Fifteen undergraduate students spent their summer vacation at Cornell University researching food acids, evaluating microwave heating and grabbing dynamic laboratory experiences. The students, who attend Cornell and several other universities in the United States and abroad, recently completed the Summer Scholar Program 2001 at the school's Institute of Food Science.

For the students, it was a summer of moving toward the real world, professionally.

"There is a big difference between classroom knowledge versus the actual application of using that knowledge," said Cornell student Mara Ayodele '02, a chemistry major from Tempe, Ariz. "You think you know a lot from taking classes, but this program gets you to think. It's all analytical thinking."

The food science department's summer program selects top students who spend 10 weeks conducting scientific research worthy of seasoned graduate students. For example, Liony Azali, a senior from the University of California-Davis, spent her summer analyzing how prepared frozen foods react in the different wattages of microwave ovens. She conducted research in conjunction with John Roberts, Cornell assistant professor of food science.

Michael Chung '02, a computer science major from Cornell, spent the summer further developing a detailed bacterial research database called PathogenTracker for Martin Wiedmann, Cornell assistant professor of food science. Last fall, a group of students from Cornell's Computer Science 501 class began the large task of developing this searchable database, which now contains more than 7,500 bacterial strains. More than half of these strains belong to the species Listeria monocytogenes -- among the deadliest of food-borne bacteria. Scientists will be able to use this interactive database to quickly and accurately characterize and match bacterial isolates.

At the summer program's research presentations seminar on Aug. 8, Chung described for the summer students how more than 30 different characteristics, including ribotype pattern and

images, allelic types and DNA sequences, have been assembled into this searchable database. He discussed how this information can be retrieved through common genetic and other characteristics, such as geographic origin. These findings can be useful in tracking food-borne illness epidemics, he said.

The food science Summer Scholar Program is two years old and has been organized by Wiedmann since its inception. Undergraduate students from Cornell or any other university can apply for early or for regular admission. The students, each paired with a food science faculty member, arrive in early June and receive $3,000 summer stipends. The stipends were made possible through the corporate contributions of PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, the International Food Network, Gorton's, the Louis Pasteur Lectureship Fund and the Cornell Associates Program.

Although they worked in laboratories for most of the summer, the students left campus for field trips. In July, the group traveled to Wilmington, Del., to visit DuPont Qualicon and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service facility in Pennsylvania. The students also traveled to Buffalo and Niagara Falls to tour Bison Foods and Rich Products.

The group's summer wasn't all test tubes and microbiology, however, as the students went camping in the nearby Arnot Forest and participated in seminars that ranged from discussing food science ethics to understanding graduate school applications.

Wiedmann said he once participated in a similar program that changed his career, and he wanted to create a similar program in food science. "It's a positive thing that people can rally around, and it brings the department together," he said. "For the students, it goes into experiential learning. No matter what they do after this, they're going to be better professionals because they spent 10 weeks doing research. Even if none of the students goes into research, and let's say they go into management, they'll be better managers because they've done this work. They have an appreciation for the value of basic research."

In addition to Ayodele, Azali and Chung, the students in the program included: Courtney Bolger, Katie Evans and Theresa Cargioli, Cornell, Sarah Lowry, University of Guelph, Ontario; Alexander Chassy, University of Massachusetts; Josefin Haedelt, University of Reading, England; Lauren Hong, University of Hawaii-Manoa; Kelly Ryan, Sienna College; Oscar Perez, Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico; Birla de Leon Melendez, University of Puerto Rico; and Elaine Cheng and Magenta Sim, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.