Tom Vaughan

Laredo | Professor

Dr. Vaughan holds a Ph.D. in zoology and served as a professor of biology at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, with a research focus on benthic macroinvertebrates, such as insects, shrimp, crabs, crayfish, snails, clams and aquatic worms, found in the Rio Grande and area creeks and wetlands. He was also president of the board, and a co-founder, of the Rio Grande International Study Center. The Center was organized in 1994 over concern for degradation of the Rio Grande from untreated sewage, industrial maquiladora discharges, waste dumping, wetland filling, mining effects, and water impoundments and diversions. Dr. Vaughan and the Center have sought to improve the Rio Grande through research, public education, cooperation with its Mexican sister organization, el Centro Internacional del Estado del Rio Bravo, and capital projects, such as the construction of trails along the river corridor and creation of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center.