Rahman Honored with Andersons Early-in-Career Award

EARLY CAREER AWARD — Mahfuzur Rahman was recently bestowed the Andersons Early-in-Career Award by NC-213: The U.S. Quality Grains Research Consortium. (UofA System Division of Agriculture photo)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mahfuzur Rahman, a food scientist and grain processing engineer with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, is this year’s recipient of the Andersons Early-in-Career Award.

Rahman joined the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, as an assistant professor in the food science department in February 2023. He is also a faculty member with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and teaches courses on protein processing and novel food processing technologies.

“We are proud to have Dr. Rahman on our team,” said David Caldwell, interim head of the food science department. “He has already demonstrated so much innovation in his early career, and we look forward to more of his discoveries in the future.”

Griffiths Atungulu, associate professor and agricultural engineer in the food science department and director of the Arkansas Rice Processing Program for the Division of Agriculture, said Rahman has broadened the capabilities of the rice processing program through his expertise in turning rice and rice milling byproducts into high-value food ingredients.

Rahman’s research has focused on improving the nutritional value of processed foods and the functional properties of plant-based proteins that mimic meat and dairy products. Since heat degrades plant-based proteins, Rahman’s work has focused on using other protein extraction technologies such as using high-frequency sound waves. Atmospheric cold plasma is another emerging nonthermal technology that Rahman has used in his food science processing research.

“His innovations in developing new methods for this purpose have garnered significant interest from various stakeholders,” Atungulu said.

Atungulu, who was honored last year with the Andersons Cereal and Oilseeds Award of Excellence, said Rahman is pioneering rice bran processing technologies to generate unique protein profiles for future products. He is also working to develop sustainable packaging solutions from milling by-products.

“Rahman’s work is set to maximize the value extracted from every grain, ultimately enhancing the return on investment for rice growers,” Atungulu said.

The Andersons Early-in-Career award was presented by NC-213: The U.S. Quality Grains Research Consortium on Feb. 20 in Olathe, Kansas. The group notes that the award recognizes individuals early in their careers whose work has “significantly contributed to improvements in science, innovation, technology implementation, policy formation, and/or education related to

quality of cereals and oilseeds from processing to consumption, and who show outstanding promise of continuing those contributions into the future.”

“It is an honor to receive this Early-in-Career Award, and it will further motivate me to continue my research on cereals and oilseeds,” Rahman said.

NC-213 is a project team of engineers, scientists and economists from land-grant universities and government research centers. The group was founded in 1978 and has become “the premiere committee for providing scientific knowledge for issues related to quality and marketing of grains and oilseeds,” the NC-213 website states. The Andersons Agriculture Research Fund supports NC-213