The AOCS-Supelco/Nicholas Pelick Award 1997 to the present

The Author: Gary R. List

The history of the AOCS Award in Lipid Chemistry (1964-1981 recipients) is described in Part 1 of this series, and the recipients from 1982 to 1996, when Supelco assumed sponsorship, are described in Part 2. This installment describes the awardees the award from 1997 to the present time when Nicholas Pelick, President of Supelco, assumed joint sponsorship and generously funded half the costs. It was then designated the AOCS Supelco/Nicholas Pelick Research Award.

The Awardees

Alice Lichtenstein (2018 Award) is the Stanley Gershoff endowed Chair at Tufts University where she spent most of her career. She is internationally known and recognized as an authority on dietary lipids, cardiovascular health, nutrition, biochemistry of fatty acids, diabetes, and micronutrients in human health. She has published extensively (581 papers ) with 39400 citations. The impact of her research is shown by h index of 88 and a g index of 194.

She received a BS degree in nutrition from Cornell University (1971) and MS (1975) and D.Sc .(1979) degrees in nutrition from the Harvard School of Public Health. From 1979 to 1982 she did postdoctoral research at the Cardiovascular Institute Boston School of Medicine, Boston MA. During her career, she has held numerous positions in academia. Beginning in 2001-present she is the Director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston MA. In 2002 she was the first recipient of the Stanley N.Gershoff professor of nutrition science and policy at the Friedman School, Tufts University. She serves on the editorial boards of 9 journals dealing with nutrition, coronary heart disease, sports medicine clinical care, and lipids. As an authority in her field, she is widely sought to serve on advisory panels. Noteworthy examples include the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. Vice Chair 2015 dietary guidelines for Americans, member 2000 dietary guidelines advisory committee, member dietary reference intakes micronutrient Panel Institute of Medicine.

Her awards include the David Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award, American Society of Nutrition, Levy Lecture ship American Heart Association. Hans Fisher lectureship Department of Nutrition Rutgers University, the AOCS Ralph Holman lifetime achievement award. In 2005 she was awarded a Ph.D. (Honoris Causa) by the Faculty of Medicine University of Kuopio Finland.she has authored over 40 book chapters as well as 50 review articles. She has presented over 200 lectures at national/international conferences.

Fereidoon Shahidi (the 2017 award) is a professor at Memorial University St.Johns, New Foundland. He received the Ph.D. from McGill University in 1977. He did his undergraduate degree in his native land of Iran. His research interests have covered many areas of food and lipid chemistry including oxidation nutraceuticals functional foods marine lipids, muscle foods, and natural antioxidants. He has published extensively with well over 500 peer-reviewed articles .as well as editing numerous books and contributing book chapters. He s a highly cited author (over 46,500 citations) with very high h index 101 and g index 199. He serves on the editorial board of numerous national/international journals including editor in chief of Journal of Functional Foods. He has supervised well over 110 Ph.D. students and visiting scientists. Dr.Shahidi served as editor in chief for the 6th Revision of “Baileys industrial Oil and fat Products as well as the 7th revision in press. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including Fellow (AOCS, FIFT, FAGFD, FRSC) His other awards include the Chang Award (IFT, AOCS). The Babcock Hart Award, IFT, and the Euro Fed Lipid Technology Award.

David J. McClements Born 1965 (2016) Award is professor in the food science department at the University of Massachusetts. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds in 1989. His areas of research include food biopolymers and colloids. Dr.McClements is the sole author of 3 editions of “Food Emulsions: Principles, Practice and Techniques” and is considered the standard reference source in the field. He is the sole author of “Nanoparticles and microparticle delivery systems: Encapsulation, protection, and release of active components.” He has co-authored a number of books on lipid oxidation, microstructure of foods, functional foods, and colloids.

Dr. McClements has published extensively in top peer-reviewed journals. His publications numbering over 600 have been cited over 39700 times with an h-index of 100. He is one of the most highly cited authors in agricultural chemistry. He has received a number of prestigious awards including Fellow, (IFT) Babcock-Hart Award, Stephen Chang Award, Marcel Lonin Research prize, Samuel S.Prescott Award,(IFT). He is the recipient of the AOCS Chang award for outstanding achievements in lipid science. In 2012 he was invited to deliver the Hilditch Memorial Lecture by the Society of Chemical Industry. (UK) Awards from ACS include Young Scientist Award and Advancement of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.(Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division).

His research interests include design, fabrication, and characterization of structured delivery systems for functional performance of bioactive ingredients, the fate of gastrointestinal colloidal delivery systems, and development of foods for improved health and nutrition.

