Ecosystem Science & Management

Wayne Hamilton is Director of the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A&M University. He has a joint appointment with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Hamilton received his BS (1955) in Agriculture from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, MS in Range Animal Science (1975) and MBA (1976) from Sul Ross State University. He joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1976 after serving eleven years as Resource Manager for Chaparrosa Ranches, La Pryor, Texas. His research program includes development of computerized decision-support systems for use in natural resource management at the ranch firm level. These systems are designed to assist resource managers in making decisions that will facilitate sustainable use of grazinglands. He is a member of the Ranching System Research Group within the Department.

Hamilton has teaching responsibilities in undergraduate and graduate courses pertaining to grazingland inventory and analysis, vegetation manipulation and rangeland management. He has worked internationally in China, Paraguay, Argentina and Mexico.

The current focus of his research involves development of an binational version of the expert system EXSEL for brush and weed control technology selection in Texas and northeastern Mexico. He is also contributing to the development of a forage production simulation model that will be used in a drought advisory system. He is also working on a system for "virtual ranch visits" through the use of digital images and computer-based transfer of grazingland problems for analysis and recommendations by Extension Specialists.