Jena Peine, an NDSU animal sciences graduate student, became the first from North Dakota to win first place in the open graduate student research paper competition at the Western Section American Society of Animal Sciences meetings last month in Bozeman, Mont.

Peine’s paper, titled “Effects of maternal nutrition and rumen-protected arginine supplementation on ewe and postnatal lamb performance,” was selected from 21 competitors from the western United States.

In addition to earning first place in the graduate competition, Peine’s paper finished third in the open applied research paper competition. Research reported in the paper was a collaborative effort between the NDSU departments of animal science, pharmaceutical sciences and the Hettinger Research Extension Center.

Peine, who is working on her master’s degree under the direction of Joel Caton, professor of animal sciences, is employed in a three-quarter technical position in the Animal Sciences Nutrition Lab.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.