Growing up a small family farm in Denmark has had a major impact on Niels Geertsen's career path. He graduated high school in 2006 and went straight to Dalum Agricultural Collage in Odense, Denmark. Following that, he was given a shared manager position at one of Denmark´ biggest pig producers. He worked on one of the company's 1200 head breed to wean facilitys. After working there for 16 months, he decided he wanted to go back to school to learn more about agriculture. In 2013, he received his B.S. in Animal Science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. There, he focused on nutrition and its relationship with sustainable meat production and animal welfare. Niels came to the Stein lab in August 2013 as part of a one year exchange program. Afterwards, he returned to the University of Copenhagen and earned his Master's degree in Animal Science.