Jean Hunter, D.Eng.Sci   Associate Professor   Profile and CV	218 Riley Robb   jbh5@cornell.edu   Web site
Space life support, fermentation and enzyme technology

NASA Title VI Brochure
Biography

After receiving her bachelor's degree, Hunter worked for Procter and Gamble and for General Foods, where she developed manufacturing processes for new food products. She returned to school in 1980 on a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation, obtained her master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering, and joined the Cornell faculty in 1985. She is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society for Microbiology, the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers.

Research Interests

"My research focuses on bioprocess engineering, including the following areas:

• Fermentor design, enzyme technology, and genetic engineering as applied to food processing and reclamation of food and agricultural wastes: bioconversion of whey to fuels and chemicals.
• Microbial ecology of mixed-culture systems such as sauerkraut and silage, as well as solid-substitute fermentations.
• Bioprocess separations: rational scaleup of analytical separation methods; conversion of batch processes to continuous processes; integrated fermentation/recovery systems; novel techniques.
• Microbial physiology of industrial microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria and the solventogenic clostridia."

Current Research Projects

Integrated Process for Microbial Production of Acetone and Butanol from Acid Whey Permeate (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; Crowley-Wessanen Foods; USDA-Hatch)

Other participants: M. Howeler, S. Lin, F. Diez-Gonzalez, D. Ornek, V. Bansal, and W. Pau, graduate students.

Studies on Silage Microbiology (USDA-Hatch)

Other participant: V. K.-P. Wong, graduate student

Bioreactor Engineering for Solid-State Fermentation

Other participant: P. Cottrell, graduate student

Professional CV

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Education:

• Ph.D., Eng. Sci., 1987, Columbia University
• M.S.Ch.E., 1982, Columbia University
• B.S.Ch.E., 1976, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Current Position:

• Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-5701.
• Member, Graduate fields of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Food Science (Food Engineering Specialty), Cornell University.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

12/92 – present Associate Professor, Cornell University

• Current teaching responsibilities:
• Bioseparations for Biotechnology, a 3-credit senior/grad level elective course on downstream processing, and Bioengineering Thermodynamics and Kinetics, a 3-credit core course with an audience of mostly 2nd and 3rd year students.

12/85 – 11/92 Assistant Professor, Cornell University

• Primary teaching responsibilities:
• Teaching responsibilities:
• Bioprocessing with Agricultural Applications, a 3-credit senior/grad level lecture course on fermentation and enzyme technology, and Introduction to Biological Engineering, a 3-credit lab-based undergraduate technical elective surveying aspects of food engineering, bioprocess engineering and biomedical engineering.

6/80 - 10/80 and 9/83 - 5/85 Teaching Assistant, Columbia University

• Developed manuals and homework problems for real-time computing unit in unit operations laboratory course. Developed and taught FORTRAN tutorial for novice programmers. Teaching Assistant for physical chemistry, introductory and advanced biochemical engineering courses.

8/77 - 2/80 Associate Engineer, Process Development, General Foods Corp.

• New product and process development including leaching, concentration, spray and freeze drying, frying, enzymatic and fermentation processes for new foods.

6/76 - 7/77 Engineer, Industrial Foods Division, Procter & Gamble Company

• Process development for a semi-synthetic specialty lipid.

SABBATICALS AND STUDY LEAVES

Sabbatic leave 1/93-6/93 at the laboratories of David B. Wilson, Department of Biochemistry and J.R. Russell, Department of Microbiology, pursuing a project on genetic engineering and microbial physiology of Prevotella ruminicola (Bacteroides ruminicola)

HONORS AND AWARDS

NSF Graduate Fellow, 1980-83; Josephine de Kármán Fellow, 1983-84. "Most Influential Professor", Merrill Presidential Scholar Program, one of 8 CU faculty selected in 1988. Alice Cook Award, Cornell University, 1998

 

GRANT SUPPORT

Active Grants/Contracts/Gifts

• PI: Robert Morrow, Orbital Technologies, Inc.  6/1/05 – 5/31/07 30% RES
• NASA STTR (CU Subcontract to Orbitec) $194,897 Closed Loop Waste Processing Dryer – Phase 2

Pending Grants/Contracts/Gifts

• PI: Robert Morrow, Orbital Technologies, Inc. 30% RES NASA SBIR (CU Subcontract to Orbitec) $60,000 (Awarded; grant term not yet begun) Enhanced Brine Drying System – Phase 1

 

Research Interests:

• Bioprocess engineering, including:
• Enzyme and microbial engineering and fermentor design as applied to food processing and reclamation of food and agricultural wastes.
• Microbial physiology of industrial micro-organisms such as lactic acid bacteria and the solventogenic clostridia.
• Microbial ecology of mixed-culture systems such as sauerkraut and silage; solid-substrate fermentations.
• Bioprocess separations: Rational scaleup of analytical separation methods; conversion of batch to continuous processes; integrated fermentation/recovery systems; novel techniques.

