Kelsey Wahlberg participated in Iowa State University's Science with Practice program.

2015 May 6

Kelsey Wahlberg, majoring in Animal Science at #IowaState, was a participant of Science with Practice. Science with Practice is a learning and work experience program in research and related laboratories for undergraduate students. Students work closely with faculty and graduate students to gain experience in their field of study.

Students are able to conduct research and form mentoring relationships with faculty while earning money and academic credit. The program allows students to develop an understanding of the links between research and practical real-world situations and problems.

Wahlberg was advised by Dr. Jack Dekkers, distinguished professor, on a project titled Differences in Feed Efficiency during the Nursery Phase of Pigs Divergently Selected for Residual Feed Intake During Grow-finish Phase. This project worked with two different RFI lines of purebred Yorkshire pigs. Nursery-aged piglets were penned by litter and fed an average of 40 days. Feed intake was used with piglet weight gain to calculate average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. They determined that selection for Low RFI increases feed efficiency in nursery-age piglets.

In total, 30 students and 23 faculty participated in the program during Spring 2015. As part of the program, students establish individualized learning agreements, create a final portfolio and complete biweekly journals of their semester progress. The semester concludes with a public poster presentation where students share their projects and experiences.

The Science with Practice program has linked students with faculty research for 10 years. Students may participate in the program multiple semesters. For more information visit www.ageds.iastate.edu/SWP.

This program is funded by the ISU Agricultural Endowment Board, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Van Wert Family Endowment.