Dr. Doyle E. Wilson was awarded the 2000 American Society of Animal Science Rockefeller Prentice in Animal Breeding and Genetics Award at the recent annual meeting in Baltimore.

Dr. Wilson has maintained a research and technology transfer focus for his academic career with Iowa State University. His research efforts have encompassed new methodologies for genetic improvement programs in the beef cattle, sheep and horse industries. He brought a new vision to the livestock industry in how to capitalize on the power of computers to assist producers in managing genetic improvement programs.

Raised on an Iowa farm, Dr. Wilson obtained his B.S. degree in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University in 1967 followed by nine years in the U.S. Air Force in development. He returned to farming for three years. In 1982 he was awarded his M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in 1984 in Animal Breeding. He went to work directly for the Department of Animal Science as the first extension livestock systems specialist in the history of Iowa State University where he pioneered new personal computer programs for livestock producers. Dr. Wilson was the first university extension person to be directly involved in the development and implementation of national scale genetic improvement methodology for the beef, sheep and horse industries.

During his tenure as a livestock systems specialist, Dr. Wilson maintained an active research program, garnering more than $2.8 million in extramural funding, publishing 34 journal articles, 38 abstracts and more than 270 research reports, popular press articles and numerous software programs. In 1996, Dr. Wilson's faculty position was changed to research and teaching with leadership for a major new beef cattle breeding project at Iowa State University. He is also responsible for all of the national cattle evaluation programs for the American Angus Association. His work with the American Angus Association has spanned more than fifteen years.

Dr. Wilson is co-investigator on the development of ultrasound technologies at Iowa State University. He and his colleague concluded that: 1) progeny testing for carcass merit in the beef cattle industry was too costly on a large scale, and 2) value-based marketing and specification end products had to become the norm. They recognized the need for a technology that could accurately measure body composition in live beef cattle and give quantitative measure to accurately instrument grade carcasses. Real-time ultrasound was identified as the technology. Their research efforts have resulted in technology transferred to the industry that enables seed stock producers to measure live animals directly for composition traits, including marbling.

Wilson has committed a significant portion of his professional career to assisting developing countries in their programs of genetic improvement. He has spent extended periods of time in Argentina, South Africa, and more recently, in Mexico assisting animal breeders in these countries putting genetic improvement programs on-line. His international reputation is based on systems development, national genetic programs, genetic methodology, ultrasound technology including evaluation for marbling, and beef breeding research. Research and technology transfer to the livestock industry are paramount to his career.