People

I received my B.S. and M.S., both in Food Engineering, from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey, in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The title of my master’s study was “Improving the gelation properties of fish gelatin by using novel technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure and ultrasonication.”. I participated in Ciftci’s lab in 2021 as a Ph.D. student. Currently, my research focuses on the green processing of lipids to form natural food ingredients to be used as bioactive carriers, fat replacers, and natural food antimicrobials. The title of my Ph.D. project is “Development of an innovative green platform technology to manufacture novel multifunctional hollow solid lipid micro- and nanoparticles.”. My project is supported by USDA NIFA Novel Foods and Manufacturing Technologies program. In the 2021-2022 academic year, I have been selected to receive a Milton E. Mohr Fellowship.

I completed my B.S. and M.S. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My research has been focused on development of novel flavor delivery systems using clean process. Specifically, my master’s focus was creation and characterization of nanoporous corn starch aerogel for flavor delivery. Now, I am testing the aforementioned flavor impregnated nanoporous corn starch aerogel in food applications. Additionally, I have over a decade of food industry experience and currently work at Conagra Brands as a Senior Food Scientist where I am the Technical Lead for Flavors, Spices, and Seasonings.

I received my B.S. in Food Science and Technology from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in 2019, and my M.S. in Food Engineering from University College Dublin in 2021. During my Master Program, my research was focused on UV-vis spectroscopy for adulteration detection of gin and process analytical technology (PAT) in dairy processing. Currently I am under direct supervision by Dr. Ozan Ciftci in the Ciftci Laboratory while I am actively pursuing research in enzymatic interesterification reactions in supercritical carbon dioxide fluid. I enjoy cooking new foods, practicing yoga and meeting new people in my spare time.

I have completed my Master’s in Food Engineering in 2018 and bachelor’s in the same discipline in 2015 from the Department of Food Engineering, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) - Pakistan. Minimizing post-harvest losses caught my attention during my Master's, and as my master's research and thesis, I chose to design and develop a mango pulp extractor to meet the needs of the cottage industry. This work has been published in an international Journal. I worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Food Engineering at the UAF from July 2016 to June 2022. My major duties were research, teaching, and lab work for both undergraduate and graduate students. I have taught several food engineering-related courses at the UAF during the course of my career. As a PhD candidate in the department of Biological Systems Engineering, I started attending the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2022. I am being supported by a National Science Foundation project “BioWRAP - Bioplastics with Regenerative Agricultural Properties” Graduate Research Assistantship. My research area is Biopolymer Engineering, and I am conducting research to create a set of bio-based polymers that can be used as sprayable mulch in agricultural production.