Accolades

Chuanxue Hong
Chuanxue Hong, associate professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science, received the 2007 College Award
for Research Excellence, Applied Research. Working from the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center
(AREC), Hong supports the nursery and landscape industry by focusing his efforts on controlling plant pathogens in irrigation water.

“His program not only provided growers with improved water treatment technology for immediate saving, but also laid a solid foundation for future management,” says Peter Schultz, professor of entomology and director of the Hampton Roads AREC. “Many nurseries throughout Virginia and across the nation use his improved chlorination protocol, producing more and better quality crops while reducing fungicide usage.”

Schultz adds that one Virginia nursery saved more than $17,000 by implementing Hong’s methods on one pansy crop. The annual savings are estimated in the millions of dollars in Virginia alone, with a much higher figure nationally. Hong is also developing biologically based, environmentally sound, cost-effective water decontamination technologies against the plant-destroying Phytophthora species.
Kenny Webb
Kenny Webb, professor and head of the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, received the 2007 College Award for Research Excellence, Basic Research. The award recognizes his discovery that the absorption of small peptides contributes greatly to animal nutrition.

Prior to the pioneering research by Webb and his students, animal scientists assumed that free amino acids were the only absorbable end products of protein digestion. Their observation of animal responses to different dietary regimens by changes in concentrations of free amino acids in blood plasma led to questionsabout amino acid circulation and transport across the gastrointestinal tract.

Because of Webb’s efforts, animal scientists across the globe now recognize peptide absorption as an important physiological process and are devising nutritional regimens for livestock and poultry that take this understanding into account, especially for younger animals. Additionally, several animal nutritional supplements now being developed takeadvantage of peptide absorption.

Bill BealBill Beal, professor of animal and poultry sciences, was presented with the university’s 2007 Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Subjects.

Beal combines enthusiasm for the subject with concern for his students in his course “Introduction to Animal and Poultry Science” and in its corresponding lab. This course lays the foundation for all animal and poultry sciences majors and covers a range of subjects, from species of animals and disciplines (nutrition, genetics, physiology, management) to food-safety and animal welfare issues. He routinely invites students’ parents to attend mock lab sessions so parents can experience what their students have learned.

Beal’s students deeply appreciate his contagious and invigorating enthusiasm for the course material – one student called his enthusiasm “addictive.” But what students really value and respond to are Beal’s explicit social objectives for the course, his effort to create an atmosphere of freedom, accountability, and trust, which students know lays the foundation for their success both at Virginia Tech and beyond.

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