Faculty

Many University of Wyoming faculty members and researchers have expertise and conduct significant research in environmental and natural resource areas.  They can be found listed below alphabetically, or listed by college and department by following these links:

Agriculture
Arts and Sciences
Business
Engineering
 

Richard Anderson-Sprecher
Associate Professor of Statistics
Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1990
(307) 766-4289
e-mail: sprecher@uwyo.edu
Research: Environmental statistics; spatial statistics; time series; wildlife statistics; and statistical applications in biological sciences.

 

Jarrett J. Barber
Assistant Professor of Statistics
Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2002
(307) 766-3341
e-mail: jbarber8@uwyo.edu
Research: Spatial statistical methodology and application to environmental and ecological sciences.

 

Edward B. Barbier
Professor of Economics
Ph.D., University of London, 2002
(307) 766-2358
e-mail: ebarbier@uwyo.edu
Research: Natural resources and economic development; trade and natural resources; economics and ecology.

 

William L. Baker
Professor of Geography
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1987
(307) 766-2925
e-mail: bakerwl@uwyo.edu
Research: Landscape ecology; vegetation dynamics; conservation; and use of geographical information systems and remote sensing in biogeographic studies.

 

Merav Ben-David
Associate  Professor of Zoology and Physiology
Ph.D., University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1996
(307) 766-5307
e-mail: bendavid@uwyo.edu
Research: Interaction between animal behavioral ecology, population dynamics, and ecosystem function; wildlife population biology; environmental toxicology and physiology.

 

Reed Benson
Assistant  Professor, Wyoming College of Law
J.D., University of Michigan, 1988
(307) 766-6107
e-mail: rdbenson@uwyo.edu
Research: Water law and environmental issues facing the West.

 

Harold L. Bergman
Director, William D. Ruckelshaus Institute and the School for Environment and Natural Resources, and Professor of Zoology and Physiology
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1973
(307) 766-5150
e-mail: bergman@uwyo.edu
Research: Aquatic toxicology; fish physiology; environment and natural resource policy and management.

 

Audie L. Blevins
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 1970
(307) 766-5241
e-mail: ablevins@uwyo.edu
Research: Social changes occurring in small communities and rural counties, including the social impacts associated with rapid community growth or decline; developing countries; farm structure and the economic well-being of nonmetropolitan counties; socioeconomic impact of oil shale development; and attitudes toward energy development in the northern Great Plains.

 

Ed Bradley
Associate Professor of Agriculture & Applied Economics
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 1978
(307) 766-390
e-mail: ebradley@uwyo.edu
Research: Natural Resource Management; agriculture and food policy.

 

Gregory K. Brown
Department Head and Professor of Botany
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 1980
(307) 766-2380
e-mail: rhartman@uwyo.edu
Research: Phylogenetic systematics of Bromeliaceae; biology of rare plants in the Rocky Mountain Region.

 

Steven W. Buskirk
Professor of Zoology and Physiology
Ph.D., University of Alaska, 1983
(307) 766-4207
e-mail: marten@uwyo.edu
Research: Carnivore ecology and conservation; terrestrial ecological processes; landscape-level environmental change; and population genetics.

 

Robert McGreggor Cawley
Professor of Political Science
Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1981
(307) 766-6484
e-mail: cawley@uwyo.edu
Research: Federal Land policy; natural resource management; and environmental politics.

 

Chang Yul Cha
Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1970
(307) 766-2837
e-mail: cha@uwyo.edu
Research: In-situ oil shale process; processes for recovering oil and gas from coal, tar sand, and oil shale; gasification process for production of co-products from coal; coal drying and stabilization; producing asphalt modifiers and light oil from scrap tires and waste motor oil; spent-plastic recycling process; electromagnetic flue gas cleanup process; and method for cleanup of refinery spent gas, which also produces hydrogen from hydrocarbon gases.

 

Benito Chen
 Professor of Mathematics
 Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1979
 (307) 766-2280
 e-mail: bchen@uwyo.edu
 Research: Numerical studies of flow, transport, and biofilm growth in porous media, and their use to control pollution in groundwater.

 

Todd Cornish
Associate Professor of Veterinary Science
Ph.D., University of Georgia
(307) 742-6638
Research: Diseases of free-ranging wildlife native to Wyoming; infectious diseases at the wildlife/livestock interface.

 

Roger Coupal
Department Head and Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
PhD., Washington State University, 1996
(307) 766-5246
Research:  Natural resource policy, public lands policy, and community development.

 

Thomas D. Crocker
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., University of Missouri, 1967
(307) 766-6423
e-mail: tcrocker@uwyo.edu
Research: The economic sources of environmental problems and the development of tools to measure the economic consequences of these problems.

