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Students with specific interests in food safety are participating in the 2014 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including undergraduate students from Mount Holyoke College, Ithaca College, American University, Bryn Mawr College, Monmouth College, University of Hawaii, Alabama A&M University, North Carolina State University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Naa Ankrah, a chemistry major from Mount Holyoke College, is conducting research in Dr. Tako's lab at Cornell University. She is working on improving zinc and iron bioavailability in staple foods and developing countries.

Avery Becker, a biochemistry major from Ithaca College, is conducting research in Dr. Wiedmann's lab at Cornell University. His research assesses envelop stress responses by Listeria monocytogenes as regulated from its sigma factors.

Madeleine Bee, a chemistry major from American University, is conducting research with Dr. Sacks and Ms. Howe at Cornell University.  She is determining volatile acidity in wines by measuring acetic acid using gas detection tubes.

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Jie Cheng, a chemistry major from Bryn Mawr College, is conducting research in Dr. Wiedmann's laboratory and the Milk Quality Improvement Program at Cornell University.  She is working on the development of a new assay to detect cold growing Bacillus and Paenibacillus spp.

Maxwell Holle, a biochemistry major from Monmouth College, is conducting research in Dr. Padilla-Zakour's laboratory at Cornell University.  He is working on the Evaluation of Absorption Coefficients as a Means for Determining the Efficacy of UV Light for Bacterial Inhibition in Juice.

Emily Mishina, a microbiology major from the University of Hawaii, is conducting research in Dr. Worobo's laboratory at Cornell University.  She is Characterizing the Antifungal Effects of YvgO on Candida albicans.

Anissa Taylor, a food science major from Alabama A&M University, is conducting research in Dr. Moraru's laboratory at Cornell University.  She is studying the Effect of the Vital Vio light system on inactivation of foodborne microorganisms and food spoilage.

Currey Nobles, a food science major from North Carolina State University, is conducting research in Dr. Nightingale's laboratory at Texas Tech.  She is working on validation studies for the companies Qiagen and Roka. Both of the validation studies are concerned with detection of food pathogens in different food matrices. The Qiagen study is focused on E. coli detection in ground beef, beef trim and sprouts. The Roka study is focused on Listeria detection in hot dogs and deli meats.

Erina Gunawan, a food science major from Iowa State University, is conducting research in Dr. Oliver's lab at Purdue University.  Her research focuses on identifying the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in cantaloupe seeds.

Rachel Lombardi, a biochemistry major from the University of Michigan, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Brittany Miles, a biology major from Georgia Institute of Technology, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Katherine Speight, a food science major from North Carolina State University, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Students with specific interests in food safety participated in the 2013 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including undergraduate students from Texas Tech University, North Carolina State University, Texas Wesleyan University, McGill University, Cornell University, University of Puerto Rico--Mayaguez, and Pennsylvania State University. 

Jessica Heiden, a senior Biology major from Texas Tech University, will be conducting research in Dr. Nightingale's lab at the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.  Her research focuses on characterizing the immune response to virulence-attenuated Listeria monocytogenes subtypes which are common among ready-to-eat foods.

Analiesel Hannes, a rising senior and double major in food science and microbiology at North Carolina State University, is performing summer research in Dr. Jaykus' lab at North Carolina State University.  Her research utilizes RTq-PCR and cell culture techniques to investigate the persistence of a possible Norovirus surrogate, Tulane Virus, on stainless steel.

Corey Holt, a rising junior majoring in Biology at Texas Wesleyan University, is using Western blotting to examine the expression of genes used for  flagellar motility in Listeria monocytogenes.  He is working under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts at Texas Wesleyan University.

Morgan Kirkpatrick, a rising junior majoring in Biology at Texas Wesleyan University, is examining the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria species isolated from queso fresco purchased from small and large Hispanic-serving retail stores.  He is working under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts at Texas Wesleyan University.

Sarah Kozak, a Food Science major at Cornell University, conducted research in Dr. Martin Wiedmann's laboratory. Her research focused on characterization of organisms isolated from fluid milk and cultured dairy products.

Paola M. Illas-Ortiz, an Industrial Microbiology major from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, conducted research in Dr. Martin Wiedmann's laboratory at Cornell University. Her research focused on the prevalence, persistence, and diversity of Listeria in spinach fields from planting to harvest.

Karine Paradis, a Food and Nutritional Science major from McGill University, conducted research in Dr. Carmen I. Moraru's at Cornell University. Her research focused on reduction of Listeria innocua on the surface of processed cheese after exposure to Pulsed Light Treatment.

Kenneth G. Vogel, a Food Science major from Pennsylvania State University, conducted research in Dr. Randy Worobo's laboratory. His research focused on Dertermining critical parameters for tempeh production to control the growth of foodborne pathogens.

Three undergraduate students, majoring in Biology, participated in a pilot, five-week Food Safety Summer Scholars Program at Texas Wesleyan University during the summer of 2011.  The students worked under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts.

Rebecca Mandujano, a senior Biology major, studied how effectively a recipe for homemade queso fresco kills Listeria monocytogenes during cheese preparation.

Truc Nguyen, a senior Biology major, used site-directed mutagenesis to probe the contribution of a premature stop codon in the flaR gene of Listeria monocytogenes on flagellar motility.   Truc's poster describing his research and entitled, "Rescue of the flaR gene in strain N1-003 of Listeria monocytogenes" won first place in the microbiology category at the 2012 Beta Beta Beta National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Lorena Ortiz, a senior Biology major, used cell culture to compare the intracellular growth rates of strains of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from human clinical cases of listeriosis.