Markus Rodehutscord

Dr Rodehutscord is the professor of animal nutrition in the Institute of Animal Science at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. The research of his group is on amino acid and mineral metabolism of livestock and related aspects of feedstuff evaluation for different livestock.

A recent focus of the group is on the process of inositolphosphate degradation in the digestive tract and dietary factors influencing this degradation. Markus is chair of the Standing Committee on Nutrient Requirements of the Society of Nutritional Physiology in Germany and a member of the Working Group 2 (Nutrition) of the European Federation of Branches of WPSA.

Mike Bedford

Dr Bedford joined AB Vista in 2007 as Research Director where he is responsible for overseeing the company’s research into feed enzymes, yeast, betaine and other associated additives. With a team of 5 individuals, he co-ordinates almost 100 projects per year at more than 70 Universities around the world at any point in time. Much of the work focusses on new product development and maximising the value of current products through holo-analysis of all accumulated data.

Dr Bedford spends a significant amount of time at scientific conferences and visiting industry contacts, keeping him in touch with latest academic and industry advances. Dr Bedford has been able to publish throughout his working life; he has edited two books and written chapters in six others, produced more than 150 refereed articles, 30 magazine articles and 70 abstracts.

Damian Józefiak

Dr Damian Józefiak graduated from the Poznan University of Life Sciences in 2000 and started his research in poultry nutrition and gastrointestinal microbiology at the Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management. In 2004 he started cooperation with integrated poultry companies in Poland, currently working as associated professor at PULS and head of R&D in the Piast Group.

Dr Józefiak is co-author of more than 40 papers, 24 in referred full scientific papers, and over 100 abstracts of material presented at conferences.

Korinna Huber

Dr Huber is a professor and Head of Department Functional Anatomy of Livestock at the University of Hohenheim. Her education background is varied and includes veterinary medicine; physiology, nutritional physiology and metabolic regulation, gastrointestinal physiology. As a professor, Korinna’s teaching covers basic knowledge in anatomy and physiology of farm animals, advanced knowledge in metabolic performance of farm animals and its associated dysregulation and also practical course in histology.

Korinna’s research includes metabolic performance in high-yielding farm animals, identification of early biomarkers announcing metabolic dysregulation and identification of dietary factors to restore metabolic balance.

Steve Safrany

Dr Safrany’s interest into inositol phosphates began in 1986, a time when Fison's Pharmaceuticals were looking for InsP3 receptor antagonists. Steve moved to Leicester University Medical School to study inositide signalling at the level of receptor regulation as well as structure-activity relationship studies at the InsP3 receptor, 5-phosphatase and 3-kinase under Stefan Nahorski.

In 1994, he moved to NIEHS, NIH, USA to work with Steve Shears and gain biochemical experience. He purified and cloned DIPP - diphosphoinositol polyphosphate phosphohydrolase, the enzyme that metabolises inositol diphosphates (IDPs). He also showed that IDPs are regulated by cell-surface receptors. He returned to the UK (Dundee University) in 1999, having received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, where he continued these studies. Further appointments at the universities of Bath and Wolverhampton predate his current position as Associate Professor of Pharmacology at RCSI-Bahrain.

Pete Wilcock

After earning his doctorate at Nottingham University, Dr Pete Wilcock joined AB Agri where he was responsible for; UK monogastric research and development, UK sales support, and product development for new business in China. He then moved to Nutreco in 2000 where he was responsible for technical sales of swine premixes into the UK market as well as being part of the Nutreco research group developing new ideas for products in the European market.

Between 2002 and 2009 Dr Wilcock worked for a number of AB Agri companies including Primary Diets as their swine nutritionist in Europe and North America, and AB Vista during their initial start-up phase. He has returned to AB Vista’s US office as Technical Manager to support both enzyme and yeast sales globally.

