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Understanding the unseen world of microscopic living things that surround us has long been the driving force that has motivated Catherine Felice.

“I was always very interested in science,” says Felice. “I knew I wanted a career within the field of biology, and once I started taking more classes in undergrad, I was fascinated by microbiology. I think what drew me in was studying a whole other world of living things that are everywhere, yet you cannot see them without a microscope.” 

After attending Michigan State for her undergraduate studies, Felice wanted to prioritize research and building strong relationships with faculty as a graduate student.

“I had learned about Illinois Tech through someone who was working here,” says Felice. “I was told about the program and learned about all the opportunities you have with industry and government, as well as academia. It just really clicked.”

In particular, Felice highlighted the early opportunities for research, including with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and industry partners, as a key factor that made Illinois Tech stand out. After graduating with her master’s degree in food safety and technology in 2016, she stayed at Illinois Tech to earn her Ph.D. in Food Science and Nutrition in 2020.

“The huge benefit of Illinois Tech was having the one-on-one time, both for coursework and lab work, as well as research,” says Felice. “You got a lot of one-on-one time with your advisers, with their principal investigators, with professors—if you had a question, they're super available. I never really had that in my undergrad. I was just competing with a bunch of other students.”

Felice’s work as a graduate student garnered multiple awards, including first place in the 2017 European Federation of Food Science and Technology International Nonthermal Processing Conference, second place at Hiperbaric’s 2022 HPP Innovation Week’s Research Awards, and third place in the 2019 J. Mac Goepfert Developing Scientist Technical Competition.

When she wasn’t winning awards, Felice was able to spend time in Switzerland working as an intern with Nestle—the largest publicly held food company in the world.

“I got a lot of hands-on industry experience as well as [going to] a different country, which is great,” says Felice. “I met a ton of people who I still connect with at conferences and see them in the U.S. now.”

Felice’s work as a professional has largely focused on materials that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, work that builds upon her studies as a graduate student at Illinois Tech. Her doctoral dissertation developed guidelines for high-pressure processing that is designed to inactivate foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, salmonella, and listeria monocytogenes for juice manufacturers.

Most recently, her worked focused on coffee.

“Our group was working on a project related to cold brew coffee and whether these products inhibit outgrowth and germination of Clostridium botulinum spores, as well as looking into what characteristics or compounds of these products may be associated with our findings,” says Felice. “I am a huge coffee fan, so it is always fun and motivating to work with products I have an interest in.” 

Working on the leading edge of food science, Felice is often confronted with new and intriguing questions—questions that often don’t have an immediate solution.

And Felice emphasizes how gratifying it is to work in a way that stimulates a scientist’s inquisitive side.

“There are new questions that come about related to our research all the time, and I get to answer these questions through hands-on experimentation and problem solving,” says Felice. “Sometimes this requires a lot of time and energy, but it is always very rewarding, especially if interesting results come of it.”