MANHATTAN, Kan. –Kansas State University Department of Animal Sciences and Industry (ASI) graduate students Danielle Stock and Katelyn Gaffield were recognized as 2024 recipients of the Larry Corah Graduate Student Award.
Stock completed her undergraduate degree at Iowa State University. She was awarded the Outstanding Master’s Student Award, which includes a $1,000 scholarship. She is an active member of the ASI Graduate Student Association, and she shares her knowledge with undergraduate students as a teaching assistant for Animal Breeding Principles, Bovine Reproductive Technologies, Special Topics in Animal Science: Bovine Artificial Insemination, Genetics, Principles of Animal Science, and Special Topics in Animal Sciences: Feedlot Management “Boot Camp.” In addition, she has proven to be an excellent representative of K-State and our ASI department as she has immersed herself into other extracurricular activities across campus and outside of K-State with many achievements along the way.
Passionate about the agriculture industry, Stock has taken the opportunity to dive deep into her education and take career-related jobs and internships. Her research project involves completing a genetic evaluation of male fertility traits. She is working to combine data from bull studs with breeding soundness examination data submitted by beef cattle breeders to analyze semen quality traits such as motility and sperm abnormalities. Stock has completed data editing and determination of fixed effects in the evaluation and is now working towards finalizing hertibalities and variance component estimates in her analysis.
Dr. Megan Rolf, K-State ASI associate professor and Stock’s advisor, says, “Dani has taken advantage of numerous opportunities to contribute to the department, obtain teaching experience, conduct excellent research, and exhibit the qualities of a Corah Outstanding Graduate Student at the master’s level. She is an exemplary master’s student, and she intends to pursue a doctorate in reproductive physiology as the next step in her scientific future.”
Gaffield was awarded the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award, which includes a $1,500 scholarship. She recently completed an impactful doctorate research program in diverse areas to become a well-rounded and highly respected expert in swine nutrition. She used her education to help students as a teaching assistant in ASI 560 Course-Based Research, ASI 320 Principles of Feeding, and ASI 533 Anatomy and Physiology. She is a motivated student who has taken many opportunities to intern in various jobs and has been an outstanding leader for the ASI department. Gaffield’s efforts have been recognized, resulting in her receiving numerous prestigious awards throughout her career.
“We believe that Katelyn’s scholastic achievement, research and teaching activity, leadership and citizenship have made a tremendous contribution to the mission of the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry during her doctorate program,” says Dr. Joel DeRouchey, professor and one of Gaffield’s advisors. “She served as our team’s undergraduate research Coordinator. In this position, she oversaw all undergraduate research projects conducted with the swine nutrition team. She provided direct leadership and oversight to undergraduate research projects and supported the students as they presented their research at university and national competitions.”
Gaffield to date has had 11 peer-reviewed articles published or submitted, 11 peer-reviewed abstracts, five extension publications, two popular press articles, and funding for three swine-focused research projects totaling $217,793. A highlight of her doctorate program work has been her fellowship positions. She served with JBS Live Pork, managing data for a 4,000 head wean-to-finish commercial research site and their field trials, which can include up to 130,000 pigs per study. Since completing her doctorate, Gaffield has joined the K-State Swine Nutrition Team as an assistant research professor.
Both the Ph.D. and master’s awards are presented in honor of Dr. Larry Corah, who served for 25 years as a K-State ASI beef extension and research specialist. After retiring from K-State, he went on to work for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as director of production systems and then served 17 years as the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) LLC Vice President of Supply. The scholarships are supported from the Larry Corah Graduate Student Enhancement Fund. The award winners are selected based on scholastic achievement, research activity and success, teaching activities, faculty evaluation and overall contributions to the mission of the department.