By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia
University of Georgia food science and microbiology professor Joseph F. Frank
received the D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Research Oct. 3 in Athens,
Ga.
The award, which includes a framed certificate and $5,000, is given in honor of D.W.
Brooks, founder of Gold Kist Inc. and Cotton States Mutual Insurance Companies.
Brooks was an advisor on agriculture and trade issues to seven U.S. presidents.
Frank, a professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
grew up in rural Wisconsin, where he worked in his father’s cheese and butter
factory.
He has been a member of the UGA faculty since 1977 and now teaches food
microbiology courses in the department of food science and technology. From 1999
to 2001, he served as interim head of the department.
Frank’s research covers the microbiological safety of ready-to-eat foods and the
role of bacterial cultures in dairy product quality.
His research accomplishments include:
* Demonstrating the role of biofilm growth in the survival of Listeria monocytogenes
in food processing environments.
* Developing methods for directly observing viable pathogenic bacteria on food
tissues treated with antimicrobials.
* Discovering the ability of capsule-producing lactic acid bacteria to improve the
texture of low-fat dairy products.
As a result of his research on cultured dairy products, Frank received the Gist-
Brocades Award for Cheese and Cultured Dairy Products from the American Dairy
Science Association.
He is an active member of the ADSA, Institute of Food Technologists, American
Society for Microbiology and International Association for Food Protection and a
founding member of the Georgia Association for Food Protection. He was elected a
fellow of IAFP in 2005.
He serves as scientific editor for the Journal of Food Protection, the leading scientific
journal dedicated to food safety research.
Frank has advised 40 graduate students to the completion of their degrees.
Other D.W. Brooks honorees this year were Allan M.
Armitage, teaching; John P.
Beasley, extension; Sandra F.
McKinney, public service extension programs; and
Anna V.A.
Resurreccion, international agriculture.
