Sangeeta Mukhopadhyay is a doctoral student at University of Arkansas.
An Indian American student has won a competition at the American Association of Cereal Chemists International annual meeting in San Diego, California, in October.
Sangeeta Mukhopadhyay, a University of Arkansas doctoral student in food science, was named the winner of the competition held last month as part of the annual meeting of the association.
Mukhopadhyay won the 2017 Engineering and Processing Best Student Paper Award for her entry, “Experimental Simulation of Cross-Flow Rice Drying: Effect of Tempering Approaches on Milling Yields.”
Terry Siebenmorgen, Distinguished Professor in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science’s Department of Food Science and with the University of Arkansas’ System Division of Agriculture, is Mukhopadhyay’s major adviser and co-author of the research.
Mukhopadhyay’s research focuses on experimental simulation of cross-flow dryers, the most common rice dryers in the U.S. rice industry.
For the 2017 paper, she and Siebenmorgen simulated a cross-flow drying column with the goal of understanding the effect of post-drying tempering approaches on rice milling yields and the extent of fissure occurrence when rice from different dryer cross-sections are tempered differently.
They found the tempering approach immediately after drying significantly affects head rice yields (HRYs) of rice located at different dryer cross-sections during drying. This effect was more prominent on rice located near the heated-air plenum during drying. These results can be used to design better cross-flow rice dryers and improve the drying process.
Hailing from Kolkata, India, she earned her bachelor’s degree in food technology from West Bengal University of Technology in India in 2009 and her master’s degree in food and agricultural engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2012.
She joined University of Arkansas’ rice processing program as a graduate assistant working with Siebenmorgen in 2012.
Mukhopadhyay, who has served as a teaching assistant in food engineering, and Siebenmorgen have won the AACCI Engineering and Processing Best Student Paper Award twice in four years. They won in 2014 for the entry “Impact of Rapid Moisture Adsorption on Rice Milling Yields.”
AAACI is a global, nonprofit association of more than 2,000 scientists and food industry professionals focused on advancing the understanding and knowledge of cereal grain science and its product development applications through research, leadership, education, technical service, and advocacy.