Shad D. Nelson received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of California, Riverside. He was appointed to the faculty at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 2001 after working as a postdoctoral research assistant for the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, FL and Fresno, CA. He currently holds the rank of Associate Professor and serves as the Chair of the Department of Agronomy & Resource Sciences. Shad teaches and conducts research in Agronomy and Horticultural Sciences. Dr. Nelson was born in California, yet raised in Utah and is a 3rd generation soil scientist, as his father is a Professor of soil science and grandfather worked for the soil conservation service.

Education:

Ph.D., Soil Chemistry/Physics), U.C., Riverside
M.S., Agronomy, Brigham Young University
B.S., Horticultural Science, B.Y.U.

Research Interests:

Dr. Nelson's research interests are diverse and targeted at finding environmentally safe methods of the preserving agriculture practices for future generations. Dr. Nelson holds a 25% research appointment based out of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Citrus Center located in Weslaco, TX. His research program assists growers in finding alternative irrigation methodologies that will enable growers to produce citrus using water conservation practices. Other interests involve investigations into finding alternative to methyl bromide use in horticultural crop production. He collaborates on projects with faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in Enviromental Engineering, Geosciences, Genetics and Plant Pathology and Physiology researching seedling tolerance of native plants to saline soils, horticultural pepper crop breeding and phytochemical analysis, citrus resistance to cold and pathogens, nitrogen leaching and mitigation of groundwater contamination, and the application of computer programs in agricultural systems management.