Rate My Professor Ramaswamy Anantheswaran

Ramaswamy C. Anantheswaran is Professor Emeritus of Food Science at Penn State University in the Agricultural and Veterinary Science faculty. He holds a Ph.D. in Food Science from Cornell University, an M.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Georgia, and a B.Tech. in Agricultural Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. Throughout his career, he has served in various academic appointments, including Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Bombay since 2019, Tata Centre for Technology & Design at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since 2015, Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology in Thanjavur since 2011, and Visiting Professor of Food Engineering at Sichuan University since 2005. At Penn State, he was Director of Education by Non-Traditional Delivery from 2015 to 2021. His research focuses on food engineering and modeling, heat and mass transfer during food processing, microwaveable food product development, chocolate processing, high pressure processing, microwave processing of foods, dielectric properties of food materials, ingredient interactions during microwave heating of foods, moisture and fat migration in confectionery products, modified atmosphere and modified humidity packaging of fresh produce, and diffusion of nisin through packaging materials.

Anantheswaran has received numerous awards, including the Gamma Sigma Delta Faculty Excellence in Research Award from Penn State in 2010, the Silvio & Edith Crespo Faculty Award in Chocolate Research in 2005, the Provost's Award for Collaborative & Curricular Innovations in 1998, the Outstanding Service Award from the Pennsylvania Governor's School of Excellence in 1997, and the Paper Award from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1982. He is a member of honor societies such as Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and Alpha Epsilon. His key publications include 'Comparative effects of vacuum or conventional frying on the polyphenol chemistry and in vitro colon cancer stem cell inhibitory activity of purple-flesh potatoes' (2022), 'Modeling heat transfer during hot water sanitization of a commercial mushroom slicer' (2022), 'Hot water sanitization of a commercial mushroom disk slicer to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes' (2020), 'Impact of roasting on the Flavan-3-ol composition, aroma chemistry, and in vitro pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity of cocoa beans' (2018), 'Dynamic measurement of starch granule swelling during microwave heating' (2016), and contributions to the Handbook of Microwave Technology for Food Application. He serves on editorial boards including the International Food Research Journal and Indian Food Industry, and advisory committees for the International Microwave Power Institute and Electrotechnologies Applications Center.