" lsu texas a&m share a passion for gulf cost researchdec 11 2014lsu and texas a&m may be rivals on the gridiron but academically its literally smooth sailing between the two schools – they both conduct world-class research on marine life in the gulf of mexicothe two schools share several similar research interests such as the study of oil spills marine ecosystems and the overall health of the gulf especially in the area of hypoxia which means oxygen-depleted water texas a&m oceanographer piers chapman has a direct link with lsu he taught there for five years from 2002-2007 and also served as head of crest (coastal restoration and enhancement through research and technology) the group was comprised of 11 louisiana universities plus mississippi state steve dimarco we did research work and focused a lot on coastal marshes because louisiana has so many chapman recalls we were funded mainly through grants from noaa back then and still today lsu was big on environmental research oceanography and wetlands researchno doubt the key area in which the two schools collaborate deals with studying hypoxia and the water in the gulf where the mississippi river discharges pouring huge amounts offertilizer that has flowed into the river from hundreds of miles upstream forming a dead zone texas a&m university and louisiana state university are the countrys leading universities when it comes to studying the dead zone (the mississippi is the largest river in the us draining a whopping 40 percent of the nations land area) water in and near a dead zone becomes hypoxic resulting in a loss of marine life even fish kills the dead zone area has been measured as large as 9 000 square miles or roughly the size of new jersey and it peaks in mid-summer each summer several researchers from texas a&m and lsu head out on cruises to survey the conditions of gulf waters this past summer the team made its annual research cruise and established that the dead zone for 2013 was about 3 100 square miles or about the size of delaware and rhode island combined the best way to study how big a dead zone is each year is to take water samples at about a dozen sites or more in the gulf says steve dimarco texas a&m professor of oceanography and one of the worlds leading experts on the dead zone who has made 27 such research cruises in the last 10 years dimarco has received numerous grants from noaa for his research such as a $37 million grant in 2009 for multi-year field work we count on two key people at lsu to help us one is nan walker who is one of the best oceanographers in the country she is in charge of the satellite images we use during our cruises and also later to aid in interpretation of the data we collect she directs lsus earth scan laboratory a satellite data receiving station that captures images from six satellites in real-time using antennas on lsus campus she and her team have developed techniques for processing the images to reveal spatial distributions of water temperature particulate matter and phytoplankton that help us determine the impact of the dead zone she gives us a view from the sky that is critical to our work walker has been helping the texas a&m team since 2006 she has been involved with lsus coastal studies institute for years a highly regarded group that in the last 50 years has led studies in coastal geography arctic studies marine geology sediment transport processes and numerous other field studies the productive tamu/lsu collaboration dates back to the early 1990s when we were all involved in a three-year gulf-wide study of circulation from the coast to the loop current in the last decade our joint research has become more focussed on the growing hypoxia problem along the louisiana-texas coast says walker another lsu faculty member kevin xu assists dimarco with sediment samples he goes out with the team on the research ship and takes water samples at numerous sites and from those the team can learn how big the dead zone is and how it is impacting areas of the gulf kevin makes key measurements for us and from these he can compile numerical models on how the hypoxia is forming dimarco adds both nan and kevin serve as co-pis (principal investigators) and we probably could not make the cruises a success without their expertise lsu and texas a&m are research partners every step of the way on these dead zone cruises we have a very good working relationship and its a good example of how two research universities can come together to produce critical information about the health of the gulf ###
media contact: keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 dr piers chapman professor " " texas a&m geosciences at agudec 11 2013texas a&m college of geosciences has over 75 faculty and students presenting at the 46th annual american geophysical union (agu) conference dec 9–13 in san francisco calif research topics highlighted vary from hypoxia in the gulf of mexico to the capturing of mars rover imagesagus fall meeting is the worlds largest gathering of earth and space scientists with more than 22 000 scientists educators students and other leaders expected to attend this years conference in 2012 the meeting boasted more than 24 000 attendees 15 000 poster presentations and 7 000 oral presentations in addition to the robust scientific program the fall meeting offers a variety of workshops town halls and social and networking events this year texas a&m college of geosciences is sending two communication representatives to cover aggie geoscientists representing the college at agu coverage will include video photos blog posts and live social media updates of students faculty and staff presenting groundbreaking research and innovations geosciences' students are especially well-represented in poster sessions and co-authored papers the college of geosciences has the largest percentage of undergraduates participating in research  highlights of the conference will include mars rover curiousity imagery presented by mark lemmon 3d seismic analysis of tamumassif presented by william sager and innovations in geoscience education to underrepresented minorities presented by chris houser and sonia garcia fred chester will be part of a session highlighting three papers describing the results from drilling into the fault that produced the 2011 japan earthquake and tsunami texas a&m will also be in the spotlight as having received the bid from the national science foundation to continue managing science operations for the international ocean discovery program   follow geosciences live tweets (@tamugeosciences using #tamuagu2013) photos and videos from the conference will be posted on the tamuagu blog and our facebook page retweet like and share our aggie geoscientists' journey through agu " " texas a&m nsf announce agreement for research ship operations may total $250 millionnov 22 2013the national science board has authorized the national science foundation to enter into a cooperative agreement with texas a&m university to continue managing the international ocean discovery program (iodp) and operating its scientific research vessel joides resolution  considered a premier research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the new cooperative agreement with the nsf could be as high as $250 million with the international community contributing another $875 million subject to availability of funds and continued scientific priorities texas a&m has served as science operator since 1985 for the research vessel joides resolutionduring normal operations work aboard the ship never ceases as drilling and science activities continue 24 hours a day for up to two months a typical ship's complement consists of up to 60 scientists and technicians and 70 crew members (john beck iodp texas a&m) the five-year agreement begins oct 14 2014 research aboard joides resolution has contributed to our knowledge about earths climate ancient sea levels continental drift volcano formation and the onset of earthquakes said roger wakimoto assistant director for the nsf geosciences directorate during the 28-year period that texas a&m has served as science operator for the program it has received funding in excess of $15 billion with much of it spent in texas iodp headquarters are located in the texas a&m research park of federally funded programs that have successfully been carried out in texas only the johnson space center in houston has received more financial support than iodp according to informal tabulations this is another homerun for texas a&mand for texas economically and otherwise said texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp it puts us even more in the worldwide vanguard of scientific research and im confident that the findings that come from this research can have far-reaching applications texas a&m provost and executive vice president for academic affairs karan watson joined in underscoring the significance of the new agreement and thanked everyone involved in bringing it to fruition this is further evidence of how our faculty scholarship is recognized around the world for its impacts watson said grants and partnerships of this magnitude having now exceeded $15 billion are not funded without an acknowledgement of the quality and effective management of our programs i am proud of dr miller dr clement the principal investigators involved and their team of faculty and students for their work  i also commend our government relations team who assisted in demonstrating our program strengths to federal decision makers in addition to worldwide operations being coordinated at texas a&m the iodp facility includes vast cold storage accommodations for thousands of core samples taken from beneath ocean floors around the world with scientists from throughout the nation and abroad coming to college station to study the extractions nsf expects to support about four joides (which stands for joint oceanographic institutions for deep earth sampling) resolution expeditions per year under the cooperative agreement joides resolution is currently operating under a one-year extension of the previous 10-year award to the consortium for ocean leadership and its integrated ocean drilling program we are pleased that the national science foundation is giving us the opportunity to continue operating the joides resolution for the international ocean discovery program said brad clement science services director of iodp joides resolution is a unique facility that allows dedicated scientists from around the world to access our planets secrets that are buried beneath the seafloor our continued operations will ensure that knowledge of earths processes will continue to grow and serve as an invaluable resource for future generations added kate miller dean of texas a&ms college of geosciences: we are very proud to have been selected once again to lead scientific ocean drilling for the international community it is gratifying that the national science board so clearly recognizes the dedication and extraordinary technical expertise of our iodp staff members and their role in making many of the most important scientific discoveries about the ocean floor over the last 30 years a reality the international ocean discovery program and its predecessors have led scientific ocean drilling worldwide since 1968 currently iodp has 28 international partners with brazil joining as its newest member the nsf has a long history with ocean drilling projects in the 1960s the deep sea drilling project provided a test of the plate tectonic hypothesis and a basic reconnaissance of deep-sea sediments and crustal rocks in 1983 texas a&m became science operator for the ocean drilling program which focused on examination of earth ocean and climate processes the integrated ocean drilling program began in 2003 and has served as an expanded program of scientific ocean drilling the newest program international ocean discovery program began oct 1 and will continue for the next six years joides resolution is currently in dry dock in the philippines undergoing routine maintenance checks it is expected to resume its schedule in january with an expedition to study the tectonics of the south china sea ### about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represents total annual expenditures of more than $776 million that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world media contact: kate miller  dean texas a&m college of geosciences at (979) 845-3651 or karen riedel  college of geosciences news at (979) 845-0910 or brad clement  director of science services at (979) 845-2673 chad broyles marine technician carries the core onto the deck joides resolution retrieves cores of sediment and rock from around the world for scientific study about earth's processes (william crawford iodp tamu) " chad broyles marine technician carries the core onto the deck joides resolution retrieves cores of sediment and rock from around the world for scientific study about earth's processes (william crawford iodp tamu) " texas a&m professor says methane levels on mars could signal life on the planetdec 26 2014texas a&m atmospheric sciences professor mark lemmon says the idea of life on mars is more plausible than ever now that the rover curiosity has found elevated levels of methane gas in the planet's atmosphere""we certainly don't know if it ever had life but what we see is that there are environments where forms of earth life would be happy in those environments "" lemmon said ""but this is just one more arrow in the direction that mars is potentially habitable"" read more on the eagle file - in this 2011 artist's rendering provided by nasa/jpl-caltech the mars science laboratory curiosity rover examines a rock on mars (ap photo/nasa/jpl-caltech file) " file - in this 2011 artist's rendering provided by nasa/jpl-caltech the mars science laboratory curiosity rover examines a rock on mars (ap photo/nasa/jpl-caltech file) " state climatologist: good chance our drought will end in 2015dec 23 2014texas state climatologist john nielsen-gammon says chances are good that our four year long drought which began in devastating fashion back in the summer of 2011 could end in 2015 news radio 1200 woai reportsthe us drought monitor which gauges drought levels across the country now lists the entire san antonio area in its category of 'drought removal likely by march'read more: http://wwwwoaicom/articles/woai-local-news-sponsored-by-five-119078/state-climatologist-good-chance-our-drought-13090701/#ixzz3pno8dtfd " " geosciences advisor receives presidents award for academic advisingdec 11 2014emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in geosciences was selected as one of four campus-wide recipients of the 2014 presidents award for academic advisingdykes was honored by texas a&m interim president mark a hussey as part of the annual university advisors and counselors spring awards breakfast in may getting to be a part of students journeys and supporting them through their successes and struggles is a very rewarding and humbling process dykes said recipients receive $2 000 and a plaque and are selected by a committee composed of three students the president-elect of university advisors and counselors executive board and a representative appointed by texas a&ms office of the dean of undergraduate programs and associate provost for academic services selection is based on nomination packets that include letters from fellow advisors students and faculty dykes has been an advisor in the environmental programs since fall of 2008 she also received the college of geosciences robert c runnels excellence in advising award in 2011 this summer she will be honored as a 2014 texas a&m fish camp namesake camp emily i am honored to receive this award because it hopefully means somewhere along the way i have made a positive impact on a students life dykes says by eliana mijangos 14 emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in the geosciences " emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in the geosciences " geosciences student wins astronaut scholarship for second year in a rowdec 11 2014amélie berger junior environmental geosciences student from paris france is one of 30 students nationwide to be awarded a prestigious scholarship from the astronaut scholarship foundation this is the second year in a row that a student in the college of geosciences has received the awardberger will receive a $10 000 scholarship in recognition of her unique aptitude for research and ingenuity in science and technology according to the award letter ""i am so honored to have received such a prestigious award it really motivates me to continue in my field of study and also gives me a strong sense of responsibility towards the foundation who is showing faith in me and my abilities i hope my research will help societies understand and adapt to a changing planetberger said"" the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) was established in 1984 by the six surviving members of americas original mercury seven astronauts asf makes these scholarships available nationwide to college students who exhibit leadership imagination and exceptional performance in science technology engineering and math (stem) these scholarships are the highest monetary awards given to undergraduate stem students based solely on merit in the united states astronauts from the foundation make personal visits in the fall to each recipients university to present the scholarship check amélie shows the greatest promise of the undergraduates with whom i have worked in terms of becoming a leader in the interdisciplinary field of environmental sciences said dr oliver frauenfeld assistant professor of geography and bergers mentor she has amassed an impressive breadth and depth of knowledge and research experience in her time at texas a&m berger is involved in the honors fellows program and the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&m she also participates in the colleges recruitment programs and serves as a peer mentor this summer she is researching natural resources in fiji and australia through texas a&ms study abroad program berger has also contributed to a submitted peer-reviewed publication to the journal biotropica she plans to continue her studies in climate science and sustainability in graduate school with the goal of teaching at the university level berger said she takes honor in helping america stay at the forefront of science and technology ""i would like to thank the professors i have had at a&m as well as dr sumana datta for her support during the application process i would especially like to thank dr debbie thomas for getting me started in research as a freshman and dr oliver frauenfeld for his tremendous support and guidance over the past year and a half i would not have come this far without the dedication of such amazing mentors"" berger says amelie berger junior environmental geosciences student at the college of geosciences " amelie berger junior environmental geosciences student at the college of geosciences " junior geosciences student earns texas a&m and national honorsdec 11 2014amélie berger junior environmental geosciences major from paris france has been honored with national university and college-level awards and nominations berger is one of two nominated for an astronaut foundation scholarship representing texas a&m and she received honorable mention as a barry m goldwater scholar she has also been named phi kappa phi outstanding junior for both the college of geosciences and at the university-level for texas a&m and received the gathright academic excellence award twice recognizing her as the top geosciences student for both her sophomore and junior years the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) was established in 1984 by the six surviving members of americas original mercury seven astronauts asf makes 28 scholarships available nationwide to college students who exhibit leadership imagination and exceptional performance in science technology engineering and math (stem) these $10 000 scholarships are the highest monetary awards given to undergraduate stem students based solely on merit in the united states students like amelie remind us that we educators learn as much from our students as they do from us amelies initiative has made her an integral part of our college and she has been able to fashion a unique undergraduate research program that spans several areas in the geosciences said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences the goldwater scholarship recognizes college students nationwide in stem fields selecting approximately 300 junior and senior students each year based on reference letters personal essays and research experience universities can nominate up to four students for the goldwater scholarship each academic year it is definitely great to feel recognition for my hard work berger said they motivate me it is such an honor to get these nominations and awards berger said a seminar course her freshman year with debbie thomas department head in oceanography first inspired her to pursue undergraduate research she worked with thomas in researching deep-ocean circulation in paleoclimates and presented her research at the 2012 american geophysical union meeting in san francisco bergers minors are in oceanography and meteorology and she has also done extensive climate research in the department of geography this research under the supervision of oliver frauenfeld assistant professor of geography led to her participation in an nsf-funded research experience for undergraduates (reu) in costa rica amélie has already excelled at research in paleoceanography arctic climate change and cloud forest ecohydrology and she is only a junior frauenfeld said it's a pleasure to get to work with fantastic students like her who take full advantage of the range of opportunities offered in the college of geosciences"" berger said this reu experience inspired her undergraduate thesis characterization of throughfall variability in a tropical premontaine cloud forest in costa rica which she presented at the american association of geographers (aag) 2014 meeting in tampa florida i want to extend a special thank you to drs frauenfeld for helping me with my undergraduate thesis and for being an amazing mentor she said in fact every step of the way i have had faculty members who helped me develop my interests berger is involved in the honors fellows program and the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&m she also participates in the colleges recruitment programs and serves as a peer mentor this summer she will research natural resources in fiji and australia through texas a&ms study abroad program berger has also contributed to a peer-reviewed publication and submitted a paper for publication into the journal biotropica she plans to continue her studies in climate science and sustainability at the graduate level with the goal of teaching at the university level ive established an aggie family who have taken care of me since i cannot be close to my parents berger said they have made it possible for me to grab every opportunity; and texas a&m and the college of geosciences offers so many   by eliana mijangos amélie berger's interests span the geosciences " " former white house advisor assesses challenges for us science and technologydec 11 2014neal lane former director of the white house office of science and technology policy will present giving science advice to the president and why its getting harder at 4 pm thursday  the lecture is sponsored by the texas center for climate studies and the college of geosciences and is free and open to the public lanes lecture will focus on the role of science adviser to the president and how that role is affected by societal forces he will also discuss current challenges to the united states science and technology enterprise lane is currently the malcolm gillis university professor of physics and astronomy and senior fellow in the baker institute for public policy at rice university  he was appointed assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the white house office of science and technology policy where he served under president bill clinton from 1998 to 2001  he previously served as director of the national science foundation from 1993 to 1998 lane became an assistant professor of physics at rice university in 1966 he left rice in 1984 to become chancellor of the university of colorado at colorado springs but returned to texas in 1986 to serve as provost of rice until 1992 dr neal lane former presidential advisor " " the student geosciences council tackles its first student-run career fairdec 11 2014the student geosciences council (sgc) hosted their first geosciences career fair on feb 10 in the bethancourt ballroom of the memorial student center more than 275 students from different departments around the university and as far as texas a&m – corpus christi attended the fair to learn about career opportunities from organizations ranging from schlumberger halliburton and chevron to the national weather service and the peace corps a total of 14 companies and 37 recruiters participated representing every major in the college  it was an exciting opportunity to be able to speak with industry leaders in geosciences said junior environmental studies student kelci miller it was a chance for me to discuss my research and learn how i can apply that to a job setting sgc is led by president wilmer menjivar and comprises 36 members and officers representing every major and both graduate and undergraduate students in the college elora arana david lewis akhil amara ejaz hafeji and the entire sgc advancement division were in charge of the planning and execution of the fair  sgc plans to continue this fair in future years and we hope to grow both student and industry participation menjivar said  the student geosciences council is generously sponsored by bp halliburton and schlumberger scg officers from left: akhil amara kaitlyn simpson ejaz hafeji elora arana david lewis and wilmer menjivar " scg officers from left: akhil amara kaitlyn simpson ejaz hafeji elora arana david lewis and wilmer menjivar " seven new faculty members join geosciencesdec 11 2014the college of geosciences welcomes seven new faculty members to aggieland four are in the department of geology and geophysics two are in oceanography and one is in atmospheric sciencesatmospheric sciences christopher nowotarski is an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences his research uses data from idealized simulations forecast models and observations to develop tools to help forecasters better predict severe weather threats in current and future climates and provide effective warning to the public this goal includes assessments and improvements of warning communication strategies nowotarski says he is excited to join the faculty at texas a&m especially in mentoring and cultivating the immense enthusiasm for weather shared by the atmospheric sciences students his three degrees are in meteorology from pennsylvania state university geology and geophysics ryan ewing is an assistant professor with a specialty in sedimentology he received his bachelors from colorado college and his ms and phd from the university of texas ryan received a national science foundation earth sciences postdoctoral fellowship to study at princeton university and california institute of technology  his research interests include wind-blown landforms and sedimentary deposits on earth mars and titan and he uses largely field methods and remote sensing to study these systems he also likes running and making beer peter knappett is an assistant professor with research interests in field and experimental hydrology his specific interest is in microbial