Department News and Updates! July 29, 2016

NEWS AND EVENTS

  • Thanks to: Emma Martinez, Kathryn Jackson, Katherine Livingston, Naomi Cholst, Megan Hayes, Kathleen Furtado, Christina Long, Brenna Sullivan, Kyra Van Der Zalm, Jim Fadel, Anita Oberbauer, Anne Todgham, Lisa Holmes, & Ed DePeters for making Freshman Orientation a success
  • Jennifer Chen was elected to serve as Communications Officer of the International Society for Applied Ethology
  • Javier Ivan Vazquez Morales received a 3 year CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology from Mexico) fellowship
  • Colin Kern awarded ISAG Early Career Scientist Travel Bursary

RESEARCH

  • Melinda Baerwald & Andrea Schreier awarded grant by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to work on developing a DNA barcode and non-invasive survey methodology for valley elderberry longhorn beetle
  • Joy Mench, Brian Greco & Mary Bonaparte-Saller authors on multiple papers in a Special Collection published by PLOS ONE, entitled “Epidemiological Investigations of North American Zoo Elephant Welfare”; former ANS grad student Cheryl Meehan acted as lead consultant for the project, which was featured on the UC Davis home page
  • Maja Makagon co-authored "Evaluating Pekin duck walking ability using a treadmill performance test" in Poultry Science

OUTREACH AND TRAVEL

  • Attending Poultry Science: Francine Bradley (also spoke at WPSA), Richard Blatchford, Joy Mench, Huaijun Zhou
  • Attending JAM &/or ISAG: Juan Medrano, Richard Blatchford, Alison Van Eenennaam, Huaijun Zhou, Ermias Kebreab, Bob Sainz, Deanne Meyer, Anita Oberbauer, Ranga Appuhamy, Samantha Werth, Sarah Klopatek, Ellen Lai, Emily Andreini, Casey Dykier, Holland Dougherty, Carlyn Peterson, Kara Hoffert, Michele Halstead, & Colin Kern; Richard presented “Poultry Welfare Assessments: Where Do We Go From Here?” as part of the Animal Behavior & Well-being Symposium: Metrics for On-farm Animal Welfare Assessment - Current State and Future Needs   
  • Kelsi Snook, fourth year ANM major, entered two ANS market hogs at the CA State Fair: the gilt won its class & the barrow placed fourth
  • Team ANS goat (Rachel Conway, Maia Laabs, Mitchell Ng, & Haley Bartlett) had much success in the show ring and recruited potential UCD students at State Fair
  • Huaijun Zhou Program Director of USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, was invited to join President Obama,  Secretary of USDA Tom Vilsack, Administrator of USAID Gayle Smith, Ambassador Susan Rice,  Samantha Power & others at the White House Summit on Global Development to mark global progress and find ways to catalyze further development to improve real lives
  • Francine Bradley judged the Market Turkeys & Market Broilers, & Avian Bowl at the Orange County Fair. She then taught a Game Fowl Health Assurance Continuing Education Class in Costa Mesa.
  • At the 50th anniversary Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology held in Edinburgh, Maja Makagon presented a plenary talk on the future of applied ethology "Walking on the wild side, Increasing Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Next 50 Years," Sydney Baker presented a poster on "Behaviors associated with high impacts experienced at the keel by hens housed in enriched colony systems", Jennifer Chen presented "Heat load affects measures of aversion in dairy cows," & Brian Greco presented "Using epidemiology to understand stereotypic behavior of African and Asian elephants in North American zoos."
  • Mandi Finger attended the Fisheries Society of the British Isles meeting in Bangor, Wales