Dr. Fabiana Cardoso (right) on a tour with students at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center – Clarksville Dairy Farm Facility.
Image Credit: Jonathan Stephanoff
Assistant Professor Dr. Fabiana de Freitas Cardoso joined the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences in January, 2023, and has spent this fall semester co-teaching her first UMD class full of farm visits, tasting labs, and experiential learning. However, dairy management classes are only a portion of what Dr. Cardoso is involved in, as her appointment is in teaching, research, and extension with an emphasis on dairy cattle nutrition and production systems.
“I have been able to collaborate with great people that have the same passion as me. It's always good to work with enthusiastic people,” Dr. Cardoso said, adding “[UMD] provides a great environment to work and be successful. The university is beautiful, and the dairy farm is amazing.”
While co-teaching ANSC 242 Dairy Cattle Management with Dr. Eduardo Rico, Dr. Cardoso hosted a dairy tasting day complete with a wide array of milks, cheeses, dairy products, and ice cream to sample and compare. She also took the ANSC 242 students to the Central Maryland Research and Education Center – Clarksville Facility to tour UMD’s dairy farm, and to other regional dairy farms in order to compare different milking systems.
Before arriving at UMD, Dr. Cardoso was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning her Ph.D. in 2022. Her dissertation research dealt with utilizing nutrition and feeding strategies to resolve common dairy cattle challenges.
Dr. Cardoso grew up in Minas Gerais, the largest milk producing state in Brazil, where she earned her B.S. in 2015 and M.S. in 2018 in Animal Sciences at the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA). Her education and research were focused on dairy cattle nutrition. While studying at UFLA for her master’s she took an internship opportunity in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University.
In her dairy extension work, Dr. Cardoso is launching several major projects. She is writing grant proposal to get USDA funding to engage students at community colleges–introducing them to animal sciences and especially dairy cattle management. She is also beginning work on a statewide analysis of dairy farm data, production systems, and animal production and health. She has partnered with University of Maryland Extension on a project aimed to investigate the effects of extended colostrum feeding on the performance of Jersey heifers, sponsored by the American Jersey Cattle Association.
Both Dr. Cardoso’s extension work and her applied research are aimed at improving animal nutrition and the production systems. She sees “great value in providing education to producers based on the research conducted at the University.”
Dr. Cardoso’s parents live in Brazil, so she travels back regularly when time and opportunities allow. While not working on classes, research, and projects, Dr. Cardoso enjoys cooking and going to the gym, and is looking forward to seeing her first Maryland snow.
