Shelby Ellison will be the new point person for industrial hemp research and education at UW–Madison. She joined the Department of Horticulture as a faculty associate in June 2019. She has a PhD in genetics, with an emphasis in plant breeding and biodiversity, from the University of California, Davis.

Ellison is working with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and extension agents to create a foundation of best production practices for industrial hemp in Wisconsin. As resources are created, they will be posted to the new UW–Madison Wisconsin Hemp website: https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/hemp/. She will also develop UW–Madison’s first industrial hemp course, which will be offered in the Spring of 2020.

Ellison can be reached at slrepinski@wisc.edu for hemp-related inquiries.