Gary R. List (Born 1942) the 2015 recipient is retired from the US Department of Agriculture Northern Research Laboratory, Peoria IL. His research focused on edible oils and oilseed processing. His research has encompassed, analytical methods, fat modification, oilseed processing, lecithin, trait modified oils, and trans fat replacements. He is the author of 380 publications, proceedings, book chapters  (36) and abstracts, as well as editing 8 books on fats and oils. His awards include Fellow (AOCS,IFT,AGFD,RSC ),Chang Awards( AOCS,IFT,)  Bailey, Dutton, Award of Merit, Baldwin Distinguished Service, Processing Award (AOCS)  Harold Macy  Award, Division Lecture ,Tanner Lecture Award, (IFT) Chemist of the Year (Peoria Section), Fellow Ag. and Food Chem. Division (ACS) Outstanding Achievement  Award, (United Soybean Board) and Lipid Technology Award (Euro. Fed Lipids). Academic awards include Doctor of Science (honoris causa, U of Illinois) Distinguished Alumna, Illinois Central College. Phi Tau Sigma, American Men/Women Science, Marquis Whos Who, Madisons Whos Who and five Outstanding Paper Awards Annual AOCS Meetings.   He is a Fellow of the George Washington Foundation, Sons of the American Revolution.

List has contributed to 3 revisions of the standard fats and oils textbook (“Baileys Industrial Oil and Fat Products”) and served on the editorial board for the 6th edition. He serves on the editorial boards of numerous Journals including JAOCS, INFORM, The Lipid Library, The Chemist, and Lipid Technology. He has a passionate interest in preserving the history of fats and oils technology and has contributed many articles to the Lipid Library including a history of the AOCS/Pelick Research Award. He had the honor of preparing a biographical memoir of Dr.Ralph Holman (1978, Award NAS, 1981) for the National Academy of Science online memoir section.  In collaboration with Dr. Albert Dijkstra as a translator, he and J. Wisniak edited Chevreul’s classic book on the chemistry of fats and oils and published the only translation in English in honor of the 100th anniversary of AOCS in 2009. The book “A Chemical  Study of Fats and Oils of Animal Origin” is available from AOCS Press, Urbana IL.

Alejandro G. Marangoni (Born 1965), the 2014 recipient, is a professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair Food, Health and Aging at the University of Guelph. His work concentrates on the physical properties of foods, particularly fat crystallization and structure. He has published over 200 refereed research articles, 50 book chapters, nine books, and 14 patents. He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award from the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2000), a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science (2001-2011), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002) – given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines - and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004. Dr. Marangoni is the first co-editor in Chief of the new journal, Current Opinion in Food Science and Technology (Elsevier). He is an editorial board member of Food Research International (Elsevier), Food and Function (Royal Society of Chemistry), Food Digestion (Springer) and CYTA-Journal of Food (Taylor and Francis). He was Editor-in-Chief of Food Research International for 15 years (1998-2012), raising its impact factor from 0.69 to 3.15.

Dr. Marangoni has co-founded several high-technology companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a platform technology for the manufacture of structured oil-in-water emulsions to replace high-saturate and high-trans shortening. His recent discovery of edible oleogels structured by a cellulose derivative has attracted enormous attention by multinationals worldwide. Dr. Marangoni is currently Research Program Director for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ Product Development and Enhancement through Value Chains Program. Dr. Marangoni has trained over 100 people in his laboratory. Graduates occupy positions of importance in the academe and industry, including nine professors at major North American universities. Dr. Marangoni is the 2013 recipient of the Stephen Chang award and the 2014 Supelco/Nicholas Pelick Award from the AOCS. Marangoni was honored as one of the 10 most influential Hispanic Canadians in 2012.

Nissim Garti (Born 1945), the 2013 recipient, is Professor (1990) of Chemistry at the Hebrew National University in Jerusalem, Israel, where he obtained a BSc (1969), MSc (1971) and Ph.D. degrees (1974). Garti has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, holds over 100 patents, has written 80 review articles and edited 6 books in his field. His research interests include the crystallization and polymorphism of fats and oils, emulsion chemistry, drug delivery chemistry, nano-particles, micro-emulsions, structured lipids, hydrocolloids, industrial coatings, food processing, polymers, natural antioxidants, surfactants, cholesterol removal from foods, saponins, essential oils, and citrus fruits. Garti has received numerous awards including the AOCS Chang Award, the Rockefeller Award, the IFT Award for Industrial Research, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Food Society of Israel. He is the recipient of the Lord Kaye Awards (1995, 1997) for outstanding innovation in surfactant chemistry and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the area of colloids and interfacial technology. He is included in the Hall of Fame of the Hebrew University.

Garti has been the founder of a number of startup companies in Israel including Adumim Chemicals and Memphile Technologies. In addition to teaching and research, Garti serves as a consultant to several international companies. Several of his discoveries have been commercialized. Garti’s research on the development of novel nano-sized self-assembled lipid carriers as delivery vehicles for improved solubilization and bioavailability was recognized by the AOCS Corporate Achievement Award in 2011. He is also internationally recognized as an authority on fat crystallization. The textbook Crystallization of Fats and Lipid Systems, edited by Garti and Sato, was first published in the early 1990s and a second edition appeared in 2001 and is considered to be a standard reference book.

