He received his B.S. degree of Food Science &Technology from Oregon State Universityin 1993, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology with a minor in Statisticsfrom The University of Tennesseein 1996 and 2000, respectively. He has conducted research on food chemistry and food safety areas in animal based food products such as developing value-added products using goat meat as a functional ingredient and pre-harvest intervention strategies to reduce pathogen shedding in meat goats; developing soft and hard goat milk cheeses to enhance the profitability in dairy goat industries and small farmers in the U.S.; and, modifying fatty acid composition of animal based food products by developing and feeding with protective oil-protein supplements for ruminants with food by-products that protect oil- and water-soluble components against ruminalbiohydrogenation.