Barkworth has a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia, and went on to teach school in British Columbia after graduation.[2] She has an M.Ed.[when?][2] and a Ph.D. in 1975 from
Western Washington University where she worked on variation in Brodiaea.[3] Following her Ph.D. she worked with
Agriculture Canada until moving to Utah State University in 1979,[2] where she also served as the director of the Intermountain Herbarium.[4] Barkworth retired in 2012.[2]
Barkworth is known for her work on
grasses, particularly members of the
Stipeae and
Triticeae. She also had responsibility for production of the two grass volumes in the Flora of North America. Barkworth has worked to digitize collections at OpenHerbarium.org, which includes collections from Pakistan[5] and Somaliland.[6] In 2013 Barkworth established a collaboration with the Daggett County Jail whereby inmates helped catalogue specimens through a collaboration between the herbarium and the jail.[7]