GSD Leadership

Hello Everyone!

I am Lautaro R. Cangiano, and I am an Animal Sciences PhD student at the University of Guelph, where I study gut physiology and immunology of Dairy calves. Specifically, my work focuses on understanding how microbial colonization of the gut in early life affects immune development of the newborn. I am originally from Argentina, and I grew up in a small city surrounded by dairy farms. I have an Engineering degree in Agriculture from Argentina and an MSc in Animal Science from the University of Florida. I have been a member of ADSA since 2015, where I first attended an annual meeting when I was just stepping into the research world of Dairy Science. Since then, I have been nothing but thankful for all this association has contributed to my development as a scientist, and the opportunities and people that have allowed me to meet. This organization plays a vital role in the development of graduate students that aspire to be future leaders of the Dairy Industry. A key component to the future success of our careers is the network and collaborations that we can establish during our graduate years, and the GSD has a crucial role in being a bridge to providing the opportunities to facilitate those interactions.

I am excited to be serving as the ADSA-GSD Vice President and Career Development Committee chair. I will be planning throughout the year a series of career development webinars, and I highly encourage you all to participate! In addition, I am responsible for maintaining and updating the MyDairy Career web portal and coordinating the annual Career Luncheon hosted at the ADSA annual meeting. The purpose of these educational events is to build career knowledge, so I encourage you to explore, attend, and reach out to me if you have any questions or would like to see specific topics covered. lrostoll@uoguelph.ca

Hello everyone! My name is Luke Qian and I am a second-year PhD student in Food Science at Cornell University under the advisement of Martin Wiedmann. My current research projects focus on the development of digital tools to aid decision making in management practices for dairy processors. One of such tools I developed in the past year is a simulation model that can predict the occurrence of late blowing defect in Gouda cheese, which is a major spoilage concern in semi-hard cheeses. I also developed a user-friendly web-app for this model that can be conveniently used by cheese processors. Prior to coming to Cornell, I completed my MS degree in Food Science at Kansas State University under Jayendra Amamcharla, where I participated in developing two models that aim to use fluorescence spectroscopy to classify non-fat dry milk based on spore levels as well as predict the emulsion characteristics of process cheese food, respectively. From these experiences, I became more confident in the power of data science to transform current dairy industry. Thus, I am broadly interested in data-driven methods to improve the quality of dairy products and optimize the dairy manufacturing process.

Having been an ADSA member for two years, I am rewarded by the vast educational opportunities provided by the organization. I particularly resonate with ADSA’s interdisciplinary nature that allows researchers from different specialization to communicate and collaborate. My vision for ADSA is to enhance the collaboration between dairy science and data science. With the growing interest in digital technology, I believe future leaders of dairy industry should be aware of the immense benefits these modeling tools can improve dairy foods and dairy processing system. With that in mind, I will strive to provide educational opportunities in digital tools through seminar and workshops. While digitalization can benefit the dairy industry, it is also valuable to our education as students. I understand for students, it is important to keep updated to current industry news while being not drowned in waves of excessive information. Thus, I am also interested in developing web tools that can extract and deliver up-to-date dairy industry news to researchers. Please let me know if you are also excited about these changes. I am looking forward to making these happen during my term at ADSA GSD.

My name is Sarah Bennett and I am currently a first year Ph.D. student at Pennsylvania State University. I grew up in north central Florida where I raised pigs and chickens to show in our 4H fair every year. This led me to pursue a degree in Animal Science which I received from Iowa State University in 2018. During my undergraduate studies, I fell in love with the complexity of dairy cows which helped with my introduction to the dairy world via the University of Florida where I earned my Master’s degree in Animal Science (dairy nutrition) in the summer of 2020. Last summer I moved to State College to begin my Ph.D. to continue working with dairy cow nutrition where I currently am focused on most things related to fat. More specifically my work so far has been focused on methods of improving fatty acid digestibility and milk fat production as well as understanding factors related to milk fat depression.

While I was at UF, I served as the Secretary for our Graduate Student Association, which was a role I really appreciated as I could get to know my fellow graduate students and keep them up to date on what we were doing within the department. I am interested in becoming more involved in ADSA-GSD leadership due to hearing about the experience from friends who have served on the board previously and the valuable connections they have made within our organization. The major thing I have taken away from the last year is how important forming and maintaining connections with people is given how much we had to be apart. Fortunately, I’ve also learned that it is much easier than it ever seemed before to share what's going on! I’m excited to start branching out more to network with students from other universities, a role I’ve missed as I had a communications position during my undergraduate where I worked with other universities across the Midwest. I do genuinely believe that I work better when I can collaborate and share ideas with others beyond my field and would love to work with the other board members to facilitate that for students within ADSA-GSD this year.

Hi, I’m Caitlin Zaring, a graduate research assistant working towards my Master's degree in Animal Science at the University of Tennessee with Tennessee's State Dairy Extension Specialist, Dr. Liz Eckelkamp. My project works with USDA to describe the state of value-added dairy enterprises in Tennessee that are or might process local milk into sellable dairy products such as bottled milk, cheese, butter, or ice cream. Additionally, I conducted a statewide survey to discover Tennessee consumers' purchase preferences toward Tennessee milk produced and processed by Tennessee entrepreneurs. I am a member of UTIA Gamma Sigma Delta, Animal Science Graduate Student Association, Dairy Club, ADSA GSD, and I work with various extension programs and events. So far, I have authored three extension publications with plans for several more, including peer-reviewed journal articles based on my master’s research. I am a non-traditional student with an Associate of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Animal Science. During my bachelor's degree, I was a member of UTIA's Dairy Club, Pre-Vet Club, Sigma Alpha Theta, and of ADSA SAD. I graduated Summa Cum Laude after being among the first group of UT undergraduates to attend regional ADSA in 10 years, and I competed in Southern Regional Dairy Challenge. In addition, I was fortunate enough to attend National ADSA virtually. I was also an undergraduate research assistant on two graduate student projects working with mastitis in dairy cattle. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my reptiles, cooking, listening to true crime audiobooks and podcasts, and re-reading my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice.

