Santiago A. Utsumi, PhD
Innovations for Sustainable
Farming & Ranching
Inspired by Nature, Driven by Science
Precision Rangeland & Livestock Research
I joined NMSU in 2021 to coordinate interdisciplinary research in Precision Rangeland and Livestock Management for the NMSU's Sustainable Southwest Beef Grant. My position is 75% research and 25% instruction, and I teach undergraduate (RGSC2110, 460, 440L 460) and graduate level (RGSC 520) courses of rangeland management and herbivory ecology in arid lands. Hands-on instruction is implemented to promote practical skills in leveraging modern technology to optimize rangeland productivity and sustainability. I coordinate the NMSU’ Precision Livestock and Rangeland Management Lab, which includes an interdisciplinary team of undergraduate students, MS and PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows. The lab leads cutting-edge research in areas of grazing ecology and climate-smart livestock production systems. We are profoundly committed to developing creative solutions through implementation of proximal and remote sensing, virtual fencing, tracking and monitoring sensors, novel data science and computational agroecology applied to arid and semiarid rangelands.
The Lab
We are currently deploying and testing innovative applications of remote sensing and virtual fencing, integrated with advanced dashboard systems to track, monitor, and classify livestock behavior. This comprehensive system is being applied across several ranches in the Southwest, spanning over 500,000 acres of arid and semiarid rangelands.
The Lab Team
Micah Funk
mfunk@nmsu.edu
Micah is a Sr. Research Assistant, Instructor of Rangeland Science courses and coach of the Native Plant ID team in the department of Animal and Range Sciences at New Mexico State University. His research fields include precision ranching technology applications, proximal and remote sensing applications, plant-herbivore interactions and herbivory ecology. Micah currently serves as the coordinator of the Precision Rangeland and Livestock Management Lab (PRLML) at NMSU. Micah received a bachelor’s degree of agronomy and range science from NMSU, and a master’s degree of range science from NMSU following brief work periods in the Bureau of Land Management and the Peace Corps. Micah likes spending time in the NM outdoors, and is passionate about the many interconnected facets of food systems, natural resources and agriculture, nationally and internationally.
Andres R. Perea
arperea@nmsu.edu
Andrés is a Ph.D. student of Rangeland Sciences in the department of Animal and Range Science of New Mexico State University (NMSU). Andres grew up on a family ranch, raising commercial Brangus cattle on arid rangelands of Jujuy, Argentina. In addition to gaining a ranch management experience from a very young age, Andres profited from a professional career and education very well rounded in Agricultural Sciences. He obtained his bachelors of sciences degree in Animal Production from the National University of Tucuman (Argentina) and has earned a master’s degree in Animal Science from the National University of Mar del Plata (Argentina). Prior to joining NMSU, Andrés was a Research Scientist for the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), Argentina, conducting research and extension programs on applied ruminant nutrition, winter cereal forage crops and silage, animal husbandry and applied management of beef herds. Andrés' PhD dissertation research is evaluating precision ranching tools and various AI-computational analytics to monitor traits and aspects of livestock grazing behavior, animal health and production, vegetation change and ranch infrastructure.
Sara E. Campa Madrid
saraecma@nmsu.edu
Sara is an MS student of Animal Sciences in the department of Animal and Range Science of New Mexico State University (NMSU). Sara grew up in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. She is a Zootechnical Veterinarian by training and has completed her bachelor's degree in veterinary science at the Universidad de Sonora, Mexico. Sara is bright and fully dedicated to her research projects and shares a great love for animals and veterinary medicine. Prior to joining the Precision Ranching Lab, Sara has been taking care of lucky dogs, cats and cows. For her MS thesis research thesis, Sara is conducting experiments and case studies to document the benefits of precision livestock farming technologies being developed at NMSU. Sara implemented real-time tracking and monitoring collars and applied AI-based analytics to document differences in the grazing behavior of cows grazing on wheat pasture and supplemented or not with crude glycerol. In a second study, Sara has compared the adaptation response of Raramuri cows of divergent personality to a virtual grazing system, during the training and transition phases.
Maximiliano J. Spetter
mspetter@nmsu.edu
Dr. Maximiliano Spetter is a postdoctoral Research Associate with the Department of Animal and Range Sciences of New Mexico State University. Dr. Spetter received his Veterinary Science degree from the Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Argentina. He has obtained his masters degree in Animal Science from the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and his doctoral degree in Veterinary Science from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dr. Spetter brings to the project very solid experience in molecular biology techniques, ruminant nutrition and physiology, and general animal pathology. Dr. Spetter coordinates precision livestock management and breed comparison trials, He is currently applying a GreenFeed air breath analyzer, precision monitoring sensors, and genomic and genotyping tools to evaluate divergence in grazing behavior traits, climate adaptation, ruminant methane fluxes, and feed efficiency of Raramuri Criollo cattle and commercial beef cattle breeds.
Mehmet Bakir
mbakir@nmsu.edu
​Dr. Mehmet Bakir is a Sr. Data Scientists and Program Manager of Computational Agriculture in the Department of Animal and Range Science at New Mexico State University. Dr. Bakir holds a master's degree in Software Engineering from the University of York, UK, and a doctorate's degree in Computer Science from the University of Sheffield, UK. Dr. Bakir research is focused on applied data science, and he is leading the development of a state-of-the-art dashboard visualization App and data science platform to monitor Precision Livestock applications for USDA funded projects, NRCS-CIG grants, NMSU-BLM contracts, and projects involving multiple deployments of precision livestock technologies in ranches of the US Southwest. Dr. Bakir is extremely proficient in Python, Java, JavaScript, and React, and has extensive experience in building machine and deep learning architectures. He teaches and instructs students on Web Development, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing, co-supervises undergraduate and graduate students in the lab and contributes in various funded projects and development of new grants.
