Alex is originally from Missouri where he grew up in the meats business and obtained his Bachelors degree from Missouri State University (Southwest Missouri State University) in Animal Science. After graduating Alex moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas to pursue his Masters degree in Quantitative Beef Genetics under the direction of Dr. Hayden Brown. While at the University of Arkansas Alex worked for Tyson Foods as a Quality Assurance and HACCP technician and at the Beef Physiology Unit of UArk as assistant herdsman. Alex’s work at UArk was in the area of calculating heritabilities, breeding values and correlations for ultrasonically collected carcass traits of economic importance. After graduating from UArk Alex moved to Gainesville, Fl and took a position as the Beef Extension Coordinator for Adult Programs including SPA analysis, Integrated Resource Management, and Quality Assurance programming. While at the University of Florida Alex had the opportunity to continue his education in the field of Meat Science under the direction of Dr. Dwain Johnson. Alex’s dissertation work focused on the realimentation of cull cows to improve their value, yield, and quality.
Currently at the University of Georgia Alex’s research focuses on the use of regionally available feedstuffs to improve the quality and value of beef, improving the quality and shelf-life of red meat products (especially cuts designated as value cuts), and the effects of processing ingredients and intervention technologies on the quality and shelf-life of meat products. Alex’s current appointment is 70% research and 30% teaching.