On June 4 the department held its 27th Annual Symposium to showcase the year in research. Dr. Alan Attie, professor of Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin, Madison, was the keynote speaker. The talk he delivered on genetics of obesity and diabetes was entitled, “Genetic Deconstruction of Type 2 Diabetes.” His lab is presently devoted to identification and characterization of new genes that confer susceptibility to obesity induced diabetes and contribute to diabetes complications.

The day featured oral presentations from graduate students and staff, a poster session, and our annual barbecue at the end of the day. Pictures are up in our photo gallery http://www.ansc.umd.edu/gallery/

Award Winners at the 2013 Annual Symposium

Ph.D. Student of the Year: Lindsey Vansandt

Masters Student of the Year: Tyler Frankel

Staff Member of the Year: Sandra Nola

Oral 1st Place: Jason Sinclair

Oral 2nd Place: Halli Sigal

Poster 1st Place: Amy Weidman
Poster 2nd Place: Ankita Shah

Post doc 1st Place: Hongshun Yang
Post doc 2nd Place: Alexandria Richart

The Shaffner Award for Poultry Research 1st Place: Qiong Hu
The Shaffner Award for Poultry Research 2nd Place: Serajus Salaheen

Lindsey Vansandt, DVM, Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Carol Keefer's laboratory, has been awarded the Michael J. Pelczar Award for Excellence in Graduate Study for 2013 by the Graduate School. The Pelczar Award provides $1,000 to a doctoral candidate who has served at least one academic year as a teaching assistant with commendable performance, and who has demonstrated excellence beyond his or her course work. Dr. Vansandt was the Teaching Assistant for the Physiology of Mammalian Reproduction Lecture Course in 2009 and Experimental Embryology in 2010. She has taught the Physiology of Mammalian Reproduction Laboratory as the instructor of record for the past three years and guest lectured in Introduction to Veterinary Medical Science and Practice (2012), Physiology of Mammalian Reproduction Lecture Course (2012), Experimental Embryology (2013), and Domestic Animal Endocrinology (2013).

The weather was beautiful on April 27 for this year’s Maryland Day/Ag Day and there was a great turnout. An estimated 105,000 people attended the campus-wide event. Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, Buddy Hance and UMD President, Dr. Wallace Loh joined AGNR Dean Dr. Cheng-I Wei and many of our alumni came for the College’s Alumni Breakfast in the courtyard. This year’s Livestock Show on the Campus Farm was a rousing success thanks to the hard work and commitment of the participants, coaches, and judges. Congratulations to the Grand Champion, Bret Bucci and all the other winners. Here are all the results:

2013 Ag Day Livestock Show Results

Swine Show:
Champion – Bret Bucci
Reserve Champion – Rebecca Creighton

Class 1: Novices
Bret Bucci – 1
Rebecca Creighton – 2

Class 2: Beginners
Jennifer Shapp – 1
Christina Francisco – 2

Lamb Show:
Champion – Audrey Ervin
Reserve Champion – Chelsea Kahn-Deere

Class 1: Intermediates
Chelsea Kahn-Deere – 1
Grace Zhang – 2
Emily Diener – 3
Emily Cecil – 4

Class 2: Novice
Audrey Ervin – 1
Eliza Behzadi – 2
Alicja Reczynska – 3

Class 3: Beginners
Eva Klingelhut – 1
Mary Fernandes – 2
Alexandra Sanz – 3

Dairy Show:
Champion – Kara Levin
Reserve Champion – Margaret Hines

Class 1: Beginners
Kara Levin – 1
Margaret Hines – 2
Patrick Creighton – 3

Beef Show:
Champion – Tim Von Thun
Reserve Champion – Michelle Kurtovic

Class 1: Intermediates
Tim Von Thun – 1
Michelle Kurtovic – 2
Rebecca Creighton – 3

Grand Champion Show & Chad Clark Award:
Grand Champion – Bret Bucci
Chad Dulin Clark Memorial Herdsmanship Award – Tim Von Thun