and particle transport in groundwater usually in the context of surface water-groundwater interactions he has a bsc in earth sciences an msc in civil engineering from the university of waterloo and a phd in hydrogeology from the university of tennessee knoxville hes been to bangladesh seven times where he has enjoyed seeing the ruins from the british raj period swimming in the meghna river and hiking in the himalayas john pantano is a research professor whose research involves advancing concepts and technologies to better understand the geological history of sedimentary basins and the origin and distribution of unconventional and conventional petroleum resources  he is interested in pursuing collaborative multidisciplinary research projects with geoscientists and petroleum engineers from industry and academia that will significantly improve our understanding of petroleum systems and self-sourced petroleum reservoirs he earned a bs in zoology from the university of michigan and his ms and phd in geology from the university of south carolina bobby reece is an assistant professor researching plate boundaries processes associated with climate-tectonic interaction continental margin deformation and high-resolution studies of marine hazards his primary research tool is reflection seismology but he utilizes multiple geophysical methods to piece together the big picture  he has a ba in geology from skidmore college and a phd in geosciences from the university of texas at austin before diving into geosciences bobby served eight years in the us navy submarine force which included a stint on the los angeles class submarine uss louisville in pearl harbor originally from georgia bobby says he feels at home in college station and looks forward to his wife julia reece joining the department later this summer   oceanography katie shamberger assistant professor of oceanography focuses on the ocean carbon cycle its alteration by anthropogenic ocean acidification and the impacts of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms and ecosystems she is particularly interested in coastal ocean-carbon cycling especially within coral reef systems  she has worked on coral reefs in the caribbean hawaii american samoa palau and the great barrier reef in australia chrissy wiederwohl instructional assistant professor of oceanography studies currents and water mass structures of the southern ocean the southern oceans role in climate change decadal variability of water masses and the antarctic slope front variability and role in water mass formation her latest research investigates the southern oceans role in the accelerated melting of antarctic glaciers  she is a sea-going physical oceanographer with over 125 days logged at sea during four expeditions to the southern ocean she has a bs in marine science from coastal carolina university and an ms and phd in oceanography from texas a&m jan 31 2014   karen riedel communications manager college of geosciences kriedel@tamuedu (979) 845-0971 " " carlos dengo is named director of berg hughes centerdec 11 2014dr carlos dengo a former student and exxonmobil executive has been named director of texas a&ms berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems he also holds the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geophysics and is executive professor of geology and geophysicsthe berg-hughes center housed in the department of geology and geophysics and part of a joint program with the department of petroleum engineering provides a cross-disciplinary approach integrating geology geophysics and petroleum engineering dengo a native of costa rica received his masters in 1978 and doctorate in 1982 in geology from texas a&m after graduation he joined exxon production research company focusing on structural geology research and technology applications with exxon affiliates worldwide increasing responsibility within exxon and later with exxonmobil gave him experience in a variety of managerial functions he was the companys geoscience resource operations manager worldwide before being appointed technical vice president for exxonmobil exploration company in 2006 and geoscience vice president for exxonmobil upstream research company in 2008 he retired in 2012 with 30 years of service dengo said he accepted the offer to be the second director of the berg-hughes center because of the challenge this nation faces in developing the future workforce needed for the  energy industry  hes had a long-time interest in and has supported the college of geosciences and texas a&m including being a founding member of the berg-hughes center vision: preeminence in petroleum studies my vision is for the berg-hughes center to be recognized as the preeminent academic and applied center for integrated petroleum studies he said we want to provide an environment that attracts internationally recognized faculty and outstanding students who are highly sought after for positions in government academia and industry he points out that the collaboration with the college of engineerings department of petroleum engineering and both colleges close ties with the energy industry make the berg-hughes center a unique opportunity for faculty and students interested in petroleum-related research and education  we are delighted to welcome someone of carlos caliber and experience as the director of the berg-hughes center said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences carlos brings the vision energy and industry insight we need to continue the momentum for this program dengo received his undergraduate degree from syracuse university which honored him in 2009 with the winchell distinguished alumni award from the department of earth sciences  he has received best paper awards from the us national rock mechanics committee and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg)  he has also served as an aapg international distinguished lecturer service to the college until his appointment as berg-hughes center director dengo served on the college of geosciences advisory board for six years and had previously served on the advisory council of the department of geology and geophysics  he is an active member of the development board of the american geophysical union (agu) and the geoscience research foundation external advisory board at sandia national laboratories  he has also served on the advisory board of the school of earth sciences at stanford university and the advisory council of aapg dengo is professionally affiliated with the geological society of america (gsa) the european association of geoscientists and engineers (eage) aapg and agu he will give the michel t halbouty lecture at the american association of petroleum geologists annual meeting april 7 the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geophysics was establishedin 1998  through the generous gift of dudley hughes '51 a founding member of the berg-hughes center karen riedelcommunications managercollege of geosciences kriedel@tamuedu   (979) 845-0910 dr carlos a dengo " " asian air pollution affecting worlds weatherdec 11 2014extreme air pollution in asia is affecting the worlds weather and climate patterns according to a study by texas a&m university and nasas jet propulsion laboratory researchersyuan wang a former doctoral student at texas a&m along with texas a&m atmospheric sciences professors renyi zhang and r saravanan have had their findings published in the current issue of nature communications using climate models and data collected about aerosols and meteorology over the past 30 years the researchers found that air pollution over asia – much of it coming from china – is impacting global air circulations the models clearly show that pollution originating from asia has an impact on the upper atmosphere and it appears to make such storms or cyclones even stronger zhang explains this pollution affects cloud formations precipitation storm intensity and other factors and eventually impacts climate  most likely pollution from asia can have important consequences on the weather pattern here over north america chinas booming economy during the last 30 years has led to the building of enormous manufacturing factories industrial plants power plants and other facilities that produce huge amounts of air pollutants  once emitted into the atmosphere pollutant particles affect cloud formations and weather systems worldwide the study shows increases in coal burning and car emissions are major sources of pollution in china and other asian countries air pollution levels in some chinese cities such as beijing are often more than 100 times higher than acceptable limits set by the world health organization standards zhang says one study has shown that lung cancer rates have increased 400 percent in some areas due to the ever-growing pollution problem conditions tend to worsen during winter months when a combination of stagnant weather patterns mixed with increased coal burning in many asian cities can create pollution and smog that can last for weeks  the chinese government has pledged to toughen pollution standards and to commit sufficient financial resources to attack the problem the models we have used and our data are very consistent with the results we have reached saravanan says huge amounts of aerosols from asia go as high as six miles up in the atmosphere and these have an unmistakable impact on cloud formations and weather zhang adds that we need to do some future research on exactly how these aerosols are transported globally and impact climate there are many other atmospheric observations and models we need to look at to see how this entire process works yuan wang who conducted the research with zhang while at texas a&m currently works at nasas jet propulsion laboratory as a caltech postdoctoral scholar the study was funded by grants from nasa texas a&ms supercomputing facilities and the ministry of science and technology of china two chinese cylists ride near factory in northern china ( photo: epoch times) " two chinese cylists ride near factory in northern china ( photo: epoch times) " texas a&m prof hoping to unlock secrets of alcatrazdec 11 2014a texas a&m university researcher is part of a team trying to uncover long-lost secrets in one of the countrys most infamous sites – alcatraz islandmark everett professor of geology and geophysics has joined with colleagues from californias chico state university and the national parks service to see what is beneath layers of soil and concrete on alcatraz located in san francisco bay at various times the island has been home to the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast a military fortification a military prison and a federal prison everett and the team are exploring the civil war connections to alcatraz (which is derived from the spanish word for pelican) and how the island may contain hidden tunnels and chambers about 12 to 15 feet below the recreation yard and parade ground of the prison we know from records and drawings that alcatraz at one time called fortress alcatraz has been heavily fortified everett explains at one time it had 105 cannons that were to be used to protect the bay area we know that the soldiers constructed what was called a ‘caponier a large concrete and brick structure that extended outward so that if invaded you could fire from different angles we also know that the us army built underground tunnels and embankments and we believe we have found the remains of several of these using ground-penetrating radar everett says the team has located them beneath the recreation yard and parade ground built during the penitentiary era on alcatraz 22 acres because of its location away from the mainland and the cold waters surrounding it alcatraz was used to house civil war prisoners as early as 1861 and by 1868 it was designated as a long-term detention facility to hold military prisoners it became a federal bureau of prisons facility in 1933 and was used to house some of the nations most famous criminals among the many convicts who called the island home were george machine gun kelly mickey cohen robert stroud known as the birdman of alcatraz and al capone at least 14 escape attempts were made by dozens of prisoners but it is believed none were successful during the prisons 29-year existence due to its deterioration and large upkeep (it cost more than three times to maintain compared to other federal prisons) then-attorney general robert kennedy closed alcatraz on march 21 1963 one of the big problems that always plagued alcatraz was water  it had none and water had to be brought in to fill a water tower on the grounds everett says water was always an issue with the facility we do believe there are considerable structures 12 feet or so under the surface that are the original fortifications and that these were covered over through the years for prison use its possible there could be some of the original weapons and arms down there too we hope to return next fall to learn what exactly is down there and it would be nice if the national park service is able to could recover some of it for the benefit of the general public alcatraz has had a very colorful past and there could be some great history down there " " texas sea grant's jacob receives 2014 regional excellence in extension awardnov 30 2014texas sea grant's dr john jacob was honored with the excellence in extension award for the southern region at the annual meeting of the association of public and land-grant universities (aplu) earlier this monthjacob is a professor and coastal community development and environmental quality specialist with a joint appointment with texas sea grant and the texas a&m agrilife extension service through the department of recreation parks and tourism science at the national aplu meeting in orlando fla nov 2-4 jacob was honored by cooperative extension and the us department of agricultures national institute of food and agriculture for developing the texas coastal watershed program known for expanding beyond landscaping into coastal and urban resiliency such as the city of houstons development of urban corridor planning standards its great to see dr john jacob get recognized for the work that he does said josh gunn texas sea grant extension program leader the texas coastal watershed program has all of the indicators of a great extension program: john and his staff have successfully leveraged resources from multiple partners developed strong relationships with neighboring communities in the houston-galveston area and continue to host workshops trainings and community activities that address the needs of texas coastal residents the texas coastal watershed program (tcwp) provides education and outreach to local governments and citizens about the impact of land use on watershed health and water quality it currently has seven staff members in addition to jacob who serves as its director and operates programs in sustainable urban planning watershed management habitat restoration sustainable landscapes and water quality issues past projects include the development of the eco-logic habitat map of the eight-county houston region jacob was a lead participant in one of the first published research projects following the supreme court rapanos decision addressing the issue of the hydrologic and therefore regulatory significance of a large class of wetlands on the upper gulf coast of texas most recently he and his staff developed the charm model a gis-based user-friendly model that enables users to develop growth scenarios and to see in real time the effects of their choices in terms of ecosystem services for example part of this project involved perfecting the wetable an innovative high-tech low-cost participatory gis platform jacob is a recognized expert on texas wetlands having been active in consulting and research aspects of wetlands for more than 20 years he is co-author of the texas coastal wetlands guidebook and the texas sea grant resilient coast series on the built environment and wetlands he also recent co-authored a publication focusing on freshwater wetland loss in the houston area between 1992 and 2010 read the original article on texasseagrantorg: http://texasseagrantorg/news/article/texas-sea-grants-jacob-receives-2014-regional-excellence-in-extension-award/ dr john jacob " " texas a&m meteorology researchers part of beijing pollution studynov 25 2014while traffic and industry emissions in china are the leading suspect of environmental and health problems meteorology has played a key role in beijing's air pollution according to a team of researchers that includes a distinguished professor at texas a&m universityread more on the eagle " " endangered kemp's ridley sea turtle focus of brownsville conference nov 18-19nov 14 2014an international symposium to showcase the latest research and the status of the world's rarest sea turtle the endangered kemp's ridley will be held november 18-19 2014 at the brownsville events center in brownsville texashosted by the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university and the gladys porter zoo in brownsville the second international kemps ridley sea turtle symposium will feature perspectives from both sides of the international border with mexico the kemps ridleys primary habitat is the gulf of mexico and its main nesting ground is a small stretch of beach on the mexican coast near the town of rancho nuevo texas sea grant and the gladys porter zoo are privileged to have this opportunity to bring together the worlds kemps ridley sea turtle experts to discuss the recent advances in the science conservation and management of this critically endangered species its status and immediate needs to get it back on track towards recovery said dr pamela plotkin director of texas sea grant the first international kemp's ridley sea turtle symposium was held in 1985 at a time when the long-term survival outlook for the species was grim the meeting and its published proceedings were the first thorough assemblage and review of research conducted on kemp's ridleys during the prior two decades the future of the kemp's ridley is brighter today but challenges remain including natural and anthropogenic stressors impacting the gulf of mexico researchers who study the species are concerned that the kemps ridley is no longer on the path to recovery and may be on the decline once again the symposium includes two full days of presentations and an evening social and silent auction at the gladys porter zoo registration is $150 for individuals supported by a company university government or other entity; students and individuals representing nonprofit organizations may register for $100 registration can be completed online before the event at http://wwwkempsridleyinfo or in person on the first day of the symposium beginning at 7:30 am the program and additional information are available on the same website texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources read the original article on texasseagrantorg : http://texasseagrantorg/news/article/endangered-kemps-ridley-sea-turtle-focus-of-brownsville-conference-nov-18/ " " study examines iceberg shifts in north atlanticnov 5 2014some heinrich events – periodic massive iceberg surges into the north atlantic that were previously thought to have weakened the global ocean conveyor belt circulation and sent earths climate into the deep freeze – may actually have been caused by changes in atmospheric circulation patterns say a team of researchers that includes two texas a&m university professorsmatthew schmidt associate professor of oceanography and ping chang professor of oceanography and atmospheric science and director of the texas center for climate studies along with colleagues from georgia tech princeton the woods hole oceanographic institution the university of cambridge and germanys university of bremen have had their findings published in the latest issue of nature geoscience to make this discovery the researchers studied the chemistry of shells produced by benthic foraminifera single-celled organisms that live near the sea floor  these benthic foraminifera were collected from sediment cores recovered from the margins of the florida straits by studying the oxygen isotope composition of the shells the researchers were able to reconstruct past changes in florida current transport which is directly related to the strength of the global conveyor belt circulation researchers have known for years about heinrich events periods of extreme cold in the north atlantic these events were named for the geologist who first discovered them hartmut heinrich they occurred during the last ice age when immense icebergs broke loose from glaciers and as they melted deposited ice rafted debris on the sea floor six of these heinrich events have been identified and they are known as h1 through h6 while there is evidence that the last heinrich event that occurred around 17 000 years ago was indeed caused by a dramatic reduction in the oceans conveyor belt circulation our new reconstruction of ocean circulation patterns during some earlier heinrich events that occurred during the last ice age between 20 000 and 30 000 years ago did not reveal significant changes in ocean circulation schmidt explains nevertheless these heinrich events were experienced worldwide so they must have been transmitted via the atmosphere schmidt says that the study has important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms of abrupt climate change in the past the more we know about how climate changed in the past the better prepared we will be for predicting future climate variability new study examines iceberg movement photo: shutterstock " " texas a&m program merges art and science to address climate issuesoct 27 2014two texas a&m university programs have partnered to help explain climate change issues facing the statehe sea grant program at texas a&m has teamed up with the university's institute for applied creativity to create a semester-long internship position that will use videos to address topics surrounding weather water and climate changeintern joshua aoki a master's student in the department of visualization in the texas a&m college of architecture will combine visual art and science in the series of educational videos which will be posted online and possibly aired on public television ""visualization is a powerful tool "" said mona behl with the texas a&m sea grant college program ""what we want to do is use visualization as an aid to explain some difficult technical concepts related to climate science and educate texans about the impacts of climate change our goal is to present scientific information in a way that is most credible and objective yet accessible to all texans"" this june 4 2014 aerial photograph provided by the lower colorado river authority (lcra) shows lake travis texastexas continues to grind its way out of drought helped by recent steady rains statewide and in the next few months by an el nino weather pattern that promises to bring plentiful rain through winter a national weather service forecaster says (ap photo/lower colorado river authority) " this june 4 2014 aerial photograph provided by the lower colorado river authority (lcra) shows lake travis texastexas continues to grind its way out of drought helped by recent steady rains statewide and in the next few months by an el nino weather pattern that promises to bring plentiful rain through winter a national weather service forecaster says (ap photo/lower colorado river authority) " an elephant's ‘radar can detect rain 150 miles awayoct 27 2014they say elephants never forget – and evidently they can vividly remember the sound of rain so much so that they can tell when a storm is approaching even if its 150 miles away and their ability to do so might one day save them from being killed by the thousands by poachers according to research that includes a texas a&m university professorread more on tamu times " " texas a&m program merges art and science to address climate issuesoct 27 2014two texas a&m university programs have partnered to help explain climate change issues facing the statethe sea grant program at texas a&m has teamed up with the university's institute for applied creativity to create a semester-long internship position that will use videos to address topics surrounding weather water and climate change intern joshua aoki a master's student in the department of visualization in the texas a&m college of architecture will combine visual art and science in the series of educational videos which will be posted online and possibly aired on public television ""visualization is a powerful tool "" said mona behl with the texas a&m sea grant college program ""what we want to do is use visualization as an aid to explain some difficult technical concepts related to climate science and educate texans about the impacts of climate change our goal is to present scientific information in a way that is most credible and objective yet accessible to all texans"" read more on the eagle " " new endowment establishes a scholarship in oceanographysep 26 2014a gift from a former tamu doctoral student in biochemistry has established the donald and melba ross graduate scholarship in the department of oceanographycarol litchfield was professor emerita and research professor in the department of environmental science and policy at george mason university when she died april 3 2012 total funds were $517 96927 evenly split between oceanography and the department of plant pathology and microbiology the scholarship honors dr litchfields parents dr litchfield graduated from the university of cincinnati in 1960 with a ms in biochemistry and from texas a&m university in 1969 with a phd in organic biochemistry she served on the faculty of rutgers university and worked for dupont in several positions before joining george mason faculty in 1993 a scientist with interests in a wide range of subjects dr litchfields was a member of numerous professional organizations and served on professional and government panels and committees including the new jersey governors panel on coastal waters and the environmental biotechnology working group of the us dept of energy she was president of the society for industrial microbiology and was presented in 2012 with its charles porter award for her achievements in applied microbiology and her exceptional service and dedication to the organization an issue of the society of industrial archeology noted that dr litchfield was among other things a historian of the salt industry as a member of the international commission for the history of salt she traveled the world visiting historic salt mines and processing centers ""we are honored that dr litchfield chose the department of oceanography as a benefactor of this incredibly generous gift "" said dr debbie thomas department head ""her gift will help a new generation of scientists embrace the joy of discovery as enthusiastically as she obviously did in her life"" dr litchfield's bequest is just one of several ways texas a&m supporters can use planned gifts to fund specific areas at the university they are passionate about gifts of real estate stocks and bonds retirement assets insurance disbursements and even mineral rights are other methods commonly used there are also a number of trust options that can provide potential income and tax benefits for donors and their family members while helping texas a&m at the same time to learn more visit the texas a&m foundation office of gift planning web page or call (800) 392-3310 karen riedelcommunications manager979-845-0910 dr carol litchfield " " hurricane odile helps bring rain chances back to brazos valleysep 26 2014after a wet friday evening that brought lots of heavy rain to the brazos