New Iowa Egg Council endowed professor named at Iowa State

Gates was presented with the professorship at a recent medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Dr. Richard Gates was presented with the professorship at a recent medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. (Deven King)
Dr. Richard Gates was presented with the professorship at a recent medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. (Deven King)

Richard Gates, director of the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University, has been named the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professor. He is only the second person to hold this title, the position was previously held by Hongwei Xin.

Over the past 10 years, the Iowa Egg Council says more than 20 key research projects would not have been achieved if it weren’t for the Egg Industry Center and they look forward to that continued success and work with Gates.

Gates was presented with the professorship at a recent medallion ceremony hosted by Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Gates was named director of the Egg Industry Center last October and began his duties Jan. 1.

“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 can 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.”

He added that Iowa egg farmers were also to be thanked for the success the center has had in both research and expressing the needs of the industry.

Gates also thanked Dr. Susan Lamont, animal science professor at ISU, for her work as interim director before his arrival.

He concluded his remarks with pledging his commitment to continued success at the center.

Previously, Gates 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.

“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,” said Robison.

Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council, echoed Robinson at the medallion ceremony.  “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. 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.”

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