ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — Oscar Javier Rojas Martinez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, U.S., was named the recipient of a scholarship from the Institute for Feed Education & Research (IFEEDER), a charitable foundation seeking to sustain the future of food and feed production through education and research, the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) said on July 3. The scholarship was in the form of a travel and registration grant to the Feed Industry Institute, the educational conference hosted every two years by AFIA’s Purchasing and Ingredient Suppliers Committee.

“It is an incredible honor to be the recipient of the IFEEDER scholarship. Attending the Feed Industry Institute gave me the opportunity to learn and understand more on how the U.S. feed industry works,” Rojas said. “It was wonderful to meet people from the industry who have been in the business for more than 20 years. Learning from their experience was an exciting opportunity for me.”

Martinez is a native of Bogota, Colombia, where he attended the National University, graduating in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. For two years, he served as a visiting scholar at the Swine Research Center of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Dr. Hans H. Stein, where he conducted numerous research projects and experiments on swine nutrition and growth performance, before continuing to earn his master’s degree.

“Oscar is a bright and hardworking young man who has contributed significantly to the research conducted in our laboratory,” said Dr. Stein. “He is eager to learn and has a great interest in feed ingredients and feed ingredient evaluation.”

Rojas continues his studies at the University of Illinois, where he is working toward earning his doctorate degree in animal science under Dr. Stein. Current research projects include elucidating effects of feed processing on the nutritive value of diets and ingredients in pig feed.