Swine industry leaders were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments at the 2022 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City on June 26-30.
Dr. Todd See, professor and department head of animal science at North Carolina State University, received the ASAS Fellow Award for Administration in June. See received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. This includes supervision of 88 faculty and staff as well as over 1000 students pursing undergraduate and graduate degrees. He is recognized nationally for his innovative approaches in management of on-campus farms; undergraduate admission programs for under-represented groups; support for distance education degree programs; and participation in the long-range planning efforts of the U.S. pork industry. He has served on 15 reviews for national programs and over 50 task forces dealing with issues affecting the livestock industry. See has received numerous awards during his career for his service to animal agriculture from organizations such as ASAS, National Pork Producers Council, National Pork Board, National Swine Improvement Federation and USDA.
Dr. Jack C. Dekkers, C.F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, received the ASAS Fellow Award for Research. He has established and conducted highly productive research programs in several key areas in animal breeding and genetics and has thereby made important contributions to the science of animal breeding and genetics and its application. His initial work was on dairy cattle breeding, including design and economic evaluation of breeding programs, development of breeding objectives and economic indexes, genetic analysis and evaluation of functional traits, and development of random regression models. Subsequent contributions have focused on genetics of feed efficiency of pigs and disease resistance in pigs and poultry. Throughout his career, he has also made important contributions to the integration of molecular genetics and genomics in animal breeding, including QTL detection, marker-assisted selection, and genomic selection. His contributions are internationally recognized and characterized by fundamental strength and innovation but with a keen eye for application.
Dr. R. Dean Boyd received the ASAS Fellow Award for Research. During his 40-year career, Boyd earned a global reputation for innovation in animal nutrition research. His career began on the faculty at Cornell University in Animal Science and Division of Nutrition. It concluded with the Hanor-Triumph Foods group. He coauthored 307 scientific publications as peer-review, books, book chapters and translational papers. His publications appear in 21 journals with collaborators from 32 institutions. His pioneering work at Cornell on the regulation of nutrient use is considered landmark. His most consequential discovery was that deficit essential fatty acid intake by lactating sows causes seasonal infertility, but is resolved by adequacy of both. He delivered the prestigious Dunkin Lecture at APSA (2019), the Howard Dunne Lecture at AASV (2012) and he served on the Science advisory team for the Gates Foundation; the latter published in Lancet Global Health to extend animal science knowledge to maternal-infant health solutions in developing countries. His ability to translate basic science to practice has brought transformational change to his discipline and is his legacy.
Dr. Nicholas K. Gabler, professor in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, received the ASAS Animal Growth and Development Award. His research and teaching has been focused on fundamental swine nutrition, metabolism and physiology. He obtained his bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Gabler conducted postdoctoral research at Purdue University and then Iowa State University. In 2008 he joined the Animal Science Department at Iowa State as an assistant professor. Gabler has an active and diverse research program that focuses on understanding and improving swine feed efficiency, growth and intestinal physiology and health of swine. He is also actively researching the effects pathogens and nutrition on pig performance, intestinal function and integrity, metabolism, tissue lean and bone accretion and health.
Dr. Phillip Miller, Kermit Wagner Distinguished Professorship in Animal Science at the University of Nebraska, was honored with the American Feed Industry Association Award in Nonruminant Nutrition Research. He was born in Reno, Nev., and raised in central California. In 1981 he started his education at UC Davis where he completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree in animal science and received his PhD 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 has investigated the effects of nutrition on the microbiome in the pig. Miller 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. He has been a member of the Swine Nutrition research committee, NCCC-042 for the past 23 years.
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