Carl R. Fellers
Carl R. Fellers was an American food scientist and microbiologist who was involved in the pasteurization of dried foods and canning Atlantic blue crab.
Early life and career
A native of Hastings, New York, Fellers worked in research for the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Canners Association, and the University of Washington before joining the University of Massachusetts Amherst department of horticulture manufacturing on December 1, 1925.Career at the University of Massachusetts
From 1925 to 1941, Fellers, current department head Walter Chenoweth, and two other professors worked to develop the research and teaching areas of the department.Fellers' research during that time involved canning of blue crab, an article that was featured in a 1939 Time magazine article which greatly increased the quality and quantity of crab produced in the US for consumption.
Following Chenoweth's retirement in 1941, Fellers became department chair in 1941 and would serve in that position until his retirement in July 1957. During his tenure as department chair, the department would change its name to food technology, a name it would keep until 1962. It is now the department of food science, a name it has had since 1988. 75 of the 140 students who would earn Ph.D.s at the University of Massachusetts would come from the food technology department.
Fellers as department chair also gave the go ahead to faculty member Gideon E. (Guy) Livingston to form an honor society for food science and technology which would be called Phi Tau Sigma. Additionally, he also created a fisheries school and laboratory at the University of Massachusetts as well. Even during the 1950s, the food technology department did testing for Consumer Reports magazine, thanks to Fellers' negotiating with the Consumers Union, mainly focusing on their research to the nutritive values of frozen food and canned foods.