Holly Webb (USyd graduate) and Chloe Mitchell (UofA graduate) are currently working as interns at the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) head office in Champaign, IL. Please take a minute to read about their backgrounds and activities in the United States.
Holly (left) and Chloe (right) at the ASAS head office in Champaign, Illinois.
Holly Webb
I completed a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (BAnVetBioSc) at The University of Sydney, graduating with Honours. My studies and professional experience has sparked a wide range of interests including animal behaviour and welfare, livestock production and wildlife management.
I received a scholarship from the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) in a joint initiative with the Australian Society of Animal Production (ASAP) to stay in Illinois and work at the ASAS headquarters in Champaign, IL as a communications intern from February to April 2016. I look forward to gaining a perspective of animal science and production in the United States.
Chloe Mitchell
I attended the University of Adelaide from 2013, studying a Bachelor of Animal Science at the Roseworthy campus. I completed my undergraduate degree in 2015. Companion animals are my major interest, however I also enjoyed microbiology, reproduction, behaviour and welfare during my studies.
After graduation I had planned to continue into postgraduate study with an honours project focusing on developmental programming in poultry, however this plan changed upon learning I had received one of two scholarships to intern in a communications role in Champaign, Illinois with the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS). This opportunity was offered to all final year agricultural and animal science students across Australia in collaboration between ASAS and the Australian Society of Animal Production (ASAP).
Events and travel plans
Holly and Chloe viewing an ultrasound at North Dakota State University.
ASAS has generously organised travel plans that will take us all over the Midwest. We have travelled to Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and Iowa with further plans to visit Oklahoma and a weekend trip
to Chicago.
The 2016 ASAS Midwestern Section/ADSA Midwest Branch Meeting was held in Des Moines, Iowa from March 14 – 16.
ASAS holds four annual section meetings (Midwest, Northeast, Southern and Western), as well as biannually hosting the ASAS and ADSA Joint Annual Meeting, which will be held this year in Salt Lake City, Utah.
On Sunday the 13th we attended the Academic Quadrathlon (AQ), an event for undergraduate students from universities across the Midwest, this year hosted at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Teams of four students compete in a written exam, laboratory practicum, oral presentation, and quiz bowl. We were part of an eight-person judging panel for the oral presentation component.
Chloe and Holly attending the 2016 ASAS Midwest Meeting.
The following day was the first official day of the Midwest meeting, with symposia, oral sessions, poster presentations, and competitions running throughout the day. We worked in the presentation upload room as well as attending symposia including the Gary Allee Symposium (Consumer/Customer Demands, Opportunities for Nutritionists) and the annual Bentley Symposium, this year given by Dr. Frank Dunshea from The University of Melbourne on heat stress in livestock. That afternoon we judged the undergraduate student oral competition with Dr. Gretchen Hill, sponsored by the ASAS Foundation and Gretchen Hill Appreciation Club. During the evening we attended the reception of Young Scholar Award Winners, and the AQ Quiz Bowl Finals and Awards Presentation.
On Tuesday we attended the Animal Behaviour, Housing and Wellbeing Symposium, Ruminant Nutrition Symposium, and the Growth, Development, Muscle Biology and Meat Science Symposium. That evening was the Business Meeting and Awards Program, followed by the President’s Reception, where we were hosted by ASAS President Dr. Michael Looper.
Wednesday the 16th was the final day of the meeting. We attended the Equine Welfare Symposium and during breaks in the program, wrote summaries of symposia and other meeting events for ASAS Taking Stock.
Click here to read more about our internship.
