Bradley P. Marks


	Bradley P. Marks, Ph.D., P.E. Professor of Biosystems Engineering Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition College of Agriculture & Natural Resources College of Engineering
	210 Farrall Hall Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824-1323	phone: 517.432.7703 fax: 517.432.2892 e-mail: marksbp@msu.edu
	Professional profile/vita: http://myprofile.cos.com/bmarks

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Conducting research in food safety engineering, emphasizing the effects that engineering operations have on product safety and quality throughout the entire postharvest processing system. The current overall mission of our research team is: To develop improved methods for the design and operation of thermal processing systems for protein foods, based on the criteria of microbial safety, processing yield, and product quality.

Examples of current/recent projects include:

Quantifying and modeling uncertainty in predictive microbial models.
Modeling the effect of prior sub-lethal thermal history on the subsequent thermal resistance of foodborne pathogens.
Developing a generalized model for thermal inactivation of Salmonella in meat and poultry products.
Developing improved modeling and experimental methods for validation of thermal pasteurization of low water activity food products.
Modeling the migration of Salmonella into whole-muscle meat products during marination, and quantifying the increase in thermal resistance.
Evaluating the feasibility of low-energy x-ray irradiation for pasteurization of various high priority food products, including leafy greens, ground beef, and nut products (e.g., almonds).
Incorporating microbial lethality kinetics into coupled heat and mass transfer models for convection cooking of meat products.
Quantifying transport properties (permeability, porosity, water holding capacity, etc.) for multi-phase transport in porous media relative to meat and poultry processing.
Optimizing multi-stage oven systems for meat product safety and yield.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Strong emphasis on multidisciplinary activities and enhancing learning through writing, speaking, and higher-order thinking activities.
Current course assignments are:

BE 101 - Introduction to Biosystems Engineering
BE 350 - Heat and Mass Transfer in Biosystems (team taught)
BE 385 - Engineering Design and Optimization for Biological Systems
BE 478 - Food Engineering: Solids (team taught)
BE 870 - Engineering Methods for Food Safety - a completely web-based graduate course.

If you have any questions about any of my research or teaching programs, please contact me at marksbp@msu.edu.