Robert Dailey has spent almost 30 years on West Virginia Universitys farms studying how to produce hardier farm animals so more Americans can enjoy a fine steak or ham dinner.
Earl Scime creates and examines scorching gases in his Hodges Hall laboratories with the hope of making a better rocket engine.
For their efforts, the two WVU scientists have been awarded this years Benedum Distinguished Scholar awards, the Universitys premier research honor.
This years recipients are representative of the range of research taking place at WVU from down-to-earth experiments to rocket science,said C.B. Wilson, associate provost for academic personnel.
A native of Charles Town, Dailey grew up working on family farms and knew he wanted to be an animal scientist after studying under the late H.E.DocKidder, a professor of animal and veterinary sciences at WVU for more than 30 years.
After obtaining his bachelors degree from WVU in 1967, Dailey earned masters and doctoral degrees in endocrinology and reproductive physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did postdoctoral research in neuroendocrinology at Emory University.
He returned to WVU s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences in 1977 as a teacher and researcher in the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and the Reproductive Physiology Program.
Over the years, Dailey has explored various methods for improving the reproductive efficiency of farm animals that reach the butchers shop and eventually the dinner table in the form of beef, lamb and pork.
Its always been an American policy to keep food affordable, of a high quality and plentiful to remain competitive in the world market,he said.
Dailey was interim dean of the Davis College from 1999-2000 and interim director of the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences from 1994-95. He has been a Davis-Michael Professor, an endowed faculty position in the college, since 2002 and has guided 30 graduate students and postdoctoral trainees through their research programs.
In 1997, he received a WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dailey resides in Morgantown with his wife, Jean, and their three children.
Scime, who grew up in Tampa, Fla., earned bachelors degrees in physics and applied mathematics from Florida State University and a doctorate in plasma physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He was a U.S. Department of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining WVU s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in 1995.
I always expected to be a physicist as far back as I can remember,said Scime, chairman of the Department of Physics.I was always building things or taking them apart.
His research centers around plasma, extremely hot gases that constitute the fourth state of matter. As substances are heated from a low temperature, they go through a succession of states: solid, liquid, gas and, finally, plasma.
Scimes latest research involves a laser-based device he has developed to measure the flow of ions in a specific plasma source capable of spontaneously generating a strong electric field that accelerates the positively charged ions out of the source.
This acceleration feature has caught the attention of spacecraft propulsion experts, who see the plasma source as a possible rocket engine for long-range missions such as those envisioned for Mars, he said.
Scime has authored or co-authored more than 90 scientific papers and mentored five Goldwater Scholars. His past honors include the Eberly College Outstanding Teacher Award, WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award and Eberly College Outstanding Researcher Award.
He lives in Morgantown with his wife, Joy, and their two children.
The Benedum and Distinguished Professors of WVU established the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Awards in 1985-86 to honor and reward faculty for excellence in research and scholarship. The program is funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and coordinated by the Office of Academic Affairs and Research.
Dailey and Scime will accept their $5,000 awards at a special convocation at 7 p.m. Friday, April 15, in the Mountainlair Ballrooms as part of WVU ’s Weekend of Honors.