valley (396 inches measured at easterwood airport) we are beginning to see our rain chances tapering off as we start the work weekread more " " deepwater fracking could become next offshore drilling frontiersep 26 2014energy companies are taking their controversial fracking operations from the land to the seato deep waters off the us south american and african coastsread more " " panel: legacies of texas a&m oil industry tied togethersep 26 2014it might power the cars and cool the campus but oil and a&m have a deeper relationship according to a&m professors at a panel thursday night at the george bush libraryread more " " el nino forecast to help texas out of droughtsep 24 2014the long-awaited weather pattern that brings rain to texas is forecast to arrive next month national weather service meteorologist victor murphy in fort worth said el nino raises the chances in many parts of the state for abundant rain through february which would raise lake levels statewide and improve soil moisture he saidread more " " the people of weather-ready nation: heather wade coastal planning specialistsep 8 2014as texas sea grants coastal planning specialist heather wade helps communities on the texas coast plan for the future with a toolkit that includes the coastal resilience index wetable and community health and resources management (charm) model she leads community leaders through workshops that help them determine their readiness and plan for future needs with respect to coastal hazards green infrastructure water quality impairment and other issues related to sustainable developmentread more " " sec bbq smack downaug 25 2014for texas am it's a no-win with barbecue betif geography is destiny then barbecue in the south is surely the signpost two geography departments are putting their states barbecue bragging rights to the test in a meat-based bet on the outcome of the sec season opener between the university of south carolina and texas a&m in short or short ribs the loser has to send a shipment of his states best to the winner but for texans this so-called bounty could be bust rather than boon after all south carolinas barbecue sauce at least around columbia is mustard based says david cairns head of the department of geography at texas a&m really mustard the bet came about through a longstanding friendship between cairns and his counterpart john kupfer who is department head of geography at south carolina kupfer and cairns met in graduate school studied under the same professor and finished their dissertations a few months apart the close-knit geography community has resulted in longstanding intellectual and collegial ties between the two departments furthermore south carolinas geography department is similar to the one at texas a&m cairns says both in size and research focus like our department south carolinas areas of research focus on human physical and environmental geography and geographic information systems cairns says the two programs also offer bachelors through doctoral degrees texas a&m is still the new kid on the sec block but membership into the fiercest fan-based conference in the nation goes beyond game-day rivalry and legendary tailgates being a member of the sec also gives students and faculty opportunities for cooperation and collaboration cairns points out for instance he says students from one conference school can study for a semester or year at another sec institution and pay the host institutions tuition this includes sharing or collaborating in study abroad programs south carolina geographers are mighty proud of one achievement however they have created a barbecue-based state map indicating where the different kinds of barbecue can be found thats all well and good cairns says but i doubt the university of south carolina has a barbecue camp texas a&m does not to mention texans devour texas monthlys highly anticipated annual listing of the best barbecue in the state and although almost every state has wine trails these days only texas can lay claim to a barbecue trail so in the end who really wins if south carolina prevails cairns will send 10 pounds of beef brisket barbecue and sauce obviously the best on the planet when texas a&m wins kupfer sends 10 pounds of carolina pork barbecue with a variety of mustard vinegar and pepper and ketchup-based sauces again mustard really note: texas a&ms barbecue camp is through the department of animal science for the golden triangleor rather rectangle of texas barbecuesee the trail map karen riedelcommunications managercollege of geosciences979-845-0910 david cairns sits down to a plate of texas barbecue cairns head of the department of geography will get a helping of ersatz barbecue when texas a&m beats the university of south carolina this weekend " david cairns sits down to a plate of texas barbecue cairns head of the department of geography will get a helping of ersatz barbecue when texas a&m beats the university of south carolina this weekend " from finding nemo to dating geology styleaug 15 2014geosciences seminars help students explore the world through multiple perspectivesstudents in the college of geosciences can choose from a smorgasbord of one-hour seminars that explore earth through art music and popular science the signature geosciences first-year seminar program is mandatory for entering freshmen and strongly encouraged for transfer students these one-hour courses give new students the opportunity to participate in small classes in a relaxed setting they help students transition from high school or community college to a university and also give students a different perspective of the geosciences connecting the discipline to its place in the arts political discussion and contemporary culture said sarah bednarz geography professor and former associate dean for academic affairs first-year seminars are high-impact educational programs that were introduced at the university level through a series of initiatives over the last few years ""geosciences faculty embraced this program and the practice has been adopted as our key transition and first high-impact experience for incoming students "" bednarz said professors and their courses are: debbie thomas (oceanography): geoscience through rock (music) uncovers geoscience principles through rock lyrics trent ford (geography): triple digits and two-a-days explores the impact of climate and weather on athletic performance robert korty (atmospheric sciences): hurricanes teaches the science of hurricanes and their impact around the world piers chapman (oceanography): moby duck explores oceans polar discoveries and worldwide circulation through the true story of 28 8000 bath toys lost in the pacific dan thorton (oceanography): limits to life examines the distribution and forms of life on earth to better understand the geosciences through a geobiological perspective steven quiring (geography): death and destruction how drought changed history analyzes the science policy and socioeconomic aspects of drought sarah bednarz robert bednarz (geography): the world in six drinks shows how to view world history and geography through the perspective of six beverages vatche tchakarian (geography): geosciences and the arts reviews how the geosciences are represented in the visual arts and music denise kulhanek (international ocean discovery program): dating geology style unearths the real age of earth and its materials rick giardino (geology and geophysics): forensic geology applies geologic principles in csi-type investigations rick giardino (geology and geophysics): geology of texas understand what you see across the miles and miles of texas mike tice (geology and geophysics): life in the galaxy explore the realities of life existing beyond our planet from the oldest rocks on earth to data from mars and extra-solar planets david brooks (geology and geophysics) finding nemo follow nemo through a dazzling dash of reef ecosystems sharks and the mysterious deep to learn fundamental concepts of oceanography giardino and chris houser associate dean for academic affairs are also offering seminar for transfer students to help make the transition to texas a&m by learning how to be a successful student karen riedelcommunications manager845-0910 finding nemo among the reefs " " uncovering unconventional resourcesjul 30 2014berg-hughes center receives funding to develop research and analysis for unconventional drillingthe office of the provost has granted $200 000 a year from the heep endowment for a two-year grant to the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems the funds will be used to initiate a complex integrated project to address fundamental geoscience engineering and other research in unconventional oil and gas resources funds will initially be used for faculty and student support in the colleges of geosciences and engineering to process and analyze modern geophysical drill-well core and log data being collected in brazos country and surrounding areas including the texas a&m campus according to berg-hughes director carlos dengo 78 and 82 dengo is also executive professor of geology and geophysics and the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geophysics discussions are already under way with seitel and apache corporation dengo says seitel is the company collecting seismic data in brazos county and on the texas a&m campus and apache is one of the largest developers of the eagle ford shale formation with wells already drilled near college station in addition to the geology and geophysics oceanography and the crisman institute in petroleum engineering dengo foresees future collaboration with other texas a&m entities including the international ocean discovery program the energy institute mays business school and the bush school   feedback from industry points to the need for more fully integrated and creative solutions to focus on fundamental questions facing the life cycle of exploration development and production of unconventional resources says dengo who was previously an executive for exxonmobil and most recently its vice president for upstream research the eagle ford shale play and other unconventional resources are in our backyard in brazos county dengo says which basically serves a laboratory for applied and basic research students can gain real-world experience in understanding the problems and find the solutions for the oil and gas industry dengo points out that unconventional oil and gas shale resources are transforming the global energy outlook with the largest impact being in the united states and specifically in texas the eagle ford play is the single most significant economic development to date in texas having already generated a $60-billion impact on the local south texas economy with more than 116 000 jobs created and an investment that ranks it as the largest oil and gas development in the world these funds will ensure that texas a&m can be part of this significant moment in the states economic and energy history said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences the resources on this campus and with cooperation from our partners in industry will ensure that we are educating the kind of professional workforce that the industry requires note: the heep foundation founded by minnie belle and herman f heep 20 has provided more than $20 million to benefit texas a&m karen riedel communications manager kriedel@tamuedu carlos dengo contact information cdengo@tamuedu geology and geophysics students visited a drill site operated by apache corp the site just a few miles from bryan-college station represents one of many opportunities that funds from the heep foundation will address in educating students in unconventional oil and gas recovery " geology and geophysics students visited a drill site operated by apache corp the site just a few miles from bryan-college station represents one of many opportunities that funds from the heep foundation will address in educating students in unconventional oil and gas recovery " center for teaching excellence names montague scholarjul 29 2014michael c ewers assistant professor of geography has been selected as the montague-center for teaching excellence scholar from the college of geosciencesthe montague-cte program now in its 24th year honors early-career excellence in undergraduate teaching at texas a&m university ewers has exemplified quality of undergraduate teaching in his human geography energy and high impact courses ewers students and colleagues noted his significant contributions to the geography departments undergraduate curricula by developing new courses that strengthen the quality of the program they laud him for fostering new learning environments that enhance the academic experiences of the students these experiences have galvanized many of his students to pursue further research many have gone on to become undergraduate research assistants and those who have already graduated decided to pursue research in graduate school both in and out of the classroom ewers has had an immediate impact in making undergraduate students curious and excited about geography ewers graduated with his ma and phd in geography from ohio state university michael c ewers " " dr andrew dessler receives 2014 afs teaching awardjul 28 2014dr andrew dessler a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences has received the texas a&m association of former students teaching award for the college of geosciencesdessler has been teaching at texas a&m for nine years and is presently a full professor during his time at the university he has taught courses on atmospheric science and physics climate modeling and the science and politics of climate change students described dessler as a thought provoking and motivational professor who serves as a mentor and role model the award is the latest of many for dessler this year he also received the ams louis j battan authors award for introduction to modern climate change in 2012 he was recognized with the agu atmospheric sciences ascent award he was also selected as a fellow in the inaugural google science communications program desslers latest research focuses on climate change water vapor and clouds his work has been critical in climate change both in informing the scientific community and introducing students to this important field in addition to teaching he contributes the public discussion on climate change by writing numerous opinion pieces and blogs interviewing in the mainstream media and testifying before us select committees dr andrew dessler " " dr brendan roark receives 2014 afs teaching awardjul 28 2014dr brendan roark an assistant professor in the department of geography has received the texas a&m association of former students teaching award for the college of geosciencesroark has taught at texas a&m for six years providing students with rigorous thought-providing courses in earth systems and climate evaluations noted that roarks ability to help them develop problem-solving skills stems from his high expectations for his students and himself this award is the latest of many for roark in recent years he received the college of geosciences deans distinguished achievement award for service the partners in conservation award from the department of the interior for his mid-atlantic canyons project and a montague scholar designation his latest research focuses on proxy development in deep-sea coral and establishing their resilience and recovery rates roarks work has been critical both in informing the scientific community and introducing students to this important interdisciplinary field in addition to his teaching responsibilities roark is also director of the stable isotope geosciences facilities which provides high-quality isotope measurements and training to faculty and students not only in the college of geosciences but also to the texas a&m scientific community dr brendan roark " " geox 2014: a week of discovery for future aggiesjul 24 2014twenty-five students from around the state and as far away as ohio were on campus from june 8-14 for an introduction to the geosciences this marks the fourth year for geox a weeklong program for high-achieving high school juniors and seniors funded by bp marathon oil and eddie v gray 57 ""despite our state's economy being rooted in the geosciences high school students in texas have relatively little exposure to the field said chris houser faculty lead since the programs inception geox introduces high-achieving junior and senior students to the geosciences and more important to the college of geosciences at texas a&m he said recruitment of these students would not be possible without the continued support of the participating faculty and the academic advisors our goal now is to begin scaling the program to introduce even more high school students to the geosciences"" the weeks activities ranged from a balloon launch to the robotic exploration of mars students studied seismic waves demonstrated by slinkies observed the seismic testing being conducted in brazos valley and found their way across campus using gps they visited the core repository and labs at the international ocean discovery program and spent a day at bp headquarters in houston to learn about the oil and gas industry the students also heard from texas a&m representatives about study abroad admissions and scholarships and financial aid counselors for geox were: janet torres (wmhs) rebecca gray (ocng) and pablo banda shelby thomas madison toles and paulina de los santos all envp many were geoxers themselves in summers past faculty participants were: atmo: dr don conlee (balloon launch and weather analysis); dr courtney schumacher (adrad and smart-r); and dr mark lemmon (mars robotic exploration) gepl: dr kate miller (seismic interpretation); dr rick giardino (introduction to geology and geophysics); dr ryan ewing (mars rover from a geology and geophysics perspective); and dr chris houser (ground-penetrating radar) ocng: dr debbie thomas (introduction to oceanography) envp: dr christian brannstrom (introduction to environmental programs) iodp: dr katerina petronotis and denise kulhanek (introduction to scientific ocean drilling) geog: dr christian brannstrom (using geography to understand shale gas development) drs michael bishop dan goldberg and andrew klein (introduction to gist); dr anthony filippi (field spectroscopy); and dr houser (using gps for the amazing race across campus) at the farewell lunch academic advisors missy mathews (atmo and ocng) emily dykes (envp) gail rowe (geog) suzanne rosser (gepl) spoke to the students and their parents about the academic opportunities in each department and what it takes to succeed as a final sendoff the fightin texas aggie yell leaders led the future aggies in a mini-yell practice whoop by karen riedel geox students and counselors on the observation deck of the o&m building after a lesson on atmospheric sciences from drs courtney schumacher and don conlee " geox students and counselors on the observation deck of the o&m building after a lesson on atmospheric sciences from drs courtney schumacher and don conlee " no-win waterscapesjul 14 2014a texas a&m researcher measures water security in the rio grande valleymost americans take for granted the ability to turn on a faucet when thirsty or to fill a pot for cooking but a texas a&m researcher has found that segments of the population especially along the texas-mexican border exist in a no-win waterscape with no easy access to clean water no ability to pay for it and no immediate solution  the issue says wendy jepson an associate professor in the college of geosciences is a matter of water security defined as the ability for individuals to access acceptable affordable and adequate drinking water for a healthy lifemore than 400 000 people live in 2 300 colonias along the border in a region that is one of poorest in the united states with more than a third of the families living below the us federal poverty level and despite the perception of ubiquitous water availability in the united states jepson says that the reality has left many colonias residents in a position of water insecuritywith funding from the national science foundation and help of staff from the colonias program in texas a&ms college of architecture jepson systematically interviewed and surveyed the people who actually spend a large part of their incomes trying to obtain clean water for their familiesjepson developed a three-dimensional approach that identifies water access affordability and quality through a measurement called a guttman scalogram this method provides a socially and scientifically sound measurement that allows us to document discuss and create policy interventions jepson saysout of the households interviewed jepson and her team determined that fewer than half (45 percent) were water secure or marginally water secure fifty-percent were identified as marginally insecure or insecure jepson explains that a combination of factors affect household water insecurity in some cases it is a matter of impure waterit smells or is dirty off-color or tastes bad in other households it can be a matter of infrastructure such as no hook-up or a broken one economically it can simply be the inability to pay the bill the recommended percentage for water bills in the united states is no more than 2 percent of monthly income but in some cases families are paying 8 percent or more when your household income is less than $1 000 a month paying the water bill can take a big bite out of your paycheck she saysmany households jepson says have turned to water vendors which may not provide water of higher quality furthermore access to these vendors costs too in terms of gas or ability to transport the water back homealthough the infrastructure has improved over the yearsjepson has been researching social issues in the rio grande valley since her undergraduate daysher research reveals that a lack of trust for municipal water persists with more information and policies in place that better regulate water quality and accessibility i hope we can change both the perception and the realityjepson says that although she has only researched the colonias in hidalgo and el paso counties the similar problems exist even in communities near large urban areas like houston look at detroit she says the city is shutting off residential water because some of its citizens cannot afford the high fees meanwhile industries owe several months in back payments with no consequences the united nations recognizes access to safe and clean drinking water as a human right the least we can do in this country is to ensure the same for our citizens note: since dr jepson's study was released several media outlets have interviewed her she participated in the texas tribune symposium on water to discuss colonia water insecurity she was also interviewed twice by texas tribune about water security on the border and on undrinkable water in houston suburbs she is also an invited speaker for a panel on water at the 2015 texas tribune festival in october follow her on twitter: @professorjepson more about her research can be found on her profile page  a video on the geosciences youtube channel portrays jepson's research  dr wendy jepson has been researching water equity and governance for over 20 years in the lower rio grande region " dr wendy jepson has been researching water equity and governance for over 20 years in the lower rio grande region " texas a&m oceanographer advocates ocean observing before presidential paneljul 10 2014anthony h knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group and the james r whatley professor of geosciences will speak friday morning (july 11) before the presidents council of advisors for science and technology (pcast) about the need for a global ocean observing system to monitor changes in the worlds oceansthe presentation is at the national academy of sciences building in washington dc the panel discussion will be webcast live on friday at 10:45 am (est): http://wwwtvworldwidecom/events/pcast/140711/  knap is a pioneer in applying technical advances to ocean observing and since coming to texas a&m in 2012 he has introduced a fleet of glidersautonomous underwater vehicles used to measure physical aspects of oceans including salinity temperature currents and other physical propertiesamong other innovations in ocean observing as the ocean is over 70 percent of the globe and is storing the excess heat we should have a more organized approach to measuring it understanding it and conveying information about its health and activity knap says changes in the oceans directly affect the world around us including our climate marine ecosystems and coastlines we need a sustained global ocean observing system that measures these changes and impacts so that adaptive policies can be put in place knap envisions a worldwide system of ocean-observing instruments that uses underwater surface and satellite technologies as a frontline defense in preparing the world for the changes occurring in our oceans coasts and atmosphere we can only manage what we can measure knap says pcast is an advisory group of the nations leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the president and the executive office pcast recommends policy on science technology and innovation on topics that benefit the american people anthony h knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group presented his vision for ocean observing to a presidential panel " anthony h knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group presented his vision for ocean observing to a presidential panel " underwater watchguards jun 25 2014gliders target dead zone on a mission to measure and monitorresearchers from texas a&m university set sail june 17 from galveston with a fleet of new underwater robotic devices to measure the extent of this seasons dead zone in the gulf of mexico foremost in their arsenal of instruments are four slocum gliders sleek yellow auvs (for autonomous underwater vehicles) that send continuous observations of temperature salt and oxygen concentrations back to shore very six hours their deployment ushers in a new era in ocean observing for the gulf of mexico say steve dimarco and his team of scientists and technical crew members this is the 12th summer and 33rd cruise for dimarco lead investigator and a college of geosciences oceanographer whose previous research in the gulf of mexico has made him a leading authority on hypoxia in the region the term hypoxia dimarco explains is a condition in which dissolved oxygen concentrations dip low enough to harm marine life occurring in various degrees of severity every summer hypoxic conditions are caused by the combination of multiple factors which include nutrients from fertilizer runoff and the amount of freshwater discharged by the mississippi river and coastal winds in the northern gulf of mexico these factors all work to reduce the amount of oxygen near the ocean bottom the area is called the dead zone because low oxygen conditions can lead to decimating massive amounts of marine organisms this expedition marks a departure from the previous forays researchers from texas a&m university texas a&m-galveston other gulf state universities and government organizations have joined forces to contribute personnel scientific expertise and ships in addition to the gliders using instruments ranging from a device developed in the 1920s to the new gliders the scientists hope to provide the most thorough analysis of the dead zone ever gathered the beauty of this system dimarco explains is that the gliders will stay in the gulf for several weeks gathering more detailed results than we ever could using other instruments gliders can collect data for a much longer period than is possible from