UCD Professors Da-Wen Sun and Colm O’Donnell, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, have been included on the 2017 Highly Cited Researchers list, compiled by Clarivate Analytics.
This is the third time that both Professor Sun and Professor O’Donnell have been included on the list.
The list identifies journal publications’ authors – as determined by their fellow researchers – whose research has had significant global impact within their respective fields of study.
The list is a citation analysis of researchers who are among the top 1% most cited for their year of publication in one of 21 main subject fields.
Professor Sun’s work is standard reference material for researchers in the areas of computer vision, computational fluid dynamics modelling and vacuum cooling.
He has 1,099 papers in the Web of Science of which 121 have been cited more than 100 times (Web of Science h-index = 84, SCOPUS h-index = 89). Papers in the Web of Science do not exclusively include papers published in peer-reviewed journals and can include seminar papers and other studies.
Recent work by Professor Sun has used non-destructive and non-invasive hyperspectral imaging to determine quality and safety in foods. This allows greater certainty over standards in the food production process compared to visual inspection practices that are still common.
Hyperspectral imaging takes images of food specimens at different wavelength bands at a scale of around ten nanometres (1 nm = one billionth of a metre).
Professor Sun is an international authority in food engineering research and education. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2010 and was selected as a member of Academia Europaea (Academy of Europe) in 2011. He was awarded fellowships of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology in 2012 and the International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering in 2016.
He is editor of the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology, series editor of Contemporary Food Engineering and former editor of Journal of Food Engineering.
Colm O’Donnell is Professor of Biosystems and Food Engineering and Head of the UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering.
He leads a research team working on a range of Process Analytical Technology and Non-Thermal Processing projects funded by EU Framework, the Irish Research Council, the Food Institutional Research Measure, Enterprise Ireland and industry.
His primary research focus is on process analytical technology for food and bioproducts characterisation and novel food processing technologies.
His areas of expertise include hyperspectral imaging and Near Infra-red and Mid Infra-red spectroscopy – the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation.
He was appointed Editor of the International Journal of Food Properties and Associate Editor of Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers. He is Chair of the International Federation for Process Analysis & Control (IFPAC) Dairy Processing Technical Committee.
He is a Principal Investigator and Head of the Process Quality and Safety by Design Pillar in the €25 million Enterprise Ireland/industry funded Dairy Processing Technology Centre. He is also Head of the Food Quality and Processing Pillar in the UCD Institute of Food and Health.
In the 2017 Clarivate Analytics edition, about 3,000 researchers who represent some of world’s leading scientific minds earned the distinction of Highly Cited Researcher.
By: Jamie Deasy, digital journalist, UCD University Relations
