Lab Members
Postdoctoral Scholars
Graduate Students
Yamile Mennah
Clay Swackhamer
Clay is a PhD student in Biological Systems Engineering. He is studying structural breakdown and nutrient release from solid foods during simulated human digestion. One model for human digestion that Clay is using is the human gastric simulator, a device available only at UC Davis that recreates the peristaltic contractions in the stomach using mechanical rollers. His current work applies fracture mechanics to understand the mechanical properties that control food structural breakdown, and uses tools such as image analysis and texture analysis to experimentally measure these processes in the lab.
Alex Olenskyj
Alex is a PhD student applying 4-dimensional imaging coupled with machine learning approaches to in vitro gastric digestion for the purpose of visualization, quantification, and prediction of food structural changes during the digestion process.
Berta Lascuevas
Berta is a Master’s student in Biological Systems Engineering. She is investigating the food structure modifications during processing to control starch digestibility in carbohydrate-based snack products.
Visiting Scholars
Corentin Lannuzel
Undergraduate Students
Arash Afsarifard
Arash is an undergraduate student in Biosystems Engineering. He is studying a dynamic model of gastric digestion, specifically on almond milk. The goal is to provide a more realistic representation of digestion for in vitro studies.
Kia Canning
Riley Graham
Riley Graham is an undergraduate student in food science studying various digestion properties of fruits.
Food Engineering Lab Alumni
Ph.D Graduates
- Yamile Mennah Govela, Biological Systems Engineering (2020)
- Alex Olenskyj, Biological Systems Engineering (2021)
- Clay Swackhamer, Biological Systems Engineering (2022)
- Joanna Nadia – Massey University, Food Science and Technology (2022)
M.S. Graduates
- Yamile Mennah Govela, Biological Systems Engineering (2015)
- Krista Drechsler, Biological Systems Engineering (2016)
- Karen Rios Villa, Food Science and Technology (2017)
- Weiyi Sun, Biological Systems Engineering (2021)
Postdoctoral Scholars
- Silvia Keppler (2018 – 2020)
Undergraduate Interns and Visiting Interns
- Karine Vilpont (2015) undergraduate intern from Reunion Island and Indian Ocean Engineering School (ESROI), Reunion Island
- Felipe Jannuzzi Guerreiro (2015) undergraduate intern from University of São Paulo, Brazil
- Yikai (Stephen) Ren (2015) undergraduate intern from Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
- Camila Follador Lemos (2014 – 2015) undergraduate intern from Positivo University Paraná, Brazil
- Joseph Chu (2015 – 2016) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Tiffany Ko (2015 – 2016) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Cindy Cheng (2016) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Vanessa Raharjo (2016) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Ellia La (2016) undergraduate intern from UC Santa Barbara Chemistry Department
- Aaron Leong (2017) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Hongchang Cai (2017) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Talia Estevez (2017- 2018; 2019) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Kaela Kim (2018) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Xiaohan Cao (2018) undergraduate intern from UC Davis Food Science Department
- Berta Lascuevas Laguna (2018) undergraduate intern from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain
- Natalia Cuba Pomares (2018) undergraduate intern from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
- Maria Garcia Guerrero (2018-2019) undergraduate intern from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
- Paola Navarro Vozmediano (2019) undergraduate intern from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
Visiting Scholars & Faculty
- Simge Mutlu (2016) M.S. Student from University of Salerno, Italy
- Erik Sewalt (2017) M.S. Student from Wageningen University
- Danny Tagle (2017) M.S. Student from Wageningen University
- Gaia Mannara (2018-2019) M.S. Student from University of Salerno, Italy
- Valeria Eim (2019) Visiting Professor from University of Balearic Islands, Spain
- Giustino Tribuzi (2020) Visiting Professor from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
- Yadira Zambrano (2021-2022) Ph.D. Student from Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
- Corentin Lannuzel (2023) Ph.D. Student from Wageningen University, Netherlands
Group Photos