Hans Stein

Dr Stein is a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Illinois. He has a PhD in Non-Ruminant Nutrition from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr Stein currently directs eight PhD students, four research technicians, and a visiting scholar. Dr Stein’s research focuses on feed ingredient evaluation and measuring energy and nutrient digestibility in feed ingredients fed to pigs.

Dr Stein has given invited presentations on swine nutrition and swine production in 34 countries around the world. He has authored or co-authored 170 peer-reviewed publications, 256 research abstracts, 11 book chapters, and 126 conference proceedings, bulletins, and extension publications.

Yinka Olukosi

Dr Oluyinka (Yinka) Olukosi is the Senior Poultry Research Scientist at the Avian Science Research Centre of the SRUC (formerly SAC) since 2010, where he is leading the poultry nutrition research activities. He obtained his PhD degree in Animal Sciences from Purdue University in 2008 followed by a two-year post-doctoral training at the same university. His research is on feedstuff evaluation, the utilisation of feed additives in animal nutrition, whole-body nutrient utilisation and nutrient partitioning.

He also works in areas of nutrition and health interaction especially as it relates to the use of feed enzymes as well as molecular mechanisms for nutrient-nutrient interaction. He has published more than 80 scientific publications with more than half dealing with different aspects of enzyme supplementation in poultry or swine diets.

Patrick Schlegel

Dr Schlegel grew up on a dairy farm and graduated in Animal Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in 1999. In 2001, he joined a private company producing organic trace minerals and sweeteners as feed additives. He organized animal studies in collaboration with research institutes and customers and served as a technical support. In 2008, he joined Agroscope, a government owned research institute for agronomy. Since then, he is in charge of conducting research on mineral and vitamin nutrition in ruminants and pigs. In 2010, he obtained his thesis entitled “Dietary factors affecting zinc bioavailability in poultry and pigs” at AgroParisTech in France. His actual research topics are: mineral contents in forage and feed ingredients, mineral antagonism in dairy cattle and calcium and phosphorus nutrition in pigs.

Eric Peatman

Dr Peatman is an Associate Professor in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences at Auburn University. His research focuses on the intersection of host mucosal immunity, nutrition, and the environment in farmed fishes. He has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications to-date as well as numerous book chapters and popular-press articles in the area. He has been active in research and extension activities supporting the broad-scale implementation of phytase superdosing in the US catfish industry.

Tara York

Dr York, a native of North Carolina, attended North Carolina State University where she obtained both her MS in Physiology (1993) and her PhD in Physiology/Nutrition (1996) working primarily with broiler breeders. Prior to joining AB Vista, Tara was a Product Development Manager at Novus International for 13 years where she supported customers in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In 2009 she joined AB Vista as a Technical Manager for the US and Canada where she supports customers in the area of enzyme application and use. Having over 20 years’ experience in the poultry industry has allowed Tara to obtain and pull from a wealth of knowledge as a direct result of working closely with customers in the areas of nutrition and management for poultry. Tara is a member of PSA, WPSA-USA and ARPAS. She has served as the President of Southern Poultry Science, a member of the board of trustees for the PSA-Foundation as well on the board of directors for PSA.

Hank Classen

Dr Henry (Hank) Classen grew up on a mixed farm where he developed an interest in agriculture and more specifically poultry. He completed a B.S.A at the University of Saskatchewan, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. After briefly serving as an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University, Dr Classen joined the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan. He rose to the rank of Full Professor and served in a variety of roles including Head of the Department. In 2013, Dr Classen was named Distinguished Professor by the University of Saskatchewan and also was awarded a five-year NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Poultry Nutrition.

Layi Adeola

Professor Adeola is currently a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University, where he conducts research in energy, amino acids, and phosphorus utilization of non-ruminant animals for improving the efficiency of lean meat production and minimizing the flow of nutrients through animal waste into the environment. He has developed an internationally-recognized research program in energy and nutrient utilization of non-ruminant animals. His research has led the way for cost-effective diet formulation strategies for non-ruminant animals that improve the retention of energy, phosphorus, and nitrogen, the three most expensive dietary components. Professor Adeola has authored or co-authored 200 refereed papers, 210 abstracts and book chapters, and several other publications.

