Peter Machado
Peter Machado earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Resources Engineering and a master’s degree in Food Science from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Currently, he works as a Research Scientist at The Hershey Company.
“I knew from the first Food Science class I had taken as a junior in undergrad, that I had found what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” Machado says. “Graduate school confirmed that and enabled me to obtain a career that I love.”
He is currently employed at The Hershey Company’s research and development (R&D) facility, and primarily works to develop new technologies and new products. Machado also is involved with general ingredient research as well as continuous improvement of both products and processes.
“One of the things I enjoy most about my job is that what I do day to day changes constantly,” Machado said. “Some days I’m in a lab setting doing ingredient research or creating from scratch about 50 small pieces of chocolate, and then the next day I am helping run a pilot scale test which pumps out about 20,000 pieces of chocolate each hour.”
Machado said that his Food Science classes were integral in giving him the base of knowledge which has been helpful in his career. His classes gave him a basic understanding of food and also an understanding of the more technical aspects of the industry.
“I had stumbled upon my graduate application essay recently, and in it I had written that my main goal from the graduate program was to get into R&D at a food company and help create a product that gets to the market,” Machado said. “While no products I’ve worked on have gone to the US market quite yet, I’m happy to say that I was able to achieve that goal through my time at Maryland.”
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Last updated: 02/15/2011