Professor Oba was honoured for his research and teaching about the nutritional management of dairy cattle.
In the past two weeks, animal science researcher Masahito Oba won two international awards. Adding to the sweetness of that success, multiple graduate students and supervisors in the animal science program have also been honoured by their field's top researchers.
Oba, who is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science, is well known for his work on the nutritional management of dairy cattle. His research program studies how to combat subacute ruminal acidosis (which can reduce the weights, milk production and health of herds), how to manage calf nutrition during weaning and calving transitions, and how to make the best use of barley grain, silage and byproduct feedstuffs.
His most recent awards were the Applied Dairy Nutrition Award from the American Dairy Science Association, and the Award for Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Sciences from the Canadian and Soiciety of Animal Science.
"Awards from international scientific societies such as the ADSA are an important recognition for the excellence of professors in the areas of teaching, research and/or service," said Ruurd Zijlstra, chair of Oba's department in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences.
Numerous students and their supervisors also shone during each of the associations' respective award ceremonies.
At the dairy science association awards, first place in the PhD student poster competition went to Mohanathas Gobikrushanth (supervised by Divakar Ambrose), while Tony Bruinje (Divakar Ambrose) took first place in the MSc student oral presentation. Second place for MSc student poster went to Amanda Fischer (Michael Steele), and third place in the undergraduate oral presentation belonged to Kathleen V. Murphy (Masahito/Ambrose).
At the Canadian/American Societies of Animal Science annual meetings,the following students and professors were honoured: Hector Perez (with Clover Bench and Divakar Ambrose) for second place in the graduate student oral presentation, and Anusha Bulumulla (Leluo Guan) for second place in the graduate student poster competition.
Such strong showings at international competition are a significant milestone for graduate students, said Zijlstra.
"The students can show their academic and presentation skills to a large audience that may include potential employers, and such competitions also provide a nice challenge to do your best in front of your scientific colleagues from around the globe."