John Patience has seen his share of excellent swine nutrition graduate and doctoral students come through Iowa State University's Kildee Hall during his dozen years in the Department of Animal Science.

Those students have gone on to make names for themselves in the swine world, either in academia, in production or with allied industries.

As Patience lists one current Ph.D. student's accomplishments, it sounds as if he's talking of multiple students.

"She did the vast majority of the work on preparing a research grant application, which was successful and funded her dissertation research — valued at close to $300,000. It is uncommon for a graduate student to recruit funding to pay the cost of their own research. …

"She is highly innovative, and in her research, reached out to other departments on campus to bring in new research techniques that greatly enhanced the breadth and depth of her dissertation. … She visited two universities, one outside of the U.S., to further expand the quality of her dissertation research. …

"She has so effectively demonstrated her skills in the lab that I appointed her as my lab manager. As such, she is responsible for ensuring all safety rules are followed, trains both graduate and undergraduate students in various lab techniques, develops new techniques for the lab, and oversees the quality of all data generated in my lab. …

Related:Rising stars of the swine industry

"She helped me to develop a new surgery technique which allows us to look more deeply into the progress of digestion along the full length of the pig's digestive tract," Patience wrote, praising Amy Petry — and this is just a partial list.

These are merits that clearly qualify as one of this year's rising stars in the swine industry.

Hogs not on radar
Early in her life, hogs were not even on the young Petry's radar. She was raised in Weatherford, Texas, a western suburb of Fort Worth. "I got involved in 4-H, and particularly horses," she says.

"I'm a horse girl by upbringing. I rode horses and judged horses. That's how I landed in animal science." She was a competitive horse judger, first at a junior college before transferring to Texas Tech University.

It was at Texas Tech that she was exposed to the swine world, doing undergraduate nutrition research. "It kind of fit my need of love of science and an animal agriculture," she says.

Under the tutelage of Anoosh Rakhshandeh, Petry did undergraduate research, as well as sticking around for her master's degree work, in which she looked at alternative technologies for measuring net energy and core body temperature.

Through that research, not only did Petry find answers to her thesis hypothesis, but she also found the works of a certain swine nutrition professor from Iowa State University.

"It was through my master's work that I found John's [Patience] literature and read John's book, 'Feed Efficiency,' " she says. "Early in my master's, I went to Dr. Rakhshandeh and said, 'Hey, I think I want to do my Ph.D. with Dr. Patience.' "

That was only about six months into her master's work at Texas Tech, and Rakhshandeh informed his pupil that it was rumored that Patience was soon to retire. "I don't know if he's taking any more students," she was told.

Professor's last Ph.D. student
Timing and luck would have it that about two weeks after that conversation, Patience sent emails to swine faculty across the United States, saying he was looking for the individual who would be his last Ph.D. student. "I applied, and that's how I got here," Petry says.

She was drawn to working with Patience for the way he presented the material that she had been researching during her graduate work.

"As an undergrad, when you take nutrition classes, you learn about amino acids, carbohydrates, etc. And even then, I enjoyed studying energy because of its complexity; there are several dietary components that influence it," she says. "So when I decided I wanted to work with energy in my graduate studies, I read a lot of John's work.

"John has a knack for taking something so complicated, and he doesn't take away its complexity, but he discusses it in a way that helps break it down into an understandable component of the diet. …

"He has a very good way of saying, 'You know, energy is very complex, but there is some simplicity to it; and there's some simple things about it, but we can't forget its complexity.' "

As Petry continued reading through the literature by people who had worked with energy and pigs, she continued to be drawn to the way Patience discussed the material through his review articles and chapters.

Research on xylanase
"Then, looking into his lab, he had the applied swine nutrition program, and I knew that there would be opportunity there to gain exposure to industry," she says.

"I had a lot of exposure to basic science when I was at [Texas] Tech as an undergrad and as a master's student, but I knew through John's program I would obtain a greater understanding of studying energy and the swine industry. …

"I have spent much of my Ph.D. studying and understanding the complexities of physiology and dietary energy, and specifically, how fiber and enzymes influence both. … but, I've also been able to be immersed in the swine industry here."

Petry has been in Ames for three years now, and she's nearing the end of her Ph.D. studies with research into xylanase, an enzyme that degrades fiber. Her dissertation research is focused on investigating the in vivo mechanism of action of this fiber-degrading enzyme.

She believes if the mechanism of action of this enzyme is fully elucidated, then its efficacy in swine diets can be improved.

"Often we see when xylanase is utilized in large finishing pig production, it reduces finishing pig mortality, and that is one reason it's been frequently used in the U.S. — even though performance responses are inconsistent," she says.

"Some of my research suggests that xylanase supplemented alongside corn-based fiber improves the antioxidant capacity of the pig, and improves markers of gut barrier integrity, which might partially explain why we see reductions in finishing pig mortality."

In addition to being able to work under Patience, coming to ISU opened a lot of the campus to Petry.

Collaboration, opportunity
"At first, I didn't realize the amount of collaboration that goes on at Iowa State, not only within the university but abroad," she says.

"My project necessarily didn't have as much collaboration with those in the department compared to John's other students, but there's always a sense of collaboration among the faculty in the animal science department at ISU.

"From my experiences, professors [at ISU] have an open-door policy, and I think that's a very true statement across the faculty. I think what has been such a strong component of John's program, and something I hope to model in my future career is collaboration with experts.

"John has collaborated, with those at Iowa State throughout his career, but he also had networks and built connections with experts outside of Iowa State to really be able to strengthen our projects and both broaden and deepen our science.

"It's not only Iowa State, but bringing in experts where their expertise is greatest. And I think that has been a strength of my Ph.D. program and a strength of John's program."

The best version of herself
While realizing that she and Patience are two completely different people, Petry hopes to emulate her mentor in what he has done in terms of collaboration with others. Moving ahead into her career, she has the drive "to be the best version of myself.

"I'm an achiever by nature. I think what drove me and my program, and hopefully in my future career, is the ability to continually change and improve animal agriculture," she says.

"There are many problems facing the swine industry and various other industries, and I'm charged with being part of the solution. I hope to be a problem-solver through my Ph.D. and understanding the efficacy of xylanase and its mode of action, but also continue on to solve other problems in the swine industry.

"I hope to work closely with industry, to help me to understand their problems and their opportunities, and contribute to the science the best way that I can."

Passion for teaching
Petry is passionate about the swine industry, but she is also passionate about teaching — in which she has gained a lot of experience at ISU.

"I knew early on that I either wanted to go into industry or into academia," she says, "and I think through my opportunities in teaching at Iowa State, it solidified that I want to go into academia and to continue to teach and do research."

Patience agrees that that's a good fit for his protégé, as he writes in his nomination: "Amy is not a one-trick pony. She is not only an excellent researcher, but she is also passionate about teaching. …

"She has TA'd [been a teacher assistant] a number of courses, and worked with one of our faculty to help develop a whole new course in statistics directed specifically at the needs of animal science students — and then helped to deliver a number of lectures."

Teaching and research will serve Petry well, as this fall she takes her talents and passions back to the Lone Star State and Texas Tech. The exact details of her Texas Tech position are still being worked out, but as it stands, it is a physiology, health and welfare position.

"My focus will be on nutritional physiology and how nutrition impacts various aspects of physiology and health of the pig," she says.

"I think research obviously influences my teaching, because I think it's pertinent that undergraduate or graduate students are up to date with what's going on in the industry, and the research that's relevant to the respective industry and area we are discussing."

Petry's star will continue to rise and shine as she meshes her passions of research and teaching, all for the good of the swine industry.