Spring 2024 Data Science Seminar Series–Karun Kaniyamattam

Speaker: Karun Kaniyamattam, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science and AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University

Faculty Host: Yalong Pi, TAMIDS

Description: Dr. Kaniyamattam’s seminar will commence with the discussion of different sustainability challenges faced by global food animal production systems. A handful of mathematical modeling-based investigations which teams from AgriLife Research have/are conducting in different food systems, will be discussed. The three-dimensional impacts of sustainability-oriented decision-making in livestock management: i.e. economic, epidemiological, and environmental aspects of livestock performance under different management strategies will be discussed.

The past and futuristic utility of mathematical decision modeling techniques like systems modeling, agent-based modeling, epidemiological modeling, linear and dynamic programming used by livestock systems will be discussed. The need for building data ecosystems and pipelines that can merge the expertise and data from farms as well as animal, soil, plant, veterinary and data scientists to enable real-time monitoring and management of livestock will be touched upon. This data pipeline relies on harnessing the capability of advancements in internet of things, artificial intelligence, and precision livestock technologies, which requires the skills and talents of Engineers affiliated with TAMIDS. Thus, the seminar will discuss the need for developing multi-disciplinary team-based systems approach involving researchers from TAMIDS and AgriLife Research, that can solve the majority of sustainability, efficiency, and resiliency goals set by food animal production systems.

Biography: Dr. Kaniyamattam is a member of the quantitative animal performance area of excellence at the Department of Animal Science. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, India, and his Ph.D. in animal science from University of Florida in 2016. Prior to joining Texas A&M university, Dr. Kaniyamattam completed post-doctoral training in Epidemiological and Artificial Intelligence Modeling from Cornell and Texas A&M Universities. Dr. Kaniyamattam’s overarching research interest is in applying different mathematical modeling techniques to solve economic, environmental, and epidemiologic research questions related to animal agriculture, thereby contributing to sustainable livestock production in the United States and beyond. His laboratory focuses on developing artificial intelligence-based decision models to aid the United States beef and dairy industries to devise sustainable animal agriculture strategies for smart cattle production. He follows a team-based multidisciplinary systems approach in his research ventures. His decision models incorporate the relevant knowledge from disciplines ranging from reproductive biology, animal genomics, epidemiology, economics, animal nutrition, in addition to different statistical modeling techniques.

You can also click this link to join the seminar

For more information about TAMIDS Seminar Series, please contact Ms. Jennifer South at  jsouth@tamu.edu