Richard Gates, director of the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University, has been named the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professor.
Gates was presented with the professorship at a March 5 medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“We couldn’t be prouder that Dr. Gates will be the holder of the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professorship,” said Robison. “He is a nationally known leader with a long career of support and collaboration with livestock and poultry industries. He’s brought to Iowa State a breadth and depth of experience that serve the Egg Industry Center’s programs extremely well.”
“I am honored to hold the title of Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professor, and I pledge my commitment to our continued success in the Egg Industry Center,” said Gates. “The Iowa Egg Council demonstrated incredible leadership and trust by creating this endowed faculty position. With their strong support, our center is able to set the most relevant research and outreach agenda possible. This partnership is key to the center’s success in focusing on how we impact the most critical issues affecting the nation’s egg industry.”
“The successes demonstrated by the Egg Industry Center would not have been possible without a leader dedicated to its priorities and vision and focused on investigating the needs and interests of egg farmers,” said Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council. “This is why the Iowa Egg Council created this endowed professorship, and why we are proud to be a part of continuing the tradition of excellence with Dr. Richard Gates.”
Gates was named director of the Egg Industry Center last October, and began his duties Jan. 1.
Previously, he served 12 years on the faculty in agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research has focused on controlled environment systems in agriculture, with an emphasis on biological and physiological responses and interactions between animals and the environment. He also has studied animal welfare, precision livestock farming and post-harvest loss measurements. His extension work has focused on the application of research to air emissions and their mitigation, odor and siting issues, livestock environmental control systems, and livestock heat stress reduction.
The Iowa Egg Council, representing Iowa’s egg farmers, established the endowed professorship in 2013 for the benefit of the Egg Industry Center. In 2008, the Iowa Egg Council provided a $2 million gift that established the Egg Industry Center in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The Iowa Egg Council is a producer-supported organization creating opportunities to increase the value and consumption of eggs and egg products, and which partners with others to understand and meet the evolving consumer needs of eggs and egg products.
The Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University works to add value to the nation’s egg industry by providing research and education for egg producers, processors and consumers through national and international collaboration. The center is committed to ensuring that the current and future needs of the egg industry can be answered through developing and promoting sound science-based information.
The Egg Industry Center has funded more than $1.2 million in research since 2013. This research has helped advance knowledge on disease transmission, genetic resistance, keel bone abnormalities, new market development and more. For information about partnering with the Egg Industry Center to support research funding, or to find more information on completed and ongoing research, visit the center’s website.
