Cathy Davies
B.S., King’s College, London University, UK (Honors) – Nutrition
Ph.D., Leeds University – Food Science
Dr. Davies joined the DelVal faculty in August 2011 after teaching three years at Gloucester County Community College and eight years at The University of Delaware.
At DelVal, she teaches food science courses including: Sanitation Management, Food Product Development and Intro to Nutrition.
In the past, she has taught courses including: Principles of Food Science, General Chemistry, Food for Thought and Food Deterioration Modeling. She also brings valuable experience mentoring student researchers at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
She worked with students researching ways to control a reaction that causes food to go brown when it is heated. She said controlling reactions is more important in large-scale baking than it is when one person bakes a cake.
Some of her personal research looked at flaxseed stability during baking. She wanted to monitor its nutritional quality when baked in a muffin versus when it is added uncooked to breakfast cereal.
At Gloucester Community College she played a major role in starting the associate’s degree program in food science. She also served as coordinator of that program.
She came to DelVal because of the strong academic programs.
“You’ve got a great food science program here,” said Dr. Davies.
Dr. Davies enjoys interacting with students and helping them meet challenges.
“(My favorite part of being an educator is) being with students when they’ve understood something they’ve been struggling with,” said Dr. Davies. “And just generally watching them grow as learners and as leaders.”
Dr. Davies is eager to get involved outside of the classroom to help students develop into leaders.
She volunteered to advise DelVal’s chapter of Sigma Alpha, a sorority that promotes scholarship, leadership and service.
When she is not teaching at DelVal, Dr. Davies, who is also a fiber artist, enjoys knitting, spinning and singing in a choir.
She also does community education work visiting middle and high schools to teach students about food science and consumer studies.
Dr. Davies is a member of The Institutes of Food Technologists, and The American Chemical Society.
“It’s been great,” said Dr. Davies of her experience at the college so far. “I think the campus is very pretty and open. I find my colleagues are very friendly and helpful and the students are enthusiastic to learn.”
Dr. Davies is excited to be joining the college at a time when so much positive change is on the horizon.
“The college is growing and is going places,” said Dr. Davies. “That fact that it has plans for the future, that’s exciting and that will attract students who are keen to learn.”
Dr. Davies discussing her research:
I am a food chemist who is interested in reactions that occur in food during processing and storage.
I am particularly interested in the kinetics of the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for flavor and color formation through the reaction of reducing sugars (glucose) and amino acids.
The Maillard reaction is one of the non-enzymatic browning reactions and is responsible for the color of toast and baked products, the aroma of meat and the loss of vitamins B1 and C.
It is also indicated in the formation of diabetes complications such as nerve and retina damage and the increased risk of heart disease. My Ph.D. thesis studied the effect of sulfites on vitamin C stability. Vitamin C degradation is another non-enzymatic browning reaction and is particularly important in dried fruit such as apricots and in orange juice.
I am also interested in the physiochemical properties of food ingredients. For example, how starch behaves to cause bread to stale and how flaxseed meal can be used as an egg replacer and shelf-life extender.