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Tim Smith was inducted into the USDA-ARS Hall of Fame in 2023. Smith is a research chemist with the Genetics and Animal Breeding Research Unit at USMARC. Smith has done extensive work with gene mapping that has had a direct impact on the livestock industry through development of genetic markers and DNA tests associated with production traits in cattle, pigs, ad sheep as well as genetic mutations that influence the physical expression of those traits in the animals. Smith's contribution to ARS's genomic programs includes initiating the transition from microsatellite marker-based maps to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. This switch enabled genome-wide associations studies and better use of markers for trait selection than was possible with genome mapping. 

Tim Smith and Ralph Wiedmann were members of the International Pig SNP Consortium which won an Excellence in Technology Transfer award for development of a High-Density, Genome-Wide Genotyping Platform. The award is sponsored by the Mid-Continent region of the Federal Laboratory Consortium and presented at a banquet on August 31, 2011, in Monterey, CA.

Eduardo Casas, Former Research Geneticist, Genetics, Breeding, and Animal Health Research Unit at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, received the 2011 Bouffault International Animal Agriculture Award from the American Society of Animal Science, July 11, 2011 at the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and the American Dairy Science Association, New Orleans, LA.  The award is in recognition of distinguished service to animal agriculture in the developing areas of the world.  (Dr. Casas has relocated to the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, IA.)

Larry Cundiff, Collaborator, Formerly a USDA-ARS Research Geneticist and Research Leader in the Genetics, Breeding, and Animal Health Research Unit at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, received the 2011 Morrison Award from the American Society of Animal Science, July 11, 2011 at the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and the American Dairy Science Association, New Orleans, LA.  The award is in recognition of his outstanding research that has been of direct importance in livestock production.

Gary Bennett (2011) and Kreg leymaster (2012) received Distinguished Alumnus Awards from The Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Larry Kuehn, Research Geneticist in the Genetics, Breeding and Animal Health Research Unit at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, received the 2009-2010 Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award from the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).  The award was presented on March 5, 2010 in Blacksburg, Virginia.  The award recognized Dr. Kuehn???s achievements since graduating from Virginia Tech in 2005.

Four former members of the Genetics, Breeding, and Animal Health Unit are members of the ARS Hall of Fame - the best of the best. The most recent is Larry Cundiff, who was inducted in December of 2012. Drs. Cundiff and Van Vleck are currently Collaborators. The four are:

Gordon Dickerson (1990)

Keith Gregory (2004)

Dale Van Vleck (2010)



ARS News Articles

USDA-ARS Names Two Scientists To Hall of Fame
Apr 19, 2023
USDA's Agricultural Research Service Honors Scientists of the Year
Sep 09, 2014
Gene Discovery Leads to New OPP Test
Jun 17, 2013
Test Identifies Red Angus Carriers of Bone Disease
Sep 29, 2011
ARS Honors Scientists and Support Staff
Feb 10, 2009