Alumni Dairy Class:
Group 1:
Stephanie Paultre – 1
Robbie Miller – 2
Nicole Fiorellino – 3

Group 2:
Nathan Glenn – 1
Kelly Brower – 2
Rebecca Stoecker – 3

Sigma Alpha Kiss-A-Pig:
Lindsey Vansandt

Our wonderful livestock judges were:
Swine: Dr. Tom Hartsock
Sheep: Jen Reynolds
Dairy: Emily Yeiser
Beef: Bruce Bennett

Our dedicated staff coaches:
Kiera Finucane
Jennifer Reynolds
Victoria Lake
Libby Dufour
Dr. Charlie Apter

Last but not least, our outstanding and enthusiastic student coaches without which this program would not have been possible:

Swine: Jack Boniface
Sheep: Rebecca Creighton and Tim Von Thun
Dairy: Audrey Ervin and Michelle Kurtovic
Beef: Bret Bucci

The graduation ceremony for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources was held on May 20, 2013 at the Reckord Armory. Forty-five Animal Sciences undergraduates received their Bachelor’s degree:

Class of 2013
Amthor, Wesley Aaron
Aylward, Bridget Ann
Balinsky, David L.
Bardales, Kathleen Louise
Betta, Christina Lee
Bolek, Ann Marie
Buchanan, Morgan
Burke, Taylor Romayne
Campbell, Morganne Nicole
Cecil, Emilie Elizabeth Ann
Cowgill-Fiorito, Christina Charlene
Diaz, Tenley M.
Dickson, Melissa Joy
Egly, Samantha R.
Fogle, Kelsey Jane
Gonzalez, Alma Christine
Herriott, Caitlin Jean
Higgins, Arielle Kathleen
Issayans, Melineh
Jones, Aikeen Malcolm***
Jones, Kelly Louise
Jordan, Megan Elizabeth
Kahn-Deere, Chelsea R.
Kolasny, Jacqueline Natalie
Kurtovic, Michelle Ann
Lardo, Olivia Nicole
Lesser, Henry Naftali
Lewis, Morgan Brittany
Livesay, Janelle L.
Lopez, Amber Monique
MacKnight, Margaret C.
Mader, Erin L.
Marko, Jason Tyler
Mills, Brittany R.**
Monet, Alenna Lucinda
Myers, Annelise M.**
Pilossoph, Zachary Alexander
Ray, Andrew J.
Riccio, Anthony Thomas
Sclarsky, Rachel*
Solli, Alexandra Margaret
Sullivan, Kerri Lynn
Wronski, Sarah Jane
Zagami, Mary Kathryn
Zhang, Grace Guosui

*Brocksmith Scholar
**England Scholar
***Hartsock Scholar

Megan Brown, Rummel Scholar, received her Master of Science degree. She conducted her research entitled, “MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE POOR REPRODUCTION IN THE WHOOPING CRANE (GRUS AMERICANA)” under the guidance of Dr. Carol Keefer.

Apratim Mitra received his Doctor of Philosophy degree. He conducted Class of 2013 ENRICHMENTS INDUCED BY MAREK'S DISEASE VIRUS IN INBRED CHICKEN LINES” under the guidance of Dr. John Song.

Xiaojing Yuan, earned his Ph.D. degree in December, under the guidance of Dr. Iqbal Hamza, and attended this ceremony.

Jose Carrillo, graduate student from Dr. Song's lab, was awarded Best Teaching Assistant 2013 by the Ag. Student Council at their annual banquet on May 8 at Mulligan's Grill, located at the University of Maryland Golf Course. Jose has been the TA for Dr. Black's ANSC211 Anatomy of Domestic Animals for three years. This year he was also the TA for her ANSC260 Laboratory Animal Management as well as been an Invited Lecturer for the class. He also lectured in Dr. Balcom's ANSC 235 Applied Small Ruminant Parturition (Lamb Watch.)

