Angela Dwyer is a Habitat Coordinator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, since 2012. She has a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Management from Stephen F. Austin State University. After graduate school she worked in bird conservation for the National Audubon Society in both North Carolina and Colorado. At Bird Conservancy, she works at the intersection of grassland bird conservation and collaboration on private lands. She works on several collaborative conservation projects including as a stakeholder member for a USDA Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management study. She is passionate to share more about the natural connections with birds and livestock on our grassland ecosystems.
Barb Downey co-owns Downey Ranch, Inc. with her husband, Joe Carpenter, and other Downey family members. Downey Ranch is a 550 head cow/calf operation (mommas & babies) whose products include breeding stock for fellow farmers and ranchers and finished beef that is marketed around the country and the world. As a science and math lover, Barb enjoys the best of all worlds in her job as a cattle rancher as it lets her stretch her mind, use established skills, develop new skills, constantly learn & grow, all while being mostly outside working with animals and her family.
Barb earned a BS in Animal Sciences and Industry from Kansas State University. She also did graduate work in Ruminant Nutrition. Together with her husband, they run Downey Ranch day-to-day along with one full time employee. They have 2 college aged daughters, Anna who is studying to become an EMT and wanting to go to nursing school,and Laura who is working on a BS in Animal Science with an eye to becoming a veterinarian.
Frank received a Master of Science degree in animal science and agricultural engineering from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and a doctoral degree in animal science from Texas Tech University. Frank was recruited by UC Davis in 2002, to fill its first-ever position focusing on the relationship between livestock and air quality.
Joan Ruskamp graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in 1980 with an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology. She met her future husband, Steve, while working at a veterinary clinic and fulfilled a childhood dream of living on a farm when they were married and bought the Ruskamp family farm outside Dodge, Nebraska. In addition to working in the day to day business of their feedlot, Joan enjoys sharing the beef production story with consumers and has hosted numerous farm tours for people from all around the world. She has also taken her passion for agriculture nationally through elected and volunteer positions with organizations such as Common Ground and the Cattleman’s Beef Board. Awards for her dedication to agriculture include the Livestock Industry Appreciation Award, FarmHer Hall of Fame Award, the UNCTA Alumni Achievement Award and Northwest High School Outstanding Alumni Award. Outside her work in agriculture, Joan volunteers in her community as an EMT and 4-H leader and is active at St. Wenceslaus church. Joan and Steve have been married nearly forty years with five adult children, three sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law and eight grandchildren.
Matt Spangler grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in Kansas. He received degrees from Kansas State University (BS; 2001), Iowa State University (MS; 2003), and the University of Georgia (PhD; 2006) and is currently a Professor and Extension Beef Genetics Specialist at the University of Nebraska. He works as part of a team with colleagues at UNL and US MARC to improve genetic/genomic selection tools and methods and currently leads a USDA funded project to develop web-based decision support tools for genetic selection.