Casimir Akoh (Born 1955), the 2012 recipient, is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia. He received his BSc Biochemistry in 1981 from the University of Nigeria, and his MSc in Biochemistry (1985) from Washington State University. His Ph.D. in Food Science (1988) under Professor Barry Swanson was also from Washington State University. Akoh is the author of 225 refereed publications, holds 3 patents and has contributed 40 book chapters, and edited 7 books on fats and oils and lipids. He has made about 243 presentations and 141 invited presentations at national/international meetings and has received numerous prestigious awards from the AOCS, IFT, and ACS. These include the Stephen S. Chang Award from AOCS (2004) and Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award (2009). Akoh is a Fellow in AOCS, IFT, and ACS. His IFT awards include the Samuel Cate Prescott Award (1998), Research and Development Award (2008), Stephens S. Chang Award (2008), and the Nicholas Appert medal, the highest scientific honor given to a food scientist (2012). His ACS awards include ‘Advancements in Agricultural and Food Chemistry’ and Fellow of the Agriculture and Food Chemistry Division. Akoh is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Agricultural Science since 2009.

Akoh’s research has focused on the enzymatic transformation of lipids to produce improved functional and nutraceutical foods including infant formulas, zero trans margarines, and spreads. His group has explored the incorporation of conjugated linoleic acid into edible structured lipids. A number of his students have been recognized as AOCS honored students.

Akoh has been very active in AOCS in committee work and in positions of high responsibility, serving on the governing board as Secretary, Vice President, and as AOCS President (in 2008).

John Harwood (Born 1946), the 2011 recipient, received his BSc in Medical Biochemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Birmingham (U.K.) in 1966. He received his Ph.D. from Birmingham under the supervision of Professor J.N. Hawthorne in 1969. As his graduate work involved lipids, a logical place to do post-doctoral work was Paul Stumpf’s lab at the University of California, Davis. In 1971, after 2 years of study, he returned to Britain first as a research scientist at Leeds University and finishing at Cardiff as a lecturer and then Reader. He was given a Chair in 1984. Harwood received a DSc in 1979. Harwood is internationally known as an authority on the biosynthesis of acyl lipids and its regulation in a wide variety of organisms. He has authored nearly 600 publications edited 15 books and authored 4 others. The Lipid Handbook has become a standard reference book in the field, and the third edition appeared in 2007. Harwood was a co-editor of all three editions with Frank Gunstone. He is also co-author of the classic student text Lipid Biochemistry now in its fifth edition. Harwood is highly cited with his top 20 publications having over 6100 citations.

His stature as a lipid scientist is further evidenced by a number of prestigious awards and honors. He is the recipient of Tate and Lyle, the Terry Galliard, the Kunio Yagi, and the ISF International awards. In 2010 he was elected as an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of sciences. The Hungarian Academy is one of the most influential scientific bodies in Europe and Honorary Memberships are only awarded to those with an outstanding international reputation and a strong connection to Hungarian science. Indeed, Harwood worked with a number of Hungarian colleagues over a sustained period. Among these is Professor Laszlo Vigh of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Szeged. Shortly thereafter, Harwood traveled to the US to receive the Supelco award and commented, “It’s been a busy two weeks, but it has been very pleasing to be honored by two scientific bodies in this way. I see both honors as tributes to the work put in by my research teams here in Cardiff over the years and also to our many international partners”. Although busy as Director and then Deputy Director of the Bioscience School in Cardiff, he finds time to do rock climbing, writing guide books and making over 1200 first ascents spread over 4 continents.

William W. Christie (Born 1939), the 2010 recipient, received his Ph.D. from St. Andrew’s University (Scotland) under the supervision of Professor Frank Gunstone in 1964. He completed a Post Doctoral Research (1964-1966) Fellowship at the Hormel Institute with Professor Ralph Holman. Christie went on to hold various positions in the Hannah Research Institute and then the Scottish Crop Institute where he became head of the Chemistry Department in 1993. The mention of analytical chemistry to lipid chemists always brings the name Bill Christie to mind. He is considered a leading authority on lipid analysis and fatty acid chemistry. His research accomplishments are documented in about 400 publications, half of which are in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. Among his publications are nearly 40 major review articles. In addition to his many research accomplishments, Christie has written numerous books, which have been of immense value to researchers for four decades. Lipid Analysis, first published in 1973 and revised several times is considered to be the bible for lipid chemists. This book, together with Gas Chromatography and Lipids, has received over 3100 citations. Christie generously made the latter book available free of charge on the internet. His nomination for the Supelco award reads in part “Although his publication record is outstanding, Bill has served to be a virtual coauthor by indirectly contributing lipid analytical expertise to thousands of other publications”. His other books include the first on trans fatty acids co-edited with J-L. Sebedio (1998).

Christie founded the “Oily Press Ltd” and served as managing director and scientific editor. His goal was to publish compact readable textbooks on all aspects of lipid chemistry and biochemistry. His books are recognized for their quality and clarity particularly for those whose native language is not English. In 1999, the company was sold to PJ Barnes and Associates.

In addition to his research and publishing of books, Christie has had an international impact on the research community through the Lipid Library Website (lipidlibrary.aocs.org), which contains a wealth of information on lipids and averages 2-3 thousand visits per day. In 2006, Christie stated, “My ambition is to see the lipid library developed as a major international resource on lipids with an appropriate editorial board”. Through the donation of the website and partnership with AOCS, his dream became a reality. Christie remains as a technical editor with John Harwood and Randall Weselake as joint Editors in Chief.

