Dr. Yates was born and raised in the small “Cotton & Cattle” town of Weinert, Texas in the west-central part of the state. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 2004 with a BS in animal science. After managing the graveyard shift in a large feed mill for a year, Dr. Yates returned to school at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas and earned an MS in reproductive physiology with Dr. Mike Salisbury in 2006. His Master’s thesis examined the mitigating effects of seaweed extract on heat stress-induced subfertility in male goats. Dr. Yates then joined the lab of Dr. Tim Ross at New Mexico State University and graduated with a PhD in reproductive physiology in 2009. His dissertation produced eight manuscripts related to stress-induced male and female subfertility. In 2010, Dr. Yates began a four-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the lab of Dr. Sean Limesand at The University of Arizona. During this time, Dr. Yates gained many of the research skills and techniques that his lab uses today. His research with Dr. Limesand produced several key new pieces of information regarding metabolic fetal programming, as well as several novel laboratory and surgical techniques for studying fetal physiology. In March of 2014, Dr. Yates began his current faculty position at UNL as Animal Stress Physiologist in the Animal Science department. His research program focuses on the mechanisms for adaptive muscle growth and metabolic programming related to maternal stress, placental insufficiency, and intrauterine growth restriction. In addition, his lab studies the effects of stress on growing animals and how it affects their efficiency, quality, and value. He is a member of the Nebraska Center for Prevention of Obesity Diseases, American Society of Animal Science, Society for the Study of Reproduction, and Gamma Sigma Delta. Dr. Yates has advised/co-advised 2 PhD and 5 MS students and has authored/co-authored 22 research manuscripts, 12 proceedings papers, 19 abstracts, 3 invited seminars, and a book chapter. Dr. Yates and his wife reside in nearby Eagle, NE and have two wonderful young children.