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Department of Food Science and Technology

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About the Award

About the Harris Award for Excellence in Food Science and Technology

A Celebration of Excellence

This award is given annually to recognize excellence in and contributions to the discipline of food science. The selection committee seeks to recognize the accomplishments of an outstanding individual who made substantial contributions to the advancement of food science or technology. 

The purpose of the award is to celebrate excellence in food science, food technology or related disciplines. The award consists of a $3,000 honorarium plus all travel expenses to interact with the faculty, staff and students of Ohio State. The annual Harris Award Celebration will highlight an address by the winner on the Columbus campus at a time most convenient for the awardee.

The award endowment was established in 2004. Recipients of the Distinguished OSU Food Science Harris Award are: Steven Taylor (2004), James Jay (2005), Daryl Lund (2006), Connie Weaver (2007), Philip Nelson (2008), Michael Doyle (2009), R. Paul Singh (2010), Todd Klaenhammer (2011), John Finley (2012), Bruce Harte (2013) Malcolm Bourne (2014), Gilbert Leveille (2015), Herbert Stone (2016), Hamed Faridi (2017), Robert Gravani (2018), Mehmood Khan (2019), and Kathryn Boor (2020-2021).


The Symbols of Achievement

Harris Award

The Harris Distinguished Food Scientist Award features an engraved plaque in the Parker Food Science Building, 2015 Fyffe Road, Columbus, OH. A generous honorarium from the Harris Endowment is accompanied by the Medici Walking Horse pictured here. This sculpture from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is reproduced from a 17th century bronze horse in the Princely Collections of Liechtenstein. The horse is one of the many Florentine bronzes for which the Princley Collections of Liechtenstein are famous.

 


About the Benefactor

Ronald D. Harris is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University. He brings his unique experience as former Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Nabisco, where he led the entire R&D effort of this food company. While Vice President of Technology at Kraft Foods Inc., he developed strategic plans for technology and implemented quality management strategies. Prior experience at Anderson Clayton Foods, Clorox, and Procter & Gamble helped make Ron Harris a leader of the food industry. Ron earned his B.Ch.E. and M.Sc. in OSU Chemical Engineering and MBA at U of Cincinnati. His generous gift to OSU makes possible this annual Distinguished Food Scientist Award. His stated purpose is to help raise the stature of the department and of the discipline.


Endowment Description

The Harris award endowment was established February 6, 2004, by Mr. Harris through The Ohio State University Foundation. Up to eighty percent of income supports the annual Ronald D. Harris Honorary Lectureship by a distinguished research scientist or engineer from outside of the University. Remaining income supports research and activities that serve the purpose of this fund. Unused income is reinvested to principal.