On March 9, 2017, Food Science alumna Sheila Jones returned to campus to pay the Food Science Club a visit. Since graduating in 1999, Sheila has worked for Nestle, Campbell’s, and Walmart. Currently, she is the director of research and development at Advanced Food Products.
Sheila first held a product development workshop, delving into the technical aspects of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. Students learned about the manufacturing processes for four styles of chicken noodle soup: condensed, ready to serve, sippable, and microwavable.
The soup talk left a deep impression on students, such as senior Keqin He.
“I was amazed at how every detail in a product was repeatedly modified to target the market, such as the star shape of noodles in a microwaveable [...] soup product! I've learned a lot and will definitely pay more attention to details in my future interactions with food” said Keqin.
First year graduate student Abby Gao also enjoyed the examples Sheila gave, describing them as “vivid” and “informative.” “I never really got a chance to know how [the] industry applies the concepts [we learn] from books and lectures” she added.
Following the product development workshop, Sheila gave professional development advice. She encouraged students to expand their network, explore IFT, and work with headhunters. She urged students to adapt the mindset of “no one is going to beat me out of this job.”
“I got fantastic professional advice from her, [like] how to network with alumni. Additionally, I learned how to bring up my involvement with Food Science Club in job interviews” said senior Kassa Belay. He added, “I am going to leverage that experience to make myself stand out as a candidate in the future.”
