Officer team
Meet your 2024-2025 ASGSA Officer Team! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at: asgsaofficers2024-2025@office365.wisc.edu
President: Jessica Townsend – 5th year PhD Candidate, Khatib lab
Research Area: The paternal contribution to pregnancy and development.
Vice-President: Grace Larsen – 2nd year MSc Student, Laporta lab
Research Area: Heat abatement strategies for preweaned dairy calves as well as the long-term fetal programming effects of heat stress on calves.
Co-Professional Development Chair: Fiona Louise Guinan – 4rh year PhD Fellow, Weigel & Peñagaricano lab
Research Area: Investigating methods to calculate resilience indicators for US dairy cattle using daily milk weights from in-line milk meters and automatic milking systems.
Co-Professional Development Chair: Jocelyn Woods – 4th year PhD Candidate, Adcock lab
Research Area: Taking a holistic approach to study how tail docking sheep impacts their short- and long-term welfare.
Secretary: AR Joy – 3rd year PhD Student, Wiltbank lab
Research Area: Follicular Dynamics of the Bovine Ovary.
Treasurer (shared responsibilities): Briza Castro – 2nd year PhD Student, Ortega lab
Research Area: Understanding how follicle-stimulating hormone influences the ovarian follicular environment oocyte competence in cattle to improve in vitro embryo production and the practical application of ARTs in dairy cattle reproductive programs.
Treasurer (shared responsibilities): Liz McGuire – 2nd year MSc Student, Jennifer Van Os lab
Research Area: Animal Welfare surrounding dry-off practices in automatic milking systems.
Co-Social Chair: Andre Zambon – 1st year MSc Student, Adcock lab
Research Area: Investigate alternative strategies to diagnose mastitis and antibiotic resistance in dairy sheep.
Assistant COMPASS Coordinator: Megan Lauber – 4th year PhD Candidate, Fricke lab
Research Area: My research focuses on optimizing fertility with sexed semen in lactating dairy cows and heifers, how this impacts farm profitability, and sperm physiology.
Assistant COMPASS Coordinator: Maverick Guenther 2nd year PhD Student, Laporta Lab
Research Area: Effects of nutrition and heat stress on dairy calves during the pre-weaning period and how these factors affect the development of the mammary gland, digestive system, and immune system.
Co-Social Chair: Whitney Brown – 2nd year PhD Student, Fricke lab
Research Area: My research focuses on optimizing fertility programs in dairy heifers and analyzing genomic characteristics to determine ideal breeding conditions for heifers.
Co-Social Media Chair: Trinidad Fernandez Wallace – 1st year Msc Student, Lautaro Rostoll Cangiano lab
Research Area: Understanding cell immune populations expression and bioenergetic changes during the periparturient period and how this contributes to disease susceptibility.
Co-Social Media Chair: Alice Peres Assumpcao – 3rd year PhD Student, Mantovani lab
Research Area: Revealing the gut microbiome of Holstein cows with divergent methane emissions.
PostDoc Chair: Barbara Mazetti Nascimento – Post Doctoral Research Associate, Peñagaricano and Weigel Lab
Research Area: Effect of heat stress in feed efficiency of dairy cows and involves quantitative genetics and high-throughput phenotypes.