Dr. Guiping Hu, head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at Oklahoma State University, and Dr. Lizhi Wang of IEM were recently awarded funds from Bovita Labs, a subsidiary of Select Milk Producers.
The proposal, titled “Systematic Integration of Data Sets for Identifying Environmental and Management Factors that Affect the Health and Productivity of Dairy Cows,” aims to create an integrated data set which will lay the groundwork for several follow-up research and development opportunities to improve overall health and productivity of dairy cows.
Hu likens the research to a large puzzle.
“A puzzle where each puzzle piece is a data set for either environmental conditions
or management practices around milk production within the industry,” Hu said.
The integrated data set that Hu and Wang develop could allow Bovita to better understand the environmental and management factors that affect their dairy cows — namely their health and productivity.
A possible benefit to the dairy industry worldwide could be made if the research is successful.
While the research involves data sets that are proprietary, both Hu and Wang see the possibility of using anonymized data sets in their course instruction to prepare their students for industry research opportunities.
The idea for this project came from a conversation that Hu had with an IEM alumnus who shares her passion for real-world impact through industrial engineering and data analytics tools. Combining that passion with detailed technical and managerial discussions eventually brought this research project to fruition.
“I am always passionate about making societal impact through our academic research,” Hu said.
In data analytics and decision-making, this translates to gathering data, analyzing data and extracting as much useful information as possible from that data.
Wang, who joined OSU in 2023, is an expert in the field with many awards in the area of agricultural engineering. His research areas of interest include plant breeding, crop modeling, data analytics among others.
“I truly believe the discipline of industrial engineering shines at the intersection of multiple disciplines,” Hu said.
“Our research team is always looking for new partners, especially those who have already collected or are ready to collect abundant data sets in agricultural practices and would like to extract useful information out of the data.”
To learn more about Hu’s research, click here. To learn more about Wang’s research, click here.