Leadership

Trish Dawson is a senior scientist with Chr. Hansen Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1981 she received her BS in microbiology (Honours Class 1) from The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. She received her MAppSci in food microbiology at UNSW in 1994 with a focus on microbial fermentation and food safety.

Dawson’s research interests have spanned the fields of marine biofilm formation, microbial nitrogen fixation, bio-fermentation processes, and methods development for the isolation and characterization of microorganisms. She has specifically worked with dairy starter cultures and their applications for more than 20 years in Australia and North America. Dawson currently works with applied microbiology and enzymology as it pertains to the production and development of cheese. Throughout her career she has developed and taught courses in microbiology for nursing, agriculture, science, medical, pharmaceutical, and dairy students. She is regularly a guest lecturer for extension courses and professional dairy meetings and strongly supports teaching and sharing of knowledge.

Dawson has served as a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology and on the committee for the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. She has been a member of ADSA for four years and is currently the chair for the Dairy Foods Division. She sees ADSA as the leading professional organization to influence superior dairy research and application worldwide with a spectrum that bridges production and dairy foods. Dawson is strongly committed to supporting the domestic and global growth of ADSA.

Beth Panko Briczinski is vice president of dairy foods and nutrition at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), a trade association that develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of dairy producers and their member-owned cooperatives.

She received her BS (1998), MS (2001), and PhD (2007) degrees in food science from The Pennsylvania State University. Beth’s passion for the dairy industry began while conducting her graduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Bob Roberts, focusing on dairy microbiology, specifically the physiology and characterization of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. In addition to her formal research, Beth gained hands-on experience in dairy products processing and was involved in numerous dairy-related outreach education activities at Penn State. As a graduate student, she participated as a guest speaker at the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, the Penn State Cultured Dairy Products Short Course, Introduction to Frozen Desserts, and the Pasteurizer Operators Workshop, instructing more than 1,500 students from various backgrounds in the food and dairy industries.

After graduating in 2007, Beth joined the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an instructor, where she developed and taught courses in the undergraduate curricula for both food science and dietetics majors, with an emphasis in the areas of functionality of food components and food processing. While at UW-Madison, Beth also continued her postdoctoral research in the genomics of bifidobacteria.

Since joining NMPF in 2010, Beth has provided technical expertise and guidance on scientific issues related to dairy foods manufacture and dairy ingredients processing, food safety and public health, human nutrition, and dairy product standards and labeling. She routinely collaborates with dairy stakeholder groups—including other professional and trade associations, industry, academia, and state and federal agencies—to build consensus, identify solutions, and present a unified voice. Beth’s work has had a direct and positive impact on dairy producers and she has demonstrated herself to be a strong leader and advocate for the dairy industry.

Beth continues to teach as a guest speaker in undergraduate food science courses. She also serves on the executive board of the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), which administers the Grade “A” Milk Safety Program, and she contributes as a member of the Laboratory and the Appendix N Modification Committees, and as the chair of the NCIMS Continuity Task Force. She is an active member of, and has held leadership positions in, the International Association of Food Protection and the Institute of Food Technologists. In 2015, Beth was honored as the Outstanding Recent Alumna of The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Beth has been involved in ADSA since graduate school in 2001 and has served in a number of positions including as a judge for the Dairy Foods Graduate Poster Competition (2010), as a member of the Dairy Foods Division Nominating Committee (2010), a judge for the Dairy Foods Graduate Paper Competition (2011–2014; chair in 2013–2014), a member of the ADSA Strategic Goals Committee (2011), Dairy Foods Council Member at Large (2011–2014), representative to the Federation of Animal Science Societies Science Policy Committee (2011–2014), and representative to the Federation of Animal Science Societies Bioethics Committee (2011–2014).

Beth lives in Annandale, Virginia, with her husband, daughter, and son.

