Margaux joined the Dando Lab as a PhD student in 2019 with an interest in understanding flavor perception and individual taste preferences. Her current research project is aimed at understanding the sensory properties of natural alternative sweeteners to aid in sugar reduction strategies. Before coming to Cornell, Margaux received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Florida Atlantic University and studied dietary and neuronal mechanisms underlying meal size regulation in fruit flies at the Scripps Research Institute. To further explore the topic of diet, she went on to the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore to investigate the impact of dietary interventions on health and lifespan. While living in Baltimore, Margaux became enchanted with the bustling Craft Beer scene and took a six-week course at DuClaw Brewing Company to learn the ins and outs of brewing. This marked the beginning of her ongoing love for creating beers that accurately portray unique flavors, which she brought with her to Cornell when she started her PhD program. Bringing together her passion for food science, sensory evaluation, and brewing, Margaux co-founded Cornell’s graduate brewing organization Big Red Brewing with her lab mate, Anna, to share her love of beer, interest in exploring the intersection of brewing and flavor perception, and to promote community engagement. She hopes to continue to merge these interests throughout her PhD.
Jason Goodman
Jason was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, and graduated from Penn State University, majoring in Microbiology. After graduation, he remained in Philadelphia for the next 6 years working in the pharmaceutical industry and exploring the burgeoning Philly food scene. While working, he de-orphaned feline taste receptors for a pet food company, mapped antibodies against HIV, and evaluated diagnostic drugs for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Jason is a PhD student at Cornell where he studies the interaction between taste, obesity, and the microbiome. Outside of work, he enjoys building things, listening to podcasts, eating new foods, and cycling.
Fiona Harnischfeger
Fiona is a PhD student born in Heidelberg, Germany and was raised in the US and Germany. She received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany in 2016. During her undergraduate degree, she completed internships at the National Institutes of Health in the USA, Tsinghua University in China and at the University of Cambridge in the UK as part of the Amgen scholars program. During her undergraduate she studied various topics in immunology and neurobiology including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, MHC class I molecules and neural circuits involved in satiety signaling. Currently she is working on a project to restore taste function to combat obesity. In her free time, she loves to read and spend time outdoors.
Anna is a third year PhD student in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University studying the physiology of taste buds. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at New York University, she pursued biomedical research in the Division of Liver Diseases at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. As a research technician and bioinformatician, she was a part of a team investigating genomic characterization and therapeutic target discovery in liver cancer and worked with large-scale genomics data for clinical outcome prediction and disease classification. Her current project at Cornell examines the correlation between taste adaptation and alcohol intake, and her other research interests include flavor perception and multi-sensory experiences. Outside of school, Anna enjoys exploring various spirits in cocktails, takes keen interest in furniture and watch designs, and is a fervent supporter of the Arsenal Football Club.
Jennifer is a MPS student born and raised in Scarsdale, NY. She graduated with a BS from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2018 with a degree in Food Science. During her undergraduate career she has interned at Nestle Purina and Beech-Nut Nutrition in the product development departments. She wants to learn more about how sensory interacts with product development. In her free time, Jennifer loves singing and dancing. In addition, she has been competing on competitive synchronized skating teams for the past 11 years.
Peiyuan (Blair) Zhou
Blair joined Dando’s lab as a PhD student in 2018. She was born and raised in China and received her undergraduate degree in Food Science and Engineering from China Agricultural University. At the early stage of her undergraduate degree, she mainly focused on the project ‘Extraction, separation and purification of polyphenols from pomegranate peel’ and some R&D work. In addition to academics, she is also a Cargill global scholar from Cohort 4. During the third year, she found her interest in sensory science and did several projects related to that. She will be working on human sensory testing and a project related to effects of light exposure on foods. In her spare time, she loves traveling, movies, fashion and exploring various cultures.
Mingze Qin
Mingze is an MPS student majoring in Food Science and Technology. She obtained her Bachelor of Engineering Degree from Nanjing Agricultural University in 2018. Before graduation, she interned at Nanjing Dairy Company as a researcher in new products development. Currently she is working on the sensory testing of apples. Also, she is interested in new food product development and food processing. During her spare time, she likes to read, cook, watch movies and has an interest in singing and music.
Jennie Kim
Jennie is an undergraduate in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, majoring in Human Biology Health and Society and minoring in Health Development and Health Policy. She was born and raised in Northern Virginia and plans on attending dental school upon graduation in May 2019. She has been part of the Dando Lab for 2 years and is currently working on a human sensory study that evaluates long-term changes regarding weight gain/loss and changes in taste perception and intensity
Theresa Li
Theresa was born in Calgary, Canada, and was raised in Canada and China. She is doing her undergraduate degree in Food Science with minors in Nutrition and Business. Her research is based on perception of foods.