a boat and they do it more efficiently and for a lot less money using satellite-based communication systems land-based pilots guide the vehicle from computers in college station on the first leg of the expedition the research vessel manta will cover the area beween matagorda texas and the mississippi river delta the crew will deploy three gliders in addition to taking temperature salinity depth and other measurements with more traditional instruments such as rosettes and a device called an acrobat that looks and functions like an underwater miniature biplane in late june researchers from the gulf integrated spill research (gisr) consortium using the research vessel pelican will deploy one glider provided by texas a&m university-galveston the galveston glider dimarco says is built for deeper waters all four gliders are set to sail around the texas-louisiana coast sensing and measuring its dead zone for up to 10 weeks this has never been done before and with so many rigs and other obstacles that the they have to maneuver around dimarco says this will be a true test of the gliders he also notes that combining forces with other universities along the gulf coast will greatly enhance their ability to collect the most data ever gathered on the dead zone impacthypoxic events can be economically devastating for the fishing and recreational industries throughout the gulf coast region in addition to upsetting delicate ecosystems which can take years to recover more thorough examination of the causes and effects of hypoxia can help industry legislators and policy makers better monitor and control upstream factors that influence the level of oxygen in gulf waters partnershipsnoaas center for sponsored coastal ocean research has funded the mechanisms that control hypoxia project since 2003 and is providing additional base funds for the glider experiment partners in the expedition are the following • integrated ocean observing system and national centers for coastal ocean sciences provided partial funding for the glider experiment• teledyne webb research corporation built the gliders and donated one for the experiment • the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system is delivering the glider data in real-time• the louisiana state scan laboratory is providing imagery to the ship to assist in cruise planning and operations • the university of southern mississippi is a scientific contributor• the louisiana universities marine consortium operates the r/v pelican• noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary operates the r/v manta by karen riedel contactdr steven dimarcoprofessor and ocean observing team leadersdimarco@tamuedu karen riedelcommunications managerkriedel@tamuedu979-845-0910 texas a&m scientific and technical crew aboard the r/v manta " " geosciences advisor receives presidents award for academic advisingjun 12 2014emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in geosciences was selected as one of four campus-wide recipients of the 2014 presidents award for academic advisingdykes was honored by texas a&m interim president mark a hussey as part of the annual university advisors and counselors spring awards breakfast in may getting to be a part of students journeys and supporting them through their successes and struggles is a very rewarding and humbling process dykes said recipients receive $2 000 and a plaque and are selected by a committee composed of three students the president-elect of university advisors and counselors executive board and a representative appointed by texas a&ms office of the dean of undergraduate programs and associate provost for academic services selection is based on nomination packets that include letters from fellow advisors students and faculty dykes has been an advisor in the environmental programs since fall of 2008 she also received the college of geosciences robert c runnels excellence in advising award in 2011 this summer she will be honored as a 2014 texas a&m fish camp namesake camp emily i am honored to receive this award because it hopefully means somewhere along the way i have made a positive impact on a students life dykes says by eliana mijangos 14 emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in the geosciences " emily dykes 08 program coordinator for environmental programs in the geosciences " geosciences student wins astronaut scholarship for second year in a rowjun 9 2014amélie berger junior environmental geosciences student from paris france is one of 30 students nationwide to be awarded a prestigious scholarship from the astronaut scholarship foundationthis is the second year in a row that a student in the college of geosciences has received the award berger will receive a $10 000 scholarship in recognition of her unique aptitude for research and ingenuity in science and technology according to the award letter ""i am so honored to have received such a prestigious award it really motivates me to continue in my field of study and also gives me a strong sense of responsibility towards the foundation who is showing faith in me and my abilities i hope my research will help societies understand and adapt to a changing planetberger said"" the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) was established in 1984 by the six surviving members of americas original mercury seven astronauts asf makes these scholarships available nationwide to college students who exhibit leadership imagination and exceptional performance in science technology engineering and math (stem) these scholarships are the highest monetary awards given to undergraduate stem students based solely on merit in the united states astronauts from the foundation make personal visits in the fall to each recipients university to present the scholarship check amélie shows the greatest promise of the undergraduates with whom i have worked in terms of becoming a leader in the interdisciplinary field of environmental sciences said dr oliver frauenfeld assistant professor of geography and bergers mentor she has amassed an impressive breadth and depth of knowledge and research experience in her time at texas a&m berger is involved in the honors fellows program and the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&m she also participates in the colleges recruitment programs and serves as a peer mentor this summer she is researching natural resources in fiji and australia through texas a&ms study abroad program berger has also contributed to a submitted peer-reviewed publication to the journal biotropica she plans to continue her studies in climate science and sustainability in graduate school with the goal of teaching at the university level berger said she takes honor in helping america stay at the forefront of science and technology ""i would like to thank the professors i have had at a&m as well as dr sumana datta for her support during the application process i would especially like to thank dr debbie thomas for getting me started in research as a freshman and dr oliver frauenfeld for his tremendous support and guidance over the past year and a half i would not have come this far without the dedication of such amazing mentors"" berger says amelie berger junior environmental geosciences student at the college of geosciences " amelie berger junior environmental geosciences student at the college of geosciences " texas sea grant director honored as 2014 ‘hartes herojun 6 2014college station texas  dr pamela plotkin director of the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university was recognized thursday (june 5 2014) by the harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies (hri) for her work with endangered sea turtles on the texas coastplotkin was named one of hartes heroes an honor bestowed annually by hri to commemorate world oceans day this years recipients were commended for their efforts to further the recovery of the critically endangered kemps ridley sea turtle read more " " junior geosciences student earns texas a&m and national honorsmay 8 2014amélie berger junior environmental geosciences major from paris france has been honored with national university and college-level awards and nominationsberger is one of two nominated for an astronaut foundation scholarship representing texas a&m and she received honorable mention as a barry m goldwater scholar she has also been named phi kappa phi outstanding junior for both the college of geosciences and at the university-level for texas a&m and received the gathright academic excellence award twice recognizing her as the top geosciences student for both her sophomore and junior years the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) was established in 1984 by the six surviving members of americas original mercury seven astronauts asf makes 28 scholarships available nationwide to college students who exhibit leadership imagination and exceptional performance in science technology engineering and math (stem) these $10 000 scholarships are the highest monetary awards given to undergraduate stem students based solely on merit in the united states students like amelie remind us that we educators learn as much from our students as they do from us amelies initiative has made her an integral part of our college and she has been able to fashion a unique undergraduate research program that spans several areas in the geosciences said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences the goldwater scholarship recognizes college students nationwide in stem fields selecting approximately 300 junior and senior students each year based on reference letters personal essays and research experience universities can nominate up to four students for the goldwater scholarship each academic year it is definitely great to feel recognition for my hard work berger said they motivate me it is such an honor to get these nominations and awards berger said a seminar course her freshman year with debbie thomas department head in oceanography first inspired her to pursue undergraduate research she worked with thomas in researching deep-ocean circulation in paleoclimates and presented her research at the 2012 american geophysical union meeting in san francisco bergers minors are in oceanography and meteorology and she has also done extensive climate research in the department of geography this research under the supervision of oliver frauenfeld assistant professor of geography led to her participation in an nsf-funded research experience for undergraduates (reu) in costa rica amélie has already excelled at research in paleoceanography arctic climate change and cloud forest ecohydrology and she is only a junior frauenfeld said it's a pleasure to get to work with fantastic students like her who take full advantage of the range of opportunities offered in the college of geosciences"" berger said this reu experience inspired her undergraduate thesis characterization of throughfall variability in a tropical premontaine cloud forest in costa rica which she presented at the american association of geographers (aag) 2014 meeting in tampa florida i want to extend a special thank you to drs frauenfeld for helping me with my undergraduate thesis and for being an amazing mentor she said in fact every step of the way i have had faculty members who helped me develop my interests berger is involved in the honors fellows program and the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&m she also participates in the colleges recruitment programs and serves as a peer mentor this summer she will research natural resources in fiji and australia through texas a&ms study abroad program berger has also contributed to a peer-reviewed publication and submitted a paper for publication into the journal biotropica she plans to continue her studies in climate science and sustainability at the graduate level with the goal of teaching at the university level ive established an aggie family who have taken care of me since i cannot be close to my parents berger said they have made it possible for me to grab every opportunity; and texas a&m and the college of geosciences offers so many   by eliana mijangos amélie berger's interests span the geosciences " " aggie geoscientists place second in gulf coast aapg iba competitionapr 22 2014a team from texas a&m won second place in the gulf coast section of the imperial barrel award (iba) competition held march 19-20 at bp headquarters in houstonteam members were graduate students akhil amara daniel elizondo david lewis ivan maulana and john reed from the department of geology and geophysics texas a&m competed against 12 other schools in the gulf coast region for the award the team previously won first place in 2009 and 2013 during the event the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of the taranaki basin new zealand to the judges before being selected as one of four finalists for friday mornings round along with university of houston university of new orleans and university of louisiana-lafayette for the second round each team presented to a different panel of judges and the team earned second place behind university of louisiana-lafayette sponsored by the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the annual iba competition is for geoscience students from around the world teams from six us and six international regions comprising a total of 35 countries represented compete for the award according to the iba program   student teams prepare for the contest by studying a dataset of geological and geophysical information land production infrastructure and other relevant materials to solve a problem they would face in the energy industry each team delivers their results to a panel of industry experts the judges select the winning team on the basis of the technical quality clarity and originality of presentation ""we would like to thank kellam colquitt for presenting two short courses at texas a&m on using rose and associate software to risk plays "" said mike pope professor of geology and this years advisor and coach ""it was very informative and used a great deal in their analysis ""the competition also requires a dedicated coaching team of a faculty member and industry partners who provide the direction and guidance to mold the students into a polished team "" said dr rick giardino professor and head of geology and geophysics the team was ably assisted by industry representatives william (dusty) marshall and matt hammer giardino says that the competition is not about winning ""the important lesson is the educational opportunity these students have to use their education intellect and skills operating in a team problem-solving environment"" students winning imperial barrel award competitions are considered highly employable in the energy industry when they graduate dr mike pope and texas a&m imperial barrel awards team members david lewis akhil amara john reed ivan maulana and daniel elizondo earned second place in the gulf coast regional competition " dr mike pope and texas a&m imperial barrel awards team members david lewis akhil amara john reed ivan maulana and daniel elizondo earned second place in the gulf coast regional competition " former white house advisor assesses challenges for us science and technologymar 31 2014neal lane former director of the white house office of science and technology policy will present giving science advice to the president and why its getting harder at 4 pm thursday  april 10 in room 215 of the animal industries buildingthe lecture is sponsored by the texas center for climate studies and the college of geosciences and is free and open to the public lanes lecture will focus on the role of science adviser to the president and how that role is affected by societal forces he will also discuss current challenges to the united states science and technology enterprise lane is currently the malcolm gillis university professor of physics and astronomy and senior fellow in the baker institute for public policy at rice university  he was appointed assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the white house office of science and technology policy where he served under president bill clinton from 1998 to 2001  he previously served as director of the national science foundation from 1993 to 1998 lane became an assistant professor of physics at rice university in 1966 he left rice in 1984 to become chancellor of the university of colorado at colorado springs but returned to texas in 1986 to serve as provost of rice until 1992 dr neal lane former presidential advisor " " geosciences' programs respond to spillmar 26 2014a group of texas a&m-galveston marine biology researchers was on standby monday waiting for clearance to head into galveston bay to begin sampling areas affected by saturday's oil spillwith the reopening of ferry services in galveston late monday antonietta quigg a texas a&m-galveston marine biology professor said she was hopeful she and other scientists with the university would be able to board research vessels tuesday morning to begin their sampling work the team of researchers -- which was asked by the coast guard to conduct sampling -- will test samples to determine how up to 168 000 gallons of oil released when a barge collided into a ship in the houston ship channel is likely to impact the marine life quigg said her focus will be on the water quality and plankton while other researchers will turn their attention to various parts of the underwater ecosystem""in terms of plankton i want to see how [the oil] impacts their ability to grow and reproduce "" quigg said ""given that they're an important food source we want to see how they're affected if they're impacted then we can speculate about how the fish may be impacted as well"" in terms of what to expect quigg said she couldn't be sure without knowing more about how the spill clean-up was progressing ""in some ways it should be similar to previous studies that are out there "" she said ""and in other ways it should be unique because it is an estuary there will be a lot more freshwater that will affect oil and how oil behaves"" in college station aggie researchers were receiving near real-time information on currents waves and winds from a buoy deployed near the spill site as part of the texas automated buoy system a program sponsored by the texas general land office and managed by the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group john walpert a senior research associate and technical lead with the research group said the buoy transmits information being monitored by a&m researchers the texas general land office and a hazmat modeling company in seattle the data was being analyzed to create oil models to determine where the oil is likely to spread which could help crews contain it terry wade deputy director of the geochemical and environmental research group which is part of the texas a&m college of geosciences said that as a chemist he was interested in seeing toxicity levels from samples collected near the oil spill and comparing those numbers to data from prior to the accident keeping the oil from reaching the marshes in galveston bay will be crucial to protecting marine and wildlife wade said ""while we don't want to have it in the open ocean it's better than in our marshes "" he said ""the marshes are the last place you want it if it does go out into the open ocean there are some microbes that can use oil as a food source"" wade said he has had a good working relationship with quigg and her texas a&m-galveston colleagues and expected the two aggie groups would be sharing and comparing some of the data collected (left to right) willie flemings andrew dancer crew member of the ""erin-t"" work boat (credit: gerg tamu) " "(left to right) willie flemings andrew dancer crew member of the ""erin-t"" work boat (credit: gerg tamu)" " soltis center celebrates 5th anniversarymar 26 2014well-worn foot paths cut through the lush forest rolling emerald hills lead to jagged mountain peaks and towering waterfalls crash into the rivers below texas a&m university students are experiencing a level of nature and biodiversity that cant be found in the lone star state or anywhere else on earth for that matter at the texas a&m soltis center for research and education in san isidro de penas blancas costa rica this year the center celebrates the fifth anniversary of providing students with unrivaled experiential learning opportunities located on the caribbean side of the childrens eternal rainforest a protected tropical ecosystem in the central highlands region of costa rica the soltis center was established by a 1955 texas a&m graduate charles w bill soltis and his wife wanda after traveling to costa rica on business 25 years ago he fell in love with the country and has been an advocate for the preservation of the rainforest that devotion combined with love for his alma mater prompted the couple to purchase rainforest land which they donated to texas a&m for the establishment of a research and education center the soltis family is thrilled with the progress at the soltis center says kim soltis hammer the couples daughter my father loves to visit the center and meet the students we are impressed with the research projects that are being conducted as well as the outreach thats going on in the surrounding community it is apparent that lives are being changed there the center is open to graduate and undergraduate students as a study abroad program and collaborates with a variety of university departments and institutions along with the local community to develop education service and research programs students from a variety of academic disciplines – from architecture engineering and agriculture to environmental geosciences geology education tropical ecology and biomedical sciences just to name a few – travel with faculty members to study and conduct research in an area considered to be unparalleled in its biodiversity costa rica is smaller than west virginia yet boasts 5 percent of the worlds species eugenio gonzález the soltis centers director says since the centers opening student participation has risen from 91 in 2009 to 402 in 2013 faculty attendance has also grown from 16 in 2009 to 166 in 2013 for the students and faculty the center provides a unique study abroad experience with modern facilities where they can learn while enjoying the tropical rainforest and interacting with the local culture saysgonzález it has opened new educational activities that are not available on the main campus the soltis centers 250 acres plus adjoining natural reserves comprise more than 120 000 acres of forest pumas and jaguars have been spotted at the center and students have an opportunity to see monkeys snakes red-eyed tree frogs and many different species of birds the center facilities include dormitories classrooms laboratories computer rooms and other amenities chris houser and steven quiring associate professors in the department of geography in the college of geosciences brought the first study abroad group to the center during spring break 2009 and houser says the facility has grown substantially since that trip in the beginning everyone assumed it must be a biological field station but that was very limiting notes houser the global faculty ambassador serving as liaison between the center and the rest of the texas a&m system now we have an enormous diversity of programs natalie teale of fabius ny is pursuing her masters degree in geography at texas a&m and has spent two summers at the soltis center investigating how rainwater moves through the forest her first trip during her undergraduate studies at syracuse university was due to her involvement with the national science foundation research experience for undergraduates (reu) and greatly influenced my decision to attend graduate school at texas a&m she explains teale says the centers facilities allow for state-of-the-art environmental research and the opportunity to conduct analysis in a unique environment students feel rejuvenated and refreshed in the living quarters which are nicer than many hotels the location is perfect; its far enough away from large cities to get the full rainforest experience while close enough to communities to accommodate any needs margot wood of alamo calif  is pursuing her phd in wildlife and fisheries science at texas a&m and has spent every summer since 2011 at the center she studies environmental policies and their effects on animal populations wood agrees the centers facilities are ideal for conducting research but also notes the added cultural benefits for students it provides important cultural exchanges for students many of whom have not been out of the country she notes community outreach is another facet of the soltis center mission and takes various forms from educating local students to undertaking service projects weve had mechanical engineering students teaching local high school students about bridge and rocket building houser says our students have built a computer lab for a local school created new water systems to ensure locals have access to clean water and worked with local farmers to help them improve and sustain agriculture another program has students working with costa rican health services to investigate and improve how drug and substance abuse is dealt with houser encourages more texas a&m students and faculty to utilize the soltis center saying the possibilities for service research and education are virtually unlimited for more information visit the soltis center and study abroad online and leave it to aggies to bring a little bit of college station to the jungle − theyve taught many of the local students how to play dominoes members of msc freshman leadership international an aggie service organization spend spring break at the center volunteering with local students ""we hope our presence there gives local students a leg up because they have experiences with higher education they may not otherwise have "" says chris houser the center's global faculty ambassador " "members of msc freshman leadership international an aggie service organization spend spring break at the center volunteering with local students ""we hope our presence there gives local students a leg up because they have experiences with higher education they may not otherwise have "" says chris houser the center's global faculty ambassador" " the student geosciences council tackles its first student-run career fairmar 26 2014the student geosciences council (sgc) hosted their first geosciences career fair on feb 10 in the bethancourt ballroom of the memorial student centermore than 275 students from different departments around the university and as far as texas a&m – corpus christi attended the fair to learn about career opportunities from organizations ranging from schlumberger halliburton and chevron to the national weather service and the peace corps a total of 14 companies and 37 recruiters participated representing every major in the college  it was an exciting opportunity to be able to speak with industry leaders in geosciences said junior environmental studies student kelci miller it was a chance for me to discuss my research and learn how i can apply that to a job setting sgc is led by president wilmer menjivar and comprises 36 members and officers representing every major and both graduate and undergraduate students in the college elora arana david lewis akhil amara ejaz hafeji and the entire sgc advancement division were in charge of the planning and execution of the fair  sgc plans to continue this fair in future years and we hope to grow both student and industry participation menjivar said  the student geosciences council is generously sponsored by bp halliburton and schlumberger scg officers from left: akhil amara kaitlyn simpson ejaz hafeji elora arana david lewis and wilmer menjivar " scg officers from left: akhil amara kaitlyn simpson ejaz hafeji elora arana david lewis and wilmer menjivar " renowned geoscientist makes his mark at texas a&mmar 24 2014how oceans and the atmosphere interact is an ongoing learning process and that learning process is being enhanced at texas a&m university with expertise provided by one of the worlds foremost authorities on the subject british professor peter lisslisss texas a&m presence is made possible through a new initiative the texas a&m university institute for advanced study that brings nationally and internationally prominent scientists and scholars to the flagship university from three to twelve months during which they interact on a daily basis with the universitys permanent faculty in research and related endeavors and engage students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels liss who is credited with important research on how the oceans and atmosphere interact is affiliated with the centre for ocean and atmospheric studies at the university of east anglia in england he is a fellow of the uk royal society and recipient of numerous other prestigious awards and honors during his current 12-month involvement at texas a&m liss has already ­collaborated with faculty in the college of geosciences and college of science in preparation of several scientific papers for publication in scholarly journals and has several more in progress thats in addition to his ongoing interaction with numerous other faculty and students along with periodic lectures open to the public tias the establishment of which was inspired by the center for advanced studies at princeton university was made possible with special $5 million funding authorized by texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp liss is one of six nationally and internationally acclaimed scientists and scholars inducted at texas a&m in tias first class of tias faculty fellows in january 2013 liss is the only member of that first class to still be on campus as a tias faculty fellow at texas a&m through the institute though others have been here this year and one in the first class will be visiting multiple times over the next four years  liss is not the last of the first class to be on campus however as one tias faculty fellow dr alan needleman has joined the permanent faculty of texas a&m prof john junkins founding director of tias says liss and his interaction with the universitys faculty and students represents the epitome of why the institute was created great universities thrive on brilliant scholars junkins explains we designed tias to attract the worlds top scholars across all disciplines to a&m to collaborate with our faculty and students and lisss collaboration is a model for what we seek top scholars offer cutting-edge scholarship on the toughest and most important problems at the frontiers of their fields of study during our first two years we have recruited 15 tias faculty fellows among their recognitions are two nobel prizes the national medal of science the wolf prize the hubbell medal and many academy memberships with a steady annual flow of new stellar scholars tias will move an already great texas a&m into a position of global academic leadership in addition to seeking even better understanding of how the ocean and atmosphere interact liss and his colleagues are striving to attain a better grasp of the importance of that interaction life all forms of life is dependent on that interaction liss asserts the atmosphere is almost never still he notes when the wind blows a gentle breeze or a howling hurricane it moves material around including solids such as dust (or larger) particles liquids such as fresh or salt waters or gases that make up the atmosphere itself perhaps the most important effect of this movement is the global water cycle where water vapor is lost from the ocean through evaporation and re-deposited over the land as rain without this cycle multicellular life forms on land including humans would not exist liss emphasizes underscoring the significance of the atmospheric-ocean interaction both natural and man-made substances are transferred in both directions across the interface between the ocean and atmosphere he notes adding that these transfers are important for life in the oceans and affect atmospheric properties including climate and air quality three aspects of ocean-atmosphere interactions have been selected for studies at texas a&m because of their importance and generality: dust from land depositing on the oceans; the formation of particles in the marine atmosphere; and the uptake of carbon dioxide (co2) by the oceans dust particles from land are blown into the air particularly from desert areas in china and saharan africa and are carried by winds around the globe liss explains saharan winds move dust westwards while dust from the gobi desert in northern china moves east eventually a significant fraction is deposited on the oceans the sahara deposits dust on the north atlantic ocean while the gobi deposits dust particles on the east and south china seas other desert and semi-desert areas supply dust to different parts of the global ocean the amount of these deposits varies depending largely on their proximity to source regions he notes the mineral grains that make up the dust are not particularly important to the oceans but the amount of certain elements such as the iron they contain plays a significant role liss adds many of these elements are vital nutrients for the growth of microscopic plants (phytoplankton) in the sea close to the coasts there is plenty of iron brought down by rivers but further offshore its concentration decreases so that it is virtually undetectable he says since phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain (the grass of the sea) the atmospheric source of this nutrient is potentially important for the operation of the whole chain in these offshore regions this is particularly relevant in the southern oceans because of their distance from major landmasses that are not covered by ice the southern oceans relatively small amounts of atmospheric input of iron may limit biological life several experiments in various parts of the ocean have shown that adding iron can increase phytoplankton production by a factor of four or five although the effect is usually short-lived this has led some to propose artificially fertilizing areas such as the southern oceans with iron as a purposeful way of getting the plankton to take up extra co2 thereby removing it from the atmosphere such proposals for geo-engineering the planet should be treated with great caution since unforeseen or underestimated secondary consequences might do more harm than good liss warns much of the iron contained in the dust however is not in a form that can be assimilated by the phytoplankton iron and other metals contained in the dust can become available for assimilation through chemical reduction that renders them soluble this can occur under the action of dissolved organic matter in seawater activated by light from the sun or by reaction with the atmospheric ozone such reactions are not well understood to address this problem alison smyth a masters degree candidate at texas a&m is conducting laboratory experiments to try to establish the role of atmospheric ozone after deposition to the ocean surface in bringing about solubilisation of trace metals much of the dust blown from the land occurs as relatively large particles over the oceans however there are considerably greater numbers of fine particles these can be formed from seawater particularly under strong winds or by condensation of gases emitted from surface seawater these fine particles are important for several reasons liss points out they can directly reflect sunlight back to space causing cooling of the climate system also if they are the right size they can act as seeds cloud condensation nuclei or ccn on which water vapor can condense to form cloud droplets airborne particle concentrations can affect the degree of cloudiness over the oceans and indirectly impact the climate currently the direct and indirect radiative forcings by fine particles including marine aerosols represent the largest uncertainty in climate modelling furthermore another important role fine particles play is as a site for chemical reactions often leading to the formation of active species (oxidants) that keep the atmosphere relatively free of organic pollutants such oxidants are sometimes referred to as the ‘detergent of the atmosphere although the details of the reaction are not well understood he says it is likely to involve organic molecules sulfur dioxide amines iodine and probably other substances several of which are themselves formed from gases initially produced by phytoplankton in the surface oceans the effects on the global climate of anthropogenic gases produced from burning fossil fuel and through industrial processes has been a much-discussed topic of these gases which include refrigerants such as freons liss says the most significant is carbon dioxide all organic matter turns to co2 as it decays but until we started using large quantities of fossil fuels the global balance between uptake and release of co2 was essentially in steady-state he points out as we have consumed fossil fuels over the past 300 years or so the carbon dioxide produced has been building up in the atmosphere faster than plant use and dissolution in the oceans can take it up about a quarter of all the carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels land-use change and other anthropogenic activities is taken up by the oceans by transfer across the air-sea interface the oceans provide a substantial ‘service to mankind since without that uptake the rise in atmospheric co2 would be significantly greater with correspondingly larger impacts on global climate he says it is clear that in the warmer tropical parts of the oceans there is net emission of co2 whereas in colder polar seas the reverse happens with the difference providing the overall uptake given the substantial ability of the oceans to absorb co2 it is vital to be able to predict whether this will change in the future with clear implications for atmospheric levels of the gas and hence climate in order to make such forecasts we need to understand the many processes involved so that they can be incorporated into predictive models because of the co2 uptake by the oceans there are additional consequences that may have significant impacts on marine life liss notes when dissolved in water co2 forms a weak acid and as its concentration builds up in the ocean the ocean becomes more acidic this has major implications for many creatures particularly oysters corals and some plankton that secrete shells of calcium carbonate as the shells tend to dissolve as the acid concentration in the ocean increases observations over the last two decades at several oceanic time-series locations have shown a measurable effect on the acidity of the surface oceans although there is considerable seasonal variability it is clear that the inexorable rise in atmospheric co2 is matched by an equivalent increase in carbon dioxide in seawater and decrease in carbonate ion and associated decrease in ph – that is an increase in seawater acidity this all underscores how natural and man-made materials crossing from the oceans to the atmosphere and vice versa profoundly affect vital properties of both the oceans and the atmosphere liss emphasizes they include the functioning of biological life in the oceans the ability of the atmosphere to self-clean and eliminate pollutants harmful to humans as well as the combined ocean/atmosphere system playing a major role in controlling the climate of the globe peter liss " " aggie geoscientists place second in gulf coast aapg iba competitionmar 19 2014a team from texas a&m won second place in the gulf coast section of the imperial barrel award (iba) competition held march 19-20 at bp headquarters in houston team members were graduate students akhil amara daniel elizondo david lewis ivan maulana and john reed from the department of geology and geophysics texas a&m competed against 12 other schools in the gulf coast region for the award the team previously won first place in 2009 and 2013 during the event the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of the taranaki basin new zealand to the judges before being selected as one of four finalists for friday mornings round along with university of houston university of new orleans and university of louisiana-lafayette for the second round each team presented to a different panel of judges and the team earned second place behind university of louisiana-lafayette sponsored by the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the annual iba competition is for geoscience students from around the world teams from six us and six international regions comprising a total of 35 countries represented compete for the award according to the iba program   student teams prepare for the contest by studying a dataset of geological and geophysical information land production infrastructure and other relevant materials to solve a problem they would face in the energy industry each team delivers their results to a panel of industry experts the judges select the winning team on the basis of the technical quality clarity and originality of presentation ""we would like to thank kellam colquitt for presenting two short courses at texas a&m on using rose and associate software to risk plays "" said mike pope professor of geology and this years advisor and coach ""it was very informative and used a great deal in their analysis ""the competition also requires a dedicated coaching team of a faculty member and industry partners who provide the direction and guidance to mold the students into a polished team "" said dr rick giardino professor and head of geology and geophysics the team was ably assisted by industry representatives william (dusty) marshall and matt hammer giardino says that the competition is not about winning ""the important lesson is the educational opportunity these students have to use their education intellect and skills operating in a team problem-solving environment"" students winning imperial barrel award competitions are considered highly employable in the energy industry when they graduate dr mike pope and texas a&m imperial barrel awards team members david lewis akhil amara john reed ivan maulana and daniel elizondo earned second place in the gulf coast regional competition " dr mike pope and texas a&m imperial barrel awards team members david lewis akhil amara john reed ivan maulana and daniel elizondo earned second place in the gulf coast regional competition " workshop held to share current science and future effects of climate changemar 10 2014texas a&m faculty from the college of geosciences will present two sessions on the current state of climate science march 10 and 17 a lot of misconceptions and myths still remain even among scientists said gunnar schade associate professor of atmospheric sciences and coordinator of the workshop we want to help the university community better understand the issues surrounding this critical topic the workshops are free and geared toward faculty researchers and lecturers across campus the workshops are offered in conjunction with the recently published intergovernmental panel on climate changes fifth assessment report from working group i which addresses the physical evidence and just before the working group ii report due march 31 which discusses impacts and vulnerability faculty participants include atmospheric science professors andrew dessler gerald north john nielsen-gammon r saravanan and gunnar schade addressing a&m administrators and staff on march 21 schade and north will present its real its us and its going to be bad at the coffee conversations sponsored by the employee and organizational development office employees can learn what climate their children and grandchildren will inherit and how the college of geosciences is contributing to climate research and public education   climate change workshops 9 am–1 pm march 10 and 17 2014 room tbd eller o&m building   9–9:15             introduction and collection of audience questions 9:15–11           15-min short presentations by atmospheric sciences faculty with 10-min q&a sessions focus is on ipcc consensus science 11–11:30          interactive: the most common climate myths and how to address them 11:30–12:30     box lunch with open discussion 12:30 –13:00    wrap-up: latest developments discussions and impacts   please send reservations for box lunches by the friday before the workshop to gunnar schade at gws@tamuedu dr gunnar w schade " " texas a&m honors prominent geosciences researcherfeb 28 2014texas a&m university has designated renyi zhang professor of atmospheric sciences as a university distinguished professor one of its highest honors zhang holds a joint appointment in the college of science as professor of chemistryuniversity distinguished professors are chosen for preeminence seminal contributions and major impacts they have made in their fields zhangs research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms that underlie atmospheric physical and chemical processes and provides critical insight into the impact of human activity on the environment weather and climate  in the letter nominating zhang robert duce former dean of the college of geosciences and university distinguished professor emeritus of oceanography and atmospheric sciences described zhangs research as producing several groundbreaking discoveries related to the formation growth and physical and chemical properties of atmospheric particles his work duce wrote has had a profound impact on our understanding of the role of atmospheric particles in cloud formation precipitation and climate  zhang is also cited for revolutionizing research in hydrocarbon chemistry by developing analytical instruments and theoretical methodologies to investigate how these organic compounds contribute to urban and global air pollution and climate change descriptions of and journal references to zhangs research over the years often include the terms profound pioneering paradigm shift and landmark zhangs nomination included endorsements by a nobel laureate a us national medal of science recipient seven members of the national academy of science and national academy of engineering and four foreign academy members  renyi zhangs contributions to aerosol-particle research will have a major influence on generations of geoscientists researchers to come said kate c miller  dean of the college of geosciences his work fully encompasses the mission of our college to advance understandings of the earth system and apply that new knowledge for the benefit of society zhangs scientific accomplishments include 167 articles in top-tiered interdisciplinary atmospheric sciences and chemistry peer-reviewed journals which have generated more than 5 500 citations he is a fellow of the american geophysical union which selects for scientific eminence in break-through discoveries he is also a member of the international commission on atmospheric chemistry and global pollution chairs the american meteorological society committee on atmospheric chemistry and serves as editor for thejournal of geophysical researchatmospheres and the journal of the atmospheric sciences he has received several national and international awards including the bush excellence award for faculty in international research and a university-level achievement award for research from the association of former students zhang holds the harold j haynes endowed chair in geosciences and is director of the center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment his phd is from mit  zhang is one of seven professors university-wide to be honored in 2014 in addition to former dean duce zhang joins geosciences distinguished professors gerald north professor of atmospheric sciences and worth nowlin professor emeritus of oceanography oceanography professor robert o reid deceased was also a designee    for more information: texas a&m university 2014 distinguished professors distinguished professor criteria and list     feb 28 2014 kriedel@tamuedu communications manager college of geosciences dr renyi zhang " " workshop held to share current science and future effects of climate changefeb 28 2014texas a&m faculty from the college of geosciences will present two sessions on the current state of climate science march 10 and 17 the first-of-its-kind workshop is being offered to help the university community better understand the science of climate change and how the earths climate will develop over the rest of this century a lot of misconceptions and myths still remain even among scientists said gunnar schade associate professor of atmospheric sciences and coordinator of the workshop we want to help the university community better understand the issues surrounding this critical topic the workshops are free and geared toward faculty researchers and lecturers across campus the workshops are offered in conjunction with the recently published intergovernmental panel on climate changes fifth assessment report from working group i which addresses the physical evidence and just before the working group ii report due march 31 which discusses impacts and vulnerability faculty participants include atmospheric science professors andrew dessler gerald north john nielsen-gammon r saravanan and gunnar schade addressing a&m administrators and staff on march 21 schade and north will present its real its us and its going to be bad at the coffee conversations sponsored by the employee and organizational development office employees can learn what climate their children and grandchildren will inherit and how the college of geosciences is contributing to climate research and public education   climate change workshops 9 am–1 pm march 10 and 17 2014 room tbd eller o&m building   9–9:15             introduction and collection of audience questions 9:15–11           15-min short presentations by atmospheric sciences faculty with 10-min q&a sessions focus is on ipcc consensus science 11–11:30          interactive: the most common climate myths and how to address them 11:30–12:30     box lunch with open discussion 12:30 –13:00    wrap-up: latest developments discussions and impacts   please send reservations for box lunches by the friday before the workshop to gunnar schade at gws@tamuedu dr gunnar w schade " " geoscientists discuss global ocean and society issuesfeb 23 2014honolulu hawaii texas a&m geoscientists are attending the 17th biennial ocean sciences meeting  the largest international assembly of ocean scientists engineers students educators policy makers and other stake holders  students professors and researchers from the college of geosciences' departments of atmospheric sciences and oceanography and the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) are presenting poster sessions panel discussions and invited remarks on the past present and future of the world's oceans  the conferences is sponsored by the association for the sciences of limnology and oceanography  the oceanography society and the american geophysical union daily coverage of this conference can be found on the blog (osm-aggiesweeblycom) the 2014 ocean sciences meeting takes place at the hawaii convention center in honolulu " the 2014 ocean sciences meeting takes place at the hawaii convention center in honolulu " carlos dengo is named director of berg hughes centerjan 31 2014dr carlos dengo a former student and exxonmobil executive has been named director of texas a&ms berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systemshe also holds the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geophysics and is executive professor of geology and geophysics the berg-hughes center housed in the department of geology and geophysics and part of a joint program with the department of petroleum engineering provides a cross-disciplinary approach integrating geology geophysics and petroleum engineering dengo a native of costa rica received his masters in 1978 and doctorate in 1982 in geology from texas a&m after graduation he joined exxon production research company focusing on structural geology research and technology applications with exxon affiliates worldwide increasing responsibility within exxon and later with exxonmobil gave him experience in a variety of managerial functions he was the companys geoscience resource operations manager worldwide before being appointed technical vice president for exxonmobil exploration company in 2006 and geoscience vice president for exxonmobil upstream research company in 2008 he retired in 2012 with 30 years of service dengo said he accepted the offer to be the second director of the berg-hughes center because of the challenge this nation faces in developing the future workforce needed for the  energy industry  hes had a long-time interest in and has supported the college of geosciences and texas a&m including being a founding member of the berg-hughes center vision: preeminence in petroleum studies my vision is for the berg-hughes center to be recognized as the preeminent academic and applied center for integrated petroleum studies he said we want to provide an environment that attracts internationally recognized faculty and outstanding students who are highly sought after for positions in government academia and industry he points out that the collaboration with the college of engineerings department of petroleum engineering and both colleges close ties with the energy industry make the berg-hughes center a unique opportunity for faculty and students interested in petroleum-related research and education  we are delighted to welcome someone of carlos caliber and experience as the director of the berg-hughes center said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences carlos brings the vision energy and industry insight we need to continue the momentum for this program dengo received his undergraduate degree from syracuse university which honored him in 2009 with the winchell distinguished alumni award from the department of earth sciences  he has received best paper awards from the us national rock mechanics committee and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg)  he has also served as an aapg international distinguished lecturer service to the college until his appointment as berg-hughes center director dengo served on the college of geosciences advisory board for six years and had previously served on the advisory council of the department of geology and geophysics  he is an active member of the development board of the american geophysical union (agu) and the geoscience research foundation external advisory board at sandia national laboratories  he has also served on the advisory board of the school of earth sciences at stanford university and the advisory council of aapg dengo is professionally affiliated with the geological society of america (gsa) the european association of geoscientists and engineers (eage) aapg and agu he will give the michel t halbouty lecture at the american association of petroleum geologists annual meeting april 7 the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geophysics was establishedin 1998  through the generous gift of dudley hughes '51 a founding member of the berg-hughes center karen riedelcommunications managercollege of geosciences kriedel@tamuedu   (979) 845-0910 dr carlos a dengo " " seven new faculty members join geosciencesjan 31 2014the college of geosciences welcomes seven new faculty members to aggieland four are in the department of geology and geophysics two are in oceanography and one is in atmospheric sciences atmospheric sciences christopher nowotarski is an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences his research uses data from idealized simulations forecast models and observations to develop tools to help forecasters better predict severe weather threats in current and future climates and provide effective warning to the public this goal includes assessments and improvements of warning communication strategies nowotarski says he is excited to join the faculty at texas a&m especially in mentoring and cultivating the immense enthusiasm for weather shared by the atmospheric sciences students his three degrees are in meteorology from pennsylvania state university   geology and geophysics ryan ewing is an assistant professor with a specialty in sedimentology he received his bachelors from colorado college and his ms and phd from the university of texas ryan received a national science foundation earth sciences postdoctoral fellowship to study at princeton university and california institute of technology  his research interests include wind-blown landforms and sedimentary deposits on earth mars and titan and he uses largely field methods and remote sensing to study these systems he also likes running and making beer   peter knappett is an assistant professor with research interests in field and experimental hydrology his specific interest is in microbial and particle transport in groundwater usually in the context of surface water-groundwater interactions he has a bsc in earth sciences an msc in civil engineering from the university of waterloo and a phd in hydrogeology from the university of tennessee knoxville hes been to bangladesh seven times where he has enjoyed seeing the ruins from the british raj period swimming in the meghna river and hiking in the himalayas   john pantano is a research professor whose research involves advancing concepts and technologies to better understand the geological history of sedimentary basins and the origin and distribution of unconventional and conventional petroleum resources  he is interested in pursuing collaborative multidisciplinary research projects with geoscientists and petroleum engineers from industry and academia that will significantly improve our understanding of petroleum systems and self-sourced petroleum reservoirs he earned a bs in zoology from the university of michigan and his ms and phd in geology from the university of south carolina   bobby reece is an assistant professor researching plate boundaries processes associated with climate-tectonic interaction continental margin deformation and high-resolution studies of marine hazards his primary research tool is reflection seismology but he utilizes multiple geophysical methods to piece together the big picture  he has a ba in geology from skidmore college and a phd in geosciences from the university of texas at austin before diving into geosciences bobby served eight years in the us navy submarine force which included a stint on the los angeles class submarine uss louisville in pearl harbor originally from georgia bobby says he feels at home in college station and looks forward to his wife julia reece joining the department later this summer   oceanography katie shamberger assistant professor of oceanography focuses on the ocean carbon cycle its alteration by anthropogenic ocean acidification and the impacts of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms and ecosystems she is particularly interested in coastal ocean-carbon cycling especially within coral reef systems  she has worked on coral reefs in the caribbean hawaii american samoa palau and the great barrier reef in australia   chrissy wiederwohl instructional assistant professor of oceanography studies currents and water mass structures of the southern ocean the southern oceans role in climate change decadal variability of water masses and the antarctic slope front variability and role in water mass formation her latest research investigates the southern oceans role in the accelerated melting of antarctic glaciers  she is a sea-going physical oceanographer with over 125 days logged at sea during four expeditions to the southern ocean she has a bs in marine science from coastal carolina university and an ms and phd in oceanography from texas a&m   karen riedel communications manager college of geosciences " " study examines iceberg shifts in north atlanticjan 29 2014some heinrich events – periodic massive iceberg surges into the north atlantic that were previously thought to have weakened the global ocean conveyor belt circulation and sent earths climate into the deep freeze – may actually have been caused by changes in atmospheric circulation patterns say a team of researchers that includes two texas a&m university professorsmatthew schmidt associate professor of oceanography and ping chang professor of oceanography and atmospheric science and director of the texas center for climate studies along with colleagues from georgia tech princeton the woods hole oceanographic institution the university of cambridge and germanys university of bremen have had their findings published in the latest issue of nature geoscience to make this discovery the researchers studied the chemistry of shells produced by benthic foraminifera single-celled organisms that live near the sea floor  these benthic foraminifera were collected from sediment cores recovered from the margins of the florida straits by studying the oxygen isotope composition of the shells the researchers were able to reconstruct past changes in florida current transport which is directly related to the strength of the global conveyor belt circulation researchers have known for years about heinrich events periods of extreme cold in the north atlantic these events were named for the geologist who first discovered them hartmut heinrich they occurred during the last ice age when immense icebergs broke loose from glaciers and as they melted deposited ice rafted debris on the sea floor six of these heinrich events have been identified and they are known as h1 through h6 while there is evidence that the last heinrich event that occurred around 17 000 years ago was indeed caused by a dramatic reduction in the oceans conveyor belt circulation our new reconstruction of ocean circulation patterns during some earlier heinrich events that occurred during the last ice age between 20 000 and 30 000 years ago did not reveal significant changes in ocean circulation schmidt explains nevertheless these heinrich events were experienced worldwide so they must have been transmitted via the atmosphere schmidt says that the study has important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms of abrupt climate change in the past the more we know about how climate changed in the past the better prepared we will be for predicting future climate variability new study examines iceberg movement photo: shutterstock " " asian air pollution affecting worlds weatherjan 25 2014extreme air pollution in asia is affecting the worlds weather and climate patterns according to a study by texas a&m university and nasas jet propulsion laboratory researchersyuan wang a former doctoral student at texas a&m along with texas a&m atmospheric sciences professors renyi zhang and r saravanan have had their findings published in the current issue of nature communications using climate models and data collected about aerosols and meteorology over the past 30 years the researchers found that air pollution over asia – much of it coming from china – is impacting global air circulations the models clearly show that pollution originating from asia has an impact on the upper atmosphere and it appears to make such storms or cyclones even stronger zhang explains this pollution affects cloud formations precipitation storm intensity and other factors and eventually impacts climate  most likely pollution from asia can have important consequences on the weather pattern here over north america chinas booming economy during the last 30 years has led to the building of enormous manufacturing factories industrial plants power plants and other facilities that produce huge amounts of air pollutants  once emitted into the atmosphere pollutant particles affect cloud formations and weather systems worldwide the study shows increases in coal burning and car emissions are major sources of pollution in china and other asian countries air pollution levels in some chinese cities such as beijing are often more than 100 times higher than acceptable limits set by the world health organization standards zhang says one study has shown that lung cancer rates have increased 400 percent in some areas due to the ever-growing pollution problem conditions tend to worsen during winter months when a combination of stagnant weather patterns mixed with increased coal burning in many asian cities can create pollution and smog that can last for weeks  the chinese government has pledged to toughen pollution standards and to commit sufficient financial resources to attack the problem the models we have used and our data are very consistent with the results we have reached saravanan says huge amounts of aerosols from asia go as high as six miles up in the atmosphere and these have an unmistakable impact on cloud formations and weather zhang adds that we need to do some future research on exactly how these aerosols are transported globally and impact climate there are many other atmospheric observations and models we need to look at to see how this entire process works yuan wang who conducted the research with zhang while at texas a&m currently works at nasas jet propulsion laboratory as a caltech postdoctoral scholar the study was funded by grants from nasa texas a&ms supercomputing facilities and the ministry of science and technology of china two chinese cylists ride near factory in northern china ( photo: epoch times) " two chinese cylists ride near factory in northern china ( photo: epoch times) " texas a&m prof hoping to unlock secrets of alcatrazjan 8 2014 a texas a&m university researcher is part of a team trying to uncover long-lost secrets in one of the countrys most infamous sites – alcatraz island mark everett professor of geology and geophysics has joined with colleagues from californias chico state university and the national parks service to see what is beneath layers of soil and concrete on alcatraz located in san francisco bay at various times the island has been home to the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast a military fortification a military prison and a federal prison everett and the team are exploring the civil war connections to alcatraz (which is derived from the spanish word for pelican) and how the island may contain hidden tunnels and chambers about 12 to 15 feet below the recreation yard and parade ground of the prison we know from records and drawings that alcatraz at one time called fortress alcatraz has been heavily fortified everett explains at one time it had 105 cannons that were to be used to protect the bay area we know that the soldiers constructed what was called a ‘caponier a large concrete and brick structure that extended outward so that if invaded you could fire from different angles we also know that the us army built underground tunnels and embankments and we believe we have found the remains of several of these using ground-penetrating radar everett says the team has located them beneath the recreation yard and parade ground built during the penitentiary era on alcatraz 22 acres because of its location away from the mainland and the cold waters surrounding it alcatraz was used to house civil war prisoners as early as 1861 and by 1868 it was designated as a long-term detention facility to hold military prisoners it became a federal bureau of prisons facility in 1933 and was used to house some of the nations most famous criminals among the many convicts who called the island home were george machine gun kelly mickey cohen robert stroud known as the birdman of alcatraz and al capone at least 14 escape attempts were made by dozens of prisoners but it is believed none were successful during the prisons 29-year existence due to its deterioration and large upkeep (it cost more than three times to maintain compared to other federal prisons) then-attorney general robert kennedy closed alcatraz on march 21 1963 one of the big problems that always plagued alcatraz was water  it had none and water had to be brought in to fill a water tower on the grounds everett says water was always an issue with the facility we do believe there are considerable structures 12 feet or so under the surface that are the original fortifications and that these were covered over through the years for prison use its possible there could be some of the original weapons and arms down there too we hope to return next fall to learn what exactly is down there and it would be nice if the national park service is able to could recover some of it for the benefit of the general public alcatraz has had a very colorful past and there could be some great history down there dr mark everett professor of geology explains to bbc world reporters the ground penetrating radar used to uncover civil war fortifications on alcatraz island " dr mark everett professor of geology explains to bbc world reporters the ground penetrating radar used to uncover civil war fortifications on alcatraz island " faculty and staff receive awardsjan 6 2014the college of geosciences honored outstanding faculty and staff members for their achievements in 2013the dean's outstanding achievement awards were presented friday night dec 6 at a dinner in conjunction with the annual holiday reception dean kate miller presented a framed certificate and check to the following: dr chris houser associate professor of geography was recognized as an innovative teacher who makes extensive use of evidence-based pedagogic methods he received the deans distinguished achievement award for teaching dr steven f dimarco professor of oceanography was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for research and was recognized as a leader in the gulf of mexico physical oceanography community who has made important contribution to understanding basic physical processes in the gulf assistant professor of geography dr brendan roark was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty service his nominators said dr roark has worked tirelessly over the past five years to develop a world-class isotope facility that serves the college of geosciences the deans award for faculty administrative service went to dr vatche p tchakerian professor and head of geography he was recognized for his ability to heal rifts by amongst other things his very inclusive effective low-key style of governance three staff awards went out to barbara bayer assistant dean for administration and finance; karen riedel communications manager; and david lehnert materials specialist bayer was recognized for her leadership of all business functions and staff riedel for her effective communication of the college of geosciences mission and accomplishments and lehnert for his attention to detail and keeping his fingers on the pulse of the industry the association of former students (afs) presented two faculty members dr christian brannstrom professor of geography and dr shaima nasiri associate professor of atmospheric sciences with the college-level teaching award eleven receive tenure and promotion the awards ceremony also honored faculty members who were tenured and promoted in 2013 the following were promoted to associate professor and granted tenure geology and geophysics drs benchun duan and michael m tice atmospheric sciences: dr robert l kortyoceanography: dr matthew w schmidt the following were promoted to professor: atmospheric sciences: dr courtney schumacher  geography: drs christian brannstrom and charles w lafonoceanography: drs steve dimarco alejandro orsi and robert d hetlandgeology and geophysics: dr richard l gibson  additional achievements recognizeddr peter liss tias fellow and visiting professor of oceanography and atmospheric sciences was named 2013 american geological union (agu) fellow and dr ping yang was honored with the agu ascent award dr schumacher received the agu editors citation for excellence in refereeing for eos and was also honored with the american meteorological society (ams) clarence leroy meisinger award the ams recognized dr andrew e dessler as recipient of the louis j battan authors award dr oliver frauenfeld is the 2013–14 montague-cte scholar dr wendy jepson received the richard stadelmann faculty senate service award dr john nielsen-gammon was recognized as 2013 outstanding science communicator by the texas a&m chapter of sigma xi received the texas a&m sec faculty achievement award and won the 2013 educational aids blue ribbon award for his entry into the american society of agricultural and biological engineers (asabe) eliana mijangos january 3 2014   contactkaren riedelcommunications managertel: (979) 845-0910 " " the college of geosciences honored outstanding faculty and staff members for their achievements in 2013jan 3 2014the college of geosciences honored outstanding faculty and staff members for their achievements in 2013the dean's outstanding achievement awards were presented friday night dec 6 at a dinner in conjunction with the annual holiday reception dean kate miller presented a framed certificate and check to the following: dr chris houser associate professor of geography was recognized as an innovative teacher who makes extensive use of evidence-based pedagogic methods he received the deans distinguished achievement award for teaching dr steven f dimarco professor of oceanography was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for research and was recognized as a leader in the gulf of mexico physical oceanography community who has made important contribution to understanding basic physical processes in the gulf assistant professor of geography dr brendan roark was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty service his nominators said dr roark has worked tirelessly over the past five years to develop a world-class isotope facility that serves the college of geosciences the deans award for faculty administrative service went to dr vatche p tchakerian professor and head of geography he was recognized for his ability to heal rifts by amongst other things his very inclusive effective low-key style of governance three staff awards went out to barbara bayer assistant dean for administration and finance; karen riedel communications manager; and david lehnert materials specialist bayer was recognized for her leadership of all business functions and staff riedel for her effective communication of the college of geosciences mission and accomplishments and lehnert for his attention to detail and keeping his fingers on the pulse of the industry the association of former students (afs) presented two faculty members dr christian brannstrom professor of geography and dr shaima nasiri associate professor of atmospheric sciences with the college-level teaching award eleven receive tenure and promotion the awards ceremony also honored faculty members who were tenured and promoted in 2013 the following were promoted to associate professor and granted tenure geology and geophysics drs benchun duan and michael m tice atmospheric sciences: dr robert l kortyoceanography: dr matthew w schmidt the following were promoted to professor: atmospheric sciences: dr courtney schumacher  geography: drs christian brannstrom and charles w lafonoceanography: drs steve dimarco alejandro orsi and robert d hetlandgeology and geophysics: dr richard l gibson  additional achievements recognizeddr peter liss tias fellow and visiting professor of oceanography and atmospheric sciences was named 2013 american geological union (agu) fellow and dr ping yang was honored with the agu ascent award dr schumacher received the agu editors citation for excellence in refereeing for eos and was also honored with the american meteorological society (ams) clarence leroy meisinger award the ams recognized dr andrew e dessler as recipient of the louis j battan authors award dr oliver frauenfeld is the 2013–14 montague-cte scholar dr wendy jepson received the richard stadelmann faculty senate service award dr john nielsen-gammon was recognized as 2013 outstanding science communicator by the texas a&m chapter of sigma xi received the texas a&m sec faculty achievement award and won the 2013 educational aids blue ribbon award for his entry into the american society of agricultural and biological engineers (asabe) eliana mijangos january 3 2014   contactkaren riedelcommunications managertel: (979) 845-0910 barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration 9798621146 " barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration 9798621146 " 2015 agu fall meetingdec 21 2015more than 100 faculty staff and students from the college of geosciences at texas a&m attended the 48th annual meeting of agu in san francisco last week agu fall meeting poster hall this gathering attracts around 24 000 attendees from the most respected scientists across the globe to the aspiring students anxious to secure an employment opportunity networking or to further their education  subjects on the agenda ranged from atmospheric sciences global environmental change and mineral and rock physics to planetary sciences ocean sciences techtonophysics and biogeosciences and many more  geosciences faculty were very active in the presentations entering more than 50 presentations publications posters and discussions   the prestigious agu meeting showcases the latest science usually before publication in over 1700 sessions and 23 000 presentations strategically grouped for certain interest topics  for more information about the 2015 agu program visit http://fallmeetingaguorg/2015/ " " 2015 faculty awardsdec 17 2015as 2015 comes to a close we reflect on the hard work and accomplishments made by our faculty and staff not only has it been 50 years of the college of geosciences – its also been 50 years of continuous dedication and hard work by the people within this college we would like to take the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions which have been made throughout this momentous year the commitment of our faculty is apparent as we recognize years of service to texas a&m university mark everett steven schroder margaret foster mitch malone karen graber katerina petronotis and edgar dillard are celebrating 20 years in the college piers chapman rhonda kappler ping chang and sylvia pitts are celebrating 25 years andreas kronenberg rick giardino wilford gardner mary jo richardson paul stine jose sericano and william mackan are celebrating 30 years of service and lastly celebrating 35 years of service are jean wulfson stephen sweet debra defreitas janice muston and thomas yancey congratulations and thank you for your continuous commitment to the success of this organization recognizing the advancement of our faculty members there are several promotions and tenure positions which were awarded this year  dr andrew klein was promoted to professor of geography  dr debbie thomas was promoted to department head and professor of oceanography  dr shari yvon-lewis was promoted to the professor of oceanography  dr eric riggs was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of geology and geophysics  dr inci guneralp and dr brendan roark were both awarded tenure and promoted to associate professors of geography  lastly dr mike pope was promoted to the department head of geology and geophysics  congratulations to each of these hardworking faculty members there were two recipients for this years deans achievement award for exemplary staff services  the first is maureen reap facilities coordinator her nominator wrote the following about ms reap for 29 years her commitment to the college and university extends infinitely beyond merely ensuring the safety and functionality of our facilities and infinitely beyond the minutia of her position description  maureen‘s heroic contributions arise from her inspiring efforts to improve the teaching and research infrastructure of the college so that aggies who pass through our doors have access to world-class facilities  the second recipient of this award is cindie powell editor for the texas sea grant college program because of cindies tremendous service dedication and professionalism the programs communications reach has expanded and has reached new heights wrote her nominator we recognize these two individuals for their efforts in bettering the geosciences organization the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in research went to dr ramalingam saravanan professor in atmospheric sciences his nomination letter describes dr saravanan as one of very few climate dynamists considered truly versatile in nearly every aspect of climate research from data analysis to numerical modeling to theoretical study this makes him one of the most talented climate scientists i have ever known in his fifteenth year at texas a&m dr saravanan has 55 published papers – 33 of which he has written in his time at this university receiving the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in teaching is dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences he is recognized for his dedication to his students and their exposure to high-impact activities inside and out of the classroom a colleague describes dr conlee as an absolutely essential role within the department in our high-impact learning efforts  his leadership and enthusiasm have inspired hundreds of undergraduate students the second recipient for the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence is dr pamela plotkin director of the texas sea grant college program  among her usual faculty activities dr plotkins leadership has been essential in elevating the national rating of the texas sea grant program a colleague says the following about dr plotkin she leads by example particularly in promoting the teaching-research-extension capacity of our college  the exposure that statewide extension provides for the college of geosciences benefits every unit and program and contributes directly to the strategic vision of establishing the geosciences as the defining discipline of the 21st century it is for these reasons above and many unmentioned that these individuals are recognized with this prestigious award the final award was started in 1982 by the association of former students in which they fund awards to honor faculty members who demonstrate unwavering dedication to teaching this years distinguished achievement college-level teaching award recipients are dr kathleen oreilly and dr lisa campbell both of these individuals are known for their commitment to their students and passion in the classroom dr oreillys enthusiasm is extraordinary  regardless of the lesson being taught she enters the classroom with excitement and optimism writes a student similar praise is passed onto dr campbell as a former student says dr campbell is sincerely passionate about the oceans and she instills within her students that same passion…her teaching has a ripple effect reaching not just the students she directly educates but through the impact they will have from her influence congratulations to all of the individuals recognized the year 2015 has been extremely successful for the college of geosciences and it is due to the hard work which our faculty and staff continuously demonstrates thank you all for the great year and we look forward to the success that the year 2016 will bring " " geosciences: 50 years more than 10 000 students 1 college dec 15 2015the college of geosciences celebrated its 50th anniversary on oct 1 during a gala reception and program featuring texas a&m president michael young former dean of geosciences robert duce and geosciences former student stuart burbach '77 more than 300 students former students friends faculty and staff gathered together to celebrate a rich history and look towards a bright future geosciences 50th anniversary gala on oct 1 1965 then-texas a&m president earl rudder with great prescience officially approved the formation of the college of geosciences and it was quickly on a path to remarkable work the texas sea grant program was established soon after in 1968 to study texas coastal and marine issues and it boosted texas a&m's status as a land-grant sea-grant institution space grant was added to the mix in a few more years making the school just one of a handful in the united states to have the rare triple designation from unique studies on weather and historic droughts to air pollution and how it affects everyone on earth from exploration and development of oil and gas reserves to taking never-before-seen photos of the martian terrain the college of geosciences faculty has produced some of the world's most critical and timely research and has taught new generations of geoscientists to follow in their footsteps ‹ more than justifying rudder's signature in 1965 ""our college's many contributions in the last 50 years have been life-changing "" said dean kate miller ""and just as important our faculty has done an outstanding job of graduating students who continue the work around the world in the many occupations concerned with earth's systems our future looks incredibly bright ‹ as notable as the last 50 years have been the next half-century should be even more impressive"" miller adds that the faculty staff and students of the college adhere to its mission: that of advancing new understandings of the earth system and applying them to the needs of society and preparing the next generation of geoscientists to conduct research to find and develop natural resources and to measure and respond to environmental change with two percent of the university's total enrollment ‹ it is one of the smallest of texas a&m's 12 academic units ‹ the college of geosciences receives about 20 percent of the university's research dollars in federal funding the face of the student body has certainly changed going from almost all male of a little more than 200 students in 1965 to today's enrollment of nearly 1 500 some of the college's largest gains have been made in the last six years with enrollment increasing 56 percent and more than one-third of the undergraduate classes coming from under-represented or first-generation families today's students in geosciences are far more likely to have global experiences than those from the college's earlier days whether through studying abroad being part of research expeditions at sea or participating in service projects in costa rica and mexico in fact study abroad participation in the college of geosciences increased 38 percent this past academic year the largest percentage increase on campus today's geosciences students are also more likely to participate in undergraduate research including some departments where more than 50 percent of the students have one or more semesters working with professors on original research threaded throughout the college's history is the importance of high performance computing in transforming the discipline reliance on data-intensive analyses is now more important than ever says miller ""the world economic forum describes big data as the new economic asset "" she said ""as important as gold or oil and we see it in our field whether it is the advent of the digital oil field complex modeling of weather patterns and climate change over time or our new degree in geographic information science and technology"" one of the areas of research relying on integrated data analysis is scientific ocean drilling the college manages the largest research grant in texas a&m's history ­ the international ocean discovery program (iodp) it is the largest sustained nsf-sponsored geosciences program in the world contributing more than $25 billion to the local and state economy for 30 years it has enhanced the international reputation of the university its research has rewritten textbooks and its scientific contributions to the history of global climate change of tectonic processes and of the evolution of life beneath the seafloor is invaluable the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems is investing in the ""data-driven"" oil field to find more efficient ways to identify and recover oil and gas in unconventional formations the gulf integrated spill consortium a $14-million grant from the bp settlement seeks to understand and predict the fundamental behavior of petroleum fluids in the ocean environment in addition faculty students and staff have achieved a number of ""firsts:"" the first to drill into the japanese trench to better understand the processes underlying the 2011 earthquake; the first to develop and operate the camera system for mars exploration including the current mars rover curiosity; the first to measure and monitor the levels of oxygen deprived water ‹ called hypoxia ‹ in the western gulf of mexico; the first to launch successfully a system of ocean observing tools in the gulf of mexico including underwater and surface drone-like devices; the first and only university to curate the cores from the san andreas fault; and the first and only scientific team to provide consistent monitoring and reporting of the human impact on the environment at mcmurdo and palmer stations in antarctica such key research has attracted considerable media attention in recent years and the college's faculty routinely appears or is mentioned in such outlets as the weather channel usa today fox news cbs nbc abc the bbc the wall street journal the new york times and dozens of other media outlets around the world from austin to auckland " " texas a&m university and university of haifa expand global ocean observatory and education to the mediterranean seadec 11 2015college station texas and haifa israel – dec14 2015 – texas a&m university and the university of haifa announced today their plans to establish a major mediterranean observatory to capitalize on the oceanographic and atmospheric strengths of the two institutions and build on existing teaching and research in the gulf of mexico steve dimarco the agreement totaling more than $55 m in initial investments will be known as the texas a&m – university of haifa eastern mediterranean observatory (themo) the observatory will be located at the university of haifa with its access to critical mediterranean coastal regions while drawing on instrumentation and analytical expertise of texas a&m university faculty and their similar research initiatives in the gulf of mexico while separated geographically by half a world the gulf of mexico and the mediterranean sea are viewed as similar bodies of water and thus provide unique opportunities for comparative analysis of their related impacts on the environment industry and people of their regions   this teaching and research partnership is a critical step for texas a&m university on its way to becoming a $1 billion-a-year research giant said john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m university system who wouldnt want to work with israel literally the subject of the book start-up nation where innovation is not only necessary it is valued texas a&m university president michael k young who formally signed the underlying memorandum of understanding between the two universities said: this project is yet another example of texas a&ms leadership in addressing the global challenges of our time  it is this type of partnership among our faculty and their colleagues around the world at leading institutions such as the university of haifa that will bring about knowledge needed for lasting change  amos shapira president of the university of haifa said there are many benefits to working together this collaboration with one of the biggest and best universities in the united states strengthens the role of the university of haifa as the leading university in israel in the field of marine sciences said president shapira our understanding on what is happening in the deep water around israels shores is one of strategic importance because the sea is the future of the state of israel and all of humanity the strategic and scientific venture connects common environmental interests of the two university sites through the monitoring and comparison of processes associated with two similar bodies of water – the gulf of mexico and the eastern mediterranean sea  led by faculty of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the project will be multidisciplinary drawing on expertise from various fields and disciplines understanding how the ever-changing oceans biota and atmosphere affect humankind is one of the great global challenges of the next several decades and scientists at both universities are addressing the challenge by sharing resources said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university   dr tony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group professor of oceanography and texas a&m universitys principal investigator for the endeavor said: the role that oceans play in storing and releasing heat the consequent effects on sea level and precipitation on land and the relationship between water availability and energy are key in effectively managing the health safety and financial well-being of our societies the observatory a shore-based facility to be established at the university of haifa will receive and transmit data from two moorings in the levant basin of the eastern mediterranean sea university of haifa officials and faculty were successful in receiving the first of these permissions among the many entities that share governance responsibilities in the mediterranean sea to allow this research  commencing in 2016 implementation is expected to involve over 20 faculty members from the two institutions although that number is expected to grow as the data can be utilized in multi-disciplinary research while the data collection analysis modeling and research will be critical to the coastal populations that depend on them for food and energy resources the faculty also hopes to draw comparisons from the gulf of mexico data and modeling that has been underway for some time  in future projects the goal of this ocean observatory could allow for advanced weather and sea level forecasting improved ecosystem science and management hazards prevention and disaster recovery and enhanced understanding of regions and their adjoining coastal environments  texas a&m university's college of geosciences has been a pioneer in earth sciences beginning with mapping of ocean floors scientific ocean drilling programs and the establishment of a similar observatory the texas automated buoy system for the gulf of mexico in partnership with the texas general land office oil spill prevention & response in 1995  conversations are underway to expand the gulf of mexico observatory to include partners in mexico and the caribbean similarly both bodies of water have profound impacts on the weather climate ecosystem resources and economy of the 50 million people who live in texas and other gulf of mexico states as well as the 100 million people who live in the levant this collaboration will promote our marine research at the university of haifa significantly and it is another step in our vast investment in marine science only a few months ago we inaugurated our new labs for research of shallow waters and now we will be able to deepen our vision into the deep ocean said professor david faragi the rector of the university of haifa texas a&m university is known as a global leading institution with expert faculty and programs in a range of fields that complement the efforts of the university of haifa our hope is that this effort can become a robust research and teaching program in addition to establishing the observatory and instrumentation faculty and student exchange is a critical part of the project  faculty from both institutions will participate in regular joint symposium and data modeling sessions  graduate and undergraduate students will have opportunities to participate in courses within each universitys area of specialization to utilize real-time data to advance research projects and to help educate the public as part of the outreach and service missions of each university  about the university of haifathe university of haifa established in 1972 is a leading academic institution in israel it was selected by the council for higher education in israel to lead the field of marine research in the mediterranean as well as the field of education in a networked society the university of haifa is a developing and dynamic institution with a world-renowned reputation in many different fields of research and it is the leading university in israel in the fields of the humanities social sciences law welfare and health sciences natural sciences education and management our faculty and student population is unique in its composition we have the largest number of military and security personnel who acquire their education there alongside jewish haredi and secular students new immigrants arabs and druze the university of haifa is the most pluralistic institution of higher learning in israel and is a shining example of how excellent research and teaching can be conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect and inclusion about texas a&m universitytexas a&m university is one of the largest and most diversified institutions of higher learning in the nation with a record enrollment of more than 60 000 students as one of the worlds leading research institutions with expenditures of more than $854 million texas a&m is conducting cutting-edge research that is changing lives worldwide and helping to stimulate the texas economy  one of a select few institutions to hold triple federal designation as a land- sea- and space-grant university texas a&m develops leaders of character dedicated to serving the greater good " " dr julie loisel completes her first semester in the college of geosciencesdec 7 2015dr julie loisel is about to complete her first semester as a faculty member within the college of geosciences dr loisel began her academic career at université de québec in montréal canada she studied physical geography for her undergraduate and masters degrees she pursued her phd in earth and environmental studies at lehigh university graduating in 2012 with the dissertation autogenic and allogenic controls on carbon dynamics in peatlands from alaska and patagonia loisel has over five years of experience as a teaching assistant and adjunct faculty at former universities her courses covered a range of material from the science of environmental issues and terrestrial ecosystem ecology to biogeography she brings these experiences to the classroom in the course on planet earth which she taught this fall among her academic endeavors loisel has conducted a large amount of external research she served as a visiting research scholar at texas a&m galveston in 2014 studying lignin phenols carbohydrates and amino acid extraction and analyses loisels latest post-doctoral research took place at the university of california los angeles focusing on climate change in the southwest and its impacts on terrestrial ecosystems loisel is the recipient of a multitude of awards and research grants including the alexander graham bell canada doctoral postgraduate scholarship awarded by the canadian government to one outstanding phd student this year loisel is also part of a large research grant from the national science foundation earth sciences division p2c2 program  (paleo perspectives on climate change) to support research on water isotopes in peat mosses as proxies for understanding climate and atmospheric circulation changes in southern patagonia loisel participated in the project design and proposal writing for this grant loisel has 14 publications and has participated in more than 30 seminars and speaking engagements about her research topics she is also a member of the association of american geographers as well as a host of other scientific organizations by: emily peter ‘15 " " nick perez joins the college of geosciencesnov 9 2015tectonic basin analyst nick perez joins department geology and geophysicsnicholas perez in an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics he attended the university of texas where he received his bachelors and doctorate in geological sciences perezs research interests include investigating the dynamics of foreland and hinterland basins during active orogenesis sediment routing systems integrating stratigraphy geochronology geophysics and kinematics to link basin and deformation histories and understanding the role of structural inheritance on deformation and subsidence patterns perez has previous experience as a graduate research and teaching assistant as well as an undergraduate laboratory and field assistant at the university of texas in 2014 he was an invited speaker at texas a&m as well as the university of texas at dallas perez has over 10 scientific publications eight of which he is the main contributor he has also participated in extensive field experiences in the andes of bolivia argentina and peru as well as the canadian cordillera his dissertation research integrated stratigraphic structural and geochronologic constraints to determine the cenozoic deformation history of the central andes in southern peru future research interests include the permian basin of west texas the cascades in the pacific northwest and the atlas mountains in morocco assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics nick perez " assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics nick perez " meteorology student is awarded endowed scholarshipnov 3 2015meteorology student quinton a lawton of houston texas has been awarded one of 14 freshmen scholarships nationwide from the american meteorological societylawton received the 2015 american meteorological society/percival d wark and clara b (mackey) wark endowed scholarship  the ams freshman undergraduate scholarship encourages high school students to pursue careers in the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences the scholarships are based on merit and are awarded to students who have shown the potential for accomplishment in these fields the award is $2 500 for nine months in the freshman year and an additional $2 500 for in the sophomore year based on performance in the first year dr david q wark a fellow of ams member and a united states federal employee for over a half-a-century endowed the ams named scholarship in honor of his late parents percival damon wark and clara belle (mackey) wark as stated by dr wark the establishment of this scholarship is prompted by the donors acknowledgment of the outstanding scientific and cultural leadership of the ams as well as its unique and universal position in promoting the science of meteorology it is fitting that percival d wark and clara b (mackey) wark should be memorialized in this milieu  the american meteorological society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications founded in 1919 ams has a membership of more than 13 000 professionals professors students and weather enthusiasts  quinton a lawton " " air and water: geosciences experts speak at texas tribune festivaloct 16 2015three professors in the college of geosciences are speakers at the fifth annual texas tribune festival andrew dessler wendy jepson john nielsen-gammon wendy jepson associate professor in the department of geography and andrew dessler professor and john nielsen-gammon regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences will be on two panels during the four-day event   jepson is on the panel a water reality check at 8:30 am saturday oct 17 jepson has done extensive research on the environmental inequities in low-income rural and mexican-american neighborhoods along the texas-mexico border dessler and nielsen-gammon are on the panel the fight over climate at 9:50 am saturday oct 17 desslers research is in atmospheric chemistry climate change and climate change policy he has been a researcher at nasa and served as a senior policy analyst in the white house office of science and technology policy during the last year of the clinton administration nielsen-gammon is state climatologist a position he has held for 15 years he has traveled the state and nation giving hundreds of talks on the impacts of climate to organizations ranging from local farmers and ranchers to state and national associations and legislative bodies he has conducted extensive research on jet streams and extreme rainfall events and performed diagnostic analysis of ozone events in houston and dallas  by karen riedel " " the berg-hughes center symposium looks to the futureoct 7 2015symposium on oct 16 will assess the future of the energy industry including unconventional resources the future 50 will be held oct 16 in the annenberg presidential conference center  this is the sixth annual symposium sponsored by the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary system with participation from the crisman institute for petroleum research this years conference honors the college of geosciences 50th anniversary we are also looking at the berg-hughes centers future research and educational direction said carlos dengo 78 director of the center the symposium opens with the status and perspectives of the berg-hughes center the crisman institute and the department of geology and geophysics dusty marshall 75 member of the geology and geophysics advisory council will present reflections on the life and lessons from robert r berg one of the centers namesakes and longtime professor department head and revered teacher and mentor  the keynote address a geologists view: past present and future: how to prepare for a future in industry will be given by barry katz a chevron fellow and team leader for hydrocarbon charge in chevrons energy technology company program highlights include presentations on unconventional resources carbonate reservoirs basin modeling and industry-related geophysics the symposium is from 8 am to 5 pm with a reception following register on the berg-hughes center website " " visiting scholars join the ocean discovery programoct 6 2015a deep biosphere program director and an earth-science communicator provide outreach and communications opportunities rebecca fowler rosalyn sylvan rosalynn sylvan joins iodp as a visiting scholar to collaborate in her role as managing director of the center for dark energy biosphere investigations (c-debi) an nsf-funded science and technology center headquartered at the university of southern california c-debi focuses on exploring life beneath the seafloor and making transformative discoveries that advance science benefit society and inspire people of all ages and origins sylvan has a research background in nutrient biogeochemistry with a phd in marine sciences from the university of georgia   rebecca fowler is the communications and outreach director at the foundation for earth science which supports programs that establish and improve science-based end-to-end information systems and the broader earth science data and technology communities she has a background in science communication and education with experience creating initiatives for academic institutions and research laboratories that facilitate interest and participation in earth science fowler has a masters of science in education leadership and policy from portland state university " " new program in geosciences triples enrollmentoct 1 2015in just one short year enrollment has increased by 170% in a popular new geotechnology program brian thomas a junior from ennis texas is the 100th student to enroll in the new degree program in geographic information science and technology (gist) thomas began his college career majoring in geography before joining the air force where he spent three years in the desert assigned to intelligence operations and satellite communications  my experience in the air force showed me how much gis technology permeates all segments of society this field i believe holds untold potential and i am fascinated anyway by the tools and application thomas said students in the program which began in fall 2014 with an enroolment of 37 earn a bs degree in one of three tracks: computation design and analysis earth systems and analysis and human systems and society gist is administered through the department of geography  brian thomas 100th gist student " " geographer heads international organizationoct 1 2015sarah bednarz has been elected as president of the american association of geographersbednarz has been active in aag for more than 20 years holding offices at the regional and national levels her service activities especially focus on geography education including advanced placement commissions and studies standards and practice geography test development and curriculum and instruction committees she served as chair of the geography education research committee for the road map to 21st century geographic literacy nationwide initiative funded by the national science foundation that established a plan for large-scale improvement of k-12 geography education bednarz received her ab degree magna cum laude from mount holyoke college and an mat from the university of chicago she taught in illinois and the hearne and college station public schools for 18 years before earning her phd in geography education from texas a&m her many honors include being named the only presidential professor for teaching excellence in the college of geosciences she received the gilbert h grosvenor honors for geographic education from aag and the george j miller award from the national council for geographic education she has received both the association of former student distinguished achievement award at the university level (2004) and at the college level (1997) she served the college as associate dean for academic affairs from 2008–14 aag has more than 10 000 members from over 60 countries who share interests in the theory methods and practice of geography which they cultivate through the aags annual meeting scholarly journals (annals of the association of american geographers  the professional geographer the aag review of books and geohumanities) and the online aag newsletter for which bednarz writes a monthly column dr sarah bednarz " " journal article on fishing quota leases yields prizesep 30 2015texas sea grant marine economist andrew ropicki has received the 10thannual award for outstanding article by the journal marine resource economicsthe winning article social network analysis of price dispersion in fishing quota lease markets co-written with sherry l larkin presents research on how price differences occur in non-centralized quota lease markets due to informational asymmetries among market participants ropicki and larkin analyzed trading in ifq (individual fishing quota) markets using social network analysis the results indicated that quota traders with more network connections were able to negotiate better prices in the ifq market; and more generally that quota prices varied regionally for more information the full article can be accessed through the bioone database   ropicki and larkin will be honored with a permanent engraved plaque housed in the nicholas school of the environment