In addition to the AOCS Supelco-Pelick Award, Christie has received recognition as an AOCS Fellow and the AOCS Bailey Award (2004). In 1993 the Analytical Division of AOCS established a lifetime achievement award for analytical chemistry. The initial recipient was H.J. Dutton and it was renamed the Dutton Award. The logical choice for the next recipient was Bill Christie who received it in 1995. Christie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Thomas A. Foglia (Born 1940). The 2009 recipient received his Ph.D. (1968) from Temple University as a student of Daniel Swern (1968 award). Following an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, at John Hopkins University, Foglia took a position at the Eastern Regional Laboratory in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania where he spent the rest of his career until retirement in 2007. His graduate research was very productive and resulted in eight publications in the Journal of Organic Chemistry in the 1966-1969 timeframe! His early research at the USDA lab focused on organic synthesis. By the early 1970s, his interests turned to fatty acid reaction chemistry and, in 1983, he received his first patent describing a process for preparing branched-chain fatty acids and esters. At the time he retired, 14 other patents had been granted. By the mid-1980s, his research into biochemistry began along with analytical methods development for ammonia in meat tissues, minor components in milk, the biochemistry of lipases, and poultry-related problems.

By 1997, Foglia had published 100 papers but, in the next 10 years, an additional 125 appeared. During this period his research was directed towards the production of biofuels with both chemicals and enzymes. This work was a major factor contributing to the expansion of the biodiesel industry.

Foglia has been active in AOCS and Euro Fed Lipids. In addition to serving on numerous committees, he was a member of the AOCS governing board, secretary, vice president and president in 2002. Foglia received numerous awards from USDA, AOCS, and the German Fat Society. He was elected an AOCS Fellow in 2003 and received the Bailey award in 1996. His contributions to biotechnology were recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from AOCS (2006). Foglia presented numerous invited lectures both national/international. In 2005, he was selected as the Kaufmann Memorial Lecturer by the German Fat Society (DGF)

Edward Emken (Born 1940). The 2008 recipient began his career at the Northern Regional Laboratory while attending Bradley University. After receiving his BSc (1963) in chemistry, he returned to the Peoria lab full time. Knowing that opportunities in research for those without PhDs were rather limited, Emken decided to go to graduate school and in the fall of 1966, he entered the University of Iowa, returning to the Peoria lab after receiving his doctorate (chemistry/biochemistry) in 1969. His early work was in the area of biotechnology which at the time was in its infancy. The enzymatic conversion of fats, oils and their acids to value-added products was investigated by the reaction of lipoxidase with soapstock fatty acids yielding conjugated hydroxy acids. He received a US patent entitled “Conjugated Hydroxy Fatty Acids (1973).

Like many fats and oil chemists, Emkens’ early work was involved with analytical method development. He developed a method to separate cis/trans isomers using ion exchange resins treated with silver ions. This was also patented and, just as importantly, proved useful for the study of hydrogenation reactions. Emken was one of the first to separate cis/trans isomers by gas chromatography on packed columns.

In the mid-1970’s trans acids became a focal point because of potential adverse health and nutrition issues. Over the next several decades, Emken and his research group directed efforts to study the biochemistry and metabolism of dietary fatty acids in human subjects. He pioneered the development of stable isotope tracer protocols. All the trans- and cis-octadecenoic fatty acid positional isomers were synthesized and their metabolic fates determined. The results showed that all the isomers were metabolized, and in fact were oxidized more rapidly than oleic acid. Thus, the supposition that trans isomers could not be metabolized in humans was shown to be false. Other isotope studies involved synthesis of deuterated triglycerides, feeding human subjects with a “milkshake” containing the labeled fat, withdrawal of blood at regular intervals and analysis of the lipids by mass spectrometry. Further work involved the metabolism of palmitic and stearic acids which showed that saturated acids are well absorbed at a rate equal to oleic acid. Other metabolic studies included various polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Emken is known internationally as an authority on the nutrition, metabolic properties and the analysis of food oils and dietary fat. He has presented over a hundred invited lectures at national/international meetings, has published over 140 publications and holds several patents. In addition to the Supelco/Nicholas Pelick Award, he has presented the Kauffman Memorial Lecture and received the AOCS Bailey Medal, AOCS Fellowship and the Illinois Soybean Association Service Award. In 1989 Emken and his research group were recognized by a USDA Distinguished Award. Emken is the recipient of the AOCS Ralph Holman Award (2013) for his contributions to health and nutrition and service to the health/nutrition division. After his retirement in 1997, Emken established a consulting business for the medical and food industries.

Edwin N. Frankel (Born 1928). The 2007 recipient received his BSc from Michigan State University in 1950 and received his MSc and Ph.D. degrees from UC Davis. He began his career at the Northern Regional Laboratory and remained there until 1960 when he accepted a position at Proctor and Gamble. As industry often discourages publishing of research results, Frankel returned to Peoria several years later (1962) where he remained until his retirement from government service in 1988. During the first half of his career in Peoria, Frankel’s work involved flavor problems related to soybean oil usage and oxidation of fats and oils. In the early 1970s the emphasis at USDA shifted from edible oils to industrial applications. Although successful in his new assignment, his interests in oxidation remained strong and, when Al Tappel invited him to join the group at UC Davis, Frankel decided to shift his career to academia.

