On Jan. 24, seven Department of Animal Science master's and doctoral candidates presented their research at the 2018 Paul Noland Graduate Student Awards Competition at the the John W. Tyson Center of Excellence for Poultry Science.

Paul R. Noland, who died in 2015 at age 91, was an emeritus professor of animal science at the University of Arkansas.

Noland served as head of the Department of Animal Science from 1988 until his retirement in 1994, during which time he participated in the establishment of the department's poultry science program as a separate academic department. He joined the faculty in 1951 after receiving his doctoral degree from Cornell University.

In addition to conducting research in swine nutrition and management, sheep management, and beef cattle nutrition, Noland taught courses including the freshman animal science class, lab methods, swine production, and advanced livestock production.

Moreover, Noland developed Panama's first animal research program, which served as a foundation for a 60-year collaboration between Panama, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Noland's work was recognized by Panama in 2009 when President Ricardo Martinelli, a U of A alumnus, presented him the Vasco Nunez de Balboa Award, the nation's highest civilian honor. Martinelli credited the program Noland developed with stimulating Panama's agricultural growth and enhancing academic ties with the university.

The Paul Noland Graduate Student Awards Competition was established to honor Noland's impactful work in animal science and the community.

The competition judges students in three areas: abstract, oral presentation, and curriculum vitae. One master's student and one doctoral student is awarded a $750 travel stipend for regional and national research conventions. The winners are also selected as the Outstanding Animal Science M.S. and Ph.D. students at the annual Animal Science Awards and Scholarship Banquet.

This year, out of the seven students who all presented incredible research, Elizabeth Palmer, whose research is titled "Effect of a combination of live yeast and yeast cell wall products supplemented before and after weaning on heifer growth performance and heat stress" was selected as the winning master's candidate, and Jase Ball, whose research is titled "Zinc injection as a novel castration method in beef bulls" was selected as the winning doctoral candidate.