Carmen Moraru

Carmen Moraru is a Professor of Food Processing and Engineering in the Department of Food Science, and serves as senior associate dean of CALS, effective August 15, 2026. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of physical and engineering properties of foods, food/dairy processing and food safety engineering.

Research Focus

1. Studying and optimizing food processing methods capable of enhancing product safety, quality and shelf life. Current areas of research include: membrane separation for microbial removal and nonthermal concentration, light based treatments for microbial inactivation, high pressure processing (HPP) as a novel method of food structuring, and microwave vacuum drying.
2. Intermolecular interactions and structural transformations that occur during processing and their effect on the quality and functionality of foods, including plant based and dairy foods.
3. Effect of surface nanoscale topography on microbial attachment and development of microbial repellant surface.

Teaching Focus

My teaching focus is Food Processing and Engineering. My main teaching responsibility is the senior undergraduate class Food Processing (FDSC 4250). I am also a co-instructor and course coordinator for FD SC 6650 (Advanced Food and Bioprocessing Systems),and I serve as a guest lecturer for other courses per request.

Areas Of Expertise

• Dairy / Food Processing And Engineering
• Dairy And Food Processing
• Food Engineering
• Food Safety Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Physical And Rheological Properties Of Foods
• Unit Operations

Graduate Fields

• Food Science and Technology