Frankel published nearly 300 papers and patents many of which came from UC Davis. During the 1990 to 2010 era, he was one of the most highly cited authors in food and agricultural chemistry. While at USDA, Frankel reported the preparation and characterization of pure fatty hydroperoxides, tocopherol oxidation in soybean oil, hydrogenation of oils with homogeneous catalysts and preparation of oxo products by hydroformylation of oleic acid with rhodium catalysts. His early work focused on the use of liquid chromatography to isolate dimers from oxidized fats and oils. He received two superior service awards from USDA and was the recipient of the AOCS Bailey Award in 1985.

While at UC Davis, Frankel was able to pursue his lifelong interest in oxidation. His publication describing the inhibition of oxidation of human low-density lipoproteins by phenolics in red wine has been cited over 1900 times. His research on oxidation of emulsions is recognized as a seminal contribution to the understanding of interfacial phenomena in bulk vs. emulsion systems. In 1998 Frankel wrote and published the classic book Lipid Oxidation with a second edition appearing in 2005. These books are the most comprehensive references in the field.

Frankel gave many international plenary lectures, including the SCI International Lecture, The Lewkowitsch Memorial, The Kaufmann Memorial (ISF), the Finnish Chemical Congress (Helsinki) and keynote speaker Lipid Forum Kolding (Denmark). AOCS honored him as a Fellow (initial class, 1998), and he was the recipient of the Chang Award (1999). He was also the recipient of the Velsey Award (Czech. Chemical Society). In 2006, AOCS held a symposium in honor of his 50 years of lipid research and he was the initial recipient of The Edwin Frankel Best Paper Award for publications in Lipids and JAOCS. The award, sponsored by the Lipid Oxidation Division, continues to be given at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo. In addition to mentoring numerous scientists at USDA, UC Davis, Frankel conducted numerous short courses before AOCS Annual Meetings.

After retirement from UC Davis, Dr. Frankel served as a consultant to the Olive Oil Industry.

Earl Hammond (Born 1926). The 2006 recipient is an Emeritus Professor at Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota in 1953 under Professor Walter Lundberg (1975 Award). Over his long career, Hammond’s research has covered virtually every area of lipid research including triglyceride structure, oxidation, flavor components, dairy products, biofuels, enzyme biochemistry, and plant breeding.

Hammond was a pioneer in the development of trait modified oils. Linolenic acid had long been recognized to be the precursors of products responsible for poor flavor and oxidative stability that limited its use in high temperature/frying applications. Although fractionation and hydrogenation had been partially successful in removing linolenic acid, plant breeding met with more success. Beginning in the early 1980s, Hammond and Walter Fehr began their studies to remove linolenic acid from soybean oil. Their work showed that, contrary to popular belief, the linolenic acid could be reduced to levels (3% or less) where significant improvements for high-temperature applications were gained. Ultimately, soybeans were developed in which the linolenic acid was reduced to 1%. These discoveries played a major role in the commercialization of low linolenic soybean oil in the 1990s.

Moreover, trans fat labeling has stimulated interest in trait modified oils and it is estimated that the trait modified soybean, canola and sunflower oils supply about 18% of domestic edible oil needs. Hammond has published extensively with well over 250 publications and patents. He was elected as an AOCS Fellow and is the recipient of the AOCS Bailey (1993) and Chang Awards (1992). Other awards include the American Soybean Research Award and the American Dairy Association Pfizer award for his contributions to dairy technology. The Iowa Academy of Science honored him as a Distinguished Fellow. Many of Hammond’s graduate students have excelled in industry and academia. Professor Pamela White (PhD, 1981) has held positions as full Professor, University of Iowa State and President of AOCS (Bailey and Fellowship Awards, AOCS). She is now the Dean, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State. Other Ph.D. graduates are employed as researchers in the oil processing industry. Dr. Inmok Lee played a key role in the development of zero trans fats via enzyme catalyzed interesterification. Linsen Lui has been responsible for canola oil research along with recent graduate Dililara Issonova. At the 2008 AOCS meeting, a symposium was held to celebrate Hammond’s long career.

Marcel Lie Ken Jie (Born 1940). The 2005 recipient obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Hong Kong and his Ph.D. in 1968 under the supervision of Professor Frank Gunstone in the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He began his career at the University of Hong Kong as a lecturer in 1969. In 1998 he was promoted to Chair Professor of Organic Chemistry (Fats and Oils) and served in this role until his official retirement in 2005. His major research interests have been the total or partial syntheses of positional isomers of polyunsaturated fatty acids containing acetylenic, allenic or (E/Z) ethylenic bonds; fatty acid analogues containing a heteroatom (sulfur, selenium, tellurium); fullerenoid fatty acids and triglycerides with short, long and medium length acyl groups (saturated or unsaturated) at specific positions; furanoid fatty acid and (nitrogen) heterocyclic and carbocyclic fatty acids of many types. These sets of exotic and closely related fatty acid molecules or analogs were studied by proton and carbon NMR, mass spectrometry and other spectroscopic techniques. In particular, his work showed that 14C and 1H NMR and mass spectrometry are powerful tools to characterize fatty acids. He was the first to show that ultrasound technology could be used in the synthesis of fatty acid derivatives. His research has resulted in 180 publications, reviews and book chapters.

