Staff

Stephanie Clark envisions the Creamery as a place to prepare Iowa State students for careers in the food and dairy sciences. Her passion for dairy started as she grew up on small farm in Massachusetts, where she first started making cheese from milk of her dairy goats. Today, Dr. Clark is an internationally sought expert in dairy foods processing, safety, and quality. Along the way, Dr. Clark earned her Ph.D. in Food Science from Cornell University and was an Associate Professor at Washington State University. In Spring 2016, Dr. Clark was promoted to professor and awarded the Virginia M. Gladney endowed professorship, which she used to launch the micro-creamery.

At Iowa State, Dr. Clark taught courses in dairy products, scientific communication, and sensory evaluation of foods. She has been the research advisor of more than 35 undergraduate, 20 M.S., and six Ph.D.students. She has advised successful food product development and dairy products evaluation teams at WSU and at ISU.

Dr. Clark researches dairy products' chemistry, microbiology, processing and sensory evaluation. She was the Associate Director of the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center and an active member of the American Dairy Science Association and the Institute of Food Technologists. She has been the technical advisor of the American Cheese Society Judging & Competition since 2011 and chaired the committee from 2016-2018.

As the Business Manager, Sarah Canova manages the daily operations of the Creamery. Her career in the food industry started on her family farm where they raised beef cattle, swine, and sheep. While attending Iowa State University, her passion for the dairy industry took root. She competed on the Dairy Products Evaluation Team and worked with Dr. Stephanie Clark on her dairy research. After working in research and development in the meat industry, Sarah returned to Iowa State to help launch the Creamery. She holds an MBA and BS in Food Science from Iowa State. When not at the Creamery, she enjoys time with family, working on her family farm, and gardening.

“It is so exciting to be developing an opportunity for incoming ISU students to learn about dairy manufacturing during their time on campus. They will have a great experience learning about all steps of the process: formulation, production, inventory control, finance management, and marketing of the retail business.”

Hi, I’m the Production Manager of the Creamery, Danielle Christofferson! I’m the one who ensures that all of the ice cream and cheese that we produce is of the highest quality and I manage all aspects related to that production. This is my first foray into the world of food and dairy science and I couldn’t be happier that it involves my favorite food, ice cream! Before coming to the Creamery, my background was in that of molecular biology. I’ve worked in molecular diagnostic and regulatory labs and have a Bachelor’s in both Biology and Biotechnology from Grand View University. When I’m not at work, I can be found spending time with my family, weight lifting or rock climbing, or reading. This is an exciting opportunity for me to help students learn about dairy production, but to also teach them skills that they’ll need once they graduate and what better place to do it than somewhere that makes such delicious food?