2014 PSA Awards

John Carey is a past president of the Poultry Science Association (PSA). He has been active in PSA since 1976. Carey has previously served PSA as associate editor of Poultry Science and the Journal of Applied Poultry Research, as section editor of Poultry Science, and as a Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS) board member. He is currently serving as a PSA Foundation Board member and as the FASS treasurer. He has been a member or chair of numerous committees for PSA and the USA branch of the WPSA. He earned his MS from South Dakota State University in 1979 and his PhD from Kansas State University in 1982. From 1982 to 1989, he was a member of the faculty in the Poultry Science Department at North Carolina State University. From 1989 to the present, he has been a faculty member of the Department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University, serving as associate department head and extension program leader from 1993–2006 and as department head from 2006–2012. He is currently engaged in undergraduate teaching and conducting laying hen and broiler production research.

Mark E. Cook received his BS in microbiology (1978), MS in poultry science (1980, mentor, John Hebert, Poultry Sciences Department), and PhD in poultry science (1982, mentor William Springer, Veterinary Sciences) at Louisiana State University (poultry science) in 1982. Immediately following his PhD, Cook joined the Poultry Science Department at University of Wisconsin–Madison as a lecturer and was appointed assistant professor in 1983. Cook was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1988, and professor in 1992 at the University of Wisconsin. During his 30 years at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Cook has taught courses in introduction to poultry science, poultry nutrition, poultry disease and sanitation, comparative nutrition, and feed formulation. After the merger of poultry science with animal science, Cook codeveloped a course with laboratory in introduction to animal sciences, reorganized his poultry disease course and laboratory to fit within the Midwest Poultry Consortium, and created a new course on the science supporting laws and ethics of animal use in agriculture and biomedical research. Cook has also been involved in graduate lectures across campus. Cook has received campus, regional, and national awards for his instructional efforts. Cook’s research has focused on nutrition and immunity. He has trained 18 PhD students and many MS students and postdoctoral fellows. Cook has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers (h-index 28), has been awarded more than 30 US patents. Cook has focused on translating his team’s research into products. During this process, Cook cofounded three start-up companies. Conlinco (currently BASF) is focused on bringing conjugated linoleic acid into the animal feed market. aOva Technologies (currently Ovabio) was formed to market egg antibody to secretory phospholipase A2 into aquaculture, cattle, and swine markets. Isomark is currently advancing a technology to detect the onset of infection for critically ill patients. Cook and his team also have three other products in commercial development and several technologies licensed to other companies in development, as well as products in the marketplace. Revenue from Cook’s technologies has made him one of the top Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation income generators. Cook received the Wisconsin Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology Club Individual Achievement for his entrepreneurial work (2013). While Cook has continued his teaching and research, more recently he has added administrative activities to his daily agenda. In 2013, Cook led the start up of a technology transfer platform on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus (D2P, a $5.4 million new initiative on campus) and was a founding board member of University of Wisconsin Advocacy Consortium for Entrepreneurs. Recent campus leadership activities include, university committee chair, D2P advisory board chair, and copyright policy committee chair. Cook has been a committed member of the Poultry Science Association during his academic career. In the past, he served as a director (1994–1996), on select award committees, as program section coordinator, and as an associate editor. Cook feels that the Poultry Science Association was critical to his success in academia. “I will always be indebted to PSA. PSA was critical to my success at UW-Madison. On the UW-Madison campus, poultry is highly respected from medicine to art. Thank you, PSA members, for your willingness to maintain our identity.” Cook believes the future of our society is in continued entrepreneurial activities in business and serving as a critical resource for fellow scientists exploring ways to find value and application of their discoveries.

