For one Iowa State University animal science graduate student, being named winner of a national swine industry association awardwas both encouraging and exciting. Dinesh Thekkoot officially received the National Swine Improvement Federation Graduate Student Award during that group’s annual conference this month.
“Getting a national level recognition is a great encouragement and this motivates me to work harder,” Thekkoot said. “Also, because this is a nominated award, getting that nomination from my major professor and then being selected as the top nomination by the NSIF awards committee, means that my research work is being recognized.”
Thekkoot’s major professor Jack C. M. Dekkers nominated the India native for the award based on his research focusing on the genetic basis of lactation and lactation efficiency in swine.
This interest in swine arose from working with a breeding organization following the completion of Thekkoot’s undergraduate (DVM) degree from Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, India. During this time he became interested in pigs, especially with breeding and genetics, and eventually chose advanced education in that field.
“I received a master’s degree is animal breeding and genetics through the Eramus mundus dual degree program from Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria,” he said.
His eventual choice of Iowa State for his doctoral program was clear.
“[Iowa State has] outstanding faculty and world class facilities,” Thekkoot said. “I wanted to study here because of the quality of this department, especially the quantitative genetics group.”
Thekkoot is the 12th Iowa State graduate student to receive the award since the award was first offered in 1993. The award is named after Lauren L. Christian, the first director of the Iowa Pork Industry Center at Iowa State.
After completing his Ph.D. program this semester, Thekkoot is looking forward to working in the swine industry.
Source: IPIC