Lab Members

McKinley began her MS with Dr. Boerman in August 2022. Originally from Scioto County, Ohio, she attended Shawnee State University throughout high school prior to transferring to Purdue, where she obtained her undergraduate degree in Animal Sciences in December 2021. A long-time 4-H alumnus, she is passionate about Extension education and served as a 4-H intern at the Tippecanoe County Extension office before beginning her MS. In the Boerman Lab, McKinley's research involves exploring digital agriculture, informatics, and machine learning through the development of depth imaging software capable of monitoring dry matter intake of lactating cows. Outside of the lab, McKinley enjoys engaging in her community through teaching and supporting local organizations. She loves to travel and goes camping with her dog, Olive, as often as she can.

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Sam joined the Boerman Lab in January 2023.

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María began her MS with Dr. Boerman in January 2021. She is originally from Mexico, where she completed her undergraduate studies in Agronomy in June 2020. María is interested in integrating, analyzing, and translating the data from dairy farm monitoring systems to management practices to improve the units' efficiency and animal welfare. Her project used the data from automated milk feeders to characterize biological and environmental factors' effect on feeding behavior. She applied social network analysis to feeding reports to better understand the social behavior of calves. 

 

Andrew grew up a family dairy farm in Western New York. Growing up on a dairy farm led him to pursue a degree in Animal Sciences from Alfred State and Cornell University. During his undergraduate studies, he hoped to develop the skills to one day positively contribute to the dairy industry. This aspiration led him to pursue an MS at Purdue under Dr. Boerman. In the lab, his research involved utilizing industry data streams from programs such as DairyComp and EZfeed to develop a predictive equation for dry matter intake.    

Becca Klopp began pursuing her Ph.D under Dr. Jackie Boerman in August 2018. She received her B.S. in Animal Sciences from The Pennsylvania State University in May 2016 and her M.S. in Animal and Veterinary Sciences from Clemson University in August 2018. Becca is from Bethel, Pennsylvania, and began her work in laboratories as an undergraduate on research projects at Penn State. During her time at Purdue, she enjoyed mentoring undergraduate students and was active in the Graduate Student Organization at Purdue. Her research interests include dairy calf growth, health and management as well as maternal factors and management practices that impact colostrum quality.

Tabby graduated from Purdue University in May 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Animal Sciences. She joined the lab group in June of 2018 and obtained her Master’s of Animal Sciences in August 2020, focusing in dairy management. Tabby served as the Graduate Student Advisor for the Purdue Dairy Club and is invested in helping students interested in production agriculture. During her time at Purdue, Tabby’s Master's project was focused on working with large data sets from a northern Indiana dairy farm. Tabby specifically focused on the effect that total milk consumption and health incidences in automated calf feeders has on overall growth and production during the lactation period.

Originally from West Linn, OR, Conor McCabe is a 13-year 4-H alumnus and completed his undergraduate degree at Cornell University in May 2018. His research focus includes measuring tissue mobilization in cows during the transition period after they have undergone prepartum light phase shifting. In the few months prior to his start at Purdue, McCabe taught agriculture and served as an extension agent in the Central Region of Ghana with the NGO AgriCorps. In his spare time, Conor enjoys outdoor recreation, serving his community, and watching the Seattle Seahawks. Going forward, he looks to combine his interests in the sciences, extension, and global agriculture, to grow the availability and affordability of animal protein for communities around the world.