Michael Lacy grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia. He earned a BS in biology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). After serving four years in the US Air Force, he returned to Virginia Tech with plans to pursue an MS in biology. A fateful discussion with a favorite professor about a desire to find a research focus that had real-world application resulted in an impromptu meeting with H. P. Van Krey, Paul Siegel, and several graduate students in the Department of Poultry Science. Those conversations changed his life. He earned an MS and PhD in poultry science under the direction and mentorship of H. P. Van Krey, Paul Siegel, Jerry Cherry, and Mike Denbow. After finishing his PhD in 1985, Lacy was offered a faculty position in the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia (UGA). He counts the opportunity to join the faculty at UGA as one of the greatest privileges of his career. He served as an extension poultry scientist, working in the field with broiler producers, flock supervisors, and live production managers for the bulk of his career. The applied research, extension, and teaching program he developed focused on the effect of the poultry house environment on broiler performance. He helped design and encouraged the implementation of new ventilation methods to minimize mortality and production losses in broilers during hot weather. The ventilation systems, techniques, and guidelines he helped establish and promote during his early career continue to have significant economic and animal welfare impact worldwide. He has written more than 300 applied research and extension articles and has been invited to speak at over 60 national and international meetings. In 2001, Lacy was tapped to lead the UGA Department of Poultry Science, where he continues to serve as a professor and department head. Lacy has was elected to the Board of Directors of the Poultry Science Association and the Federation of Animal Science Societies. He has served several terms as a section editor for the Journal of Applied Poultry Research and as an associate editor for Poultry Science. The members of the Poultry Science Association honored him when they elected him as their president in 2008. He was asked to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations and to serve on the USDA National Organic Standards Board as its science representative. Lacy is a recipient of the National County Agricultural Agents Achievement Award, the Poultry Science Association Pfizer Extension Award, the University of Georgia Walter B. Hill Award for Excellence in Public Service, the University of Georgia Epsilon Sigma Phi Administrative Leadership Award, and the Georgia Egg Association Golden Egg Award.

Sally Noll, a native of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, obtained her BS in animal science at the University of Minnesota in 1974. During her undergraduate studies, she took a poultry nutrition course and worked in the research laboratory of her future graduate studies advisor, Paul Waibel. Discovering an interest in both poultry and nutrition, she went on to obtain her MS and PhD at the University of Minnesota in animal science with an emphasis on poultry nutrition. Her PhD project was to determine the lysine requirement of market turkeys as influenced by environmental temperature, contributing to the protein/amino acid turkey research program led by Paul Waibel. After working in a scientist position for a couple of years, which allowed continued participation in market and breeder turkey research, she obtained a faculty position as a poultry extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota in 1985. Her interest in extension was piqued through previous experiences and interactions with turkey industry representatives as a graduate student. Her initial extension effort focused on management and environmental impacts on the respiratory system of turkeys in collaboration with other faculty (Mohamed El Halawani, Kevin Janni, K. V. Nagaraja, and David Halvorson) at the University of Minnesota. Later she developed an applied research program on the utilization of distiller grains with solubles as a feed ingredient for turkeys. Noll is author or coauthor of 46 manuscripts, 165 conference proceedings and research reports, and 185 extension-related publications. Teaching includes advising graduate students and mentoring undergraduate student research projects. She has taught in the Midwest Poultry Consortium summer session at the University of Wisconsin–Madison every year since its inception on topics related to breeder management. She has also served as advisor to the University of Minnesota’s Gopher Poultry Science Club. Her participation in the Poultry Science Association (PSA) began in 1977 as a graduate student participating in the annual meeting and presenting an abstract for the first time. Noll was a member of the first Strategic Plan Committee for PSA. She was program chair for the annual meeting held at University of Delaware in 2002. She was elected to the PSA board directors and as member of its executive committee during 2007–2011. She has served on a number of committees for PSA and as a reviewer of its journals. Noll is grateful for the people in the association that mentored her in these activities and would like to encourage others to become involved in the association.

Guodong Zhang
U.S. Food & Drug Administration   

Guodong Zhang acquired his doctorate at the Northeast Agricultural University of China in 1989. He then worked as an assistant, associate, and full professor at the university and taught courses on crop genetics and breeding, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and quantitative genetics. He went to Purdue University in 1993 as a visiting associate professor and worked on soybean, wheat, and corn genetics and breeding with the US Department of Agriculture, and conducted research on bacterial, fungal, and virus resistance of various crops and the genetic diversity of plant germplasms. During this period of working on crop science, Zhang and his colleagues established the scientific basis for the utilization of wild germplasm in modern crop breeding, the evolution of the root system in modern soybean cultivars and their unique relationship with seed yield and drought resistance, and regionalization of chemical compositions of soybean seeds, as well as developing and releasing a few disease-resistant, high-yield crop cultivars. In 2000, Zhang decided to focus on food microbiology and safety and worked on foodborne pathogens and probiotic bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter, Shigella, Bacillus, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Clostridium botulinum, and Mycobacterium at the University of Georgia and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His research enriched the scientific knowledge of aerosol in food processing facilities, surrogate bacteria for food safety study, probiotics, pathogen detection from difficult food matrices, the use of GFP-labeled bacteria for food safety research, sanitary design of food processors, internalization of human pathogens in lettuce, and survival, growth, and control of human pathogens in foods. He is currently a research microbiologist at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services. He is working on both culture and molecular method development and validation procedures for the isolation, detection, and identification of foodborne pathogens from assorted food matrices, such as eggs, produce, seafood, and spices. The detection and isolation method for Salmonella in shell eggs developed by his team has become official FDA analytical protocol for outbreak investigation, surveillance, and regulatory actions. Zhang has served on editorial boards of several scientific journals, and currently on the Journal of Food Protection and Food Protection Trends. He also served on various university committees and currently serves on several FDA committees. Besides publishing more than 70 research papers and book chapters, Zhang also has a patent for the use of probiotics in the control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry.