Molly Smith
Molly is an undergraduate student at Cornell studying food science. She was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania. She is currently testing the impact of texture on taste, flavor and satisfaction from foods.
Terrence De Jesus
Terrence joined the Dando Lab in January 2014 to pursue a MPS in Food Science and Technology. His research interests include the psychological factors that effect the sensory perception of food and the sensory aspects of complex flavor systems. Currently he is studying the impact of light oxidation in the flavor of milk. Before arriving at Cornell, Terrence received a B.A. in Behavioral Biology from Johns Hopkins University and worked for several years at Chromocell Corporation within their food and flavor applications laboratory. An avid foodie, he enjoys dining out, barbequing and traveling – for the food of course.
Mengying (Monica) Sun
Monica was an MPS student at Cornell University. Her research in Dr Dando’s lab was on studying the correlation between processing parameters and sensory properties of milk powder. She received her BS in Food Science from California State University, Fresno in 2012. Before arriving at Cornell, Monica worked for Chinese Academy Agricultural Science, Beijing, and studied the flavor of Maillard Reactions of wheat proteins. She hopes to pursue a career in sensory and consumer science in the future.
In her spare time, she loves cooking and traveling. She is also enthusiastic about charity; she worked for Friendship Ambassadors foundation of United Nation and visited several countries in Africa and the Middle East.
Bryan was an undergrad in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University, majoring in Biology and minoring in Spanish, with a concentration of Neurobiology and Behavior.
Jae Bang
Jae was awarded his MPS in Food Science with a focus on Sensory Science at the end of 2013. He is now with International Flavors and Fragrances. His background includes a Bachelors Degree in Food Science and Technology from the University of Georgia and an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Some of his interests include how our five senses interact with different food systems and how we can utilize sensory analysis techniques to evaluate taste stimuli. One personal goal he would like to accomplish for the future is to develop a healthier version of instant ramen noodles which is still his all time favorite food.
Jakob Dobrowolski
Jakob, an international student from Germany, graduated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in May of 2014, where he studied biology with a concentration in molecular and cellular biology. Before joining the Dando lab in 2012, he studied the impact ecological factors have on a mosquito’s ability to transmit disease causing agents such as the Dengue virus at the University of Florida, and investigated the impact circulating peptides have on taste perception. Whenever the time permits, he enjoys every possible outdoor activity with a particular passion for golf, swimming, and sailing. He is now at the Rockefeller University, in the lab of Vanessa Ruta.
Wen obtained her MPS degree at Cornell University. She was born and raised in the middle part of China, and graduated from Purdue University with BS in Food Science. After completing her college degree, she took a gap year and worked in a molecular microbiology lab as research assistant studying Listeria monocytogenes. However, after dealing with bacteria every day, she realized she preferred to work with people. Her project investigated the impact of sleep duration and quality on human taste via sensory evaluation. Outside of work, she likes to travel, cook, eat, and watch movies.
Ana obtained her M.S. degree in Food Science at Cornell. She was born and raised in Ecuador, where she received a Food Engineering degree from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral. Her Master’s thesis focused on the effects of different types of light in the flavor of milk and strategies to mitigate milk oxidation. Her research interests include sensory evaluation, product development and nutrition. In her free time, Ana enjoys singing, watching movies and hiking. She also loves to travel, especially to natural areas. Ana is now studying for her PhD in Cornell’s Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Susan Licker
Susan was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, California. She graduated from California State University, Chico with a BS in Dietetics and from Cornell University with a MS in Food Science. After graduating, she moved to Plano Texas where she works for PepsiCo in the snacks division, Frito-Lay, in R&D developing great tasting snack foods. While working she has had the great privilege to be part many new product launches around the globe such as Lays WOW! potato chips, Doritos Locos Tacos, Doritos Dinamita, and most recently Kurkure Twistkeen in India. Susan started to see the culinary flavor trends with consumers and therefore the need for culinary and food science intersection. She went back to school at night at Collin County College and received a Certificate of Arts in Culinary Arts and received from the Research Chefs Association the Certification of Culinary Scientist. Most recently she has seen the growing trend of the importance of food texture to the consumer. Susan came to the lab going back to school, while still working full time for PepsiCo, to obtain her PhD in Food Science.