Department Hosts Meetings

Mike Payne and Deanne Meyer met with Christine Todd-Whitman, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, in September when they and a few others gathered to discuss the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program. This voluntary, producer-driven program is designed to educate producers about environmental compliance for dairy operations.

The 12th North American Colloquium for Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping was held at UC Davis July 15 to19, organized by Mary Delany, Lee Millon (Veterinary Genetics Lab) and Jim Murray. The colloquium featured 23 oral presentations and eight posters, viewed by 50 participants from the US, Canada, Switzerland and France.

The 2001 annual meeting of the International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE) was held August 4 to 8 on the Davis campus. The ISAE represents the world's largest organization of professional animal behaviorists, who study the application of the principles of animal behavior to improve the management and well-being of captive wild and domestic animals. Professor Joy Mench chaired the organizing committee, assisted by Sue Heekin. With over 250 oral and poster presentations, this was the largest meeting ever held by the Society.
Departmental faculty Anita Oberbauer, Elizabeth Maza, Jim Murray and Gary Anderson helped organize the 2001 Conference on Transgenic Animals in Agriculture held at Lake Tahoe September 10 to 13. The biennial conference attracted 150 scientists from around the world. The focus of the conference was the future application of new genetic engineering and cloning to enhance animal agriculture.

Animal Science Horse Auction and Stallions

This year's Animal Science Horse Auction in June brought in some good prices for some nice horses. The highest selling horse ($2600) was UCD Caper's Spirit, a 1999 American Quarter Horse gelding sired by Gay Caper and out of Serendipity Time. The second highest seller ($2150) was a 1986 Quarter Horse broodmare and riding horse. About 150 people attended the sale and took home a total of 14 horses: seven yearlings, a mare and foal, two ponies and four riding horses. Next year's annual sale will include four young mules sired by our standing giant jack, Action Jackson.

One of Action Jackson's daughters, a four-year-old molly mule named Windes Actions Savannah, raced on the county fair circuit this summer and won five of her six outings and placed third in the other one. For more information on breeding outside mares to Animal Science stallions or to Action Jackson, call Brent Brown, 530-754-4156 or e-mail him at bsbrown@ucdavis.edu .

Faculty and Students Win Awards

At the July meetings of the Federation of Animal Science Societies in Indianapolis, several department members were recognized. Professor Emeritus Bill Garrett was named a Fellow in the American Society of Animal Science for his life-long contributions to animal agriculture. The Poultry Science Association (PSA) presented Professor Kirk Klasing with the 2001 American Feed Industry Association Award, a $1,500 award recognizing his research on nutrition and the immune response of poultry and for work on broiler production without antibiotics and growth promoters. Cooperative Extension Specialist Ralph Ernst received the Golden Cup Award from USDA for his outstanding voluntary contributions to USDA poultry programs. Dr. Ernst served on the National Waste Management Symposium Planning Committee, on a committee that developed the National Poultry Infobase, on planning committees for extension workshops and many others. Elizabeth Koutsos won the PSA's Graduate Student Presentation Award in the nutrition section for her presentation, "Effect of an immune response on carotenoid partitioning." Liz is a graduate student in Kirk Klasing's lab and in the nutrition graduate group. She won the same award last year.

Professor Bernie May was selected by the Consortium for Women and Research Advisory Board to receive their 2000-2001 Outstanding Mentor Award. Nominated by his students and colleagues for promoting research by women at UC Davis and for having a positive impact and influence on their research and teaching careers, he received $1,000 to use for research. Dr. May's research focuses primarily on the genetics of threatened and endangered species, such as sturgeon, suckers, tui chub, trout, salmon, blue whales, marmots, goshawks, desert plants and Asian catfish. He also works on the selective improvement of aquaculturally important species, such as white sturgeon, tilapia, and rainbow trout.

Pam Nieberg, Animal Science Staff Research Associate, was honored at a Davis City Council meeting on June 20 by receiving an Environmental Achievement Recognition Award for her many contributions to local environmental quality.

The UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Genetic Resources Conservation Program and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences recently recognized Dr. Jacqueline M. Pisenti, new manager of the department's avian facilities, for her untiring work and commitment to conserve critical avian genetic stocks at UC Davis, develop an inventory of North American Avian Genetic Resources and develop a national plan for conservation of avian genetic resources.

Kelly McCaughey, M.S. researcher with Professor Ed DePeters, received the Alex Kutches Scholarship from the California Chapter of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. This $1,000 award recognizes her research activities. Animal Science students Liz Koutsos and Ben Renquist also received scholarships from this organization.

Several departmental students majoring in Avian Sciences received awards at the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association (PePa) in Monterey, California, in May. PePa is a trade association representing poultry producers and allied industries in the 11 Western states, Hawaii and western Canada. Students from UC Davis received $13,250 in scholarships, including the following: Dan Ryan, Kristina Hood, Tanya Abraham, Craig Blackmore, Brook Humphrey, Liz Koutsos and Brigid McCrea. The UC Davis Avian Science Club won the award for the best club scrapbook, and Craig Blackmore was recognized with the Student Merit Award for the Outstanding Poultry Student at UC Davis. Their advisor, CE Specialist Francine Bradley, was elected to the PePa Board of Directors and will be the sole academic representative on the board.