 

Debra L. Donahue
Distinguished Professor of Law
J.D., University of Colorado School of Law, 1989
(307) 766-2191
e-mail: ddonahue@uwyo.edu
Research: Biological diversity and ecosystem management issues on public lands, including the extent to which resource management agencies have mandates under existing law to conserve biodiversity and manage whole ecosystems; and non-point water pollution problems.

 

James I. Drever
Professor Emeritus Geology and Geophysics;
J.E. Warren Professor of Energy
and the Environment
Ph.D., Princeton University, 1968
(307) 766-6434
e-mail: drever@uwyo.edu
Research: Chemistry of surface and groundwaters; effects of contamination; and geochemical aspects of contaminant migration, mining activities, and waste disposal.

 

Thomas V. Edgar

Associate Professor of Civil and Architectural Engineering
Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1983
(307) 766-6220
e-mail: tvedgar@uwyo.edu
Research: Flow, deformation, and pollution migration in porous media; slope stability; and expansive soils. Remediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soil. Protection of wellhead areas for public water supplies.

 

David C. Finnoff

Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., University of Wyoming
(307) 766-5773
e-mail: finnoff@uwyo.edu
Research: Renewable resources and conservation; environmental management; environmental and natural resource economics.

 

Carol D. Frost

Professor of Geology and Geophysics and Associate Vice President for Research, UW
Ph.D., University of Cambridge,
United Kingdom, 1984
(307) 766-6254
e-mail: frost@uwyo.edu
Research: Evolution of the continental crust using radioactive elements and their products to trace sources of various earth materials and establish their age.

 

Teena Gabrielson
Professor of Political Science
Ph.D University of California, Davis 1989
(307) 766-5383
e-mail: tgabrie1@uwyo.edu
Research: Contemporary environmental political thought, with an emphasis on contemporary understandings of environmental or ecological citizenship.

 

Rob Godby
Associate Professor, Chair of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., McMaster University, 1997
(307) 766-6600
e-mail: gerow@uwyo.edu
Research: Environment and Natural Resource Economics.

 

Susanna Goodin
Professor of Statistics and of Zoology and Physiology
Ph.D., Rice University, 1990
(307) 766-3368
e-mail: goodin@uwyo.edu
Research: Environmental ethics.

 

William Gribb
Associate Professor of Geography
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1982
(307) 766-6253
e-mail: planning@uwyo.edu
Research: Land use and natural resource management; applications of GIS in planning; American Indian land conflicts; spatial analytical tools.

 

Jeffrey D. Hamerlinck

Director, Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center and Research Scientist, Department of Geography
Master of Planning, University of Wyoming, 1992; PhD 2005
(307) 766-2736
e-mail: itasca@uwyo.edu
Research: Geographic information science applications in land and water resource management, spatial data infrastructures, decision support systems..

 

H. Gordon Harris

Director and Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1968
(307) 766-4933
e-mail: harrishg@uwyo.edu
Research: Enhanced oil recovery processes; and production of natural gas from coal seams.

Ronald Hartman
Professor of Botany; Curator of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1976
(307) 766-2236
e-mail: rhartman@uwyo.edu
Research: Flora of the Rocky Mountain region; biological diversity and the recognition and protection of endangered species.

Margaret Haydon
Professor of Art; Ceramics
M.F.A., San Francisco Statue University, 1989
(307) 766-5465
e-mail: mkhaydon@uwyo.edu
Research: Juxtaposition of the landscape and figure, the landscape and boat; water, waves, rock, landscape.

Wayne A. Hubert
Professor of Zoology and Physiology and Leader, Wyoming Cooperative Research Unit
Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1979
(307) 766-5415
e-mail: whubert@uwyo.edu
Research: Fish habitat and population management in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Salmonids in large mountain watersheds and regulated rivers.

 

Stephen T. Jackson
Professor of Botany
Ph.D., Indiana University, 1983
(307) 766-2819
e-mail: jackson@uwyo.edu
Research: Ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change; comparison of dynamics across time-scales; long-term environmental monitoring using the paleoecological record; and biogeography, ecology, genetics, and systematics of Northern American Conifers.

 

James J. Jacobs
Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1972
(307) 766-8921
e-mail: jjj@uwyo.edu
Research: Management of natural resources with emphasis on the economics of water management practices and policies.

Robert D. Kelly

Professor of Atmospheric Science
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1982
(307) 766-4955
e-mail: rkelly @uwyo.edu
Research: Carbon sequestration and net CO2 exchange in sagebrush-steppe and northern mixed-grass prairie ecosystems; boundary-layer metereology; atmosphere-biosphere interactions; airborne-remote sensing; and cloud dynamics.
 

