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2015 OARDC Distinguished

Senior Faculty Research Award

Photo by Ken Chamberlain

Steve Schwartz
Steve Schwartz is a professor
in the Department of Food
Science and Technology, based
on the Columbus campus. He is
recognized for his research into
the role of dietary phytochemicals
and functional foods in health,
particularly cancer prevention. He
joined OARDC in 1996 as Carl E.
Haas Endowed Professor of Food
Science and Technology and has
also been a faculty member in the
Interdisciplinary PhD Program in
Nutrition since 1997.
Particularly noteworthy is Schwartzs
work in the area of carotenoids,
which have been shown to play a
role in the prevention of several
types of cancer. He has demonstrated that consuming vegetables with lipids
enhances the absorption of carotenoids and bioconversion of pro-vitamin A betacarotene. Schwartzs analytical methods to separate and quantify carotenoid
isomers are now used by researchers worldwide. Working with David Francis
in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, he discovered that unique
varieties of tomatoes developed at OARDC were significant sources of provitamin A and highly bioavailable lycopene.
Schwartz is now taking his research to a new level, expanding into the
groundbreaking field of food and nutritional metabolomics. He was recently
selected to lead an OSU Discovery Theme Initiative on this topic, which will make
Ohio State one of only a handful of institutions in the United States with this
expertise.

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2015 oardc annual research conference

Additionally, Schwartz is the director or co-director of four major centers: the


Center for Advanced Functional Foods Research and Entrepreneurship (CAFFRE),
the Center for Advanced Processing and Packaging Studies (CAPPS, a National
Science Foundation Industry University Cooperative Research Center), the Food
Innovation Center (FIC), and the Nutrient and Phytochemical Analytic Shared
Resource (NPASR, part of Ohio States Comprehensive Cancer Center).
Since joining Ohio State, Schwartz has generated more than $22 million in
research funding as principal investigator or co-PI. He has also published more
than 170 peer-reviewed scientific papers (230 over his entire career), generated
11 patents or invention disclosures, and delivered 125 invited presentations.
Schwartz is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). He has received
numerous research awards from Sigma Xi and IFT, including the Gilbert A.
Laveille Lectureship and Award for outstanding research at the interface of food
science and nutritionpresented by the American Society for Nutrition and IFT.
The OARDC Distinguished Senior Faculty Research Award consists of a plaque
and $1,000 for Schwartz and $3,000 added to the operating expense account of
his OARDC research program for one year.

Selection committee: Anne Dorrance (chair), Charles Goebel, Michelle Jones, Gireesh
Rajashekara

2015 oardc annual research conference

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