Food science students drawn to Cornell for master's program

Brenna Flynn fondly recalls baking cookies at her grandmother's house when she was young, and says she’s always had a sweet tooth. 

To this day, food has remained a huge part of the Fresno State food science and nutrition graduate’s life, and now she is making a career out of it at Cornell University by studying new ways that pathogens can be reduced in milk products.

For Flynn, a Fresno native, even though college didn’t go quite how she initially planned, her hard work has still led to full funding through a research grant at one the nation’s top master’s programs.

The path began at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. After graduation she moved to Colorado to study English at the University of Denver. However, after missing her family and friends, she came back after a year and attended Fresno City College.

She had always been interested in the science field, and when she transferred to Fresno State a food science degree seemed more applied and offered many career possibilities.

However, the decision on her master’s research focus wasn’t as easy until she arrived at Cornell last August. When she met her faculty adviser, Dr. Samuel Alcaine, he suggested a dairy-related project.

She agreed and quickly immersed herself into learning about and testing enzymatic inhibition on pathogens that can affect raw milk or can be introduced at various points in cheese making. Listeria monocytogenes is a key bacterium that she is focused on that can infect humans and animals through contaminated food.

“It’s a big problem in the food production and dairy industries,” said Flynn, “so I’m working with a new enzyme, lactose oxidase, which hasn’t been applied much, and studying how it reacts with Listeria.”

By studying food safety from a pathogenic perspective she has also learned the value of hard work and the meticulous effort it takes to perform research.

That interest was sparked initially in an undergraduate research project with Fresno State food science and nutrition chairperson Dr. Steven Pao that involved cold plasma technology and its effect on controlling microbial growth on fruit.

“Through that project, I discovered that exploring new microbial control methods takes time,” said Flynn, “and there are often obstacles in these research methods.”

A food microbiology class taught by Dr. Erin Dormedy, and an assigned best-selling book, ‘Poisoned’, served as another catalyst. The author, Jeff Benedict, wrote how the E. Coli outbreak in 1992 and 1993, the biggest food-poisoning epidemic in the U.S., was caused by unsanitary fast food handling practices.

“It had a big impact on me because it went into detail about the people who were severely affected or died,” said Flynn. “I started to understand more about outbreaks, and how important it is to protect our food supply systems through research.”

The campus food science and nutrition department quickly became her second home in other ways through club and industry outreach events.

As a senior, she served as a captain for the Fresno State team that competed against other colleges from around the state at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) College Bowl. The annual event tests students’ knowledge on food-related topics pertaining to science, technology, law, history and other areas.

“I was fortunate to attend those IFT events and learn more about the industry,” said Flynn. “The local chapter meetings, the quiz bowl and golf fundraiser were great networking opportunities to meet different professionals and learn more about potential careers.”

The 3.98 student also shared her knowledge with her Fresno State peers as a supplemental instructor and hosted review sessions for groups of up to 80 students. She gained valuable teaching experience and loved helping others succeed.

Her busy undergraduate schedule was good preparation for an even busier master’s schedule that includes taking classes, teaching and performing research, which she treats as a full-time job. This means that she normally spends days, nights and weekends in the lab analyzing samples, as well as at home writing her graduate manuscript, which she is hoping to eventually publish in the Journal of Dairy Science.

Even though she returned to Fresno in March when the Cornell campus went virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has remained busy. She has been writing her first research journal article from her recent research results, and has taken classes in food safety assurance and fermentation.

She hopes to return to Cornell this July and start preparation for a related research project that will shift her focus to the cheese-making process.

As she learns more about food pathogens, she said American consumers have nothing to worry about when it comes to the safety of our food supply.

“The food industry has a lot of protocols to prevent the spread of different pathogens and keep our food supply safe,” said Flynn. “Every food processing facility is held to strict cleanliness standards to prevent spread of contaminants through Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans and the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).”

After Cornell, Flynn hopes to work in the industry before possibly pursuing a doctoral degree. She has been looking into becoming a certified HACCP food safety instructor or a food processing facility supervisor.

Even though Ithaca, New York and Fresno are on opposite ends of the country, she is surprised by how familiar many of her East Coast counterparts are with her hometown.

“When I tell people where I’m from,” said Flynn, “they get excited because of the Central Valley’s reputation in the dairy and food processing industries. I didn’t have any experience with the dairy industry beforehand, but I’ve really grown to love it.”

- By Erica Bowles, Jordan College communications student assistant

 

Tennis Player sticks to his recipe, earns Ivy League opportunity

Not many students turn down a chance to attend an Ivy League university, but mechanical engineering graduate Bailey Gong was confident Fresno State was the right fit.