Three graduate students from our department were awarded Graduate Student Scholarship Awards from the University of Maryland – National Capital Area Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta (GSD) at their annual banquet on May 8 at Mulligan's Grill, located at the University of Maryland Golf Course. The recipients were Lindsey Vansandt and Megan Brown from Dr. Keefer's lab, and Tyler Frankel from Dr. Wood's lab. This prestigious award is given for outstanding scholarship or research accomplishments in a field related to agriculture. Gamma Sigma Delta is an international Honor Society of Agriculture and its mission is to promote scholarship, research, teaching, and extension in agriculture and related fields. It has deep roots in advancing the agricultural profession in the United States as it was founded in 1905 and has 53 current chapters based in American universities and colleges. Lindsey, Megan, and Tyler were also inducted into Gamma Sigma Delta as new members at the banquet.

The two foals born on the Campus Farm this spring received their racing names as the winners of the “Name the Foals Contest” were announced on May 7. The winning names are:

Diamondback Fire for the colt (by Friesan Fire out of Daylight Lassie) born March 8 (on the right).

Maryland Miss for the filly (by Cherokee’s Boy out of Amazin) born April 15 (on the left).

The winning names are still subject to Jockey Club approval. The College invited the entire University community to submit suggestions for racing names for the two foals and received close to 1,000 responses. The entries were then narrowed down to five finalists for each foal and put up for an online vote. More than 1,600 votes were cast to help choose the racing names for the two thoroughbred foals. Look for them in future races!

Ankita Shah, graduate student in Dr. Taneyhill's lab and Halli Sigal, graduate student in Dr. Keefer's lab, have each been awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship for Summer 2013. The Fellowship carries a $5,000 stipend from the Graduate School and the Department. It is intended to provide support to doctoral students at “mid-career” and enable them to devote a summer of focused work to prepare for or complete a benchmark in their program’s requirements.

Aikeen Jones, a senior ANSC undergraduate with a concentration in animal care and management, has been selected as one of Maryland's "Undergraduate Researchers of the Year" for 2012-13. This recognition includes an award of $1000 and was presented during Undergraduate Research Day on May 1 in the Stamp Student Union. AJ was nominated for this award by Dr. Keefer. Aikeen has been working in Dr. Keefer's laboratory with Lindsey Vansandt as his mentor on a project involving seminiferous tubule culture in vitro. They are developing a method for culturing spermatogonial stems cells which can then be matured into sperm in vitro. He will be presenting his research during a poster session at the Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, which will be held this July in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This research was partially supported by an undergraduate research award provided by the College.

http://agnr.umd.edu/news/congratulations-aj-jones-undergraduate-researcher-year

https://agnr.umd.edu/sites/default/files/_docs/newsletters/Spring%20Newsletter.pdf

Four graduate students have been selected by our department to be given 2012-2013 Distinguished Teaching Assistant Awards from the Center for Teaching Excellence. The awards will be presented at a reception on May 10 in the Stamp Student Union. The winners are:
Megan Brown and Lindsey Vansandt, from Dr. Keefer's lab
Tyler Frankel, from Dr. Woods' lab
Ashley Franklin, from Dr. Porter's lab
The awards are in recognition of their valuable contributions to undergraduate education at the University of Maryland and to thank them for the outstanding commitment, professionalism, and creativity they bring to their teaching.

The Graduate Student Government hosted their annual Graduate Research Interaction Day (GRID) on April 10, 2013 at the Stamp Student Union. Three of our graduate students, all from Dr. Carol Keefer's lab, won awards this year.

Megan Brown – first place oral presentation in Session 2- Addressing Environmental and Energy Issues

Lindsey Vansandt – first place in oral presentation in Session 1 - Science of the Cell

Halli Sigal – second place in oral presentation in Session 3 - Science of the Cell

Tyler Frankel, graduate student in Dr. Woods' lab, won 1st Place for his presentation in the Student Spotlight Presentation Program at the Nashville Aquaculture 2013 meeting in February.

