Dr. Dirk E. Maier is a Professor and Post-Harvest Engineer in the departments of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering and Food Science & Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. He is responsible for leading an internationally recognized research and outreach program in post-harvest engineering and technology applied to global food security and nutrition. He serves as Director of the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss & Food Waste Reduction which aims to achieve sustained, scalable implementation of appropriate methods to preserve, process, package, and transport nutritious foods. His current graduate students are from the U.S., Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, and the Philippines.

Dr. Wendy S. White is an Associate Professor and the Dr. Thelma McMillan Endowed Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. Her primary interest is the role of bioactives and fat‐soluble vitamins in human health, with particular emphasis on carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamins A, E, and K. She has directed multiple studies for the HarvestPlus global biofortification program, including the first human study of the bioavailability and vitamin A equivalence of the provitamin A carotenoids in biofortified maize, and the first study of beta‐carotene retention during traditional African household processing of the maize.

Dr. Cassie Welch McGee is the Program Manager for the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss and Food Waste at Iowa State University. She was integral to the development of the Consortium and oversees its day-to-day operations. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Idaho in animal physiology and was also a FASS/AAAS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow where she worked with the legislative branch of the United States government. Previously, she was the Program Manager for the Global Food Security Consortium that was housed at Iowa State University.

Dr. Tom Brumm is the Charles E. and Mary B. Sukup Professor in Food Security at Iowa State University and Associate Director for the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. Dr. Brumm's research goals are: (1) understanding and implementing improvements in post-harvest systems in low-income countries to help ensure food security, especially in reducing post-harvest losses; (2) examining biorefinery systems, identifying and eliminating inefficiencies, especially for biomass storage; and (3) understanding and assessing how teaching pedagogies affect student learning.

Kyle Poorman is the Communication and Policy Manager for the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction. He is charged with both internal and external communications for the Consortium. Previously he worked to build up the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture at FAO in Rome. He was also employed by the US Geological Survey (US Department of the Interior) working on natural resource and land management policies and planning for the human dimensions of climate change. Kyle earned his graduate degrees from Yale University and he is an undergrad alum of Iowa State.

Hory Chikez is a second year PhD student at Iowa State University in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. In his research, he is analyzing data on post-harvest loss measurements to better understand the impacts various agricultural practices, used by smallholder farmers, have on post-harvest loss in sub-Saharan Africa. Hory then evaluates the economic viability of the most important agricultural practices for small-holder farmers by means of techno-economic analysis. Additionally, he has a passion for agribusiness especially as it relates to bridging the gap between farming challenges faced by small-holder farmers in rural areas and the desire of urban food markets to sell more good quality local produce in sub-Saharan Africa.

George Obeng-Akrofi is a PhD student in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU). Prior to joining Dr. Maier's research group at ISU, he was a Research Assistant in the Food and Post-harvest section of the Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, where he did his masters in agricultural engineering. George's research interest is in post-harvest engineering, techno-economic assessment of agricultural systems, and food quality and safety assurance. He is currently working on improving the shea value chain to address rural poverty and food insecurity in Ullo, Ghana.