People

PI

Dr. Haotian Zheng

Associate Professor in Food Chemistry, Department of FOOD, BIOPROCESSING & NUTRITION SCIENCES

Editorial Board Member: Journal of Dairy Science

Journal Topics Board Member: Dairy by MDPI

 

  • Ph.D., Food Science, University of Otago, New Zealand (2014), Advisor: Dr. David Everett; Dr. Rafael Jimenez-Flores; Dr. Keith Gordon
  • M.S., Food Technology, Wageningen University, Netherlands (2010), Advisor: Dr. Harry Gruppen; Dr. Peter Wierenga
  • B.Eng., Food Science & Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, China (2007)
Postdoctoral researcher
  1. Dr. Qihui Wu (PhD obtained from University of Melbourne, Australia), research: protein chemistry, rheology, colloid and interface, digestion (Lab time 2024-onwards)
  2. Dr. Usman Amin (PhD obtained from NC State), research: food colloids, LAOS rheology, tangential flow filtration (MF/UF), spray drying (Lab time 2021-onwards)
PhD student:
  1. Evelyn Lin (BS & MS obtained from NC State), research keywords: protein gel, emulsion, LAOS rheology, interfacial characterizations (Lab time 2021-onwards)
  2. Tyler Jarrard (MS obtained from BYU), research keywords: tangential flow filtration (ultrafiltration & microfiltration), enzymology, milk protein ingredients, spray drying (Lab time 2023Fall–onwards)
  3. Zhoutai Teng (MS obtained from UMass-Amherst) (Lab time 2023-), research keywords: protein ingredient functionality
  4. Sophie Liang (MS obtained from Wageningen University, Netherlands), research keywords: liquid chromatography (for dairy ingredients)
  • Vacant (position available)
MS student
  • Vacant (position available)
Lab associate/intern:
  • Bailey Farabaugh, BS student, Chemical Engineering, NC State University
  • McKayla Highsmith, BS student (summer scholar), Chemistry, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
  • Daniel De La Torre, BS student (summer scholar), Nutrition Dietetics & Food Science, California State University, Northridge
  • Vacant (position available)

Lab Alumni
  1. Dr. Hanyu Shi (PhD, Class 2026), Lab time: 2022-2026
  2. Dr. Yijing Shao (PhD, Class 2025), Lab time: 2021-2025, after lab position: Mars Petcare
  3. Dr. Usman Amin (PhD, Class 2025), Lab time: 2021-2025, after lab position: Postdoc. researcher at NC State
  4. Haoyi An (MS, Class 2024), Lab time: 2022-2024, after lab position: Alamance Foods, Inc.
  5. Evelyn Lin (MS, Class 2023), Lab time: 2021-2023, after lab position: PhD student at NC State
  6. Andrew Christenson (MS, Class 2022), Lab time: 2020-2022, after lab position: VitaKey Inc.
  7. Dr. Avinash Patel (Postdoc. Feb.2021 – Jan.2022)
  8. Dr. Min Feng (visiting scholar from Chongqing Technology and Business University, China): 2022-2023
  9. Kailee Adomaites [Sustainable Protein Undergraduate Research Scholar (SPURS), The Bezos Center for Sustainable Proteins, 2025 summer]
  10. Lottie Pate (Undergraduate intern, 2024), after lab position: Butterball
  11. Nicolas Cheng (2022 summer intern from UC Davis; after lab position: Cornell Grad school)
  12. Bhavana Uppili (intern, 2020 summer)
  13. Nikhilesh Gore (lab assistant, 2020-2021)
  14. Jonathan Strum (lab assistant, 2020-2021)
  15. Chloe Brubaker (intern 2021 summer)
  16. Michelle Liang (intern 2021 summer)
  17. Zuri Kornegay (intern 2021 summer)
  18. Yueyue Jiang (2022 summer intern)
  19. Sam Wang (2022-2023 intern; after lab position: PhD student at Virginia Tech

Zheng Lab 2026

Zheng Lab 2025

Zheng Lab 2024

2024 Summer, Lab Barbeque at Raleigh, NC

Zheng Lab 2022

2022 Nov. Lab Barbeque at Jordan Lake, Raleigh, NC

Zheng Lab 2021

     

Graduate students at Zheng Lab: Usman Amin (PhD student), Yijing Shao (PhD student), Evelyn Lin (MS student), Andrew Christenson (MS student)