Dr. Maurice L. Eastridge, Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University
Dr. Luis Moraes joined the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University on December 15, 2016. He grew up in Brazil where his family owns and manages a beef cattle operation. Dr. Moraes has been always involved with agriculture through his family business and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo at the ESALQ campus. Following his graduation, he moved to California where he received two Master of Science degrees, one in Animal Biology and one in Statistics, and a PhD in Animal Biology, all from the University of California-Davis. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the UC Davis in the Department of Animal Science until he joined the faculty at Ohio State as an Assistant Professor. His research focuses on the application of statistics, mathematics, and economics to the animal sciences. He is particularly interested in the use of economic optimization models for dairy management. While at UC Davis, he developed linear and goal programming models that simultaneously minimized diet costs and methane emissions. He has also worked on the application of statistical methods for describing nutrient utilization in cattle. For instance, multivariate mixed models, nonparametric growth curves, and Bayesian methods are examples of techniques that he has used to better understand energy and protein metabolism in growing and lactating cattle. At OSU, his research plans are to develop mathematical models that incorporate nutrient management information into diet optimization. Further, he will continue to develop and apply statistical modeling techniques for the extraction of meaningful information from animal science data and for the improved understanding of biological processes. His office is at 2029 Fyffe Court, 221A Animal Science Building, Columbus, OH 43210 and he can be contacted at 614-292-6507 or ferrazdiasdemoraes.1@osu.edu.