Dr. Regenstein is a Professor of Food Science in the Department of Food Science and Institute of Food Science at Cornell University (50% research, 40% teaching, 10% extension). He also has an appointment in the Waste Management Institute of Cornell's Center for the Environment, and serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He held an appointment as a Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Religion at the University of Rochester for 3 years and is currently a Visiting Professor of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin in the Department of Food Science. Both his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry (College of Arts and Sciences) and his Master of Science in Dairy Chemistry (College of Agriculture) are from Cornell.  He received a Ph.D. in Biophysics (Muscle Contraction) from Brandeis University in 1973.

            Dr. Regenstein has been on the faculty at Cornell since July of 1974 and spent his 1980-81 sabbatical year at the Torry Research Station in Aberdeen, Scotland. During the 1996-1997 academic year, he spent a sabbatical year as the Institute of Food Technologist's first Congressional Science Fellow in Washington, DC, where he worked in Senator D'Amato's office as a Legislative Science Fellow dealing with agriculture, food safety, aquaculture, fisheries, and clean air.

            Professor Regenstein’s research work has focused on flesh foods, particularly fish and poultry, with an emphasis on meat protein functionality; shelf-life extension of fresh and frozen fish; product development with underutilized fish, especially mince or mechanically deboned fish; aquaculture; and by-product recovery (edible, and non-edible products) from poultry and fish processing wastes, especially fish gelatin. 

            In collaboration with his wife Carrie, he wrote, ”Food Protein Chemistry, An Introduction for Food Scientists” published by Academic Press in 1984 which was used for a number of years to teach Food Protein Chemistry. Their second text, ”An Introduction to Fish Technology,” was published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1991.

            Dr. Regenstein currently has primary responsibility for four courses: Food Law, Managing Food Waste without Trashing the Environment, Kosher and Halal Food Regulations, and Environmental Stewardship in the Cornell Community, and contributes to a number of other courses, including Meat Science, Food Chemistry, Food Analysis, BioExplorations, Functional Foods, and Principles of Aquaculture. In 1999, he received the Cornell Institute of Food Science Advisory Council teaching award. In 2000, he was recognized by one of Cornell’s 25 Merrill Presidential Scholars as “the faculty member who has had the most positive influence on her education at Cornell.” In 2003 Dr. Regenstein received the College of Agriculture and Life Science’s award for Efforts to Promote Multicultural Diversity.

Dr. Regenstein has published numerous scientific articles as well as materials in the trade literature. He leads the Cornell Kosher Food Initiative, which provides extension services to the kosher and halal foods sector and was a columnist for many years for KASHRUS Magazine. Dr. Regenstein was recently the keynote speaker at the 5^th International Halal Food Conference in Chicago. He also works closely with the flesh food industries, in particular the fish industry.  In 1988, he received the Earl P. McFee Award as an outstanding fish technologist from the Atlantic Fisheries Technological Conference. Dr. Regenstein was the IFT Aquatic Food Products Division’s Lecturer in 2003. In 2005 he was invited to speak to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (a government agency) on kosher foods.

            Dr. Regenstein is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Atlantic Fisheries Technological Conference (currently serving as executive secretary after many years on the executive board), the American Meat Science Association (including numerous committee assignments), the Institute of Food Technologists, and the Poultry Science Association.  He has been the editor of IFT's Seafood (now Aquatics) Products Technology Group's Newsletter since 1982. Dr. Regenstein is the former Chair of IFT's Muscle Foods Division, IFT's Long-Range Planning Subcommittee, and its Central New York Section. A former scientific lecturer and a national councilor, Dr. Regenstein was a member of the Executive Committee (1993-1996). In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute. He is also the co-founder and first newsletter editor of IFT’s Religious and Ethnic Foods Division. In 1983 Dr. Regenstein was invited to be the first Guest Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. The 1995-1996 Chair for Scientific Development for Research and Development Associates for Military Food and Packaging Systems, he received the Elizabeth Stier Humanitarian Award from IFT in 2000 and was twice one of four candidates for the office of President of this 28,000 member organization. Dr. Regenstein is a member of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the National Council of Chain Restaurants’ Animal Welfare Committee and a member of Humane Farm Animal Care Scientific Committee.  He recently (2004) was asked to be an advisor to the Jewish Vegetarians of North America. In 2005, Dr. Regenstein became a member of the board of a national project on “Sacred Foods,” that is working with the faith-based community to look at sustainability of the food supply.