Dr. Newcomb joined the Department in 1994 from the College of Engineering where he had been Professor of Mineral Resource Economics since 1982. Prior to Arizona, he held positions at Pennsylvania State and West Virginia University where he established its department and Ph.D. in Resource Economics. He is a recognized author and authority on theory of technological change, conservation, and resource depletion. His current teaching focuses on the dynamics of risk management in the capital asset, futures, and options markets. His published research centers on natural resource valuation, environmental accounting, development, and sustainable growth. His current research interests are on futures trading in options on resource deposits and environmental sinks.

He has served on numerous committees of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, its National Research Council and Materials Advisory Board. His consultancies embrace service to the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the United Nations, numerous corporations, and departments of government in the U.S. and abroad including India, Mexico and Canada. He is listed in American Men and Women of Science (1972) and a recipient of the AIME's Mineral Economics Award (1986).