Report summary

The 2024-2026 picture for University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Food Science is a 22-PI network with 27 internal PI collaborations. The main research signal is Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology as the leading field (22% of slots across 12 PIs; 12 labels), Food Science as the leading subfield (13% of slots across 8 PIs; 8 labels), and Listeria monocytogenes in Food Safety as the leading topic (6% of slots across 4 PIs; 4 labels). This is a solid, readable collaboration map: group-level fit matters more than a single department-wide label. The leading PI names are David Julian McClements (46 weighted works; Proteins in Food Systems, Microencapsulation and Drying Processes); Hang Xiao (34.3 weighted works; Microbial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology, Gut microbiota and health). The clearest collaboration lines are Hang Xiao and Zhichang Qiu (8 shared works, weight 6.2). The leading breakdown groups are group 1 with 10 PIs, 10 internal connections, weight 16.4, around Nutrition and Dietetics, Food Science, Biotechnology, led by David Julian McClements, Hang Xiao, Jiakai Lu.