Molly Spencer, PhD is a Research Director of Litigation Surveys and Consumer Science at IMS. Dr. Spencer has four years of experience designing, conducting, and analyzing consumer survey research for litigation and advertising claim substantiation, and has designed and conducted more than 150 consumer research studies in the past decade. She is also experienced in sensory claims, food science and statistics. She is an experienced sensory and consumer scientist with skills in survey research, sensory claims, advertising claim substantiation, consumer behavior and preferences, food science, and statistics.
Prior to litigation and claims research, Dr. Spencer worked in the plant-based foods industry, where she developed a highly trained sensory panel and created a flavor and texture sensory lexicon and flavor wheel for meat products. She also co-created the globally recognized Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel for the Specialty Coffee Association.
Molly earned her PhD in Food Science from the University of California, Davis, and completed her postdoctoral studies at Monell Chemical Senses Center, a renowned institution for taste and smell research. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on consumer attitudes toward plant-forward diets, identifying strategies to enhance acceptance of plant-based ingredients through flavor complexity, spiciness, and mixed dishes. Additionally, Dr. Spencer has extensive experience teaching sensory evaluation techniques to both students and industry professionals.
When she is not working, Dr. Spencer enjoys brewing quality coffee, running, lifting weights, traveling to new places, and spending time with friends and family.
Professional Experience
- Sensory scientist, Beyond Meat, 2020-2021
- Postdoctoral fellow, Monell Chemical Senses Center, 2018-2020
- Graduate student researcher, University of California at Davis, 2014-2018
- Graduate student teaching assistant, , University of California at Davis, 2014-2018
- Research Consultant, Specialty Coffee Association of America, 2015-2016
- Technical report writer/QC, Tandem Labs, 2013-2014
Education
- PhD, Food Science and Technology – Sensory Science, University of California at Davis, 2018
- Bachelor of Science (BS), Food Science with a minor in Spanish, North Carolina State University, 2013
Peer-Reviewed Publications
- Spencer, M.; Dalton, P; Rowe, S.; Bonnell, C. “Consumer Acceptance of Plant-Forward Recipes in a Natural Consumption Setting.” Food Quality and Preference (Mar. 2021).
- Kurzer, A.; Spencer, M.; Guinard, J.-X. “The Dessert Flip: Consumer preference for desserts with a high proportion of fruit and nuts.” Food Quality and Preference (Nov. 2020).
- Spencer, M.; Dalton, P. “The Third Dimension of Flavor: A Chemesthetic Approach to Healthier Eating (A Review).” Journal of Sensory Studies (Nov. 2019).
- Spencer, M.; Kurzer, A.; Cienfuegos, C.; Guinard, J.-X. “Student Consumer Acceptance and Satisfaction with Plant-Forward Burrito Bowls in which Two-Thirds of the Meat has been Replaced with Legumes and Vegetables: The Flexitarian Flip™ in University Dining Venues.” Appetite (Aug. 2018).
- Spencer, M.; Cienfuegos, C.; Guinard, J.-X. “The Flexitarian Flip™ in University Dining Venues: Student and Adult Consumer Acceptance of Mixed Dishes in which Animal Protein has been Partially Replaced with Plant Protein.” Food Quality and Preference (Feb. 2018).
- Spencer, M.; Guinard, J.-X. “The Flexitarian Flip™: Testing the Modalities of Flavor as Sensory Strategies to Accomplish the Shift from Meat-Centered to Vegetable-Forward Mixed Dishes.” Journal of Food Science (Jan. 2018).
- Spencer, M.; Sage, E.; Velez, M.; Guinard, J.-X. “Using Single Free Sorting and Multivariate Exploratory Methods to Design a New Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel.” Journal of Food Science (Cover Article, Nov. 2016).