Stephen Chang

Stephen S. Chang was a pioneering Chinese‑born American food scientist whose work bridged continents and disciplines. Born on 15 August 1918 in China, Chang earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1941 from National Jinan University in Shanghai before embarking on a trans‑Pacific journey that would shape modern food chemistry. In 1947 he emigrated to the United States, where he pursued graduate studies at Kansas State University, receiving an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1949, and then completed a Ph.D. in food science at the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign in 1952. That same year he married Lucy, establishing a partnership that would later support numerous scholarly awards. After a brief stint in the private food industry, Chang entered academia in 1960 as a faculty member at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where he would spend the bulk of his professional life. During his tenure at Rutgers, Chang rose to become Department Chair from 1977 to 1986, overseeing a period of rapid expansion in lipid and flavor research. He authored more than one hundred peer‑reviewed papers and secured fifteen patents that advanced the understanding of food lipids, flavor precursors, and processing technologies. His leadership extended beyond the university: he served as President of the Chinese American Food Society (1975‑76), held influential positions in the American Oil Chemists’ Society, and was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in 1974. Chang’s contributions were recognized with honors such as the AOCS Alton E. Bailey Award (1974), the IFT Nicholas Appert Award (1983), and the eponymous Stephen S. Chang Award for Lipid or Flavor Science (first given in 1993). After retiring in 1988, he continued as a consultant, facilitating technology transfer between the United States, Taiwan, and China, and together with Lucy established lasting awards at both AOCS and IFT. His legacy endures through the Chang Science Library at Rutgers and the many scholars who build upon his groundbreaking work.