While an undergraduate, Lund was a roommate with Tommy Thompson, who later became Governor of Wisconsin (1987–2001) and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services during the first term of George W. Bush (2001–2004).
In 1988, Lund moved to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey to accept the position of chair of the Department of Food Science.
Lund was promoted to Executive Dean of Agricultural and Natural Resources in December 1989 and served until July 1995.
In August 1995, Lund joined Cornell University in Ithaca, New York as Dean of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
He also succeeded Owen R. Fennema as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Food Science on September 1, 2003, a position he held until 2012.