2002 Meats Research Award

Tommy L. Wheeler

Tommy L. Wheeler, research food technologist in the Meats Research Unit at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska, received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Texas Tech University in 1984 and 1986 and his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1989.  At MARC, Dr. Wheeler has focused his research efforts on the development of genetic and postmortem strategies for optimizing carcass yield and meat quality of red meat animals.  His work has included improving the accuracy and repeatability of meat tenderness measurements, characterizing the carcass composition and meat quality traits of beef breeds, and development of on-line beef classification systems for tenderness and carcass yield.