He initially received 3rd Place in a competitive Trainee Travel Award based on abstracts and scientific merit, offered by the Physiology and Fish Culture Sections of the American Fisheries Society at their Triennial Symposium on reproduction and development held in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this year. Tyler competed against post-docs, Ph.D. graduate students and other M.S. graduate students for the award. Based on his efforts, Tyler was invited to speak at the symposium.

Tyler's research then drew recognition from other professional organizations including the U.S. Aquaculture Society, the AFS-Fish Culture Section (they presented a joint travel award for Tyler to attend and present his research at Aquaculture 2013 in Nashville on February 22, 2013) as well as the World Aquaculture Society. During the Nashville Aquaculture 2013 meeting, the largest professional aquaculture meeting in the world with 4,000 delegates from ~90 countries, three of the best students, based on their submitted research abstracts, were selected from each of the three sponsoring professional organizations to compete in a competitive Student Spotlight Presentation Program. While there should have been nine speakers, Tyler was judged to be one of the top three abstracts by both the American Fisheries Society and the World Aquaculture Society; so there were only 8 student presentations judged in a session immediately after the meeting's Plenary Session. Tyler received 1st Place for his presentation.

Tyler was also recognized this year by the Striped Bass Growers Association. He received a travel award by the striped bass aquaculture industry to attend the annual meeting of the SBGA and give a presentation of his research findings to the members on February 24, 2013.

Tyler has decided that he would like to continue his advanced studies with fish and with our department. While he will leave Dr. Woods' lab at the end of the summer, he won't have to go too far, as he will join Dr. Orlando's lab as a PhD student in the fall.

Last, but certainly not least for an aspiring doctoral student, Tyler's research entitled: “The effect of freezing rate on the quality of striped bass sperm”, was recently published as an article in Theriogenology and can be found here

Source:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2013.01.009

Ashley Franklin, graduate student in Dr. Tom Porter's lab has been awarded an Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship for 2013-2014. These one-semester awards provide support to outstanding doctoral students who are in the final stages of writing their dissertation. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships carry a stipend of $10,000 plus candidacy tuition remission and $800 toward the cost of health insurance. The Graduate School awards only 40 Wylie Dissertation Fellowships per year.

At the AGNR Alumni Celebration held on April 16, 2013 at the Riggs Alumni Center, Lindsey Vansandt received the award for Outstanding Graduate Student, Ph.D. Candidate. Lindsey has a DVM from the University of Missouri-Columbia and works in Dr. Carol Keefer's laboratory on developing a protocol for extracting, storing and preserving genetic data from testicular tissue.

Lindsey was also the only AGNR student to receive an All S.T.A.R. (Scholarship / Teaching, Administration, Research) Fellowship for 2013-2014 from the Graduate School. These fellowships honor graduate students who are both outstanding scholars and outstanding graduate assistants who have made a significant contribution or impact while serving as a teaching assistant, research assistant, or administrative assistant. There were only 16 fellowships available for the entire university.

This morning on the Campus Farm, at approximately 5:20 a.m., Amazin' gave birth to a bay filly. “After some initial slowness and a hard job pulling the foal, all is well and Mom and filly seem happy and content” according to “midwife” Dr. Charlie Apter. This is the second horse born on the Campus Farm after 30 years. The broodmares were assisted by Dr. Apter and his Equine Reproduction class. The broodmare program was revitalized this year by Dr. Amy Burk as part of the Equine Studies Program.

Jose Carrillo, graduate student in Dr. John Song's lab, was awarded a travel grant from the Epigenetics discussion group (EPI). The group’s support helps enable students and post docs to present their research at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego, California. At this meeting January 12-16, 2013, Jose presented “Differentially DNA methylated regions analysis between ILTV (Infectious Laryngo Tracheitis Virus) infected and non-infected chickens.”

