Teaching & outreach

Sharing the science of chocolate

From Penn State classrooms and pilot plants to high schools, science pubs and middle-school science programs.

Allison explains foam microstructure during a foams lab she developed for the Food Science 201: Introductory Practicum course at the Pennsylvania State University
Teaching a foams lab she developed for FDSC 201 at Penn State

Teaching

Teaching & guest lectures

Fall 2018, Fall 2019

Teaching Assistant, FDSC 201: Introductory Food Science Practicum

Instructor: Dr. Gregory Ziegler. Created a 2-hour class on food foams including lecture, pilot plant work, sensory and homework.

Fall 2017

Teaching Assistant, FDSC 404: Sensory Evaluation of Foods

Instructor: Dr. John Hayes.

Guest lectures at Penn State

  • Craft Chocolate: Current Market Conditions and Consumer PerceptionFDSC 497: Product Development · 2018–2020
  • Sensory Science and Consumer Insights and their Application in Agricultural BusinessAGBM 440: Innovation Management · 2018–2020
  • Food Science as it relates to International AgricultureINTAG 100: Intro to International Agriculture · 2017–2019
  • Craft Chocolate: Current Market Conditions, Consumer Perception, and a Tasting Experience!AGBM 440: Innovation Management · April 2019
  • Chocolate Manufacturing PrinciplesFDSC 201: Introductory Food Science Practicum · October 2019
  • From Cacao Tree to Chocolate BarPA School for Excellence in the Agricultural Sciences · July 2019
  • From Cacao Tree to Chocolate BarNSF Plant Genome Program, Minority Student Interns · July 2019

Campus

Campus talks

Feb 2022

Craft Chocolate: the Scientific, Social, and Environmental Facets of the Industry

With Dr. Alejandro Gil Aguirre. PSU Science Policy Society: Science on Tap in Quarantine. Watch →

Feb 2020

Does a National Sensory Panel Improve Specialty Food Quality? An Exploratory Study with Honduran Cocoa Liquor

2nd INTAD Global Gallery, Penn State. Oral presentation.

2019

Expensive, Artisanal, and High-Quality: Premium Chocolate Consumer Perception of Craft Chocolate

Poster at Farm to Fork Symposium, Gamma Sigma Delta Research Expo and the Penn State Graduate Exhibition.

Mar 2018

A Night of Chocolate: An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion from Gene to Bean to Bar

Penn State. Panel coordinator and moderator.

Mar 2018

‘I’ve got the golden ticket’: consumer perception of premium chocolate

Penn State Graduate Student Exhibition. ★ First Place, Social & Behavioral Science

Feb 2018

Characterization of Flavor in Fine Flavor Theobroma cacao Cultivars of Honduran Origin

INTAD Global Gallery, Penn State. Oral presentation.

Sep 2015

Chocolate Chemical Quality Analysis Techniques

Ghent University Cocoa and Chocolate Workshop, Belgium. Oral presentation.

Cacao pods in a pile after being harvested in Chiapas, Mexico
Harvested cacao pods, Chiapas, Mexico

Community

Community involvement & outreach

Mar 2019

What’s Flavor got to do with it? Insights from Premium Chocolate Consumer and Trained Panel Research

The Village at Penn State, State College, PA

Feb 2019

Chocolate: The Story of Bean to Bar

Science Pub Wednesday, Big Spring Spirits, Bellefonte, PA

Nov 2018

From Cacao Tree to Chocolate Bar

Bellefonte Area High School, Bellefonte, PA

May 2018

Characterization of Chocolate Flavor Using Descriptive Analysis

Delta High School, at Penn State

2017–2018

Chocolate Processing and Sensory Science

Girls Love Science (GaLS) program for area middle school girls, Penn State