Kai Dai

Dr. Courtney Daigle is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University. She received a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 2004 from Oklahoma State University. She worked in the zoo industry for several years before continuing her education at Michigan State University where she received a Master of Science in Zoo & Aquarium Management (2008) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science (2013). During her graduate training, Dr. Daigle worked as an intern with the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute (2008), was a Junior research fellow at Wageningen Institute for Animal Sciences (2011), and was the technician for the Animal Behavior and Welfare Laboratory at Michigan State University (2008-2014). She worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Animal Welfare Science and the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University (2015).

Dr. Daigle specializes in evaluating the impact of husbandry and management practices on captive animal health, productivity, and welfare. Current research efforts include quantifying the impact of environmental enrichment and social mixing on feedlot cattle productivity and behavior as well as characterizing the relationship between cattle behavior and diet. The Daigle Lab also specializes in survey research, technology validation, data extraction from video recordings, and evaluating the human-animal interaction. Dr. Daigle teaches an undergraduate course on the Behavior and Management of Domestic Species, a graduate course on Bioethics and Animal Welfare. Dr. Daigle is a faculty advisor and coach for the Texas A&M Animal Welfare Judging Team and the Texas A&M Animal Welfare and Behavior Club.