Schilling named MSU’s 2025 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner
Contact: Carl Smith
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Wes Schilling—a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor in Mississippi State University’s Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion—is the university’s 2025 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner.
Schilling, who also serves as the director of the MSU Food Science Innovation Hub, is one of 16 SEC faculty members to receive the prestigious annual award. Recipients are SEC professors recognized for their outstanding teaching accomplishments, research and service.
Schilling’s research interests, which focus on adding value to and improving the quality and safety of food products, include meat and sensory sciences, flavor chemistry and ingredient technology. He is the recipient of numerous MSU research awards—the Ralph E. Powe Award for 2018’s most outstanding researcher and 2022’s Outstanding Faculty Research Award and Superior Research Award, conferred by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, respectively. His other professional honors include the American Meat Science Association’s 2024 Distinguished Research Award.
“Dr. Schilling is a gifted teacher and mentor, a distinguished scholar and a trailblazing scientist who is most deserving of this prestigious recognition. He is equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and experience they need to excel professionally after earning a degree from Mississippi State University,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “His research has an incredible real-world impact and benefits all of us by solving tough agricultural challenges for producers, food companies and consumers.”
Following a six-year stint as a research assistant and instructor/post doc at his alma mater Virginia Tech, Schilling joined MSU in 2003 as an assistant professor. He rose through the ranks, achieving associate professor and full professor statuses in 2008 and 2014, respectively. In 2022, he was tapped as the interim head of MSU’s Department of Poultry Sciences, leading the unit for almost a year.
Over his career, Schilling has received more than $10 million in research grants for various projects, developed key industry and governmental relationships, directly mentored more than 100 graduate students, and collaborated on more than 500 publications, from peer-reviewed journal articles to book chapters and abstracts.
Schilling earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science and technology, a master’s degree in statistics, and a Ph.D. in food science and technology, all from Virginia Tech, where he also was a member of the cross-country and track teams.
For more on MSU’s Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion, visit www.bchnhp.msstate.edu.
Learn about the SEC’s academic initiatives at www.thesecu.com.
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