{"id":82239,"date":"2026-02-11T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=82239"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:16:22","slug":"women-in-science-2026-yagmur-yegin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/women-in-science-2026-yagmur-yegin\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagining a World Without Food Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Yagmur
Yagmur Yegin has developed coatings that extend the shelf life of fresh produce. (Credit: Courtesy of Yagmur Yegin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s note: This profile is part of our 11 Women to Watch in Science package.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every summer on a family farm in Central Turkey, Dr. Yagmur Yegin learned what it meant to lose food. Too much rain, or not enough, and the apples spoiled before they could be used. Years later in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she set out to solve a different \u2014 but familiar \u2014 problem: How do we keep food fresh, longer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes we had droughts, or too much rain, and lost everything,\u201d she said. \u201cThat pain of seeing food go to waste stuck with me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Yegin is a food scientist developing edible, silk-based coatings that extend the shelf life of fresh produce without refrigeration. Her research, conducted during her postdoctoral work at MIT, creates a transparent, tasteless coating that significantly slows decay. <\/p>\n\n\n

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In places without cold storage, this technology could cut waste and emissions. Yegin envisions farmers spraying the coating on produce immediately after harvest, buying them crucial days of freshness to cut food waste, generate more income, and reduce methane emissions from rotting food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s now refining the solution into dissolvable paper sheets that can be mixed with water and sprayed in the field. Working with Engineers Without Borders, Yegin has begun a focus on Kenya, helping efforts there to extend the shelf life and safety of produce there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the United Nations, methane emissions from decomposing food make up nearly 10% of global greenhouse gases. Wasted food also drains close to $1 trillion from the global economy annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Turkey, Yegin completed her bachelor\u2019s degree in engineering at Manisa Celal Bayar \u00dcniversitesi and then moved to the U.S. alone to learn English at Indiana University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told myself, \u2018If it doesn\u2019t work out, I can go back\u2019 \u2013 and kept moving forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t go back. She earned a competitive scholarship, a master\u2019s degree and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, and eventually a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. Her research now appears in more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and patents. Yegin also mentors early-career scientists through the Association for Women in Science, where she first joined as a mentee.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Now based in Houston, Yegin volunteers with Second Servings, a local food rescue organization, to address the downstream impact of food waste firsthand. Even after the collection process and bringing extra food to pop-up markets, there are still leftovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work ultimately targets this excess. Unlike other shelf-life extenders that require expensive packaging or cold storage, Yegin\u2019s coating can work in resource-limited settings and promises real benefits for growers and retailers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf my research doesn\u2019t apply to the real world, it loses meaning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, the apple hasn\u2019t fallen far from the tree. Her scientific achievements carry forward the respect for food systems she learned on her grandmother\u2019s farm, now applied to a wasteful world. ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updated to clarify information about the efforts in Kenya. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n \n \n