Currently, he continues to teach at Universities in Hong Kong. From 1998-2011 he taught Science (adopting a popular science approach) to undergraduates of the Faculties of Arts, Law, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong and since 2006 at the Lingnan University (a liberal arts university). In 2007 he was invited by the School of Nursing of the University of Hong Kong to design and mount an enrichment program in human anatomy and physiology for undergraduates of the School. From 2012 he serves at the University of Hong Kong SPACE Community College as a Senior Consultant in developing and coordinating courses in human anatomy, physiology, and related medical sciences.

Lie Ken Jie was elected an AOCS Fellow in 2002. Other awards include the AOCS Bailey (2012) and Dutton (1998) awards. Further international recognition came in 1999 when he gave the prestigious Hilditch Memorial Lecture in Brighton UK, and in 2001 he received the H.P. Kaufmann Medal from the German Fat Society (DGF) and delivered the Kaufmann Memorial Lecture in Berlin (2001). He served as an overseas advisor to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board from 2002-2008.

George Carman (Born 1950). The 2004 recipient received his BA in Biology from William Paterson College in 1972, followed by a Masters in microbiology from Seton Hall two years later. He received his Ph.D. in food biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts in 1977. From 1977-1978, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Medical School. The next step in his career was at Rutgers University as an Assistant Professor (1978-1982), and he was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor (1982) and full Professor in 1986. After a year’s sabbatical at Princeton, Carman returned as a tier-two professor in the Food Science Department at Rutgers. In 2007, he became Director for Lipid Research at Rutgers and in 2001 was appointed Board of Governors Professor.

His research interests are the biochemistry and molecular biology of phospholipid metabolism and lipid signaling. Carman has published well over 180 refereed articles in key journals, and he serves on the editorial boards of seven journals in various capacities. He is widely sought for service on technical review panels. Carman is the recipient of 20 awards and honors. They include the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Avanti Award in Lipids, Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology, the Foundation for Microbiology Lecture, and the Selman A. Waksman Lecture. In addition to his research, he teaches both undergraduate Food Chemistry and Topics in Food chemistry, as well as graduate courses in food enzymology, lipids and signal transduction, food fundamental, biochemistry and molecular biology, yeasts, and microbial biochemistry. His research group now consists of 10 scientists. He has supervised 20 postdoctoral fellows, 27 Ph.D. recipients, and 18 Masters Degree students. Carman is regarded as an eminent teacher as evidenced by five teaching awards from his University. His civic service includes Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, coaching basketball, little league baseball, girls softball, swimming, and judge at science fairs. He also tutored and helped develop a curriculum in mathematics.

When he received his award and honorarium from Supelco/NicholasPelick, he donated the funds ($8000) for a scholarship fund for a student working at Rutgers in the area of lipids. The George Carman Scholarship has grown to the extent of a $1000 dollar annual award.

Milton Rosen (Born 1920). The 2003 recipient received his BSc degree from the City College of New York in 1939 and his MSc from the University of Maryland (1941). He held positions as Chemist in the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn (1940-1942), Glyco Products, (1942-1944) and Publicker Commercial Alcohol (1944). Rosen served his country during World War II as a member of the US Army (1944-1946). After his discharge, he entered graduate school and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute Brooklyn in 1949. His early interests were sterols, polyhydric alcohol esters, vinyl dimers, and surface area chemistry. Rosen published extensively on surfactants and interfacial interactions and his book Surfactants and interfacial phenomena is considered the standard reference in the field with over 5400 citations.

Rosen taught and conducted research at Brooklyn College in New York until 1987 when he founded the Surfactants Research Institute (SRI), funded by industry and government, where he remained until his retirement in 2011 at the tender age of 91! Supporters include the best-known companies in the petroleum, chemical and household product industries. In addition, some funding has come from the National Science Foundation. Examples of projects from SRI include the development of biodegradable surfactants from renewable resources, recovery of petroleum from the environment, the chemistry of dimeric/Gemini surfactants, performance enhancement of surfactants by synergistic techniques, development of superseded surfactants, removal pollutants from soil, and estimation of environmental effects of surfactants based on their physiochemical properties.

Rosen’s father Samuel worked as an industrial chemist for 40 years in the development of printing inks. In 1991 Rosen established an AOCS award for outstanding research on surfactants. The Samuel Rosen Award given in honor of Rosen’s father has been commemorated each year since 1992 with a plaque and a 2000 dollar honorarium. Dr. Rosen was elected an AOCS Fellow in 1999 which was the initial class of members,

Norman Salem (Born 1950). The 2002 recipient received a BSc degree in physics from Miami University and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine before doing postdoctoral work at the NIH in the Neurology (NINDS) Institute. Salem is currently the Corporate Scientist for Nutritional Lipids, DNP Nutritional products LLC where he manages the Nutritional Sciences groups. He formerly held the position of Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research for Martek Biosciences Corporation. Research activities focus on DHA, ARA and other essential fatty acids as well as on other bioactive compounds and processes. Areas of active research interest include infant and child development, aging and cognition, inflammatory processes and diseases, maternal health and nutrition and sports nutrition.

