University and Faculty Network

Incoming graduate students need to complete each of the following steps, but may -depending on priority- decide in which order to accomplish them:

The faculty network list can be found at both the BUILD Dairy website and on this page below.

BUILD Dairy Universities and Faculty

Network List

Utah State University

Faculty and Research
  • Korry Hintze - Diet, chronic disease, gut microbiome, dairy bioactives and gut health, Western diet and colon cancer, dietary protein and gut inflammation.
  • Donald McMahon: Emeritus professor & past WDC Director (not taking graduate students).
  • Taylor Oberg - The use of next generation molecular methods to improve the quality, functionality, and safety of dairy foods. His current research areas include identification of novel non-starter lactic acid bacteria and characterizing their metabolic capabilities, identification of alternate adjunct cultures to decrease yogurt and cheddar cheese spoilage, and understanding how the redox potential of cheddar cheese affects the microbiota and flavor.
  • Prateek Sharma - Material science approaches in manufacture and characterization of dairy foods. His research work focuses on cheese structure-function relationships, Food structure design and its impact on functionality of dairy ingredients and products, and Rheology of dairy products. Overall goal of his research program is to improve functionality of dairy ingredients and foods using process innovations.
  • Stephan van Vliet - The nexus of agricultural and human nutrition. He routinely collaborates with farmers, ecologists, and agricultural scientists to study critical linkages between agricultural production methods, the nutrient density of food, and human health. Dr. van Vliet uses metabolomics and proteomics techniques to study the presence of bioactive compounds in foods and their impacts on human metabolic health. His work has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Scientific Reports, and the Journal of Nutrition.
  • Robert Ward - Bioactive nutrients, fiber, PUFA and inflammation, gut integrity. 

Brigham Young University

Faculty and Research
  • Gene Ahlborn - Flavor chemistry and development: fermentation, reaction & process flavors, food safety & toxicology, biotechnology.
  • Michael Dunn - Micronutrient fortification and stability, Novel food products & processes.
  • Brad Geary - Identification of food-borne pathogens with molecular sensing technics and fungal & bacterial associations with plants.
  • Laura Jefferies - Sensory analysis and consumer insights and marketing. Dairy science, packaging design and messaging. Food processing and engineering.
  • Jason Kenealey - Milk protein biochemistry, protein unfolding & protein stability, protein-ligand binding interactions, recombinant protein expression, isothermal titration calorimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, and microcalorimetry.
  • Shintaro Pang - Improve the safety, quality and nutrition of our food supply by developing rapid analytical methods that enable us to detect, quantify and/or characterize target contaminants or compounds present in food. 
  • Richard Robison - Identification and characterization of microbial pathogens in foods and other matrices; identification of useful antimicrobial compounds produced by bacteria.
  • Doug Tree - Dairy: crystallization, triacylglycerol phase behavior. Equipment: Anton Paar Modular Compact Rheometer with Peltier temperature control 

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Faculty and Research
  • Steve Winkel (undergraduate students only) - Dairy processing, food safety & quality, and product development.

University of Utah

Faculty and Research
  • Micah Drummond - 1) Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of muscle growth and metabolic function in healthy and mobility impaired older adults. 2) Novel exercise and nutritional strategies to improve muscle, metabolic and physical function deficits in older adults recovery during rehabilitation.
  • Tanya Halliday - How exercise of differing modalities influences appetite regulation, energy intake, non-exercise physical activity, body weight management, development of novel interventions for weight loss maintenance, and examination of mechanisms linking lifestyle habits (diet and exercise) to glycemic-related outcomes.

Boise State University

Faculty and Research
  • Owen McDougal - the principal investigator for a Phase 2 National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator project. In this
    capacity, he leads the Dairy NutriSols convergent science team to develop chemometric software, integrate advanced manufacturing technology, upcycle minerals, and develop an employee pipeline for the dairy industry. Team and project work involves engagement with industry partners at Dairy West, Daisy Brand, Agropur, Glanbia Nutritionals, and Chobani. Dr. McDougal's research involves the acquisition of infrared spectra, Kjeldahl data, Leco analysis, high performance liquid chromatography separations, dairy protein powders, and ingredient testing. He also works with scientists at Idaho National Laboratory to develop separation and valorization protocols for agricultural and food processing byproducts.
  • Konrad Meister - Biomolecules with unique interfacial properties, how they work on the molecular scale, and how we can use them in innovative dairy applications. Biomolecules we are currently working on are antifreeze proteins and their usage in frozen desserts, BSA and hydrophobins and their usage in foams, and lactoferrin and its antibacterial properties and ion binding capabilities. Recently, we also started using confocal Raman microspectroscopy to investigate the structural transitions of yogurt and cheeses as a function of temperature. 
 

