An animal interest approach method as a gateway to a one health educated pipeline

- By integrating One Health and animal science STEM education, we can develop more effective solutions to global health issues, benefiting not only animals but also humans, plants, and the environment. - STEM education has a pivotal role in ensuring future generations have the scientific literacy and technological proficiency needed to address complex health challenges to people, animals, plants, and the environment. - Using animals as a ‘hook’ or interest approach strategy to introduce and engage students into STEM, particularly those from nontraditional agricultural backgrounds, provides a unique opportunity to foster greater awareness of the animal sciences and their importance in One Health. - The growing need for a workforce that understands the intersectionality of animal agriculture, public health, and the environment highlights the importance of creating educational pathways that attract and train diverse talent. Animal science is the study of the biology, care, and management of animals, focusing on their health, behavior, nutrition, physiology, and breeding. Animal science has a critical role in One Health, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, plant, and environmental health. In this context, animal science helps ensure the well-being of livestock, pets, and wildlife, the maintenance of a safe food supply, and the reduction of zoonotic disease outbreaks, while contributing to environmental sustainability. Moreover, One Health underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to address health challenges, such as zoonotic diseases that can spread between animals and humans. By integrating animal science into One Health, we develop more effective solutions to global health and food security challenges, benefiting humans and also animals, plants, and the global environment, critical to all life. STEM education is essential to advancing One Health efforts. By fostering interdisciplinary knowledge and problem-solving skills, STEM education equips individuals with the tools to better understand and address complex health issues spanning across species and ecosystems. Advances in biotechnology, data science, and environmental engineering, for example, help scientists track disease outbreaks, assess environmental risks, and develop innovative solutions to prevent and control zoonotic diseases affecting both humans and animals. Additionally, STEM education empowers future professionals to design sustainable practices, integrate new technologies, and promote collaboration across sectors, all of which are essential for a holistic approach to health and well-being. One Health increasingly requires a STEM-educated workforce, particularly individuals who can bridge the gap between animal agriculture and human health. In fact, there is a pressing need to scale up educational capacity, interprofessional training, and career development pipelines to meet national and global one-health needs (AAVMC, 2022; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). One-health professionals are essential to preventing future pandemics, safeguarding food systems, and addressing the health impacts of environmental change (WOAH, 2025). The demand for professionals in agriculturally based STEM is expected to outpace graduate availability by 6% to 8% between now and 2035 (Fernandez et al., 2020). Despite the growth in agricultural science employment opportunities, only 1% of the U.S. population is now directly involved in agricultural production (USDA ERS, 2023), and the majority of the remaining 99% is generally unaware of the employment, career or workforce opportunities in food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources, or the advanced technological sophistication of these fields (Fernandez et al., 2020). With fewer students from farming backgrounds entering agricultural career paths, it is increasingly important to successfully identify, recruit, and educate prospective workers from nontraditional, nonagricultural backgrounds into animal science and related STEM disciplines. Early, community-based exposure to STEM and STEM-based careers can drive future involvement in science and guide students into science-based educational pathways and careers (Deane, 2023; Savoca, 2023). An interest approach strategy (also called an effective anticipatory set; Sidebar 1) can significantly enhance student engagement, spark curiosity, and maximize learning outcomes. One compelling implementation of this strategy is the use of animals as a ‘gateway species’ or instructional hook (Table 1) to introduce and deepen interest in agricultural sciences and STEM education (Guinnefollau et al., 2020; Monterrubio and Silva, 2023). Horses, dogs, and other animals have a unique capacity to captivate young learners, especially those from nontraditional agricultural backgrounds in urban and suburban settings who may lack prior exposure to animal species and careers in agriculture or STEM. Examples of animal use to effectively engage students to enhance STEM learning.* *On June 5, 2025, the following keywords or phrases were entered into a literature search: STEM, education, 7th through 12th grade, and animal use in the classroom were entered into SCISPACE resulting in 1,710 papers. The listings in the table are examples from that search. Examples of animal use to effectively engage students to enhance STEM learning.