As director for the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, Dr. Roel Lopez provides leadership in the field of wildlife ecology and natural resource management. Roel works with internal and external stakeholders in developing institute priorities for research and extension programs and leads interdisciplinary teams to address these natural resource challenges. His research focuses on endangered and fragmented wildlife populations, the sustainability of military lands, and rural land trends and demographics.
Before joining the institute in 2009, Roel was a professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University, now renamed the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. He continues to teach in a split academic appointment, and as of September 2021, he serves as department head leading the next generation of field experts, lifelong learners and professionals who will work at the nexus of research and outreach in rangeland grazing, land stewardship, aquaculture and wildlife management.
Roel received his Bachelor of Science in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University, and his master’s degree and doctorate in wildlife and fisheries sciences from Texas A&M University.
Meet the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute
The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe the same could be said about an organization’s name. We should understand an organization’s work and mission by its name.
That is one of the reasons why we recently changed our name from the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources to the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute.
