He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, an MS in Soil Science, and a BS in Civil Engineering. He has more than 20 years of experience as a faculty and research scientist at Prairie View A&M University and as an engineer in the federal government. Dr. Ray's research interests include climate-smart agriculture, carbon sequestration, climate change, hydrology-land surface-atmosphere interactions, soil water dynamics, watershed hydrology, and modeling. He has authored two books, several book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is an editor and editorial board member of several journals, including Agronomy, Agricultural & Environmental Letters, Remote Sensing in Earth System Sciences, Remote Sensing, Sustainability, and Civil Engineering and Constructions.