John McGlone is a professor in the Texas Tech Department of Animal & Food Sciences.

December 6, 2021

4 Min Read
McGlone named 2020 fellow for National Academy of Inventors

John McGlone, a professor in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources (CASNR) at Texas Tech University, has been honored as a 2020 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a national organization composed of U.S. and international universities as well as governmental and nonprofit research institutes with more than 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning 250 institutions worldwide.

The prestigious honor was announced at the 10th Annual National Academy of Inventors Meeting on Nov. 3 in Tampa, Fla. The meeting was pushed back to November due to concerns with COVID-19.

“All of us in CASNR are tremendously proud of McGlone’s accomplishments,” said Cindy Akers, CASNR interim dean. “His research has pushed the boundaries of his discipline and helped solve real-world problems.”

McGlone becomes the seventh Texas Tech faculty member to be named an NAI Fellow, joining Robert V. Duncan in the Department of Physics & Astronomy (2014), Mindy Brashears in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences (2016), Kishor Mehta in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering (2017), Hongxing Jiang in the https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ece/index.php (2018), Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella in the Department of Plant and Soil Science (2019) and Jingyu Lin in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (2019).

McGlone, a professor of animal behavior, physiology and welfare, received his bachelor’s degree (1977) and master's degree (1979) from Washington State University. His doctorate in animal science with an emphasis in ethology and neuroscience is from the University of Illinois. His research focuses on animal welfare, ranging from housing and production systems for pigs to understanding neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms underlying stress.

McGlone’s first faculty appointment began at the University of Wyoming, where he was the first animal scientist to receive a Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellowship Award for his studies of pig behavior and physiology. He then moved to the Department of Animal & Food Sciences at Texas Tech, where he has made significant international contributions to animal welfare, received millions of dollars in research support and developed several companies to address animal welfare needs and support animal health in livestock production and among companion animals.

His patents include the use of novel molecules to stimulate litter size, to improve reproductive success in pigs and to reduce stress. He also developed an image analysis system to estimate pig body weight without touching the pig. Two pheromones, from additional patents, are currently sold in pet stores. His contributions to the swine industry have led to group housing systems for sows, improvements in swine transport and reduction of stress. His patents have led to sales of boar pheromones in the North America, Europe and Asia. Novel pheromones are being discovered and their application to improve animal welfare and health are being explored.

He was co-editor of the last version of the Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching (AG Guide), which was used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, and universities and research institutions worldwide. McGlone was the first animal scientist to serve on the Council of Accreditation for AAALAC International and was appointed to a National Academy of Sciences panel on animal transport. In 2015, he earned the AAALAC Bennet J. Cohen Award, the organization’s highest award, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Service Award for his work on the AG Guide.

McGlone also received the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Humane Award (2015), which recognizes a non-veterinarian's achievements in advancing the welfare of animals via leadership, public service, education, research/product development and/or advocacy. Recent honors for McGlone include the Texas Tech President's Excellence in Commercialization Award (2019).

The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

To date, NAI Fellows hold more than 48,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated more than 13,000 licensed technologies and companies and created more than 1 million jobs. In addition, more than $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

Those elected as fellows by the NAI are named inventors on U.S. patents and were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, having a significant impact on society and the support and enhancement of innovation.

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