Kim Candler McCuistion was born and raised along the Brazos River in Rosenberg, Texas, the community her family has called home since the late 1800’s. Because of her love for animals and her inherited Aggie blood, Texas A&M University was the place she chose to begin her college career. While attending Texas A&M, she was actively involved with many student and academic organizations. The desire to conduct research in beef cattle nutrition took Kim to Kansas State University where she earned a Master of Science degree. In 2003, Kim moved to Hereford, Texas to work for Texas Cooperative Extension in Amarillo and attend West Texas A&M University, where her research interests were directed toward forage production and stocker cattle grazing systems. Opportunities for Kim to work with regional beef and forage producers to identify research needs, to team- teach the Beef Quality Assurance curriculum to cow-calf and stocker producers across the State of Texas, and to work at dedicated research facilities in College Station, Overton and Bushland, Texas provided invaluable insight into applied beef cattle research. Kim and her husband Brian met in 1997 while attending Texas A&M University and were married in 2003. Brian, a general manager/merchandiser for a large grain cooperative, is very involved in the agricultural community.

	B.S. in Animal Science, Texas A&M University – 2001
	M.S. in Animal Science, Kansas State University – 2003
	Ph.D. in Agriculture, West Texas A&M University – 2006

Kim’s research background is diverse and involves both basic and applied research components. As an Undergraduate Research Fellow in the Honors Program at Texas A&M, Kim studied the effects of nutritional supplementation on reproductive traits in female fallow deer and then concentrated her studies at Kansas State University on amino acid utilization in growing steers. Kim’s research at West Texas A&M University focused on production agriculture using a systems-based approach. A major component of Kim’s work was to conduct and collect data from field trials that could be incorporated into decision support tools for beef and forage producers in the Texas Panhandle. Kim finds research that assists producers with production decisions to be very fulfilling and consequently is committed to conducting research that directly benefits beef producers and the ranching industry.

Kim’s outreach and community service activities have been centered around campus activities at her three alma maters. She particularly enjoys meeting with prospective students, providing new student orientation, counseling and advising students regarding career paths, and developing mentoring relationships. Kim maintains active membership in the American Society of Animal Science, Plains Nutrition Council, and American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists.

	Ruminant Nutrition – Graduate Level
	Advanced Range Livestock Production – Graduate Level