Natalie Keller: Making an Impact

Name: Natalie Keller

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Hometown & Current Town: Reading, PA/Philadelphia, PA

Graduation Year: BS 2017

Major: BS Food Science

Current Professional Title: Senior Food Scientist

Name of Employer: The Campbell’s Company

Brief Description of Your Role: I lead product development for Pepperidge Farm Cookies, from ideation to first production and then when the food is on the shelf. That process entails new recipe developments, new flavors of cookies or innovating new products, cost savings initiatives, and quality improvements. I will typically take those concepts from small-scale benchtop development all the way to plant-scale production, and represent the technical community on these launches. I work with our production counterparts making sure they feel confident when the product gets passed to them, making sure the process is capable of what we want to achieve, and that the product we’re getting out the door is of the highest quality.

Why did you choose Penn State?

I chose Penn State specifically for its food science program. I had discovered food science through my high school. They have, still to this day, a very strong agricultural sciences program. I job-shadowed people who went to my high school and Penn State and majored in food science. I remember thinking about these high-achieving people who were working for Kraft and Hershey and realizing I wanted to be like them.

My teachers had always said Penn State was a really strong ag school. I knew that the job placement coming out of the Food Science Department was extremely high and they really set students up for success. Penn State was always the school I wanted to go to. I applied to a few other schools, including Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and Cornell. I was never torn though. I got the acceptance letter from Penn State and that was that.

What inspired you to pursue your degree?

I owe so much to my high school teachers. I wouldn’t have gone into food science without them and I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without them. I had always liked science a lot and had toyed with the idea of going into healthcare, but I liked that food science was a very tangible way of seeing science in action. There’s a chemical reaction that happens to make your toast brown or your cookies rise and spread in the oven. You see these different things come to life in your food and there’s a reason behind it all.

I had initially been interested in the microbiology side of things. I researched E. coli in high school and I did my honors thesis in food microbiology. But, over time I felt more drawn to product development.

What clubs and activities were you involved in while on campus?

I was in the Food Science Club and served as president my senior year. I did independent research through my Honors thesis, as well as within the Department of Food Science.

I was heavily involved in the Schreyer Honors College and was a member of the Honors College Student Council. I danced in THON with them my senior year. I was also an orientation leader for their first-year honors orientation and did a short-term study abroad to London over winter break.

Why would you recommend that students pursue undergraduate research opportunities?

It is a really great way to develop your own research skills and your independence as a student. A lot of my experience was driven by me. My advisor gave me the freedom to take my research in any direction. I look back and think I could’ve done certain things differently, but it was just a good experience to own the project.

For my Honors thesis, we had been looking at a common food additive to see if it increases the impact of essential oils in fighting food microbes, specifically Listeria monocytogenes. We found Listeria grew rapidly no matter what we did. It was frustrating to have that result but being able to delve into the why behind that and understand the research was really interesting.

Even though I'm not in that area of work anymore, there are a lot of times you come across challenges and you're not sure why they’re there. Having a solutions mindset and being willing to delve deeper into why something didn't work, research can help you there. My research also allowed me to develop relationships with faculty and learning about what they were doing, which was very valuable too.

What is a favorite Penn State memory?

Dancing in THON was a huge highlight of my Penn State experience. I remember just being in the moment that weekend on the dance floor and thinking, "this is the most fun I've ever had." Being able to embrace that in the moment was really special.

I also just have so many memories of the more mundane things with friends. I remember my roommates and I on Friday nights watching "Say Yes to the Dress," and other times hanging out on Old Main Lawn with friends I also remember getting ice cream after our labs were done and late nights in the Schreyer study lounges.

Can you walk through your career path and progression? You have worked at several companies and with products people know well and see on shelves every day in the grocery store.

I started my career at Mondelez. I had interned with them twice during my undergraduate time. A few Penn State alumni who worked at Mondelez came to the Department of Food Science to recruit. I did two summers there and upon the completion of my final summer, I was offered a full-time position for when I graduated. I stayed there for about four years and worked on cookies product development,  a similar role that I'm in today. I worked on pretty much all cookies but Oreo, including Nutter Butter and Belvita Breakfast Cookies, and Chips A'hoy.