University of Idaho

Faculty and Research
  • April Leytem - Challenges in sustainability of integrated livestock-cropping systems. Her research has focused on nutrient cycling and emissions of reactive nitrogen and greenhouse gasses from dairy production facilities as well as cropping systems utilizing manure as a nutrient resource. In addition she has worked on improving process based models for estimating emissions and nutrient flow at the farm scale as well as improvement of national and international inventory methodologies.
  • Ginny Lane - Nutritional health status among children and marginalized populations, with an emphasis on understanding the social environment with a view to the development of culturally appropriate interventions at the community level. Her research uses mixed methods to comprehensively understand and address nutritional health concerns. Through her work with the University of Idaho Food Security Coalition, she supports efforts to enhance food security on campus.

Oregon State University

Faculty and Research
  • Zeynep Atamer - Dairy science, dairy microbiology, dairy bacteriophages, spore formers, process & and food safety, thermal inactivation, inactivation kinetics, milk proteins, heat-stable milk enzymes, fractionation of casein, membrane separation, and cheese technology.
  • Sheri Cole - Food science & technology work force training and dairy extension.
  • Chris Curtin - Fermentation microbiology and food spoilage prevention, spanning a range of fermented foods and beverages. We use next generation sequencing, genomics and molecular biology to understand microbial community function and the properties of fungi and bacteria that affect quality of foods and beverages.
  • Younas Dadmohammadi - Agrofood sustainability challenges with a robust multidisciplinary approach. In his lab, Younas leads innovative work on food and feed fortification, the development of novel and health-promoting functional foods and beverages, protein functionalization, precision delivery, co-product valorization, and the extension of shelf life. Younas strongly asserts that DAIRY provides a wealth of benefits beyond just nutrition.
  • David Dallas - Bioactivities of milk proteins and peptides (antimicrobial, pathogen anti-adhesive, immunomodulatory, antiviral,
    intestinal cell modulation), their survival and release through the digestive system (using in vivo studies and digestive simulations), the effects of various processing strategies on preservation of milk bioactivities (UV-C, high pressure processing, thermal processing, spray drying, freeze drying) and the impact of peptides on sensory properties of dairy products (e.g., bitter peptides in cheese). We apply a variety of tools, including clinical trials, mass spectrometry analysis (proteomics, peptidomics, glycopeptidomics, glycomics), protein assays, enzyme assays and cell culture-based bioactivity analysis.
  • Lisbeth Goddik - FST department head (not accepting students).
  • Melanie Hanlon - Food science and technology, cheesemaking and microbiology of dairy products.  product development, and sustainable food systems.
  • Jovana Kovacevic - Food microbiology and safety, with emphasis on traditional and novel molecular microbiology and
    genomic approaches to study the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis, stress survival, persistence and antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens. Her research uses molecular methods and whole genome sequencing to trace, better understand and prevent contamination events in the food chain, with particular focus on Listeria monocytogenes.
  • Juyun Lim - Taste perception, flavor perception, ingestive behavior, consumer behavior, sensory and consumer testing methodology.
  • Amber Moore - Soil Fertility
  • Si Hong Park - Comparison of microbiomes in conventional and organic raw milk collected from dairy farms. Gut microbiome research in humans and animals (poultry and mice) supplemented with dairy products, prebiotics and probiotics. Identification of cheese microbiome associated with safety and quality. Genomic characteristics (virulence and antibiotic resistance genes) of foodborne pathogens using a whole genome sequencing. Identification, characterization, and subtyping of multiple foodborne pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Listeria). Dr. Park’s projects involve cutting-edge molecular techniques based on genomics, metagenomics and transcriptomics.
  • Michael Qian - Flavor chemistry and dairy chemistry. The research in his lab is focused on aroma and flavor compound identification and characterization; flavor compounds chemical and biochemical generation; flavor retention and deterioration during processing and storage. His current research projects involve flavor chemistry of small fruits; grape and wine, beer; hop, and dairy products. He is interested in solventless sample preparation techniques such as solid phase micro-extraction, solid phase dynamic extraction, stir bar sorptive extraction and instrumental analysis with an emphasis on GC, fast GC, HPLC, GC-MS, GC-MS/olfactometry, and multi-dimensional GC/GC-MS analysis. He has extensive industrial and academic experience in dairy flavor chemistry (milk, cheese, WPC, whey, enzyme modified cheese) and dairy chemistry. His most recent project involved the enrichment and isolation of milk membrane lipids and structural elucidation.
  • Joy Waite-Cusic -  Pre-harvest food safety, process validation, prevalence of pathogens in food systems, and microbiological quality indicators and spoilage.

