Graduate Student News
Meet the new GSA Officers
President
Hunter Perez
PhD student: Ruminant Nutrition and Microbiology
Vice President of Operations
Donald Holupka
MS student: Ruminant Nutrition
Vice President of Events
Rebeka Magalhaes da Costa
PhD student: Breeding and Genetics
Vice President of Finance
Clint Lee
PhD student: Meat Science
Vice President of Marketing
Molly Smith
PhD student: Physiology of Reproduction
A Rite of Passage
Presenting research at symposiums, contests, and national association meetings is a hallmark of graduate training. These experiences help students showcase their work, gain visibility, and grow professionally while making their faculty mentors and department proud. ADS celebrates all of those graduate students who presented this year!
Md Marzan Sarkar
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 2nd Place Oral Presentation, “Human pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal senescence model for anti-aging drug discovery”
Thiago Nogueira Marins
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 1st Place ADS Poster Presentation, “Assessing the associations between behaviors and vaginal temperature of lactating cows in automatic milking system during summer”
Jing Gao
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 3rd Place ADS Poster Presentation, “Efficacy of a nanotechnology-based dry cow therapy during experimentally induced Escherichia coli mastitis after dry-off”
Caroline Guzi Savegnago
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 2nd Place ADS Poster Presentation, “Impact of heat stress abatement on cytokines production by immune cells and in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid following bovine respiratory disease in preweaned dairy calves”
Oral presentation, “The impacts of plane of nutrition and heat abatement during preweaning period on growth of dairy heifers” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Poster presentation, “Impact of heat stress abatement on cytokines production by immune cells and in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid following bovine respiratory disease in preweaned dairy calves” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Chanho Kwon
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 1st Place Oral Presentation, “Effects of vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 supplementation on growth performance, bone mineral content, immunological parameters, and antioxidant capacity of nursery pigs”
Oral presentation, “Effects of vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 supplementation on growth performance, bone mineral content, immunological parameters, and antioxidant capacity of nursery pigs” at the 2025 American Association of Animal Science Midwest Section Meeting in Omaha, NE.
2nd place in the 2025 ADS Minute Thesis Competition for his talk, “Optimizing nursery pig health: The role of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in growth and alleviating oxidative stress”
Lucas Melo
ADS GSA Travel Support Grant: Presented his research poster, “Relationship between human and computer version-based assessments of luteal blood perfusion in embryo transfer recipients,” at the International Embryo Technology Society Conference in Fort Worth, TX.
Oral presentation, “Impact of sire overnutrition on preimplantation conceptus transcriptome profile in the bovine” at American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL
Molly Smith
ADS GSA Travel Support Grant: Attended the Nationals Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) CattleCon in San Antonio, TX.
Oral presentation, Assessment of Perceived Knowledge Gain on Bovine Reproductive Ultrasonography Among Veterinarians and Students Following Hands-On Training” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Taofeek Abdulrahman
Poster presentation, “Comparing manual and computer vision-based body condition scores in Holstein and Jersey breeds according to lactation stage” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Oral presentation, “Assessing training strategies for deep learning-based body condition score prediction across Holstein and Jersey cattle using computer vision techniques” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Chamak Saha
Poster presentation, “Computer vision analysis of dairy calf behavior under different heat abatement and feeding strategies during the subtropical summer” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Oral presentation, “Computer vision-tracked behavior in dairy calves during a subtropical summer” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Koushik Das
Poster presentation, “Impact of noisy phenotypes on the accuracy of genetic evaluation” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Sophie Dupont
Oral presentation, “Characterizing and analyzing differences in the bovine uterine microbiome as a reflection of breed and return to estrus postpartum” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Junaid Nawaz
Poster Presentation, “Citrus Fiber Alters Dynamic Rheology, Texture, and Water Holding Capacity of Chicken Wooden Breast Breakfast Sausage Batter” at 2025 Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) in Columbus, OH.
Denyus Augusto De Oliveria Padiha
Oral presentation, “Approximating GEBV from observed to liability scales for health traits in dairy cattle” at 2025 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Conference in Louisville, KY.
Anna Scott
Poster presentation, “Location and cutting style influence on beef bottom round (biceps femoris) steak tenderness and display color attributes” at 2025 Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) in Columbus, OH.