Joseph S. Moritz
West Virginia University  

Joe Moritz was trained in nutrition and feed manufacture at Ohio State and Kansas State Universities. He joined the faculty at West Virginia University in 2002, was tenured in 2008, and promoted to full professor in 2013. Moritz maintains a 45% research, 30% teaching, and 25% extension appointment. His research focus is on nutritional consequences of feed manufacture. Moritz’s laboratory has published 37 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented 65 abstracts at national meetings. He has been the major advisor to 17 students who have earned their MS degree, two students who have earned their PhD degree, and two students who have earned their MA degree. His students have been recognized 11 times for excellent presentations at national meetings. Moritz has participated in numerous regional, national, and international scientific meetings as an invited speaker. He has been honored with teaching and research awards at the division and college level as well as the Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Junior and Senior Faculty Awards of Merit. His teaching efforts were also recognized with the prestigious Land O’Lakes/Purina Mills National Teaching Award in 2007. Moritz continues to lead an active student-centered research program and currently is the major advisor to seven graduate students.

Brice Medlock
Chore Time Equipment 

Brice Medlock has enjoyed the good fortune of growing with the poultry industry, as well as growing up in the industry. His family constructed and equipped the first broiler house in northeast Alabama. That was a remarkable event in the late 1940s, and visitors traveled great distances to see 1,000 baby chickens in one building. That was Medlock’s initial exposure to what became a lifelong career. After Medlock graduated from Boaz High School, he attended the Dr. Salisbury School of Poultry Science in Charles City, Iowa, studying poultry pathology. For a number of years, he did poultry service work for Dixie Grain Company in Albertville, Alabama, a large integrator for the broiler market. Along the way Medlock developed an interest in the equipment phase of broiler production. This led to a move to Gainesville, Georgia, to supervise the installation and maintenance of equipment. In 1970, Medlock took a position as customer service representative for the equipment division of Anderson Box Company in Evansville, Indiana. Five years later, he found himself in the customer service department of the Chore Time manufacturing facility in Milford, Indiana. For the next 30 years, he held positions as customer service manager, district sales manager, and national sales manager. Medlock assembled a large inventory of items related to the poultry industry. That accumulation of antiques has now grown to one of the largest private collections of poultry memorabilia in the country. At the invitation of the US Poultry and Egg Association, each year since his retirement he has provided his collection for display at their annual show in Atlanta. In 1994, Medlock was presented the Positive Force Award from the Indiana Poultry Association for his work in the development of Little Hands on the Farm, an interactive children’s exhibition at the Indiana State Fair. In 1996, he was the recipient of the coveted Golf Egg Award given by the Indiana Poultry Association “in recognition of the extraordinary commitment and outstanding determination of an individual who has contributed in an exceptional way to the Indiana poultry industry.” At his retirement in 2004, he was honored by the Indiana Poultry Association with a lifetime pass to the Indiana State Fair presented by the governor. Medlock is careful to point out that his most valuable asset is his loving and supportive family: his wife Fay, three children, and four grandchildren.

Kirk C. Klasing
University of California, Davis

Kirk Klasing received BS and MS degrees at Purdue University and a PhD in 1981 from Cornell University. He spent four years as an assistant professor at University of Illinois and then moved to the University of California, Davis, where he is now a professor of avian biology in the Department of Animal Science. His research examines interactions between nutrition and the immune system, including the effect of diet on immunocompetence, the nutritional costs of immune defenses, and the impact of an immune response on growth-related physiology. He has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed publications. He teaches a class in animal nutrition to senior level undergraduates and a class in nutrition and immunity to PhD, MD, and DVM students. Klasing’s primary administrative job at the University of California–Davis is chairing the Avian Sciences Graduate Program. Previous research awards include the Research Award, Bioserve Award, and the Milton L. Sunde Award from the American Society of Nutrition, and the American Feed Manufacturer Award from the Poultry Science Association. Klasing has held various administrative appointments, most of which were a waste of time. Current recreational endeavors include snow skiing, mountain biking, and drinking beer.