Prior to entering into the corporate world, Dr. Salem was the Chief of the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry & Biophysics within the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health where he worked for 30 years. While at the NIH, he worked on studies of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) composition, metabolism and biological function with an emphasis on the nervous system. His laboratory was an internationally recognized center for studies of the mechanisms underlying the critical nature of DHA in the nervous system and for the scope of work involving clinical and behavioral studies ranging to organ, cellular, biomembrane and molecular biological studies.

He is an author of more than 250 publications. Dr. Salem serves on the editorial boards of Lipids, Nutritional Neuroscience, and Nutrafoods. He is the Past President of the ISSFAL Society, is currently a Corporate Board member and was a recipient of its highest award, the 2010 ISSFAL Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ching-hsien Huang (Born 1935). The 2001 recipient was born in Tien-tsin, People’s Republic of China and received his BSc from Taichung University in Taiwan (1959). He received his PhD at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (1965). From 1965-1967, he studied at the Max-Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry, Goettingen, Germany. In 1968, he began a career as a visiting Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Virginia University, Charlottesville, VA. and shortly thereafter was Assistant Professor. He became Associate Professor in 1973 and full Professor in 1977. From 1977 until his retirement in 2000 he served as Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. In 2001 he was appointed Professor Emeritus and is currently in this position. Huang’s research focused on the biochemistry of phospholipids in cell membranes. He also published extensively on the physical properties and structures of phospholipids in bilayers by a variety of analytical techniques including gel filtration, molecular modeling, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and sedimentation velocity. Using such physical techniques he has studied the packing and phase behavior of a wide variety of phospholipid molecular species packed in liposomes in the presence of excess water. In addition, he has worked on temperature-composition phase diagrams for binary phospholipids mixtures.

Huang served on the editorial boards of several biochemical journals and he has authored over 125 publications in major journals. His honors and awards include the Heinrich Weiland Prize (Germany), the Avanti Lipid Award, Biophysical Society and Citation Classics 2/1982 Current Contents/Life Sciences. Huang’s publication, Phosphatidyl choline vesicles: formation and physical characteristics, has received 1300 citations.

Howard Sprecher (Born 1936). The 2000 recipient was born in Wisconsin and, in 1958, received his BA in Chemistry from North Central College in Naperville, IL. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1963. Sprecher was a post-doctoral fellow with Ralph Holman at the Hormel Institute from 1963-1964. The next step in his academic career was at Ohio State University as an Assistant Professor in 1964 and he was promoted to Associate and finally full Professor in 1972. In 1995, he held the Chair of the Medicinal Biochemistry Department. Upon retirement in 2000, Sprecher became Professor Emeritus in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and currently holds this position. Sprecher is internationally known as an authority on fatty acid metabolism, synthesis of complex lipids, and prostaglandins and other eicosanoids. A key feature of much of his work has been the total synthesis of labeled fatty acids for metabolic studies. He is also well known for his elucidation of DHA formation in mammals (known as the ‘Sprecher Pathway’).

He has presented 45 invited lectures in many countries, and in 1982 he was a guest lecturer in Stockholm at the Nobel ceremony honoring Bergstrom, Samuelsson, and Vane for their research on prostaglandins. He was responsible for organizing four international meetings on essential fatty acids and prostaglandins. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous important journals including Lipids, Progress in Lipid Research, the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Sprecher is the author of over 200 publications in important journals.

Andrew Sinclair (Born 1942). The 1999recipient holds the Chair of Nutrition Science, Metabolic Research Unit, School of Medicine, Deakin University in Geelong, Australia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne and spent 10 years (1975-1985) as a research scientist in the Victorian Department of Agriculture Veterinary Research Institute in Parkeville. He then joined RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and held the Chair of Food Sciences from 1995-2005. In 2006 Sinclair accepted a position as Chair in Human Nutrition at Deakin University where he remains today as a researcher and teacher at one of the Deakin campuses. His current research interests include a wide range of nutritional issues including food science (composition of food, lipid and fat-soluble vitamins), fatty acid metabolism in humans and animals and functional foods, New Zealand green lip mussel, human health (effects of omega-3 PUFA, saturated, trans fats), fatty acids and neuroscience. His most recent area is the role of essential nutrients in brain functions (zinc, DHA and DPA n-3).

He has received numerous honors and awards for his research, including a Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology and Fellowship of the Nutrition Society of Australia. Sinclair has organized two international conferences on fatty acids and eicosanoids (Adelaide, 1992) and the International Society for Fatty Acids and other Lipids (Cairns, 2006). He is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals, including being a Deputy Editor of the British Journal of Nutrition and is the Chair of the Nutrition Committee of the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Robert G. Jensen (1926-2006)  The 1998 recipient grew up in Missouri where he became an eagle scout. Jensen served in the US Navy during World War II as an electronics technician. He received his BSc (1950), MSc (1951) and Ph.D. degrees (1954) from the University of Missouri. Jensen spent the remainder of his career at the University of Connecticut in the Animal Science Department and later (1970) the Department of Nutritional Sciences. He retired as an Emeritus Professor in 1990. During his career, he was awarded 5 million dollars in grants and trained 30 graduate students.