Sami Dridi

Dr Dridi is an Associate Professor of Avian Endocrinology and Molecular Genetics in the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas. Dr Dridi focusses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate energy homeostasis and fat metabolism in chickens. Currently, he is studying the regulation of muscle orexin by nutritional, genetic and environmental factors. The long term goal of Dr Dridi’s research is to identify molecular signatures that can be manipulated by nutrition, genetic selection and/or management to improve feed efficiency.

Gabriel Morales

Dr Morales has a PhD in aquaculture from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. He has spent time as 'Doctor Europaeus' at Norwegian University of Life Sciences as well as an Agricultural Engineer at the University of Buenos Aires. Dr Morales is now a professor in the Department of Animal Production, School of Agriculture, at the University of Buenos Aires. His current work involves him leading and collaborating in national and international research projects in aquaculture nutrition, with a special focus in the study of the gastrointestinal digestion dynamics of dietary protein and minerals in fish and their optimization through feed additives.

Dr Morales is also an Assistant Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina and regularly acts as an international consultant for public and private aquaculture projects.

Mike Kidd

Dr Kidd has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas in poultry science. His doctorate is from North Carolina State University (nutrition and immunology). From 1994-1999, Kidd served as research manager and then director at Nutri-Quest, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri. Kidd joined the Mississippi State University faculty in 1999 and headed the poultry science department there from 2007 to 2010. He joined the University of Arkansas in January 2010 to head the poultry science department and direct the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. He has published over 400 scientific articles and been an invited speaker at over 100 international venues in 40 countries. He served as president of the Poultry Science Association from 2012 to 2013.

Ravi Ravindran

Dr Ravi Ravindran holds the position of Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Massey University, New Zealand. He obtained his Masters of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Nutrition from Virginia Tech University, USA.

He has previously held academic and research positions in Sri Lanka, Canada, USA and Australia, prior to moving to New Zealand in 1998. He has published in excess of 400 scientific works, including 31 book chapters. Dr Ravindran serves on the Editorial Boards of a number of international journals, including British Journal of Nutrition, Animal Feed Science and Technology, Animal Production Science, Poultry Science, Journal of Animal Science and Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science. He is a member of the UN/FAO Expert Committee on new feed resources in animal nutrition. Dr Ravindran's areas of extensive research include feed evaluation, amino acid availability and feed enzymes, particularly microbial phytases.

Korinna Huber

Dr Huber is a professor and Head of Department Functional Anatomy of Livestock at the University of Hohenheim. Her education background is varied and includes veterinary medicine; physiology, nutritional physiology and metabolic regulation, gastrointestinal physiology. As a professor, Korinna’s teaching covers basic knowledge in anatomy and physiology of farm animals, advanced knowledge in metabolic performance of farm animals and its associated dysregulation and also practical course in histology. Korinna’s research includes metabolic performance in high-yielding farm animals, identification of early biomarkers announcing metabolic dysregulation and identification of dietary factors to restore metabolic balance.

Hans Stein

Dr Stein is a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Illinois. He has a PhD in Non-Ruminant Nutrition from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr Stein currently directs eight PhD students, four research technicians, and a visiting scholar. Dr Stein’s research focuses on feed ingredient evaluation and measuring energy and nutrient digestibility in feed ingredients fed to pigs.

Dr Stein has given invited presentations on swine nutrition and swine production in 34 countries around the world. He has authored or co-authored 170 peer-reviewed publications, 256 research abstracts, 11 book chapters, and 126 conference proceedings, bulletins, and extension publications.

Sami Dridi

Dr Dridi is an Associate Professor of Avian Endocrinology and Molecular Genetics in the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas. Dr Dridi focusses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate energy homeostasis and fat metabolism in chickens. Currently, he is studying the regulation of muscle orexin by nutritional, genetic and environmental factors. The long term goal of Dr Dridi’s research is to identify molecular signatures that can be manipulated by nutrition, genetic selection and/or management to improve feed efficiency.

