Dr. Erin DiCaprio completed her B.S. in biology at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. Following her undergraduate degree, Dr. DiCaprio worked for several years in microbiology research laboratories before returning to graduate school. 

She then completed her M.S. in Food Science and Technology in 2012 and Ph.D. in Comparative Veterinary Medicine in 2015 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. Her graduate work focused on foodborne viruses, establishing mechanisms of virus contamination and persistence in fresh produce and investigating non-thermal processing technologies for inactivation of viruses. Following her Ph.D., she took a position as a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences where she worked on the development of vaccines for norovirus. 

Dr. DiCaprio joined the Department of Food Science & Technology at UC Davis in June. Her research will continue to focus on determining the mechanisms by which fresh produce is contaminated by foodborne viruses during production and processing and which biological and environmental factors influence viral persistence in these foods. In her role as an Assistant CE Specialist in Community Food Safety she is working directly with home cooks, home food preservers, small food producers and processors to assess and improve food safety at the local level.