Robert Coulson

Areas of Expertise

• Forest Entomology
• Insect Ecology
• Landscape Ecology
• Landscape-use management

Professional Summary

Robert Coulson, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Entomology. He joined the Texas A&M University System as Principal Entomologist with the Texas Forest Service and Assistant Professor with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.  Subsequently, he received an academic appointment with the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University.  Dr. Coulson’s research has been transdisciplinary in approach and directed to investigations of the activities and impacts of insects and other taxa in forest, prairie, savanna, agricultural, and urban landscapes.  The research addresses issues of significance to ecological science as well landscape-use management.  In 1984 he co-founded the Knowledge Engineering Laboratory (KEL) to facilitate research and development of computer applications for planning, problem-solving and decision making in environmental science and management.  Focus of KEL research is directed to landscape-scale problems that require integration, interpretation, and use of different representations of knowledge. Special emphasis has been placed on ways and means of blending qualitative heuristic knowledge of experts with quantitative information that results from scientific investigations.

Coulson’s research accomplishments have been recognized at local (Former Student Association Faculty Achievement Award for Research, Texas A&M University), State (Award of Merit in Recognition of Outstanding Achievements in Forest Research, Texas Forestry Association), regional (A. D. Hopkins Award, Southern Forest Insect Work Conference), and national (J. E. Bussart Award and Fellow of Entomological Society of America) levels.  Dr. Coulson teaches an undergraduate course in forest protection and a graduate course in landscape ecology.  He co-authored textbooks for these subjects: Forest Entomology (John Wiley and Sons. 1984) and Basic Landscape Ecology (KEL Partners, Inc. 2010. He has received $909,000 extramural funding for his research in the past five years. During his tenure at Texas A&M he has received $10,584,00 in research funding. His Google Scholar h-index is 42 and i10-index is 133. His research, reported in 144 peer-reviewed publications, has been cited 6343 times. He is a member of the Entomological Society of America, International Association for Landscape Ecology, and the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations.  He is a regular contributor to the scientific agenda of these societies.