Tom Hoctor is director of the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning at the University of Florida. He has an undergraduate degree in History and Science from Harvard University and a Masters and Ph.D. in Conservation Biology and Landscape Ecology from the University of Florida.
Dr. Hoctor is an expert on GIS applications for identifying conservation priorities and implementation actions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services including focal species habitat modeling, reserve design, wildlife corridors, recommendations for expanding protected lands to address climate change impacts, and conservation strategies for ensuring effective conservation in a future with continuing conflicts with land use change and habitat loss. He has served as principal or co-principal investigator on many regional-scale conservation analysis and planning projects in Florida and the U.S. His current projects include the Florida Ecological Greenways Network and Florida Wildlife Corridor, the Critical Lands and Waters Identification Project, the Identification of Florida Air Force Installation Conservation Priorities project, and working with the National Wildlife Refuge Association and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Regional Landscape Conservation Design projects in Florida and the Gulf Coast.
Tom teaches the undergraduate and graduate region planning GIS studios (LAA 4356 and LAA 6656), Landscape Management (LAA 2352), the Conservation Ecology Module of the online Ecological Issues in Sustainability course (DCP 6205), and Directed Study (LAA 6905) courses related to Conservation Biology, Landscape Ecology, ecological connectivity, green infrastructure, etc. upon request with specific graduate students.