Zhao Jin Joins Plant Sciences Faculty as Malt Quality and Food Fermentation Specialist

Dr. Zhao Jin has joined the North Dakota State University Department of Plant Sciences as an assistant professor in the cereal and food science program. Her responsibilities will include leading the malt quality and food fermentation research program, and teaching malting and brewing and cereal technology courses.

Jin completed a M.S. and a Ph.D. in fermentation engineering at Jiangnan University, China in 2014. She joined the NDSU malt quality research project as a visiting scientist and postdoctoral fellow, working with Dr. Paul Schwarz, in 2015. She worked as a principle investigator to lead the research on wheat malt in the Department of Food Sciences at Nantong College of Science and Technology before coming to NDSU.

Her research interests include seeking strategies to increase diversity in grains used for malting and brewing, incorporating malted grains into brewing and other beverages, expanding research on food fermentation, and improving food safety and quality. 

“I enjoyed working with NDSU barley and malt quality professor Paul Schwarz and look forward to continuing the program with added studies of fermentation sciences,” says Jin.