* *On June 5, 2025, the following keywords or phrases were entered into a literature search: STEM, education, 7th through 12th grade, and animal use in the classroom were entered into SCISPACE resulting in 1,710 papers. The listings in the table are examples from that search. In our work, we use horses and dogs as an interesting approach to provide an entry point for new students, particularly those with a pre-existing interest in animals, who may not otherwise engage with the broader disciplines of production animal and agricultural sciences (Figure 1). While various animals can serve this purpose, we have focused on horses and dogs because of the complementary youth populations they reach. Horses are agriculturally important and relevant large animals, are generally more highly trained and responsive to human interaction than less-handled species like cattle or sheep, and appeal to a subset of both rural and urban youth. Dogs are readily available, less intimidating than many other domestic animal species, and are widely appealing to most youth across all demographics in society. This approach also capitalizes on the widespread appeal of horses and dogs to introduce fundamental scientific concepts and disciplines, such as biology, veterinary and health sciences, food systems, and environmental studies, all of which align with the One Health framework (Guinnefollau et al., 2020; Star et al., 2023). Emphasizing scientific literacy through this model helps build a workforce capable of addressing complex challenges at the intersection of human, animal, plant, and environmental health. This ‘gateway species’ interest approach helps bridge the gap between traditional agricultural communities and the growing need for diverse talent in the agricultural science sector, fostering a workforce pipeline with a greater understanding of the interconnectedness between human, animal, plant, and environmental health. By utilizing horses, dogs, or other animals as an interest approach to STEM and piquing the interest of youth, we are nurturing the next generation of professionals who will have a critical role in advancing global health and sustainability. The integration of animal science, STEM education, and One Health offers a holistic and dynamic framework for addressing global health challenges. Animal science has a vital role in promoting and maintaining the health and well-being of animals while contributing to the broader goals of public health, food security, and environmental sustainability. By emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, One Health STEM education empowers individuals with the knowledge and tools to tackle complex health issues across species and ecosystems. Furthermore, using animals as a ‘hook’ (i.e., interest approach) represents a novel strategy to engage and motivate a new demographic of suburban and urban students, while fostering interest and enthusiasm, leading to a future workforce capable of bridging the gaps between animal, human, plant, and environmental health. By combining these efforts, we can create a more informed, skilled, and diverse workforce prepared to meet the challenges of the interconnected health issues facing our world, ultimately benefiting people, animals, and the planet ecosystems. Relationship between animal interest approach method/hook method and One Health. Dr. Meghan Wulster-Radcliffe is the Director of Strategy for Equine Initiatives in the Equine Science and Management Program at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Wulster-Radcliffe received her undergraduate degree in Meat and Animal Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Science at Virginia Tech. Dr. Wulster-Radcliffe did postdocs at the USDA and Purdue University. Previously, she has worked for Fort Dodge Animal Health, Eli Lily, American Society of Animal Science, and Purdue University. Her current research interests include extension and STEM-based education. Dr. Sarah Reed is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Reed earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal Science and then spent two years as a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Florida. Her current research interests include the impacts of maternal diet during gestation on offspring growth and development, and the effects of exercise training and detraining in horses. Dr. Reed enjoys teaching, in particular introducing undergraduate students to research through class and research opportunities. Dr. James MacLeod graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a doctorate in veterinary medicine (VMD, 1984) and a PhD in pathology (1990). He is currently a professor and holds the John and Elizabeth Knight Chair in musculoskeletal sciences at the University of Kentucky. He also serves administratively as the Director of UK Ag Equine Programs, an interdepartmental multidisciplinary unit that aims to support and facilitate all equine-associated activities at the university. Dr. MacLeod’s laboratory conducts research on equine orthopedic and sports medicine issues, with a focus on osteoarthritis, articular cartilage repair, bone development, and the changes in bone structure that occur prior to