As the semester gets rolling again, we wanted to put a spotlight on another of our research faculty. Marissa Stevens, an Agribusiness Management Sales and Marketing student sat down to talk with Dr. Will McClain about his experiences and work in plant sciences. Here’s what Marissa had to say!
Dr. Will McClain is an assistant professor here at Missouri State University in Environmental Plant Science and Natural Resources. But, he didn’t start out working with plants. Straight out of high school, McClain went into the military serving in the Army and then the National Guard. After ten years of serving his country, he went back to school to complete his Bachelor’s in Horticulture and Agronomy and his Master’s in Plant Science at Missouri State University. He completed his Ph.D. in Agronomy specializing in Plant Physiology and Forages at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
He worked for the MU Extension office for nearly nine years and then was excited for the chance to come back to his alma mater when a position opened up in 2016.
McClain is active in various aspects of his research, and he enjoys staying busy. Among teaching and outside duties of helping local farmers with their forages, he is also a part of our research faculty. One of the research projects is his work with a few University of Missouri students on the irrigation of four grass-based dairies. It is strictly research on irrigation. Another is the grazing study at the Shealy Farm and that research is based on feeding cattle and nitrogen management in the system. An interesting thing about these research projects is that they both use a sonic bike reader (sonic sensor) to measure the ground. (To be explored in a later post! Stay Tuned!)
Dr. McClain is known as a go-getter, meaning he will spend many hours working on one project until he solves the issues associated with it. McClain is widely known among the farmers all over Missouri for his willingness to take the time out and help them with a few issues they may be having on their farm. Some students and coworkers may call him the “forage guy,” but in reality he does much more than that. “I just enjoy doing things that are applicable to the real-world, something a feedlot manager can see and think they can use that to their advantage. Anything to help benefit someone is what I enjoy most.”
When they say a picture is worth a thousand words, they mean it. Just take a look at the training and teaching moments that are part of our the beef grazing project at Shealy.
Thank you Dr. McClain for your hard work and dedication to research and your students. We look forward to more information on the cool things you are doing for Missouri farmers!