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ANSC Faculty and Staff Awards & Recognitions Roundup

A collection of recent and notable recognitions for ANSC Faculty and Staff

ANSC Award recipients at AGNR’s State of the College Faculty and Staff Awards Day on May 10, 2023. From left to right: Jessica Karunaratne, Dr. Angela Black, Dr. Monica VanKlompenberg, Dr. Carol Keefer, Dr. Lisa Taneyhill, and Dr. Tom Porter.

June 21, 2023 Jonathan Stephanoff

Taking on Humanity's Grand Challenges:

Drs. Andrew Broadbent, Younggeon Jin, and Andrew Schiffmacher were awarded UMD Grand Challenges Grants announced in February. The Grand Challenges Grants Program – the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind ever introduced at UMD – awarded a total of 50 projects encompassing disciplines all across the College Park campus.

NIFA Awards to ANSC Labs to Help Improve Farmer Yields and Combat Economically Important Diseases:

Drs. Tom Porter, Eduardo Rico and Mohamed Salem received $650,000 each from USDA NIFA, in AFRI’s Animals Growth and Lactation Program to help farmers improve production through better selective breeding or disease mitigation. The program promotes innovative work in cellular, molecular, genomic and whole-animal aspects of nutrition, growth and lactation. Read more.

Additionally, Dr. Andrew Broadbent received $627,000 from USDA NIFA to better characterize the strains and variants of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) that are circulating in poultry flocks in the DMV. Dr. Jiuzhou "John" Song also recently received sizable USDA NIFA grant funding to further research projects in his lab.

American Association for Anatomy Fellow:

Dr. Lisa Taneyhill was named a Fellow of the American Association for Anatomy, an international membership organization of biomedical researchers and educators specializing in the structural foundation of health and disease. The recognition highlights Dr. Taneyhill’s outstanding contributions to anatomical sciences. Read more.

AGNR Awards:

ANSC faculty and staff received awards and recognition at AGNR’s State of the College Faculty and Staff Awards & Service Recognition Day on May 10, 2023 at the Riggs Alumni Center. Read more in the Awards program.

  • Dr. Carol Keefer - Dean Gordon Cairns Award for Distinguished Creative Work and Teaching in Agriculture
  • Dr. Monica VanKlompenberg - Paul R. Poffenberger Excellence in Teaching and Advising Award
  • Dr. Tom Porter - Faculty Research Award
  • Dr. Lisa Taneyhill - DEIR Standard of Excellence Award to Faculty
  • Jessica Karunaratne - On Campus Staff Excellence Award
  • Dr. Angela Black - 15 years in AGNR
  • Victoria Pearlman for 10 years in AGNR

ANSC Staff Member of the year:

The Animal and Avian Sciences Staff Member of the Year for 2023 is Muriel Averilla-Chin and was awarded at this year’s Annual Symposium. Read more.

UMD Brain & Behavior Institute Seed Grant:

Dr. Lisa Taneyhill was awarded a Brain & Behavior Institute (BBI) seed grant to research Familial Dysautonomia (FD), a fatal neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorder caused by genetic mutations to a specific gene. Read more.

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Features Trout Research:

Dr. Mohamed Salem’s research using genomics selection to improve rainbow trout fillet yield and quality was highlighted by USDA/NIFA. Read more.