The University of Wisconsin–Platteville recently awarded five faculty research fellowships to help increase dairy-related research capacity through the Dairy Innovation Hub initiative. Known as the Dairy Industry Impact Innovation Faculty Fellowships, or “DI3 faculty fellowships”, the selected faculty members will tackle research projects in the Hub’s four priority areas; stewarding land and water resources; enriching human health and nutrition; ensuring animal health and welfare; and growing farm business and communities.
Funded through a $7.8 million per year investment by the state of Wisconsin, the Hub harnesses research and development at UW–Madison, UW–Platteville and UW–River Falls campuses to keep Wisconsin’s $45.6 billion dairy community at the global forefront in producing nutritious dairy foods in an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable manner. Since its launch in 2019, the Hub has funded more than 160 projects across the three campuses.
A faculty research fellowship is a temporary position for permanent faculty members. The goal is to provide support for a specific research project and any ancillary costs — including ensuring that the faculty member will have time to conduct the research and support for existing teaching responsibilities.
DI3 Faculty Fellowships are intended to leverage existing UW–Platteville expertise to provide timely results supporting the goals of the Dairy Innovation Hub, with an emphasis on addressing recommendations generated by the state’s Dairy Task Force 2.0, which completed its work in 2019.
The following UW–Platteville faculty fellows were selected for funding:
Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, Computer Science and Software Engineering
“Towards optimized usage of the milking robot using data analytics”
Ashrafuzzaman is an assistant professor of computer science and software engineering in the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science. His research focuses on security analytics in systems such as communication networks and power grids.
Project summary: Milking robots are an essential part of automating and modernizing dairy farms. These robots efficiently milk the cows and free up labor, which saves costs and gives farm owners or operators more time to focus on business growth activities. However, these robots are very expensive and proper management and utilization is warranted to make this investment financially feasible. This project is an exploratory endeavor to uncover and better understand the correlations between cow behavior and physiology aspects and robot performance in terms of milk collection and other performance goals. Data will be collected from the two milking robots at Pioneer Farm and will be analyzed with machine learning. Ryan Pralle in Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences and Afzal Upal in Computer Science and Software Engineering are also collaborating on this project.
Krista Eiseman, Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences
“Evaluating trends in female to male ratios in dairy science and related programs throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest region and the translation into post-secondary employment”
Eiseman is an assistant professor of animal and dairy science in the School of Agriculture. Her research interests include weaning management strategies and post-weaning, health and performance of beef calves, and supplementation strategies for improved animal health and productivity.
Project summary: There is a large presence of women in dairy science and other agriculture related programs within Wisconsin’s four-year, two-year, and technical college programs. Current data indicates that for most dairy science, animal science, and ag business post-secondary education programs, women are pursuing agriculture related degrees at a greater rate than their male counterparts. This project will evaluate trends in female to male ratios in dairy science, animal science, and ag business at UW–Platteville over the last 10-15 years. The resulting data will be used to better understand the ratio trends in general and to see if the trends are persisting in the workforce after graduation. Dong Isbister in Women’s and Gender Studies is also collaborating on this project.
John Obielodan, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
“Dairy protein biocomposites development using selective laser sintering 3D printing process”
Obielodan is a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science. Obielodan’s research focuses on novel materials development using additive manufacturing processes. His expertise includes metal and metal matrix composites processing using laser-based and ultrasonic-based additive processes.
Project summary: Casein is a protein that is found in cow milk. Casein is also a macromolecule with characteristics of a polymer, which are important structural molecules and make up materials such as plastics, rubbers, and PVC. Previous research has shown that casein can be used as a significant component of polymer materials for 3D printing and other traditional polymer processing methods, which could enable a new stream of revenue for dairy farmers in Wisconsin and stimulate the economies of rural communities. This project will investigate the use of casein in a 3D printing process called selective laser sintering (STS), which can make higher-quality products compared to other 3D printing processes, and also further develop research on using effectively using casein in 3D printing. Joseph Wu in Chemistry is also collaborating on this project.
Ryan Pralle, Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences
“Exploring high liver triglyceride content heritability and genetic architecture in early lactation holstein cows”
Pralle is an assistant professor of animal and dairy science in the School of Agriculture. His research is focused on developing data-driven management tools and strategies to optimize the metabolic health of individual cows. Pralle’s position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub.
Project summary: Bovine fatty liver syndrome (bFLS) is a metabolic disorder that can arise in early lactation dairy cows. bFLS reduces cow productivity and fertility and can lead to other medical issues. Through prior research, Pralle developed a blood biomarker panel that predicts high liver triglyceride (HTG) counts in cows, which may be an indicator for bFLS. This project hypothesizes that bFLS is a heritable disorder and will investigate the genetics of cows who have been tested by the blood biomarker panel to potentially find genetic traits associated with HTG. Ryan Haasl in Biology is also collaborating on this project.
Zifan Wan, Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences
“Enhancing the safety and growth of alfalfa by the utilization of novel non-thermal technology – High voltage atmospheric cold plasma”
Wan is an assistant professor of animal and dairy science in the School of Agriculture. Her primary research interest is in the application of non-thermal technologies for enhanced food safety and quality to achieve sustainable manufacturing goals. Her other research focuses on the utilization of food by-products and wastes for production of value-added ingredients. Wan’s position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub.
Project summary: Alfalfa is an important forage crop in Wisconsin and the United States and provides high-quality feed for dairy cows and livestock. Despite its value in animal feeding and benefits in soil health, there are some challenges during alfalfa production due to the contamination of pathogenic bacteria and mycotoxin-production fungi. Contaminated alfalfa poses risks for human and animal health. Cold plasma, a novel non-thermal technology, has potential to eliminate bacteria and fungi in alfalfa due to its antimicrobial properties. Cold plasma can be discharged to water to create plasma-activated water (PAW), and according to prior research, PAW has antimicrobial effects and can enhance seed germination and plant growth. The goal of this study is to investigate the application of PAW treatment on alfalfa seeds for microbial decontamination and enhancing alfalfa growth.
Contact: Maria Woldt, Dairy Innovation Hub program manager, (608) 265-4009, maria.woldt@wisc.edu