“Branding Excellence” is a series highlighting students and faculty who perform at a high level of professionalism, are forward-thinking individuals, and always have the willingness to learn more. The series name is derived from the saying “Pursuing Excellence” which means setting ambitious goals and working tirelessly to achieve them, consistently performing at your best, bettering yourself and those around you, and staying resilient in the face of challenges. The Department of Animal & Food Sciences is dedicated to excellence in every aspect of its faculty, staff and students. The department wants to wear the “brand” of success as they address todays challenges and create a better future for our world.
Nathaniel Hall, Associate Professor of Companion Animal Science and Director of the Canine Olfaction Research & Education Laboratory, has been studying canines for over 14 years. Hall earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2015 and continued his studies as a postdoctoral Scholar at Arizona State University before coming to Texas Tech. Hall now continues his research through the Canine Olfaction Research Lab at Texas Tech which Hall started six years ago.
“Research students are involved in whatever research projects we have going on at that time,” Hall said.
The lab is run by four to five students from various majors. The student workers' responsibilities include getting dogs their daily walks and play times, baths, medicine if they are on any, keeping up with general records and cleaning the facility.
Although Hall aims to help the dogs find good homes after they are done with research, he also hopes students can benefit from the research they conduct during their time spent with the dogs.
“We like to give them a good basis in animal behavior training and understanding animal behavior, because a lot of times thats not going to be something you get in vet school,” Hall said. “Through husbandry work and those interested in grad school or going off into research, developing those skills is important in research methods and is an educational goal for them.”
Aside from Hall's numerous research projects, Hall and students are currently working on multiple research projects related to dogs detection of explosives, agricultural pests like spotted lantern fly, powdery mildew, and buried items.
“We also do a lot of technological developments for the enhancement of training for dogs such as building new equipment, like designing new electronics that facilitate the training of dogs for detection tasks,” Hall said.
Although Hall mentioned that most research in the lab stems from crazy ideas, his role, along with the students he works with, is to determine how these ideas can be realized, rather than questioning if they can be done.
What does branding excellence mean to you?
“Addressing big problems and big questions from an aspect of, how can we figure that out rather than, can we do it? Because I think theres always a lot of questions about, can we do something or is it possible? But if you just reframe it as in, how are we going to figure it out and start that, you will achieve your goal.”