University of Florida Taste Expert to Be Honored by the American Psychological Association

Linda M. Bartoshuk, the Bushnell Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida, has been selected to receive the 2019 Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the American Psychological Association.

Professor Bartoshuk also serves as director for psychophysical research for the Center for Smell and Taste at the University of Florida. Her research has included the discovery of supertasters, individuals who experience unusually intense tastes. She has also studied the consequences of taste pathology (e.g., taste damage can lead to weight gain).

“I’ve been doing taste research for a lot of years,” Dr. Bartoshuk said. “I was very excited about winning the APA award because my mentor won this same award in 1963.”

Dr. Bartoshuk will receive the award at the association’s convention in Chicago and deliver an address entitled “What Aristotle Didn’t Know About Flavor.”

Dr. Bartoshuk is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she majored in psychology and minored in mathematics and astronomy. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.