U of A graduate students in food science swept both first-place presentation awards at the American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Arda Tuhanioglu, a doctoral student, won the General Group category, and Sumanjot Kaur, a master's degree student, won the Protein and Co-Products Group category. Those were the only two contests held at the April meeting.

Both are students of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences food science, and biological and agricultural engineering assistant professor Ali Ubeyitogullari. Both students assist in his Food Engineering for Health lab. Ubeyitogullari is also a researcher and scientist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

In addition to the poster award, Tuhanioglu was also presented the Honored Student Award by the AOCS.

Tuhanioglu's presentation was "A green integrated approach to extract high-value wax and bioactive compounds from sorghum bran via supercritical carbon dioxide." His research offers a novel approach to extracting both hydrophilic (e.g., phenolic compounds) and hydrophobic (e.g., wax) from sorghum bran in a single step using green technology.

Kaur presented "Generating nanoporous protein aerogels from defatted rice bran via supercritical carbon dioxide." Kaur's research develops high-value nanoporous materials from underutilized defatted rice bran. Her research can improve the utilization of rice processing byproducts in Arkansas, as Arkansas is the leading rice-producing state in the nation.

Tuhanioglu topped two other finalists from the University of Nebraska. Kaur beat finalists from Nebraska, the University of Alberta and Kansas State University.

AOCS is a community of scientists, technicians, nutritionists, researchers and other industry professionals advancing the science and technology of edible oils, fats, proteins, surfactants and related materials. AOCS is a leading international society with more than 2,000 members around the world.

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: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.