Texas Tech has appointed AHM Ali Reza, an internationally recognized conservation scientist whose work spans wildlife management, species distribution modeling, illegal wildlife trafficking, sustainability and global environmental policy, as an associate professor of practice in the Department of Natural Resources Management, university officials announced. He assumed the position on Dec. 1.
A Texas Tech alumnus and a native of Bangladesh, Reza brings more than two decades of experience at the intersection of academic research and applied conservation. His scholarship includes more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and six books, with particular expertise in ecological distribution modeling and geographic information systems – tools increasingly central to understanding biodiversity loss and climate change.
“I’m truly excited to be back on the Texas Tech campus that has meant so much to my academic and professional journey.” Reza said. “Since completing my graduate training here, I have gained valuable contemporary knowledge and extensive hands-on experiences through work and engagement around the world.”
“I look forward to bringing these experiences into the classroom and mentoring students as they prepare to confront the global challenges of our generation,” he said.
Before joining the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources faculty, Reza served as a Foreign Service Officer (Environment) with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), working in the Kenya and East Africa Regional Office and across multiple bureaus at USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C. His portfolio there focused on environmental policy, wildlife trafficking, conservation planning and sustainable development in some of the world’s most ecologically complex regions.
Reza’s academic career has included appointments associate and assistant professor of biology and environmental science at Delta State University in Mississippi, where he also coordinated the Wildlife Management Program within the environmental science degree. Earlier, he held faculty positions in Bangladesh as a lecturer and assistant professor in the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University.
His professional work has extended beyond the classroom. Reza served as a senior program officer with the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project and the Bengal Tiger Conservation Project, efforts central to protecting one of the world’s most fragile and iconic ecosystems.
He has also held a series of short-term international and national appointments, including working with Australian Museum as an Endeavor Executive Fellow, study abroad program lead for tropical forest ecology with Operation Wallacea in Indonesia, international partnership liaison from Delta State University to its Poland program, and National Science and Technology Research Fellow with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Among his recent honors are a USAID Kenya and East Africa Mission On-the-Spot Award in 2024, Delta State University’s Connected Educator Award in 2021, and an Outstanding Peer-Reviewed Publication Award in 2019 from The Wildlife Society for an article published in Science of the Total Environment.
Reza earned his bachelor’s degree in zoology and his master’s degree in wildlife ecology and management from Jahangirnagar University. He completed his doctorate in wildlife science at Texas Tech and later served as a postdoctoral scholar with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, where his research examined the effects of climate change on fauna in Texas lake systems.
He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Society for Conservation Biology, the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the National Geographic Society, the Texas Academy of Sciences and The Wildlife Society.
Texas Tech’s Department of Natural Resources Management includes 18 full-time faculty members and serves approximately 350 undergraduate and 70 graduate students. The department offers master’s and doctoral degrees in wildlife, aquatic and wildlands science and management and is home to the USGS Texas Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, reflecting a long-standing commitment to multidisciplinary teaching, research and collaboration with state and federal natural resource agencies.
CONTACT: Richard Stevens, Chair & Caeser Kleberg Endowed Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Department of Natural Resources Management, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6843 or richard.stevens@ttu.edu
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