Guillermo Tellez
University of Arkansas

Guillermo (Memo) Tellez received a DVM in 1986 and an MS degree in avian pathology in 1989 at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) that was followed by a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology in 1992 at Texas A&M University. After receiving his PhD, he returned to UNAM and served as head of the Department of Avian Medicine (College of Veterinary Medicine, UNAM) from 1994 to 2001. While at UNAM, Tellez published 40 peer-reviewed publications, 7 book chapters, and 100 proceeding papers. He also advised 5 PhD students, 22 MS students, and 40 undergraduate thesis projects. During that time, he was nominated and become a member of the Mexican Veterinary Academy and recognized as National Researcher Level 3 by the National Research Council of Mexico, which is the maximum recognition for a scientist in Mexico. In 2001, Tellez joined the faculty first on sabbatical leave and then following appointment as a research professor at the University of Arkansas, Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. The Poultry Health Laboratory mission is to identify probiotic candidates for poultry that can displace Salmonella and other enteric pathogens which have colonized the gastrointestinal tract of chicks and poults. During this time, he has advised or coadvised 10 PhD students, 2 MS students, and is currently serving as advisor for 4 PhD students and 1 MS student. During this time, he has coauthored 2 book chapters, 73 peer-reviewed publications, and 107 proceedings. To date, he has been an invited speaker to 150 meetings that have taken place in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America. In 2004, Tellez collaborated with Billy Hargis to commercialize a probiotic mixture of 11 Bacillus bacteria. In 2007, he received an award for excellence for technology transfer from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer for “Novel technology to reduce human foodborne pathogens in poultry.” The product was purchased in 2008 by Pacific Vet Group. Initially, this product was marketed primarily in the United States but is now being used in Asia and South America for the control of Salmonella. Tellez was also instrumental in the development of methods to control necrotic enteritis and cellulitis in turkeys.

Ryan N. Dilger
University of Illinois

Ryan N. Dilger is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, campus, where he studies comparative animal nutrition. He received his BS and MS degrees at Purdue University under the guidance of Layi Adeola where he focused on phosphorus utilization and its environmental impact, and completed his PhD at the University of Illinois under the direction of David H. Baker, where he characterized factors affecting deficiency and toxicity of sulfur-containing amino acids in pigs, chickens, and rats. Dilger completed postdoctorate research with Rod Johnson at the University of Illinois focusing on development of a preclinical piglet model for investigating the role of nutrition on structural and functional outcomes of the brain. Dilger joined the University of Illinois faculty in 2010 and is currently building a program that integrates the interdisciplinary fields of animal nutrition and immunophysiology, including the ability of nutrients to affect metabolic, immunologic, and developmental patterns in animals. Overall, his research projects can be broadly categorized into two areas: 1) practical nutrition issues facing production animal agriculture, and 2) fundamental nutrition questions studied using translational animal models to improve human health and well-being. Dilger has published 39 peer-reviewed papers and 45 abstracts in the areas of swine and poultry nutrition in the contexts of animal agriculture and biomedical research.

Samuel E. Aggrey
University of Georgia

Sammy Aggrey was born in Ghana. He received a BS (Hons) from the University of Ghana, MS with distinction from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and PhD from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Aggrey also spent a year the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Aggrey won the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, which he tenured at McGill University in Montreal researching at the interface of quantitative and molecular genetics. From 1998–2000, he worked as a research associate at McGill University. In the spring of 2000, Aggrey joined the department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate and full professor in 2005 and 2010, respectively. He research interests include mapping genes for growth and development, microRNA predictions, and nutrigenomics. As a member of a four-person international broiler consortium, Aggrey and his team developed 37,557 chicken EST sequences, which are deposited at GenBank and publicly available, and also high-density microarrays for broiler chickens. He has also established a world-class program in nutrigenomics, an emerging field that researches the interaction between nutrient utilization and the genome. Over the past decade, Aggrey has developed models for predicting feed efficiency in broilers and continues to investigate the molecular basis of feed utilization efficiency. He is also investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying sulfur amino acid utilization in broiler chickens. Aggrey’s nutrigenomics research was featured in a special piece by NPR news on Biotechnology Used in Georgia’s Poultry Industry in 2009. Aggrey is also a member of the Institute of Bioinformatics and trained the first PhD graduate in the bioinformatics program predicting noncoding small RNA in several genomes. Aggrey’s research program has been supported mostly by external competitive grants from USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Poultry and Egg Association, and industry organizations. Aggrey coedited the definitive text Poultry Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and conference proceeding in high-ranking scientific journals. In 2013, Aggrey was awarded the D. W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Research by the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of the University of Georgia. Aggrey is a highly regarded scholar in the poultry genetics community and has given several invited presentations at scientific meetings globally.

