"building a legacy of giving back . . ."

Raised on a livestock and grain farm near Hector, Minnesota, this Army pilot veteran turned his persistence and work ethic into degrees from South Dakota State and the University of Wisconsin. After serving as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Dave hit his professional stride at Elanco Animal Health Research and Development.

His successful career would not have been possible without the connections, mentoring and encouragement he received from members of the American Meat Science Association. As a result, Dave embarked on a second career of building a legacy of giving back. As a professional member, he served on the AMSA Board of Directors and was AMSA President. He constantly was involved in committee work for the association. 

His biggest contribution to the association has come since his retirement as a part of the AMSA Educational Foundation. Dave was an architect of the foundation's Mentor Recognition program. This program has resulted in growing the foundation from its humble beginnings to the point where it is now funding numerous student and professional program and is poised for rapid growth in the future. 

His passion for this program and the association is most aptly expressed artistically through his work as a sculptor. For each of the mentor recognition recipients, he has sculpted a medallion of the face of the mentor that is installed on the plaques that the mentors receive. These beautiful works of art display his enthusiasm for AMSA like nothing else that has ever been done before. 

His sculpting gift was also put to use in pulling together the high team permanently rotating trophy for the International Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest.

More about Dave below...

Continuing the Legacy

In keeping with his innovative spirit, Dr. Anderson desires that donations made in his name will spearhead the development of the Innovation Fund. This part of the AMSA Educational Foundation:

• helps launch new programs
• grows new programs to self-sufficiency
• equips students with leadership training
• underwrites responses to urgent research or media issues
• lets AMSA respond nimbly to new opportunities

More about Dave...

His career at Elanco was noteworthy. There he was a part of a unique team of researchers applying analytical problem-solving skills to improving the efficiency of livestock production. The result of this team effort has been a revolution in sustainability and nutrition, particularly in pork production. The work has meant that farmers worldwide can produce more meat with fewer resources and less stress on the environment. Farmers can feed more people while keeping meat affordable. His body of work includes research findings, patents, and publications that contributed to products that are widely used across the globe. 

Dave continues to influence the next generation of scientists by advising graduate students and by teaching as an Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University. He also expresses his continuing love of agriculture and a passion for honoring his advisors, mentors and colleagues through sculpture. You can see his work at SDSU and in the portrait medallions of AMSA Mentor Recognition Award winners. He is currently sculpting works for CSU.

Dr. Anderson has served on the Boards of the ASAS and CAST and has served on the AMSA Board, RMC program chair, as President and as chair of the Educational Foundation of the AMSA. Awards include the Animal Growth and Development Award (2001), and Fellow Award (2004) from ASAS; the Signal Service Award (1997) and R.C. Pollock Award (2007) from AMSA; Distinguished Alumni Award from SDSU (2014). He currently serves as trustee on the SDSU Foundation and the ASAS Foundation.