A native of North Carolina, Dr. Rebecca “Becky” Poole received her B.S. in Animal Science (2014) from North Carolina State University (NCSU). She received her M.S. in Animal and Poultry Sciences (2016) from Virginia Tech and Ph.D. in Animal Science from NCSU (2019). While working towards her Ph.D., Becky received numerous academic awards including the Lester C. Ulberg Fellowship, Department of Animal Science Graduate Student Award in Research, and McDaniel Graduate Student Travel Award for Cattle Research. Her research focused on the negative effects of fescue toxicosis on beef cattle production and the utilization of various mitigation strategies to improve overall performance. She has authored or co-authored 9 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous abstracts. In addition to her doctoral research efforts, she was the instructor for ANS 221 (Reproductive Physiology Lab) and served as coach for the Dairy Judging Team. Becky also received teaching awards including the Graduate Student Association Award for Excellence in Laboratory Teaching and Department of Animal Science Graduate Student Award in Teaching. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas A&M University working on the effects of the reproductive microbiome on fertility in beef cattle.