ADS Department Head Letter

As we begin Fall Semester, our new undergraduate majors are all approved. In Spring 2024, we had 52 students in the Animal and Dairy Science major, 214 students in the Animal Biosciences major, and 68 students in the Regenerative Bioscience major. We believe that our new majors, and the revised curriculums, have been designed to offer students choices whether they want to go into animal production, one of the allied animal industries, pursue a graduate degree or professional degree in veterinary medicine, or go into human medicine.

We are in the process of searching for a new meat science Extension and teaching faculty member who will be responsible for developing short courses and Extension programming for Georgia’s growing meat processing industry, as well as a faculty member to fill the vacated beef Extension and research position in Tifton. Dr. Erin Kaiser was hired as a faculty member in our regenerative bioscience area to pursue research in traumatic brain injury as well as teaching. She has a tremendous background in Animal and Dairy Science, and is going to assist with our Introductory Animal Science course as well as developing other courses related to her area of specialization.

Also, we now have an approved doctoral program in Regenerative Bioscience, which is tremendous for our graduate program.

In addition to new faculty, we had several faculty members who won prestigious awards this year. Dr. Jillian Bohlen was named a member in Class20 of LEAD21. Dr. Todd Callaway received the UGA Alumni Association Award for his work in ruminant nutrition with an emphasis on the gut microbiome. Dr. Lohitash Karumbaiah also received the UGA Alumni Association Award for his research in Regenerative Biosciences including developing the first-ever issue-engineered gylcomaterial, a "brain glue" for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Kari Turner was admitted into the 24-25 class of Senior Teaching Fellows and awarded a scholarship which she used to purchase an injection simulator for her equine and Pre-Vet students. Finally, Dr. Daniela Lourenco received the American Society of Animal Science Innovation in Animal Breeding and Genetics National Award!

We have been busy with improvements at our farms, and our personnel continue to work to upgrade our farms, with a great deal of emphasis this summer on replacing several miles of fence, literally at all of our beef farms. We are getting ready to start construction of an irrigation pond at our Athens Teaching Dairy so that we can grow high-quality corn and forage. We have had a summer of construction projects this year, including our Meat Science and Technology Center with the total rebuild of our blast and chill coolers, which included tearing out the floor, digging down two feet, and installing a vapor barrier and insulation. With eight different farms, an inspected meat processing facility, and a Large Animal Research Unit, there are always activities that most people don’t get the opportunity to see.

I hope that you enjoy our newsletter, and as always, if you have comments or concerns you can reach me at ffluharty@uga.edu.

Sincerely,

Francis Fluharty
Animal and Dairy Science Department Head