History of AIP Research Staff
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History of AIP Research Staff


Research leaders  |  Research staff  |  Visiting researchers


Research leaders

Year Research leader Career after AIP
1908 Helmer Rabild  |  Photo
 Managed milk processing plants in Pennsylvania
1925 Joseph Parker &
John McLain		 Became extension specialists
1929 John McDowell  
1938 Frank Kendrick
 Established a USDA computing center in Washington, DC
1962 Robert (Bob) H. Miller
 Became research leader for the Genetics and Management Laboratory and then the Milk Secretion and Mastitis Laboratory; publications
1963 Ernest Corley
 Became chief of the Dairy Cattle Research Branch and then assistant to the administrator for the Agricultural Research Service
1966 R. Dean Plowman
 Became adminstrator of the Agricultural Research Service and then acting assistant secretary for USDA
1969 Frank N. Dickinson
 Became chief executive officer of the National Dairy Herd Information Association (NDHIA)
1988 H. Duane Norman Became interim administrator of the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) and later a CDCB technical advisor and industry liaison
2012 George R. Wiggans Final acting research leader of the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory, which was merged with the Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory to form the Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory; became a CDCB technical advisor


Research staff

Years Staff member   Years Staff member   Years Staff member
1960–72 Benjamin (Ben) T. McDaniel   1996–2002 Jill C. Philpot (Lake)   2009–16 Tabatha A. Cooper
1972–75 Jeffrey (Jeff) F. Keown   2004 Robert (Rob) C. Goodling, Jr.  1978–16 George R. Wiggans
1975–79 Bennet G. Cassell   1972–2005 Rex L. Powell   2012–16 Derek M. Bickhart
1979 Alfred (Al) L. Kuck   2001–06 Ashley H. Sanders   1980–2017 Janice R. Wright
1974–82 Evelyn F. Myers   2002–08 Melvin T. Kuhn  1988–2018 Frank A. Ross, Jr.
1968–83 Gerald (Jerry) J. King   2003–08 Laura L. M. Thornton
1984–91 Cynthia A. Ernst   1998–2010 Curtis (Curt) P. Van Tassell
1996–97 Ryan J. Starkenburg   1973–2011 Leigh M. Walton
1997–99 Lori A. Smith (Andrews)   1970–2011 H. Duane Norman
1977–2000 William (Wes) E. Shainline, Jr.   1992–2015 Joel (Jay) H. Megonigal, Jr.


Visiting researchers

Years Researcher Country
of origin		 Research project

Postdoctoral research associates
1982–83 Waheed A. Mohammad India Effects of pregnancy
1984–85 Thomas (Tom) J. Lawlor, Jr. USA Effect of selection on parameter estimation
1988–89 Martin Sieber Germany Conversion formulas
1991–95 Todd R. Meinert USA Accuracy of data
1991–94 Michael (Mike) M. Schutz USA Somatic cell score (SCS) evaluation, age adjustment
1996–97 Yang Da China Genetic markers
1996–97 Curtis (Curt) P. Van Tassell USA Variance components
2002–04 Elizabeth (Liz) Hare USA Reproduction and its relationships with other traits
2009–11 Katrina (Katie) M. Olson USA Multibreed genomic evaluations, breed determination from genomics, genomic validation, and across-country genomic evaluations
2012–14 Chuanyu Sun China Genomic evaluation models
2014–16 Kristen Parker Gaddis USA Genomics of fertility-related traits

Visiting scientists
1974 Frank D. Murrill USA DHIA organization
1979–80 Michael (Mike) Grossman USA Goat data analysis
1981 Max F. Rothschild USA Prediction from pedigree data
1982 Abraham Genizi Israel Lactation adjustments
1982–83;
1993–94;
2012–13;
2016–17		 Joel I. Weller Israel Prediction errors, parity differences;
genetic marker analysis;
a priori granddaughter design to map major genetic effects;
determination of actual polymorphisms responsible for economic trait variation in dairy cattle
1989 Andrzej (Andy) Żarnecki Poland 10-nation Holstein comparison
1992 Wilfried Brade Germany Dominance and epistatis
1994 Jeong-Koo Lee South Korea Effects of pregnancy
1999–2000 Theodore (Ted) A. Ferris USA Test day model
2000 Georgios Banos Greece Systems for validation of national genetic evaluations (visiting from Interbull in Sweden)
2017 Yang Da USA Alternative genomic evaluation models

Visiting students
1986 Gert J. Nieuwhof Netherlands Calving interval and herdlife
1987 Pauline M. van Diemen Netherlands Age adjustment for goats
1990 Frits C. van der Shans Netherlands International type comparison
1990 Alfons Koorhuis Netherlands Offspring-parent regressions
1992, 1993 Eric J. H. Klaaskate Netherlands Productive life
1993 Jan Zuurbier Netherlands Calculation of inbreeding
1994 Ming-Feng Luo China Conformation in goats
1999, 2000 Jeanne Bormann Belgium Test-day data
2013 Chen Yao USA Multibreed stillbirth evaluation and organization of feed efficiency database
2013–14 Adriana Garcia Mexico Genomic selection and genetic progress
2016–17 Mariana Berton Brazil Association of copy number variants with Nelore beef traits
2016–17 Tatiane Chud Brazil Detection of genomic effects for crossbred dairy cattle

Compiled by Paul VanRaden



Last Modified: 03/16/2018