Last year, Curtis Youngs, associate professor of animal science, had an award-winning year.

Youngs received three teaching awards during the 1997-98 school year.

In January 1998, he received the Iowa State College of Agriculture Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Award, an award based on classroom performance and letters of support from colleagues, employers and students.

“Students really make or break the nominations. The letters of support from students are the most important,” Youngs said.

Shanna Powell, senior in animal science, wrote a recommendation that put Youngs over the competition, Youngs said.

“Powell wrote something to the effect of she would never dream of skipping [my] class. Now, that’s not something that a student would say about every professor,” he said.

Later in 1998, Youngs received two more awards — the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Midwestern section of the American Society of Animal Science in March 1998 and the Teacher Fellow Award from the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture in June 1998.

Youngs advises 45 undergraduate and graduate students and is faculty adviser to the Block and Bridle Club and the Collegiate Beef Team.

In addition to his teaching and advising duties, Youngs is conducting research in reproductive efficiency in domestic livestock and sheep production and management.

“I have a specific interest in embryos,” he said. “The two projects we have in the reproduction aspect is that we change the time that we perform artificial insemination in cattle to see if we influence male vs. female offspring.”

Youngs explained that after females give birth, there is normally a 60- to 100-day waiting period before another fertilization can occur.

“We go in 30 to 60 days after births have occurred and recover the eggs so we can start producing embryos for embryo transfer,” he said. “We recover the eggs and perform in vitro fertilization trying to produce more offspring.”

Youngs also is researching an incurable disease occurring in sheep called scrapie, a fatal neurological disease similar to Alzheimer’s in humans.

“We are studying the genetic control of susceptibility to this disease. Also, we are testing the influence of reproductive performance by supplementing their diets to give them extra vitamin E and vitamin A.”

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Curtis Youngs

Degrees:

• Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1981.

• Doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1985.

At ISU since: July 1, 1989

Courses taught: Animal Science 333 (Embryo Transfer), Animal Science 334 (Embryo Transfer Lab), Animal Science 429 (Sheep Systems Management).

Research: Factors influencing embryo development and survival in domestic farm animals, embryo manipulation and applied sheep research.

Resides in: Ames

Family: Sons Matt, 14, Adam,10, and Darren, 7.

Hobbies Youngs likes to do with his sons: “Our favorite things are going to the farms that are maintained by the university, particularly, right now during the lamb season. We go there to make sure no mothers need assistance delivering their lambs. We also play disc golf at Gateway Hills Park. Some other things we do together are bowling, basketball, playing computer games and fishing.”