At UVM's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences 2008 Alumni and Friends Event, May 3, at the campus Davis Center, two of the College's alumni, Nancy E. Wood of Charlotte, Vermont and Robert F. Roberts of State College, Pennsylvania received awards for their distinction. Dean Rachel Johnson's remarks:

CALS Outstanding Alumni Award commends alumni who achieve excellence in their professional fields, follow the land-grant ethic, contribute to their communities, states or nations and/or demonstrate support or service to the College or the University. Robert F. Roberts '84, is an associate professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, where he joined the faculty in 1991, Bob's courses run the gamut from "chemical methods of food analysis" to "food facts and fads." His research focuses on control of foodborne pathogens with preservatives of microbiological origins and using probiotic bacteria in dairy foods. And he's working on understanding how processing affects the structure and sensory attributes of ice cream. "His work provided critical support for the Interantional Ice Cream Association's pending petition with the FDA to change ice cream regulations to permit more flexibility with ingredient use," noted Cary Frye '82 (a 2006 Outstanding Alum Award winner), who nominated Bob for this award. "Members in the dairy industry have praised Dr. Robert's ability to make complex scientific matters easy to understand and relative to practical dairy processing," Cary added in her nomination of Bob for this award. Before coming to Penn. State, he received his Ph.D in food science from the University of Minnesota and his M.S. in dairy science from South Dakota State University. But he received his bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Vermont. "Bob Roberts never hesitates to let people know his Vermont origin or his pride in being a graduate of the University of Vermont," said former head of Penn State's food science department, Phillip Keeney. "Dr. Roberts is in mid-career and his future is bright." Bob modernized the courses he inherited and developed new courses such as Ice Cream 101 and Introduction to Frozen Desserts. He attracts students from around the world. Truly this is emblematic of the land grant tradition. When all is said and done, perhaps none of these distinguished accomplishments may turn out to be as enduring as this: Robert Roberts is the director of the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, that thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs have taken, most notably a couple of young guys back in 1977 just after they moved to Vermont. It's the course that launched Ben & Jerry's Homemade. Steve Mease photo