In conjunction with her award, Claire Couch presented a talk on Friday, May 31 in Dryden Hall: "Microbiomes and megafauna: understanding the relationships between the microbiome, nutrition, and disease in wild herbivores."

Robert MacVicar was a past president of Oregon State University. He and his wife Clarice had a strong interest in the health and welfare of animals. As a result, they established a fund to support research at OSU that impacts animal health and welfare in its broadest sense, that is interdisciplinary in its approach, and represented by the areas of microbiology, biochemistry, and veterinary medicine.