FY 25 Hub-funded projects by priority area


Awards in this section were selected by panels of faculty colleagues through a competitive proposal process where faculty and staff submitted a research idea, budget, and justification.  

UW–Madison

Postdoctoral fellowships

  • Assessing the impact of states and national climate policies and food behavioral changes on the US dairy industry – Min Chen, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. Trainee: Abdolhamid Dashtiahangar
  • Bioconversion of whey permeate to 2,3-butanediol at bioreactor scale – Victor Ujor, Department of Food Science. Trainee: Rasool Kamal

Graduate student assistantships

  • Ecological intensification for productivity, profitability, soil health, and carbon sequestration in the dairy-forage and cash-grain agroecosystems of the North Central US – Gregg Sanford, Department of Soil Science. Student: Gideon Fynaardt

UW–Platteville

Faculty research fellowships

  • Establishment of long term biochar research plots for evaluation of applications to dairy rotations – Joseph Sanford, Pioneer Farm

Equipment

  • Instrumentation updates for monitoring water quality and soil health from basins 5, 10, and 11 at Pioneer Farm – Dennis Busch, Pioneer Farm
  • Precision manure nutrient application using a real-time near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) nutrient sensing technology – Joseph Sanford, School of Agriculture
  • Real-time PCR based quantification of alfalfa root rot pathogen – Muthu Venkateshwaran, School of Agriculture

UW–River Falls

Faculty research fellowships

  • Growing a new UW collaboration to continuously measure groundwater nitrate in western Wisconsin farm wells using a novel sensor technology – Jill Coleman-Wasik, Department of Plant and Earth Science
  • Filling existing gaps in the monitoring of soil greenhouse gas emissions and environmental health at Mann Valley Farm – Susanne Wiesner, Department of Plant and Earth Science

Equipment

  • Assessing soil health and forage quality in dairy agricultural systems using multi-spectral and thermal sensors on-board of an unmanned aerial vehicle – Susanne Wiesner, Department of Plant and Earth Science

UW–Madison

Graduate student assistantships

  • Carework as farm work? Agricultural practitioners’ perspectives of childcare – Michaela Hoffelmeyer, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. Student: Trish Fisher
  • Development of analytical modeling tools to assess changes to milk pricing under Federal Milk Marketing Order– Charles Nicholson, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences and Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Student: Jack Myers 

UW–Platteville

Faculty research fellowships

  • Using seed priming to improve alfalfa feed quality and value – Raymond Pugh, Department of Chemistry

Equipment

  • Gene expression and sequence analysis to mitigate stress responses/outbreaks in dairy cows and increase alfalfa production – Chanaka Mendis, Department of Chemistry

UW–River Falls

Faculty research fellowships

  • Development of whey protein-lignin based film/coating materials for dairy food packaging applications – Youngmi Kim, Department of Agriculture Engineering Technology

UW–Madison

Short term, high impact grants

  • Development of online course on udder health: “Milk Quality from the Udder World (UW) – Carolina Pinzón, Division of Extension

Postdoctoral fellowships

  • Assessing changes in the fecal microbiomes of neonatal dairy calves to enhance animal health – Hilario Mantovani, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Trainee: Rayanne Viana Costa
  • Nutritional strategies to reduce early pregnancy loss in dairy cattle – Sofia Ortega, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Trainee: Froylan Sosa Hernandez

UW–Platteville

Faculty research fellowships

  • Precision livestock farming: Harnessing data and machine learning for enhanced dairy calf health and welfare – Md Mamunur Rahman, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

UW–River Falls

Equipment

  • Replacement and improvement of video recording systems at the Mann Valley Farm Dairy Learning Center – Phase 3 – Kurt Vogel, Department of Animal and Food Sciences


UW–Madison

Postdoctoral fellowships

  • Next generation yogurt with dairy probiotic complexes – Gulustan Ozturk, Department of Food Science. Trainee: Jerina Rugji 
  • Unlocking the potential of whey: Sustainable production of low-calorie tagatose and prebiotics for value creation and reducing environmental impact – Scott Rankin, Department of Food Science. Trainee: Wenjia Wang

UW–Platteville

Equipment

  • Assessment of dairy protein peptides and their derivatives for improving the quality of frozen dairy products – Zifan Wan, School of Agriculture

UW–River Falls

Faculty research fellowships

  • Processing-induced alterations in casein protein digestibility and enzymatic interactions – Grace Lewis, Department of Animal and Food Science

Equipment

  • Benchtop spray dryer for teaching, research, and outreach – Grace Lewis, Department of Animal and Food Science