A graduate student has won the third-ranking prize at the research paper competition of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a non-profit organization created to advance the science and technology of food through the exchange of knowledge. IFT is acknowledged and respected as a primary worldwide resource of scientific and professional-based food science and technology information. IFT's New Product Development Division has selected outstanding paper authors among college graduate students to give honors at the IFT Annual Council Meeting.
Lee Yong-wook, a second-year graduate student in the Department of Food Science and Technology, has been awarded the 3rd place prize of the Outstanding Paper Award Division at the 2004 IFT Annual Meeting. Lee presented his treatise on "The Optimization of Manufacturing Condition for Instant Rice Gruel Using Response Surface Methodology" at the conference. The formulation of instant rice gruel, reheated in microwave ovens, was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The established optimum physical characteristics derived from the evaluation of the commercial product and the different rice gruel formulations were applied in creating a defined set of sensory characteristics for microwave rice gruel. His research was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries as a way to promote the projects for agricultural technology development. He cooperated with a large food company and Korea Food Research Institute.
Lee said, "I would like to give heartfelt thanks to Prof. Eun Jong-bang, who has guided my research work and helped me to participate in the international conference. The prize-awarding at the conference made me have confidence in myself. I wish I could make contributions to the development of Korean food technology and industries."