Jensen will be remembered as an authority on both human and bovine milk lipids. He was the author of 400 publications and received numerous awards including the Borden Award as senior in dairy manufacturing, Honorary Fellowship of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation (ISRIHLM), the Macy Gyorgy Award for human lactation research (ISRIHLM), and Fellowship of the American Dairy Association. Jensen was honored by the University of Connecticut for his activities as Chairman of the Research Foundation Committee and for his continued publishing/research and mentoring of others in his retirement.

William E. M. Lands (Born 1930) The 1997recipient received his BSc in chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1951. His graduate work at the University of Illinois under the supervision of H.E. Carter (1966 Award) resulted in a Ph.D. in biological chemistry (1954). After a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, Lands joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as an instructor and, by 1967, was made a Professor. After 25 years at Michigan, he left to take a position as Department Head of Biological Chemistry in the University of Illinois in 1980. In 1990 Lands moved to Bethesda, Maryland to become the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. He retired in 2002.

Lands spent most of his career studying fatty acid metabolism and made innumerable contributions in this field. In 1958, Lands published a classic paper Metabolism of glycerolipids: a comparison of lecithin and triglyceride synthesis J. Biol. Chem., 231, 883-888) describing the re-tailoring of acyl chains in phospholipids, now known as the “Lands pathway”. This classic research involving both phospholipase action and, then, reacylation of lysophospholipids results in the characteristic composition of membrane lipids. Recently, it has been found to be involved in seed oil production. Lands has been a major contributor to the discovery of the beneficial effects of balancing dietary omega-6 fatty acids with omega-3 fatty acids. In 1986, Lands published Fish and Human Health and, in 2005, a second edition Fish Omega-3 and Human Health appeared (AOCS Press). These books emphasize the importance of dietary fats and their effects on human health. Lands published extensively on prostaglandins and served on the editorial boards of many key journals, including the Journal of Lipid Research, Biochimica Biophysica Acta and Lipids.

Lands has received numerous honors and awards including the Glycerine Research Award (1969) and the Canadian Society of Nutritional Science Lectureship (1991). The University of Michigan Department of Biological Chemistry endowed a lectureship in his honor. Lands was the last graduate student of his mentor Herbert Carter, in whose memory Lands endowed a memorial lectureship at the University of Illinois.

Fereidoon Shahidi (the 2017 award) is a professor at Memorial University St. Johns, New Foundland. He received the PhD from McGill University in 1977. He did his undergraduate degree in his native land of Iran. His research interests have covered many areas of food and lipid chemistry including oxidation nutraceuticals functional foods marine lipids, muscle foods and natural antioxidants. He has published extensively with well over 500 peer-reviewed articles .as well as editing numerous books and contributing book chapters. He is a highly cited author (over 46,500 citations) with very high h index 101 and g index 199. He serves on the editorial board of numerous national/international journals including editor in chief of Journal of Functional Foods. He has supervised well over 110 PhD students and visiting scientists. Dr. Shahidi served as editor in chief for the 6th Revision of “Baileys industrial Oil and fat Products as well as the 7th revision in press. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including Fellow (AOCS FIFT, FAGFD, FRSC) His other awards include the Chang Award (IFT AOCS). The Babcock Hart Award, IFT and the Euro Fed Lipid Technology Award.

Alice Lichtenstein (2018 Award) is the Stanley Gershoff endowed Chair at Tufts University where she spent most of her career. She is internationally known and recognized as an authority on dietary lipids, cardiovascular health, and nutrition, biochemistry of fatty acids, diabetes, and micronutrients in human health. She has published extensively (581 papers) with 39400 citations. The impact of her research is shown by h index of 88 and a g index of 194.

She received a BS degree in nutrition from Cornell University (1971) and MS (1975) and D.Sc .(1979) degrees in nutrition from the Harvard School of public Health. From 1979 to1982 she did post-doctoral research at the Cardiovascular Institute Boston School of Medicine, Boston MA. During her career she has held numerous positions in academia. Beginning in 2001-present she is the Director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on ageing at Tufts University, Boston MA. In 2002 she was the first recipient of the Stanley N. Gershoff professor of nutrition science and policy at the Friedman school,Tufts University. She serves on the editorial boards of 9 journals dealing with nutrition, coronary heart disease, sports medicine clinical care, and lipids. As an authority in her field she is widely sought to serve on advisory panels.Noteworthy examples include the Food and Nutrition board of the National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. Vice Chair 2015 dietary guidelines for Americans, member 2000 dietary guidelines advisory committee, member dietary reference intakes micronutrient Panel Institute of Medicine.

Her awards include the David Kritchevsky Career Achievement Award, American Society of Nutrition, Levy Lecture ship American Heart Association. Hans Fisher lectureship Department of Nutrition Rutgers University, the AOCS Ralph Holman lifetime achievement award. In 2005, she was awarded a PhD (honoris Causa) by the Faculty of Medicine University of Kuopio Finland. She has authored over 40 book chapters as well as 50 review articles. She has presented over 200 lectures at national/international conferences.

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