Neil Ford has been a member of the Friends of the Neches River Refuge for over 6 years and served as the president in 2022.  He was a faculty in biology at the University of Texas at Tyler for 40 years until his retirement in 2019.  He is currently Professor Emeritus at U. T. Tyler.  His research at the university dealt with studying life history trade-offs, i.e. factors that affect the number and size of offspring.  He has written scientific papers, book chapters and two books on his research. In 2015, along with two colleagues he started the Center For Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Texas at Tyler. Now he keeps busy volunteering at the refuge.