I then moved to La Colombe Coffee Roasters in Philadelphia. I went from one of the biggest companies in food to a very small, almost start-up environment at that point. I had never worked on beverage, but had done new flavors and process improvements. I worked on canned lattes, cold brew, ready-to-drink offerings in the café setting, draft-style drinks, and more. I absolutely loved working on coffee. The product was such high quality and I still drink their coffee today.

After two years there, I came to Campbell's. I went back to my roots in snacks and cookies and landed a role on the cookies team for Pepperidge Farm.

How has your Penn State education influenced your career?

I think the Penn State name is big wherever you go, especially in the field of food science. My industry is a close knit community. I work with people at Campbell's that I worked with at Mondelez. I think the Penn State name brings a little bit of an edge in the application and interview process. People know it's a high-quality education and that the Department of Food Science is great.

I believe I developed a lot of intangible things from my time at Penn State. I gained a lot of confidence in myself. I learned that I have something important and valuable to bring the table. That confidence also led me to become more outgoing. My ability to communicate with others, particularly those in non-technical and leadership roles, has really improved. I think all of that stems back to the experiences I had at Penn State.

What are one or two of your proudest accomplishments in which your Penn State education played a role?

I served as the president of the Honors College Alumni Society. I think that was a really formative experience for my adult years. I’m nearing the end of my time on the board in Schreyer. I started volunteering with them when I was 23. Now I’m 31 one and it followed me from being fresh out of college to where I am today. It's been great to be able to learn from so many people and become friends with others I would not have known if not for this opportunity.

It's been wonderful to grow the community within the Schreyer Alumni base. We hosted a happy hour in Philadelphia and more than 75 people showed up; it completely defied our expectations. Being able to see that growth has and knowing the impact I have made been very rewarding.

You have been instrumental in the development of the Scholar Alumni Society Endowed Emergency Fund. What inspired you to make that push to generate vital support for students in Schreyer?

During my time as president with the Schreyer Alumni Society, we made the decision to endow that fund as a Board. The emergency fund is unique in that it benefits students who have unprecedented circumstances during their time at school. The fund can help students with tuition, for transportation to get home if there’s a family emergency, and more. It really is meant to help alleviate the hardships that come with those experiences.

Every student has different things going on in their life and knowing that Schreyer has their back if something happens is important. I think that mission really spoke to us as a board. Being able to build that safety net is important. We're not fully endowed yet, but we’re getting there.  

What does it mean to you to be honored with an Alumni Achievement Award?

I was absolutely shocked when I got an email from Dean Ott and Dean Mather. They asked for 15 minutes to talk, and I remember sending it to my Schreyer contacts and asking if it was spam. They assured me it was real.

I think what it has shown me and what it can help to show others, in food science especially, that the work we do is valuable. When I left school I had some moments where I wondered if this is what I should be doing with my life. I knew I was smart. I thought I probably could have gone to med school and I wondered if I could be making a bigger difference in the world.

What this award shows me is that you can make an impact every day even with a job that is very fun and unique. It also goes to show that the volunteer work I have done is, impactful in the community and valued.

What collegiate advice or professional development tip would you give to a current student?

I would tell a student today that whenever they have an opportunity to network, they need to take it. That was something I was averse to doing when I was a student. I had to hype myself up to go introduce myself to people established in their careers and recruiters.

Being on the other side now and with the work I've done with students at Penn State, I know that alumni are here to help. We want other students to succeed. We hope students want to hear from us and that they find what we share valuable.

In a career field like food science where it's close-knit, building relationships within the field is so important. Penn State is a great place to make that happen.

Why are you proud to be a Penn State Ag Sciences alum?

I believe that the Ag Science community at Penn State is very special, especially knowing that Penn State has its roots in being an agricultural school. What I've experienced with the Food Science Department with professors so supportive of students, I know that's true of many different areas in the college. Having that community and support behind you is amazing during the start of your career. I came to Penn State for food science but discovered all these other things that make it great.