Graduate Research And Teaching Assistant
Bryan/College Station, Texas Area
Served as a teaching assistant for three courses: Introduction to Animal Science labs, Industrial Meat Processing course, and one of two teaching assistants for the Texas Barbecue course. For the Intro to Animal Science lab, I taught and introduced students to the variety of studies in animal agriculture including breeds and species of livestock, the purpose for livestock animals, how livestock animals are evaluated, and how they have been studied for their variety of uses in our world's history and in today's world. For the Industrial Meat Processing course, I coordinated labs meant to give graduate students hands on experience with meat processing both as a lab team leader and the teaching assistant. Lab experiences included biochemical analyses, thermal processing scheduling, and processing procedures for a variety of further processed meat products (such as emulsions, comminutions, marination, formed and sectioned, fermented and dried, etc.). I also lectured on topics including non-meat ingredients and research & development in the food insutry.For the Texas Barbecue course, I assisted in cooking a variety of barbecue products from different animal-derived species with a variety of materials and cooking methods. I coordinated a team of four to six undergraduate teaching assistants to prepare and serve products to the entire class. I also instructed students regarding equipment and cooking methods.My second assignment was employment as a student worker at Rosenthal Meat Science & Technology Center. Here I worked in all areas of the lab including harvest, fabrication, further processing, smokehouse operation, and packaging. I specialized in producing value-added meat products such as fresh, cured, and fully cooked sausages, pumped and dried cured bacon, combo-cured country-style hams, marinated beef for fajitas, and more.I also assisted with Texas A&M's AgriLife extension courses such as Beef 101, Beef 706, Camp Brisket, and Creative Sausage Making.