Food Innovation and Safety Engineering
My group is working on innovative food products and materials using principles of formulation engineering, guided by the concepts of Quality by Design (QbD) and Nutrition by Design. We integrate ingredient functionality, processing conditions, and structural organization to create foods with predictable performance and consumer benefits. Projects include delivery systems for nutrients, bioactives, and flavors, as well as edible films, emulsions, and 3D-printed structures informed by interactions at the micro- and nanoscale. A major focus is food safety engineering, including shelf-life extension, supply-chain stability, and contamination prevention through intelligent packaging, smart sensing, and non-thermal processing technologies. These efforts aim to provide the food industry with engineered innovations that improve quality, safety, and value.
Science and Engineering Foundations
Applied research for food and pharmaceutical development in my group is based on a deep understanding of fundamental material properties, interfacial transport, and multiphase interactions at the nano- and micro-scale. We use a system-level experimental approach, where experiments are designed to define feasibility limits, identify critical regimes, and construct operating windows grounded in first principles of transport phenomena and interfacial engineering. This foundation enables us to connect the physical interactions of natural materials to practical strategies for formulation design across food and pharmaceutical applications. All formulation development emphasizes clean-label and green processing approaches, relying on fundamental insights into natural material behavior rather than chemical modification. In this way, our work translates fundamental science into engineered solutions that industry alone cannot reach.
Teaching and Academic Roles
I teach Food Processing Technology and Food Product Development, two core undergraduate courses in Food Science, as well as a graduate course in Colloid and Interface Science. My teaching approach emphasizes problem solving, critical thinking, and technical creativity built on quantitative analysis and scientific principles. I encourage students to focus on understanding mechanisms rather than memorization, and I place strong value on hands-on experience that connects theory with practice and prepares them to address new challenges from first principles
Director of Professional Science Master (MBS) program in Applied Food Science and Technology
Rutgers University Senator
