FScN Members Honored at Borealis Night of Excellence

May 11, 2023
Mary Schmidl listening in audience

Congratulations to the 2023 FScN honorees:

The 2023 Outstanding Club Advisor went to Dr. Mary Schmidl. Dr. Schmidl is the advisor for Phi Tau Sigma. As the founder of the UMN Chapter, she has been continually grooming potential future leaders to shine in the field of food science for over 7 years. Her dedication to the members of the chapter and their projects highlights her leadership for bright students. Over her career, she has easily given thousands of hours in support of our club, at national and international levels. Under her guidance, the chapter has won the Best Outstanding Chapter Award back-to-back years in 2021 & 2022 along with several other individual awards. Nothing can compare to Mary’s positive attitude and extraordinary commitment to the students of the program making her an outstanding club advisor.

Kumar and his son posing with award and cfans backdrop

The 2023 Exemplary Faculty Award for More than 5 Years goes to Dr. Kumar Mallikarjunan. As a faculty member in the Food Science and Nutrition Department, he is an outstanding researcher, instructor, and advisor that has contributed to the CFANS community. He exemplifies the central function of what CFANS community needs to achieve by advancing the student’s knowledge in the area. For instance, his research group is always looking for opportunities to drive students to demonstrate the transformation of basic food science and engineering principles for the upcoming generation. Because of his accomplishments in food science and engineering research focused on solving problems facing the industry and academic environments, we are able to celebrate his great achievements. His outstanding work researching and educating the upcoming leaders deserves to be recognized by the CFANS community.

Kumar, Mary, and students

Special shoutouts go to FScN alum Jeff Stamp for his induction into the Borealis Circle and to FScN alumni David Pascoe and Kendal Burstad for their work in emceeing the event.