Food Science Doctoral Students Earn Feeding Tomorrow Scholarships

Ph.D. student Asmita Singh is one of three food science doctoral candidates to receive a Feeding Tomorrow scholarship. Here, she prepares and presents samples for taste testing in the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s sensory analysis lab. (UA System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Media Contact

Fred Miller

U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 575-5647  |  fmiller@uark.edu

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Three graduate students in food science at the U of A have received 2021 scholarships through Feeding Tomorrow: The Foundation of the Institute of Food Technologists.

• Tad Beekman received the IFT Sensory and Consumer Sciences Division Silver Celebration Ph.D. Scholarship, which is given to one doctoral student annually.
• Rebecca Bruce received the IFT Institute Thermal Processing Specialists Ph.D. Degree Scholarship.
• Asmita Singh received the IFT Feeding Tomorrow General Graduate Scholarship.

All three are doctoral candidates in U of A’s Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

From left: Tad Beekman, Rebecca Bruce and Asmita Singh, all food science doctoral students in Bumpers College, have earned IFT Feeding Tomorrow scholarships. (Photo Submitted)

Beekman, who has earned a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship at the U of A Graduate School and International Education, placed second in the 2019 Arkansas Chapter Gamma Sigma Delta Ph.D. Poster Contest and won the Evergreen Award for Outstanding Presentation that Develops or Expands a Method at the National Conference for Sensory Professionals in 2020.

Bruce’s paper, “Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Medium-Sized Broken Rice Kernels and Their Potential in Instant Rice Production,” written with other members of the department of food science, was named an “editor’s pick” by the Cereals & Grains Association and earned a Doctoral Academy Fellowship from the U of A Graduate School and International Education. She also placed third in the 2021 Gamma Sigma Delta Ph.D. Oral Presentation Contest where she presented on engineering novel technologies for rice drying.

Singh has been investigating how autism spectrum disorders affect sensory perception of and behavior toward foods. She was selected as an “Early Career Researcher” at the 2019 Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland, and placed second in the Rose Marie Pangborn Graduate Student Oral Competition at the annual meeting of the IFT in 2020.

Both Beekman and Singh’s adviser is associate professor Han-Seok Seo, and Bruce’s adviser is associate professor Griffiths Atungulu, both researchers and scientists with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

The Institute of Food Technologists Foundation, Feeding Tomorrow, offers a variety of scholarships for freshman, undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a degree in various disciplines within the science of food.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.