Advisory Board

Wes Moorehead serves as the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Texas A&M Forest Service, where he is responsible for overseeing the agency’s emergency response and natural resource divisions, as well as its law enforcement and professional development departments. A dedicated member of the agency since 2001, Moorehead has held a range of leadership positions, including Forest Inventory and Analysis Forester, District Forester, Regional Forester, Head of East Texas Operations, Associate Director, and Fire Chief. He earned his degree in Forest Management from Stephen F. Austin University and completed the prestigious Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Harvard Kennedy School. A Certified and Accredited Forester, Moorehead has also served on the Board of Directors for the Texas Forestry Association. His outstanding contributions were recognized in 2020 when he received the Texas A&M University System Regents Fellow Service Award.

Alice is from a small town in the state of São Paulo, Brazil (Tietê, SP). She gained her DVM in 2013 from São Paulo State University, where she also earned a master’s degree in dairy cattle production and physiology (2016). Oregon State University (EOARC – Burns, OR) became her first home in the US, where she started her PhD in Animal Science, focused on beef cattle physiology. She transferred to Texas A&M in 2018, graduating in 2021. Currently, still at the Animal Science Department of Texas A&M University, Alice is an Instructional Assistant Professor. Her line of work and research focuses on teaching and learning for higher education and extension. Her overall goal is to make research-based concepts more accessible to people working in agriculture and to improve the educational experiences of college students in ag-related disciplines. Interests: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Teaching and Learning in STEM, Animal Physiology, Ruminant Nutrition.

Dr. Jose Perez has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas-Pan American (now the University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley), majoring in Biology. He was initially focused on the pre-med track, but during the summer of 2001, he participated in a summer internship program working on the health-promoting properties of citrus. The program completely changed his career outlook. After graduation, Dr. Perez worked in a plant pathology laboratory for a few months before starting my Master’s program at Texas A&M University in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. During his Master’s education, he worked on the cancer-preventing properties of compounds purified from citrus. After completing his graduate work, Dr. Perez started working at USDA as a chemist, working on various projects dealing with plant physiology, entomology, and specialty crops. In 2009, he enrolled in a Ph.D. Program at Texas A&M University in the Department of Horticultural Sciences working on the anti-diabetic properties of bitter melon. During this time he continued to work as a Chemist at USDA. Dr. Perez completed his Ph. D. in 2019. In 2022, he transitioned to the Talent Outreach Branch at USDA-REE. The goal of this branch is to develop an early career pipeline for scientific careers at USDA.

Lucas Gregory, Ph.D., currently serves as associate director and chief science officer for the Texas Water Resources Institute. He joined TWRI in 2006 and focuses his work on understanding the drivers of changing surface water quality and restoring impaired waters. In this role, he develops effective and efficient research projects and provides leadership for developing local plans to restore water quality. He also is charged with leading and advising on research activities conducted and coordinated by TWRI. Before beginning work at TWRI, Lucas earned his master’s degree in water management and hydrological science from Texas A&M University and his bachelor’s degree in agricultural systems management. While working on his bachelor’s degree, he was also a proud member of the Fighting Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets and an Aggie Bus driver. Lucas earned his doctoral degree in water management and hydrological science from Texas A&M University while working at TWRI. He is currently Texas A&M University’s lead delegate to the Universities Council on Water Resources, serves on its board of directors, and is president-elect.

Dr. Aburto received his B.S. in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Chile and an MSc and Ph.D. in Soil and Biogeochemistry from the University of California, Davis. He was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Soil Sciences at the University of Concepción (UdeC), Chile, before joining Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in October 2021. Dr. Aburto’s international research program applies a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to studying soil development and the effect of land use change and management intensification on soil functionality, focusing on biogeochemical processes. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Soil Morphology, Soil Genesis, and coaches the TAMU Soil Judging team. Dr. Aburto also holds an Adjunct Professor position in the Department of Environmental Sciences at UdeC. Dr. Aburto is a first-generation graduate, Fulbright Scholarship awardee, and USDA E. Kika de la Garza Research Fellow. He has authored/ co-authored 32 journal articles and collaborated on over 25 projects. His research and outreach activities have been featured through multiple media outlets. He is elected chair of the Pedology Division of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and has served as associate and technical editor for the SSSAJ and ad-hoc editor and reviewer for many other journals.