My name is Leidy Johanna Torres Mendoza. I am from Bogota (Colombia). I am an animal scientist and I have knowledge about different aspects of agriculture such as marketing, administration, agro-industry, pastures, and forages. I am also familiar with the preservation and commercialization of food of animal origin and I am familiar with farm work, laboratory work, literature search, and management of database programs.

I have always loved animals and I believe that Colombia has a great potential to increase animal production. Therefore, I decided to pursue studies in Animal Science at the National University of Colombia where I obtained a Bachelor degree in Animal Science. After completion of my degree, I became a Masters Student in meat Science at the National University of Colombia and one of the aspects of meat science that I really liked was that I was able to work with all livestock species. As a consequence, during my training, I have been able to work in all aspects of animal production from the farm to production of the finished product that is presented to consumers. During my studies, I was able to work with beef cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, fish, and insects.

After completing my Master's Degree, I obtained a position as a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois in the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory. During my time in the Laboratory, I hope to learn more about animal nutrition of pigs and how the diets consumed by pigs may influence the final pork product. I also expect to increase my knowledge about Laboratory analysis of nutritional components of feed ingredients and diets.

I want to thank my family and my former professors for preparing me for working in the United States. I also want to thank Dr. Stein for giving me the opportunity to work in this Laboratory. I finished my visiting scholar in Fall 2022 and I started my Ph. D. program with Dr. Stein.