Kansas State University

Kansas State University hosted a groundbreaking on May 17 for the Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation. The new building – estimated for completion in Fall 2026 – will connect Weber and Call, which also will undergo renovations.

It will also bring faculty and staff from the departments of animal science – including food science — and grain science together, allowing them to work side-by-side on more projects. Renovations to Weber and Call Hall – will include an updated meat lab, a learning pavilion, upgraded classrooms, student collaboration space, a renovated dairy processing plant and modern research labs.

Thank you to K-State ASI Mentors Lauren Thompson, Samantha Schwindt, Korben Clawson and Kaylynn Vogts along with K-State ASI graduate students Elizabeth Dressler and Danielle Stock, and Youth Livestock Intern Peyton Piepho for their help setting up and hosting the event.

View photos of the event here.

Friday evening, May 10, 2024, parents, family, and friends of the K-State Meat Judging, Livestock Judging, and Meat Animal Evaluation Teams gathered at the Stanley Stout Center to celebrate a year of accomplishments. During the festivities, coaches Travis O’Quinn and Chris Mullinix recognized each team and presented their annual awards.

This year’s recipients are the following:

• Meat Judging’s Vision of Excellence Award – Megan Iennaccaro, Overland Park, KS
• Meat Judging’s Davey Mackintosh Award –  Sam Stickley, St Paris, OH
• Livestock Judging’s Winnett Memorial Award – Will Banks, Cynthiana, KY
• Livestock Judging’s FW Bell Award – Brody Nemecek, Iola, KS

Thank you to all you attended and participated the inaugural ASI Research Day on Wednesday, May 8. All graduate students, postdocs, research specialists and visiting scientists in the Department of Animal Sciences & Industry and Department of Food Science and Industry were invited to submit an abstract and present it either in poster or oral format. Results from the event are as followed:

Alicia Bohren, Longmont, Colorado, has been selected as the 2024 Don & Jane Good Outstanding Senior.

While an undergraduate student in Kansas State University Animal Sciences and Industry (ASI), Bohren served as president of the K-State Little American Royal and the K-State Dairy Science Club. She was also a member of the dairy judging team, poultry evaluation team, the dairy challenge team and competed in the academic quadrathlon. Additionally, Bohren was selected to serve as an ASI Mentor. In this role she met with prospective students and their families and assisted with departmental events.

In addition to being a member of competition teams and a leader within departmental organizations, Bohren was involved in a variety of research projects. She served as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Victor Gomez’s research lab, aiding with pregnancy diagnostics and identifying pregnancy through transrectal ultrasound and administering heat synchronizing hormones. She also worked in Dr. Billy Brown’s research lab, with this role she cared for the research cattle, collected blood samples, and properly weighed feed treatment for individual cattle. As part of the Undergraduate Research Program, her project was in sheep nutrition and focused on the “Effects of Sorghum Inclusion in Lamb Diets on Apparent Total Tract Digestibility.”

“It is obvious that in addition to being an excellent student academically, Alicia took the opportunity to pursue a myriad of the many non-coursework opportunities that are available to ASI students,” says Mike Day, KSU ASI department head. “The breadth of this pursuit, from competition teams through multiple undergraduate research experiences, leadership in panhellenic and program opportunities, and internships and professional organization activities, is admirable, and reflects her commitment to learn and explore. We look forward to her future contributions in science and technology to the discipline of reproductive physiology and the dairy industry.”

Bohren took advantage of experiences preparing her for a career in the industry. During the summer of 2022, she was hired as an intern for Grande Ronde Dairy in La Grande, Oregon. During this internship she performed all tasks associated with milking, feeding and managing more than 1,000 milking goats at a commercial dairy. She also had the opportunity to participate in the US Dairy Education and Training Consortium in the summer of 2023. This is a six-week program that provides modern dairy herd management practices and procedures to university students, with classroom learning, and hands-on application. This upcoming summer she will be interning at Trans Ova Genetics in Madison, Wisconsin, serving in their embryology and sire services department, gaining valuable hands-on experience and refining her skills in this specialized area.

Bohren plans to pursue a master’s degree in dairy cattle reproductive physiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, studying under the guidance of Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro. Her research will focus on transition cow management and diseases, specifically exploring their impact on subsequent reproduction in lactating dairy cows.

“My long-term career goal is to work in academia,” Bohren says. “I would like to conduct research in dairy cattle reproductive physiology. I have a passion for research and the continual learning that comes along with it. I also hope to work in academia because it would allow me to teach. Not only would it give me the opportunity to educate the next generation of scientists, but also producers in the dairy industry. This would allow me to apply my research to their operations, helping improve them.”

The Don and Jane Good Outstanding Senior Award was developed in 2010 to recognize those that exceed expectations of involvement in the animal science department. These criteria were developed to match the legendary example set by Good: moral character, scholarly achievement, leadership skills, participation on judging teams, foreign and domestic travel, potential of contributing to humankind in the future and written and oral communication skills.

MANHATTAN, Kan. –Kansas State University Department of Animal Sciences and Industry (ASI) graduate students Danielle Stock and Katelyn Gaffield were recognized as 2024 recipients of the Larry Corah Graduate Student Award.