Patrick Kikut

Visiting Professor of Art
M.F.A, University of Montana
(307) 766-3207
e-mail: pkikut@earthlink.net
Research: Mobility, open spaces on Western land, western cultures.

 

Ricki Klages
Professor of Art
M.F.A, University of New Mexico, 1993
(307) 766-3269
e-mail: rlk@euwyo.edu
Research: Influence of landscapes; magical realism.

 

Frieda Knobloch
Associate Professor of American Studies
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1994
(307) 766-3910
e-mail: knobloch@uwyo.edu
Research:  Placing people, artifacts and landscapes of Wyoming within a larger context of national and international developments, not as from a "backwater," but as agents of historical change.

  

Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1985
(307) 766-4260
e-mail: lockwood@uwyo.edu
Research: Studies, analyses, syntheses, critiques and expressions of the interface between natural science and the humanities.

Ronald W. Marrs
Professor Emeritus of Geology and Geophysics
Ph.D., Colorado School of Mines, 1973
(307) 766-2330
e-mail: rwmarrs@uwyo.edu
Research: Remote sensing and mapping; applications of remote sensing to geologic and environmental problems and resource management.

 

Garth M. Massey
Professor of Sociology and Director, International Studies Program
Ph.D., Indiana University, 1975
(307) 766-6119
e-mail: gmmassey@uwyo.edu
Research: Rural social change; ethnic conflict; political economy; and social impact mitigation.

Charles F. Mason
Professor of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1983
(307) 766-5336
e-mail: bambuzlr@uwyo.edu
Research: Common property resource problems and applications of differential game theory; issues related to exploration for and extraction of non-renewable resources.

 
Don McLeod
Associate Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Ph.D., Oregon State University, 1994
(307) 766-3116
e-mail: dmcleod@uwyo.edu
Research: environmental valuation; land and water economics; and natural resource/agricultural policy.

 
Derek C. Montague
Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science
Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Southampton, United Kingdom, 1967
(307) 766-4949
e-mail: montague@uwyo.edu
Research: Current research interests are focused on air quality and atmospheric chemistry issues associated with the relationship of aerosol composition to its optical properties

 
Norman R. Morrow

Wold Chair of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Ph.D., University of Leeds, United Kingdom, 1962
(307) 766-2838
e-mail: morrownr@uwyo.edu
Research: Hydrocarbon recovery. Wettability and oil recovery by spontaneous imbibition and waterflooding. Crude oil/brine/rock interactions. Surface chemistry of adsorption and wetting. Capillarity. Low permability gas sands. Mutliphase flow in porous media.

Larry C. Munn
Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., Montana State University, 1977
(307) 766-2127
Research: The genesis of soils in heterogeneous landscapes of the Rocky Mountains.

 

Fred L. Ogden
Cline Chair of Engineering, Environment and Natural Resources
Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1992
(307) 766-6171
email: fogden@uwyo.edu
Research: Run-off generation in the tropics, arid, and semi-arid regions; hydrologic modeling and engineering; watershed-scale erosion and deposition modeling; hydrological applications of GIS and remote sensing of rainfall.

Richard A. Olson
Department Head and Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., North Dakota State University
(307) 766-6198
e-mail: rolson@uwyo.edu
Research: Focuses on manipulating rangeland vegetation to enhance wildlife habitat while maintaining sustainable agricultural production; evaluating approaches to improve wildlife habitat on drastically disturbed lands; and assessing the impact of range improvement practices on vegetation and wildlife populations.

 

Deborah D. Paulson
Associate Professor of Geography and Recreation
Ph.D., University of Hawaii, 1992
(307) 766-2628
e-mail: debp@uwyo.edu
Research: Human impacts and management of natural landscapes in Colorado; collaborative process in public land management; campus sustainability; and international development .

Larry O. Pochop

Professor Emeritus of Civil and Architectural Engineering
Ph.D., University of Missouri, Columbia, 1967
(307) 766-3326
e-mail: pochop@uwyo.edu
Research: Evapotranspiration; micro-climatology; agricultural and municipal water conservation and management; and climatic data acquisition and analysis.

 

Steven D. Prager

Assistant Professor of Geography
Ph.D., Simon Fraser University, 2002
(307) 766-5378
e-mail: sdprager@uwyo.edu
Research: GIS; micro-climatology; dynamic geographic domains; and ecologically sustainable economic development.

 

David Reif
Professor Emeritus, Art
M.F.A., Yale University, 1970
(307) 766-3354
e-mail: dreif@uwyo.edu
Research: Cultural values and actions that determine interaction with the environment; and design of aesthetic "improvements" on nature as part of mining reclamation and in response to other activities that result in substantial alteration of the natural landscape.

