{"id":21086,"date":"2024-12-06T13:15:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T18:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=21086"},"modified":"2024-12-13T13:01:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T18:01:12","slug":"the-candy-man-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/the-candy-man-can\/","title":{"rendered":"The Candy Man Can"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Garett<\/a>
Garrett Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How much energy goes into making a skittle?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one question occupying the mind of Garrett Clark \u201907. As a Chicago-based senior R&D engineer with Mars Wrigley, the chemical and biomolecular engineering<\/a> graduate is using his talents to make the world taste good.<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to those Skittles. As the world\u2019s leading manufacturer of chocolate, chewing gum, mints, and fruity confections, Mars has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and every process is up for reinvention.<\/p>\n

Clark is part of a team identifying how to make Mars\u2019 iconic candies in more sustainable ways. \u201cIf we can\u2019t change the Skittle itself, can we redesign the process of making them?\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a significant engineering challenge and deeply rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work has taken him all the way to China, where he helped add a line to manufacture sugar-free gum, and to Kenya, to construct a new candy factory. Back home in Chicago, Clark\u2019s laboratory is the innovation center\u2014an industrial kitchen where he and his colleagues get to play candymaker. If initial feedback is good, the prototype proceeds to the consumer center for taste testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my friends ask for an invite,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

When a winning product is identified, the question becomes how to industrialize it. Sometimes, delivering a new treat requires designing the equipment and processes from scratch. \u201cCandy making is really just cooking at an industrial scale,\u201d says Clark. It makes sense, then, that his team\u2019s motto is \u201cscaling moments of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mission includes creating healthier choices for snacking that still taste indulgent and fun. Clark is part of a team behind Starburst Goodies, a plant-based gummy with 70% less sugar. The product began rolling out on shelves this past summer.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t take his sweet job for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever in a million years did I dream I\u2019d be making candy for a living,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope this shows that engineering can be so many things. It\u2019s not just calculus and spreadsheets; there is plenty of room for emotion, creativity, and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the world\u2019s leading manufacturer of chocolate, chewing gum, mints, and fruity confections, Mars has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and every process is up for reinvention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":21146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","issue-winter-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Candy Man Can - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Garrett Clark is using his talents to make the world taste good as a Chicago-based senior R&D engineer with Mars Wrigley.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/the-candy-man-can\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Candy Man Can - 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