Jesse L. Grimes
North Carolina State University

Jesse Lee Grimes was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on July 17, 1958. He was raised on a farm in Halifax county near Scotland Neck, North Carolina. He experienced a typical farm rearing and worked in the fields of row crop farming including tobacco, peanuts, corn, and soybeans. He also experienced livestock production with hands-on work with swine and some beef cattle. Grimes also enjoyed the outdoor life of hunting and fishing. He graduated high school from Hobgood Academy in 1976. Grimes graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS degree in wildlife biology in 1980 and a BS degree in poultry science in 1981. He gained invaluable experience in broiler production by working as a broiler service supervisor for Perdue Farms in Lewiston, North Carolina, from 1981 to 1984. Grimes entered graduate School at North Carolina State University in 1984 under the direction of the late Jon Ort with nutrition as his major and working with turkey breeder hens. Upon completing his PhD, Grimes joined the faculty at Clemson University from 1989 to 1994 as an extension scientist working with commercial layers. In 1994, Grimes began his current employment at North Carolina State University in the Prestage Department of Poultry Science as an extension turkey specialist. Jesse and Ruth Ann have been married since 1978.

Christine Alvarado
Texas A&M University

Christine Alvarado received her BS degree (1994) in biomedical science, her MS degree (1997) in food science, and her PhD degree (2001) in food science from Texas A&M University in College Station. Following graduation, Alvarado became an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. In 2003, she moved to Texas Tech University and became a faculty member in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences and was an active faculty member in the International Center for Food Industry Excellence. At Texas Tech University, Alvarado earned tenure prior to becoming an associate professor in the Department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University, where she has been on the faculty since 2010. Alvarado’s research program involves applied research and primarily focuses on improving meat quality and process efficiency for poultry processors, determination of causes and remediation techniques for poor quality meat, and determining functionality of nonmeat functional ingredients used in further processed poultry. Alvarado also conducts research in food safety with an emphasis on working with processors to evaluate current and new innovative antimicrobial applications for efficacy and cost effectiveness. Alvarado is currently a Poultry Science Association member, associate editor for the Poultry Science journal, and a World Poultry Science Association member. Alvarado has six patents in the process of microwave technology commercialization to improve safety in high-risk foods and has received $4.5 million in grants. She has published 58 original peer-reviewed research papers, published many technical articles for industry trade magazines, is an editor of the Poultry Meat Processing book, has published five book chapters, and has been an invited speaker at several international meetings. Alvarado is very active with university, college, and departmental service including acting as a faculty advisor to the Poultry Science Club and the Aggie Leadership Council. Alvarado enjoys mentoring and interacting with undergraduate and graduate students with a focus of developing students’ leadership skills. In addition to university service, Alvarado currently conducts several yearly poultry industry workshops (Poultry 101, Poultry 201, Poultry 201–Listeria Control) and is involved in HACCP, ServeSafe, SuperSafeMark, other food safety training for industry needs, and other USDA-sponsored international events. She teaches undergraduate and graduate Poultry Processing and Products, Graduate Seminar, and the capstone undergraduate course POSC 481.

Michael J. Wineland
North Carolina State University

Mike Wineland graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with his BS, MS, and PhD. Wineland began his extension career in 1980 at West Virginia University as a poultry extension specialist. He joined the Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University in 1983 where his extension responsibilities were to develop extension educational programming for the broiler breeder and hatchery industry in North Carolina. He also is currently the departmental extension leader. Wineland coordinates and conducts two major extension meetings: for the last 30 years the North Carolina Broiler Breeder and Hatchery Management Conference held every October, and for the last 10 years the North Carolina State University Hatchery Management Workshop held in the spring. Both of these events have attendance by national and international audiences. These workshops are complemented by extensive case work for the poultry industry. His research direction supports his educational programming for the hatching egg industry concentrating on how incubation parameters affect embryo and hatchling performance. This has led him to give numerous presentations in many other countries. Additional work has involved refinement of use of mechanized nesting in the mid-1980’s and examination of light and light sources for breeders. Wineland has spent the last 10-plus years teaching a portion of the Breeder and Hatchery Management course associated with the Midwest Consortium conducted every summer at the University of Wisconsin. Wineland’s greatest satisfaction comes when an industry person he is working with says, “Thank you for helping us.”

