CDCB Connection July 2017

Welcome to Maci Lienemann-Mueller

In the June CDCB Connection, summer intern Isaac Haagen was introduced. In this issue, CDCB welcomes Maci Lienemann-Mueller, who began her internship in mid-June. Maci is a M.S. student in Animal Science at the University of California-Davis (UCD) under the guidance of Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam. Maci's ultimate career goal is to provide research and education that results in new genetic-based biotechnologies for use in livestock production systems to advance genetics and improve animal agriculture.

This summer Maci will be assisting CDCB and AGIL to investigate different strategies for managing recessive disorders in dairy cattle. As more recessive disorders are discovered in dairy populations, the challenge will arise to balance both short and long-term genetic gain.

For her Master's thesis at UCD, Maci is evaluating the feasibility and economics of introgressing the polled trait into both dairy and beef industries by gene editing versus standard breeding. While at UCD, she has served as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Animal Science and Livestock Reproduction courses.

In 2016, Maci received her B.S. degree in Animal Science with a minor in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). As an undergraduate, she gained a variety of experiences that helped shape her future career aspirations, from working on her family's Angus cattle ranch, to genetic research and even federal policy development. She interned at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in the breeding and genetics unit and worked in the UNL functional animal genomics lab as part of a competitive fellowship award. In the summer of 2015, Maci worked with policy makers as a DC Policy Intern for American Society of Animal Science.

Maci has been involved in several agricultural organizations with leadership positions that include American Angus Association Ambassador, Nebraska State FFA Vice President, Nebraska Junior Angus Association President and UNL Animal Science Ambassador. At UNL she was a Nebraska Beef Industry Scholar, a Justin Smith Morrill Scholar and a member of the Alpha Zeta and Mortar Board honor societies.

About CDCB Internships

This is the second summer that the CDCB has offered an internship program to benefit both our organization and the Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory (AGIL) while exposing students to the opportunity to work with national genetic and management programs. The CDCB was very pleased with the applicant pool of 10 students, and we look forward to supporting the career aspiration of Isaac and Maci this summer.