Dr. Nienaber is an agricultural engineer whose research focus is on development of information to assist livestock producers in making decisions about management of livestock to cope with climatic stress and management of manure to protect the environment.  The livestock stress program is conducted in the environmental laboratory as well was livestock production facilities.  The environmental laboratory includes 5 temperature-humidity controlled chambers adaptable to all species, cattle, sheep and swine, and 4 indirect calorimeters designed for sheep or swine research.  In addition, portable head-boxes, designed to complete calorimetry measurements on mature cattle, are available to use in facilities remote from the environmental laboratory.  The production facilities include swine farrow to finish buildings that vary in the heating and cooling capabilities and penning arrangements, dependent on the stage of growth.  The beef cattle feedlot includes a capacity to feed up to 5,000 head of cattle with a specialized structure designed for shade research which includes electronic feeding behavior equipment.  Additional housing options for cattle are available for specialized studies such as calorimetry.  Sheep facilities include housing, feedlot and pasture arrangements.  All livestock facilities are also available to study livestock manure management.  In addition, crop production fields are available to extend research programs beyond the feedlot to study the utilization of manure by crops or manure handling options.  A current focus is on evaluation of alternative feedlot runoff control that reduces facility construction and maintenance costs while providing excellent environmental protection.