Dr Luke Fullard of School of Fundamental Sciences Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Milk powder can undergo a complexity of chemical reactions, all influenced by oxygen, moisture and temperature. Yet, even small changes in milk powder lead to noticeable changes in its flavour. When milk powder is shipped around the world, it is subjected to diverse environmental conditions for prolonged periods of time. We discuss how mathematical modelling sheds light on what can be done to preserve its flavor under these conditions.

Biography:

Since completing my PhD in the mathematical modelling of hydrothermal eruptions in 2011, I have worked on various projects and I have modelled a variety of processes including the flow of food through the intestines, granular mixing and discharge from a silo, predicting shelf life of milk powders, rheology of milk products, open channel flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids as well as a number of others.
I spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the Riddet Institute before taking up a 2.5 year position lecturing in the mathematics department. I was then awarded a Royal Society of New Zealand Postdoctoral Fellowship for a period of two years.
In 2017 I was awarded a Marsden Fast Start for a period of three years to investigate continuum models of granular mixtures. I am also working with the researchers in the School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, to model volcanic flow processes, and I am heavily involved in the promotion of industrial mathematics through the MINZ annual study group www.minz.org.nz