IAFP Announces 2025 Student Travel Scholarship Recipients

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Des Moines, Iowa – The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present Student Travel Scholarships to the following individuals at IAFP 2025, July 27–30, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Sponsored by the IAFP Foundation, the Student Travel Scholarships provide travel funds to enable selected students to travel to and participate in IAFP 2025.

Dr. Kingsley Emmanuel Bentum is a veterinarian and doctoral student at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama under the tutelage of Drs. Woubit Abebe and Temesgen Samuel. Dr. Bentum’s current research is on improving Salmonella detection through traditional culture and test kit development; investigating the epidemiology of Salmonella among cow-calf farms in Alabama; and the dynamics of the intestinal microbiota in cattle infected with Salmonella. In his work, he adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on his expertise in molecular microbiology, bioinformatics, data analysis, and pathogen genomics.

Sitara Cullinan is a Ph.D. candidate and dietetic intern in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Georgia in Athens, under the mentorship of Dr. Carla L. Schwan. Ms. Cullinan’s dissertation research focuses on characterizing the social and structural aspects of the neighborhood food environment for communities across Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. This mixed methods project incorporates human subjects research, microbial genomics, and traditional culture-based microbiology methods.

Victoria A. Felton is an undergraduate student in the College of Sciences at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Ms. Felton is pursuing a degree in biomedical sciences with a concentration in pre-health and is an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Rishi Drolia’s Cellular and Molecular Microbiology Laboratory. Her current research focuses on comparing food and clinically isolated Listeria monocytogenes isolates and their ability to traverse the blood-brain barrier. In collaboration with Purdue University, she also works with Cronobacter sakazakii and its ability to form biofilms under dry environments. In addition, Ms. Felton is also collaborating with Kansas State University concerning the visualization of dual-species formation of Listeria monocytogenes and Pseudomonas fluorenscens.

Shuyi Feng is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Feng’s doctoral research focuses on leveraging machine learning and bioinformatics to improve seafood safety associated with Vibrio spp. Specifically, she has developed machine learning models to predict the concentration of Vibrio spp. in oysters and seawater samples based on environmental conditions, supporting risk assessment of Vibrio spp. in the context of a changing climate. She has also identified potential risk factors related to Vibrio spp. using comparative genomics along with machine learning, which could aid in developing novel control strategies across the seafood supply chain.

Ellen Gabriel is an M.Sc. student in Food Science and Technology working as a graduate research assistant at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, under the guidance of Dr. Laura Strawn. Ms. Gabriel’s research explores control strategies for Salmonella in pre- and post-harvest systems. She is currently working on a project seeking to identify the minimum inhibitory concentration of commercial copper pesticides for Salmonella, as well as characterizing the die-off of Salmonella over time in pesticide-mixing scenarios.

Bless Hodasi is a Master of Philosophy candidate in Molecular Cell Biology of Infectious Diseases at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens at the University of Ghana in the Greater Accra Region. Mr. Hodasi’s research is focused on probiotic lactic acid bacteria associated with fermented millet-based milk beverages (Brukina^TM) and the impact on the gut microbiome. He is currently investigating the safety of Brukina and Molecular Characterization of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Isolated Lactic Acid Bacteria from Brukina.

YeonJin Jung is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, under the advisement of Dr. Martin Wiedmann. Ms. Jung’s research primarily focuses on leveraging modeling tools that can assess food safety practices to improve food safety and quality. She has developed an Agent-Based Model that simulates the transmission of Listeria in a retail store, which can be used to optimize environmental sampling plans and suggest Listeria control strategies in retail environments. She also developed a machine learning model that predicts fluid milk spoilage types to help with quick spoilage diagnostic testing, reducing the need to rely on expert interpretation.

Ziqi Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, under the co-supervision of Drs. Tian Ding and Jinsong Feng. Ms. Liu’s current research focuses on the risk control of Salmonella by uncovering its survival mechanisms from a microecological perspective. Her work reveals that even dead bacterial cells contribute significantly to biofilm formation and stress resistance.  She has also addressed practical challenges in incomplete sterilization along dairy snack food production lines. Her findings offer new insights for food safety management, particularly in controlling Salmonella throughout food processing and storage.

Elias Oyesigye recently defended his Ph.D. in Agri-Food Systems and the Environment at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, under the supervision of Professor Angel Medina and Dr. Carla Cervina. Mr. Oyesigye’s research focused on the “occurrence of mycotoxins and the diversity of Aspergillus section Flavi along the cassava value chain in Uganda.” His current research integrates laboratory diagnostics, socio-economic analysis, risk modelling, and innovative methods to reduce mycotoxin contamination to acceptable levels within food products.

