Dr. Mary Drewnoski grew up in Appalachia, attended Berea College and North Carolina State followed by a 3 year post doc at Iowa State and 2 years on faculty at University of Idaho. She was hired by University of Nebraska in 2014 as part of an interdisciplinary team focused on developing integrated crop and cattle production systems in Nebraska. Mary’s extension and research program is focused on the utilization of crop residues and cover crop forages for backgrounding calves and beef cows. She has been instrumental in developing a $4.8 million Nebraska Beef systems Initiative and leads the extension component. Mary has made 87 presentations at extension meetings and has authored or co-authored 31 extension articles and done 45 interviews over the past 3 years. She instigated the development of an exchange for farmers with crop residues or cover crops to connect with cattlemen looking for grazing opportunities. Mary has certainly achieved the goals envisioned as a Beef Systems Specialist.