bone fracture. Dr. Rebekah B. Epps is an associate professor of Agricultural Education & Advocacy in the Department of Community and Leadership Development. Dr. Epps focuses on utilizing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) within Agricultural Education. She uses traditional teaching strategies, inquiry-based learning, and solid learning theories in the classroom. Dr. Epps models behavior using these strategies to teach future Agricultural Educators. Dr. Epps’ research focus has been in STEM in the classroom, teaching and learning with an emphasis on curriculum development, teacher retention, and student achievement. Dr. Epps also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the department and is the liaison and Program Faculty Chair for the Agricultural Education and Advocacy Program within the College of Education. She ensures that all qualifications for agricultural teacher licensure are up to date and accredited through the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Programs (CAEP) and the Educational Professional Standards Board (EPSB). Dr. John "Scott" Radcliffe received his B.S. (1995), M.S. (1997), and Ph.D. (2000) in Animal Science/Non-ruminant nutrition at Virginia Tech with Dr. E. T. Kornegay. Dr. Radcliffe is currently Chair and Professor of the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Prior to his move to Kentucky, Dr. Radcliffe spent 20 + years at Purdue University, working the ranks up to Professor and serving as Associate Head of the Department of Animal Sciences. During this time, he had a primary research appointment focused on two fundamental research interests: 1) environmental nutrition-feeding pigs to insure the highest level of environmental sustainability and 2) gut health. Under the guise of those two areas, Dr. Radcliffe’s work can be partitioned into four categories: 1) reduction of the environmental impact of production animal agriculture (primarily swine) through increasing the efficiency of nutrient utilization and reducing nutrient excretion, 2) use of animal models to study nutrient absorption/utilization in human disease states, 3) gut health and function, and 4) the immune response in food allergy development and food-related digestive disorders. Dr. Robert J. (Bob) Coleman is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture with a major in Animal Sciences and a master’s degree in animal science focus on Nutrition. Dr. Coleman served as the Extension Horse Specialist for Alberta Agriculture. During his time in Alberta, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta with a focus on Equine Nutrition. In 1998, Dr. Coleman moved to the University of Kentucky as the Equine Extension Specialist. In addition to his Extension duties, Dr. Coleman teaches in the Equine Science and Management program. Dr. Coleman is active in the Horse Industry, serving on the AQHF research committee and the AQHA Animal Welfare Commission Dr. Coleman is a member of the Certified Horsemanship Association. Professionally, Dr. Coleman is a member of the Equine Science Society (ESS) the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists, a Diplomat in the American College of Animal Science, and the American Society of Animal Scientists. Dr. Steven Zinn is professor of Animal Science at the University of Connecticut. He joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 1990 after earning his B.S. degree from Cornell University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the laboratory of H. Allen Tucker at Michigan State University. His research is focused on growth physiology and endocrinology in domestic species with an emphasis on maternal nutrition. From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Zinn was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Animal Science and was a founding member and the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Animal Frontiers from 2011 to 2013. He served as President of ASAS from 2017 to 2018, was named an ASAS Fellow in 2015, and received the ASAS Morrison Award in 2021. This manuscript was written in response to an open call for manuscripts. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their universities, the journal, or the publisher. This manuscript was supported by USDA-EWD-FANE: 2023-11839. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this article. To note, Dr. Sarah Reed is the current EiC of Animal Frontiers, Dr. Steven Zinn is a previous EiC of Animal Frontiers, Dr. Scott Radcliffe has served as Guest Issue Editor, and Dr. Meghan Wulster-Radcliffe served as the previous CEO of the American Society of Animal during the creation of Animal Frontiers, but none had any role in the review or handling of this manuscript. Meghan Wulster-Radcliffe (Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing), Sarah Reed (Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing), James MacLeod (Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - review & editing), Rebekah Epps (Methodology, Writing - review & editing), Scott Radcliffe (Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing), Robert Coleman (Conceptualization, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing), and Steven Zinn (Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing)

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