Jacob Lahne

Jacob Lahne is a sensory scientist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science & Technology at Virginia Tech and a fellow with the Water INTERface IGEP. The overall objective of his research program is to develop new methods for the sensory evaluation and analysis of foods and to use those methods to generate knowledge in unexplored areas of sensory science. Dr. Lahne's efforts to achieve this are centered in 3 areas: an emphasis on developing novel, rapid methods and measurement tools in a variety of sensory-related fields for understanding human perceptions of food; a programmatic focus on the sensory evaluation of fermented and distilled beverages; and a commitment to bringing critical, interdisciplinary scholarship to the insular world of food-sensory science.  His current projects mostly focus on understanding the sensory qualities of Virginia (and American) hard cider, the application of Natural Language Processing methodologies to unstructured consumer descriptions of food, and the critical integration of food science and food studies.