Hank Classen

Dr Henry (Hank) Classen grew up on a mixed farm where he developed an interest in agriculture and more specifically poultry. He completed a B.S.A at the University of Saskatchewan, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. After briefly serving as an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University, Dr Classen joined the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan. He rose to the rank of Full Professor and served in a variety of roles including Head of the Department. In 2013, Dr Classen was named Distinguished Professor by the University of Saskatchewan and also was awarded a five-year NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Poultry Nutrition.

Eric Peatman

Dr Peatman is an Associate Professor in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences at Auburn University. His research focuses on the intersection of host mucosal immunity, nutrition, and the environment in farmed fishes. He has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications to-date as well as numerous book chapters and popular-press articles in the area. He has been active in research and extension activities supporting the broad-scale implementation of phytase superdosing in the US catfish industry.

Markus Rodehutscord

Dr Rodehutscord is the professor of animal nutrition in the Institute of Animal Science at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. The research of his group is on amino acid and mineral metabolism of livestock and related aspects of feedstuff evaluation for different livestock. A recent focus of the group is on the process of inositolphosphate degradation in the digestive tract and dietary factors influencing this degradation. Markus is chair of the Standing Committee on Nutrient Requirements of the Society of Nutritional Physiology in Germany and a member of the Working Group 2 (Nutrition) of the European Federation of Branches of WPSA.

Mike Kidd

Dr Kidd has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas in poultry science. His doctorate is from North Carolina State University (nutrition and immunology). From 1994-1999, Kidd served as research manager and then director at Nutri-Quest, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri. Kidd joined the Mississippi State University faculty in 1999 and headed the poultry science department there from 2007 to 2010. He joined the University of Arkansas in January 2010 to head the poultry science department and direct the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. He has published over 400 scientific articles and been an invited speaker at over 100 international venues in 40 countries. He served as president of the Poultry Science Association from 2012 to 2013.

Patrick Schlegel

Dr Schlegel grew up on a dairy farm and graduated in Animal Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in 1999. In 2001, he joined a private company producing organic trace minerals and sweeteners as feed additives. He organized animal studies in collaboration with research institutes and customers and served as a technical support. In 2008, he joined Agroscope, a government owned research institute for agronomy. Since then, he is in charge of conducting research on mineral and vitamin nutrition in ruminants and pigs. In 2010, he obtained his thesis entitled “Dietary factors affecting zinc bioavailability in poultry and pigs” at AgroParisTech in France. His actual research topics are: mineral contents in forage and feed ingredients, mineral antagonism in dairy cattle and calcium and phosphorus nutrition in pigs.

Yinka Olukosi

Dr Oluyinka (Yinka) Olukosi is the Senior Poultry Research Scientist at the Avian Science Research Centre of the SRUC (formerly SAC) since 2010, where he is leading the poultry nutrition research activities. He obtained his PhD degree in Animal Sciences from Purdue University in 2008 followed by a two-year post-doctoral training at the same university. His research is on feedstuff evaluation, the utilisation of feed additives in animal nutrition, whole-body nutrient utilisation and nutrient partitioning.

He also works in areas of nutrition and health interaction especially as it relates to the use of feed enzymes as well as molecular mechanisms for nutrient-nutrient interaction. He has published more than 80 scientific publications with more than half dealing with different aspects of enzyme supplementation in poultry or swine diets.

Damian Józefiak

Dr Damian Józefiak graduated from the Poznan University of Life Sciences in 2000 and started his research in poultry nutrition and gastrointestinal microbiology at the Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Management. In 2004 he started cooperation with integrated poultry companies in Poland, currently working as associated professor at PULS and head of R&D in the Piast Group.

