Luis Moisés graduated at the top of his class in December 2009, winning not only the school cup for the best student with the highest grade-point average, but also the award for the best performance in the Learning-by-Doing practicums and the best performance in his career discipline, Food Science and Technology (AGI).
A popular student, his Zamorano nickname was El Presidente, “perhaps because I hope to be a natural leader, and my classmates said I was good at diffusing tense situations — but maybe also to remind me to be humble!”
Born and raised in the southern coastal city of Chincha Alta, Peru, Luis Moisés is the first in his family to go to college. He was able to attend Zamorano because of the generous support of The Nippon Foundation, which provided a full scholarship for his four years of undergraduate study. “I’m grateful that Zamorano cultivates relationships with international donors like The Nippon Foundation, and one of my dreams is to someday be a Zamorano scholarship donor, too!”
His favorite class was food processing and engineering, taught by Dr. Adela Acosta, because “we learned universal methods and tools that can be applied to improve any product and any work environment.”
His senior thesis examined ways to increase the shelf life of Zamorano’s chocolate milk by manipulating such variables as temperature, pasteurization, and the amount of a common preservative. His advisor, Dr. Luis Fernando Osorio, observed, “Luis Moíses was a tremendously diligent student, naturally adept at chemistry and computer modeling.”
While spending his senior pasantía (work study trimester) at Purdue University, Luis Moisés realized he wanted to pursue an advanced degree “to continue preparing myself to start my own business. Peru has a lot of agricultural potential. The problem is we don’t have much industry. So I see developing my own company as the best way to help my people.”
Currently on a three-month internship at the University of Georgia, Luis will begin a master’s program in applied economics at Georgia come fall.
