Industrial Workshop Speakers
Lihong (Lilly) D’ANGELO
R&D Director, Greater China
Campbell Soup Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Lilly received her B.S. from Peking University, Beijing, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Emory University, under the direction of Professor Fred Menger. Upon graduation in 1989, she received the "Charles T. Lester Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies in Chemistry". In March 2002, she received her Executive MBA from Mercer University with "Award in Recognition of Outstanding Academic Achievement".
After her graduation from Emory, Lilly joined The Coca-Cola Company as an Associate Scientist. She has been promoted through ranks to Principal Scientist, Manager of Functional Ingredients at Corporate Innovation/R&D, and in 2006 to Senior Innovation Leader. Since the beginning of her career at Coke, her research has been involved in sweetener synthesis, modeling and formulation. After 1999, her responsibility was extended to include global stabilizer and other functional ingredients R&D. She has 15 patents on sweetener and other ingredients in beverage applications and 14 publications from her work at Coke and Emory. In 2006, she moved into a new role as a senior innovation leader working with both marketing and technical colleagues to leverage product innovation on a global scale.
Lilly is currently serving on the editorial board of Food Hydrocolloids. She is very active in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Georgia Section. She has been an elected councilor for the Section for the past seven years and a member of the National ACS Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs since 2003. She has been the Chair for the section's Herty Award Committee from 1999 - 2005. She was the Editor for the ACS newsletter Filter Press from 1990-1993. From 1992-4, she served on the Women Chemists Discussion Group Steering Committee. She has been a chemistry judge for the Science Fairs in Dekalb County and the State of Georgia school systems since 1991, and a judge for the Dixie Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Section Graduate Students Competition since 1998.
In addition to her ACS and other professional activities, Lilly is also active in her local community. She serves as a mentor for the Emory University Mentoring Program, and a tennis coach for the Georgia Special Olympics. She is also currently serving on the Board of Georgia Chapter of the Fulbright Association, Alumni Board of Mercer University Business School, Board of Executive Forum of Mercer University, and Emory University's Alumni Board of Governors. In March 2004, she was recognized by Emory University with the "J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award".
Daniel BENCZEDI
Director of Physical Chemistry and Delivery Technologies
Firmenich SA (Switzerland)
Daniel Benczedi was awarded a PhD in 1995 by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH in Zurich for a thesis on the thermodynamic properties of starch-water systems. In 1996, he joined Firmenich SA in Geneva as a research scientist in charge of the laboratory for encapsulated flavors. In 2003, he was appointed Director of Physical Chemistry and Delivery Technologies in Firmenich Corporate R&D. The field of research of his group covers the physical interactions of flavor and fragrance molecules with polymer- and surfactant-based systems. The resulting know-how is used to develop novel flavor and fragrance delivery systems answering specific application needs in consumer products of the Food, Bodycare and Household industries.
Check-Woo FOO
Group Manager
Nestle R&D Center Pte Ltd (Singapore)
Mr. Foo is the Group Manager for Food Science and Quality Assurance in Nestle R&D Center, Singapore. He did his M.Sc. in Food Chemistry at the National University of Singapore. Mr. Foo has worked at the R&D Center in Singapore for more than twenty years on science-driven product development and quality assurance. His current interest is on Asian food products for nutrition, health and wellness and he is the contact person at the R&D Center for innovation partnerships with universities and research institutes in the region.
Abel GASPAR-ROSAS
Technical and Export Sales Director
TA Instruments, Inc. (USA)
Abel Gaspar-Rosas was awarded a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering - Rheology by the University of Texas. He has 28 years of experience in rheology accompanied by 7 years of experience in thermal analysis. Aspects of his involvement and interests include:
- Technical and Sales Director for Physica Messtechnik GmbH in Latin America.
- General Director of Physica USA, Inc.
- Co-developer of a capillary oscillatory flow device used to characterize viscoelastic properties of complex fluids.
- Performed contract testing/research for industry and government agencies.
