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Dr. Michel Georges received an honorary doctorate from the University of Guelph on June 13, 2003 for his outstanding contributions to animal genomics. The citation follows.
Michel Georges is Professor of Genetics at the University of Lièges in Belgium. Most traits of interest in animal agriculture and human health are controlled in a complex way by many genes; Dr. Georges has devoted his scientific career to developing strategies for unravelling these complex inheritance patterns, using the latest information and tools available through detailed analyses of animal genomes. He has instigated numerous novel approaches for compiling and exploiting gene maps of domestic animal and rodent species - from the design of the population structure of the animals to be studied through to the development of chromosomal DNA markers and strategies for isolating specific major genes that were previously uncharacterized. In doing so, he and his collaborators have revealed completely novel mechanisms of inheritance of genetic traits. To accomplish these tasks, Dr. Georges achieved what few other scientists have managed to do - although initially educated as a veterinarian and molecular geneticist, he deliberately acquired advanced knowledge of statistics and quantitative genetics. It is his unusual capability of integrating these disparate disciplines that has given him his clear leading position in the animal genomics field today. His research is very well funded and he oversees a large research group of more then 30 people.
Though young by academic standards, Dr. Georges is distinguished globally. He is a member of the editorial boards of all major scientific journals in the animal genomics field, is in demand as a speaker at all prominent international conferences and workshops in genomics, and serves as a reviewer for most international programs in animal genomics. His numerous scientific publications include papers that are intellectually and technically challenging, and that demonstrate how much he is valued as a collaborator whose involvement adds an authenticity and a mark of quality to a body of work. Dr. Georges is generous in sharing his expertise and is a gifted speaker who can inspire enthusiasm in his audience for the complicated subject of genomics.
Professor Dr. Daniel Sorensen has recently been awarded the degree of D.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, based on his submission "Mixed model, likelihood and Bayesian methods in Quantitative Genetics. The thesis comprises 34 publications and one book. Dr. Sorensen was until recently a research leader in the department of Animal Breeding and Genetics at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences but is now Research Professor in the same department in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen.
Dr. Sorensen has contributed very considerable to the development of biometrical methods used in modern animal breeding and genetics, and is globally distinguished for these achievements. Dr. Sorensen is also one of the leading professors behind a new series of top level Ph.D. courses in animal Breeding and Genetics announced at the EAAP meeting in Rome in 2003 (see Training Courses).
Just Jensen
Head of Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Research Centre Foulum, Denmark
Dr. Ben T. McDaniel, Professor of Animal Science and Genetics, North Carolina State University was honoured on his retirement at the National Dairy Genetics Workshop held October 20 and 21, 2003 in Raleigh, NC. The workshop, conducted in Dr. McDaniel's honour, featured presentations on non-additive genetic improvement of dairy cattle and recent research in fertility, survival, and health of high producing dairy cows, all topics of interest to "Dr. Ben" as he is fondly known by students and colleagues throughout the dairy breeding industry. Dr. McDaniel's contributions to genetic improvement of dairy cattle span 40 years of highly productive, original, and always pragmatic research into ways to make the dairy cow more useful to mankind. Always a bit of a Rennaisance man, he was equally at home with plant or animal breeders, swine producers or dog enthusiasts, agricultural historians, economists, and always with farmers. He began his career as a dairy farmer. He retired as a trusted, respected friend and advocate of all who work with the soil and the animals it sustains.
Dr. McDaniel joined the faculty at NCSU in 1972, serving as teacher of animal breeding and the director of graduate training in dairy cattle genetics. The National Association of Animal Breeders honoured Dr. McDaniel with its research award in 1984, and fellow dairy scientists recognized him with the ADSA J. L. Lush award in Animal Breeding and Genetics in 1985. In 1991, Dr. McDaniel received the USDA Distinguished Service Award for sustained effort in developing and implementing genetic technology to increase dairy cattle yield efficiency. Dr. McDaniel's far-reaching research interests included genetic evaluation of dairy cattle, sire selection, and the economic aspects of selection for yield and non-yield traits in dairy cattle. He is a world-renowned authority on genetic control of foot structure and health in dairy cattle. Dr. McDaniel studied maternal inheritance and non-additive genetic control of dairy related traits for many years. He was an advocate for attention to quantitatively evaluated functional type characteristics, health and fitness traits in the years when production dominated dairy cattle breeding.