Michael Miller is associate professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC). He received his BS in environmental toxicology from University of California at Davis (1994) and a PhD in food science and environmental toxicology from Michigan State University under the direction of John Linz (2003). He subsequently worked as a post-doctoral scientist at North Carolina State University with Todd Klaenhammer. He joined the faculty at UIUC in 2006 as an assistant professor with a 50% teaching and 50% research appointment and was promoted to associate professor in 2013. Over the past 10+ years, his teaching has been focused on undergraduate and graduate food microbiology courses, where he has consistently been reviewed favorably by his students. He is currently developing a general education course on food fermentation that will be completely online and offered for the first time in fall 2019. In recognition of his service to students, Miller has received several teaching and mentoring awards, including the College of ACES Faculty Teaching Award in 2014, the International Dairy Foods Association Teaching Award in Dairy Manufacturing in 2017, and the Outstanding Advisor/Mentor Award from his home department in 2012. Miller’s research foci include the safety of Hispanic-style fresh cheeses and the effect of dietary bioactives (glucosinolates, phytoestrogens), prebiotics (galactooligosaccharides, human milk oligosaccharides), and probiotics on gut health. His research has been funded by USDA and several industry partners, including Abbott Nutrition, Mead Johnson Nutrition, PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland, and the Energy Biosciences Institute. He is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Microbiology. He has been a member of ADSA since 2008 and has served the association in a number of capacities, including as a Dairy Foods officer (2016–2019) and as section editor for the Journal of Dairy Science (2018–current).

Jim Quigley is manager of Calf Research and Technical Support at Cargill Inc. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of New Hampshire in 1979 and 1983, respectively, and his PhD from Virginia Tech in 1985. His current responsibilities are to develop and support calf and heifer nutrition and management programs for Cargill customers globally. In this position, Quigley travels extensively to train calf specialists, veterinarians and nutritionists to implement feeding, management and health programs for young calves and growing heifers. He has developed, in conjunction with Cargill colleagues, growth simulation models to accurately predict growth of calves from birth to calving. These models are being implemented globally to help farmers improve on farm management and improve profitability of the heifer enterprise.

Prior to joining Cargill Animal Nutrition, Quigley held research (1998–2004) and management positions (2008–2012) with APC Inc., in Ankeny, Iowa. He was also vice president for Worldwide Research with Diamond V Mills (2004–2007) and served as assistant and associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from 1988 to 1998.

Quigley’s research centers on nutrition and management of young calves and heifers. He has authored 88 refereed journal articles, 115 abstracts, 3 book chapters, and numerous proceedings articles for conferences worldwide. Quigley is coauthor on two patents. While at the University of Tennessee, he advised 13 graduate students, and he served on several graduate committees while serving as an adjunct faculty member at Iowa State University from 1999 to 2012. Quigley is also a popular speaker and has presented seminars at conferences and symposia worldwide.

Quigley received the T. J. Whatley Distinguished Young Scientist Award from the University of Tennessee in 1994, the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award of Merit at the University of Tennessee in 1996, and the 1999 ADSA Merial Dairy Management Award and was selected as a Diplomate, American College of Animal Nutrition, American Registry of Animal Sciences in 2011.

Quigley’s research has focused on the growth, development, and health of young calves and heifers. He has contributed extensively to the development and availability of safe and efficacious alternatives to maternal colostrum, the understanding of rumen and digestive development in young dairy calves, and feeding programs for calves and heifers to optimize growth and body composition. Throughout his career, Quigley has focused on solving practical problems faced by dairy producers and on the idea that healthy calves that are fed and managed properly will become productive cows and ensure the future of the dairy industry.

Quigley has also provided technical information to government agencies, including the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics and the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, members of Congress and advisors to the president He has contributed technical information to agencies in the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Denmark and the United Kingdom on topics related to calf and heifer management and welfare.

