disseminating research results through educational programming efforts. Throughout her years with SUAREC, she have served on committees and embraced the concepts of program development and evaluation, accountability, and the integration and engagement of extension, research and education.

Dairy and Animal Science