The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a Convergence Accelerator Grant of $750,000 to Dr. Owen McDougal and his interdisciplinary team of university faculty and industry partners. This NSF initiative seeks “to address challenges related to food and nutrition security.” (see: NSF spurs use-inspired research and technology development to address food and nutrition security challenges)
Over the next nine months, the team led by McDougal will leverage the resources in the Boise State University Food and Dairy Innovation Center in collaboration with businesses, dairy consortium and advocacy organizations. McDougal’s team will utilize machine learning tools to develop chemometric software, a focus led by Dr. Tim Andersen, pulsed electric field instruments accessible through Boise-based Food Physics, Inc., and hot melt twin screw extruder technology from Clextral, will lead to product development with Agropur and Glanbia, of dairy protein powder ingredients for use in shelf stable nutrient dense products for early childhood development, sports nutrition, and elder care. The Boise State team was one of 48 selected nationally for Phase I funding to converge science disciplines leading to the acceleration of product concept to domestically manufactured marketable product.