He has been a member of ADSA since 1981 and has served the association in a number of capacities, including chair of the ADSA Microcomputer Subcommittee (1990) ADSA Management Committee (1991–1994) editorial board of the Journal of Dairy Science (1992–1996) vice chair (1993) and chair (1994) of the ADSA Informal Calf Conference; ADSA representative (1992–1996) and chair (1996) of the Bovine Alliance on Management and Nutrition director, Southern Branch, ADSA (1996–1997); secretary treasurer (1999), vice president (2000), president (2001) and past president (2002) of the Midwest Branch, ADSA and member of the ADSA Production Division Council (1999–2001).

In addition to his professional activities, Quigley is an accomplished athlete and has competed in 27 marathons and two half-ironman triathlons.

Marina (Nina) A. G. von Keyserlingk is a professor and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Chair in Animal Welfare in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. After growing up on a beef cattle ranch in central British Columbia, she completed her BSc at UBC in 1987, her MSc in animal science at the University of Alberta in 1989, and her PhD in 1995 in animal sciences at UBC. She then left academia and worked in agribusiness for 7 years before returning to academia in 2002, when she was appointed as an assistant professor in the Animal Welfare Program at UBC. She was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and achieved the highest rank of professor in 2010.

Together with her graduate students and colleagues, Nina von Keyserlingk has published over 200 refereed scientific journal publications, more than 100 of these within the last 5 years. As an indicator of her reputation, she has published 8 invited reviews in the Journal of Dairy Science, of which 5 were published in the last 5 years. She is recognized as an outstanding teacher and received the prestigious Killam Teaching Award from UBC in 2008. Her undergraduate course offerings include the popular third year course Animals and Society.

Nina gives, on average, 25 invited presentations every year. She travels in excess of 100,000 miles every year, speaking at events attended by university academics and dairy industry professionals both nationally and internationally. Nina is a frequent invited speaker at meetings attended by farmers and the public in North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia. In addition to the accepted invitations, she is forced to decline 15 to 20 invitations per year due to time constraints.

The field of animal welfare has become a topic discussed in academic circles, at industry meetings, and in the public arena. This increased awareness has led to a strong interest by the media for information on animal welfare. von Keyserlingk is frequently interviewed, quoted, and consulted for information on the topic of animal welfare. The work completed in her lab has been summarized in print publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) outlets, and in numerous online publications such as Psychology Today and Scientific American.

Other evidence of Nina’s recognition includes invitations to serve on the committees of a number of national and international organizations. She was a council member of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) for eight years, including three years on the Board as vice chair, chair, and past chair, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Beginning in 2009, Nina joined the Animal Care Committee of the Federation of Animal Science Societies (now FASS Inc.) and is currently one of the ADSA representatives on the technical writing committee revising the Ag Guide, which governs the use of agricultural animals in research. She also sits on the National Milk Producers Federation (Arlington, VA; 2011) technical writing committee as a scientific advisor to aid in review of the F.A.R.M. program, which was initially completed in 2013, reviewed again in 2015–2016, and published January 1, 2017; she has just been reappointed for the next revision. Since 2011, she has been on the Animal Welfare Advisory Council of Dean Foods Inc. (Dallas TX), the largest fluid milk processor in the United States, where she has played a key role in the development and writing of Dean Food’s Dairy Well Animal Welfare Audit, published in 2017.

In 2016, Nina was the co-recipient of the award for outstanding contributions to the field of ruminant well-being (given by the World Buiatrics Association, Dublin, Ireland). She also received the Award for Excellence in Dairy Science from ADSA in 2013 (award sponsored by Elanco Animal Health); the Metacam 20 Award (co-recipient) for outstanding contributions to the field of cattle welfare (award sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, Canada); and the Canadian Animal Industries Award in Extension and Public Service in 2012, awarded by the Canadian Society of Animal Science.

Mike grew up on a dairy farm in central Iowa, and from an early age he learned to appreciate cows and figure out how things work. He attended Dordt College in northwest Iowa to study biology and then Iowa State University for MS and PhD degrees in nutritional physiology. He joined the faculty at Michigan State University in 1988. His position is 65% research and 35% teaching.

