FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Asmita Singh, a food science graduate student in U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, recently placed second in the Rose Marie Pangborn Graduate Student Competition at the annual national meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists.

Singh, a doctoral student who works with associate professor Han-Seok Seo in the Department of Food Science, competed in the oral division. Her presentation was "Influences of Oral Touch Stimuli on Sensory Perception of, and Emotional Responses to, Cold Tea Beverages: A Case Study of Reusable Straws."

"It is my great honor and pleasure to work with Asmita, who has outstanding talents in critical thinking skills, communication and leadership," said Seo. "Asmita's research presentation at the meeting was remarkable and impactful. I am extremely proud of her great achievement."

Results of her study are scheduled to be published in the March issue of the peer-reviewed journal Food Quality and Preference.

In Singh's study, 134 participants (70 female, 64 male) consumed unsweetened cold black tea samples using five straws made from plastic, paper, copper, stainless steel and silicone. Participants rated the samples with respect to intensity and liking, overall hedonic impression and evoked emotions.

"Tea samples were found to differ with straw materials in terms of flavor liking, mouthfeel liking, and sourness intensity," said Singh. "Interestingly, significant interactions between straw materials and gender were observed in overall hedonic impression and matching associations of straw materials with cold tea samples. Females liked cold tea more when consumed with copper or stainless steel straws than with paper straws while males exhibited no differences with straw material conditions. A gender effect was also found on cold tea samples consumed with different straw materials, with females more emotionally expressive than males toward certain straw material conditions."

Here's a temporary link to the paper.

Singh was also recently awarded a $2,000 Feeding Tomorrow Scholarship. Singh is the student representative to the Society of Sensory Professionals, a national society for sensory scientists.

She earned her bachelor's degree in food engineering from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences in India, where she was awarded the "Meritorious Student Award." She earned her master's degree in food science from the U of A with an emphasis in sensory and consumer sciences.

Seo is a member of the faculty, and a researcher and scientist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture, as well as director of the Sensory Science Center in the Department of Food Science.

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. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

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 3 percent of colleges 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.