Alumni Association Home > Past Issues > 2006 > March-April 2006	Print View

The popular half-day public event sponsored by the alumni societies of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and the College of Natural Resources Is an opportunity to learn from University faculty how research and science affect everyday life. It includes a selection of breakout sessions, a keynote address, and lunch.

The keynote address, by Theodore Labuza, promises to be particularly useful for anyone who eats. Labuza, a Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Food Science and award-winning food technologist, will talk about recent developments in food technology.

Over the past several years we have had a number of food crises, Labuza says. The Chinese word for crisis is made up of two symbols: one for opportunity and one for danger. As these crises have come about, researchers and industry have responded dramatically.

He offers two examples: the discovery that acryliamide, a compound produced during high temperature frying and baking, is a carcinogen; and the dangers of trans fat, a kind of fat created during hydrogenation, a process that turns liquid oils into solids. Trans fats are known to increase the levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood, thus raising the risk for heart attack.

Labuza will discuss efforts under way at the University and in private industry to address these and other food crises. Cargill, for instance, has developed a way to hydrogenate oils without converting them to trans fats.

Labuza will also share some thoughts on how consumers can deal with the problem of what he calls dueling nutrition studies: Who do you believe and when do you believe it?

Other topics U faculty will address include:

- How to kill a tree: the dos and don'ts of protecting urban trees.

- Curbside appeal: how adding plants to your property can enhance the architectural style of your house.

- Cutting global warming: the long-term implications of your favorite energy-saving schemes.

- The science of invasion and the multicolored Asian lady beetle.

- Keeping fish on the end of your line: an overview of the distribution of Minnesota fish communities.

Classes Without Quizzes has drawn more than 600 participants since it began in 2002. The 2006 event takes place on Saturday, April 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Borlaug Hall on the St. Paul campus. Cost for UMAA members is $15. Lunch will be available for $10. For more information, visit www.coafes.umn.edu/cwq or call 612-624-1745.