Universitá Degli Studi Della Calabria

This university is the first example of a residential university campus in Italy. For what concerns the university campus, its management and services, it is important to mention the “Centro Residenziale”, which provides accommodation and leisure facilities to students. In the residential area they are located the Sports Centre, the Health Centre, the Centre for Arts, Music and Performance. Moreover there are a Centre for Radio and Television, the University Press, the Language Centre and several other interdepartmental centres. One of the biggest and unique libraries in the whole of South Italy has been built on the University campus and is accessible to internal and external users. Most of the departments in the University do research at national and international level and in a number of sectors have achieved international standards, as the existence of many post graduate doctorates proves.
The Laboratory of Rheology and Food Engineering is located in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials; it is headed by Prof. Bruno de Cindio, full professor of Thermodynamics and Rheology. Members of the staff are two senior researchers, Domenico Gabriele (Ph.D.) and Massimo Migliori (Ph.D.), four Ph.D. students, two research fellows and two technicians. Permanent staff members are involved in the First level and second level (Master) courses in Chemical Engineering and in the Ph.D. course in “Environment, Health and Eco-sustainable processes”.
Laboratory activities are mainly focused on process modeling and material characterization of complex systems, with particular attention to foods and biological fluids. Main scientific areas are Food process modeling, Rheological properties of foods, emulsions, foams, dispersions and biological fluids (e.g. blood) and Transport and thermodynamics properties in complex systems.
The laboratory is equipped with four rotational rheometers, a bielongational device, a tensile machine, a DSC calorimeter, a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), a pendant drop system for interfacial rheology and other instruments useful for material characterization. The research group is involved in scientific and industrial projects carried out with national and international partners (mainly working in food area).