The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) has announced that three AMSA members are the recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award. Drs. Phil Bass, Brad Kim, and Poulson Joseph will be honored at a special awards banquet at the AMSA 71^st Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in Kansas City, MO. The Achievement Award was established in 1992 and is designed to recognize and foster the development of young AMSA members who have demonstrated significant scientific skills in muscle foods research and technology that contribute to the animal products industry and the AMSA. The award is sponsored by Burke Corporation.

Phil Bass
From an early age, Dr. Phillip Bass demonstrated the skills that would propel him to be an extraordinary meat scientist. Dr. Bass started cutting meat as soon as he was tall enough to reach the meat cutting table in his grandmother’s garage. Phil’s family also passed on to him a passion for meat processing, a hobby that he has continued to enjoy, even leading him to charter an informal sausage-making club while working towards his Ph.D. Dr. Bass constantly hones his interests in meat science by trying new techniques and processing methods, allowing him to become a world-class resource on beef processing.

Dr. Bass’s meat science career started at California Polytechnic University where he received a B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science and a minor in Poultry Science during his undergraduate. He then continued to Colorado State University where he received his Ph.D. in Animal Science in 2009. Dr. Bass taught and assisted several undergraduate and graduate level courses during his degrees and was involved in a number of research projects. He is well published with numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, technical articles, and popular press articles to his name, and is also a well-respected speaker.

Dr. Bass started his professional career as a corporate meat scientist for Certified Angus Beef where he was able to share his wealth of knowledge with chefs, foodservice distributors, retailers, and customers. He has a loyal following of chefs and has greatly enjoyed educating them about meat. Recently Dr. Bass joined the faculty at the University of Idaho as an Assistant Professor in Meat Science in the Animal and Veterinary Science Department. His success has landed him on the 2014 “Top 40 under 40” list by Vance Publishing, the Cattle Business Weekly Top 10 Industry Leaders in 2015, and the 2016 Top 25 Future Icons in the Meat Industry as recognized by National Provisioner magazine. He has also written a column for the National Provisioner and is an editorial board member for the magazine.

Dr. Bass is an exemplary meat scientist who shows aggressive leadership and passionate advocacy for the entire meat industry.

Brad Kim
Dr. Yuan H. “Brad” Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University. Brad earned his B.S. degree from Konkuk University, Korea and was a visiting student in Animal Science at University of California, Davis. Brad received his M.S. from Kansas State University and PhD from Texas A&M University. Dr. Kim continued with post-doctoral training at Iowa State University and began his professional career at AgResearch as a Senior Scientist on the Food Assurance & Meat Quality Team.

Dr. Kim currently leads the Meat Science and Muscle Biology research program at Purdue University, focusing on identifying key biochemical mechanisms governing meat quality and developing systematic strategies to improve fresh meat quality attributes. He has served as a major advisor for numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, international visiting scholars, and undergraduate research assistants. Dr. Kim has been successful in acquiring over $1.5 million as a PI, including the New Zealand AGMARDT Grant Award, a highly competitive and prestigious grant awarded to emerging independent investigators.

Dr. Kim has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts, along with 20 proceeding articles, 4 book chapters, and 3 patents. Dr. Kim has recently been invited to present a keynote lecture at the upcoming ICoMST meeting in Melbourne, Australia. He was also awarded the 2018 Outstanding Young Researcher Award from the American Society of Animal Science for the Midwest Region.

Dr. Kim is an active professional member of AMSA, and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Meat and Muscle Biology Journal, AMSA Journal Committee, and RMC Planning Committee. He is also an IFT-Muscle Food Division member-at-large and Honorary Scientist and Advisor of the Korean National Institute of Animal Science.

Poulson Joseph
Dr. Poulson Joseph was born in India, where he received his B.S. in 2004 and M.S. in 2006 from Kerala Agricultural University and completed his Ph.D. at University of Kentucky in 2011. Following graduation, Poulson was hired as a Post‐Doctoral Research Associate at Mississippi State University. He began his professional career as Lead Scientist at Kalsec and is currently the Principal Scientist and leader of the Center of Excellence in Meat and Poultry. Dr. Joseph has authored and co‐authored more than 80 publications including 35 peer‐reviewed journal articles and 3 book chapters. Additionally, he has delivered invited presentations at conferences and institutions across the globe.

Dr. Joseph’s research utilizes proteomic tools to interpret biomolecular interactions in post‐ mortem skeletal muscles to solve protein‐based concerns in meats. In industry, he has been instrumental in supporting clients to improve their meat product quality. Under his leadership, the launches of new ingredient solutions have resulted in significant commercial success to Kalsec, especially for clean label and shelf-life extension in meat and poultry.

Dr. Joseph is a professional member of AMSA, ASAS, IFT, and Phi Tau Sigma. He has served on the AMSA Color Guidelines Revision Committee and RMC Planning Committee; he has also acted as an RMC Session Organizer and an RMC Graduate Research Poster Competition Judge. Currently, Dr. Joseph serves as the Chair of the IFT Muscle Foods Division as well as Chair of the Phi Tau Sigma Awards Committee. Dr. Joseph has been a recipient of the IFT Muscle Foods Division’s Member‐of‐the Year Award and Outstanding Volunteer Award. Recently, he was awarded the 2018 IFT Emerging Leader Network Award. Dr. Joseph is a strong advocate for student internships at Kalsec, and a reviewer for several international journals in meat, animal, and food sciences.

These AMSA members are exemplary young scholars, and their dedications to the industry make them outstanding candidates for the AMSA Distinguished Achievement Award.

Source: AMSA