Katherine (Katie) Kennedy
Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences (ADVS)
Assistant Professor
Educational Background
PhD, Michigan State University, Animal Science, 2019
MS, University of California - Davis, Animal Biology, 2014
BS, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Animal Science, 2012
Emphasis
Research in Dr. Kennedy’s lab broadly focuses on researching mitochondrial efficiency and its relation to nutrition, feed efficiency, feeding behavior, contribution to heat production, and health in dairy cattle. Understanding energetic efficiency could lead to improved feed utilization, decreased environmental harm, natural and pharmaceutical approaches that improve animal health, and/or optimizing economic gains. Therefore, the long-term goal of this research is to strengthen the sustainability of the dairy industry.
Biography
Katie Kennedy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences at Utah State University. She is originally from Green Bay, WI and in 2012 earned her B.S. in Animal Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In 2014, she earned her M.S. in Animal Biology at the University of California – Davis studying energy metabolism in ruminant and nonruminant animals. Katie then traveled to Michigan State University where she studied the effect of liver metabolism on feeding behavior of early lactation dairy cows and earned her Ph.D. in 2019. She continued her studies as a postdoctoral researcher in Germany at the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology evaluating differences in feed efficiency in dairy cows using indirect calorimetry. She then returned to the USA in 2022 to continue studying differences in feed efficiency in dairy cows with a focus on mitochondrial function at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In 2024, she briefly worked as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education postdoctoral researcher at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, WI where she further expanded on her understanding of digestibility and feeding strategies in dairy cattle. She joined the USU faculty in July 2024.