Plenary Sessions
Monday, November 9, 2026
Health and Wellness
The food industry is undergoing a challenging environment. Changes include the advent of GLP-1 drugs, changing taste perceptions among consumers, the rise of plant protein consumption, and demonization of ultraprocessed foods. Our speakers will address these challenges.
Dispelling the Myth of Ultra Processed Foods
Professor Emeritus Dr. Yrjö H. Roos is affiliated with the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland. He holds MSc, PhD and DSc awards from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Following an early industrial career in the dairy Industry, he joined the Department of Food Science, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA, in 1989. In 1991 he returned to University of Helsinki as Professor and Senior Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland. He was appointed as Professor and Chair of Food Technology at University College Cork in 1999 where he also served as Head and Dean. His main research interests are in dairy and food processing technologies and food materials science. He is President of the Central Committee of International Symposium of Water in Foods (ISOPOW) and founding member and Chair of the European Academy of Food Engineering (EAFE). He has h-index of 75 for numerous research publications and books with 24,500 citations. He is recipient of the International Association of Engineering and Food (IAEF) Lifetime Achievement Award, the Swiss Thermal Analytical Society Award and ASABE International Food Engineering Award. He is Fellow of the IFT and IAoFST. He is serving as member of the working group and Panel for Food Enzymes of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) since 2021.
From Better-for-You to Built-for-Wellness: How Health and Wellness Is Reshaping Food Innovation and Food Engineering
Dr. Sheyla Ramsay is an R&D Fellow and Processing Director with PepsiCo Global Foods in Plano, Texas, USA. She has three decades of experience in food process engineering, product development, and manufacturing innovation across global food categories. Her work focuses on translating emerging consumer needs into scalable processing solutions that improve product quality, nutrition, sustainability, and operational efficiency.
Dr. Ramsay has led research and commercialization efforts involving thermal processing, drying, ingredient functionality, and snack manufacturing technologies. She is particularly interested in the intersection of food processing, health and wellness trends, and sustainable manufacturing systems. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with specialization in fermentation and dynamic modelling via neural networks. Dr. Ramsay has contributed to numerous industries, academic, and professional society initiatives advancing food science and technology.
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
AI in the Food Industry
From Chemometric Sensing to Decisions: AI/ML-Driven Analytics for Real-Time Food Quality Control
Dr. Tim Andersen is a Professor of Computer Science and Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at Boise State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brigham Young University and subsequently joined the Boise State faculty in 2001, later serving as chair of the Computer Science Department, helping lead the establishment of the School of Computing.
Dr. Andersen’s research centers on machine learning and artificial intelligence, with applications spanning bioinformatics, image analysis, document processing, DNA-based memory, and chemometrics. As PI or Co-PI, Dr. Andersen has helped to secure ~$20 million in competitive funded research from agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
Manmit Shrimali
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Technology Commercialization: Success Stories
Pulsed Electric Field Processing: The ELEA Story
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Toepfl is Managing Director of Elea Technology GmbH and Professor for Food Process Engineering. With more than two decades of research and industrial experience in Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing, he has been instrumental in translating PEF from academic concept to global industrial reality. His work spans fundamental electroporation science, sustainable process design, and the implementation of large‑scale PEF systems across the juice, beverage, and food industries. Under his leadership, Elea has deployed close to 300 industrial PEF systems worldwide, enabling processors to improve product quality, reduce energy consumption, and modernize microbial safety strategies.
A frequent advisor to industry and government bodies, Prof. Toepfl has authored numerous scientific publications, patents, and book chapters and serves on several scientific committees. His talks focus on practical, data‑driven insights that help manufacturers select and integrate the right technologies for safe, high‑quality, and sustainable products.
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Kristi Spence
Kristi Spence is Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives at the Food and Dairy Innovation Center at Boise State University, where she leads communications, grant writing and reporting, and student mentorship. A registered dietitian with a background in marketing and communications leadership in the dairy industry, she is passionate about bringing people and research-backed opportunities together for real impact. Along with two Boise State colleagues and an external partner, she is co-founding PEF Analytics, a Boise State startup that will commercialize pulsed electric field technology for dairy and barley processing. This opportunity was seeded by an NSF TIP Directorate grant focused on food security and processing efficiency, and Kristi will serve as the company’s CMO. Her work sits at the intersection of research, industry partnership, and communication, where she helps translate university innovation for commercial use.
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Don Dillon is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sound Foods, a food technology company pioneering a new category of functional nutrition through its patented ultrasonic cold-forming platform. Inspired by his own journey into nutrition and biohacking following his service in the U.S. Navy, Dillon founded Sound Foods to make clinically meaningful nutrition more accessible by combining supplement-grade bioactives with everyday food formats. Prior to Sound Foods, he founded Valoren, an energy retrofit company focused on large government facilities. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group and the FDIC. Dillon holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree in Finance and Investment from New York University.