Jiakai Lu

Jiakai Lu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on transport phenomena in food and biomaterial processing, integrating food process engineering, fluid mechanics, and applied mathematics to enhance process sustainability and improve food quality and safety. Key areas include interfacial dynamics in food dispersions, fouling layer mechanisms in dairy processing, and pharmacokinetic modeling of drug-bacteria interactions.

His work addresses critical challenges such as stabilizing food dispersions (foams, gels, emulsions) through surfactant and rheological studies, developing computational tools for fouling layer formation and removal in heat exchangers, and modeling microbiome impacts on drug metabolism using PBPK models. He has contributed to over a dozen peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals like Physics of Fluids, Scientific Reports, and AICHE Journal.

• Research Highlights:
  • Mechanistic understanding of interfacial dynamics in food dispersions
  • Fouling layer growth and removal via jet impingement and microbubble impact
  • PharmacoMicrobiomics of narrow therapeutic index drugs

Dr. Lu has received the 2010 First Place Food Engineering Division Paper Competition from the Institute of Food Technologists. His lab actively collaborates across disciplines to bridge fundamental science with industrial applications in food processing and biotechnology.