Soils, Plants, & Consumers Network

You're invited!

You're invited to attend the Soils, Plants, and Consumers Network (SPCN) Summer Research Expo on Friday, July 17, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in 252 Erickson Food Science Building. The Expo is being held in collaboration with the USDA-funded Training of Future Professionals along the Human-Food Interface through Research and Experiential Learning for Undergraduates Summer REEU Program.

The Expo will feature research presentations by SPCN graduate student trainees, poster presentations by the Human-Food Interface REEU students, and a keynote presentation titled From Vines to Wine & the Chemistry in Between by Dr. Misha Kwasniewski, an associate research professor in the Department of Food Science at Penn State.

This Expo will showcase some of the research accomplishments of the trainees and faculty in the SPCN and will provide an opportunity to interaction with visiting summer undergrads, Penn State students, and Penn State faculty who have a shared interest in the relationship between plants and humans.

Summary

The relationship between plants and human health is governed by many factors, including plant genetics, environment, and production/processing steps, as well as consumer genetics, diet, and cultural practices. There is a dearth of interdisciplinary studies on the interactions of these factors. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is an underdeveloped pipeline of researchers to approach the topic of plants and human health in a comprehensive manner. The Soils, Plants, and Consumers Network (SPCN) addresses this need and brings together innovative researchers with combined expertise in food science, sensory science, plant science, soil science, ethnobotany, metabolomics, and toxicology. The SPCN has ongoing collaborative research projects on food and medicinal plants, including cacao, cloves, tea, grapes, hops, American ginseng, and goldenseal. The goal of the SPCN is to apply a novel systems-based approach to study the relationship between plants and consumers in order to support agriculture and improve public health, and to train the next generation of scientists to lead this area of research.

Mission

1. To generate new knowledge on the relationship between plants and human health and the key factors that mediate this relationship.
2. To develop an interdisciplinary approach to train the next generation of scientists to explore the relationship between soils, plants, and consumers in a holistic, systems-based approach.
3. To support growers and processors of food and medicinal plants by providing high-quality scientific data on the factors that govern plant productivity and quality.

Agenda

• 8:00 Check-in & Continental Breakfast
• 8:45 Welcome
• 9:00 SPCN Trainee Oral Research Presentations
• 10:00 Keynote Presentations
• 11:00 Human-Food Interface REEU Student Poster Session

Register by 7/10/26

This event is free, but registration is requested by July 10, 2026. Send an email to jdl134@psu.edu to register.

Contact

  Josh Lambert
  jdl134@psu.edu