She also serves as the Director of the New York State Food Venture Center and the Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. Her responsibilities include technical assistance to start-up food companies and extension programs to support established industries. Her research efforts are concentrated on processing technologies for fruits and vegetables to add value and to ensure safety; and in the development of small scale processing techniques for entrepreneurs. She is a recognized Process Authority for acid and acidified foods. She graduated from the University of Costa Rica (Lic. in food technology) and from Cornell University (MS, 1988 and PhD in food science, 1991). Dr. Padilla-Zakour will lead this seminar followed by a tour of the Food Venture Center. This will be considered the fourth course of the Institute and must be attended to receive certification.