Faculty and Staff- Laura Rolon
Laura Rolon, PhD
Assistant Professor, Food Safety
Building 181, Rm 309
(805)-756-0850
Spring office hours: TR 8:00-9:30 AM or by appointment
Expertise
- Food Safety, Food Microbiology
- Food Microbiomes, Metagenomics
- Dairy Processing
Education
- PhD in Food Science & International Agriculture and Development, The Pennsylvania State University
- MS in Food Science, The Pennsylvania State University
- BS in Food Science and Technology, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Recent Year Teaching Assignments
- FSN 125 - Introduction to Food Science (Fall 2024)
- FSN 275 - Elements of Food Safety (Fall 2024 / Winter 2025)
- FSN 335 - Food Quality Assurance Laboratory (Fall 2024)
- FSN 370 – Food Plant Sanitation (Winter 2025)
- FSN 457 – Senior Project: Scientific & Technical Writing (Winter 2025)
- FSN 375 – Food Safety (Spring 2025)
Selected Publications
- Rolon, M.L., Mendez Acevedo, M., Sinclair, P., Macarisin, D., LaBorde, L.F., Kovac, J. 2025. Impact of improved sanitation standard operating procedures on microbial population at three tree fruit packing facilities. Journal of Food Protection 88(1): 100436.
- Voloshchuk, O., Rolon, M.L., Bartlett, K.V., Mendez Acevedo, M., LaBorde, L.F., Kovac, F. 2025. Pseudomonadaceae increased the tolerance of Listeria monocytogenes to sanitizers in multi-species biofilms. Food Microbiology 128: 104687.
- Mendez Acevedo, M., Rolon, M.L., Johnson, B.B., Burns, L.H., Stacy, J., Aurand-Cravens, A., LaBorde, L.F., Kovac, J. 2024. Sanitizer Resistance and Persistence of Listeria monocytogenes Isolates in Tree Fruit Packing Facilities. Journal of Food Protection 87(100): 100354.
- Rolon, M.L., Voloshchuk, O., Bartlett, K.V., LaBorde, L.F., Kovac, J. 2024. Multi-species biofilms of environmental microbiota isolated from fruit packing facilities promoted tolerance of Listeria monocytogenes to benzalkonium chloride. Biofilm 7:100177.
- Rolon, M.L., Chandross-Cohen, T., Kaylegian, K.E., Roberts, R.F., Kovac, J. 2024. Context matters: environmental microbiota of ice cream processing facilities affects the inhibitory performance of two lactic acid bacteria against Listeria monocytogenes. mSpectrum e01167-23.
- Rolon, M.L., Tan, X., Chung, T., Gonzalez-Escalona, N., Chen, Y., Macarisin, D., LaBorde, L.F., Kovac, J. 2023. The composition of environmental microbiota in three tree fruit packing facilities changed over seasons and contained taxa indicative of Listeria monocytogenes contamination. BMC Microbiome 11:128. - 2024 High-Impact Research Publication in Nutritional and Food Security Award, The Pennsylvania State University.
- Rolon, M.L., Bakke, A.J, Coupland, J.N., Hayes J.H., and Roberts, R.F. 2017. Effect of fat content on physical properties and consumer acceptability of vanilla ice cream. Journal of Dairy Science 100:5217-5227.
Professional Affiliations
- Institute of Food Technologists
- International Association for Food Protection