Lisa R. Bielke
Ohio State University 

Lisa Bielke earned a BS in poultry science from Texas A&M University in 2000. At the University of Arkansas, her graduate studies included the investigation of probiotics and bacteriophages for ante mortem food safety applications in poultry. She earned her MS degree in 2002 and her PhD in 2006. After graduation Bielke worked for BioDetection Instruments, LLC developing bacteriophage applications for the control of Salmonella and Escherichia coli on food products. Other projects included the development of an automated instrument for the detection of viruses, bacteria, and protozoal pathogens in blood, food, and water samples. In 2011, she joined the Poultry Health Laboratory at the University of Arkansas (UA) Department of Poultry Science research team as a research assistant professor, where she assists in the management of a major vaccine development project, design of enteric inflammation models, and investigations of probiotics. She has fostered multiple research collaborations with scientists within the UA Poultry Science Department, other universities, and industry, including multiple international projects. During her postgraduate career, she has been principal or co-principal investigator on more than $3 million in research funding through competitive grants and industry contract support, as well as co-inventor on three issued or pending patents and multiple technologies that have been licensed from the UA. Her research focus includes industry-applicable ante mortem food safety and sustainable poultry health.

Lynn Worley-Davis
North Carolina State University

Lynn Worley-Davis is a lecturer and the undergraduate teaching coordinator for the North Carolina State University Prestage Department of Poultry Science. After receiving her undergraduate degrees in poultry science and animal science from North Carolina State, Worley-Davis started her professional career working in the turkey industry. After 11 years, she returned to North Carolina State to coordinate field research for the North Carolina State University Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center. Worley-Davis began her teaching career as a departmental instructor on an as-needed basis. After deciding she enjoyed being in the classroom and working with students, she later completed a MS in agricultural education and is currently pursuing a doctorate in agricultural education. Worley-Davis teaches introductory poultry science and management courses in the two-year Agricultural Institute (AGI) and the four-year Poultry Science (SPS/TPS) programs. She coordinates the AGI Livestock and Poultry Management degree program and advises students in both the two- and four-year programs. She also serves as an academic advisor to the North Carolina State University Poultry Science Club and the North Carolina State University Farm Bureau Young Farmer Ranchers Club. She considers her teaching approach to be very fundamental: teach the poultry science basics and then show how the science has a real-world application.

Heng-Wei Cheng
USDA-ARS

Heng-wei Cheng currently serves as a research neuroscientist in the Livestock Behavior Research Unit of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and as a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science at Purdue University. Cheng received his bachelor’s degree in clinical medicine from The Southeast University School of Medicine in Nanjing, China, and his MS degree in neurology from The Harbin Medical University in China. Afterward, Cheng came to the United States to earn his PhD in neuroscience from the Wayne State University School of Medicine. After graduation, he accepted a position in Los Angeles as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Neurobiology of Aging Research Center at the University of Southern California’s Davis School of Gerontology. Cheng was later promoted to research assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Neurobiology at the USC Keck School of Medicine. In 1999, Cheng accepted a position as a research scientist with the Livestock Behavior Research Unit in Lafayette, Indiana. The overall goal of Cheng’s research is to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms of stress-induced neuronal plasticity and behavioral adaptation, and to develop neuroanatomical and neurophysiological quantitative indicators of animal well-being. During the course of his career, he has authored or coauthored 81 peer-reviewed papers and brought in over $3 million in competitive grants. His research program on poultry well-being has been recognized with a great deal of media attention and has benefited producers worldwide.