Mikayla Dycus
1st place in the ADS 3 Minute Thesis Competition for her talk, “Saving Moolah: Linking the gastrointestinal microbiome to feed efficiency in Angus bulls”
ADS GSA Travel Support Grant, Oral presentation, "Identification of Rumen Microbiome and Metabolome Profiles in Angus Bulls Differing in Residual Feed Intake Classification" at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Natalie Arias
ADS GSA Travel Support Grant, Oral presentation, "Novel Medium-Chain Fatty Acid Products Derived from Agriculture and Food Production Systems Decrease Cattle Greenhouse Gas Emissions in vitro." at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Sophia Willis
ADS GSA Travel Grant, Oral presentation, “Retrospective investigation of the relationship between nutrition support plan and outcome in hospitalized cats at a veterinary teaching hospital” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Xiaohan Li
Oral presentation, “Effect of sorghum-based finishing diet on semitendinosus and infraspinatus objective and subjective color-stability” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Clint Lee
Poster presentation, “Effects of chronic heat stress mitigation on finishing beef performance, blood cortisol, microbiome, and carcass measures in the Southeastern United States” at 2025 Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) in Columbus, OH.
Hamp Thomas
Poster presentation, “Effects of sous vide cookery on tenderness, degrees of doneness, and cook loss compared to clamshell cookery” at 2025 Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) in Columbus, OH.
Arielly Oliveira Garcia
Oral presentation, “Genetic parameters for calving ease on beef-on-dairy” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Sergio Sanchez
Oral presentation, “Using digital phenotypes in genetic evaluations for purebred pigs” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Zuleica Trujano
Oral presentation, “Optimizing computing time of genetic evaluations through data truncation in Angus cattle” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Mahsa Zare
Oral presentation, “Impact of trait with measurement errors on the joint genetic evaluation with correlated noise-free responses” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Hunter Perez
Oral presentation, “Impacts of an abrupt shift to high-and-low-quality forage on generic E.Coli and coliform shedding in beef cattle” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Claire Stevensen
Oral presentation, “The Association of the seminal microbiome to flow cytometry assays and breeding soundness exam metrics in yearling bulls” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Shanmathi Ramasubramanian
3rd place in the ADS 3 Minute Thesis Competition for her talk, “Characterizing ECM remodeling in GBM: New targets for better outcomes”
Moira Taber
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 1st Place RBC Poster Presentation, “Sexual dimorphisms in neurodevelopment contribute to differences in traumatic brain injury progression in a pediatric piglet model”
Kylie Tager
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 2nd Place RBC Poster Presentation, “Tobacco Smoke Extract Impacts Blood-Testis Barrier Function”
Yaochao Zheng
2025 RBC/ADS Research Symposium: 3rd Place RBC Poster Presentation, “The Role of Skeletal Muscle-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in Muscle Regeneration”
Siara Zedonek
Poster presentation, “Effects of hen dietary saccharomyces yeast postbiotic supplementation on progeny growth performance, body morphometrics, and carcass cutout and yield” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Morgane Golan
Research Poster Presentation, “Recent advances in extracellular vesicle isolation methods improve purity and facilitate lyophilized storage” at 2025 ISCT, International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Jannell A. Torres
MS Oral Presentation, “Effect of medium-chain fatty acid supplementation levels on growth performance, fecal score, and blood antioxidant capacity in weaning pigs” at the 2025 American Association of Animal Science Midwest Section Meeting in Omaha, NE.
Daniela Alambarrio
Oral Presentation, “Preliminary analysis of loin muscle fascicle fracturing as impacted by pig genetics and intra-muscular location” at the 2025 American Association of Animal Science Midwest Section Meeting in Omaha, NE.
Oral presentation, “Large Dose Nicotinamide Riboside Supplementation Effect on Barrow Muscle Performance Weakness” at the 2025 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.
Nathan Gonsalves
Awarded UGA 2025 Summer Research Grant
Regenerative Engineering and Medicine (REM) Retreat 2025 at Emory University, Atlanta, 1st Runner Up Poster Contest: “BrainGlue: A Brain Tissue Replacement Technology to Mitigate Brain Volume Loss”