Faculty and Staff Awards and News
Newest Additions to the FST Family
Dr. Kevin Mis Solval and his wife welcomed their third child, Giovana Isabella, on September 19, 2023.
Morgan Bouwsma and her husband welcomed John O "Beau" Bouwsma IV on July 30th, 2024 at 4:43 AM, weighing 8lbs and 7oz, and measuring 20 ½ inches long.
Giovana Isabella Mis Solval
John O "Beau" Bouwsma IV
Faculty News and Awards
Dr. Jim Gratzek would like to annouce the opening of the opening of the first Tetra Recart® trial facility in North America in collaboration with TetraPak, a pioneer and world-leading food processing and packaging solutions company. The collaboration aims to offer commercial testing for food companies using the Tetra Recart® packaging system. Development and production of food products will be supported with a robust network of experts using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Further, FoodPIC assists in creating strategic alliances with external engineering, marketing and technology groups to bring an idea to life from concept to research, formulation, prototyping and market launch.
Dr. Rakesh Singh has been awarded the 2024 IFT Distinguished Career Award in honor of Dr. Carl R. Fellers. The Distinguished Career Award honors an individual who has brought distinguished recognition to the science of food community through a career of exemplary contributions to academia, industry, government or other, through innovation in education, research, leadership and/or service to the profession. Professor Singh will receive this award during the 2024 IFT annual meeting in Chicago on July 14, 2024.
Dr. William Kerr and Dr. Fanbin Kong have been named Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Faculty members for the 2023-2024 academic year by UGA FST students.
After nearly 37 years of running a prolific and dynamic research program in Food Processing Technologies to enhance Food Safety, Dr. Yen-Con Hung retired on March 1, 2024. Dr. Hung started his position in UGA-FST on the Griffin campus in late 1985 and has been a faculty member of the department since. His research on Electrolyzed Water (EO Water) was successfully funded by the USDA-NRI (AFRI program now) and helped him gain visibility for his research. He maintained the Peanut Information Network System (PINS), a USAID funded collaborative research program since 2007 to help disseminate information on peanut related publications and training materials. Dr. Hung is an internationally recognized scientist and was instrumental in developing UGA relations in the Food Safety Summit a joint venture between UGA, Auburn University, University of Maryland, and Shanghai Ocean University. As a result of his highly productive research, Dr. Hung was conferred the Koehler-Ayers Professorship in Food Science and Technology in 2020.
A new Retort machine at FoodPIC, to be used in Tetra Recart® trials
Dr. William Kerr and Dr. Fanbin Kong
Dr. Yen-Con Hung (right) with his wife and granddaughter at his retirement celebration in February
In Memoriam
Aaron Estes Reynolds, Jr.
Aaron Estes Reynolds, Jr. was born in Columbia County Georgia to Aaron Estes Reynolds Sr. and Myrtle Powell Reynolds on September 28, 1944. He died on August 26, 2023 in Blairsville Georgia. Dr. Reynolds is survived by two children Jennifer Reynolds Sanders (Alan) and Jason Reynolds (Rhonda). He is preceded in death by his wife Janis Hawes Reynolds and his oldest son Joel. There are six grandchildren: Catherine, Claire, Caleb, and Caroline Sanders, as well as Tanner and Caden Reynolds. He is survived by three sisters Juanita Reynolds Whitaker (Warren), Margaret Reynolds Wiggins (Wayne), and Patricia Reynolds Lines (David) as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Dr. Reynolds graduated from Evans High School in 1962. He then earned a BSA from the University of Georgia in animal science (1962-1966), and an MS from the University of Tennessee in animal husbandry and food science (1966-1968). Dr. Reynolds interrupted his educational pursuits to serve as an Army officer in Viet Nam (1969-1970) and continued to serve in the reserves until 1979. After his military tour he returned to UGA to complete his PhD (1970-1973), and then joined the Food Science faculty at Michigan State University (1973-1979). He then moved back to UGA where spent the balance of his professional career in the Extension Food Science Department (1979-2005) serving the food industry not only in his native state of Georgia, but also around the world. After his retirement, Dr. Reynolds remained active in the food industry as a much sought-after consultant.
Never afraid of getting his hands dirty, Professor Reynolds, an avid hunter, operated a deer processing business where he passed on his butchering skills to his children and others. He also spent decades serving as a Gideon providing copies of God’s Word to others around the world.