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CIFAR Team
Core Team
 Sharon Shoemaker Executive Director |
Sharon Shoemaker, PhD, joined UC Davis in 1991 as founder and director of the California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research (CIFAR), where she brings together a wide variety of organizations and individuals, forming collaborations and project teams to conduct applied research, and organize conferences to disseminate state-of-the-art knowledge in emerging technology areas.
Sharon holds B.S. degree in Chemistry, M.S. degree in Food Science and Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Nutrition from Virginia Tech. After doing post-doctoral training in biochemical engineering, she worked for 15 years in the biotechnology industry before joining UC Davis. Her career research focus has been on biomass, especially studying cellulases and their applications; developing enzyme-to-mixed sugar processes and optimizing microbial strains for production of the value-added products, such as lactic acid and ethanol. Her industrial experience led to patents on cellulases, novel yeast strains to convert biomass-to-ethanol and novel bacterial strains to produce new forms of cellulose. She also led team efforts to improve enzyme systems to convert biomass-to-sugars and subsequent fermentation to chemicals, and to characterize and develop ligninase systems for use in the pulp and paper industry. Sharon is a signaturee in the original DOE Biomass Roadmap Compact, a DOE Industries of the Future valued partner in Agriculture, and invited lecturer at the Marcus Wallenburg Prize (Sweden, 1985). She has been a long-time contributor to strategic plans, technical programs and organizing committees for DOE, USDA, and American Chemical Society. She currently serves as a reviewer for the Department of Energy’s National Stage Gate Biomass Program. At the state and regional level, she is a member of the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research projects that developed ethanol processes using wood and rice straw feedstocks. Sharon served on the Yolo County Ethanol Task force, developed an ethanol marketing report and has authored many papers and patents. At the international level, she advises cellulosic bioethanol and bioproducts programs in China, India, Chile, Japan, Germany, Finland, Canada and UK. She serves on the editorial board of the ACS Journals, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and Biotechnology Progress and is the 2002 recipient of the Charles D. Scott Award for Biotechnology Research Applied to Production of Fuels and Chemicals.
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 Jatal Mannapperuma Research Scientist |
He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ceylon, his M.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Louisiana State University, and his Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from UC Davis. He has constructed several processing plants and worked in the industry for a long period of time. His past research areas include freezing and thawing of foods, modified atmosphere storage of fresh produce, and water management in process industries. He has published in refereed journals, written several book chapters, computer software packages, and obtained several patents.
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 Glen Lewis CIFAR Advisor |
Currently as Director of Energy & Indirect Procurement for Del Monte Foods, Glen Lewis has over 25 years of experience in all facets of operations management including production management, technical, laboratory and quality services, process reengineering, engineering, maintenance, supply chain management and energy management. Glen is a member of the American Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS) Board of Directors – Sacramento Chapter. He is certified in energy procurement and management by the Association of Energy Engineers and completed the US Department of Energy-Federal Energy Management Program. Glen is an Industrial Energy Efficiency Advisor for the California Energy Commission, a member of the California League of Food Processors Energy Committee, Food Industry Advisory Council for the California Institute of Food & Agricultural Research (CIFAR) at the University of California – Davis and is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee at the University of California – Davis Energy Efficiency Center. Glen leads a California food industry electricity demand response research initiative with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory-Demand Response Research Center. He is a member of the Business Advisory Council for production operations management undergraduate and graduate level curricula development at the School of Business, California State University-Chico where he is also a production operations and supply chain management guest lecturer. |
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 Kyria Boundy-Mills Curator, Contracting research utilizing the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection |
As the Curator, her duties include maintaining and cataloging the yeast culture collection, performing research, assisting industrial and academic clients with strain selection, and fundraising to support the collection. Kyria received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1992. She was a postdoctoral researcher at both the University of Minnesota and North Carolina State University, where her studies focused on areas of microbial ecology and molecular biology. She also served as the curator of the Wine Yeast and Bacteria Collection in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis before joining the staff at CIFAR.
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As a member of Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) located at Beijing, Mr. Li participates in a variety of activities related to food research, including both domestic and off-shore markets, utilizing an international cooperation model between academia and industry. His UC Davis project, Sustainability Practice of U.S Food System, promotes this objective between US and China. Mr. Li is currently doing a sponsored internship at Tragon (www.tragon.com), a CIFAR member company. Mr. Li is the holder of B.S at Food Engineering, Fuzhou University. |
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Pamela Tom has over 30 years of experience in conducting outreach programs with the University of California Cooperative Extension. Currently she is the California Sea Grant Seafood Extension Program Manager.
