The Poultry Science Association (PSA) recently awarded, James Tyus II, a doctoral candidate in the School of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences at Tennessee State University, the Certificate of Excellence (1st Place in Breeding and Genetics) for his poster presentation titled “Comparative Genomics: The Guinea Fowl Satiety Center,” at the 2010 Joint Annual Meeting of the Federation of Animal Science Societies in Denver, Colorado.

Tyus, a native Nashvillian who grew up in Durham, North Carolina, was also appointed Student Director of PSA. As a member of the Board of Directors of PSA, Tyus will serve a two year term and be responsible for representing the interests of the nearly 400 student members affectionately known as The Hatchery.

“I have presented elements and portions of this research before and have been successful on a local level winning a couple of competitions here on campus, but never did win at this national meeting,” he said.

As a result of winning the Certificate of Excellence, Tyus, who also serves as Co-Director of the Association of Pre-Professional Life Scientists at TSU, has been invited to submit a manuscript to Poultry Science, PSA’s official journal publication. Also, his picture and biography will be published in the December issue of the same journal.

“I do expect some great things from him,” said James Kessler, Executive Director of PSA. “I think for someone as early in his career as he is, he has a very good idea of where he is and where he wants to go.”

PSA has a membership of over 3000 globally, and Tyus is one of 13 Board of Directors members.

“To be able to sit on the Board of Directors will really just allow for the kind of networking that will ultimately lead to some wonderful opportunities when I am in the job market,” Tyus added. “Hopefully if I do a good job and make a good impression with the board, then some opportunities will become available in a year when I start looking for post-docs and other opportunities.”

Dr. Samuel Nahashon, Research Associate Professor of Animal Sciences and Tyus’ advisor, says he finds great joy in working with students like Tyus. “I like to live in a culture of hard work, and if anyone is willing to do that, I usually invite them to come along,” Dr. Nahashon said. “He’s in the lab almost 24 hours a day so really it’s an opportunity to work with great students like him.”

Tyus credits Dr. Nahashon with a great deal of his success. “It’s a back and forth process with Dr. Nahashon,” he said. “You work, you read and then you go sit and talk with him and he lets you know where you went off track, but he also is very encouraging. He’s kind. And I think that is important also—the way he respects us and speaks to us in a way that lets us know that he cares. He’s brilliant and very bright. He’s always ten steps ahead.”

For more information about the Poultry Science Program at TSU, please visit:
http://agfacs.tnstate.edu/uno/Research_projects.html#Animal_Science. For information about the Poultry
Science Association, visit http://www.poultryscience.org/