His first academic position was as assistant professor at the University of Illinois in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition. After five years, he moved to California's Central Coast, to join the faculty of the Dairy Science Department and be part of the Dairy Products Technology Center (DPTC) team.

When asked why he decided to make the move to Cal Poly, Jimenez responded, "I am devoted to education and research in the area of dairy science and technology. At the time, there was growing interest and support in the areas of research that are of great importance to the dairy industry, such as protein and lipid characterization and biological activity (related to human health), the effects processing has on the quality and structure of dairy foods, and food safety from the microbial point of view. The DPTC was in the No. 1 milk-producing state, and the center had great support for graduate students we were willing to train in the different areas of research needed in the industry. The California Dairy Research Foundation had its beginning when I was still a doctoral student at UC Davis, and by the time I joined DPTC, this organization was very useful in helping us give added value to milk through knowledge and our students. So, looking at that opportunity, I left an 'R1' university (a university with very high research activity) to join the DPTC at Cal Poly."

The DPTC offers the environment to maintain a close relationship with a very wide breath of stakeholders in the dairy industry. From farmers (who were very supportive of investment on research that demonstrated the value of milk), to processors and traders of milk and dairy products. The center also offers great collaborations among the members of the center. "It gave me an opportunity to collaborate across campus with scientists for the benefit of educating graduate students interested in dairy foods."

A source of pride for Jiménez has always been his students. In addition to his many master's students, he has had many more undergraduate students working with him on his research, and all of them from different academic backgrounds. Along with those students, the DPTC has had a number of doctoral students come and go. "Even though we do not have a doctoral program, the environment at the center and its wealth of knowledge has brought many doctoral students here to work on their research and finish their doctoral program at their home university," Jiménez said. " I am proud to have had seven or eight such students from different universities in the U.S. and around the world. That legacy also brings me pride because having such high caliber students working side by side with our Cal Poly undergraduate and graduate students, has made a phenomenal learning environment for the students in the DPTC."

The DPTC has been able to share the resources it has directed to dairy products, and in doing so, many faculty share their own unique knowledge and advanced instrumentation. An example Jiménez shared was the use of optical traps (also known as Laser Tweezers). "In collaboration with the Physics and Chemistry departments at Cal Poly, we studied different binding properties of dairy probiotic bacteria," Jiménez said. "That project was of great value to the dairy industry in understanding more about the bacteria in yogurts, a sector that is now growing so fast. Most importantly, it got many brilliant students involved in dairy issues. These brilliant and young minds would never have heard of lactic acid bacteria or its usefulness in dairy foods had it not been for this project, conceived and developed at the DPTC with my team's coordination and central role."

The fact that the DPTC is research oriented is the epitome of Cal Poly's Learn by Doing approach. While sometimes this is taken to mean there are prescribed laboratory-related activities with many of the assigned courses, the true Learn by Doing spirit in the DPTC is allowing students to actually develop research concepts and contribute to the production of data, which is very relevant to the dairy industry. This is only possible with research support.

There has been increasing emphasis on the "teacher/scholar" model for Cal Poly's faculty. The researchers at the DPTC have been actively supporting this model at Cal Poly. What it means is that scholarly activities are fundamental to the formation and maintenance of good teachers. The DPTC is a cradle of scholarly activity with plenty of short courses that help the industry directly by training their personnel on the latest concepts of sanitation, cheese technology, and other important subjects. Having a number of graduate students has required the center to keep up with the latest concepts in all the different areas of research. "This scholar concept has culminated in my ability to be first section editor and now senior editor of the dairy foods section of the Journal of Dairy Science. This honor and service to the American Dairy Science Association benefits the dairy industry directly -- the farmers as well as the processors," Jiménez said.

"The DPTC has an intrinsic value to the dairy farmers of California because they were the original investors in the concept and the physical placement of the center," Jiménez said. Most importantly, we have a concept and we carry out our activities in the center in a precompetitive and thoroughly academic orientation."

Whey protein concentrates (WPC) are widely used in bakery applications for browning, water binding, and imparting desired textural attributes, but another benefit of WPC is simply increasing the  nutritional value of the food formulation without compromising flavor. As a complete protein, the WPC contributes all of the essential amino acids, as well as potentially increasing satiety, which may appeal to consumers who are dieting, or simply searching for alternative protein sources (Sindayikengera & Wen-shui, 2006). Examples of whey protein used in retail baked goods include P28 High Protein Bread, Mediterranean Snacks Hummuz Crisps, and Sesmark Rice Thins. 

possibilities for higher-protein beverages beyond the vanilla and chocolate-flavored meal replacements. A clean flavor profile and solubility at an acidic pH make WPC a prime candidate for other cocktail mixers (Beecher et al, 2008). These mixers may appeal to a health-conscious population of young adults that regularly consumer alcoholic beverages. Although high-protein cocktail mixers are not yet available on the market, a recent announcement from Griffith University's Health Institute regarding beer with hydrating electrolytes suggests that more attention is currently on improving the nutrition of alcoholic beverages.   

References

Beecher, J. W., Drake, M. A., Luck, P. J., & Foegeding, E. A. (2008). Factors Regulating Astringency of Whey Protein Beverages. J. Dairy Science, 2553-2560.

Sindayikengera, S., & Wen-shui, X. (2006). Nutritional evaluation of caseins and whey proteins and their hydrolysates from Protamex. Journal of Zhejiang University , Vol 7, Issue 2, pp 90-98.