PSA will conduct its 100th annual meeting this month in St Louis, Missouri. In keeping with the name of the host city's most famous landmark, the theme of this year's meeting will be 'The Gateway to the Future of Poultry Science'. The meeting is scheduled to be held on 16 to 19 July.

PSA is holding its meeting jointly with the American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Combined attendance for all three is expected to be around 10,000. Approximately 700 to 800 are expected to attend PSA's week-long schedule of events.

Dr Mike Lilburn, PSA's current president, said: "There is a lot of excitement around this year’s annual meeting. We passed our centennial as an organisation in 2008, and this year marks the 100th time we have brought poultry scientists and others working in and around the discipline together. Given these two landmarks, we felt it was very fitting to hold the meeting in St Louis, with its historical status as the gateway to new things. The challenges the industry is facing are rapidly evolving. As poultry scientists, we remain firmly committed to our efforts to help meet them."

Symposia

The meeting will feature seven symposia examining various scientific and regulatory questions relating to poultry. One joint symposium, 'A Crystal Ball Look into the Future of...' will focus on poultry production over the next five to 10 years. Topics will include genetics, nutrition, hatchery, immune modulation and coccidiosis. The session will be capped by this year's keynote speaker, Dr William Flynn, Senior Advisor on Science Policy at the Center for Veterinary Medicine, who will speak on 'The Future of Antibiotic Use in Farm Animal Agriculture'.

The other scheduled symposia are:

• Informal Nutrition Symposium: Exploring Maximum Animal Responses
• Symposium: Current Regulatory Status and Use of Antibiotics in the Poultry Industry
• Food Safety Symposium: Awareness of New Salmonella Thresholds
• Incubation and Housing Symposium: Incubation and Effects upon Embryo and Hatchling Performance
• National Extension Symposium: The Impact of Major Policy Shifts on the US Food Supply and Producers
• Symposium on Coccidiosis

The meeting will also look back on some of the contributions that poultry scientists have made. Southern Poultry Research Inc. President, Dr Greg Mathis, will present the Lasher-Eckroade History/WPSA Lecture. He will speak on 'The History of the Poultry Industry: Scientific Breakthroughs'.

In addition, the meeting will include 373 oral and 271 poster presentations by members of PSA and AAAP, who are co-listing their programme events at this year’s meeting.

New PSA Fellows

Dr Lilburn said: "This year we have selected three outstanding long-time PSA members to be the recipients of the highest honour that the Poultry Science Association can bestow, the title of 'Fellow of the Poultry Science Association'. The award of Fellow represents the highest level of achievement in and contributions to the various disciplines within the broad context of poultry science."

The new PSA Fellows are:

• Sacit F. Bilgili, PhD (Auburn University)
• Mohamed El-Halawani, PhD (University of Minnesota)
• Henry R. Wilson, PhD (University of Florida)

Other honours and award winners

• American Egg Board Research Award – A. Brooke Caudill (Marel Stork Poultry Processing)
• American Feed Industry Association Poultry Nutrition Research Award – Velmurugu Ravindran, PhD (Massey University)
• Embrex Fundamental Science Award – Hans H. Cheng, PhD (USDA/ARS – Lansing, MI)
• Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science – Dong U. Ahn, PhD (Iowa State University)
• Hy-Line International Research Award – Rami A. Dalloul, PhD (Virginia Tech University)
• Maple Leaf Farms Duck Research Award – Markus Rodehutscord, PhD (University of Hohenheim)
• Merial Distinguished Poultry Industry Career Award – Edwin T. Moran, Jr., PhD (Auburn University)
• National Chicken Council Broiler Research Award – Alejandro Corzo, PhD (Mississippi State University)
• Novus International Teaching Award – Audrey P. McElroy, PhD (Virginia Tech University)
• Phibro Extension Award – Joseph B. Hess, PhD (Auburn University)
• PSA Early Achievement Award for Extension – Craig D. Coufal, PhD, (Texas A&M University)
• PSA Early Achievement Award for Industry – Michael Leslie, PhD (Masterfeeds, Inc.)
• PSA Early Achievement Award for Research – Huaijun Zhou, PhD (Texas A&M University)
• PSA Early Achievement Award for Teaching – Kristen J. Navara, PhD (University of Georgia)
• PSA Student Recruitment Award – Jacquelyn B. Hoffman, PhD (North Carolina State University)
• PSA Honorary Membership – Leland E. Tollett (Tyson Foods, Inc.)
• Tyson Foods Support Personnel Award – John W. Anderson (Ohio State University)

Student awards

Dr Lilburn explained: "Students are the future of every academic discipline. This year we are very pleased to honour the following outstanding young poultry science scholars."

• Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award – Chasity M. Cox (Virginia Tech University)
• Maurice Stein Fellowship Award – Anup Kollanoor Johny (University of Connecticut)
• Jones-Hamilton Co. Graduate Student Travel Grant Award – Ampai Nangsuay, Kasetsart University, Thailand; Brian Jordan, University of Georgia; Mabel Ting Wong, University of Hong Kong

Winners of the following student awards will be announced at the banquet: Aviagen Turkeys Communications Award; Student Research Certificates of Excellence and Student Research Certificates of Participation.

PSA Meeting in 2012

PSA will hold next year's annual meeting on 9 to 12 July at the Georgia Center in Athens, Georgia. The meeting will be hosted by the University of Georgia's Department of Poultry Science.