Press Release - August 14, 2009
Alltech’s Young Scientist Program Kicks Off 2009-2010
[Lexington, KENTUCKY] - Global animal health company, Alltech announced the launch of its annual Young Scientist Program today. In the past the program featured only undergraduate students, but expanded last year by featuring graduate students. This year the program is expanding once again by allowing Africa and the Middle East to have their own local competition as well as adding a third phase to the program.
“Our desire to have this program continually grow will encourage students interested in the field of animal science as well as continue our dedication to young people and research,” said Alltech president and founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons. “From the first year, our rate of applicants has grown from 75 to a couple thousand. We hope to have 50,000 potential ‘young scientists’ for our 5th annual program.”
“By winning the Alltech Young Scientist Award I have developed skills I will use in the professional world and it proved to be a worthwhile opportunity,” said Tung Che, the 2009 graduate student winner. The winner of the 2009 undergraduate award, Fan Liu said “I really wish more and more college students could participate in the Alltech Young Scientist competition. It will be a valuable experience for everyone.”
Che, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, won with his paper entitled, Effects of mannan oligosaccharide on immune function and disease resistance in pigs. Liu, a student at Nanjing Agricultural University whose winning paper was on HSP70 as a new biomarker in the development and evaluation of anti-stress feed additives.
To participate, students must write a scientific paper based on a topic about animal feed technologies. Undergraduate students’ papers must be 3000 words in length and graduate students’ papers must be 5000 words in length. The first phase of the program will include a competition within each competing country. The winners of each local competition will move on to a regional phase and the regional winners will compete in the global phase. In the local and regional phase, papers in languages other than English will be accepted. Winners that enter the global phase will have their work translated into English, if necessary. Students can register at www.alltechyoungscientist.com. The deadline for submission is February 27, 2010.
