Dr. Lloyd Walker was a rising Ph.D. candidate and researcher at Texas A&M University – deep in poultry science, publishing widely and contributing to innovations that helped make poultry the nation’s leading meat – when a phone call changed everything. Alabama A&M University had seen his work and asked him to visit. In 1992, the young scientist with an undergraduate and master’s degree from Prairie View A&M and a new Ph.D. from Texas A&M made his way to The Hill.
Walker’s early research focused on solving a major challenge for the poultry industry: how to rapidly increase production without expanding expensive aging facilities. His team helped refine electrical stimulation techniques to accelerate tenderization, moving poultry more efficiently into the market. He describes himself simply as “on the team” that helped bring poultry to the top of U.S. meat consumption, though colleagues credit his contributions as foundational.
Not long after Walker arrived at AAMU, tragedy reshaped his path. His colleague and friend, Dr. Barat Singh – who had recently returned from a trip to Africa – fell ill with malaria and died shortly after. Walker remembers seeing him in the hallway that Friday evening, coughing and urging him to go home and rest. By Monday, Singh had passed…