Washington State University

Faculty and Research
  • Courtney Gardner - Molecular biotechnology applied to address current challenges at the interface of agriculture, environmental science,and engineering. Assess microbial adaptation to environmental stressors in both natural and engineered systems and manipulate the dynamics that exist between microbial communities and their environment.
  • Kristen Johnson - Sustainability is not an obtainable target, rather it is a decision-making framework used over time. Our goal is to provide information to the dairy industry that allows for sound decision-making. Environmental issues are of increasing concern to livestock industries. We generate scientifically-based information about air quality and ruminant production. Additionally, we work with the industry to create economically-based solutions to current and future challenges. Recent projects include examination of the efficacy of dairy water treatment through the use of vermiculture systems to enhance the use of water, reduce emissions, and create value-added products.
  • Carolyn Ross - In the area of relating sensory perception to quantifiable characteristics, we have developed rapid novel sensory methods to relate to the response from various instruments, including the electronic tongue. Within dairy, we have applied these sensory and electronic tongue methods in assessing the quality of milk protein concentrate, and the perception of spicy cheese. Being a food scientist, I am also interested in determining the influence of raw ingredients and storage on final product quality and through collaborations with the WSU Creamery, we have performed such research in cheese. A final research area is the development of food products to address challenges facing specific populations.
  • Gulhan Unlu - Food, Dairy, and Wine Microbiology - Bioactive Packaging of Foods - Food Biotechnology - Functional Foods - Microbial Food Safety - Food Biopreservation - Bioconversion of Agricultural and Industrial Waste into Value-Added Products. Fermented dairy products incl. cheese, yogurt and kefir.
  • Meijun Zhu - Food microbiology, food safety, and the impact of dietary bioactive compounds on gut microbiota and chronic diseases. Specifically, she focuses on 1) Exploring the influence of dietary factors and bioactive food components on gut health and associated metabolic diseases. She employs both in vivo models and in vitro cell and tissue cultures to elucidate the intricate interactions among nutrients, microbiota, and gut epithelial health. 2) Developing innovative methods to deactivate, intervene, and detect foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms in foods and food production environments, with a further exploration of their applications in the food industry. Her research incorporates analytic chemical, biochemical, molecular techniques, and metagenomics, complementary by traditional microbiological approaches.

Weber State University

Faculty and Research
  • Daniel Clark - Pathogenesis, interactions, and treatments of various microbes (MRSA, Salmonella, the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, malaria, herpes simplex virus) using microbiology and cell culture techniques with bioinformatics.
  • Michele Culumber -  Unique microorganisms in unique environments. She has done research on microbes in contaminated groundwater, Hawaiian soils, Peat Bogs, The Great Salt Lake, and Cheddar cheese. Teaching Interests: Microorganisms impact almost every part of our lives and environments. Dr. Culumber enjoys sharing the many ways that we interact with microorganisms and hope to capture students' interest and motivate them to become scholars of microbiology. She also hopes to encourage students to see how microbiology influences their lives and their careers.
  • Craig Oberg - Professor, Emeritus (not taking graduate students).

Idaho State University

Faculty and Research
  • Leslie Kerby - Designing, building, and securing AI systems within science and engineering. Projects are varied and include AI applied to nuclear reactor operation and monitoring, AI applied to Li-ion battery performance and quantum chemistry, the security of AI systems, and building custom AI applications for collaborators (for example, scholarly analysis or qualitative data analysis).