Presenters
AGENDA
FAI Precision Symposium AgendaKEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Jeffrey Bewley, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Bewley is from Rineyville, KY where he grew up working on his grandfather's dairy farm. He earned a B.S. in Animal Sciences (dairy option) from the University of Kentucky in 1998. In 2000, he completed his M.S. in Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Roger Palmer with a focus on dairy modernization. His Ph.D. work under Mike Schutz at Purdue University focused on the application and economics of precision dairy farming technologies.
For nine and a half years, Bewley was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky as an Extension Dairy Specialist. He has also worked with IceRobotics, PerforMix Nutrition and BoviSync. Bewley is currently Dairy Housing and Analytics Specialist with Alltech.
Bewley's professional interests include precision dairy technology, dairy records management and analytics, compost-bedded pack barn management and construction, freestall barn construction, management, and modernization, mastitis management and prevention, economic decision support, animal health economics and dairy farm financial analysis.
Bewley received the American Dairy Science Association Foundation Scholar Award in Production and the American Dairy Science Association Cargill Animal Nutrition Young Scientist Award in 2015. He was named to the Vance Publishing "40 Under 40" for Agriculture Award in 2014.
He has secured over 7.5 million dollars in funding during his research career. He has published over 50 peer reviewed publications, 110 meeting abstracts and 50 industry magazine publications. He has delivered over 100 invited presentations around the world, primarily on precision dairy technologies, compost bedded pack barns and mastitis management. He is an active member of the American Dairy Science Association and the National Mastitis Council.
Bewley is also a certified CowSignals trainer, a MEX udder health coach and a Lean Farming trainer. Bewley is a partner in the CowFocused Housing consulting company. Bewley pursues his passion for dairy cattle genetics through breeding and marketing as a lead partner in IceBlue Genetics, BlueCow Genetics and JBP Genetics.
Natalie Wisniewski, Ph.D.
Natalie Wisniewski conceived the technical approach behind Profusa. Together with Bill McMillan, she built the company road map, enlisted top talent and secured start-up funding.
Wisniewski leads Profusa’s technology development efforts and the grants program, which has secured $10M of DARPA and NIH funds. She is the co-inventor of Profusa’s tissue-integrating biosensor technology and optical reader.
Winner of the NIH Transformative Research Award, she is a recognized leader in understanding the body’s reaction to foreign materials and the design of bioengineered sensors.
In addition to her science career, she was a business consultant at McKinsey & Company and a consumer products developer at Kimberly-Clark. She has nearly two decades of regulatory, clinical and technical consulting experience in the medical device industry.
Wisniewski earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute where she developed her passion for continuous monitoring of body chemistries.
PRESENTERS
Tami Brown-Brandl, Ph.D.
Dr. Brown-Brandl has research program focused on an engineering approach to improved animal well-being and production efficiency. This is accomplished employing by several focus areas including: Precision Animal Management as a method of reducing animal stress and improving animal well-being by collecting and utilizing electronic data collected on individual animal, while being housed in typical industry-sized pens.
Prediction of individual animal susceptibility to heat stress as a method of maximizing animal performance and well-being while minimizing the negative aspects associated with many heat stress interventions.
Calorimetry and animal energetics of cattle, sheep and swine to evaluate both thermal and nutritional factors.
Development of sensors and control systems to provide objective measurements of dynamic animal responses.
Forecasting feedlot cattle heat stress developed a web-based cattle heat stress forecast, and currently developing a smart phone application app get the forecast information to producers on the go.
Andrew C. Lenkaitis, P.E.
Andy Lenkaitis’ career has focused on engineering, sales, product management and technical support within the automated milking system and livestock manure industry.
Having grown up on his family dairy farm in northeast Illinois, Andy learned to appreciate animals and farm mechanics. He completed dual B.S. degrees and a M.S. in Agricultural Engineering, specializing in Bioenvironmental Engineering. His thesis developed a microenvironment monitoring system for pigs during transport.
Five years ago, Andy and his wife Sarah began managing his family’s dairy farm, Lenkaitis Holsteins. In January 2018, the herd moved into a new robotic milking facility with GEA robots, an automated manure collection system and modified power ventilation system.
Lenkaitis Holsteins is focused on Red and White Holsteins with balanced type and production. The farm is in an urban area and is starting to host tours for industry groups and the public.
Andy has been with GEA for twelve years working in different roles for Houle Manure Equipment and WestfaliaSurge Milking Equipment. With Houle Manure Equipment, Andy worked globally with customers and dealers on barn and manure system layouts as well as new product development projects. In his current role, Andy is responsible for on-farm herd management support for automated milking systems in North America, focusing on farms as they transition form conventional to automated systems.
Andy is a fifteen-year member of ASABE, an active Farm Bureau member and a licensed Professional Engineer.