The Smittcamp Family Honors College student chose to complete his undergraduate studies at Fresno State after being offered an opportunity to transfer to Cornell University his sophomore year. Now, after earning his bachelor’s degree, things have come full circle as Gong will start a graduate program in food science at Cornell University this fall.

Between maintaining a 3.97 GPA and juggling internships and his spot on the Bulldogs’ men’s tennis team, the Exeter native somehow makes time for another passion — food.

Growing up watching Alton Brown on Food Network’s “Good Eats” program, Gong’s enthusiasm toward food started at a young age.

“He’s a cook and food scientist, but he would explain the chemistry of why his recipes would work with emulsions, starches and gels,” Gong said. “I thought this was so cool. My dad and I loved watching all the cooking channels as I grew up, and that was my favorite.”

When Gong arrived at Fresno State as a freshman, he was naturally drawn toward the Food Science and Nutrition Department.

He loved the courses and worked in the campus creamery to get hands-on processing experience. He also assisted department chair Dr. Steven Pao in research that studied safety methods related to foodborne pathogens in packinghouse equipment and produce.

However, as Gong’s first year progressed, he considered a career working with food processing machinery that would integrate food science and mathematics. After talking with an adviser, Gong switched his major to mechanical engineering, and has met the degree’s 132-unit requirement in three years.

This spring, he was nominated for the Lyles College of Engineering Undergraduate Dean’s Medal while earning a minor in food science and nutrition.

Gong credits his ability to succeed academically from his Smittcamp Honors College support group that included special advising and scheduling that helped him take 19 to 26 credits per semester. Older students in the same major lent advice and support to keep him on the rigorous academic pace.

Before he started his sophomore year, Gong declined an invitation to transfer to Cornell, which had initially placed him on a wait list as a high school senior. “I liked it so much at Fresno State and wanted to play on the tennis team,” Gong said. “I knew it would be hard to start over, and this was the right place for me because there were so many special opportunities.”

The choice paid off. Gong will receive full tuition and a research stipend for his graduate studies, which helped him choose Cornell over offers from University of California, Davis, Michigan State University and Ohio State University. He will work on research related to microwave vacuum drying, a quicker and more effective way to process dried products.

The technology, known as MIVAC, was actually developed by former Fresno State professor Dr. Carter Clary, who now teaches and conducts research at Washington State University. The technology was later funded by Kellogg’s and is now used in cereals that feature dried, puffed fruit.

Gong had a chance to get familiar with the Cornell campus last summer through a research internship where he worked with Dr. Carmen Moraru, the department chairperson who will also serve as his faculty research mentor.

His path to the Ithaca, New York institution included an internship at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Although he did not know much about his assigned research area, corrosion science, he quickly caught up.

“I read almost a whole textbook on the topic,” Gong said, “and then relied on my mentor to learn about the experiment procedures. By the second half, I had figured out enough to learn that you don’t necessarily have to be a complete master on a topic. It’s more about you doing your homework and being well read to help give you a blueprint to start the problem-solving process. It was a great growing experience, knowing you can pick up new and different skills and still be productive.”

Even with his full schedule, Gong made time to serve as a literacy mentor for third-grade students at Susan B. Anthony Elementary School through the Every Neighborhood Partnership, a non-profit organization that connects Fresno churches to elementary schools. “I’m the youngest in my family, so I never really had any mentor role for other kids,” Gong said. “This was a special chance to give back.”

Gong’s schedule has finally slowed somewhat the past month due to the COVID-19 community restrictions, and it has brought him closer to his family who also work in the food industry.

While taking classes virtually, he works at R&N Market in Exeter to help his aunt and uncle, Chris and Wade Wong, who manage the store and are short-staffed. His mother, Violet, works at the store as a controller supervising accounting operations. His father, Doug, is a procurement manager overseeing buying and inventory for Food 4 Less.

The extra time at home has helped him to continue to develop cooking skills that he has learned from his parents and were passed down from his grandparents, Raymond and Mary Chun and Joe and Cora Gong, who immigrated from Guangzhou, China to the Central Valley in the 1940s.

“Since I’ve lived in the dorms, there wasn’t much of a chance to cook, so I’ve been able to try a lot of new recipes out at home,” Gong said. “I’ve gotten to take advantage of a lot of great food made by my grandmother, Mary, and other family members. The other day I made some char siu bao, which are traditional steam barbeque pork buns, so I’m going through a bread and dough phase.”

Even though Gong will soon move 2,800 miles away for graduate school, his family knows his heart may lead him back home.

“There are so many food processing companies here in the Central Valley,” Gong said. “It would be great to work as an engineer and create ways to optimize and innovate new methods. It would also be a special way to combine my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and in a place I love.”

- By Erica Bowles, Jordan College communications student assistant