Chris Calkins is a professor and endowed chair and Nebraska Beef Industry Professor of Animal Science. In his career he has advanced the understanding of how meat composition and biochemistry affect the quality of fresh meat for retail and for value-added processing. He is a past president and fellow of the American Meat Science Association and a teaching fellow of the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. In 2004, Calkins’ muscle profiling research team was awarded the World Prize for Meat Science and Technology, the only time the prize has ever been awarded in the United States. Calkins has authored more than 90 research articles, 9 book chapters, and 220 abstracts in meat science.