Graduate Student Research

Dairy Cattle Nutrition

We are currently considering applications for graduate study in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland. Research assistantships are available for outstanding graduate students. The research assistantships include salary, full health benefits, and tuition remission. The research and related course work will be a contribution toward completing the requirements of a M.S. or Ph.D. degree.

Research projects are available to quantify the phosphorus and protein feeding requirements of lactating dairy cows. The results from this research will help reduce phosphorus and nitrogen feeding and consequently reduce nutrient excretion to manure. This work will save farmers money, enable dairy farmers to comply with nutrient management regulations that prohibit excess application of manure nutrients, and reduce the runoff of nutrients to water resources such as the Chesapeake Bay. The graduate student who conducts this research will be well poised for a job in agriculture or environmental management because these issues are becoming more and more important to society. This graduate program also provides exposure to the process of developing national policy on nutrient management.

Graduate students in this program will also develop skills in mathematical modeling related to dairy cattle nutrition and farm management. As computers become more important to agricultural management, there is an increased need for mathematical models to represent the animal production enterprise or the animal itself. Graduates from this research program are in very high demand because they are skilled in mathematical modeling related to dairy cattle nutrition and farm management, and they are knowledgeable of the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Both of these topics are extremely important to animal agriculture.

To be considered for the program, the applicant must be near completion of a B.S. degree, and should have at least a 3.2 grade point average, a combined (3 parts) score of 1700 on the general GRE, and completed adequate course work in biology, chemistry, and mathematics. These are minimal requirements but most graduate students accepted into the program exceed these standards.

For more information, interested individuals should contact:

Dr. Rick Kohn
4151 Animal Sciences Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
phone (301) 405-4583

Dairy Nutrition Research

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