Since completing his PhD he has been assistant professor of
Natural resource economics (1978–1983), associate professor of natural resource economics (1983–1987)professor of natural resource economics (1988–2011), and distinguished achievement professor of natural resource economics (2011–present) at New Mexico State University. By 2024, Ward has authored more than 115 peer-refereed articles in journals and two books as well as a number of book chapters. He is one of the most heavily cited resource economists in citations to journal articles. His papers consistently appear in top scientific, environmental, and natural resource journals and he has more than 5,000 Google Scholar citations, four contributions with more than 200 citations each and over 10 with more than 100 citations. His research focuses on water resource economics,
climate change adaptation, management of depletable resources, and institutional analysis of surface water and aquifers for several of the world's major river basins. Some of these basins include the Colorado, Rio Grande, Missouri, High Plains Ogallala domestically, as well as the
Nile,
Tigris-Euphrates,
Jordan, and
Amu-Darya internationally. Some of the research projects he has worked on include assessing and managing surface water system as well as
aquifers in countries like
Israel,
Mauritania,
Costa Rica,
Iraq,
Afghanistan, and
Kenya. His work has also focused on reducing economic costs caused by drought and climate change, as well as a 2024 work investigating economically sustainable solutions for pumping in the High Plains Ogallala Aquifer. In 2022, he received a
lifetime achievement award from Colorado State University. During his tenure at NMSU, Ward was designated in 2011 as a Distinguished Achievement Professor, acknowledging his achievements in scholarly research, teaching and mentoring of students. He was recently ranked in the top two percent of scientists worldwide by
Stanford University and
Elsevier. He is an elected Western Agricultural Economics Association Fellow in 2021. Within these roles, Dr. Ward believes that the most rewarding aspects are being able to assist students with opportunities to help them achieve their career ambitions, seek the recognition they deserve, and discover their potential beyond what they would have achieved on their own. ==Publications (selected)==