涩里番

涩里番.CA / Bioresource Engineering / Faculty and Staff / Academic Staff

Val茅rie Orsat, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Valerie Orsat
Image by Alex Tran.

Interim Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; James 涩里番 Professor

Bioresource Engineering: T: 514-398-7775听 |听 valerie.orsat [at] mcgill.ca (Email)听 |听 Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS1-094
Dean's Office: T: 514-398-7707 | Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS2-031

Degrees

MSc, PhD (涩里番)

Awards and Recognitions

2021 -听 Suffrage Science Award
2017 -听 Women of Innovation
2017 -听 Fellow of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering
2016 -听 Carrie M. Derick Award for Graduate Teaching and Supervision

Short Bio

Val茅rie Orsat is a Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering on the Macdonald Campus of 涩里番. She obtained her PhD from 涩里番 in 1999. From 1999 to 2007, she coordinated the training activities of international developmental projects in postharvest engineering, first in China with the project 鈥淢icrowave processing in China鈥�, and then in India with the project "Consolidation of Food Security in South India". Since 2007, Val茅rie Orsat is back at 涩里番 as an academic member contributing to the food engineering sector, recognized in 2015 by the John Clark Award from the Canadian Society of Bioengineering in recognition of her outstanding contributions in this field. In 2021, she was recipient of the Engineering and Physical Sciences鈥� Suffrage Science award in recognition of her mentoring contribution for women in STEM fields.

Research Interests

Dr. Orsat鈥檚 research program addresses the broad spectrum of quality changes that occur during various stages of postharvest handling and food and bio-processing. Beneficial compounds and secondary metabolites are identified and approaches to enhancing their content and bioavailability in commercial foods are considered. The fate of health and techno- functional compounds during processing, extraction and purification are studied.

The knowledge gained will be applied to promote the growth of the agri-food sector for:

  • Development of new products and processes in the ever growing nutraceutical and functional food sector
  • Enhancement of the nutritive value of foods during handling and processing
  • Better quality preservation of produce during handling (flavour, nutrient and phytochemicals)

Current Research

  • Development of processing methods for enhanced production, extraction and encapsulation of bioactive compounds for the functional foods sector
  • D茅veloppement de proc茅d茅s durable de production, d鈥檈xtraction et d鈥檈ncapsulation de mol茅cules bio-actives pour le secteur des aliments fonctionnels

Courses

BREE 301. Biothermodynamics.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
View offerings for in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

Classical thermodynamic analysis of pure and simple compressible systems. The course covers the first and second laws of thermodynamics. It deals with basic concepts of thermodynamics and thermochemistry in biological systems.
  • 3 lectures and one 2-hour lab
  • Restriction: Open to students in Bioresource Engineering and Bionegineering programs and permission of the instructor.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


Course information not available.

BREE 603. Advanced Properties: Food and Plant Materials.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Graduate Studies)
Terms Offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026
View offerings for or in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

Advanced topics related the physico-chemical characteristics/properties of biological products: including mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic and functional properties. Emphasis will be on food constituents (nutraceuticals), plants of pharmaco-interest (phytochemicals), new sources of natural fibers and biofuel biomass.
  • Prerequisite (s): Permission of instructor

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

Publications

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