Dr Józefiak is co-author of more than 40 papers, 24 in referred full scientific papers, and over 100 abstracts of material presented at conferences.

Steve Safrany

Dr Safrany’s interest into inositol phosphates began in 1986, a time when Fison's Pharmaceuticals were looking for InsP3 receptor antagonists. Steve moved to Leicester University Medical School to study inositide signalling at the level of receptor regulation as well as structure-activity relationship studies at the InsP3 receptor, 5-phosphatase and 3-kinase under Stefan Nahorski. In 1994, he moved to NIEHS, NIH, USA to work with Steve Shears and gain biochemical experience. He purified and cloned DIPP - diphosphoinositol polyphosphate phosphohydrolase, the enzyme that metabolises inositol diphosphates (IDPs). He also showed that IDPs are regulated by cell-surface receptors. He returned to the UK (Dundee University) in 1999, having received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, where he continued these studies. Further appointments at the universities of Bath and Wolverhampton predate his current position as Associate Professor of Pharmacology at RCSI-Bahrain.

Mike Bedford

Dr Bedford joined AB Vista in 2007 as Research Director where he is responsible for overseeing the company’s research into feed enzymes, yeast, betaine and other associated additives. With a team of 5 individuals, he co-ordinates almost 100 projects per year at more than 70 Universities around the world at any point in time. Much of the work focusses on new product development and maximising the value of current products through holo-analysis of all accumulated data. Dr Bedford spends a significant amount of time at scientific conferences and visiting industry contacts, keeping him in touch with latest academic and industry advances. Dr Bedford has been able to publish throughout his working life; he has edited two books and written chapters in six others, produced more than 150 refereed articles, 30 magazine articles and 70 abstracts.

Pete Wilcock

After earning his doctorate at Nottingham University, Dr Pete Wilcock joined AB Agri where he was responsible for; UK monogastric research and development, UK sales support, and product development for new business in China. He then moved to Nutreco in 2000 where he was responsible for technical sales of swine premixes into the UK market as well as being part of the Nutreco research group developing new ideas for products in the European market.
Between 2002 and 2009 Dr Wilcock worked for a number of AB Agri companies including Primary Diets as their swine nutritionist in Europe and North America, and AB Vista during their initial start-up phase. He has returned to AB Vista’s US office as Technical Manager to support both enzyme and yeast sales globally.

Tara York

Dr York, a native of North Carolina, attended North Carolina State University where she obtained both her MS in Physiology (1993) and her PhD in Physiology/Nutrition (1996) working primarily with broiler breeders. Prior to joining AB Vista, Tara was a Product Development Manager at Novus International for 13 years where she supported customers in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In 2009 she joined AB Vista as a Technical Manager for the US and Canada where she supports customers in the area of enzyme application and use. Having over 20 years’ experience in the poultry industry has allowed Tara to obtain and pull from a wealth of knowledge as a direct result of working closely with customers in the areas of nutrition and management for poultry. Tara is a member of PSA, WPSA-USA and ARPAS. She has served as the President of Southern Poultry Science, a member of the board of trustees for the PSA-Foundation as well on the board of directors for PSA.

Layi Adeola

Professor Adeola is currently a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University, where he conducts research in energy, amino acids, and phosphorus utilization of non-ruminant animals for improving the efficiency of lean meat production and minimizing the flow of nutrients through animal waste into the environment. He has developed an internationally-recognized research program in energy and nutrient utilization of non-ruminant animals. His research has led the way for cost-effective diet formulation strategies for non-ruminant animals that improve the retention of energy, phosphorus, and nitrogen, the three most expensive dietary components. Professor Adeola has authored or co-authored 200 refereed papers, 210 abstracts and book chapters, and several other publications.

