Nestor Gutierrez is one of many scholars who has studied in the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory over the years. On a recent visit, he sat down to talk about his history with the lab, and what he is doing now.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: who you are, where you came from, how you came to be studying animal sciences, and how you came to the Stein lab in particular.

I am a native of Bogota, Colombia. I started my program of animal science at the National University of Colombia, in Bogota, in 2000. A lot of faculty in our school are focused on nutrition. So I really started being interested in nutrition in about the second year of my undergrad. I started working for some labs there, in ruminant nutrition.

And then, at the end of the program, me and my friend, we both traveled to the Czech Republic to do an internship in dairy cattle nutrition. That was at the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno, Czech Republic. After that, we came back to the country, and we worked on our own projects on farms in Colombia, and we both applied to the U.S. to some universities. We started contacting professors, and he stayed in ruminant nutrition and I wanted to move to monogastrics because I found it more exciting.  So I contacted Dr. Stein and he was willing to take me for a Master's degree, which was very lucky for me because I really didn't know him personally. He gave me the opportunity, and that's how I came here to the University of Illinois. I completed my Master's degree with him. We worked on the determination of the net energy content of distillers dried grains, and also the digestibility of nutrients in distillers dried grains. That was the second phase of a big project that they were conducting at that time with Dong Yong Kil specifically, and that was my Master's. At the end of my Master's, I moved to Iowa State University to work with Dr. John Patience, and that's where I'm working now.

You said you hadn't met Dr. Stein. How did you come to decide that you would be interested in coming to this university and this lab?

I always liked the University of Illinois. It has a big reputation everywhere. And although I had never been here, nor met any of the professors personally, I contacted Dr. Stein by email, and he was very positive about me contacting him. After he gave me the OK, I just applied, and that's how I came here. Of course I knew who Dr. Stein was because of what he had done at South Dakota State University. He had just moved with his lab from South Dakota to the University of Illinois when I arrived. So, I was probably one of the first students that he took when he arrived at the University of Illinois.

What position do you have at Iowa State now?

I'm currently a Ph. D. student – I'm a Ph. D. candidate, actually. I passed my prelims in February, so I'm happy about that. I'm in my third year at Iowa State, where I work also with pigs, in a very similar program to Dr. Stein's, but I'm under the tutelage now of Dr. John Patience. And I'm working on understanding digestion and fermentation of low-fermentable insoluble fiber from corn co-products.

Once you get your Ph. D., what are your plans for a future career?

I'm thinking now I'm probably going into industry. I may still want to pursue a post-doc before going into industry. We will see what comes first, depending on the opportunities, but definitely my background allows me to go for a post-doc in some applied stuff, and definitely the ultimate goal is industry. Or maybe academia; but if I go into academia, I will probably go back home to Colombia.

Can you talk a little bit more about your background and how it will help you in your career?

The University of Illinois is very good in terms of preparing a student in the basics. Although we do applied work, the students are instructed in the basics of metabolism and statistics, and the University offers all the facilities and all the courses to really get to study the basics in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry, and biostatistics. So that's a very big plus that we have here.

Is there anything you would like to tell people who might be thinking about majoring in Animal Sciences or going into a career in the field?

I think it's a very exciting field, of course. I think, although we do applied work, I would encourage undergrad students who are planning to come into grad school in Animal Sciences to still try to put in an effort on their basic work in physiology and biochemistry and statistics. Applied work doesn't only mean that you will do applied stuff; you need to have an understanding of the principles that govern all that we do. And that's actually a very nice thing about Animal Sciences, because you get to apply some basic principles of science and see how they get materialized in the real world. Specifically, of course, in animal production. So I think it's a very exciting career and exciting field.