University Perspective: Developing Human Capital for the U.S. Swine Genetics Field - Dr. Maynard Hogberg, Iowa State University, from the 2017 North American PRRS/National Swine Improvement Federation Joint Meeting, December 1‐3, 2017, Chicago, Illinois, USA. More presentations at http://www.swinecast.com/2017-north-american-prrs-nsif-joint-meeting

1. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
University Perspective:
Developing Human Capital for a
Successful U.S. Swine Genetics Field
NSIF Conference
December 1, 2017
Maynard Hogberg
Professor and Chair Emeritus
Iowa State University

2. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
What are the Issues?
• Need for scientifically trained personnel is increasing
– Industry and Academic skill sets are similar
• Fewer swine faculty in universities
• Academic output of PhD’s is decreasing
• Declining interest among domestic students
– Strong demand for graduates in industry
• Declining public research funds
– Finding the right student once grants are funded
• Declining commitment to service

3. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
Mission Oriented Research
Excerpts from Mission-Oriented Research in Colleges of Agriculture-C. Woteki
• Must make a conscious effort to focus resources and expertise
on identified community, state, national and international
problems
• The complex nature of the problems requires a range of
research approaches from fundamental to applied,
encompassing multiple disciplines
• The need to foster and work inter-disciplinarily.
– Collegiality and open communications are essential for success
• Need to increase understanding of natural phenomena
– Need to articulate practical benefits from that research
• Faculty and college held accountable to the public

4. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
Past Characteristics of Animal
Science Programs
• Combined research, teaching and extension within
departments
– Mission oriented programs
– Base public funding for research and extension
– Promoted interdisciplinary work
• Faculty understood production animal agriculture
• Most students had animal agriculture experience
• All research results were publically available
• Strong producer support

5. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
Trends Affecting Animal Science
Programs
• Aging &depopulation of farm communities
– Increase in students with no livestock production background
• Consolidation and mergers
• Shift/declining research funding
– Public funding to competitive grants
– Production to non-production areas
• Changing faculty demographics
– Decline in faculty numbers and increase in number of UG students
– Shift from 12 mo to 9 mo appointments
– See granting agencies as stakeholders, not producers
– Lack understanding of production systems
• Holistic, problem solving approach lacking
– Research more reductionist, less systematic

6. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”

7. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
Human Capacity Needs in
Agriculture and Natural Resources
• U.S. college graduates in food,
agriculture, renewable natural
resources, and environment
programs will find good
employment opportunities in the
next five years.
• More than 5% growth is expected
in these occupations during 2015-
20 for graduates with bachelor’s
or higher degrees Some
57,900annual openings are
forecast.
USDA

8. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
USDA

9. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
USDA

10. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
What University Leaders and Hiring Managers say prepare graduates for
success
USDA

11. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
What Universities need to Develop in their graduates
USDA,

12. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”

13. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”

14. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
Attributes/Skill Sets Needed in Animal
Breeding & Genetics Graduates
• Understand modern science
– Both quantitative and molecular genetics
• Understand swine production systems
• Understand how their research fits into the swine industry
application
• Understand the impact of their research on animal well-being,
environment, food safety and consumer acceptance
• Critical thinking-analysis of problems-multidisciplinary
– Within and outside animal science departments
• Ability to work in a team approach as well as independently
• Leadership

15. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
National Swine Research Forum
November, 2016
• Topics of discussion
– How are we to fund research in the future?
– How do we meet the human and physical capacity
needs of the pork industry in the future?
– What are the research priorities for the pork
industry?

16. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
What would be the impact if…
• Graduate students were required to do an internship?
• If faculty were funded rather than specific research projects?
• If industry funded graduate students rather than projects?
• If more business/management incorporated into the
curriculum?
• All graduate students were required to have a meaningful
teaching/extension experience?
• Graduate students were required to participate in a multi-
disciplinary research project in addition to their thesis
research?

17. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
John Robinson
George Scott Robertson Memorial Lecture, 1994
Perhaps the succinct way of portraying my views on the
role of animal science in animal production in the next
century is to express a wish. The wish would simply be
to retain my present knowledge of applied animal
production, retrain as a molecular biologist and
establish a research career aimed at harnessing the
potential new biotechnology to improve the health,
welfare and efficiency of farm animal production
systems, within funding arrangements that reflect a
clear vision of the real needs of animal production.

18. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
“These employability skills [soft skills] are the lubricant of our increasingly
complex and interconnected workplace. They are not a substitute for specific
knowledge and technical skills; but they make the difference between being
good at a subject and being good at doing a job.”
–The Employability Challenge, UK Commission for Employment and Skills, South
Yorkshire, UK, 2009 (pg. 3).

19. DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
“Enriching Lives through Animals”
QUESTIONS???