Dr. Erin Dormedy, Professor and Director of the Food Science Program, joined faculty
in 1999. Dr. Dormedy's goal as a researcher is to make the food supply chain as safe
as possible by controlling food-borne pathogens and improving food contact safety.
To meet this goal, her research encompasses the study of intervention techniques to
reduce microorganisms on the food we eat. "There are approximately 5,000 deaths per
year due to foodborne illness in the U.S., which theoretically are 100 percent preventable,"
she says. Through research and applied technology, Dr. Dormedy teaches her students
how to make a safer food supply, from the raw commodity to the supermarket. Although
bringing research into the classroom as curriculum is more time intensive, Dr. Dormedy
believes students learn more effectively and become enthusiastic about the knowledge
they acquire. Instead of being one person working to make the food supply safer, she
delights in training future food scientists who will make a difference.
Using undergraduate research as curriculum, intervention methods for the control of
foodborne pathogens, food safety and biosecurity, HACCP implementation and validation,
development of HACCP intervention methods, food industry outreach and technology transfer.
