Rafael Jimenez-Flores, Ph.D.
Phone: (805) 756-6103
Email: rjimenez@calpoly.edu
Office: Dairy Products Technology Center - Bldg# 18A, Rm#100C
Born in Mexico City, I finished my B. S. degree from La Salle University with a major in Chemistry. I received my M. S. degree from Cornell University in Food Science where I worked with Frank Kosikowski. The focus of my work at Cornell was in Dairy Technology, working with milk ultrafiltration and its application to make protein concentrates. I got my Ph. D. at UC-Davis, working with Tom Richardson in the area of Agricultural Chemistry. It is there where I was trained in Molecular Biology and worked on applications of protein biochemistry. The topic of my work was cloning and production of milk proteins, and my studies focused on understanding the relationship between chemical structure and function. Since then, my main interest academically has been the chemistry of milk proteins, their structure, function and interaction with other components. I was a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois from 1990 to 1995. I was fortunate to collaborate there with the group of Dr. Matt Wheeler, and along with my research group, was successful in producing transgenic mice that produced milk containing bovine milk proteins. I joined Cal Poly in 1995 working at the Dairy Science Department, in the Dairy Products Technology Center.
Education
1981 - B.S., University of La Salle, Mexico City
1984 - M.S., Cornell University
1989 - Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Awards/Recognitions
Co-Organizer of ADSA Symposium: Modern Approaches to Casein Micelle Structure: An Ancient Question.
Chair of Committee for Marshall-Rhone Poulenc International Dairy Science Award. 1996-1997.
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Dairy Science.
Chair of Committee for Nomenclature of Milk Proteins and Enzymes, ADSA.
Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Food Biochemistry.
Chair of Graduate Student Research Competition ADSA, 1993-1995.
AZ Outstanding Instructor 1994-1995. College of Agriculture, UIUC.
Elected member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Dairy Science.
Minorities in Agriculture Advisor 1992 UIUC, 1996 Cal Poly.
Research Apprentice Program Advisor 1990-1994
Current Courses
DSCI 581 Graduate Seminar in Dairy Science (1-3)