ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — Jack Odle, Ph.D., an animal scientist at North Carolina State University, was presented with the New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award on July 20 as part of the Nutrition Research Awards. The award is sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS).

This is the 67th year AFIA has presented the Nutrition Research Awards, and the 11th consecutive year the organization has sponsored the FASS award. The purpose of the New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award is to stimulate, acknowledge and reward pioneering and innovative research relevant to animal nutrition. 

The award recipient must demonstrate outstanding and innovative contributions to nutrition research concerning animals that benefit mankind and/or the nutritional value of food from animals. Odle manages a research program focused on "Nutritional Biochemistry of the Neonate."

"His research has relevance to both agriculture and to medicine in that his laboratory uses piglets as a model for neonatal nutrition and metabolism," said Richard Sellers, AFIA senior vice-president of legislative and regulatory affairs. "His research, focused on lipid metabolism and on intestinal health, has previously received recognition by the society as he was awarded a Young Researcher Award, the Non-ruminant Nutrition Award and the Animal Growth & Development Award."

Odle has received $8 million for research, published 367 papers, abstracts and technical reports, and has trained 50 graduate students, post doctorates and visiting scientists. He has repeatedly served on proposal review panels for numerous government agencies and has also served on editorial boards of the Journal of Animal Science and the Journal of Nutrition, including six years as associate editor. He presently serves as associate editor for the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology based in China and Advances in Nutrition published in the U.S.

Odle received his bachelor's degree with highest honors in animal science from Purdue University and his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a concentration in nutritional biochemistry. After five years as assistant professor at the University of Illinois, he joined the Department of Animal Science at North Carolina State University in 1995 and was named William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in 2005.

The FASS New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award, which is similar to a lifetime achievement award, was presented to Odle during a conference of animal science societies in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. A committee of FASS members selected Odle for the honor, which was presented by Craig Wyatt of AB Vista on behalf of AFIA.