Professional Societies:

• AIChE: Full member. Member of Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division and Separations Division. Chair of Tappan Zee Local Section AIChE, 1983. Currently program co-chair for Food Engineering section of Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division of AIChE.
• ACS: Full member of ACS and of two divisions: Biochemical Technology, and Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. ACS Biotechnology Secretariat Program Planning Committee, 1986-89, I&EC Separation Science Subdivison: Program Committee member and Membership chair 1989-1990. I&EC Liaison to ACS Biotechnology Secretariat 1987-1990.
• ASM: Full member, division O (Fermentation Technology)
• ASAE: Student Branch Advisor 1986-1989, Secretary of BI-02 Committee, 1994-5.
• ASEE: Full member. Member of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division. Chair of BAED educational materials award committee, 1992,1993; Secretary of BAED division, 1992-3, BAED program chair 1993-4, BAED division chair 1994-95.

CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS/IN-SERVICE PARTICIPATION

• Organized workshop on outreach for 2006 ICES meeting, Norfolk VA, July 2006 (With Dean Muirhead of NASA JSC)

RECENT INVITED PRESENTATIONS

• Seminar on food systems for space, Old Dominion University, July 2006

RESEARCH AND EXTENSION GRANT REVIEW PANELS

• Most recent: NASA Plant Production/Plant Physiology – February 2005

Professional Registration:

Certified Intern Engineer, New York State.

Selected Publications:

Butanol Recovery from Acetone-Butanol Fermentation of Acid Whey Permeate by Gas Stripping, M. Howeler and J.B. Hunter. Presented at AIChE 1994 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 13-18, 1994 (Paper 21g).

The role of an NAD-independent lactate dehydrogenase and acetate in the utilization of lactate by Clostridium acetobutylicum P262, F. Diez-Gonzalez, J.B. Russell and J.B. Hunter. Archives of Microbiology 164, 36-42. (1995).

In Focus and On the Move: Prospects for Electrophoresis in the Food Industry, J.B. Hunter. In Bioseparation Processes in Food, eds. S.S.R. Rizvi and R. Singh. Marcel Dekker, 1995.

Public Service Learning for Cornell Engineering Students, J.B. Hunter. Presented at ASEE Annual Meeting, Edmonton, AB, Canada, June 21-25, 1994.

Production of extracellular protease by immobilized and free cells of Flavobacterium sp. R23, A.S. Zahran, G. Zayed and J.B. Hunter, Milchwissenschaft 48(1) 18-21 (1993).

Butanol production from acid whey permeate in a two-stage fermentation system: Effect of the cell recycle ratio, F. Diez-Gonzalez and J.B. Hunter: Proceedings of the 1992 Food Industry Environmental Conference, Atlanta, GA 11/92.

Bioconversion of whey permeate to butanol, J. B. Hunter and F. Diez-Gonzalez, presented at 1991 Annual Meeting of American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Chicago, IL, 12/91 (ASAE Paper 91-6510).

Countercurrent Electrochromatography: The Focussing Window, C.B. Chidambara Raj and J.B. Hunter, Bioprocess Engineering 8, 121-128 (1992).

Analysis of Joule heating in electrophoretic processes, C. B. Chidambara Raj and J.B. Hunter, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 18(6), 843-852 (1991).

Ethanol production from salt whey using free and agarose-immobilized yeasts, G. Zayed and J.B. Hunter, Milchwissenschaft 46(1), 1-7 (1991).

A population balance model of enzymatic lysis of microbial cells, J.A. Asenjo and J.B. Hunter, in Proceedings of the 5th European Congress on Biotechnology, eds. C. Christiansen, L. Munck and J. Villadsen. Munksgaard, Copenhagen.Vol 1, pp. 267-270 (1991).

Enzyme processing of cabbage brine: effect on sauerkraut quality, A.T. Hirzel and J.B. Hunter, presented at 1990 Annual Meeting of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Chicago, IL 11/90 (Paper 286g).

Butanol production from acid whey permeate by fermentation, I. Ahmed, G. Zayed and J.B. Hunter, presented at 1990 Summer Meeting of American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Columbus, OH, 6/90 (ASAE Paper 90-6021).

Enzyme processing of cabbage brine for improved sauerkraut, A.T. Hirzel and J.B. Hunter, presented at 1990 Summer Meeting of American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Columbus, OH, 6/90 (ASAE Paper 90-6046).

Modeling and applications of downstream processing: A survey of innovative strategies, J.F. Hamel and J.B. Hunter, in Downstream processing and bioseparations: Recovery and purification of biological products, eds. J.F. Hamel, J.B. Hunter and S.K. Sikdar, 1990 (ACS Symposium Series 419, 1-37).

A population balance model of enzymatic lysis of microbial cells, J.B. Hunter and J.A. Asenjo, Biotech. Bioeng. 35, 31-42 (1990).