Gabriel Morales

Dr Morales has a PhD in aquaculture from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. He has spent time as 'Doctor Europaeus' at Norwegian University of Life Sciences as well as an Agricultural Engineer at the University of Buenos Aires. Dr Morales is now a professor in the Department of Animal Production, School of Agriculture, at the University of Buenos Aires. His current work involves him leading and collaborating in national and international research projects in aquaculture nutrition, with a special focus in the study of the gastrointestinal digestion dynamics of dietary protein and minerals in fish and their optimization through feed additives.

Dr Morales is also an Assistant Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina and regularly acts as an international consultant for public and private aquaculture projects.

Ravi Ravindran

Dr Ravi Ravindran holds the position of Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Massey University, New Zealand. He obtained his Masters of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Nutrition from Virginia Tech University, USA.

He has previously held academic and research positions in Sri Lanka, Canada, USA and Australia, prior to moving to New Zealand in 1998. He has published in excess of 400 scientific works, including 31 book chapters. Dr Ravindran serves on the Editorial Boards of a number of international journals, including British Journal of Nutrition, Animal Feed Science and Technology, Animal Production Science, Poultry Science, Journal of Animal Science and Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science. He is a member of the UN/FAO Expert Committee on new feed resources in animal nutrition. Dr Ravindran's areas of extensive research include feed evaluation, amino acid availability and feed enzymes, particularly microbial phytases.

Mike Kidd

Dr Kidd has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas in poultry science. His doctorate is from North Carolina State University (nutrition and immunology). From 1994-1999, Kidd served as research manager and then director at Nutri-Quest, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri. Kidd joined the Mississippi State University faculty in 1999 and headed the poultry science department there from 2007 to 2010. He joined the University of Arkansas in January 2010 to head the poultry science department and direct the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. He has published over 400 scientific articles and been an invited speaker at over 100 international venues in 40 countries. He served as president of the Poultry Science Association from 2012 to 2013.

Markus Rodehutscord

Dr Rodehutscord is the professor of animal nutrition in the Institute of Animal Science at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. The research of his group is on amino acid and mineral metabolism of livestock and related aspects of feedstuff evaluation for different livestock. A recent focus of the group is on the process of inositolphosphate degradation in the digestive tract and dietary factors influencing this degradation. Markus is chair of the Standing Committee on Nutrient Requirements of the Society of Nutritional Physiology in Germany and a member of the Working Group 2 (Nutrition) of the European Federation of Branches of WPSA.

Hans Stein

Dr Stein is a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Illinois. He has a PhD in Non-Ruminant Nutrition from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr Stein currently directs eight PhD students, four research technicians, and a visiting scholar. Dr Stein’s research focuses on feed ingredient evaluation and measuring energy and nutrient digestibility in feed ingredients fed to pigs.

Dr Stein has given invited presentations on swine nutrition and swine production in 34 countries around the world. He has authored or co-authored 170 peer-reviewed publications, 256 research abstracts, 11 book chapters, and 126 conference proceedings, bulletins, and extension publications.

Imke Kühn

Dr Kühn works as Senior Research Manager at AB Vista and is focused on applied feed enzyme research. She mainly works on research and development of phytases in close cooperation with internal and external experts. Imke’s main interest is to constantly improve enzymatic products in product formulation and their mode of action. In respect to phytases, Imke therefore concentrates on a better understanding of the gastro-intestinal phytate degradation by different phytases, the resulting inositol release and its relevance for the animal. She has 20 years’ experience in the feed ingredient industry on registration, application and development of feed additives. Imke joined AB Enzymes in November 2001 and has been working within the AB Vista team since its inception in 2004.

Carrie Walk

Dr Walk is a Senior Research Manager at AB Vista, a global animal nutrition technology company. Carrie specialises in phytase, phytate and nutrient interactions in monogastrics and has published approximately 29 peer-reviewed papers and over 160 scientific abstracts. Prior to joining AB Vista, Carrie worked as a postdoctoral research assistant in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech where she evaluated calcium, phosphate, phytate, and phytase interactions within conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Carrie received a BS and MS in Animal Science from the University of Missouri and a PhD in Animal and Poultry Science from Virginia Tech.