Zhongli Pan Receives 2022 ASABE International Food Engineering Award
Biological and Agricultural Engineering Adjunct Professor Zhongli Pan received the 2022 International Food Engineering Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). The ASABE major award recognizes significant engineering contributions in research, development or the design of food processes. The award also recognizes outstanding leadership, management and education in the food engineering profession.
Pan joins Distinguished Professor Emeritus R. Paul Singh as the only UC Davis faculty member to receive the award. He will be recognized at the 2022 ASABE Annual International meeting in Houston.
“I am humbled and honored to be recognized by this award,” said Pan. “Receiving this award reaffirms my desire and encourages me to continue doing my best to advance the food engineering profession.”
Pan is an internationally-recognized leader in food and agricultural processing. His group develops new techniques and technologies to make handling and processing crops like fruit, nuts, vegetables and grains more sustainable while enhancing efficiency, quality and safety. In particular, his research group is known for its innovative work using infrared heating technology for peeling, blanching, roasting, drying and disinfecting food products.
The award adds to Pan’s long list of accolades. He is fellow of ASABE and Fellow of Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), he received the USDA-ARS Herbert L. Rothbert Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist Award, was the first Chinese American in agriculture to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and was the recipient of the IFT’s Research and Development Award. He has authored more than 300 publications and mentored 34 Ph.D. students, 27 M.S. students and 36 postdoctoral scholars.
Pan earned his B.S. and first M.S. at Northeast Agricultural University in China, his second M.S. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in food engineering at UC Davis. He has been an adjunct professor with UC Davis since 2000 while leading a distinguished research career with the Health Processed Food Research Unit of USDA Agricultural Regional Service, Western Regional Research Center.
ASABE, founded in 1907, is an “educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food and biological systems,” according to its website.