She sends periodic reports back to her professors in France via e-mail. She would like to travel to the Great Lakes region after completing her research. I would like someday to work in research and development or marketing. She has already developed crop management specifications for the country's second largest distributor of fruits and vegetables, Creno. Hulne is evaluating fruit juice mixtures for color, sweetness, acidity and levels of phenolic compounds.
Phenolics are a class of compounds which includes antioxidants.
Using the department's sensory evaluation lab, she also gives consumers samples of juices with and without herbs. Consumers are not told which samples are mixed with herbs, but they are asked to report any differences in color, taste and other factors. It's a good combination of research and marketing. Hulne comes from a family of five. Her mother teaches French in a secondary school, and her father runs an manufacturing company which produces large industrial equipment.