Kumar Mallikarjunan is a food engineer, a researcher, and an educator. For more than 25 years, he has contributed significantly to the field of food science and technology through his research on frying technology, microwave-assisted extraction of phytochemicals, and development of rapid methods to characterize food products via electronic nose and infrared spectroscopy. He helped lead multi-institutional research on aflatoxin mitigation and management in the peanut value chain in sub-Saharan Africa. His research has produced more than 250 publications, including refereed articles, books, and book chapters. He is actively engaged in IFT, providing leadership at the section and national levels, and currently serves as president of the Minnesota Section of IFT. His professional accomplishments have been recognized by several awards, including the Outstanding Alumni for Research Excellence from the Asian Institute of Technology, the Kishida International Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and the Bor S. Luh International Award from IFT.
Areas of Interest : Food process development and nondestructive sensing , Development of novel frying methods, novel inactivation methods, novel methods for extraction of phytochemicals, high pressure processing, and mathematical modeling of cooking processes. Use of technologies like electronic nose, spectroscopy and ultrasound for development of nondestructive methods to evaluate quality, detect pathogen and toxin contaminations and develop rapid tools for medical diagnostics
