John Stinn is a PhD candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE). Hailing from southwest Iowa, John grew up on a livestock farm and developed strong passion for animal agriculture, mathematics, and engineering at a young age. Enrolling into ABE at ISU the place where the world¹s first degree of agricultural engineering was awarded, was thus a natural choice for John when it came to selecting university and major. Having excelled in his undergraduate studies, John was admitted directly into PhD program upon graduation from his BS program (note: admission from BS directly into PhD program is a rarity in ABE).
John’s PhD research focuses on air quality, environmental control and animal well-being associated with swine production. Specifically, his research covers a) one-of-the-kind field monitoring study that continuously quantifies, over a 2-year period, concentrations and emissions of greenhouse gases and ammonia of commercial swine gestation and farrowing production facilities; b) optimization of localized heating in swine farrowing operation for improved energy efficiency and enhanced piglets health and well-being; c) quantification of house-level bioenergetics of modern swine during gestation and farrowing production stages, which provides the foundation for efficient engineering design and operation of the housing systems; and d) understanding of sow lactating behaviors and real-time surveillance of piglets well-being status through electronic stockmanship. Throughout his PhD research program, John regularly updates the swine producers about the study findings, which has enabled the producers to make refinement and improvement to their day-to-day operational management.
John has been accruing his academic experience, enrichment and networking with some elite researchers at other institutions through attending and presenting at international professional conferences in Europe and China as well as in US. Moreover, he has been actively engaged in collaborative research with animal scientists and agricultural engineers at USDA-ARS Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska.
A sport enthusiast, John is a die-hard Cyclone fan. He reaches out to the international students and scholars in our lab and introduces them to American football and softball games. He is also the go-to person of the lab when it comes to IT stuff. John will leave a hard-to-fill spot when he graduates from ABE/ISU and embarks on his new endeavor this summer.
To read Stinn’s original profile, click here.