GrainGenes

Dr. George L. Lookhart retired 30 September, 2004 after a 28-year career with USDA-ARS at the Grain Marketing and Production Research Center (GMPRC) as a Research Chemist in the Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit (GQSRU). He received his Bachelors degree majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics from University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1968 and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wyoming in 1973. He was a postdoctoral intern at the University of Kentucky in 1973-74 doing research on neutron activation analysis of lunar materials and teaching both freshman and physical chemistry. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri in 1974-76 doing research on dehydration mechanisms of carbohydrates. Dr. Lookhart joined USDA-ARS at the GMPRC as a Research Chemist in the GQSRU in autumn 1976 and began working on developing analytical methods for cereal components. Dr. Lookhart is a world-renown cereal protein chemist who has devoted his career to methodology development in order to: 1) quickly analyze protein fractions in order to quickly identify cultivars from gliadin patterns and predict quality parameters in early generation breeding lines; 2) elucidate the relationship of individual protein fractions to grain quality end-use quality parameters; 3) understand the effect of phenotypic (environment) interactions with genotype on end-use quality; and 4) develop lab-on-a-chip technology for the identification and quality prediction of cereal grains.

Dr. Lookhart received numerous honors and awards. Some include: Fellow of AACC; Fellow of AAAS; the 19th Donald Fox Lecturer Alumni Award (University of Nebraska, Kearney, NE); the G. Malcolm Trout Visiting Scholar (Michigan State University, Lansing, MI); the John C. Halverson Award (Milling and Baking Division of AACC); and held numerous offices in the AACC International organization, including Director of AACC Board of Directors (Chairman: 2005-2006) and elected President (2004-2005). Dr. Lookhart has nearly 150 publications, including 13 book chapters, two books, and 17 proceedings. In addition, he has authored 37 technical reports and popular articles, made 70 invited presentations and published about 200 abstracts. He has been awarded numerous grants by State and National funding agencies. He is a member of several professional and honorary societies and received numerous USDA-ARS awards.

Dr. Lookhart is currently a full professor and a member of the Graduate Faculty at Kansas State University. He has produced many Ph.D. and M.S. students as co-major professor. He served on the editorial board of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) as Associate Editor of Cereal Chemistry (1982-86), as the Technical Program Chair of the 83rd AACC National Meeting (1998-99), symposium organizer and lecturer, co-chair of the International Association for Cereal Science & Technology (ICC) Study Group on the Use of Electrophoresis to Identify Cereals, and Chair of the HWW Technical Board of the Wheat Quality Council. These accomplishments make Dr. Lookhart widely recognized both nationally and internationally as a significant contributor to all aspects of cereal protein chemistry, and to instrumental analytical chemistry in particular.