Pioneer Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Angie Stump Denton, Beef Improvement Federation Communication Coordinator, angiedenton@ksu.edu or 785-562-6197
June 3, 2017
Garrick Presented BIF Pioneer Award
ATHENS, Ga. – The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented Dorian Garrick the BIF Pioneer Award June 1 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium in Athens, Georgia. The award recognizes individuals who have made lasting contributions to the improvement of beef cattle, honoring those who have had a major role in acceptance of performance reporting and documentation as the primary means to make genetic change in beef cattle.
Since February 2017, Garrick has been chief scientist at Massey University’s campus in Hamilton, New Zealand, following 15 years working in the United States. In 1981, he earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Massey University in his home country of New Zealand and then a doctorate from Cornell University in 1988. He was named to the Jay Lush Endowed Chair in Animal Breeding and Genetics at Iowa State University in 2007 and served in that position for 10 years. He is also the executive director of the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium.
Garrick’s research projects are to improve the accuracy of predicted genetic and phenotypic merit using high-density genomic information. His work focuses on the portfolio of endeavors that are involved in the design, enhancement, implementation and monitoring of genetic improvement programs. These include aspects of genetics, economics, statistics and biology. Attention is directed at variance component estimation, prediction of breeding values, development of breeding objectives, exploitation of breed/heterosis effects and breeding industry structure, primarily in regard to their application to the national improvement of beef cattle, but other species are also considered.
Most recently, his applied industry work has been through Theta Solutions LLC, a company Bruce Golden and Garrick formed to develop state-of-the-art computation tools for large-scale genetic and genomic analyses, licensing software that is used for single-step analyses in a range of species.
In New Zealand he is involved through his 60% university appointment in international beef cattle evaluations and in developing better descriptors for maternal cow attributes, in addition to continuing to develop new algorithms for genomic analyses.
More than 350 beef producers, academia and industry representatives were in attendance at the organization’s 49th annual convention. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.
For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of meeting and tours, visit BIFconference.com.For more information about BIF, visit Beefimprovement.org.
The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) is an organization dedicated to coordinating all segments of the beef industry — from researchers and producers to retailers — in an effort to improve the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of beef production. The organization was initiated almost 70 years ago to encourage the use of objective measurements to evaluate beef cattle. Continuing the tradition, BIF is now the clearinghouse for developing standardized programs and methodologies for recording of performance data for all traits, from birth weights to carcass traits. Its three-leaf-clover logo symbolizes the link between industry, extension and research.
Photo available upon request.
