The CAFPNA student committee is an important part of CAFPNA. The goal is to unite current students and recent graduates within the CAFPNA community to share information, organize student activities, and provide our expectations and needs to current CAFPNA officers for better serving students and recent graduates in our community. Current student activities include:

• Mentor-mentee program 2.0 

• Mentor-mentee program: A traditional program aims to bridge students and recent graduates with our experienced professionals within CAFPNA, based on their common interests and fields. This program has been very fruitful and has developed great connections among our members over the past few years.

• Student presentation award competition: This program is to encourage students and recent graduates to conduct a short presentation on their original research at the CAFPNA Annual Meeting and foster their professionalism through contact with peers and professional members of CAFPNA. Winners will receive a monetary award funded by our generous financial contributions from our members.

• Quarterly meeting: student members are staying connected throughout the year; student committee meetings are held quarterly to discuss current needs of student members, plan student activities, and gather information for the quarterly newsletter.

• After-meeting social: student committee invites all student members to the CAFPNA meeting to join the after-meeting gathering and get to know more about our peers.

Student Presentation Award Competition

Purpose

• To encourage undergraduate/graduate students and recent graduates of M.S. or Ph.D. programs to present their original research at the CAFPNA Annual Meeting.

• To foster professionalism among students and recent graduates through communicating with peers and professional members of CAFPNA.

• To encourage participation by students and recent graduates in the CAFPNA and IAFP Annual Meeting.

Eligibility

Competition entrants must attend IAFP (virtual) annual meeting with their accepted abstracts and obtain approval from their advisors to participate in this competition.

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2025:

Zhou Chen, Ph.D. student, University of California, Davis

Presentation: Investigation of Indigenous Microbial Populations on Waxing Roller Brushes and the Wax Cleaning Efficiency in Commercial Produce Packinghouses

Ying-Xian Goh, Ph.D. student, Virginia Tech

Presentation: Genomic Bases of the Ecological Success of Motile and Non-motile Listeria

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2024:

1st place: Yihan He, Ph.D. candidate, McGill University

Presentation: Development of a smartphone-integrated microfluidic paper-based optosensing platform for in-situ detection of histamine in canned tuna 

2nd place: Shaelyn Xu, PhD candidate, University of Alberta

Presentation: Strain-level persistence and multi-species biofilm formation of microbes in a meat processing facility

3rd place: Xueyan Hu, Ph.D. student, University of Georgia

Presentation: Identification of ascaroside#18 in the control of Salmonella enterica and EHEC on alfalfa

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2023:

1st place: Yuxiao Lu, Ph.D. student, McGill University

Presentation: Detection of Campylobacter jejuni using a hybrid paper/polymer-based microfluidic device based on the recombinase polymerase amplification and lateral flow assay

2nd place:  Tongzhou Xu, Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia

Presentation: Integrative Assessment of Reduced Listeria monocytogenes Susceptibility to Benzalkonium Chloride in Produce Processing Environments

3rd place: Shaojie Ma, Master's student, Sichuan Agricultural University

Presentation: Non-invasive measurement of high-temperature water activity by Raman spectroscopy

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2022:

1st place: Yaqi Zhao, PhD student, Florida State University
Title: Immunodetection of Finfish in Non-finfish Food Product
2nd place: Kaidi Wang, PhD candidate, McGill University
Title: Rapid Identification of Foodborne Bacteria Using Single-Cell Raman Spectroscopic Analysis Combined with a Conditional Generative Adversarial Network
3rd place: Xingyi Jiang, PhD, Florida State University
Title: Application of Novel Non-thermal Processing Technologies in Seafood Protein Analysis

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2021:

1st place: Biyu Wu, PhD student, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Title: Effect of Ohelo berry (Vaccinium calycinum) Juice on Physicochemical Properties, Biofilm Formation, and Virulence Gene Expression of Listeria monocytogenes
2nd place: Lianger Dong, PhD student, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Title: Comparison of the Behavior of Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes on Papaya and Avocado during Storage and Chlorine Dioxide Treatment
3rd place: Lang Sun, PhD student, University of Connecticut
Title: Antimicrobial Effects of a Bioactive Glycolipid on Spore-forming Spoilage Bacteria in Milk

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition 2020:

1st place:   Wenqian Wang, PhD Candidate, Poultry Science, University of Arkansas
Title: Application of Polydopamine Molecular Imprinted Polymer on a Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor for Detection of Multi-antibiotics in Chicken Meat
2nd place:  Xingyi Jiang, PhD Candidate, Florida State University
Title: Immunodetection of Meat Adulterants
3rd place:  Yafang Shen, PhD Candidate, Zhejiang University
Title: A Novel Optical Biosensor Based on Target-induced Immunomagnetic Beads Aggregation for Label-free and Portable Detection of Enrofloxacin  

CAFPNA Student Presentation Award Competition at IAFP 2019:

1st place: Key Factors Influencing Thermal Resistance of Bacterial Pathogens in Low-Moisture Foods, Ren Yang, Washington State University;

2nd place: Inactivation of Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecium in Cumin Seeds Using Gaseous Ethylene Oxide, Long Chen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln;

3rd place: Behavior of Shiga Toxin Producing Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocyotgenes on Dried Apricots Made with and without Sulfur Dioxide, Zhuosheng Liu, University of California Davis

3rd place: Food Allergy or food intolerance? Exploring food safety practices among campus food service employees, Soojin Lee, University of Missouri-Columbia