- Delivered "Rheology and Thermal Analysis Short Courses" to industry, Universities, Research Centers in the USA, Europe, Mexico, South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, China and South East Asia.
- Developed software and accessories for Dynamic Shear Rheometers for use in the asphalt industry; 14 years of experience in rheological characterization of asphalts.
Paul W S HENG
Associate Professor
National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Dr Paul W. S. Heng obtained his PhD from the National University of Singapore in 1985 and has since joined the National University of Singapore as a faculty member. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Pharmacy. He is the Principal Investigator for GEA-NUS Pharmaceutical Processing Research laboratory, a research laboratory focused in process and product development related to pharmaceutical technology. Dr Heng is currently the Chairman of Quality Control Advisory Committee, Ministry of Health, Singapore and President of the Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy among others. Dr Heng has over 120 international refereed research journal articles and an equivalent number of conference and other non-refereed papers. He is the editor-in-chief of the Asian J Pharm Sci. and is in the editorial boards of the J Microencapsulation and Drug Dev Ind Pharm.
Teri PAESCHKE
Corporate Fiber Technology Leader
Cargill, Inc. (USA)
Dr. Teri Paeschke was recently appointed Corporate Fiber Technology Leader at Cargill, Inc., after being hired as a principal scientist in carbohydrates in 2002. Previous to Cargill, she held product and ingredient development positions at Kelco, Nutrasweet and Sara Lee Bakery as well as consulting for a number of smaller companies. Teri received a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois. Her previous experience with physical chemistry of carbohydrates, including starch, hydrocolloids, and bulking agents enabled her to develop expertise in carbohydrates for health during her tenure at Cargill. She is an inventor on 2 patents as well as 8 recently published patent applications and author of several industry publications.
Edward SLIWINSKI
Senior Scientist Physical & Colloidal Chemistry
Danone Research Centre for Specialized Nutrition (The Netherlands)
Edward Sliwinski is senior scientist within the Product & Process Design Dept of the Danone Research Centre for Specialized Nutrition, Wageningen (The Netherlands) since 2003. Previous to this he was appointed as assistant professor Dairy Technology at the Wageningen University. He was awarded a PhD by the same university for a thesis on the large-deformation properties of wheat flour and gluten dough. His main expertise is in the effect of proteins and polysaccharides on the rheology of complex food systems. Currently his activities fall within the Medical Nutrition Division, which makes that his main interest is in the functionality of hydrocolloids in food products with a certain health benefit.
Graham SWORN
Group Manager, Xanthan & Guar Development
Danisco France SAS (France)
Dr Graham Sworn is the Group Manager for Xanthan and Guar Development within the Texturant and Sweeteners Division of Danisco. He has a degree in Food Science from Southbank University and was awarded a Ph.D in 1998 by Canfield University for his thesis entitled 'Novel gellan gum gels: Scientific and technological aspects'. He has more than 20 years experience in the field of hydrocolloid research and has extensive experience of a wide range of products including, xanthan, gellan, alginate, guar, LBG and carrageenan. The underlying theme of his research has been to apply a scientific approach to the understanding of the practical application of hydrocolloids in the food industry. He has written 4 book chapters and 19 scientific and technical papers. Dr Sworn is currently chairman of the Food Hydrocolloids Trust and a member of the Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference organising committee.
Johan UBBINK
Senior Research Scientist
Nestle Research Center (Switzerland)
Johan Ubbink is Senior Research Scientist at the Nestle Research Center, Lausanne (Switzerland). Trained as an experimental physical chemist, he obtained his Ph.D. in the field of DNA biophysics at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands). After staying as visiting scientist at the University of Bristol (UK) and Moscow State University (Russia), he joined Nestle Research in 1999 as R&D coordinator for Delivery Systems. His current research interests include the physics of the glassy state of carbohydrates, the statistical mechanics of polyelectrolytes in confined and condensed phases, and the biophysics of stabilization and delivery of fragile bioactive compounds.