Dhananjai Muringattu Prabhakaran is a Ph.D. student mentored by Dr. Anup Kollanoor Johny in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul. Mr. Prabhakaran’s current research focuses on pre-harvest mitigation of foodborne Salmonellainfantis in broilers using antibiotic alternatives and studying host-microbe interactions in the ceca by metagenomic sequencing analysis to understand how antibiotic alternatives modulate the microbiome of pathogen-challenged poultry. He is also interested in investigating how antibiotic alternatives influence the host immune response to Salmonella through transcriptomic analysis.

Amber Richards is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Population Health at the University of Georgia in Athens, under the direction of Dr. Nikki Shariat. Ms. Richards’ current research primarily focuses on assessing Salmonella serovar dynamics through broiler processing to evaluate the efficacy of antimicrobial use in commercial poultry processing facilities across multiple states. The underlying goal of her research is to support improved processing controls and enhanced food safety by identifying serovar-specific trends.

Daniel Tichy Navarro is a Bioinformatics Scientist and Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile, where he integrates microbiology, genomics, and machine learning to address food safety challenges and combat antimicrobial resistance. Mr. Navarro’s current research focuses on tracking the global spread of AMR genes in foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, with particular emphasis on the dissemination of megaplasmids through Transformer-based models like DNABERT. As a research assistant under the guidance of Dr. Andrea Moreno Switt, he investigates local outbreaks of Listeria and Salmonella, while collaborating with other groups to explore the therapeutic potential of understudied phageomes in Chilean patients.

Yi Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, under the supervision of Dr. Yangchao Luo. Ms. Yang’s current research focuses on developing biosensors for the detection and identification of pathogenic bacteria in milk and biofilms on food processing surfaces. She integrates machine learning techniques to enhance bacterial pattern recognition, simplifying the detection process while maintaining high accuracy. Her work has the potential to serve as an alternative to PCR-based methods for multiplex bacterial identification.

Katherine Woo is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, under the guidance of Dr. Matthew Moore. Ms. Woo’s research focuses on developing the detection of human norovirus by concentrating virus particles using bacterial. This approach utilizes the natural interaction between viruses and bacteria to enhance detection sensitivity, particularly in food and environmental samples where virus concentrations are typically low. Her work reflects the interdisciplinary nature of food microbiology, incorporating elements of virology, microbiome research, and public health.

Li Xiao is a Ph.D. candidate in Food Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, under the supervision of Dr. Xiaonan Lu. Ms. Xiao’s research focuses on developing rapid detection methods for food hazards and spoilage to enhance food quality and safety using advanced techniques (i.e., vibrational spectroscopy, nanotechnology, machine learning). She is currently working on developing dual-function gas sensors that combine colorimetric detection and SERS for the rapid assessment of meat spoilage.

Tongzhou Xu is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia in Griffin, under the supervision of Dr. Xiangyu Deng. Mr. Xu’s research focuses on improving the microbial safety of fresh produce, with an emphasis on Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination in romaine lettuce. His work uses a microbiome-centered approach to understand how microbiome on leafy greens influence the survival of foodborne pathogens. He also collaborates with other researchers to visualize microbial interactions at the single-cell level using advanced microscopy, aiming to uncover sustainable strategies for mitigating pathogen risks in agricultural environments.

Zane Xu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, under the mentorship of Drs. Haibo Huang and Monica Ponder. Mr. Xu’s research is primarily focused on the development of active food packaging material development, specifically involving designing photocatalytic antibacterial packaging that inactivates bacteria under visible light. In addition to this project, he has participated in other interdisciplinary research such as wastewater treatment using single atom catalysts, emulsifier performance assessment, and biosensor development.

Caroline Yates is a Ph.D. student in the Food Safety Laboratory at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, under the mentorship of Dr. Martin Wiedmann. Ms. Yates’ research evaluates the use of a multipronged training approach to assist small and medium-sized dairy processors in developing the skills to build and sustain their own Listeria environmental monitoring programs. Her goal is to provide support for small dairy processors, enabling them to design and implement environmental monitoring programs in their facilities.

Carlos Zelaya is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Bioinformatics at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile, under the supervision of Dr. Aiko Adell. Mr. Zelaya’s current research focuses on the phylogenetic relationships and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Enterobacterales isolated from surface waters used for agricultural irrigation, as well as from clinical settings involving hospitalized patients in Chile. The goal is to uncover potential links between environmental and clinical strains and to evaluate environmental risk factors – such as pH, conductivity, and salinity – that may influence the occurrence of critically resistant E. coli, Klebsiella spp., and Enterobacter spp. in river systems.

Yuzhen Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate in Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Amherst, supported by the prestigious Tan Family Fellowship. Ms. Zhang’s research focuses on a smartphone-based bacterial detection tool – a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective solution designed to revolutionize hygiene monitoring on food-contact surfaces. This ground-breaking technology has achieved proof-of-concept validation, secured a U.S. patent, and attracted interest from five early adopters in the U.S. food industry.