PPIC Staff and Researchers

Dr. Karthik Pandalaneni joined PPIC in November 2020 as Manager of Operations and assumed the role of Assistant Director in June 2022. As the Assistant Director of PPIC, he oversees research projects, conducts member relationships, and coordinates PPIC events and communications. Additionally, Karthik seeks out research funds for the center from federal and state commodity groups, and develops research grant proposals. Prior to working for PPIC, he was a Global Application Scientist. He completed his Ph.D. in Food Science from Kansas State University (2018). During his Ph.D. he worked on improving dairy processing techniques in lactose crystallization and evaluating high protein dairy beverage stability by studying ingredient functionality in the application. He obtained his Master’s in Food Biotechnology from the University of Leeds, UK, in 2010 and his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology from India, in 2009. He enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, and exploring all that Minnesota has to offer, especially in the summertime! 

Echo Crawford joined the PPIC team in April 2024 as a Research Project Manager. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master of Science in Food Science. Her research focused on evaluating processing conditions and hydrocolloid addition on the functional properties of Aquafaba (the cooking water from chickpeas) and exploring optimal conditions of processing and hydrocolloid addition to use it as an egg substitute in cake. While at UGA, Echo also taught in the Food Processing Lab - getting hands-on experience with pilot plant level equipment. After graduating, Echo went on to work as a project coordinator for a safety and regulatory compliance consulting group before spending time working in Quality and Operations for a protein powder/dietary supplement company. As a vegan for over a decade, Echo has had a longstanding passion for animal protein substitutes and interest in new and sustainable plant-based foods. In her free time, you’ll likely find Echo in the air doing circus arts – with dance trapeze, aerial hoop, and aerial silks as her main disciplines – or cooking up a storm.

Taylor Otness joined PPIC as a Research Specialist in June of 2023 after receiving his Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Minnesota in the Spring of 2023. During his studies, Taylor worked as an undergraduate research assistant studying cereal grains and the effects of non-thermal processing on the functionality of wheat and intermediate wheatgrass flours and doughs. In June of 2024, he was promoted to the role of Operations Manager for PPIC. As Operations Manager, he is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and acquisition of equipment and instrumentation, and leads the pilot plant production of protein ingredients. Taylor has a passion for sustainable food sources and is an outdoors enthusiast, spending his free time with hobbies like camping, disc golfing, rock climbing, and snowboarding.

Adiella joined the PPIC team in February 2021 in an administrative role. She graduated from Simon Fraser University (Canada) with a Bachelor of General Studies in Education in 2014. A Bachelor of General Studies allowed her to have a balanced education between the arts and sciences. For 6 years she taught in elementary schools in Brazil and England. During that time, she spent many hours editing a number of Food Science and Engineering research papers. After years of working with children, including one year of online schooling during covid, Adiella can appreciate the importance of projects being visually appealing and well organized. She brings an artistic side to updating and managing our PPIC website, as well as producing promotional material.

Dr Sima Saeidy joined PPIC team in October 2022 as a postdoctoral associate. She graduated from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran with a Ph.D. degree. Her research focused on the extraction of Ferula assa-foetida gum (an endemic gum exudates) and the chemical characterization of its polysaccharide and protein. During her PhD, she enrolled in the Chemical Engineering, Applied Thermodynamics and Biosystems (GePEB) team at Clermont-Auvergne University in France working on several methods of structural elucidation of the gum including NMR, HPLC, GC-Mass/Mass, etc. Sima has expertise in the characterization and improvement of functional properties of hydrocolloids as emulsifying, foaming and thickening agents. As a postdoctoral researcher in IUT she worked on technology development for extraction of value-added components from sugar beet by-products. She conducted several industry projects, advised numerous graduate students, and taught at the university as well. As a researcher at PPIC, she will be working with Professor Pam Ismail attending optimization of protein extractions from different plant sources, as well as novel functionalization technologies to improve textural, nutritional, and flavor properties of protein ingredients and products. In her free time and for special occasions Sima enjoys baking and decorating cakes!  

Emily joined the PPIC team in May of 2024 as a Research Specialist. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science. During her undergraduate career, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant for 3 years on a multitude of projects including extraction, ultrafiltration and scale-up of pennycress and camelina, extraction of 12 soy protein varieties, and flavour analysis of pea and chickpea protein. She is currently planning on returning to the University of Minnesota to pursue her Master's degree in Food Science in the future. In her free time, she enjoys painting, Hiking and geocaching her way around the metro area.

Sarra joined the PPIC team in August 2023 as a PPIC Intern. She graduated with a Master of Science in Food Safety and Microbiology from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Her research focused on the microbial safety of food products with an emphasis on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread in the food chain. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (Honors) from the Lebanese American University, Lebanon. Sarra completed both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees as a recipient of the fully funded Tomorrow's Leaders Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) scholarship funded by the U.S. Department of State for excellent academic standing and leadership potential. During her undergraduate journey, Sarra was also awarded a fully-funded opportunity to attend the University of California, Berkeley for an exchange semester in the United States. Sarra has acquired extensive research and laboratory skills working as a graduate student researcher at the Food Microbiology laboratory at the American University of Beirut where she developed experimental protocols and contributed to the AMR research taking place at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.

Sarah joined the PPIC team in March 2021 and assists the PPIC Director, Dr. Pam Ismail, in developing and managing relationships with external stakeholders of plant protein research. She retired recently to Oregon after over 28 years in corporate R&D. Her last role was a director of product development at Hill’s Pet Nutrition (a division of Colgate-Palmolive). Prior to that, she held several scientist and management positions at Mead Johnson Nutritionals (previously a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb Inc).  In both roles, Sarah played a key role in a number of fat, protein and hydrocolloid technology development initiatives. Her passion for innovation in food science is demonstrated in numerous successful commercial product launches as well as issued patents and patent applications. Sarah was the President of the Oregon Section of the Institute of Food Technologists (OSIFT). She got her MS and PhD degrees in Food Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her B.S. degree in Food Technology was from the University of the Philippines.  

Dilek Uzunalioglu, Ph.D., Advisor, Technology & Ecosystem Development, [email protected]

Dilek Uzunalioglu collaborates with PPIC team to enhance partnerships between start-ups, industry, and academia; to develop technology landscape maps; to support workshops, to develop mentoring programs, fostering innovation in alternative protein space. With over 20 years of experience in the food industry, Dilek has successfully led global R&D programs, projects, and technical teams for multinational corporations and start-ups, including Ingredion, Inc., and Motif FoodWorks, Inc. Currently, Dilek works as a consultant empowering startups with solutions in ingredient technology, product development, and food processing. Dilek has developed and commercialized a wide range of food ingredients and products, including starches, fibers, sweeteners, gluten-free flours and systems, pulse flours and proteins, fermentation-based proteins, and meat and dairy alternatives. Her expertise spans food ingredient functionality, food processing, product development and design, quality, innovation processes, technology scouting, and consumer research. Dilek holds a Ph. D. in Food Science from Rutgers University and B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Food Engineering from the Middle East Technical University. She has authored several patents, journal articles, conference papers and two book chapters.