New Grant Alert

Katy W. Kesler

am humbled and excited to announce that my United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Predoctoral Fellowship “Harnessing the antioxidant potential of zinc and metallothionein to improve neonatal dairy calf vaccine responsiveness” was funded! This fellowship is part of the USDA NIFA’s Education and Workforce Development Program from the Agriculture and Food Resource Initiative (AFRI) which provides $68 million in funding for agriculture related projects in the six program areas listed below. 

1. professional development opportunities for K-14 educational professionals  
2. non-formal education that cultivates food and agricultural interest in youth 
3. workforce training at community, junior, and technical colleges  
4. training of undergraduate students in research and extension 
5. fellowships for predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars  
6. special workforce development topics. 

This grant will provide me with $180K in funding over the next 3 years to continue my work enhancing dairy health through optimizing calf immunity. This fellowship supports my stipend, travel, research and professional development opportunities. For example the fellowship allocates an international research travel allowance which will allow me to travel internationally to learn new laboratory techniques and train in a unique environment.