By Jim Massey
Freelance writer
Oft-honored Animal and Dairy Sciences Department Professor Guilherme Rosa received another recognition recently when he was named a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Surrey in England.
Rosa, a professor of precision livestock farming, was invited to apply for a fellowship that will lead to a collaborative effort between UW-Madison and the University of Surrey in Guildford, England. Guildford is located about 35 miles southwest of London.
He was one of seven external academics awarded with fellowships for the 2024-2025 school year. The university awards fellowships in a wide variety of fields, such as art, sciences and engineering. This year’s recipients are from the U.S., China, Norway and Australia.
As per the requirements of the fellowship, Rosa will travel to Guildford twice during the current school year and participate in workshops and discussions with collaborators. His first trip to the University of Surrey took place in December of 2024, and his second one is tentatively scheduled for May.
Rosa has a contact in England who encouraged him to apply for the fellowship. He gave an online presentation on artificial intelligence, or AI, applications in veterinary medicine in 2023, and after that was invited to submit an application for a fellowship.
The Institute of Advanced Studies was established at Surrey in 2004 to bring a new dimension to the university’s research activities, attracting a flow of international scholars to the university and encouraging new, productive research collaborations. The fellowship program enables scholars, artists, public servants and entrepreneurs to spend time with Surrey academics pursuing research of mutual interest.
Rosa’s fellowship focuses on furthering and promoting the use of AI, big data and informatics to improve animal health and livestock production. During his stay in December, Rosa engaged with researchers and graduate students from the Surrey veterinary school to discuss potential collaborations and future research grant proposals.
He participated in a seminar where he presented a talk titled “Genetic and Computer Vision Tools for Controlling Gastrointestinal Nematodes in Sheep.” The presentation detailed an AI tool developed in his lab to diagnose anemia in sheep, reducing labor and blood test costs.
“It allows sheep producers to use an app on a cell phone to take a picture of an animal’s eye to diagnosis whether the animal needs treatment for internal parasites,” he says.
Rosa says AI and machine learning are advancing “extremely fast.”
“The algorithms are better and the computers are faster,” he says. “Things are moving so fast that if you don’t keep up, you’re left behind.”
He says most tools he has developed for sheep, poultry or other livestock species can be used anywhere in the world, although sometimes they are tailored for specific breeds or production systems.
“In precision breeding, for example, sometimes a trait we select for an animal that does well in the winter in Wisconsin is not the best for summer in South America,” Rosa says.
Rosa describes his work with the fellowship as a “win-win-win” for everyone involved.
“It’s good for UW-Madison, for the hosting institution, for my lab, and for the students, both in terms of education/outreach and research,” he says. “Moreover, it fosters the internationalization and increases collaboration possibilities. When you go abroad and teach or give talks, you are quite often approached by students who want to discuss the possibility of coming to Madison. They might have funding from their own institution and when they come we establish new projects. The international experiences are a starting point for collaborations.”
The fellowship covers Rosa’s travel and accommodation expenses while visiting England but does not provide funds for him or his research.
A news release describing Rosa’s interaction with Surrey indicated that his visits “have the potential to promote veterinary informatics at Surrey University and in the UK.” The release went on to say the fellowship is aimed at advancing the level of veterinary students in machine learning techniques applied in animal science.
Rosa, a native of Brazil, joined the UW-Madison faculty in 2006 after obtaining a master’s degree in animal sciences from Sao Paolo State University (UNESP) and his Ph.D. in statistics and agricultural experimentation from the University of Sao Paolo in Piracicaba, Brazil. He began his professional career as a faculty member at UNESP before relocating to the U.S. as an assistant professor at Michigan State University from 2002 to 2006. As a Ph.D. student in Brazil, he spent 18 months on the UW-Madison campus as a visiting scholar.
Besides the fellowship, Rosa was recently honored with a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship by UW-Madison. There are several ‘Vilas’ awards, such as early career, mid-career and Vilas Associate, but the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship is perhaps the most prestigious. He is the first professor within the ADS department to receive the honor.
Rosa has more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and an average of 13 journal publications per year over the last 15 years. He has been recognized as an invited speaker and session chair at numerous international scientific meetings. He has secured external grants totaling more than $14 million to support his research programs.
His instructional accomplishments include 17 domestic short courses offered at universities throughout the U.S. and 52 international short courses offered in 11 countries. In addition, he has lectured in 18 team-taught workshops across the U.S. and abroad.
Rosa says he appreciates the recent awards and opportunities to work with students and peers in other countries.
“It’s good, because it helps us continue working on what we like to do, and results in more collaboration and more ideas for projects,” he says.