{"id":161775,"date":"2020-06-11T09:59:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T13:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=161775"},"modified":"2020-06-11T09:59:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T13:59:06","slug":"meet-graduate-student-brandon-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/06\/meet-graduate-student-brandon-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet graduate student Brandon Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Initially, Brandon Smith <\/span>considered<\/span> a career in accounting, but after living with a veterinarian during a mission trip, he found himself <\/span>drawn<\/span> to<\/span> animal science. He\u2019s interested in improving animal health by reducing<\/span> the number of<\/span> infectious diseases <\/span>that <\/span>economically affect<\/span> farmers <\/span>and influence product quality<\/span>.<\/span> And w<\/span>hile he appreciates life in the east, he sees himself returning one day to his home state of Utah. Here\u2019s what he had to say about his experience at UConn.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where did you study as an undergraduate?<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span>What was your major?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I attended<\/span> Utah State University,<\/span> and<\/span> my degree was in <\/span>a<\/span>nimal, <\/span>d<\/span>airy and <\/span>v<\/span>eterinary <\/span>s<\/span>cience<\/span> with a minor in biology and chemistry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why did you decide to go to graduate school?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always had an inquisitive mind and have been interested in how biological systems work together. So, while I was an undergraduate<\/span>,<\/span> I joined a research laboratory studying antivirals and I loved it and I wanted to continue researching and learning.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is your advisor?<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span>What is your field of research?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

My advisor is<\/span> Dr. Kristen Govoni<\/a><\/span>. <\/span>I study a<\/span>nimal <\/span>g<\/span>rowth and <\/span>p<\/span>hysiology, emphasizing the effects of maternal nutrition on fetal development.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Name one aspect of your work that you like.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I enjoy researching and learning how a system or tissue works\u202for changes when certain conditions occur<\/span> and evaluating how mom\u2019s diet influences growth of the offspring.<\/span> I <\/span>like<\/span> working with<\/span> those<\/span> animals and<\/span> even more so, I enjoy<\/span> evaluating what is happening in liver and muscle tissue fu<\/span>n<\/span>ction of offspring as a result of the mom\u2019s diet and health <\/span>and environmental influences.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In your opinion, what is your greatest accomplishment so far?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

My greatest accomplishment so far is presenting my research at national and regional conferences and placing\u202fin<\/span> the<\/span> top <\/span>three<\/span> in a poster competition<\/span>, as well as<\/span> passing my general exams and proposal defense.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When do you expect to get your degree? What then?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I plan to graduate in<\/span> spring 2021. My hope<\/span> is<\/span> to get into the pharmaceutical industry in research\u202fand development or other biotechnology industries<\/span>.<\/span> I hope to be involved in the development of products that can be used to make someone\u2019s life better.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

My favorite ice cream flavor<\/span> is<\/span> cookies and cream.<\/span><\/p>\n

This interview originally appeared on Naturally@UConn.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Initially, Brandon Smith considered a career in accounting, but after living with a veterinarian during a mission trip, he found himself drawn to animal science. He\u2019s interested in improving animal health by reducing the number of infectious diseases that economically affect farmers and influence product quality. And while he appreciates life in the east, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":161776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1871],"class_list":["post-161775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 19:55:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/161776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161775"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=161775"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=161775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}