# Presentation: 379870

## My Vision For Grain Quality And Structure Research And Biographical Sketch

- Sumana Chakrabarti Bell, Ph.D
- Presented at USDA, Manhattan, 1/10/08

## Outline

- Sumana’s  Biographical Sketch
- Grain Quality Research – Background
- Vision
- Strategies
- Managing Change
- Management philosophy
- Summary

## Who is Sumana?Heritage & Family

- Native of Calcutta, India
- Early schooling in small town in India
- One husband (pharmacist), two cats

## Education and Career

- Ph.D., Polymer Physical Chemistry, University of Minnesota, USA
- M.Sc., Physical Chemistry, Calcutta, India
- Program leader, Fracture Fluid Rheology (British Petroleum in UK, Schlumberger  in USA, France)
- Program leader, food and dough rheology (Kraft,  Chicago and General Mills, Minneapolis)

## Prior Research 

- Ph.D: Gelation of rigid rod polymers by spinodal
-                decomposition of phase separation
- Strength of physical gels = f (mechanism of gel formation)
- Oil-field: Rheology control of fracture fluids

-  Fluids carry proppant
-  Create filter cake to prevent
-   fluid leak-off
-  Lose viscosity at the end
-  Clean break-up

## Key Take Away: Oil-Field Research

-  “ Flow affects cross-link density of chemical gels”

-  In Waring blender, brittle gel          In porous media, ropy fluid
- Insights applied in developing continuous processing of yogurt

## Prior Research 

- Defining “performance” using mechanics
- Converting  learnings into practice
- Relating performance to structure – composition

-    Food & Dough:  “Converting Art To Science”

## Key Take Way  “Plasticity is Key”

-  Dough changes with deformation
-  The rate of change determines end-use quality

## Grain QualityChallenges to The US Farmers

- “ In farming, everybody makes money except the farmer”
-          ..........    Michael Pollen, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
- Excessive emphasis on processed foods and industrialization have decimated self-sustaining farms
- Soil quality threatened from excessive farming

## Grain QualityChallenges to The US Farmers

- US  is the largest exporter of wheat
- Faces competition from abroad (Canada, Australia)
- Competition claims superior consistency &  quality
- Effects of global warming on yield and quality are un-certain
- Consumers want more value in foods (convenience, health, nutrition)

## Grain Quality Opportunities

- Globalization = localization
- More markets open to farmers
**  ****Energy producers , Pharmaceuticals**
- Demand for whole grain products is on the rise
- Market wants new products (health additives, processing aids, shelf-life quality aids)
- Tremendous advances in technology that could be used to facilitate grain quality inspection

## Grain QualityChallenges to Innovation

- Yield
- Grain health
- Milling quality
- Protein quantity
-  X  Protein quality
-  X  End-use quality
- Need to have the _know-how to relate all_ quality attributes with structure and composition for faster  success

## Vision for Grain Quality Research

- “  We want to empower USDA  and thus, US farmers, with options for attaining sustainable competitive advantages, by adding value to existing  applications , by leading innovations and by growing and supplying grains that are differentiated  from competition on the basis of superior functionality and quality, in the current climate of global competition ”

## Strategies

- Develop a center of excellence in grain quality analysis that’s effective in developing new technologies and in implementing current strategies of USDA
- Transfer research results into production and commercially usable strategies for U.S. farmers to serve the food and non-food sectors of pharmaceuticals and energy
- Introduce educational programs for the customers and participants – technical and non-technical audiences

## Center of Excellence in Grain Quality

** **“ Disappointing progress in dough rheology,
-    (handicaps research impact on agronomy)”
-      ..... Don Kasarda (USDA), Gluten Workshop, 2006
- Follow Ed Bagley’s footsteps and make USDA again the leader in fundamentals of grain processing

## Center of Excellence in Grain Quality

** **Build a state-of- the- art laboratory that’s capable of utilizing structure – end-use performance of grains to add value to grain production
- Predictive methodology for processing operations
- Instrumentation to test the physics as well as the chemistry
- Capability for small scale simulation of novel processes to test research hypotheses

## Center of Excellence in Grain Quality

** ****Make structure – material science impactful**
- Add “processability and consistent  performance” to the list of quality attributes
-  Explore the non-linear relationships in converting grains to products  and develop novel products and processes
-  Develop predictive technologies to assess quality – for farmers, for processors and for crop-breeders

## Center of Excellence

- _Innovate_
- Develop value added grains (wheat, sorghum, rice) and additives
- Easy milling wheat without compromising end-use quality
- Processing aids
- Sorghum flour for bread-making?
-  Pharmaceuticals , Oil-field chemicals, Bio-degradable plastics
- Develop easy to use tools and methods to monitor  “quality”

## Center of Excellence in Grain Quality

** **_Innovate _
- Collaborate with DOE funded bio-fuel research centers to utilize external R&D facilities and expertise
- Develop more efficient processes  and materials  for  generation of bio-fuels
- Enzo-rheology is critical to rate of production of Ethanol
- Collaborate with pharmaceutical R&D organizations to develop novel applications of grain-based materials
- Hydrogels?

## Implementation Of Research Into Practice 

- Collaborate with industries and USDA partners from the start to ensure “buy-in” from customers
- Patent  technology  as and when appropriate
- Build credibility
- Publish
- Hold training classes
- Consult for industries

## Managing Change

- _Current Research Environment_
- Distrust for fundamental research
- Lack of funding
- Shifts in “business priorities”
- More focus on shorter term research by industry
**Sign of Hope**
- “Break-through technologies” are in demand
- US industries are not doing it!

## Managing Change

- _Special Challenges To Grain Scientists _
- Industrialized food production systems demand linearized processes
- consistency, predictability, interchangeability and  economies of scale
- But, agronomy is not linear
- Grain based products (wheat flour dough, in particular) are also non-linear in behavior
- Manage non-linear materials for “linear” expectations

## Managing Change

**Things to do**
- Encourage scientist to develop collaborative programs with food and bio-fuel industries
- Seek corporate funding
- Undertake shorter term research
- Maintain USDA tradition and initiate “change”
- Have small successes --- frequently
- Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

## Management Philosophy

**  **“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
-                                                    ..............Chinese proverb
- Filament stretching device
- ALE training course

## Management Principles

- Lead by vision and empowerment
- Team-work: always value and incorporate team-inputs—preserve the best
- Focus on objectives and encourage individuals to realize their full potential
- Grow effective scientists and engineers
- Be challenged
- Celebrate success and have fun

## What Can I Bring To This Center

- Industrial leadership and practical management philosophies
- Practical, industrial knowledge with American and European corporate experience
- Building teams across the nation among corporations, academia, and government
- Multi-disciplinary and multinational approaches to solve scientific challenges
- Proven consultancy-based contacts with major  industries
- Unique knowledge from food rheology research

## The Ultimate Vision

## The Ultimate Vision

- Put a Smile on their faces

## ?