Students

Amanda Sowers

Graduate Student - College of Veterinary Medicine

Amanda's area of focus is in methods for identifying visceral pain in dairy cattle with induced liver abscesses. Utilizing many new animal behavior technologies, Amanda will be observing both behavioral and physiological signs of visceral pain.

 Jennifer Woods

Monique Pairis

Veterinary Student

Monique is a third year veterinary student at ISU. She graduated from Grinnell College in 2003 with a BS degree in biology. Monique is originally from Southern California, and although she is unsure of her plans after graduation, she would like to work in a mixed animal practice and continue pursuing research in animal behavior and welfare.

During her time at ISU, Monique has been an integral part of the animal welfare program. She has assisted with several collaborative studies in dentition, euthanasia, dehorning, fear, and several animal management-related topics, in addition to presenting data at international meetings.

Kristyn van Donselaar

Veterinary Student

Kristyn graduated in 2008 from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Animal Science, and is entering second year at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine. Her primary interest is in large animal medicine. During the summer of 2009, Kristyn participated in the Summer Scholars program, and conducted a study with Dr. Millman aimed at validating techniques for measuring pain sensitivity in dairy calves following dehorning. At the end of the Summer Scholars program, Kristyn received special recognition for her efforts in conducting/presenting research and grant-writing.

In her spare time Kristyn enjoys riding horses, camping, and any other outdoor activities.

Katrine Fogsgaard

Graduate Student - Aarhus University, Denmark

Katrine is currently working on her thesis concerning the behaviour and management of sick or injured dairy cows and is developing a survey to collect information about the management and design of hospital areas on dairy farms.

Janet Higginson

Graduate Student - University of Guelph

Janet is from rural eastern Ontario, where she realized at a young age that she wanted to work with animals and was very interested in their behaviour.  Janet graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Animal Biology from the University of Guelph.  She has worked as a veterinary technician in a small animal hospital and as a surgery technician in the large animal clinic at the Ontario veterinary College, gaining experience working with a wide variety of animals, from small exotics to heavy horses

Janet decided to pursue her interest in animals and their behaviour as a laboratory technician in the ethology lab.  She has worked on various projects, including a cow comfort study in collaboration with Dr. Dave Kelton, examining the effects of varying lengths of chain on the behaviour of dairy cows housed in a tie-stall barn.
In January 2007, Janet started her Master’s degree.  She is examining sickness behaviour in swine, looking at the social needs and responses of these animals when infected with Salmonella.  She is interested in contributing to the field of knowledge on sickness behaviour in hopes of improving the welfare of animals that are ill.

Eva Mainau

Graduate Student - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Amy Stanton
Graduate Student - University of Guelph

Amy Stanton was raised on a large, progressive dairy farm in southwestern Ontario. In 2005, Amy graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, with a strong emphasis on animal behavior and dairy production systems. She returned to her family farm to assist with the planning, development and initial construction phases of a totally new re-located dairy facility, including a double-30 milking parlor and 288-head calf barn. In 2006, Amy returned to the University of Guelph, in a combined MSc graduate studies and research technical assistant position. In late 2007, Ms. Stanton transferred to a PhD program in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. Amy’s doctoral study has a dual emphasis on epidemiology and applied ethology under the guidance of Drs. Suzanne Millman and Dave Kelton. Amy has been funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the animal health industry to conduct her research. Her specific interests are the behavioural indicators for early disease detection, the management of weaned dairy calves, and the long-term production and welfare effects of disease challenges in the young calf.

Cindy Todd

Graduate Student - University of Guelph

Cindy Todd grew up in eastern Ontario on a family dairy farm.  She spent her early years working on the farm, which was where she developed a keen interest for animal agriculture.  In the spring 2004, Cindy completed her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree at the University of Guelph.  In the fall of the same year, she began pursuing a Masters of Science in Epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph.  Throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, Cindy has gained a great deal of research experience.  She completed a senior undergraduate research project that examined the effect of rumen fluid supplementation on neonatal dairy calf performance and health.  Cindy has worked as a dairy research assistant at the Kemptville Campus Research Station.  During her graduate program, she has also served as a dairy health management research associate in the Department of Population Medicine.  As such, Cindy has had an active role in the research planning and design, as well as data collection, analysis and reporting for several clinical trials in dairy cows and calves.  Cindy’s Masters program investigates the efficacy of meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, as a supportive therapy for dairy calves with neonatal calf diarrhea complex.