98 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN February 2025 PEERS NC FOUNDATION HONORS BEEF INDUSTRY LEADERS NEBRASKA BEEF INDUSTRY ENDOWMENT The Nebraska Beef Industry Endowment was established in December 2009 to provide grants to beef industry-related research and/or teaching positions at Nebraska post-secondary educational institutions. This award honors those professors or instructors who are providing cutting-edge research and/or student instruction in a beef industry-related area. As the 2024 Nebraska Beef Industry Endowment recipient, Jessica Sperber Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension feedlot specialist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), was awarded a $6,000 grant on behalf of the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation. Sperber joined the Department of Animal Science as an assistant professor and Extension feedlot specialist in November of 2022. Her role in the department includes delivering relevant education and guiding problem-solving efforts targeted toward feedlot owners, management, consultants and allied industry. She organizes the Nebraska beef feedlot Extension team, coordinates feedlot roundtables and contributes to feedlot Extension publications. She is passionate about During the 2024 Nebraska Cattlemen (NC) Annual Convention Awards Banquet, the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation (NCF) presented the Nebraska Beef Industry Endowment, the Nebraska Range & Conservation Endowment and the Friend of the Foundation Award to three trailblazers in the beef industry. NC Foundation President Loren Berger, left, presents Jessica Sperber, Ph.D., right, with a plaque for the Nebraska Beef Industry Endowment grant that she received from the NC Foundation in 2024. Mary Drewnoski, Ph.D., left, receives a plaque for the Nebraska Range & Conservation Endowment grant that she received from the NC Foundation in 2024 from NC Foundation President Loren Berger, right. NC Foundation President Loren Berger, left, presents Lee Weide, right, with a plaque for the 2024 Friend of the Foundation award in recognition of his years of service to the NC Foundation. CONTINUED ON PAGE 100
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