Have you met Jiancheng Qi, food scientist and Crop Wing Lead at Agri-Food Discovery Place? Spend the next few minutes getting to know him a little better.
Where is your favorite place on campus?
I like the new Evergreen Pond — it was just built last year. I can see it from my window.
Tablet or paper?
Both. I try to use as little paper as possible… but sometimes you have to use it.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
Pictures of my parents and my daughter. They don’t live with us, so I think of them a lot.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
Food. Not only for eating — I’m a food scientist, so it’s my career as well.
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
India and South Africa. These are two places that, whenever I have the chance, I’d like to see.
But I’d also like to go back to China to see my parents… I try to visit them twice a year.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
I’d like to invite my grandfather. He passed away when he was very young, long before I was born. The only thing I know is a photo of him… I’d like to hear his story.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
I would take any job on North Campus so I could explore.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
I think it means trying to empower everybody — not just in the university, but in the entire world.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Just one? I think something achievable is to prevent environmental damage to the earth. Air pollution, water pollution… any kind of damage to our world.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
Innovation. Opportunities. Diversity.
Jiancheng is the Bioresource and Food Processing Research Unit Lead at Agri-Food Discovery Place. He manages the Crop Wing and Fermentation Pilot Plant, providing training and technical support to users and coordinating client projects. He is a Certified Food Scientist and Professional Engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the food and fermentation industry.