Learn how BUILD Dairy is connecting students with real-world projects and careers in the dairy industry as Lacey P. speaks with BUILD Dairy student Rachel Lindstrom.

Transcript:

Lacey: Hello friends and welcome to another episode of In Udder Words your Dairy West podcast, with host Lacey P. On today's episode we are going to be talking to Rachel Lindstrom. Rachel is a BUILD Dairy masters student at Utah State University under Prateek Sharma. Welcome Rachel.

Rachel: Thank you! I'm super excited to be here today.

Lacey: I'm excited to chat with you and learn more about BUILD Dairy and the project that you're doing. And I'm going give just a little level set to remind everybody what the BUILD Dairy program is. So BUILD Dairy is our workforce development program that connects dairy companies to universities and researchers. The goals of the program are to assist students in launching their careers in dairy while these students are researching to advance our dairy industry, and -to note- there have been nine universities that have partnered with us throughout the years of the program.

So now that we have just a little more background knowledge about BUILD Dairy we're gonna dive in and we're gonna ask Rachel some questions. So Rachel, my first question for you is that BUILD Dairy students can do research in about four different areas, which are dairy food science technology, dairy nutrition, dairy sustainability, and dairy packaging. So can you tell us what area does your research fit into? And then tell us a little bit about the research that you're doing.

Rachel: I'm in dairy technology. And what I'm doing is, when you make cheese, you have this idea of what you want to eat when you taste it. Every single time you taste cheese you have a certain texture you're thinking of. You have a certain flavor you're thinking of. You might not know it, but you do, you have a picture of what you're eating. And when you eat it, you want it to be how you expect. Now when you make cheese, sometimes the pH varies—when I say pH I'm referring to how acidic the cheese is—and if it varies, then you'll get less than an ideal product. Your cheese might be more crumbly, it might have a different flavor. It might not necessarily be bad, but it might be different. So, what my project is looking into is when they make cheese they'll get it to the ideal pH, and it will be perfect, and then six weeks later the pH will have changed, it will have fluctuated. And every time this happens in industry that causes a big loss in revenue, so they are really trying to not have the pH fluctuation. They don't want to have this variation in their cheese. And as a consumer, you don't want to buy a product that's constantly changing. So, I'm looking into this problem—me and another student who is also in BUILD Dairy is looking into it, his name is Sam Clarke—and what we are doing is we are seeing if this effect is microbiological or chemical. I'm looking at the chemical side, and my partner Sam is looking at the microbiological side. The chemical side is specifically to do with insoluble calcium, which I won't go into a lot of detail because it's very, very complicated part of the cheese, but basically it create's bridges between proteins and it effects the pH. So that's what Im looking into in my study.

Lacey: That is so interesting. I've never really thought about it, but you're right. When I bite into a piece of cheese I do often have that perceived flavor and what I'm thinking it should taste like. So that makes a lot of sense that you're studying that. Very cool.

My next question for you: Did you ever think that you would be studying food science and potentially doing the BUILD Dairy program when you were younger?

Rachel: When I was younger I watched the show Cake Boss, which was a very popular show at the time. From then on I wanted to be a culinary artist. I did everything I could. I baked all the time. I even did wedding cakes for people when I was younger. I did everything I could around food. And as I got older, I was looking into the different culinary programs. An my dad and a food science professor took me on a tour of the food science facility at Brigham Young Univeristy - Idaho, and I didn't realize that you could combine science and food. That's when I realized that I wanted to go into food science. It's cool to know how to make a food, but it's even cooler to understand what's happening with the food, and to be able to break it down. So that's why I decided to go into food science.

Lacey: That's really cool. I love that you started out with what you knew when you were younger, baking, and then learned more as you dove into food science. I think that's really cool. Kind of a unique path to get to where you are.

Rachel: I should also mention that I chose to go to BUILD Dairy because one of my professors, he mentioned the BUILD Dairy program in my class. And dairy was particularly fascinating to me, because you take milk and you turn it into cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and so many more products. It's one thing and you can transform it into so many different things.

Lacey: That is a really cool thing about milk. We love just how applicable it is and we can use it in so many products. It's great.

Well, I'm excited that you're so passionate about dairy. So my next question for you is, when will you graduate and is there a certain type of job you are hoping to get?

Rachel: I'm going to graduate in December of this year, 2024. I'm finishing up my cheese makes, and hopefully I'll be done by then, just have to write up some papers. But I really want to go into product development. For those of you who aren't familiar with product development, I always like to use the Oreo example, because it's easy for people to picture.

When you walk down the store you look at all the different Oreos. The Oreo tastes the same every time and there are so many different flavors of Oreos. There is a food scientist that makes the Oreo taste the same every single time, and there are food scientist that develop those flavors. I want to be the one that develops those flavors. I want you to go into the grocery store, see something, and think, "Who thought of this weird product? I want to try this new weird thing." And hopefully make people smile when they eat it.

Lacey: That's such a great example. As soon as you started talking about Oreos, I immediately imagined when they have new flavors come out, I will try it and always dip it in milk. It's always just a fun adventure, and it does make you smile when it's some unique, fun flavor.

Rachel: That's why I really like product development. In school you can go into product development clubs. I've joined a couple because it's really fun.

Lacey: That sounds very fun. That's amazing.

So you've been in the BUILD Dairy program for a couple of years now. What has been the biggest impact to you and your life, because of the program?

Rachel: When you are going to school, you are kind of around the same people, and you learn from a lot of amazing teachers, but the BUILD Dairy program opens opportunities beyond that. Through BUILD Dairy I've been able to go to courses at other schools to learn about dairy from people who have written dairy books. Not only am I learning from these experts in their field, I'm also meeting people in industry, and BUILD Dairy has allowed me to tour different dairy plants. It's given me the opportunity to get to know a lot of people. And to be able to focus on my schooling, they have lightened the burden of the finances and really made it a wonderful opportunity for me. I'm super grateful for them and all the connections I've made though BUILD Dairy.

Lacey: Those connections can be really impactful as you meet other people that are passionate about the same thing you are.

Rachel: They are invaluable. I love them so much.

Lacey: Well, this kind of goes along with what you were talking about, but I heard recently that you went to a conference an participated in a competition. And I don't know a ton about it but I was told that you won first place and won a big award. Would you like to tell us a little more about what happened?

Rachel: I attended the ADPI conference, which was a really awesome opportunity that was brought to my attention by my professor. And what you do in these conferences as a student is you make a poster about your project, and then I had the opportunity to present my work in front of a room full of scientists. It's kind of intimidating because they are experts at this, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to participate in that and share the work that I've been doing. Especially because the work that I'm doing is impacting their fields eventually. So that was a really cool opportunity, and I was able to take first place in that competition. I was really grateful for that.

Lacey: Congratulations! It's always exciting to do something that maybe is out of your comfort zone—like presenting to a group of people—and then coming out with a first place is amazing. So congratulations on that!

Rachel: Thank you.

Lacey: I think that's about all the time that we have for this episode of In Udder Words, but I wanted to say thank you for sharing about your project, Rachel, and congratulations. It sounds like you got a lot of awesome thing going on. You're coming up on graduation. You just won an award. These are amazing things. Thank you for engaging in the BUILD Dairy program, and we hope that it will keep you in the dairy industry and processing.

Rachel: Ya, I hope to stay with it.

Lacey: Good. Thanks for joining us on today's episode everyone! Go out and milk your day for all that it's worth.