Nooiensvan: Heymann
I am doing this in English, since after over forty years my spoken Afrikaans is still good the
same cannot be said for my written Afrikaans. After matric I went to Stellenbosch University
and completed a BSc in Agriculture with Enology as the emphasis. I worked in the wine industry
for a few years and then moved to Davis, California to study for a master’s degree in Food
Science, again with an enology emphasis. I took a Sensory Science of Food class as part of the
degree and absolutely fell in love with the field. I then went on to do a PhD in Agricultural and
Environmental Chemistry but I really became a Sensory Scientist.
In 1986, I moved to Columbia, Missouri where I became a professor of Sensory Science in the
Food Science department. I loved Mizzou, as the University of Missouri – Columbia is
affectionately known, but I hated the humid hot summers and ice snowy winters.
In 2002 my PhD advisor, Ann C. Noble, at the University of California – Davis retired and UCD
asked me if I would be interested in replacing her. I jumped at the chance (the weather is so
much better!) and I moved back to California. I have now been a professor of Sensory Science in
the Department of Viticulture and Enology since 2003. I currently have no plans to retire – I
enjoy what I do too much.
On the non-work side, I was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1994 and after nearly ten years of
watch-and-wait is flared up in 2004. I went through chemotherapy and radiation, and as one of
the lucky ones, I am still here and well. That year, 2004, was also noteworthy in that I married
the love of my life, Bill Matthews. We happily live in Davis with our three cats (Madam, Dijon and
Jura).
