Dr. Tom Geary earned his B.S. in Animal and Range Sciences in 1985 from Montana State University. After spending two years on the family ranch in Montana, he attended graduate school at WSU where he earned his M.S. (1989) and Ph.D. (1994) degrees in Animal Sciences under the direction of Dr. Jerry Reeves. His graduate research led to the development of an anti-inhibin vaccine to increase fertility. In 1992, Tom was the recipient of the department’s Outstanding Graduate Student award, which recognizes excellence in research and teaching. After completing his Ph.D., Tom stayed at WSU for an additional two years and completed a postdoctoral fellowship.
Dr. Geary was hired as an assistant professor by the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University in 1996. He returned to Montana in 1999 after landing his current position as a research scientist at the USDA-ARS Fort Keogh Livestock and Research Range Laboratory in Miles City, Montana. Dr. Geary aims to pinpoint management tools that enhance reproductive efficiency in beef cattle by evaluating strategies that improve pregnancy establishment and maintenance. He is specifically interested in understanding early embryonic loss and discovering applications that minimize these losses. Some of his current research projects focus on establishing ultrasound techniques or discovering genetic biomarkers that provide very early pregnancy detection, uncovering how sperm abnormalities affect early embryonic mortality, creating novel measures of sperm fertility, evaluating factors that affect sperm fertility, and unearthing genetic markers associated with uterine capacity for pregnancy.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Geary has received nearly $3 million in extramural funding. He has published 79 journal articles, 121 proceedings, and 105 abstracts. His devotion to education is represented by the 40 graduate students he has mentored, including the seven graduate committees in which he currently serves. His expertise is highly recognized in the field of animal sciences. He currently serves as an adjunct professor and graduate faculty member at Colorado State University, Montana State University, Washington State University, University of Missouri, the Ohio State University, University of Wyoming, and South Dakota State University.