Kearney, MO. August 5, 2021 – The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) announced Dr. James Claus, UW-Madison professor in meat science as a recipient of the 2021 AMSA Signal Service Award. The Signal Service Award is sponsored by Elanco Animal Health, Cargill, Johnsonville, LLC., Meyer Natural Foods, and Seaboard Foods. Established in 1956 the AMSA Signal Service Award was and is given to members to recognize devoted service and lasting contributions to the meat industry and the association. Claus and the other four recipients were honored during the 74th AMSA Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) awards presentation on August 17, 2021, in Reno, Nevada, hosted by the University of Nevada – Reno.
Claus was recognized for his passion in the field of meat science, helping students learn, and creating a learning environment where his students develop their own interest for meat science. Claus is a tough mentor that treats his students like family. He has served on the AMSA Board of Directors, as Chair of the RMC, co-host Chair of the RMC, and has received the AMSA Distinguished Teaching Award. In addition, he has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal papers and received approximately 2.5 million dollars in research funding.
Claus believes in the importance of realizing that we live in a diverse world in which we are called to impact and improve people’s lives wherever possible. His willingness to believe in students and provide experiential learning opportunities challenges students to learn what their gifts are and develop them.
Dr. Wes Schilling, Mississippi State University attributes Claus for “many of my character traits and core values, due to the impact that he has had on me. I look at a research project and design an experiment based on his thoroughness and his search for the mechanism that caused the statistical difference and the industry problem.”