Written by: Guest | August 17, 2022
By: Gracie Wagner, AFIA communications intern
Every year, the American Feed Industry Association sponsors awards that recognize industry leaders who are making an impact on the health and nutrition of livestock and poultry. Read about this year’s animal nutrition award winners below.
Don Beitz, Ph.D., is the recipient of the annual AFIA – Federation of Animal Sciences New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award. He was raised on an Illinois dairy farm, where he developed his interest in animal science. He graduated from the University of Illinois and Michigan State University. In 1967, he joined the animal science and biochemistry faculties at Iowa State University, where he is now Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture. His research has focused on milk fever and ketosis, beef tenderness, mitochondrial DNA, and dietary control of milk fat, body composition and plasma cholesterol. He has directed 105 advanced degree programs and taught nutrition and biochemistry to more than 13,000 undergraduates. He is a past president of the American Dairy Science Association, Federation of Animal Science Societies and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. He and his wife Judy have two children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Read more>>
Frank Dunshea, Ph.D., is the 2022 recipient of the AFIA -- ASAS Award in Ruminant Nutrition Research. Dunshea worked as a government scientist for 17 years before joining the University of Melbourne in 2006. He has published over 950 journals, conferences, books and technical articles in agricultural, biomedical and food sciences. Since joining the university, Dunshea’s primary research focus has been on the effects of climate change on livestock production and identifying nutritional interventions to mitigate against heat stress. He has trained over 40 students and has been the principal investigator on over $20 million in research funding. Overall, his nutritional research has led to exciting findings, many of which have been adopted by the livestock industries. He is a Redmond Barry distinguished professor and chair of agriculture at the University of Melbourne in Australia and professor of animal growth and development at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. He has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science and a doctorate from La Trobe University and post-doctoral training at Cornell University. Read more>>
The AFIA honored Phillip Miller, Ph.D., with the annual AFIA – American Society of Animal Science Award in Nonruminant Nutrition Research award. Miller was born in Reno, Nev., and raised in central California. In 1981, he started his education at University of California, Davis, where he completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree in animal science and received his Ph.D. in nutrition in 1990. In 1990, Miller accepted a faculty position at the University of Nebraska as a swine nutritionist. His research area has focused on energy and amino acid nutrition in the growing pig and how nutrition during the gilt development period affects sow longevity. Recently, Miller investigated the effects of nutrition on the microbiome in the pig. He has served as editor for the Journal of Animal Science and currently serves as review and symposia editor for the journal. He is chair of the coordinating committee for the National Animal Nutrition Program and has been a member of the swine nutrition research committee, NCCC-042, for the past 23 years. He currently holds the Kermit Wagner Distinguished Professorship in Animal Science at the University of Nebraska. Read more>>
The AFIA honored Christopher Reynolds, Ph.D., with the annual American Dairy Science Association Nutrition Research Award. The award was created to stimulate research in dairy cattle nutrition. Reynolds is a professor of animal and dairy science and director of the Centre for Dairy Research at the University of Reading. Following postgraduate study at the University of Tennessee, he worked in the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., until moving to the University of Reading in 1993. He also spent four years as an associate professor at Ohio State University. His research has primarily concerned the nutritional physiology of ruminants in relation to energy and protein metabolism. His recent research has focused on strategies to reduce methane and reactive nitrogen emissions associated with milk and meat production and the use of multispecies swards to improve the sustainability and resilience of ruminant production systems. Read more>>
Michael Persia, Ph.D., was awarded the annual AFIA Poultry Science Nutrition Research Award, which recognizes distinctive work demonstrating sound research in poultry nutrition in the last 10 years. Persia is currently a professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at Virginia Teach, Blacksburg, Va., where he focuses on applied research and extension in poultry nutrition and teaching. He earned his bachelor's degree from Penn State University, a master's degree from Ohio State University and his Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign with an emphasis on poultry nutrition. After graduation, Persia moved to Newark, Del., to complete a post-doctoral research position focused on phytate and nutrient excretion. He started a professional career with Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. as a manager of research and development located in Research Triangle Park, N.C. As part of his duties, he managed late-stage development of feed and fuel enzyme activities, as well as progressed earlier stage enzyme biotechnology in poultry, swine and beef models. In 2009, Persia joined the faculty at Iowa State University as an assistant professor with a research and teaching split appointment. In 2013, he moved to Virginia Tech and assumed a three-way appointment in research, extension and teaching. Over his commercial and academic research endeavors, he has focused on three major objectives including classical nutrition requirement determination, the effects of stress on nutritional efficiency and topics critical to the poultry industry. Read more>>
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