Although I have not had a long history of involvement in ADSA, I became fully involved as soon I had the opportunity. I have truly enjoyed being involved in SAD events, both regionally and nationally. I want to continue my involvement on the graduate level and contribute to ADSA as a member of the GSD officer team. My first act as secretary would be meeting with the current secretary to discuss responsibilities in-depth and seek advice regarding what has and hasn’t worked previously. You will notice once you get to know me that I am never without my tablet, which I use for taking detailed notes during meetings and as my planner. I am routinely entrusted to write and store business meeting notes between my PI, other institutions, farmers, industry, and support staff involved with the USDA value-added dairy grant funding my project. Without these notes and my planner, I would not be as organized, detailed, and focused as I am now. These habits will help me to serve well as secretary for ADSA GSD. Outside of the responsibilities of being an officer, a motivation for me to accept this position is that I will be able to meet others and develop professional and personal relationships with current dairy industry professionals, academics, and other students.

My name is Sonali Raghunath, and I am a PhD candidate in Food Science at the University of Minnesota with a focus on Dairy Proteins at Schoenfuss Dairy Lab under the supervision of Tonya Schoenfuss and Kumar Mallikarjunan. My research is based on studying the effect of non-thermal processing technology on milk protein concentrates and optimization. I graduated with a Master’s in food science from the University of Minnesota (2019) and Bachelor of Technology in Food Technology from Anna University, India (2017). My love for dairy chemistry and proteins never ends, and there is always something new to learn every day. My primary research is focused on improving the functionality of milk protein concentrate for better functionality and application for food products. I have done a couple of internships in R&D labs for premium Dairy companies, and that kindled my knowledge to learn more about Dairy Chemistry.

I have always had a unique experience of attending ADSA annual meetings in person as well as virtual meetings. These experiences had a positive impact, and I was thrilled to have bumped on to a wonderful platform of researchers and professionals across the world. I was more involved in sessions, GSD mixers and this provided exciting learning opportunities in Dairy Science and pursue my PhD. Inspiration comes from everywhere. GSD was a perfect platform and has been a guide throughout my career. The interest to involve in GSD grew by attending webinars from Midwest Dairy, Dairy Processing, excellent articles shared in LinkedIn on Dairy Industry by GSD representative and leadership team. I have worked along with various committee in GSD and being part of Education Committee last year was my best opportunities as it helped in networking with the speakers and also helped in organizing webinars. I am inclined to see GSD grow more and more in different aspects and I am willing to be a part of that.

“Good leadership requires strength of character and a very firm commitment towards dedication and to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason”. This means trust from the peers to provide you with the managerial position for the same purpose for promptly making it happen, and I strongly believe in that for serving for Dairy Foods Director as a part of GSD. I have always been inspired to cultivate relationship within the community of dairy scientists from peers to professors to industry professionals and be inclined towards social networking to reach peers and increase the membership with GSD during my role. In my view, Leadership = teamwork and I have always admired it that way. The success of being a Dairy Foods Director is to be a part of a GSD leadership and improve support, development and connection. Being a part of GSD is valuable. My peers have given me the opportunity of placing me in that position, and I am inspired to continue to be the change they wished to see in GSD by serving as a Dairy Foods Director and looking forward to making those changes in the forthcoming year.

My name is Conor McCabe and I am a first year PhD student at the University of California-Davis working on the relationship between cows and climate under Dr. Frank Mitloehner. I would like to be considered as your GSD Secretary or Production Director to elevate the scientific and professional development for the future leaders of the global dairy industry.

I originally hail from my hometown of West Linn, Oregon where I grew up on my family’s Christmas tree, swine, and pumpkin farm. My engagement with the ADSA Annual Meeting hails back to 2015 and I haven’t missed a single one to date.

During my previous ADSA involvements, I served as the President for the Student Affiliate Division (SAD). Our officer team initiated the industry roundtable luncheon at the Annual Meeting where students have a networking lunch among industry members. This event brought together representation from both the production and foods division and we secured industry sponsorship to decrease the students’ cost of attendance.

Furthermore, my previous engagement with GSD was on the education committee. We proposed to move up the three-minute thesis competition in the meeting schedule to increase the membership’s awareness of the event and highlight the winners at the awards ceremony. Seeing that this change has been made to this year’s program is a direct example of the steps we should target in the GSD leadership.

I believe the future of ADSA GSD needs to serve as a network builder of dairy scientists. As an elected officer I look to connect ideas, people, and science to serve you with the resources you need to succeed. The myDairyCareer website has the vast potential to serve as one of these connectors, but I believe we can build upon this through the creation of a bimonthly newsletter detailing job opportunities, professional development insights, and career highlights that can capture the membership’s attention from professional through GSD levels. Given my previous experience working with the ADSA Board of Directors, I believe I would be uniquely positioned among other candidates to start initiatives and partnerships where we can increase both the breadth and depth of our engagement.

Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing what this year’s Annual Meeting will bring and I would be so honored to receive your vote.