VandeHaar’s research has spanned metabolic regulation, mammary biology, growth, health, and genomics, with a goal of improving lifetime feed efficiency. He seeks to carefully analyze contemporary problems, develop mechanistic hypotheses, execute studies to test them, and translate research into practice. Much of his early work focused on cost- effective feeding practices for dairy heifers. Since 2010, he has been the lead PI of a large collaborative project to develop genomic selection tools to improve dairy feed efficiency with funding from federal and industry sources. The goal is to revise the US Net Merit Index so that it includes breeding values for efficiency. VandeHaar finds great satisfaction in knowing that his research can help farmers produce quality food in a sustainable manner. He has published 75 refereed publications, 52 conference proceedings, and 141 abstracts and has given 127 invited presentations in 12 countries. VandeHaar has taught nutrition to 4,300 students over the past 30 years. His teaching is characterized by students as engaging, challenging, and effective. He challenges students to integrate concepts and understand mechanisms, and he uses hands-on projects and new technologies to enhance learning. He finds helping young people learn, grow, and gain confidence to be one of the most rewarding parts of his job. VandeHaar also has been the leader of the Spartan Dairy Ration project, which is used in teaching and on farms throughout the world.

VandeHaar has been a member of ADSA since 1982 and finds the ADSA Annual Meetings to be one of the highlights of his year—he believes that debating issues with other dairy scientists is a great way to learn. Within ADSA, VandeHaar has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Dairy Science, as co-chair of the 26th DiscoverSM Conference on Dairy Feed Efficiency, as a member and chair of the ADSA Production Division Council, and as chair of the ADSA Overall Program Committee for the annual meeting in 2019. In 2013, VandeHaar was awarded the ADSA American Feed Industry Association Award. He is currently a member of the NRC committee to reevaluate Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle and on the USDA National Animal Nutrition Program.

VandeHaar’s goals as a professor have been to inspire others to think critically and do hypothesis-driven research that can help the dairy industry do a better job of feeding people in a sustainable manner. He views ADSA board membership as a means to further these goals. He believes that our association should (1) be vibrant and relevant so that young scientists will want to join and attend its annual meeting, (2) have a journal that is the first choice among animal science journals for dairy scientists to publish their research, (3) have a good working relationship with ASAS, (4) be connected to our industry partners, (5) maintain a healthy balance between basic science and its application, (6) maintain a great relationship between the foods and production divisions, and (7) stay fiscally strong.

Karen Schmidt is professor of animal sciences and industry at Kansas State University in Manhattan. She received her BS degree in food science from The Pennsylvania State University (1979) and her MS and PhD degrees in food science from the University of Minnesota (1986, 1989).

She joined the faculty at the University of Georgia in 1990 with a research and teaching appointment. She taught several classes, such as Dairy Products Evaluation, Dairy Products Processing, Introduction to Food Science, and Food Quality Control. In 1994 she moved to Kansas State University to an appointment of teaching and research. From 1994 she has taught numerous classes, including Dairy Foods: Products and Processing, Food Plant Management, Food Product Evaluation, Fundamentals of Milk Processing, and Quality Assurance of Food Products.

She was the recipient of the Milk Industry Foundation Teaching Award in 2011. Her research area has focused on the quality and functionality of dairy foods, dairy proteins, and functional foods. During her time at Kansas State, she has served as an adviser to the Food Science Club and Dairy Science Club and coached 7 Food Science Quiz Bowl teams and 8 Dairy Products Evaluation Teams. She is a member of the Kansas State University Food Science Institute, Institute of Food Technologists, the International Association for Food Protection, and the American Dairy Science Association. Within ADSA, she has served as the chair of the Dairy Foods Division and a trustee of the ADSA Foundation Board. Currently, she is an ADSA board member.