Rodney E. Wolfe
University of Arkansas

Rodney Wolfe received his BS in agricultural engineering and his MS in biological and agricultural engineering from the University of Arkansas. He started his career at the Campbell Soup Research Facility in Farmington, Arkansas. He joined the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas in 1994 as the manager of the Poultry Pilot Processing Plant. When Wolfe was hired, the plant was an empty shell. He oversaw the acquisition, installation, and start-up of equipment for the automated slaughter and evisceration lines as well as for the further processing area of the plant. He played a key role in making the plant the first-class research facility that it is today. Over the past 20 years, he and his staff have processed more than 400,000 chickens, 5,600 turkeys, and 4,000 pheasants for university personnel and outside companies. He works with university personnel from various departments to coordinate classes, laboratories, workshops, research projects, and cooking events at the pilot plant. Wolfe has worked with outside companies such as Cobb-Vantress, Tyson Foods, Pinnacle Foods, George’s Inc., Simmons, ConAgra, Ecolab, Merial, Safe Foods, Griffith Laboratories, Arkansas Egg, BK Giulini, and Hickory Specialties on yield studies, product development, and employee training. In 2003, he became comanager of the University Poultry Research Farm. He has supervised and mentored numerous student workers. Additionally, Wolfe is an ambassador for the Poultry Science Department as he regularly volunteers for youth-related events such as FFA poultry judging and 4-H barbecue events. He served as a chapter advisor for the University of Arkansas Farmhouse Fraternity from 2009 through 2011. He also coordinates the donation of surplus chicken, turkey, and eggs to local food banks.

David J. Burnham
House of Raeford

Dave Burnham grew up in Edenvale, a small town not far from Johannesburg in South Africa. He has two brothers and a sister. He graduated from Edenvale High School and went to work for a year in Namibia, previously known as South West Africa, in the microbiology division, to learn about life and experience a very beautiful country. He graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BS in animal science and went to work for the Animal and Dairy Science Research Institute in the Poultry Science division. He was seconded to the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg for his MS in poultry science under Rob Gous. Burnham credits much of his success in the poultry industry to Gous’ enthusiasm and mentoring, as well as Burnham’s drive to understand how to design studies to accurately investigate and understand amino acid nutrition. After graduating, Burnham joined a small start-up feed company, Independent Feed Mills, where he was technical director responsible for the nutrition and technical support for all species. He purchased one of the first digital feed formulation systems in the country. After three years, Burnham decided he needed to learn more about how a business works and went to Stellenbosch University where he earned his MBA. After graduating from Stellenbosch, he worked for Rainbow Chicken Farms, the largest broiler company in South Africa. He was responsible for nutrition at the 4 complexes and the extensive research program. Burnham immigrated to the United States in 1989 and since then has done many different things and lived in four states. In 1995, Burnham was hired by Ajinomoto, formerly Heartland Lysine, where he had the opportunity, together with his colleague and friend James Usry (swine nutritionist), to commercialize L-threonine. This was a very exciting time where he was able to use all of his amino acid knowledge to introduce and support the industry in the use of this amino acid. Burnham joined Aviagen in 2005 and moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where he and Diane still live today. At Aviagen, Burnham was responsible for nutrition technical support in the Americas, then global marketing, and finally global production nutrition. Today Burnham is doing the nutrition for Johnson Breeders (House of Raeford) and others, where he continues to learn about this incredible animal—the chicken. Burnham’s other interests include flying, woodworking, and reading.

Walter G. Bottje
University of Arkansas

Walter Bottje grew up in Carbondale, Illinois, and obtained a BS degree in zoology with a minor in chemistry at Eastern Illinois University (1976). After receiving an MS in animal science at Southern Illinois University, he received a doctoral degree at the University of Illinois (1984). Following one year of postdoctoral research in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Illinois, he was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas in 1985 and promoted to professor in 1993. In 1996, Bottje was a visiting research fellow at the Rayne Institute (St. Thomas Hospital, London, UK). He served as head and director for the Center of Excellence from 2002 to 2008. Bottje has taught five different classes at the undergraduate and graduate level, is currently teaching an undergraduate physiology course, authored or coauthored more than 100 refereed publications, and served as a major advisor for 5 MS and 7 PhD students. Bottje has served as an associate editor of Poultry Science and is currently a section editor. His current research interest is cellular bioenergetics as well as global gene expression and the role that mitochondria play in the phenotypic expression of feed efficiency.

Kathryn J. Meloche
Auburn University

Kate Meloche was born and raised in Edina, Minnesota. She received her BS in animal science with a minor in human nutrition from the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota in 2011. During her undergraduate studies, Meloche worked as a research technician for Sally L. Noll in the turkey nutrition research laboratory at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, she received a certificate of completion for attending two consecutive summer course programs held by the Midwest Poultry Consortium Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After completing her undergraduate degree, she participated in a live production internship program with GNP Company in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Meloche completed her MS at Auburn University under the advisement of William A. Dozier III. The focus of her master’s work was the development and validation of prediction equations for the apparent metabolizable energy of distillers dried grains with solubles in broiler chicks. Currently, Meloche is pursuing a PhD at Auburn University under the continued guidance of William A. Dozier III. She is investigating the effect of nutrition and management strategies on the development of breast meat quality defects in broiler chickens.

