UMD Team Wins Second Place Overall!
UMD College Bowl Team with representatives from the NFSC Department
On April 7, 2018, University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) Food Science students won second place in the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association (IFTSA) Central Atlantic Area College Bowl competition. Approximately 80 undergraduate and graduate students from six universities: UMD, Delaware Valley University, North Carolina State University, the Pennsylvania State university, University of Delaware, Virginia Tech,attended the conference hosted by UMD. Five teams from these Universities (one from each University, except Delaware Valley University) competed in a bowl style trivia contest, answering Food Science toss-up and bonus questions.
Our UMD team competed in four rounds and lost in the final round to North Carolina State University's team. The seven-member UMD team included undergraduates Kaitlyn Davey, Kristi Kan, Stratton Wimsatt, and David Shaya and graduate students Andrea Gilbert, Angela Ferelli, and Xingchen Liu. Graduate student Andrea Gilbert led the team as captain. Second year PhD student Xingchen Liu remarked that she is “proud of being on our great team…together we made this great thing happen!”
UMD food science club planned and organized this weekend long conference (April 6-8, 2017). Food Science Club Co-President, Mary DiMambro said that planning the event “really pushed [her] leadership skills but getting to see everyone enjoying the school and [the club’s] hard work while making tons of new friends made every minute of work more than worth it.” On Friday night, Food Science Club held a social mixer at Terpzone. Conference attendees enjoyed pizza and Dairy ice cream while playing bowling and billiards at Terpzone.
On Saturday morning, Dr. Robert Jackson, Chair of Nutrition and Food Science Department at UMD, gave an encouraging speech to all the teams before the competition. Maryland students then took groups from other teams around campus, and culminated the tours with a photo competition. Two more speakers presented about meat and egg laws in Food Science, and the IFT New Professionals program for recent graduates. On Saturday afternoon, the College Bowl competition took place.
UMD Food science undergraduate and graduate students who were not on the bowl team attended the event as a networking and learning opportunity. Food Science Club vice president of Marketing, Brittany Spraker was excited to be able to "support [her] peers who practiced questions, meet a lot of new people, and talk about food science. It isn't every day that I'm surrounded by such like-minded students. Overall, I'm really glad I got to experience it, and I will always remember it."
In addition to fellow students, Faculty and Staff from the Nutrition and Food Science Department supported the team.
UMD Food Science Club Faculty Advisor, Dr. Abani Pradhan, Associate Professor and Director of NFSC Graduate Program commented that “It always feels great when you organize a major event like IFTSA Regional College Bowl Competition at University of Maryland. UMD Food Science Club did an outstanding job in organizing and hosting this event.”
Overall, the conference was an excellent networking opportunity with an exciting competition, and a wonderful learning experience. Dr. Pradhan continued, “It was really a fun-filled event. This event would not have been possible without the generous support of all sponsors. Thank you all!”
Thank you all our sponsors: UMD Nutrition and Food Science Department, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Food Science Club at NC State University, Ranck & Associates, Delta Produce, AUI Fine Foods, the Board and Brew, Honest Tea, Ever Bar, the Bagel Place of College Park, 36th Avenue, and PepsiCo.
