Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS submitted to NRP
THE NANP NUTRITION MODELS WORKSHOP: TRAINING A NEW GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS IN MATHEMATICAL MODELING
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1019816
Grant No.
2019-67015-29841
Cumulative Award Amt.
$40,878.00
Proposal No.
2018-07004
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2019
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2022
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[A1231]- Animal Health and Production and Animal Products: Improved Nutritional Performance, Growth, and Lactation of Animals
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Animal nutritionists have used mathematical models for over 100 years.They routinely use models to evaluate diets and predict excretion of nutrients into the environment. However, nutritionists have few opportunities to learn the underlying principles of modeling. This is a problem because improper use of models can hurt animal performance and global livestock production.Our overarching objective is to teach nutritionists the principles of modeling with workshops at a major international meeting.Specifically, we will offer a series of three workshops to students, faculty, industry, and others at American Dairy Science Association annual meetings. These workshops will illustrate how models are constructed, evaluated, and applied toward problems in animal nutrition.Based on previous workshops, we expect a large audience (100 attendees) at each of the current workshops.We expect an even larger audience will access workshop materials (lectures and exercises files) afer we publish them on public websites. The impact of this workshop will be training a new generation of scientists in modeling.This will foster improvement in nutrition models, which in turn, will help maximize animal nutrient utilization and efficiency.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
30234101010100%
Knowledge Area
302 - Nutrient Utilization in Animals;

Subject Of Investigation
3410 - Dairy cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;
Goals / Objectives
1. Deliver "basic" and "advanced" workshops in modeling techniques that attract a broad range of participants.2. Provide workshop materials (lectures and exercises) on public websites for educational purposes.
Project Methods
We propose a series of workshops to promote the use of mathematical modeling in animal nutrition research. We will present these workshops in conjunction with the NANP at three consecutive (2019, 2020, 2021) ADSA meetings. This series will consist of "basic" and "advanced" workshops held in alternating years. The basic workshop is aimed at those who have no modeling experience and have not attended our previous workshops. The advanced workshop will complement the basic workshop and is aimed at slightly more experienced participants. Deploying these two different workshops will ensure we are attracting the broadest audience possible, and it will present inexperience modelers two separate learning opportunities.Both basic and advanced workshops will consist of lectures and hands-on exercises. Lectures will introduce each modeling technique covered by the workshop. Exercises will follow each lecture and demonstrate techniques with the R computer programming language or stand-alone models (as appropriate). This format has proven successful for maintaining audience engagement and participation.Proposed speakers have many years of modeling experience and are experts in animal nutrition. Support from the AFRI program will ensure that scientists with expertise in nutrition and modeling in livestock have the resources to attend the NANP Nutrition Models Workshop as speakers. This investment by AFRI will help to ensure the future success of the US livestock industry and research.We will alternate between basic and advanced workshops for the proposed three years of funding. We plan to hold the advanced workshop in our first year (2019) because we held basic workshops in 2017 and 2018.Both basic and advanced workshops are one-day in length. They are organized into a set of four lectures and exercises. A brief tutorial on the R programming language (the platform for most exercises) is also included. Speakers are members or collaborators of the NANP.For simplicity, the program for the advanced workshop is shown as the same for years 1 and 3. In practice, the program for year 3 will be modified (improved) according to feedback received during year 1.All lectures and exercises will be electronically stored and made available through the National Animal Nutrition Program website (animalnutrition.org) to reach a broader audience. Abstracts will be generated for each session of the workshop and will be published online by the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) as part of meeting abstracts. In addition, the materials and links to the presentations will be sent by email to all participants. These lectures, lessons, statistical codes, and abstracts will be used to generate future research in animal nutrition modeling.The workshops will be evaluated using an online survey to obtain information about participants and feedback on the workshop. Before the end of the workshops, the evaluation forms will be distributed to all participants, collected, and summarized.

Progress 07/01/19 to 06/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of the workshops was graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. The audience included both novices (in the basic workshop) and experienced modelers (in the advanced workshop). Changes/Problems:The workshops in 2020 and 2021 were held virtually, not in person, due to the COVID pandemic. Attendance of the virtual workshops was only half that of the in person workshop, showing the challenges of the virtual format. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The workshop was attended by graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. It trained participants in mathematical modeling techniques important to animal nutrition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All workshop materials (lectures and hands-on exercises) have been made available on public websites. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We held a series of three workshops at 2019, 2020, and 2021 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meetings. The aim of these workshops was to teach nutritionists the principles of mathematical modeling. It consisted of "basic" and "advanced" workshops held in alternating years. They were full day events consisting of four lectures and hands-on exercises. The basic workshops covered model construction, meta-analysis, model evaluation, and the Dairy NRC model. The advanced workshop covered estimation of parameter values, bootstrapping, model selection, and the Molly model. Over the three years, the workshop was attended by 150 participants. Lectures and hands-on exercises were made available on public websites. Overall, the workshops succeeded in promoting the use of mathematical modeling in animal nutrition research.

Publications


    Progress 07/01/20 to 06/30/21

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience of the workshops is graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. The audience includes both novices (in the basic workshop) and experienced modelers (in the advanced workshop). Changes/Problems:The workshop was held virtually, not in person, due to the COVID pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The workshop was attended by graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. It trained participants in mathematical modeling techniques important to animal nutrition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All workshop materials (lectures and hands-on exercises) have been made available on public websites. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? A workshop was held at the 2020 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meeting and attended by 38 participants. Attendance was lower than in previous years, likely because of the virtual format required by the pandemic. The workshop focused on basic modeling topics, including model construction, evaluating model predictions, meta-analysis, and the Dairy NRC model. Lectures and hands-on exercises were made available on public websites.

    Publications


      Progress 07/01/19 to 06/30/20

      Outputs
      Target Audience:The target audience of the workshops is graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. The audience includes both novices (in the basic workshop) and experienced modelers (in the advanced workshop). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The workshop was attended by graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. It trained participants in mathematical modeling techniques important to animal nutrition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All workshop materials (lectures and hands-on exercises) have been made available on public websites. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A workshop will be held at the 2020 ADSA meeting. This workshop will focus on basic topics, including model construction, model evaluation, meta-analysis, and the Dairy NRC model.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? A workshop was held at the 2019 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meeting and attended by 74 participants. The workshop focused on advanced modeling topics, including estimation of parameter values, bootstrap and cross-validation, automated model selection, and Molly and other dynamic models. Lectures and hands-on exercises were made available on public websites.

      Publications


        Progress 06/01/19 to 05/31/20

        Outputs
        Target Audience:The target audience of the workshops is graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. The audience includes both novices (in the basic workshop) and experienced modelers (in the advanced workshop). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The workshop was attended by graduate students, faculty, and industry consultants. It trained participants in mathematical modeling techniques important to animal nutrition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All workshop materials (lectures and hands-on exercises) have been made available on public websites. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A workshop will be held at the 2020 ADSA meeting. This workshop will focus on basic topics, including model construction, model evaluation, meta-analysis, and the Dairy NRC model.

        Impacts
        What was accomplished under these goals? A workshop was held at the 2019 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meeting and attended by 74 participants. The workshop focused on advanced modeling topics, including estimation of parameter values, bootstrap and cross-validation, automated model selection, and Molly and other dynamic models. Lectures and hands-on exercises were made available on public websites.

        Publications