Cooke 1

Julia Cooke

Jackie Burr

English 2010

20 April 2020

Interview Assignment

The original plan was to interview a professor from Utah State University who

specializes in the dairy field. He responded to the email with other professors from Utah State he

thought would be better resources for the specific questions asked. Quickly I emailed them, but

got no response. This is when I decided to broaden my search to outside the state of Utah. I

emailed Alison L. Van Eenennaam, an Extension Specialist at UC Davis for Animal

Biotechnology and Genomics, Department of Animal Science. Van Eenennaam has a bachelor's

degree in Agricultural Science, a M.S. in Animal Science and a Ph.D. in Genetics. While

searching online for credible people I could interview and ask questions to, I saw her name and

expertise and knew I should email her. My actual report essay leans into all transgenic animals

even outside of agriculture and I knew that she would be a great resource to interview and ask

questions about both transgenic and genetically engineered animals in agriculture and research

around the world and the United States.

Figuring out what questions to ask was almost effortless. I’ve always been extremely

intrigued and interested in genetically modified organisms and the circumstances around them. I

have also always had a fascination and love for animals. Both lowered the difficulty of

wondering what a reader would want to know because I could easily put myself into the readers

place. With the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing guidelines, and the fact that Van
 Cooke 2

Eenennaam lives and teaches in California, I decided the best way to ask questions and conduct

the interview would just be over email. This way there would be no inconveniences with time

and having to set up a video call, and Van Eenennaam would get to it whenever she could. I

ended up asking Van Eenennaam nine questions out of the original ten I had written as I felt one

of the questions didn’t fit right. Because the interview and questions were set up over email,

there wasn’t really a time period like there would have been with a zoom call, and all the

information is recorded on the emails and has also been transferred over to a google doc.

This interview process was a very engrossing experience. The added difficulty of

distance and the Covid-19 pandemic brought depth to the interview that at the beginning of the

semester I never knew or thought I’d have to go through. I felt very involved throughout the

whole process even with the interview and questions being over email.

When it comes to the actual questions I learned quite a bit. As a senior in highschool with

my education plans leading me toward the animal science field, I had always thought that with

the technology that the United States has to make transgenic and genetically modified animals

would lead us into using them just like we use genetically modified crops. Van Eenennaam said

otherwise. She explained that it's going to be virtually impossible to get such technology and

animals approved for regular human consumption in places like the United States, but she thinks

it may have potential to take off in places like China and South America. She has stated that it is

near to impossible to commercialize genetically engineered animals.

The opportunity of interviewing someone who is specialized in their field and is

respected across the nation for their work was not short of amazing and eye opening. With the

new information I have been given, working it into my report, I believe, will be greatly eye
 Cooke 3

opening to a reader. They will be given all of the information from journals and articles, but also

now an inside look with a professional that leans more toward that agricultural standpoint instead

of the research standpoint.