Contact: Bob Ratliff
Scott T. Willard
An assistant professor of animal and dairy science at Mississippi State is a 2001 selection for a top Oak Ridge Associated Universities honor memorializing a late MSU administrator.
Scott T. Willard is among 25 young scientists receiving a $10,000 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. His research focuses on heat stress and the physiology of reproduction in dairy and beef cattle.
Established in 1946 and based at Oak Ridge, Tenn., ORAU is a consortium of 85 doctoral-granting institutions of higher learning. The organization works to advance science and education by establishing partnerships among government, academic and private sector representatives in key areas of science and technology.
Presented annually, the Powe awards provide research seed money to young faculty members at ORAU member institutions. They honor Mississippi State's longtime research vice president who headed the organization's Council of Sponsoring Institutions. Powe died in 1996 following a lengthy illness.
The award is an "indication of the promise of Dr. Willard's research career," said Robert A. Altenkirch, MSU's current research vice president.
A faculty member in Starkville since 1999, Willard holds doctoral and master's degrees from Texas A&M University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island. He previously was a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina.