 From 1947 until his retirement in 1971, Buell taught at Rutgers University, where he became Professor of Botany and served as Director of the William Hutcheson Forest.As early as 1955, he and his students studied ecology in relation to land-use management and human impacts, especially in parklands.In 1962, he served as President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), and was given the Eminent Ecologist Award by the Society in 1970.