U of A poultry faculty and students receive national recognition at annual meeting
8-18-05Contact Information:
Karen Eskew, Communication Specialist
Center of Excellence for Poultry Science
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two University of Arkansas faculty members and three graduate students recently took top honors at the Poultry Science Association’s (PSA) annual meeting at Auburn University. The awards are for research sponsored by the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science in the University of Arkansas Systems’ statewide Division of Agriculture.
Gisela Erf received the Helene Cecil Leadership Award. This award of $3,000 and a plaque is given to a female PSA member for scientific contributions in the field of poultry science or for significant leadership in the promotion or development opportunities for women in poultry science. Erf’s research is in avian immunology with a specialization in cell-mediated immunology. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and is an academic advisor and Honors Program mentor.
William Huff, a microbiologist with the USDA Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, and an adjunct member of the UA faculty, was presented with the National Chicken Council Broiler Research Award and $1,500. The award is given for research that has a strong economic impact on the broiler industry. His research is on therapeutic utilization of bacteriophages to reduce pathogens in poultry.
Poultry science graduate students winning awards at PSA were Marc DeBeer, Hilary Pavlidis and Arijit Saha.
DeBeer, a doctoral student from Durban, South Africa, won the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper award in the area of nutrition for his paper, “The effect of feed restriction programs on body weight, frame size, flock uniformity and in vitro lipgenesis in broiler breeder hens.” His major professor is Dr. Craig Coon.
Pavlidis, a doctoral student from Virginia Beach, won an Outstanding Graduate Student Paper award in the area of poultry breeding and genetics for her paper, “Broiler growth and development as influenced by divergent selection for ascites incidence.” This is Pavlidis’ second time to take top honors at PSA for her research, the first time was in 2002 in Delaware as a master’s student. Her major professor is Dr. Nick Anthony.
Saha, a doctoral student from New Delhi, India, received an Outstanding Graduate Student Paper award in the area of products and processing for his paper, “Effect of chronic heat stress on meat quality parameters of two commercial broiler strains.” His major professor is Dr. Casey Owens.