Student Spotlight: Ashlee Gibbons

JCERT scholarships mean a lot to students at Kansas State University Olathe.

When a student receives a scholarship, it means they’ll have the chance to pursue their educational and career options without stressing about being able to afford tuition, but Johnson County Education Research Triangle scholarship recipients receive something else when they choose K-State Olathe: career training and support. 

Ashlee Gibbons is a JCERT scholarship recipient who came to K-State Olathe to study animal health. She wasn’t completely sure what her future career path would look like, but Gibbons knew one thing: she liked understanding metabolism, specifically in ruminants. 

Ruminants are animals whose stomachs have multiple compartments, such as cows or sheep. The animals swallow their food before bringing it back up to chew once more. Each part of the animal’s stomach is used for a different part of the digestion process. 

Due to her passion and desire to explore career options, Merck Animal Health offered Gibbons a summer internship with their US cattle technical team. The position involved providing support for one of Merck’s dewormer products through an applied research project on field sampling methods used to detect parasite load in cattle. 

Gibbons was trained by the US Cattle business’ commercial laboratory, based in Lawrence, Kansas. Her training was as intense as any Merck Laboratory Technician, and Gibbons received certification for use of a new field microscope, Techion FecPakG2. 

Once her training was complete, Gibbons brought these skills back to the laboratory at K-State Olathe, where she implemented the processes into her thesis research as a master’s student in animal science. Her research includes evaluating different field sampling protocols and new artificial intelligence equipped microscopes that may be used by the US cattle technical team if proven successful.

Gibbons’ story is one of success and demonstrates the power of collaboration that has led to support for animal health company initiatives, career exploration for a new graduate student and support for the development of K-State Olathe laboratories.