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University of Wisconsin–Madison

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University of Wisconsin–Madison

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Student Assistant - Solano/Dairyland Initiative

Apply now(opens in a new window) Job No: 511456
Division/Organization: School of Veterinary Medicine
Department: Medical Sciences
Job Type: UW Student Jobs
Remote Eligbility: Partially Remote
Location: VETERINARY MEDICINE BUILDING
Salary/Wage Range or Lump Sum: $20.00
Job Categories: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving, Teamwork/Collaboration, Agriculture and Natural Resources

Department Overview:

 Dr. Laura Solano leads an applied research program at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine examining how human factors shape herd health, animal welfare, and overall farm performance. Her work integrates epidemiology, qualitative methods, and outreach, using a veterinary lens to study how management practices, communication, and team dynamics affect herd outcomes. She focuses on addressing farm management challenges and advancing practical, evidence-based solutions in collaboration with farm teams.

The Dairyland Initiative is an outreach program at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine that serves as a source for facility design recommendations and lameness prevention tools to optimize dairy cow health, performance, and wellbeing.

Anticipated Start Date:

 05/26/26

Anticipated End Date (If Applicable):

 08/28/2026

Remote Work Eligibility Detail:

Partially Remote

 

Anticipated Hours Per Week:

 Minimum: 20 Maximum: 40

Schedule:

 Schedule: Typically Monday-Friday between 9am and 5pm with occasional early morning/late night hours/overnights as necessary.

Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum:

 Minimum: $20.00 

Number of Positions:

 1

Qualifications:

 • Background or interest in dairy cattle health, welfare, and/or farm management
• Comfortable in dairy farm environments and willingness to engage with producers and employees
• Ability to adapt to a flexible schedule
• Proficiency in at least one statistical software package (SAS, Stata, other)
• Experience with data management, regression analysis, and hierarchical (clustered) data
• Familiarity with SQL and Excel

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or veterinary degree program at UW-Madison or a peer institution in the United States.

A valid driver’s license is required.

Position Summary/Job Duties:

1. Approximately two-thirds of this student hourly position will involve assisting Dr. Laura Solano’s master’s student with on-farm field data collection at approximately 30 Wisconsin dairy farms throughout the summer. This project will involve collecting cow-level observations and farm-level performance and workplace environment indicators, as well as supporting the administration of questionnaires. In addition, the student hourly will enter data into a database, and assist with organizing logistics and scheduling for farm visits.

2. One-third of this student hourly position will involve statistical data analyses of a dataset of 40 automated milking system herds surveyed by The Dairyland Initiative. The goal of the survey was to see if barn design has an impact on labor time and milk production. Variables in the dataset relate to labor tasks and facility design with the main outcome being average daily milk production per cow. Responsibilities will include data cleaning, exploratory analysis, and conducting statistical analyses (e.g., regression modeling). This part of the job can be completed remotely.

Physical Demands:

n/a

Institutional Statements:

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu

Accommodation Statement:

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website:https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/
 
 

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Applications close: Central Daylight Time

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