AFS’s Jhones Sarturi reflects on his selection as E. Kika De La Garza Fellow
By: Carrie Knight
As an associate professor of beef cattle nutrition and metabolism at Texas Tech Universitys
Davis College, Jhones Sarturi combines his teaching and research responsibilities with public service. For over
10 years, he has taught a course on cattle feeds and feeding that combines classroom
instruction with field-based learning that directly benefits agricultural producers.
“Students take learning content into the community and apply it in real-life scenarios
with ag producers,” he said in an online USDA news item. “They advise, they ask questions, and they serve society at the same time.”
He decided to apply for an E. Kika De La Garza (EKDLG) Fellowship to build upon efforts like these. “Ive seen the powerful impact of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in communities,” Sarturi said. “I wanted to know more.”
As part of the fellowship experience, last summer Sarturi spent a week at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. learning about the diverse programs and resources the agency offers students and researchers. “It was completely beyond my expectations,” he said. He especially appreciated having the opportunity to ask questions and share his perspectives. “My biggest takeaway is that USDA wants to positively impact communities.”
Sarturi is invested in planting seeds that can be harvested into the future and now shares information about USDA programs with his university colleagues and students. He is collaborating with his college career office to raise awareness of possible USDA career paths and internships. He also encourages his peers to apply for EKDLG fellowships and USDA research grants.
“I feel like its my responsibility to positively impact these communities – to be an arm of USDA,” he said.
He also credits the EKDLG fellowship with broadening his own professional sights. “USDA changed the way I was thinking,” he said. “I now see more opportunities where I had preconceived barriers before.”
Sarturis research focuses on beef cattle nutrition, ruminal metabolism, and digestive physiology. In addition to his research duties, Sarturi teaches undergraduate (feeds and feeding; and stocker cattle and feedlot management) and graduate classes (advanced feedlot cattle management; minerals and vitamins in animal nutrition, research methods in ruminant nutrition; and seminar in agriculture), while also serving as the manager for the Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory and the Ruminant Nutrition Center.
Sarturi joined the Texas Tech Department of Animal & Food Sciences faculty in 2013 after his position as post-doctoral research associate at Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Bushland, Texas. He received his degree in Veterinary Medicine from UNIDERP (Campo Grande, Brazil), and a masters degree in Agronomy from the University of Sao Paulo (Piracicaba, Brazil). His Ph.D. in animal science is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu
0214NM24 / Editors Note: For more information on this USDA News Item by Public Affairs Specialist Carrie Knight, please click here
Davis College NewsCenter
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