BIF Baker/Cundiff Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Angie Stump Denton, Beef Improvement Federation Communication Coordinator, angiedenton@ksu.edu or 785-562-6197
June 27, 2018
Culbertson, Liberona Win Baker/Cundiff Honors
LOVELAND, Colorado — The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented Baker/Cundiff Awards to Miranda Culbertson and Jose Delgadillo Liberona June 21 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium in Loveland, Colorado.
The annual Frank Baker/Larry Cundiff Beef Improvement Essay Contest for graduate students provides an opportunity to recognize outstanding student research and competitive writing in honor of Frank Baker and Larry Cundiff.
Culbertson is working on her doctorate in genetics and animal breeding at Colorado State University. Her essay was titled “Genetic Improvement of Feed Efficiency In Beef Cattle.”
Liberona is working on his doctorate in animal biology at Texas A&M. His essay was titled “Parent-of-origin effects on growth-related traits in Bos taurus indicus x Bos taurus taurus reciprocal crosses.”
Each year, winning essays are selected and published in the annual BIF Research Symposium and Annual Meeting Proceedings. Each winning author will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
Baker is widely recognized as the “Founding Father” of the BIF. He played a key leadership role in helping establish BIF in 1968 while he was chairman of the Department of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Cundiff retired after 40 years as a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. He was research leader of the genetics and breeding research unit at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center from 1976 until 2005. Cundiff has not only designed, conducted and published some of the most important beef breeding research of the 20th century, but has also led in the transfer of new technology to the beef industry through his continued work in BIF and his presentations made across the nation and around the world.
More than 600 beef producers, academia and industry representatives were in attendance at the organization’s 50th 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.
Cutline:
Miranda Culbertson, Colorado State University, was presented one of the Beef Improvement Federation Baker/Cundiff Awards June 21 at the organization’s 50th annual convention in Loveland, Colorado. Pictured (l to r) are: Donnell Brown, 2017-2018 BIF president; Mark Enns, Colorado State University professor; Culbertson and Larry Cundiff.
