On a snowy Wednesday afternoon in March, the lecture room of the newly renovated Patrick Leahy Building buzzed with activity as students, faculty, and staff gathered to learn about sustainable dairy practices – and to eat delicious cheese.
Three post-doctoral fellows – Bryony Sands, Andrew Magnuson, and Felipe Machado de Sant’Anna – gave lighting talks on their research in sustainable dairy food systems, as part of the Food & Ideas Gathering (FIG) seminar series. The post-docs were members of a cluster-hire by the ̽̽ Food Systems Research Center to work with ̽̽ faculty collaborating with the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
Byrony Sands shared her research project entitled “Sustainable dairy pastures: dung, dirt, and biodiversity.” With a PhD in Agroecology from the University of Bristol in England, Sands aims to forge collaborative strategies for the future of food and farming that are inclusive and socially relevant. Sands is also a fellow at the Gund Institute for the Environment.
Andrew Magnuson brought humor to his talk with the punny title, “Moo-difying the fat content of dairy foods to improve human health.” Magnuson researches how agricultural practices and food processing influence lipid related bioactive compounds in diary. He earned his PhD in Animal Nutrition at Cornell University and is trained as a USDA chemist.
Felipe Machado de Sant’Anna presented “Beyond the Rind: Delving into Vermont's Cheese Resistome.” With a PhD in Animal Science from the Veterinary School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, de Sant’Anna’s research focuses on molecular microbiology and microbial ecology. He has recently accepted a faculty position at ̽̽.
FIG is a monthly event sponsored by the Food Systems Research Center (FSRC) and the Food Systems Graduate Program. This speaker series aims to foster research collaboration, create community, and engage in conversation about transdisciplinary approaches to issues and solutions within the food system.
The next FIG seminar will be Wednesday April 17th at 3pm at Leahy 102. Amy Trubek will speak about the new maker space and Joshua Faulkner and Deb Neher will speak about the upcoming .
