UH Professor Wins International Award

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Apr 12, 2002

Dr. James H. Moy, professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Mānoa was recently selected as the recipient of the 2002 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) International Award.

The award honors an IFT member who has made outstanding efforts to promote international exchange of ideas in the field of food technology, and whose work has led to such exchange of ideas to better international understanding in this field. The award also honors the individual‘s work in successfully transferring food technology to economically depressed areas in a developing or developed country.

According to Moy, a jury committee selects only one member from the IFT each year to receive this award. "I feel fortunate and honored to have been selected this year," he said. "It is an honor not only for me, but also for our college and the University of Hawaiʻi."

Dr. Mary Schmidl, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and 2000-2001 IFT president, nominated Moy for this award.

"Dr. Moy has dedicated his career to advancing food irradiation as a preservation technology and has generously shared his knowledge and experience in food irradiation with colleagues in many countries," Schmidl said. "Few people among our IFT membership have such a sustained record of dedication and achievement in an emerging, timely, and useful technology."

Moy holds a bachelor‘s and master‘s degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked for Esso Research and Engineering Company and the Lipton Company in New Jersey for three years before studying for his doctorate degree in food science at Rutgers University. He joined the University of Hawaiʻi faculty in 1965 and was promoted to professor in 1980. He has been a member of the IFT for 40 years, and is also a member of the National Education Association.

In 1993, Moy was elected a Fellow of the IFT, and in 1997, during the 90th Anniversary Celebration of the University of Hawaiʻi, he was named one of the "90 Fabulous Faculty Members" in recognition of his contributions to international education and cooperation in food irradiation. Since 1984, he has been a designated expert in food irradiation recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

For more than 35 years, Moy has dedicated his career to advancing food irradiation as a preservation technology and has generously shared his knowledge and experience in food irradiation with colleagues in many countries. In 1997, at the request of the UNDP and the Chinese government, Moy was invited to Beijing to formulate and write a proposal for the National Tsinghua University Science Park requesting funding to build a demonstration irradiator in Southwest China‘s severe poverty area to disinfest grain. Implementation of this project would save 96,000 tons of grain per year, which is worth $22 million, and would eliminate 90 tons per year of fumigants used at the grain storage facility. The project was approved and implemented in December 1997 and is expected to be completed in 2002, with the potential for technology transfer to other grain corridors in China and other developing countries.

The IFT International Award will be presented to Moy at the opening event of the IFT Annual Meeting held on Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 7 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.