This year Jose also presented his research at the Quantitative Genetics & Genomics Gordon Seminar and Conference, February 16-22, 2013. An award from the Gordon Conference covered part of his cost, and another portion was paid by the Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Award from the Graduate School. The topic there was “Transcriptome analysis reveals an activation of MHC-I and MHC-II pathways in chicken trachea immunized with infectious laryngotracheitis virus vaccine.”

The University of Maryland community is abuzz about the arrival of two new thoroughbred foals born right on the university’s Campus Farm this spring. It’s the first time live foaling has happened on campus in nearly 30 years. A healthy, chestnut brown colt arrived early in the morning of March 8 and is expecting a playmate any day now. But the future racing stars need good, strong names if they’re going to follow in the footsteps of Seabiscuit, Secretariat , Man O’ War and other greats.That’s where YOU come in!

Simply click here to submit racing name suggestions for the foals by April 23rd. Finalists will be announced at Maryland Day, April 27, where attendees will have a chance to vote for the winning names and see the foals in action.

On January 30, 2013, Dr. Porter announced the winner of the travel award sponsored by Dr. Joseph Soares, Emeritus Professor of our department. This generous gift from Dr. Soares is a big help to our graduate education program. The competition was greater than in the past, with six solid applications submitted and reviewed by three impartial judges.

This year's winner is Marie Iwaniuk. Marie is a graduate student in Dr. Erdman's laboratory. She will be presenting her research at the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society for Animal Science and American Dairy Science Association in Indianapolis this summer. The award will cover up to $900 of Marie's travel costs to present her research at this international meeting.

Karla Garcia, a graduate student in Dr. Zhengguo Xiao's laboratory, received a 2013 AAI Trainee Poster award ($500) for an exceptional abstract that she will present at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 3-7, 2013.

Apratim Mitra, graduate student in Dr. John Song's laboratory, received a travel grant from the Poultry Workshop at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference XXI held at San Diego, CA from January 11-16, 2013. The award was funded by the USDA and covered up to $1200 in travel assistance. He delivered an oral presentation at the workshop and also presented a poster.

Read about the experiences of ANSC Undergrad, Annelise Myers, during her year abroad in Germany at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology.

Source:
http://ansc.umd.edu/students/spotlight/Annelisemyers/index.cfm?directory=spotlight.cfm

The department’s Annual Symposium was held on May 30. This is an all day, year-end research showcase and celebration for our department that is in its 26th year. Keynote speaker this year was Dr. Frank Mitloener, Associate Professor and Air Quality Specialist in Cooperative Extension at University of California, Davis. He is an internationally renowned authority for agricultural air quality, animal-environmental interactions, and environmental engineering. Dr. Mitloener’s talk was entitled "Overarching demand for food and implications for resource use and ecosystems" and was enjoyed by all. The day featured good food and good times, including oral presentations from graduate students faculty, and staff, a poster session, and our annual barbecue at the end of the day.

Award Winners at the 2012 Annual Symposium

Masters Student of the Year - Kendra Smyth
Ph.D. Student of the Year - Jason Sinclair

Oral 1st Place - Apratim Mitra
Oral 2nd Place - Xiaojing Yuan

Poster 1st Place - Kara Duffy
Poster 2nd Place - Shen Li

Post doc 1st Place - Andy Schiffmacher
Post doc 2nd Place - Chong-Yi Wu

The Shaffner Award for Poultry Research: 1st Place - Rebecca Phillips
The Shaffner Award for Poultry Research: 2nd Place - Qiong Hu

Staff Member of the Year: Kiera Finucane

Four of the department’s graduate students received Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) awards. Tiffany Carro, Kara Duffy, Ranga Padmanabhan, and Lindsey Vansandt were selected as a 2011-2012 Distinguished Teaching Assistant at the annual reception on May 11, 2012. The event is sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Office of Undergraduate Studies, and the Graduate School. Tiffany and Kara are in Dr. Mary Ann Ottinger’s laboratory. Ranga is in Dr. Lisa Taneyhall’s laboratory and Lindsey is in Dr. Carol Keefer’s laboratory.

