Department News and Updates! April 11, 2014

NEWS AND EVENTS

  • TOMORROW: PICNIC DAY!!!!
  • Welcome! Leslie Oberholtzer, new Dept Safety Coordinator
  • Juan Medrano was featured in The Sacramento Bee (Food & Drink) April 6, 2014, “UC Davis geneticist tries to build a better cup of coffee” www.sacbee.com/2014/04/06/6294165/uc-davis-geneticist-tries-to-build.html
  • Animal Science Meat lab mentioned in article listing UCD as the top US College Town www.citiesjournal.com/the-top-15-college-towns-with-excellent-education-and-quality-of-living/
  • Thanks to all who made Decision Day a success: Naomi Cholst, Ed DePeters, Jim Fadel, Kathleen Furtado, Lisa Holmes, Kathryn Jackson, Emma Martinez, Mike Miller, Kayla Sample, Sydney Westbrook, Joel Viloria & the Horse Barn team for the foals & visiting with future students and parents, Draft Horse Club for the draft horses & wagon rides, & Jan Carlson for the Boer goat kids
  • Thanks to all who participated in the Animal Science Major Review!

RESEARCH

  • Greg Archer and Joy Mench publish “The effects of the duration and onset of light stimulation during incubation on the behavior, plasma melatonin levels, and productivity of broiler chickens” in Journal of Animal Science
  • Andrea Schreier received funding from the US Fish & Wildlife Service for “Continued Analysis of Variance in Apparent Survival among Families from the Kootenai River White Sturgeon Conservation Aquaculture Program”  
  • Joy Mench and Richard Blatchford publish “Determination of space use by laying hens using kinematic analysis” in Poultry Science
  • Fred Conte & Kenji Murata coauthors of “Identification of the origin and localization of chorion (egg envelope) proteins in an ancient fish, the White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanaous” in Biology of Reproduction
  • Fred Conte & Abbas Ahmadi author “Application of the Pearl model to analyze fecal coliform data from conditionally approved shellfish harvest areas in seven Texas bays” in J Environmental Health

OUTREACH AND TRAVEL

  • Bob Sainz participated in the 2014 Agricultural Innovation Marketplace Forum in Brasilia, along with staff from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, FARA, DFID, Embrapa & ~20 African research institutes; this is a south-south scientific collaboration effort with potential UC Davis involvement
  • Alison Van Eenennaam met with interstate beef cattle genetics extension colleagues from NE, KY, OK, MO & KS; the group is forming a multistate internet eXtension Community of Practice to be called “eBeef”
  • Clair Thunes presented "Common pitfalls in equine nutrition: evaluating and creating rations" to the Animal Health Technologist Association of British Columbia in Kamloops BC, & to the Equine Medicine Club at the University of Calgary's vet school
  • Frank Mitloehner keynote speaker discussing the question 'Does the increasing demand for animal protein fuel climate change' at the 'Congreso International de la Carne' in Mexico City
  • Doug Gisi & Dan Sehnert visited Univ British Columbia Dairy Research Centre
  • Department hosted students from Ghent University; thank you Kathryn Jackson, Rachel Toaff-Rosenstein, Joy Mench, Elizabeth Maga, Ermias Kebreab, & Dan Sehnert
  • Juan Medrano keynote speaker at a Congress on Bovine Productivity in Machachi, Ecuador on “Genetic and Genomic Applications in Cattle Genetic Improvement” & “Genomic Evaluation of Dairy Cattle”