Product & Processing Engineering Laboratory (PROPEL)

Dr. Smith joined the Department of Food Science at Purdue University in the fall of 2022. She is an assistant professor and the principal investigator of the Product and Process Engineering Laboratory (PROPEL). Prior to her arrival at Purdue, Dr. Smith served as a food scientist at Tyson Foods and was a post-doc at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) food innovation center (FIC), managing the dairy and pilot plants and teaching FDST 429 Dairy Products Technology and FDST 412 Cereal Technology. Dr. Smith earned her Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas, working on 915 MHz microwave heating processes, food drying, decontamination and processing.

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Victory Igwe is highly motivated and passionate about learning and building technological solutions to help process and preserve foods without boycotting principles of food quality and safety.  His interests include food processing, novel approaches in non-thermal processing in foods, and product design, as well as modeling and optimization. He aims to lead research innovations in the food industry but will still leave the option of working in academia. His strengths in food science and technology include food engineering, applied mathematics, and cereal processing. 

Victory has spent some reasonable research efforts on non-alcoholic beverage production, processing, preservation, and cereal processing. He can effectively use software packages, including Data Analysis and Design Expert®. He developed mathematical models for locally produced non-alcoholic beverages during his master's degree at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. Currently, Victory is a Ph.D. student in the Product and Process Engineering Lab (PROPEL) under the tutelage of Dr. Smith. He is open to collaborations within and outside the field, gaining new experience and thus contributing immensely to the body of science.

Felicitas Tuku Ewunsoh is a Ph.D. student in Food Science at Purdue University with a concentration in food processing, engineering and food safety. She is passionate about using food science to improve food security, reduce food waste, and support the development of sustainable food systems.

Before joining PROPEL, Felicitas earned her undergraduate degree in Food Science from the Catholic University Institute of Buea, where she researched the nutritional and antioxidant properties of teas produced from moringa, soursop, lemongrass, and tea leaves. She later completed a master’s degree in Agriculture and Environmental Systems at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where her research focused on secondary metabolites in mustard greens. She also gained industry research and development experience at AkzoNobel.

At Purdue, Felicitas’ current research focuses on the valorization of grape pomace, a by-product of wine production, through innovative processing technologies such as radiofrequency drying, extraction, and machine learning-assisted optimization. Her work aims to develop sustainable and industry-relevant approaches for converting food processing by-products into functional ingredients with applications in food preservation, nutrition, and product development.

Felicitas is also deeply committed to leadership and service. She serves as the Vice President of Competitions on the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association Board and as President of the Food Science Graduate Student Association at Purdue. Outside of research and leadership, she enjoys dancing, meaningful conversations, and connecting with others through service, mentorship, and community engagement.