Dr. Christopher R. Loss is the Louis Pasteur Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Food Science Department at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His career has focused on the nexus of food science and culinary arts. Dr. Loss attended the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hudson Valley, NY, and has worked in restaurants in New York and New Orleans. He received his B.S. in Food Science from Cornell and worked in R&D at the International Food Network in Ithaca, NY. His Ph.D., from Cornell’s Food Science Department, focused on pasteurization and the microbial ecology of milk.
After graduate school, Dr. Loss served as the Director of Academic Research and was a Professor of Culinary Science at the CIA, where he designed, developed, and taught in the innovative Bachelor of Culinary Science program with a team of chefs and scientists. At the CIA, he also developed a research program for chef faculty and students that helped foster a deeper understanding of the culinary medium, providing context for the cross-pollination of ideas between scientists and chefs.
At Cornell, Dr. Loss teaches Food Microbiology, Food Analysis, Culinary Science, and the Science and Technology of Ice Cream. His research focuses on food safety, flavor quality and perception, and a science-based understanding of culinary techniques. Dr. Loss’s goal is to foster transdisciplinary perspectives on food systems to optimize safety, enhance quality, and advance the product development process.