Pamela earned her B.S, California Secondary Teaching Credential, and M.S. at UC Davis. She is a member of several professional societies. She is editor of the Institute of Food Technologists International Division. She was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in 2000. She was honored as the "Technologist of the Biennium" in 2005 by the International Association of Food Inspectors. |
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Viet Tran has over 8 years of experience in professional web design. He has been employed by many businesses around the bay area and is currently the web developer and media specialist for the College of Agricultural and Environmental sciences. He is skilled at creating web graphics, logos, motion graphics, and video editing. Viet earned his B.A. at the University of California, Berkeley. |
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 Ammi Armarnath Executive Director |
Mr. Ammi Amarnath is the President & CEO of KSON International, Inc., a technical and business consultancy firm supporting the energy and process industries. KSON focuses on helping companies and organizations develop new and advanced programs in energy efficiency, renewable & distributed energy resources, and other “clean” technologies. In addition to clean technologies, the company provides consulting services in the nanotechnology space for process industries. Some of KSON’s customers include the Electric Power Research Institute (www.epri.com), Global Energy Partners LLC (www.gepllc.com), ITN Energy Systems, Inc. (www.itnes.com), Girvan Institute of Technology (www.girvan.org), Innovation Norway (www.invanor.no), Indian Oil Corporation (www.iocl.com), Aftek Infosys Ltd (www.aftek.com) and the Tenix Group (www.tenix.com). Prior to starting KSON, Ammi was the President & CEO of Advanced Material Sciences, Inc. (AMS), a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation. In this position, he was responsible for the development and growth of AMS’ innovative high-value materials development technology for clean energy, industrial catalysts, sensors and other industrial processes; the focus was on technology development, mergers and acquisitions, business alliances, strategic partnerships, and government programs. Prior to this, Ammi was the Manager of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Program within the Distributed Energy Resources Business Area at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in Palo Alto, California. Activities included the development and deployment of fuel cell and other energy storage technologies in the residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, and related areas. He was also involved in establishing strategic relationships between EPRI, the technology developers, and government organizations such as the DOE, the energy supply/service providers and the end-use customers they serve. At EPRI, Ammi also managed the Energy Efficiency Program for end-use applications, especially in industrial processes. He was responsible for the program’s activities in Chemicals, Petroleum, Food Processing, Textiles, Pulp & Paper, and Natural Gas areas. Management emphasis included the strategic development & deployment of advanced technologies for a) process energy efficiency improvements, b) quality and productivity enhancements, and c) pollution abatement for these industrial sectors. In this position, he established EPRI’s external Centers and Offices for these industries. A major focus of these Centers was to transfer new technologies to the energy supply/service providers and the process industry customers they serve. He also helped to build strategic relationships between the energy companies and the industrial customers. He also has experience in the process industry-engineering field, having worked as the Director of Business Development for engineering and construction companies in Houston and India. He has received several awards for the development and deployment of cutting-edge technologies. Ammi received his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Karnataka Regional Engineering College in India. He subsequently received a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Houston.
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 Allen Bah Founder of Silver Lake Intl. |
Mr. Bah is the founder and principal of Silver Lake Intl. The company provides international business development and advisory services for middle market companies, corporate & institution entities. Mr. Bah has more than 20 years business experience in management consulting, business incubation, commercial banking, international business development, venture capital and private equity investment. From 1986 to 2000, Mr. Bah was the Founder, and Executive Vice President of Wearne USA Inc. The firm invested in start-up and middle market companies with emphasis in High-Tech industries. In addition to investment, Mr. Bah was responsible for hands-on value added services to the portfolio companies. Three of the six portfolio companies achieved successful exit events including two IPO (total market capitalization in excess of U.S. $500 million); the third company was sold via third party acquisition for U.S. $ 120 million. Prior to Wearne USA Inc, Mr. Bah worked for Bank of America’s Strategic Planning Department and Corporate Banking Division respectively. Mr. Bah began his professional career at the Middle Market Advisory Service Group of KPMG Peat Marwick, where he worked with entrepreneurs from diverse industries. Mr. Bah holds B.A. and MBA degrees from UCLA and UC Irvine respectively. Mr. Bah is a Senior Advisor of CIFAR at UC Davis. CIFAR’s activities focus on the food, agriculture, alternative energy, health and wellness industries.
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