Adjunct Assistant Professor

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Resource management, mountain farming systems and land use, South American camelids (especially Alpaca)

Education

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison
A.B., Harvard College

Courses Taught

• ASCI 298F  Boot Camp in Alpaca Husbandry -- Travel Course

Contact

Email: stuart.white@uvm.edu

Adjunct Professor (Miner Institute)

Rick grew up on a dairy farm near Potsdam, NY. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition from Purdue University. Rick spent 13 years at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln as a professor of ruminant nutrition and extension dairy specialist. His areas of interest include forage and non-forage sources of fiber, carbohydrate nutrition, and dairy cattle behavior. He has been president at Miner Institute since 2003. As president, his primary role is to provide leadership to Institute staff as they work toward the common goal of optimizing the crop-animal-environment interface through research and educational programs. In 2010, Rick was awarded the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Award recognizing outstanding research and/or educational contributions in the area of forage production, processing, storage, or utilization. He was also awarded the 2015 Nutrition Professionals Inc. Applied Dairy Nutrition Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in research, teaching or extension in applied dairy nutrition. He holds adjunct faculty positions at the University of Vermont, Cornell University and Plattsburgh State University.

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Dairy Nutrition

Education

Ph.D., Purdue University
B.S., Cornell University

Courses Taught

• ASCI 234 Advanced Dairy Management

Contact

Email: grant@whminer.com

Adjunct Assistant Professor (Miner Institute)

Heather grew up on a dairy farm in western NY where she developed a passion for dairy and an appreciation for research. She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in animal science from Cornell University, a Master’s of Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. She has been working at Miner Institute since 2004. Her research at Miner focuses on dairy cow nutrition and management. In particular, she has investigated different types of diets for transition cows to help control feed costs and minimize environmental concerns while promoting animal health and productivity. She has also examined management factors important for animal welfare, including stocking density and maternity pen design and management. . In addition to research activities, she is active in training and mentoring undergraduate and post-graduate students through a variety of experiential learning programs at Miner Institute

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Forage Chemistry, Nutritional Physiology of Dairy Cattle, Interaction of Dairy Cattle Nutrition & Environment

Courses Taught

• ASCI 234 Advanced Dairy Management

Education

Ph.D., University of Illinois
M.S., Penn State University
B.S., Cornell University

Contact

Email: dann@whminer.com

Dairy Outreach Coordinator (Miner Institute)

Wanda is responsible for the coordination of educational programs for students, farmers, and agribusiness organizations through events such as Dairy Day, Crop Congress, Farm Days for Fifth Graders, farm tours, and other educational programs and agribusiness training sessions. She is responsible for overall leadership of the 14-week college student internship program, Summer Experience in Farm Management, and coordinates the spring semester Dairy Scholar Program. She earned both her B.S. in Animal Science and M.Ext.Ed. from the University of Vermont. In addition to receiving the Good Neighbor Award from the New England Jersey Breeders Association and Vermont Jersey Breeders Association, she is also on the Board of Directors for Vermont. Wanda serves on the Program Committee for the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge and is on the Board of Directors for the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, currently serving as Program Chair. She is also the Cattle Superintendent for the Clinton County Fair and the Champlain Valley Exposition and on the organizing committee for the Vermont Dairy Producers Association.

Education

M. Ext. Ed., University of Vermont
B.S., University of Vermont

Courses Taught

• ASCI 234 Advanced Dairy Management

Contact

Email: emerich@whminer.com

Adjunct Lecturer (Miner Institute)

Katie grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science with Honors in Undergraduate Research from the University of Vermont. She received a graduate fellowship from Miner Institute and received her Master’s of Science degree in Animal Science from the University of Vermont. She investigated techniques for in-vitro maturation and fertilization of bovine oocytes. She has been working at Miner Institute since 1987, first as Equine Program Coordinator, and was named Director of Research in 1993. The research program at Miner Institute focuses mainly on agronomy, ruminant nutrition and nutrient cycling. Katie’s main area of interest is reproductive physiology; she has been involved in work with dairy cattle and improving systems for the storage of stallion semen. Katie lives with her family on a bicentennial dairy farm in Georgia, Vermont.

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Bovine and Equine Reproduction and Director of Research at Minor Institute

Courses Taught

• ASCI 205 Assist teaching Equine Repro. & Mgmt.
• ASCI 234 Advanced Dairy Management

Education

M.S., University of Vermont
B.S., University of Vermont

Contact

Email: ballard@whminer.com

Adjunct Assistant Professor (Miner Institute)

Sarah grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Addison Country, Vermont. She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Animal Science from the University of Vermont, a Master’s of Science, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. She has worked at Miner Institute since 2018. Her research at Miner focuses on dairy cattle nutrition and management. Specifically, Sarah enjoys researching dairy calf and heifer nutrition and management. She is also involved in mentoring and teaching undergraduate and graduate students through different learning programs offered at Miner Institute.

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

• Dairy calf and heifer nutrition and management
• Dairy Nutrition

Education

• Ph.D., University of Illinois
• M.S., University of Illinois
• B.S., University of Vermont

Courses Taught

ASCI 234 Advanced Dairy Management 

Contact

Email: morrison@whminer.com

Adjunct Assistant Professor (NFS)

is originally from rural Wisconsin and grew up on a small homestead with chickens, goats, sheep, horses, and turkeys (among other animals). She got her PhD in food microbiology and food safety at Purdue University, where she studied how Listeria monocytogenes colonizes grocery store delis and how risky that was for consumers as well as investigating whether Salmonella Heidelberg strains involved in a foodborne outbreak in 2013-2014 were unusually tolerant to pathogen reduction measures commonly found in poultry processing plants.
Along with studying Salmonella and Campylobacter in backyard chickens and chicks, Andrea leads projects studying Listeria monocytogenes collected from Vermont dairies, investigating pathogen profiles and milking habits of Vermont’s Tier 1 raw milk farms, and investigating stress tolerance of Salmonella from foodborne outbreaks. She rides horseback and enjoys fiber arts in her spare time.

Full NFS prifile here: https://www.uvm.edu/cals/nfs/profiles/andrea-etter-phd

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella
Bacterial stress tolerance and food processing environments
Backyard chickens and biosecurity
Food safety and biosecurity for homesteaders/hobby farmers

Education:

PhD, Purdue University
BS Maranatha Baptist University

Courses Taught:

NFS 156: Deadly Foods: outbreak investigations
NFS 203/213: Food Microbiology (lecture, lab)
NFS 254: Global Food Safety.

Contact:

andrea.etter@uvm.edu
Website for the Backyard Chicken Project: https://blog.uvm.edu/aetter/