Mills, Samant, Wilkes in Food Science Earn IFT Feeding Tomorrow Scholarships

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From left, food science department head Jean-Francois Meullenet, doctoral student Shilpa Samant, master's degree student Katherine Wilkes, freshman Anastasia Mills and academic advisor Cathy Hamilton

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three food science students in the U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences have earned internationally competitive scholarships through the Institute of Food Technologists.

Anastasia Mills, a freshman, Katherine Wilkes, a master's student, and Shilpa Samant, a doctoral student, have each received a Feeding Tomorrow Scholarship from IFT.

Wilkes received the Institute for Thermal Processing Specialists M.S. Degree Scholarship of $2,000. This scholarship is for a single master's degree student studying food science, food engineering or food microbiology as it relates to food preservation. Terry Siebenmorgen, Distinguished Professor of rice processing, serves as Wilkes' adviser.

Samant received a graduate scholarship of $2,000, which goes to full-time students with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 who are student members of IFT.

Mills, from Benton, received a general freshman scholarship of $1,000, which goes to high school seniors who demonstrate exceptional scholastic achievements, leadership and an interest in the food science and technology profession.

Samant, who is from Mumbai, India, is focusing her doctoral research on hedonic and emotional responses to food and beverages. Samant received the 2015 Institute for Perception Award, which recognizes a student with exceptional talent and achievement in sensory science, marketing, psychology, economics or related fields. She also won the Rose Marie Pangborn Graduate Paper Competition. Both awards were for her work on how the understanding of label information affects consumer perception of poultry quality with assistant professor Han-Seok Seo, who serves as her adviser.

Wilkes, from Livonia, Mich., is researching rice processing and cereal chemistry. Her master's thesis investigates the mechanics of iron uptake when parboiling is used to fortify rice.

IFT awards $100,000 for nearly 75 scholarships annually through its Feeding Tomorrow foundation to undergraduate and graduate students. IFT is devoted to providing every person on the planet with a safe, nutritious and sustainable food supply.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.