UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Three graduate students in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have been selected to receive the fifth annual John O. Almquist Graduate Student Research Awards.
The awards, sponsored by Genex Cooperative Inc., are intended to assist graduate students in the Department of Dairy and Animal Science in conducting quality research and to encourage the development of quality research proposals.
Harry Roth, general manager of Genex Cooperative Inc., presented the awards to Keith Bryan, Kathy Soder and Dezhong Yin at a recent luncheon and award ceremony. All three are Ph.D. candidates in the Animal Science graduate program.
Graduate research proposals were evaluated and award recipients selected by a faculty committee chaired by Dr. John Comerford, associate professor of animal science. The winning students will receive funds to support their research in pursuit of a graduate degree.
Keith Bryan's research topic is "Effects of Exogenous Somatotropin and Gonadotropins on Ovarian Folliculogenesis in Peripubertal Gilts." His adviser is Dr. Daniel Hagen, professor and interim head of the dairy and animal science department.
Kathy Soder's research topic is "Influence of Dietary Cation-Anion Imbalance on Metabolic Health and Milk Production in Grazing Dairy Cows." Her adviser is Dr. Lisa Holden, assistant professor of dairy and animal science.
Dezhong Yin's research topic is "Transcriptional Regulation of the Fatty Acid Synthase Gene by Somatotropin in 3T3 F442A Adipocytes." His adviser is Dr. Terry Etherton, distinguished professor of animal nutrition.
Dr. John Almquist, the professor emeritus of dairy science for whom the awards are named, was on hand at the presentation to congratulate the winners.
Almquist, who served on the dairy and animal science faculty for nearly 40 years, established Penn State's Dairy Breeding Research Center. He shared in the 1981 Wolf Prize in Agriculture--an award referred to as the agricultural equivalent of the Nobel Prize--for his work in artificial insemination for livestock improvement. Many techniques Almquist developed for cattle have been applied to other species, including humans.
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EDITORS: For more information, contact Daniel Hagen at 814-863-3665.
Contacts: Eston Martz Eston_Martz@agcs.cas.psu.edu 814-863-3587 814-865-1068 fax