Newsletter Coordinator:
Roshema Mel, M.Sc. Student
Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences
University of Manitoba
Student Spotlight
Hello everyone! Logesh Dhanapal is a Biosystems Engineering M.Sc. student at the University of Manitoba, Department of Biosystems Engineering, Canada, studying his first year under the guidance of Dr. Chyngyz Erkinbaev.
Logesh is an ambitious food processing graduate who relishes building new ideas to develop and promote sustainable food systems that benefit human health. With a sound knowledge of food processing operations, new product development, and convincingly good research skills, currently, he’s expanding his horizons in the field of non-invasive and smart sensing techniques to design, analyze, and control plant-based food manufacturing processes.
He received his bachelor’s degree in food Process Engineering from NIFTEM- Thanjavur (India), where he performed his research works on 3D food printing and developing codelivery nanoparticles through electro-spraying. Acquired scientific writing skills by working on meat alternatives and microfluidics for the delivery of nutraceutical ingredients. The acute need for non-destructive real-time food quality monitoring techniques motivated him to set out on the path of pursuing a master’s program in Biosystems Engineering.
He is placing his master’s research to solve the prevailing quality and safety concerns with plant-based meats using hyperspectral imaging technology and chemometrics. By studying the interaction of light with self-formulated plant-based meat analogs, he’s trying to unravel their complex nature to predict their quality and shelf-life in real time. He truly believes that his research goals involving spectral imaging and computational modeling could unravel the feasibility of real-time quality monitoring for a wide range of complex food formulations. Additionally, he has a keen fascination for food extrusion and grain storage. During his study, the rationale behind valorizing agri-food wastes motivated him to carry out research work on by-product utilization in fabricating high-moisture meat analogs through extrusion.
He was one of the 15 finalists in Manitoba to pitch his research project at Falling Walls Lab Manitoba, in 2022. He was also one of the semi-finalists in the Three Minute Thesis, UofM, 2023. He is also volunteering as a Newsletter Coordinator, CIFST (Manitoba section). He served in numerous leadership positions in student clubs as President, Treasurer, and Campus Ambassador that progressively multiplied his representation and contribution to his previous institute in the fields of research, sports, and others. He believes his proactive stance in academics and extracurricular activities helps him create a concept and turn it into practice.
Upcoming events
National:
- Ongoing: Knowledge Bites Webinar Series (FREE for members): https://cifst.ca/webinars/
- June 7 to 9, 2023: Canadian Food Summit – CIFST National Conference, RBC Convention Centre and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, London, Ontario — Early Bird Registration until Friday, April 28: https://cifst.wildapricot.org/event-4980710
- June 7, 2023: 3MT Student Competition 2023. Get full details here: https://bit.ly/3KqDLjd
- June 7, 2023: Marvin Tung Student Case Competition 2023. Get full details here: https://bit.ly/3K3zaTO
Manitoba Section:
- April 2023: Manitoba School Science Symposium
- May 2023: Annual General Meeting
Quebec Section:
- June 15, 2023 – CIFST Quebec Section with the family – An evening at the circus. Register here: http://bit.ly/3UH2YKL
Ontario Section:
- Technical, procurement, and marketing online events: Dates TBA
- Golf Tournament: Date TBA
- November 7, 2023: Supplier’s Night
CIFST website and LinkedIn page
Please visit our website for more updated information: https://www.cifst.ca/
In addition to the online community, CIFST has a LinkedIn page, to which you can request access through the link below:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/canadian-institute-of-food-science-and-technology-cifst/
CIFST Student members have a group on LinkedIn. Please use this link to join:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14205272/