 

Dean M. Roddick
Professor of Chemistry
Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1984
(307) 766-2535
e-mail: dmr@uwyo.edu
Research: New approaches to the development of catalysts for clean hydrocarbon conversions, including efficient conversion of methane to methanol.

 

J. Daniel Rodgers
Associate Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., Utah State University, 1980
(307) 766-5258
e-mail: drodgers@uwyo.edu
Research: Impacts of large grazing animals, domestic and wildlife, on vegetation communities and associated animals of western rangeland ecosystems.

 

A.H.M. Sadrul Ula
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ph.D., University of Leeds, United Kingdom, 1977
(307) 766-6268
e-mail: ulas@uwyo.edu
Research: Application of innovative energy efficiency improvement programs for coal mines, oil fields, refineries and other industries. Application of superconductivity for large scale power generation, to improve efficiency and stability of large generators. Energy planning and its impact on man and environment

Alan Schroeder
Associate Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics;
Natural Resource Law Specialist
J.D., University of Wyoming, 1977
Ph.D., University of Wyoming, 1982
(307) 766-5133
e-mail: conrad@uwyo.edu
Research: Natural resource economics; agricultural law; agricultural ethics; conflict resolution in individual and public policy disputes; and negotiation.

 

J.J. Shinker
Assistant Professor of Geography
Ph.D., University of Oregon, 2003
(307) 766-3320
e-mail: jshinker@uwyo.edu
Research: Modern climate variability; paleoclimatology; environmental change; environmental hazards; and visualization.

Jason Shogren
Thomas Stroock Distinguished Professor of Natural Resource Conservation and
Management, and Professor of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., University of Wyoming, 1986
(307) 766-5430
e-mail: jramses@uwyo.edu
Research: Environmental risk, conflict and resolution, theoretical and applied research; non-market valuation; environment and natural resource economics; applied game theory; public choice; and experimental economics.

Quentin D. Skinner
Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., University of Wyoming, 1974
(307) 766-4139
e-mail: qskinner@uwyo.edu
Research: Assessing water quality and plant species response to surface flow of Coal Bed Methane product water draining Wyoming watersheds; assess water quality as it relates to Total Maximum Daily Load standards of streams draining Wyoming watersheds; assess riparian zone plant response to declining water table levels; assessing best management practices for grazing riparian zones; and assessing riparian zone and watershed function of Wyoming Landscapes.

 

James L. Smith
Professor Emeritus of Civil and Architectural Engineering
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1971
(307) 766-4970
e-mail: smithjl@uwyo.edu
Research: Mined land reclamation; erosion; riparian zone management; and water quality monitoring.

Michael A. Smith
Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., Utah State University, 1977
(307) 766-2337
e-mail: pearl@uwyo.edu
Research: Plant-animal interactions and the relationship of rangeland forage characteristics to the selection and utilization of habitats by grazing animals; range improvements; riparian habitat management; fire ecology; livestock production systems; and long-term interactive effects of sagebrush removal on herbage productivity.
 

  
David T. Taylor
Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1984
(307) 766-5682
e-mail: ttaylor@uwyo.edu
Research: Community economic analysis including tourism, mining, and agriculture; and analysis of the structure and trends of local regional economies; recreation economics.

John T. Tschirhart
Professor of Economics and Finance
Ph.D., Purdue University, 1975
(307) 766-2356
e-mail: jtsch@uwyo.edu
Research: State public utility commission involvement with environmental regulations; utility regulation and restructuring; bioeconomics; and the interaction of ecosystems and economics.

George F. Vance
Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1989
(307) 766-2297
e-mail: gfv@uwyo.edu
Research: Carbon sequestration in agricultural and forested ecosystems; pesticide and nitrogen mobility and fate in semi-arid and irrigated environments; selenium chemistry in mineland, agriculture, and military ecosystems; reclamation and revegetation of disturbed and altered lands; geographical information science for land-use planning; acid deposition impacts on soil and aquatic organic matter chemistry; forest nutrient cycling processes mediated by organic residues; chemistry and bioavailability of waste constituents; ground and surface water contamination by inorganic and organic constituents; sorption of hazardous anions and organics by modified-mineral surfaces.

 

Klaas T. van't Veld

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
(307) 766-3143
e-mail: klaas@uwyo.edu
Research: Environment and Natural Resource Economics. Currently, environmental federalism with regards to accidental pollution; and exploring the relationship between household incomes, private assets, and natural assets.

 

J.W. Waggoner
Associate Professor of Renewable Resources
Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1975
(307) 766-2365
e-mail: jwags@uwyo.edu
Research: Range livestock production and management; feedlot systems and grazing systems; forage and water quality; grazing behavior; growth-promoting compounds; control of internal and external livestock parasites; management of toxic range plants; and reclaimed mine areas.

 

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Updated January, 2008