Receive incredible
one-on-one education and research opportunities from
world-class faculty
WSU - Ranked Among the Top Research Universities
Washington State University is ranked among the top research universities in the United States according to U.S. News. In the School of Food Science at Washington State University, you will receive an incredible one-on-one education and research opportunities from our world-class faculty.
- High-Quality Programs
- Opportunity to Become Completely Immersed in Program
(This translates to a lower than average number of years to complete
your degree.) - Excellent Financial Support
The majority of graduate students here are full-time students and receive support.
Faculty and Their Research Focus
Selecting a faculty member's name will show you more information. Click here for pdf file overview of WSU and UI Faculty and their focus of research.
- Byung-Kee Baik (Crop & Soil Sciences, bbaik@wsu.edu): Chemistry and processing of cereal grains and legumes, and chemistry and functional properties of starch, protein and fibers.
- Boon P. Chew: The role of carotenoids and other antioxidants in immune modulation, cancer prevention, anti-inflammatory action, and cognitive function in canine, feline, rodent and human models.
- Richard H. Dougherty: Practical aspects of food processing, food product development, and food business development.
- Charles G. Edwards: The microbiology and chemistry of wines.
- James Harbertson: Wine Chemistry. Research interests are focused on the phenolic compounds found in grapes and wine and their biochemical and chemical changes during grape ripening, winemaking and aging.
- Thomas Henick-Kling: Wine research and extension: physiology of lactic acid bacteria, wine yeast ecology, molecular characterization of wine yeast and bacteria, modification of wine flavor by yeast and bacteria, winemaking technology.
- Dong-Hyun Kang: Food safety, particularly the recovery of injured microorganisms, control of foodborne pathogens, and the application of HACCP plans.
- Karen Killinger: Educational programs for at-risk populations for foodborne illness and hard-to-reach audiences; food safety at food service establishments; the relationship of cooked meat color to internal temperature and antimicrobial drug resistance in foodborne pathogens.
- Joseph R. Powers: Enzymes and proteins of food products, primarily fruits and vegetables.
- Barbara A. Rasco: Process and product development in fisheries technology and aquaculture including studies on the chemical and nutritional properties of food.
- Kerry Ringer: Works with wineries to solve simple and difficult problems and is located in the wine-grape growing region at the WSU Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center.
- Carolyn Ross: Sensory and chemical analysis of foods including wines with analytical chemistry techniques to identify and describe changes in flavor and odor profiles.
- Barry G. Swanson: Studies of legume protein digestibility and storage quality.
Labs/Research Facilities
Facilities include a well-equipped pilot plant, tissue culture room, research laboratories, a sensory evaluation lab and a live-in human metabolic unit. Central research facilities at Washington State University provide opportunities to become competent in statistics, computer science, ionizing radiation, electron microscopy, state-of-the-art instrumentation, laboratory nutrition, food service systems management, and the processing of dairy, cereal, fruit, meat and vegetable products. Modern departmental research laboratories are well equipped for chemical, physical and microbiological analyses, and for human metabolic studies.