Dr. Helene Hopfer is the Rasmussen Career Development Professor and Assistant Professor of Food Science at Penn State where her research group studies product- and human-inherent factors that affect perception. Her research focuses on the human-food interface, and how food composition and food structure affect human perception and food choice, particularly, aroma and flavor. Combining human sensory and consumer science with analytical chemistry, materials science, and multivariate statistics, her recent and ongoing projects fall into three broad areas, (1) Sensory Mixture Effects for Improving Foods, (2) Linking Human Perception to Plant Genetics, and (3) Differences in Food Quality Perception.   Dr. Hopfer has degrees in polymer science & engineering, and chemistry, and studied under Hildegarde Heymann at UC Davis as a postdoc. She is also the program chair of Penn State’s graduate certificate in Sensory & Consumer Science, a fully online 12-credit degree program developed for working individuals to address the shortage of skilled sensory & consumer science professionals.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helene-hopfer-98909744/   To learn more about Aigora, please visit www.aigora.com