WSU Faculty

STEPHANIE CLARK, Ph.D.

Associate Food Scientist
Associate Professor

OFFICE: FSHN 118

PHONE: (509) 335-4215

E-MAIL: stephclark@wsu.edu

FAX: (509) 335-4815

WEBSITE

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RESEARCH INTEREST

Stephanie's research team focuses on microbiology, chemistry and processing of dairy products, but also works in the area of product development and sensory quality of foods and beverages.

COURSES

• FSHN 406/506: Dairy Products Evaluation I
• FSHN 407/507: Dairy Products Evaluation II
• FSHN 429/529: Dairy Products
• FSHN 509/Nutr 500: Oral Seminar

For descriptions of the courses, see Courses page.

Associate Food Scientist/Associate Professor
2004 to Present, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Tenured Associate Professor with the Department of Food Science. Responsibilities include research and extension in dairy chemistry, microbiology, and processing, and undergraduate and graduate teaching. 

• Write or co-write grants (funded in excess of $1.5 million to date) to support dairy technology research and food science education.
• Collaborate with WSU and UI faculty and students in grant-funded research in fields of food science, animal science, biological systems engineering and human nutrition.
• Present technical and non-technical information about dairy technology; record includes over 30 peer-reviewed publications and over 40 posters and presentations.
• Provide insight to WA, ID, NH and MA entrepreneurs to start up dairy businesses and/or to develop and/or improve product quality (dairy and non-dairy).
• Coordinate numerous activities conducted at the WSU Sensory Evaluation Service Center.
• Advise undergraduate and graduate students in course curriculum and career preparation.
• Supervise graduate students in grant-funded research (8 M.S. and 3 Ph.D. advisees have entered academic or industry positions).
• Supervise students in undergraduate research projects (10 completed) featuring product development and/or sensory evaluation.
• Teach undergraduate and graduate WSU and University of Idaho students in “Dairy Products”, “Evaluation of Dairy Products”, “Graduate Oral Seminar” and “Graduate Written Seminar”. 
• Advise/coach the WSU Food Product Development Team, Dairy Products Evaluation Team, and Food Science Club. 

Assistant Food Scientist/Assistant Professor     1998-2004 WSU, Pullman, WA

Conducted activities in line with those listed above.

Graduate Research Assistant, Dept. of Food Science     1993-1997 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Studied associations among goat breeds, milk components, genetic variants of aplhas1-casein, and coagulation properties of goat milk.

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Food Science     1991-1996 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Served faculty and students in 9 food science courses with laboratory preparation and assistance, examination question writing and examination grading.

Intern       1994-1994 Tetra Pak Research Center, Buffalo Grove, IL

Analyzed package integrity, chemistry and microbiological safety of products.  Assisted customers with product batching, processing and packaging of aseptic beverages.

Volunteer Consultant, ACDI/VOCA & USDA/CARD
2004, 2006
Instructed cow, goat and sheep cheese makers in cleaning, sanitizing and cheesemaking at various locations throughout Armenia.

• Improved understanding and implementation of sanitation and cheesemaking practices and improved product quality at six cheese plants; expanded product lines at a four cheese plants.

Institute of Food Technologists
1991 to Present
Serve as a volunteer and leader for the nonprofit scientific society that serves food scientists and food technologists in industry, academia and government.

• Serve on the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Advisory Committee (2006-present).
• Served as Dairy Foods Division Chair (2006-2008), Graduate Research Paper Oral (2002-2007) and Poster competitions chair (2003-2007); Technical Program Committee/Scientific Program Scheduling committee (2004-present), and Member-At-Large (2003-2006).
• Served as Lewis & Clark Section Secretary (2001-2007).

Cheesemaking Workshop Instructor
1998 to Present
Introduce attendees to the art and science of cheesemaking through a variety of lectures, cheese evaluation and hands-on cheesemaking experiences.

• Teach at the Washington State University Cheesemaking Shortcourse, annually.
• Conduct Exploring Cheese and Cheesemaking courses in various locations throughout the year.

WSU Sensory Evaluation Service Center
2001 to Present

Coordinate and conduct WSU research-based and industry-based sensory evaluation panels and product development, at cost.

• Sensory evaluation services have included dairy products, coffee, apples, eggs, military rations.
• Product development services have included dairy products and confections.

WSU Food Product Development Team
1998 to Present

Advise WSU and University of Idaho teams in the development of various food products for various product development competitions.

• Novel products developed by student teams have won national recognition 14 times.
• One product has been launched commercially; one is currently under commercial development.

WSU Dairy Products Evaluation Team
1998 to Present

Advise WSU and University of Idaho teams in the evaluation of dairy products for collegiate dairy product evaluation competitions.

• Students and teams have won at least 8 national awards.