Dr. Devin Peterson

Devin Peterson is a Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University. He earned a doctoral degree in Flavor Chemistry (2001) at the University of Minnesota. In 2001 he joined the faculty in the Department of Food Science at Penn State University. During his tenure at Penn State, in 2004 he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) that is presented by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In 2009, he returned to the University of Minnesota as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 2014. In 2016, he relocated his research program to The Ohio State University as part of the Discovery Themes Initiative. He received the Excellence in Flavor Science Award from the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association in 2015 and the IFT Stephen Change Award for Lipid and Flavor Science in 2018. His research efforts focus on characterizing chemical stimuli that impart flavor to foodstuffs (taste, aroma, somatosensory), investigating multi-flavor interactions on perception, mapping pathways of flavor generation/stability and mechanisms of flavor delivery. His program is based on a utility inspired fundamental research platform with an overarching goal to support the development of sustainable, nutritious, and healthy foods with higher product acceptability. He directs the Flavor Research and Education Center (https://frec.osu.edu/), a partnership between academic researchers and industry leaders focused on the creation, exchange, and application of knowledge to drive innovation in the food marketspace. In 2019 he was appointed the faculty director of the Foods for Health Discovery Theme Initiative, a key University organizational structure and driving force to promote optimal health for individuals and communities through scientific discovery across the food-nutrition-health continuum.