Barley Team

Dr. Jamie Sherman

Barley Program Director - Barley Breeder

[email protected] - 406-994-5055

Jamie Sherman is the barley breeder at Montana State University.   Her program is developing new varieties for all barley end-uses including food, forage and feed, but a primary focus is on developing lines with improved malt quality.   Towards that goal, she has developed a fully functional malt quality lab  not only to support the breeding program, but also to support the developing craft malting industry. 

Hannah Turner

Barley, Malt & Brewing Lab

Director

[email protected]

406-599-2189

Hannah has been involved in plant science research for the past decade, receiving both bachelors and Masters distinctions, and has acted as Director of the Montana State University Barley, Malt & Brewing Quality Lab since 2016. The Lab performs both research and service, providing data for the Universities’ Barley Breeding Program and industry members across the barley value network. Hannah works closely with the American Society of Brewing Chemist’s and the Craft Maltster's Guild heading initiatives improving malt testing methods and leading educational programs. When not in the lab, Hannah spends time enjoying Montana with her family.

Greg Lutgen

Field & Seed Lab

Manager

[email protected]

 858-442-7618

Greg was born in San Diego, California and graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a degree in Field Biology. After spending a year studying an endangered marine grass, Zostera marina, he moved to Bozeman where he soon joined the barley breeding team. As the field technician he manages the plants during the growing season and oversees the collection of all the program's agronomic data. When not at the Post Farm or in the Seed Lab, you can always find him fishing the Gallatin River.

Sarah Olivo

Barley, Malt & Brewing Lab

Assistant

[email protected]

406-994-6682

Sarah joined the Lab in 2018 after working for several years in the MSU Cereal Quality Lab. Sarah is a great team member, playing a key role in the lab's daily operations, assisting with student management across the program, and supporting both the breeding and quality sides of the project. She helps manage the greenhouses, processes seed, makes malt and evaluates quality.

Traci Hoogland

Post Doctorate Researcher

Focus: Winter & Forage Barley

[email protected]

406-994-5059

Traci grew up on a farm in NW Iowa where her interests in agriculture and plant sciences were first ignited. She received her bachelor’s in Biology from Dordt College and spent several years gaining experience in biological research and teaching with institutions such as Kansas University Medical Center, Dordt College, U.S. National Park Service, and Cornell University before pursuing her PhD in Plant Sciences at Montana State University. As a Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researcher with the Barley Breeding program, Traci has focused on winter and forage barley breeding and genetics with the dual goals of creating improved varieties and better understanding the genetics underlying trait improvement.

Jessica Williams

PhD Candidate

[email protected]

Jessica grew up in Golden, Colorado (home of Coors beer!) She received her bachelor’s in biology from the University of Denver where she became interested in plants and genetics. After college she spent several years working in Drosophila (fruit fly) labs, which taught her a great deal about genetics. She also jumped at any opportunity to volunteer on small farms and eventually started working for the barley breeding program as a field assistant at the Post agronomy farm. This led to her beginning a graduate program with the barley lab. She studies the genetics and physiology of root systems and their interactions with microbes with the goal of improving drought tolerance in Montana barley.

Joseph Jensen

PhD Candidate

[email protected]

Trevor Palone

Masters Candidate

[email protected]

585-356-4210

Trevor grew up working with his family’s landscaping company in Buffalo, New York where his interest in working with plants first developed. He received his bachelor’s in Horticulture from Temple University where his admiration for the plant sciences continued to blossom through further education on plant physiological functions and plant-environment interactions; a time where he also discovered the hobby of homebrewing. After college he spent 4 years professionally brewing beer in various craft beer industry market segments (farm brewery, brewpub and regional brewery). This led to him pursing a Master’s Degree in Plant Sciences and joining the Barley Breeding Program at Montana State University with the goal of combining his experiences to develop malting-type barley that is resilient to the current constraining impacts on the agriculture, malt, and beer production value chain.

Aline Brito

PhD Candidate

[email protected]

A visiting researcher, Aline joins us from Brazil. Her research is delving into the ultra unique area of koji processing. Don't miss the opportunity to try some of the koji malts she is producing at MSU from pearled Buzz barley!

Shelby

Lab - Student Assistant

Coming to the barley program from the brewing industry and currently working on a degree in Food & Nutrition, Shelby assists with all tasks around the lab!

Peter

Undergraduate Researcher

Focused on molecular techniques, Peter assists the barley program with research questions such as amino acid characterization of barley and malt as well as genetic marker assisted selection for breeding.