Miel Hostens

Miel Hostens is the Robert and Anne Everett Associate Professor of Digital Dairy Management and Data Analytics in the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University. He also serves as a visiting professor at Ghent University’s Lab for Animal Nutrition and Animal Product Quality, advancing data-driven methodologies for sustainable global food systems.

• Education: Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (2013), Master of Science in Veterinary Medicine (2006), and Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Medicine (2003), all from Ghent University.

His research focuses on precision dairy farming, integrating genomics, sensor technology, and machine learning to address challenges in animal welfare, productivity, and environmental sustainability. Key projects include DECIDE (2021–2025), developing tools for early disease detection, and VEERKRACHT (2018), enhancing metabolic resilience in dairy cattle.

Hostens' lab emphasizes FAIR data principles, exemplified in the SUMMERFAIR project (2021–2022) for standardized transmission data analysis. He also led GplusE (2014–2018), an EU-funded initiative optimizing genotype-environment interactions in dairy systems.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Bezos Earth Fund AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature grant (2025)
  • Open Science Fellows FAIR data and software at Utrecht University

As a member of the American Dairy Science Association and Dutch/Flemish Veterinary Associations, Hostens bridges academia and industry. His lab collaborates globally on data pipelines for dairy research, including work by visiting postdoc Puchun Niu.