 

Indu Upadhyaya
University of Connecticut

Indu Upadhyaya is a PhD candidate in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Connecticut. She received her DVM and MS (veterinary biochemistry) degrees from Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary Medicine, India. Upadhyaya is trained in traditional and molecular microbiology, and her PhD dissertation investigates the potential of plant-derived, natural molecules for controlling egg-borne transmission of Salmonella in chickens, under the mentorship of Kumar Venkitanarayanan.

 

 

James C. Grimm
Texas Poultry Federation

James Grimm has attained prominence in the agricultural community in Texas and nationally. His leadership of the Texas Poultry Federation (TPF) spans nearly 25 years. The industry has thrived and grown throughout this period through his diligent efforts to pave the way for such growth, meeting the demands of a growing population and doing so in a way that ensures protection and preservation of natural resources. Grimm possesses the utmost in personal integrity and is held in high regard throughout the poultry industry and the leadership of legislative, agency, and commodity stakeholders. As the executive VP of the TPF, Grimm has overseen the expansion of industry in Texas to rank sixth nationally in both broiler and egg production. Grimm has transformed the TPF into a highly effective and efficient agency serving the needs of not only the Texas poultry industry but also addressing needs across the globe. Grimm serves as the voice of the poultry industry through his service and leadership on various committees, including USDA, NRCS, EQIP, and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board. He has served the industry through participation in the Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award program of US Poultry and Egg Association for over 10 years. While serving as executive VP of the TPF, Grimm established the Texas Poultry Political Action Committee. His service on the Technical Committee for the NRCS/EQIP program has provided access to more than $10 million for poultry growers. He has garnered over $750,000 in grants that support the administration of the USDA/APHIS/NPIP Avian Influenza Program in Texas. This program covers commercial and game bird programs. During his tenure, the membership of the TPF has increased to more than 600 due-paying members, and the TPF fiscal assets have increased 10-fold during his service as Executive VP. Grimm was instrumental in the establishment of the testing and indemnification plan for AI in Texas. This plan was developed prior to the establishment of any effective federal plan and has proven highly effective with disease outbreaks. To date, every case of avian influenza has been contained to a minimum of premises due to the effectiveness of Grimm’s leadership in communicating the elements of the plan to the poultry industry and highly effective planning for such emergencies. Grimm has also served future needs of the industry by setting up scholarship endowments and foundations that have given more than $1,000,000 in scholarships to deserving poultry science students in Texas. His dedication and service have been recognized by his induction into the Heritage Registry of Who’s Who in Agriculture in 2005. In 2009, he received the Texas Poultry Federation’s Golden Feather Award, which is the highest honor awarded by the TPF. The TPF provided funding in 2012 to establish a classroom named in his honor at the Blinn College Ag Center in Brenham, Texas.

Bob Palm
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation

Over a career with Pilgrim’s Pride that spanned more than 40 years, Palm rose through the ranks to serve as vice president for the last several years and was instrumental in the success of Pilgrim’s Pride. The vision and ability to adopt new technologies in an industrial setting and move a company to the forefront of poultry production are the hallmarks of Palm’s career. While working in a leadership role within Pilgrim’s Pride, Palm served the industry in many important leadership roles. Within Texas, he held the presidencies of the Texas Broiler Council (TBC) and the Texas Poultry Federation (TPF). The TBC and TPF leadership roles opened opportunities for further service in Texas through the governor’s committee, “Making Texas Agriculture Number One in Production and Profit.” His service expanded to roles in both nationally (US Poultry and Egg Board of Directors) and locally (Chamber of Commerce and S&L boards). All of these activities greatly aided the poultry industry to expand and serve the communities where they operate. Palm has a strong history of giving of his time, talents, and resources to both local high schools and Texas A&M University. His leadership activities as a student at Texas A&M have provided him the basis for continued service in support of the institutions that enabled him to succeed. A particularly noteworthy accomplishment is being named, with his wife Margaret, Texas A&M Parents of the Year 1997–1998. Palm was recognized by being awarded the Outstanding Alumnus in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2005. Most recently, Palm has provided guest lectures to poultry science courses at Texas A&M that expose freshman and sophomore students to the breadth and depth of the career opportunities in the poultry industry. Palm also served to his country through active military service, including service in Vietnam.

 

Marisa A. Erasmus
Michigan State University

Derek A. Emmerson, right, Aviagen Turkeys, presents the Aviagen Turkeys Communication Award to Marisa A. Erasmus, Michigan State University.