Dr. Sarah Beno, Assistant Professor of Biology at Birmingham-Southern College uses her food science background to encourage current students to consider food industry careers. 

Name: Sarah Beno

Title: Assistant Professor of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College

 

What is your background and how did you become interested in the dairy/food industry?

I earned my bachelors degrees in biology and chemistry from Meredith College. During undergrad, I took a food science course through North Carolina State University and became really interested in applied microbiology, specifically food safety and I decided to apply for PhD programs in this area, as I knew I ultimately wanted to be a professor.

 

What was your Cornell experience like? (i.e. coursework, dairy related activities, internships, jobs, etc.)

At Cornell, I studied food safety and dairy microbiology in Martin Wiedmann’s lab. My PhD was in Food Science and my minors were Microbiology and Applied Economics and Management. My elective courses were largely focused on international development. I had a fellowship that allowed me to explore global food safety, and I spent a few weeks in India, a few weeks in Sweden, and a few months in Kenya learning, collaborating, and working with different industries. While on campus, I was very active in dairy extension. I attended many of the dairy extension program workshops, helped plan and execute the artisan dairy workshop, and taught “hands on microbiology” for the basic dairy science workshop. In addition, I gave talks to dairy processing superintendents in conjunction with NYS Agriculture and Markets. The experiences that I had working with dairy extension, as well as my time as a teaching assistant solidified my career goal to work as a teaching-focused professor.

 

What is your current role in the food industry, and how does it impact the dairy industry?

When I left Cornell I started a postdoc at University of Alabama at Birmingham. I spent the first two years working in host-microbe interactions, specifically looking at the impact of Streptococcus pneumoniae on heart function. I’ve spent the past year studying the impact of feedback on undergraduate student learning. While I’ve been away from the food industry, I have jumped on any opportunity to give lectures on food-related topics and I developed a course for the Honors College last fall to teach “hot topics” in food and nutrition. I will be teaching this course for Health Science majors at Birmingham-Southern College in the fall (in addition to Genetics). While I do not have any direct ties to the food industry, I plan to collaborate with my Cornell network for some small side-projects that I can complete with undergraduates in my research lab.

 

How did your Cornell training impact your career in the dairy/food industry?

I am going to be working with undergraduate students who often have not heard of this field. I intend to encourage my students to consider careers in this field and with the network I built at Cornell, I have many resources to connect students to these opportunities!

 

 

 

 

Alumni Spotlight

 Name: Sofia Lara

Title: Technical Service Manager – Cheese, DSM

 

What is your background and how did you become interested in the dairy industry?

 

I graduated from the University of Costa Rica with a bachelor’s degree in Food Engineering. During my senior year, I took a Food Processing course and the dairy science portion was the most interesting to me. I was impressed and intrigued by the versatility in dairy processing. As a dairy enthusiast, it was fascinating to understand and apply so many concepts of chemistry, microbiology, and engineering in order to create so many different products from milk. I also had the opportunity to do an internship in the R&D department of Dos Pinos, Costa Rica’s largest dairy cooperative and that experience reinforced my interest in the dairy industry.

 

 

What was your Cornell experience like? (i.e. coursework, dairy related activities, internships, jobs, etc.)

 

My research in the Alcaine Research Group focused on a novel enzymatic approach to improve the shelf-life of dairy products. I always found the support from the faculty and all the necessary resources to do my research project. While mainly focused on research, I took advantage of the flexibility of the MS program to take courses such as Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, and Project Management to complement my scientific background and have a well-rounded understanding of the industry. In addition, the Dairy Cooperative Extension offers a comprehensive program of workshops and I attended many of them to learn from people in both academia and industry.

As part of extracurricular activities, I participated in a product development competition. The help and encouragement from the Food Science Department were key in our success. Also, thanks to the support of the Dairy Cooperative Extension and industry partners, I participated in the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest, an amazing learning experience that allowed me to expand my network within the dairy industry. My experience at Cornell exceeded all my expectations and it definitely opened a lot of opportunities to bolster my career in many ways.

 

 

What is your current role in the food industry how does it impact the dairy industry?

 

In August 2018 I joined DSM Food Specialties as the Technical Service Manager for the cheese team in North America. My job involves providing technical support to our customers at their processing plants to satisfy their needs and achieve the desired performance with products available in our portfolio. I am also involved in training the personnel involved in the cheese processing to help them understand the science or reason behind their duties at the plant and the importance of their role. Given the need for qualified labor in the dairy industry, I am really enjoying the opportunity of getting people excited and interested in dairy science by helping them understand what they do on a daily basis. Furthermore, the conventional cheese making is changing rapidly due to constant efforts to increase efficiency and it is my responsibility to be the interface between R&D and Sales to make sure our portfolio is comprehensive and relevant for the industry.

 

 

What overall impact did Cornell training have on your career in the dairy industry?

 

My time at Cornell improved my research skills and expanded my knowledge in dairy science. What I value the most is the confidence I gained to communicate and develop a network through the constant exposure to qualified individuals in both industry and academia. These experiences taught me how to interact with people with different roles and backgrounds. Also, through research, I developed problem-solving and critical thinking skills that help me evaluate situations and come up with solutions for our customers. And finally, I met many incredible professionals from different fields that I can always reach out to for help or advice, and I consider that key for a successful career in any industry.