Ponencia Dr. Singh



PONENCIA

3er Coloquio Doctorados 2020

R_Paul_Singh_coloquio_UDLAP

PONENTE

  • Dr. R. Paul Singh
    "A Quest for Sustainability in the Food Enterprise"

DESCRIPCIÓN

Undoubtedly the current COVID-19 pandemic has had an overarching impact on human life worldwide, yet many other existential threats have long term consequences. Among them, the effects of climate change, increasing population, and general degradation of natural resources are challenging the 21st-century global food enterprise. The most critical need is how to meet the food requirements of the rapidly growing world's population that is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years. Unfortunately, the resources required for increasing food production are becoming heavily constrained. Many current systems employed for agricultural production, food processing, and distribution are increasingly deemed unsustainable. Technological advances and their rapid deployment to minimize energy and food losses are essential to meet the growing population's food needs and reduce the environmental impact of the food system.

Food-related health illnesses such as obesity and malnutrition have reached an epidemic stage in many parts of the world. In this context, the concept of sustainable diets is worthy of serious consideration. At a 2010 symposium, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations offered a definition of sustainable diets. Broadly, the definition encompassed four domains: nutrition and health, economics, society and culture, and the environment. With the use of relevant metrics, results from system-level studies will be needed to develop food policies for the future. Transdisciplinary approaches, with a focus on sustainability, are necessary. These challenges facing the food enterprise offer new opportunities to help advance the science of food.


BIOGRAFÍA

Dr. R. Paul Singh is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Food Engineering, University of California at Davis. He received his degrees in the area of agricultural engineering from Punjab Agricultural University (B.S. 1970), University of Wisconsin (M.S. 1972), and Michigan State University (Ph.D. 1974). Dr. Singh’s research involves computational modeling of food processes to improve sustainability of industrial food manufacturing, design of novel food processing equipment, and study of food digestion for improved bioaccessibility of nutrients in the human body.

He is an author or co-author of 17 books, 3 patents and over 280 refereed papers. His textbook, Introduction to Food Engineering, is translated into 6 languages and used worldwide in food engineering education. Dr. Singh received the Kishida International award in 2007, and the 2013 Massey Ferguson Gold Medal for education from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. In 2010, the Institute of Food Technologists awarded him the Nicolas Appert Award—the highest award given in the field of food science in the United States. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and 2015 World Agriculture Prize Laureate. In 2018, he received Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from the University of Guelph. Currently, he serves as an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Food Engineering.


CONTACTO

Biological and Agricultural Engineering
University of California
Davis, CA 95616
Email: rpsingh@ucdavis.edu
Website: http://www.rpaulsingh.com/about.html