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Even as a young child, Allie Marcus (M.S. FST 1st Year) has always known that she has a love for all things food.

“My mom used to joke that I would get in the car, and I would ask what’s for dinner. It would be my constant question every single time we got in the car,” says Allie. “The one thing that stayed consistent throughout everything was my love of food.”

Though she worked in restaurants as an undergraduate student, she ultimately decided a career in restaurants wasn’t for her. Instead, she began her career at a financial technology company after earning a bachelor’s degree was in finance and information systems.

Over the next few years, though, something just didn’t feel right. While searching for a way to get back into working with food, she started looking into the field of food science.

“It all just comes down to my love of food and the importance that I think food plays in everybody’s life,” says Allie. “I was looking for a way to combine my love of food and the ‘why’ behind food. I started talking to a bunch of people in all different areas of food science, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is really cool.’ But with my background, I can’t go work in food science. I didn’t have any form of science background, so I had to go back to school.”

Wanting to stay in ��������, Allie found Illinois Tech’s M.S. in Food Safety and Technology. She was initially worried about her lack of a scientific background, but Department of Food Science and Nutrition Chair Britt Burton-Freeman assured her that she could succeed in the program.

After taking her first course in summer 2024, Allie was hooked. She then made the decision to dive headfirst into the program.

“If I was going to quit my job and go back to school, I had to make sure that I liked what I was doing,” she says. “I thought [the program] was so cool. There were different labs where we made sourdough, where we made sauerkraut, where we made cottage cheese, where we made yogurt. I thought it was really interesting.” 

Now in the second semester of her master’s program, Allie is convinced she’s made the right decision to change careers. The one-on-one access to faculty at Illinois Tech has made the transition from finance to food science easier.

“All of my professors are really open to any questions I have. I’m always emailing them questions or going to their office hours,” says Allie. “Their availability and their want to help and answer any questions has been the most helpful to me.”

Allie is excited for an internship that she’s taking part in this summer working in the industry, where she looks forward to getting her feet wet and become more familiar with how the world of food science works.

She’s ultimately hoping to build her career in research and development, but she’s making sure to keep an open mind.

“I don’t want to close myself off to anything,” she says. “I think it’s really cool how the way we eat is changing. I have friends with dietary restrictions—gluten-free, for example. A while back, there were no gluten-free things on the shelves at all. Now, you’re seeing so many different gluten-free products on the shelf. R&D helps make food more accessible.”