Tiffany Carro, graduate student in Dr. Mary Ann Ottinger's laboratory, placed first in the "Environmental and Energy Issues" oral session at Graduate Research Interaction Day (GRID) on April 11, 2012. GRID is a campus-wide event that showcases graduate students' research.

The H. Palmer Hopkins scholarship was awarded through the College to graduate student, Lindsey Vansandt, DVM of Dr. Carol Keefer'?s laboratory. The award is $500 for a graduate student who intends to pursue a career in the educational field, preferably agricultural science education. It was announced by Mr. Charles Coale at the Ag Day Breakfast on April 28, 2012.

Lindsey Vansandt, DVM and graduate student in Dr. Carol Keefer's laboratory has been awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2012 by the Graduate School. This Fellowship carries a stipend of $5,000 and is intended to enable doctoral students to devote a summer of focused work to their program’s requirements and help them take a significant step forward in their studies.

Congratulations to Ratan Choudhary who placed first in the graduate student competition at the 2011 National Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) for his oral presentation entitled "Expression of Novel, Putative Stem Cell Markers in the Bovine Mammary Gland". Additionally, he was awarded a travel grant to attend the annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production (EAAP). Ratan is a fourth year PhD student working under Dr. Anthony Capuco at USDA facility in Beltsville.

Ratan Choudhary won first place for his poster presentation at the Graduate Research Interaction Day (GRID) held at the University of Maryland College Park Campus on Wednesday, April 6. GRID provides an opportunity for UMD graduate students from many academic backgrounds to present and obtain feedback on their research. The best presentations in a number of categories were recognized. Ratan won in the "Science of the Cell" category. Ratan is a fourth year PhD student working under Dr. Anthony Capuco at USDA facility in Beltsville. His poster described laser microdissection of mammary stem cells, evaluation of their transcriptome profile and his identification of novel markers for mammary stem cells. Congratulations Ratan!

Source:
http://gsg.umd.edu/grid/winners

Qiong Hu won first place in the graduate student poster category at the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition Conference held March 23-24, 2011 in Timonium, MD. The second place winner in this category was Umang Agarwal. Both are pursuing their Ph.D. under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Bequette in our department.

Megan Brown of Dr. Carol Keefer's Lab, recently attended the joint conference of the North American Crane Working Group and The Waterbird Society hosted in Grand Island Nebraska. Megan placed 2nd in the student competition within the Crane Working Group for her absract titled Chromic Oxide as a Fecal Marker to Identify Individual Whooping Cranes. Congratulations, Megan!

The Department is proud to announce that Daniel “Dan” Bruce has been selected as the 2011 Outstanding Senior by the AGNR Alumni Association. The award is given to a graduating student in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources who has provided outstanding service, demonstrated leadership, maintained an above average GPA, and exhibited a high standard of citizenship and fellowship. Just some of Dan's accomplishments include: maintaining a 3.5 GPA, serving as an integral member of our ANSC Campus Farm Crew and effectively overseeing many of the day-to-day operations while we were searching for a new farm manager, demonstrating excellent leadership and communication skills as the President of 80-member Equestrian Club, promoting environmental awareness through the EcoHouse Living-Learning Program, serving as teaching assistant for the demanding ANSC 211 Anatomy of Domestic Animals containing 80 students, and just being an all-around good citizen by being a member of the Primannum Honor Society. Congratulations to Dan!

Chu (David) Wu, a new graduate student in Dr. John Song’s research group, has been selected as a 2010-2011 CTE International Teaching Fellow, co-sponsored by the Graduate School and the Center for Teaching Excellence. This year-long program pairs novice international graduate teaching assistants with a senior graduate student mentor to help develop teaching skills. David is one of only eight fellows selected from the College Park campus this year.