The Department of Food Science and Technology perfects and innovates food products in a variety of ways, and historically has created many products and processes that we see everyday (including the Drumstick ice cream treat). Many of these advancements come from the labs of the Food Innovation Center on the Columbus Campus. One of the more unique research resources is the Sensory Science Lab.
What we eat is determined by more than just hunger pangs.
It's often an unconscious response to what's around us, according to a sensory researcher with Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
"Our environment can affect how much we eat, and even how much we like a food," said Chris Simons, who joined the Department of Food Science and Technology earlier this year. "Environmental cues -- visual, auditory, aroma -- can generate cravings that influence food intake."
Simons, whose background is in both sensory science and neuroscience, is now putting the finishing touches on new labs in the Parker Food Science and Technology Building that will help him study human response to such cues, and will hire his first graduate student as a research assistant in August.
Simons also has an appointment with the college's research arm, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
One of Simons' new testing grounds is an immersive technologies laboratory.