Stock completed her undergraduate degree at Iowa State University. She was awarded the Outstanding Master’s Student Award, which includes a $1,000 scholarship. She is an active member of the ASI Graduate Student Association, and she shares her knowledge with undergraduate students as a teaching assistant for Animal Breeding Principles, Bovine Reproductive Technologies, Special Topics in Animal Science: Bovine Artificial Insemination, Genetics, Principles of Animal Science, and Special Topics in Animal Sciences: Feedlot Management “Boot Camp.” In addition, she has proven to be an excellent representative of K-State and our ASI department as she has immersed herself into other extracurricular activities across campus and outside of K-State with many achievements along the way.

Passionate about the agriculture industry, Stock has taken the opportunity to dive deep into her education and take career-related jobs and internships. Her research project involves completing a genetic evaluation of male fertility traits. She is working to combine data from bull studs with breeding soundness examination data submitted by beef cattle breeders to analyze semen quality traits such as motility and sperm abnormalities. Stock has completed data editing and determination of fixed effects in the evaluation and is now working towards finalizing hertibalities and variance component estimates in her analysis.

Dr. Megan Rolf, K-State ASI associate professor and Stock’s advisor, says, “Dani has taken advantage of numerous opportunities to contribute to the department, obtain teaching experience, conduct excellent research, and exhibit the qualities of a Corah Outstanding Graduate Student at the master’s level. She is an exemplary master’s student, and she intends to pursue a doctorate in reproductive physiology as the next step in her scientific future.”

Gaffield was awarded the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award, which includes a $1,500 scholarship. She recently completed an impactful doctorate research program in diverse areas to become a well-rounded and highly respected expert in swine nutrition. She used her education to help students as a teaching assistant in ASI 560 Course-Based Research, ASI 320 Principles of Feeding, and ASI 533 Anatomy and Physiology. She is a motivated student who has taken many opportunities to intern in various jobs and has been an outstanding leader for the ASI department. Gaffield’s efforts have been recognized, resulting in her receiving numerous prestigious awards throughout her career.

“We believe that Katelyn’s scholastic achievement, research and teaching activity, leadership and citizenship have made a tremendous contribution to the mission of the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry during her doctorate program,” says Dr. Joel DeRouchey, professor and one of Gaffield’s advisors. “She served as our team’s undergraduate research Coordinator. In this position, she oversaw all undergraduate research projects conducted with the swine nutrition team. She provided direct leadership and oversight to undergraduate research projects and supported the students as they presented their research at university and national competitions.”

Gaffield to date has had 11 peer-reviewed articles published or submitted, 11 peer-reviewed abstracts, five extension publications, two popular press articles, and funding for three swine-focused research projects totaling $217,793. A highlight of her doctorate program work has been her fellowship positions. She served with JBS Live Pork, managing data for a 4,000 head wean-to-finish commercial research site and their field trials, which can include up to 130,000 pigs per study. Since completing her doctorate, Gaffield has joined the K-State Swine Nutrition Team as an assistant research professor.

Both the Ph.D. and master’s awards are presented in honor of Dr. Larry Corah, who served for 25 years as a K-State ASI beef extension and research specialist. After retiring from K-State, he went on to work for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as director of production systems and then served 17 years as the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) LLC Vice President of Supply. The scholarships are supported from the Larry Corah Graduate Student Enhancement Fund. The award winners are selected based on scholastic achievement, research activity and success, teaching activities, faculty evaluation and overall contributions to the mission of the department.

Photo (L to R): Dr. Mike Day (ASI department head), Jordyn Seamans, Emma Sutherly, Eda Kaya (upper left box), Weston Schrader, and Dr. Randy Phebus. Great appreciation is extended to Marcy Johnson, VP of Corporate Communications and Brenden McCullough, VP of Technical Services from National Beef.

National Beef Award Ceremony

On Thursday, May 9 four students were recognized with a National Beef Award for their excellence in food science and animal science.

This is the eighth consecutive year that National Beef has recognized the outstanding senior and graduate student in food science. This year they increased the scholarship stipend and expanded the award program to include two animal science upperclassmen. The ASI Department and Food Science Institute appreciate this industry-based student support greatly.

The 2024 National Beef Packing Company Award winners were:

• Eda Kaya — K-State Outstanding Food Science Graduate Student Award
• Jordyn Seamans — K-State Outstanding Food Science Senior Award
• Emma Sutherly — K-State ASI Academic Performance Award (upperclassman)
• Weston Schrader — K-State ASI Academic Performance Award (upperclassman)

Congratulations to this year’s National Beef Award recipients!

• Mark your calendars: The Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation Groundbreaking will take place on May 17 at 2:30 p.m. Visit here to register for the event. RSVP here by Friday, May 10.

SEMINARS: 

• None at this time.

ASI FACULTY & STAFF BIRTHDAYS:

• May 14 – AJ Tarpoff
• May 14 – Nathan Plummer
• May 16 – Tony Sauvage
• May 20 – Evan Titgemeyer
• May 20 – Macy Mueller

If you’d like your birthday added to the list, please email Stacey Chard at schard@ksu.edu.

OPEN POSITIONS:

Professor (Assistant/Associate/Full) Position(s): 

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