Dr. Ray Huffaker
Professor, Empirical Nonlinear Dynamics, Bioeconomic Modeling, Natural Resource and Environmental Law
Ray Huffaker is a natural resource economist (Ph.D., UC Davis) specializing in bioeconomic and hydrologic modeling, and a legal scholar (J.D., UC Davis) specializing in natural resource and environmental law.
Huffaker’s research specialty is to reconstruct the dynamics of real-world and experimental systems from observational data, map out and measure dynamic causal interactions in real-world networks, and distill physical models of real-world system dynamics from observed data with phenomenological modeling techniques and AI reservoir computing. His research addresses sustainability issues in wide-ranging applications including renewable energy production, salt-water intrusion, water treatment in manmade wetlands and bioreactors, dynamics of red-algae blooms, and food security/safety. Huffaker’s research has further demonstrated how environmental and economic decision-support models can be evaluated for real-world correspondence. Faulty model representations lead to ineffective and wasteful policies, triggering calls to review decision-support models used for public policy. Huffaker has collaborated in research projects with colleagues in engineering, economics, and physics at universities throughout the US and EU, and conducted several week-long workshops on empirical nonlinear dynamic modeling.
Huffaker thoroughly enjoys working with students. His teaching experience includes doctoral courses in nonlinear data diagnostics, biological modeling and simulation, mathematical optimization techniques, economic dynamics, and micro- and macroeconomic analysis; and undergraduate courses in natural resource economics and environmental law.
Contact Information
352-294-6745
Office:
281 Frazier Rogers Hall
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 110570
Gainesville, FL 32611-0570
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Teaching
- ABE 6933: Data Diagnostics
- ABE 5643C: Biological Systems Modeling
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Education
- Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis, 1983
- J.D. University of California, Davis, School of Law, 1986
- A.B. Economics and Italian, University of California, Davis, 1978
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Professional Experience
- 2013-Present
Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida - 2008-2013
Professor and Chair, Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida - 2000-2008
Professor, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University - 2006-2008
Participating Faculty, Interdisciplinary Training of Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences - 1993-2000
Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Washington State University - 1990-1993
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Washington State University - 1990-2008
Adjunct Professor, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman - 1990-2008
Graduate Faculty, Environmental Science and Regional Planning Program, Washington State University - 1987-1990
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville - 1984-1986
Lecturer and Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of California, Davis - 1975-1978
Parole Aid and Northern California Drug Abuse Coordinator, California Youth Authority
- 2013-Present
- Publications
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Awards and Honors
- Senior Visiting Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Bologna, Summer 2011
- Computational Science Award in Undergraduate Teaching, Ames Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, 1994
- Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, University of California, Davis
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Other Professional Activities
- Editorial Board, Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, 2009 - Present
- Editorial Board, Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, 2010 - Present