Prior to 1972, Dr. McDaniel held the position of Principal Investigator for dairy sire evaluation in the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory of the Agriculture Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD. He earned his doctoral degree under Dr. J.E. Legates at NCSU in 1964. He completed his Masters Degree at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1960. His early days in higher education were spent at Clemson University, Clemson, SC, where he earned his BS in Dairy Science in 1957.
Bennet Cassell
Department of Dairy Science,
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
In November 2002, Daniel Gianola and Robin Thompson each received honorary doctorates from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. The lectures they gave and the citations may be found in Spanish at www.dcam.upv.es/acteon/.
Agustin Blasco
Departamento de Ciencia Animal
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.
E-mail: ablasco@dca.upv.es
Dr. Salvador Fernandez-Rivera, lead scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) was recognized for his livestock nutrition research. The award, sponsored by the Center for Regulatory Services, Inc., was presented in June 2003 during the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
The citation from the ASAS follows. Dr. Salvador Fernandez-Rivera received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the National School of Agriculture and Post-Graduate College in Chapingo, Mexico, and a Ph.D. in ruminant nutrition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He addresses what are arguably the most intractable problems facing the world today: widespread poverty and hunger in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Results from his livestock nutrition research are enhancing the well-being of poor families by improving the productivity of their farm animals. Moreover, results from research by his students and the animal scientists, agronomists, ecologists, economists, and sociologists working under his leadership are increasing crop, meat, and milk yields from smallholder crop-livestock systems and improving soil fertility to help meet the food needs of future generations. His understanding of livestock production in tropical developing countries had its start on his family crop-livestock farm in central Mexico.
Conducting world-class research in developing countries is challenging. Fernandez-Rivera meets those challenges with uncommon knowledge, experience, enthusiasm, tact, and skill. Today, he is a model for animal scientists who want to make a difference by bringing new livestock options to smallholder farmers and thereby to bring hope as well as a better life for their children.
The 2003 IDF Award was granted to Professor Dr. Ir. P. Walstra of The Netherlands. at the IDF World Dairy Summit and Centenary in Bruges in 12 September 2003. The IDF award recognizes remarkable contributions to progress in international dairying. In granting the award to Professor Walstra, the IDF wishes to pay tribute to his extensive contribution to the scientific knowledge in the field of food science, and dairy science in particular.
Prof. Walstra's scientific career concentrated on the physical and physico-chemical behaviour of major components, fat and protein in milk and some other foods (notably in gels and emulsions), certain characteristics of enzymes and the effects of heat treatment. Prof. Walstra has always kept close contact with the practical side, maintaining links with a significant number of important dairy and food industry companies in Europe, North America and Japan.
Prof. Walstra had the Chair in Dairy Science and Technology from 1982-1996 at Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands. He was visiting professor on several occasions in the University of Minnesota and of Guelph, Ontario, and also gave courses in other academic institutions. Among the PhD students whose research he supervised are many whose names are now familiar in the private dairy sector and in academia. He was also Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Netherlands Institute for Dairy Research (NIZO) for some years till his retirement in 1996.
He has published more than 200 scientific papers, of which several may be considered as key papers in introducing new ideas. He is the co-author of three well-known books which are cited frequently in literature: 'The Milk Fat Globule', 'Dairy Chemistry and Physics', 'Dairy Technology: Principles of Milk Properties and Processes' and author of 'Physical Chemistry of Foods'.
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