Student Life

The Food Science Club (FSC) is a learning community that brings graduate and undergraduate students who share a common interest in food science.

Students learn the fundamentals of dairy products’ sensory evaluation while competing with students from other universities.

The College Bowl Competition is a team trivia competition for undergraduate and graduate students hosted annually by the IFT Student Association. The questions cover a variety of food science topics, ranging from the pH of milk (it’s about 6.8) to the name of confections that contain gelatin (those are called gummies) to the first four flavors of Jell-O (raspberry, strawberry, lemon, and orange). A regional competition is held in the spring, and the winner of each region competes in the national competition at the IFT FIRST conference.

The College Bowl is a great way to meet other trivia fans of all grade levels and experiences, learn about food science in a fun way, and travel to nearby universities. Students can join the College Bowl team anytime by contacting a food science club officer and can learn more about the competition on the IFTSA Website.

The Product Development Team (PDT) is a group of students that join up to compete in product development competitions hosted by various companies and organizations. Students are tasked with making a new product to fit certain criteria that vary by a prompt. They can access club funds and the Babcock Food Applications Lab to create these products. Undergraduate students of all years will join together to innovate new products and compete against food science programs at other universities!

Students participating in PDT learn how to lead their products, research, and experimentation. Examples include creating manufacturing flow charts and nutritional labels and conducting shelf life studies. Additionally, PDT helps build connections with other food science members like the Babcock faculty, future classmates, upper classmates, and industry professionals/companies. Finally, it allows students to be creative and innovative in their projects!