ST. PAUL, MINN. — AACC International recently presented its 2013 awards to several AACCI members who the association said represent “some of the best minds in cereal grain science.” The awards were presented at the opening and closing sessions of the 2013 Annual Meeting held Sept. 29-Oct. 2 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Julie Miller Jones and Pamela J. White received fellow awards in honor of their contributions to the field of cereal science and technology in research, industrial achievement, leadership, education, administration, communication or regulatory affairs. Dr. Jones is a board certified nutrition specialist and licensed nutritionist. She is currently an emeritus professor and distinguished scholar of food and nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn. Dr. White is dean for the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University and is a university professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.

The Thomas Burr Osborne Medal was awarded to Geoff Fincher, professor of plant science at the University of Adelaide and director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls. The medal is awarded to an individual whose research in the field of cereal chemistry has contributed significantly to the progress of the science.

Bruce R. Hamaker received the Alsberg-French-Schoch Memorial Lectureship award. Dr. Hamaker is director of the Whistler Center of Carbohydrate Research and holds the Roy L. Whistler chair in carbohydrate science in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. The award honors chemists who have made distinguished contributions to fundamental starch science.

Stephen Delwiche received the Edith A Christensen Award for outstanding contributions in analytical methodology. Dr. Delwiche is a research scientist in the Food Quality Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, and has spent the majority of his career developing nondestructive, rapid instrumentation and methods for quality assessment in cereal grains. The Edith A. Christensen Award recognizes the central role that analytical methodology and approved methods have played in the history of AACCI and their future importance.

The Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to Vijay Singh. Dr. Singh is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and associate director of the Center of Advanced BioEnergy Research at the University of Illinois. Dr. Singh’s research is on development of bioprocessing technologies for corn/biomass to ethanol, advanced biofuels, food and industrial products. The award is presented to a current teacher who has made significant contributions through teaching in the field of cereal science and technology.

Senay Simsek was presented with the Young Scientist Research Award. Dr. Simsek is an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at North Dakota State University. The award is presented to a young scientist for outstanding contributions in basic and applied research to cereal science, with the expectation that contributions will continue.

Privat Lasme of the Nestle R.&D. Center was presented the Texture Technologies Quality Research Best Paper Award for his paper “A study of Puroindoline b gene involvement in the milling behavior of hard-type common wheats.” The award was established in 2012 and is presented to authors who write and present high quality research which broadly involves instrumental texture analysis.

Davia Dougelaite of the University of Manitoba received the Texture Technologies Quality Research Best Presentation Award for her presentation “Evaluation of gluten addition effect on rheological properties of alkaline noodles using high frequency ultrasound and stress relaxation techniques.”