Research Chemist

The incumbent will be a postdoctoral research chemist in the Vegetable Crops Research Unit and will work as part of an integrated research team that develops novel strategies for improving cranberry production and crop utilization along with evaluating and broadening the knowledge base of cranberries, focusing on characterizing fruit composition and quality.

• Conducts research to elucidate the correlations between cranberry fruit quality attributes and sweetened dried cranberry (SDC) processing outcomes by integrating data from various physicochemical analyses.
• Develops instrumental techniques to assess the key quality attributes of cranberry fruits, including chemical composition, internal structure, and firmness, as well as those of SDC products, such as visual appearance, flavor, taste, and texture.
• Laboratory approaches will include HPLC, rheological analysis, texture profile analysis (TPA), and X-ray CT scanning.
• Collaborates with food scientists, geneticists, and plant physiologists to interpret data, report findings, and enable to select varieties suitable for specific product quality attributes or processing conditions.
• Assists the development of pre- and post-processing technologies that improve cranberry product acceptability and nutritional value.