Auburn University Professor of Animal Sciences Wayne Greene was recognized by a national organization for significant contributions to animal sciences through teaching, research, service or industry.
The Distinguished Professional Animal Scientist Award is presented annually by the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) to recognize emeritus members. The awardees are selected by the ARPAS Executive Committee, with final approval from the Governing Council, and the number of recipients each year is capped at 0.2% of total ARPAS membership.
Greene, a 2025 Distinguished Professional Animal Scientist Award recipient, is one of only three honorees this year. Since the award’s inception, 38 animal scientists have received it.
“Serving the beef cattle industry, teaching undergraduate and graduate students in animal nutrition, and conducting research in beef cattle nutrition and management over a 45-year career has been personally rewarding,” Greene said. “I am truly honored that my career’s work led to this recognition.”
Greene has worked in the College of Agriculture at Auburn University for 20 years. He was head of the Department of Animal Sciences from 2005-2024. Since, he has served as a professor in the department. Prior to joining the Auburn faculty, Greene was a professor at Texas A&M University, where he had a 23-year career in teaching, research and extension with joint appointments at West Texas A&M and Texas Tech Universities.
He has taught multiple courses in animal nutrition and conducted research in mineral metabolism of beef cattle. He has trained over 40 graduate students with M.S. and Ph.D. degrees and published more than 500 scientific articles on beef cattle nutrition. At Auburn, Greene led 19 faculty members and their associated staff and graduate students in the Department of Animal Sciences, delivering quality programs spanning teaching, research and extension.
Greene’s research has focused on the mineral nutrition of beef cattle in grazing and fed environments. This research has been conducted to determine the site and extent of magnesium absorption in ruminants along with developing feeding management strategies to reduce the incidence of grass tetan – a significant metabolic disease affecting beef cattle immediately after calving. He has also researched ways to reduce the environmental effects of mineral excretion from cattle fed in confined animal-feeding operations.