at duke university andrew ropicki " " come tailgate with ussep 30 2015join the college of geosciences as it continues its 50th anniversary celebrations we will be at tent 44 in simpson drill field behind the albritton bell tower all faculty students staff former students and friends are invited to join in for food drink and fun before we btho mississippi state the tailgate is conveniently located at the front of the simpson drill field  time to tailgate is 4 pm until saturday oct 3 a tv screen and sound stage will be available for those not fortunate enough to have tickets to the game  for more information please contact karen riedel or robyn blackmon " " tim logan joins atmospheric sciencessep 29 2015an atmospheric chemist with extensive teaching experience joins geosciencesafter teaching meteorology for a year as a visiting lecturer timothy logan has been appointed instructional assistant professor in atmospheric sciences logan received his phd and ms from the university of north dakota in atmospheric science with a concentration in atmospheric chemistry he received his bachelors degree from the university of virginia in environmental science with a concentration in geochemistry his research interests are the chemical and physical nature of mineral dust biomass burning and pollution aerosols and their influences on marine boundary layer clouds and deep convection he has developed an aerosol classification method based upon asian aerosols that can be used in other regions he has presented at various conferences and workshops on atmospheric chemistry physics aerosol properties and their connections to cloud physical properties deep convective processes and climate change dr timothy logan " " noaa grants help oceanographers protect living resources in the gulf of mexicosep 28 2015two texas a&m oceanographers are part of a noaa $21 million nationwide initiative that seeks to improve the health of the nations oceans and coastlines  elizabeth ramey '16 and allison pace '15 with steve dimarco onboard texas a&m-galveston's rv trident mckensie daugherty and lisa campbell use a lab-based imaging flow cytobot in separate proposals lisa campbell and steve dimarco each plan a network of instruments that increases scientists ability to monitor harmful algal blooms and low oxygen in seawater conditions that threaten the ecosystem economic productivity and human health in the gulf of mexico and other bodies of water lisa campbell professor of oceanography in the college of geosciences and professor of biology in the college of science is principal investigator for a grant that will improve the capability for mitigation of harmful algal blooms (habs) also known as red tide campbell proposes to expand the network of underwater microscopes instruments called imaging flowcytobots that provide early warning of habs the imaging flowcytobot (ifcb) which is equipped with a camera system to capture high-resolution images of suspended particles operates continuously at port aransas texas and has given early warning for six hab events since 2007 the new project will expand the early warning capabilities in the gulf of mexico by adding a new ifcb to the network training additional end users and improving management applications of this technology  by expanding the early-warning capabilities in the gulf of mexico with a robust network and by training more people to gather information we can develop a support system that helps us predict and respond to algal bloom events more efficiently campbell says campbell and colleagues at texas a&m in partnership with scientists from woods hole oceanographic institution will train and gain feedback on instrument performance from end users at the texas a&m university at galveston texas parks and wildlife department the texas department of state health services the fda and a number of other universities  targeting the dead zone the noaa grant will allow dimarco a professor in the department of oceanography and ocean observing team lead in the geochemical and environmental research group to elevate his years of experience in researching the dead zone to the next level the dead zone is a hypoxic condition that occurs when oxygen levels in seawater drop to dangerously low amounts potentially resulting in fish kills and harm to marine life one of the factors is nutrient pollution from farm fertilizers and other land-based sources as they empty into the rivers and eventually into the gulf the zone which manifests mostly in summer is influenced not only by the nutrient runoff but also by the volume of freshwater discharged and prevailing winds as principal investigator for the project mechanisms controlling hypoxia dimarco for the past 12 summers has chartered research vessels and hired scientists and crew members to take measurements this summer he deployed glidersautonomous underwater vehiclesto assess their effectiveness in measuring oxygen levels gliders can stay at sea longer for less money and cover a larger area than a typical research vessel while continuously gathering information and sending it back to shore dimarco proposes to conduct two targeted field campaigns in 2016 and 2017 using the gliders to demonstrate their capability and operation robustness as a comprehensive approach to dead-zone monitoring my observations this summer indicate that using gliders improves efficiency in terms of time and cost accuracy resolution and breadth and depth while providing near real-time measurements dimarco says two seasonal tests will help us to develop a glider-monitoring plan for the hypoxic zone leading to complete reliance on gliders by 2017  according to a news release from noaa hypoxia and harmful algal blooms have become a national concern that can shut down commercial and recreational fishing threaten human health and upset the ecosystem from the pacific to the atlantic and in the gulf of mexico and the great lakes the initiative is part of a larger noaa effort to develop a nationwide network of ecological forecasts to protect coastal communities and public health    by karen riedel communications manager   researchers contact information: lisa campbell (lisacampbell@tamuedu) steve dimarco (sdimarco@tamuedu)  " " elizabeth ramey '16 and allison pace '15 with steve dimarco onboard texas a&m-galveston's rv trident mckensie daugherty and lisa campbell use a lab-based imaging flow cytobot " " new department head is named in geology and geophysicssep 28 2015michael pope is professor of geology and the new department head for geology and geophysicsmichael pope was born and reared in california were he attended community college in san diego before earning a bachelors degree in earth and space sciences from ucla in 1985 he earned an ms in geology from the university of montana in 1989 studying early cambrian carbonates in british columbia and the northwest territories canada mike earned his phd from virginia tech in 1995 working on ordovician carbonates in kentucky and virginia pope studied precambrian carbonates with john grotzinger during a post-doc at mit then worked at mobil pope taught at washington state university before coming to texas a&m in 2009 where he teaches carbonate and siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy and field camp pope also served as interim director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems popes research focuses mainly on integrating litho- chemo- and chronostratigraphy in a regional sequence stratigraphic framework to understand high-frequency and long-term climatic and oceanic processes affecting development of sedimentary successions especially in carbonate reservoirs using detrital zircon geochronology to understand sediment dispersal and large-scale tectonic processes pope and his students are currently working on microbial carbonate reservoirs slope and toe-of-slope carbonate rocks carbonate unconventional reservoirs and sediment dispersal of ordovican quartz arenites michael c pope " " jason sylvan joins the department of oceanographysep 25 2015the department of oceanography welcomes jason sylvan as assistant professorjason sylvan received his masters and doctoral degrees from rutgers university specializing in biological oceanography and his bachelor's degree in biology from brandeis university his research focus is microbial ecology of marine hydrothermal ecosystems and subseafloor basaltic crust molecular ecology geobiology biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling his dissertation was assessing multiple indicators of nutrient limitation in marine phytoplankton on the louisiana continental shelf  sylvan most recently was a postdoctoral fellow and assistant research professor at the university of southern california before coming to texas a&m university sylvan is not new to the department of oceanography he started graduate school here before following his advisor to rutgers and taught an introductory oceanography lab in the fall and spring semesters of 2001–02 he also presented a seminar featuring his research in august 2014 sylvan has more than 20 publications 10 of which he served as the main author he is a member of the scientific evaluation panel for the us advisory committee for scientific ocean drilling which reviews ocean drilling proposals by: emily peter '15 jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography " " the department of geography welcomes jamie shinnsep 25 2015the college of geosciences welcomes jamie shinn to texas a&m as a new assistant professor of geographyjamie shinn is an assistant professor of geography beginning this fall shinn received her phd in geography from pennsylvania state university in 2015 with the dissertation topic governing environmental variability: flooding and natural resource access in the okavango delta botswana shinn also received a masters in geography with a certificate in african studies from the university of kansas in 2010 shinns research is focused on topics of environmental governance social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change particularly botswana she received a fulbright us student grant and a national science foundation doctoral dissertation research improvement grant in 2012 to support her research efforts within this region she has since produced two scientific publications on her findings with a third currently under review shinn was most recently an instructor of geography at penn state university by: emily peter '15 jamie shinn assistant professor of geography " " designing curriculum from the ground up earns recognitionsep 23 2015a new approach to the geology and geophysics curriculum that addresses skill sets students need and industry requires has earned recognition from the university teaching centerdavid sparks associate professor of geology and geophysics and associate department head for undergraduate affairs has been designated a center for teaching excellence (cte) curriculum fellow for the 2015–16 academic year sparks is being recognized for exceptional leadership in the area of curricular redesign exceptional leadership in the area of curricular redesign according to his letter of notification the department of geology and geophysics partnered with cte a year ago to implement   texas a&ms curriculum revision process to rebuild its degree programs and course offerings we were operating with a curricula put into place in 1997 after the geology and geophysics departments merged sparks said the departments needs and capabilities changed significantly over the years facing more than 50 percent in faculty turnover a rapidly changing job climate for geologists and geophysicists and a nearly five-fold increase in the undergraduate population culminating in more than 500 majors in fall 2015 surveys of former students employers and faculty at other universities revealed more reasons to address the curriculum including the growing need for strong skills in oral and written communication and facility with software  our challenge was to accommodate a growing enrollment while maintaining strength in our traditional instructor-intensive activities such as microscopy and field mapping we also sought to improve our graduates non-geological skills such as communication software use teamwork and problem solving furthermore learning these skills also helps to insulate them from volatility inherent in our discipline sparks said a curriculum study group of faculty members advisors curriculum experts and students gathered information analyzed the data and developed a detailed set of learning outcomes for the entire degree for each criteria we defined several assessable measures of proficiency from novice to exemplary from this matrix of measures we are building the course descriptions that will define the new curricula and developing assessment tools to gauge the success of our the program  the department is in the final process of organizing those learning outcomes into the set of classes that will comprise the curriculum over the next few months all of the courses will be restructured and the resubmitted for approval as part of the new curriculum requirements in addition to the designation as a fellow sparks received a $3 000 award the departments design process and new curriculum will be presented this fall at educational sessions at the national meetings of the geological society of america in baltimore and the american geophysical union in san francisco members of the curricula study group in addition to sparks are julie newman  ryan ewing franco marcantonio brent miller tom olszewski bobby reece david lewis akhil amara and suzanne rosser of geology and geophysics and debra fowler maria malik carolyn sandoval of the center for teaching excellence by karen riedel dr david sparks " " dr norman guinasso receives the 2014 oil spill prevention and response act lifetime achievement awardsep 18 2015texas agency honors norman guinasso with lifetime achievement awardnorman guinasso pioneered the buoy monitoring system dr norman guinasso has received the prestigious 2014 oil spill prevention and response act (ospra) lifetime achievement award for his dedication to the development and implementation of the texas automated buoy system (tabs) guinasso is the former director and deputy of the geochemical and environmental research group and is currently serving as a research professor within the organization tabs is an automated current monitoring system that can help predict the movement of oil spills helping to protect the health of the texas coastline guinasso has served as the project manager at texas a&m university for tabs since 1994 and been a driving force behind this projects success in an article for texas a&m today guinasso states the instruments on each buoy can tell us precise information about ocean currents wind speed water temperature and other data that allows us to accurately predict where a spill is headed and when it will present a problem to the coastline in addition to his scientific and leadership contributions to gerg guinasso has been a member of the texas a&m council of principal investigators and on the advisory committee for the sustainable coastal margins program at texas a&m university he received the 2002 deans distinguished achievement award for research scientist college of geosciences the ospra award is selected by a panel which is appointed by the texas general land office and given to someone who has demonstrated continuous commitment to the texas coastal environment with over 36 years of experience studying the ocean guinasso has exemplified this high level of dedication to science and to our environment   emily peter '15 dr norman guinasso " " larry komrower joins the college of geosciences as high impact program coordinatorsep 18 2015the college of geosciences has recently expanded its student services by hiring larry komrower as high impact program coordinator  our goal is to increase student participation in learning experiences such as study abroad internships and undergraduate research said dr chris houser associate dean for undergraduate and faculty affairs we are pleased to have found a person with larrys experience who can help us accomplish this komrower received his undergraduate degree in french with a minor in theater at ithaca college after graduating he spent two years as an english language assistant in annecy france and almansa spain  after returning to the united states he received an ma in french linguistics from indiana university in bloomington and served as an associate instructor of french komrower was most recently with the texas a&m university study abroad programs office with a personal and professional interest in international exposure and culture komrower wants to provide more of these opportunities to students in geosciences he will work to promote international opportunities available to students as well as work with faculty to develop new programs he plans to connect faculty with students interested in pursuing research projects and assist students in identifying internship opportunities much learning occurs outside of the classroom komrower said my goal is to increase these experiences for students in our college by: emily peter ‘15 " " dr dan goldberg receives the montague-center for teaching excellence awardsep 15 2015dan goldberg an assistant professor of geography and computer science and engineering is named montague-center for teaching excellence scholar the montague-cte program is designed to recognize young undergraduate professors who excel early in their teaching careers teaching at texas a&m university since the fall of 2012 goldberg has since adopted an educational method that fosters innovation in undergraduate education called teaching as research building this concept into classroom activities goldberg goes above and beyond to create a unique educational experience for his students he creates opportunities for high impact learning experiences by integrating upper-level undergraduate students into graduate-level reserach requiring them to actively participate in group projects to address the research questions of a real-world 'customer'  goldberg believes these experiences change the attitudes of students and make them interested in pursuing degrees or careers in stem the montague-cte grant will propel goldbergs research and student impact as he works to one day establish texas a&m as the leading cybergis education program in the world grounded by solid learning science theory and practice discovered through the proposed teaching as research approach goldberg received the partners in learning award of excellence from the department of disabilities services during the spring semester he is cited for ""providing an inclusive academic experience for students with disabilities"" by: emily peter '15 " " what we learned from hurricanes katrina and ritaaug 28 2015as the tenth anniversary of hurricanes katrina (aug 29) and rita (sept 23) approaches memories of the storms vividly remain for texans katrina killed more than 1 800 people and rita forced the largest evacuation in texas history with more than 3 million people leaving the houston-galveston area there are lessons to be learned from both says a texas a&m university severe storms expertr saravanan professor of atmospheric sciences who specializes in studying climate variability says the storms were historic not only for their intensity but also as part of the most active hurricane season ever in 2005 a record 27 named storms occurred and 15 of them became hurricanes 7 of which became major hurricanes of those 7 an unprecedented 4 reached category 5 status katrina was the costliest hurricane ever and one of the 5 most deadly storms ever to hit the us its high winds and storm surge engulfed new orleans completely so much so that 53 breeches occurred in the citys levee system resulting in 80 percent of the city becoming flooded it damaged more than 800 000 housing units causing $81 billion of damage in 2005 dollars and killed more than 1 500 people in louisiana and at least 230 in mississippi the lessons learned from the katrina disaster were immediately visible during the response to rita a month later saravanan explains people took the evacuation warnings seriously however hurricane activity has been relatively weak since then with very few hurricanes making landfall people may be a bit more complacent now but i think katrina is still fairly fresh in their memories both katrina and rita also exposed some of the flawed assumptions in risk management and insurance coverage that hopefully have been fixed to some extent although houston dodged much of the power of rita the storm caused millions to flee their homes the storm killed at least 120 people some of them as a result of evacuation efforts such as 23 people who died in a bus accident near dallas gasoline shortages inadequate evacuation routes immense traffic jams gridlocked roads power failures and other miseries caused many persons who fled the storm to say they would never evacuate again there were problems with evacuation procedures saravanan adds it shows that we still need to educate the public about the nature of hurricane forecasts that can lead to evacuations when looking at it from a risk management prospective it (evacuating) is still worth it texas has managed to dodge other storms in the 10 years since katrina and rita but it is only a matter of time before another major hurricane hits the texas coast saravanan says the hazards of building homes too close to the water have become very evident he notes we have learned a lot from both storms at the national level katrina and rita led to major research initiatives to improve hurricane forecasts computer models have slowly but steadily been improving and we have developed a better ‘cone of uncertainty about hurricane trajectories hopefully these and other improvements have led to more precise storm warning and evacuation directives ### media contact: r saravanan at (979) 845-0175 or sarava@tamueduor keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu orignal story from texas a&m today hurricane rita forced the largest evacuation in texas history (shutterstock photo) " hurricane rita forced the largest evacuation in texas history (shutterstock photo) " listen to on the ocean for current news about ocean scienceaug 17 2015radio series brings ocean-science news to brazos valley listenersthe new ‘on the ocean radio series conceived and created by the department of oceanography debuts at 8:30 am tuesday aug 18 during nprs morning edition program the new program will share current ocean-science information with kamu listeners by translating cutting-edge texas a&m research into public knowledge and interest each weekly two-minute segment will highlight topical and regionally relevant information about the state of the oceans from data collected by texas a&m students and faculty the general content will be delivered as weekly installments bundled into a monthly series with general topics changing every month http://abcmgrtamuedu/ontheocean/ mckensie daugherty hosts on the ocean " " mario molina nobel laureate has special tie with atmospheric sciencesaug 17 2015the college of geosciences hosted a special guest during summer commencement dr mario molina 1995 nobel laureate for chemistry and 2013 medal of freedom recipient was at texas a&m to receive an honorary doctor of letters degree molina has special ties with the college through his relationship with dr renyi zhang when the latter was studying at mit molina supervised zhangs dissertation and the bond has remained for more than two decades molina has given seminars collaborated on research projects and donated more than $1 million dollars in research and equipment to the department the faculty in atmospheric sciences nominated molina for the honor molina's studies on chlorofluorocarbons found in aerosol products and refrigeration units that deplete the ozone layer led to international regulation of the chemicals through the montreal protocol which became effective in 1989  president mike young who served as an environmental affairs ambassador and policy adviser for the us department of state before he came to texas a&m said molina's collaborative efforts with texas a&m faculty and his pioneering studies as ""one of the most prominent atmospheric chemists in the world"" make him deserving of the honor dr kate miller dean of the college of geosciences said that the school's ties with molina has contributed to its faculty members emerging as leading authorities in atmospheric chemistry research and on international climate issues ""we are confident that an ongoing relationship with dr molina will further enhance texas a&m's ability to develop innovative international science and policy programs to cope with environmental issues that cross national boundaries "" she said photos: kate miller dean blanca lupiani interim dean of faculties mario molina and mike young president of texas a&m university welcome molina as the newest aggie earlier in the day molina held an informal question-and-answer session with students and faculty from atmospheric sciences  karen riedel communications manager " " president michael young visits college aug 12 2015michael young the 25th president of texas a&m university visited the college of geosciences aug 3 on a get-acquainted tour the deans department heads and center directors briefed the president on the initiatives opportunities and challenges for the college after the session he met with faculty for an informal lunch which was held in the new robert o reid ocean observing educational facility president young met with faculty for an informal lunch from left: anne raymond dean kate miller president young provost karan watson steve dimarco and anita rapp young tablehopped from group to group talking here with ethan grossman and timothy logan   " " president young met with faculty for an informal lunch from left: anne raymond dean kate miller president young provost karan watson steve dimarco and anita rapp " " young tablehopped from group to group talking here with ethan grossman and timothy logan " " celebrating our distinguished past illuminating the futureaug 12 2015october 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the college of geosciences at texas a&m on october 1 1965 under the direction of texas a&m president james earl rudder the college of geosciences was officially formed during the past 50 years the college has served the university the state nation and world by educating more than 10 000 students in earth atmospheric ocean and geographic sciences and is committed to provide a world-changing education for geosciences leaders in the future you are invited to join us as we celebrate the rich history and the promising future of our departments and centers our students – current and former our faculty staff and friends it is our sincere hope that everyone who is part of the geosciences past present and future come join in the celebrations for more information please visit the 50th anniversary site: http://geosciences50tamuedu/ geosciences 50th anniversary events include: thursday october 1 2015gala celebration 7:30 pmannenburg presidential conference centertexas a&m universityregister for the anniversary gala   saturday october 3 2015btho mississippi state tailgate details tbdregister for the 50th anniversary tailgate  our 50th anniversary celebrations will continue in 2016 with a college of geosciences open house event  more details coming!    " " oceanography dedicates new learning facilityaug 11 2015named in honor of a revered professor a unique learning center focuses on ocean observing collaborative studies and big data acquisition  the wall of video monitors relays constant information from around the world in real time debbie thomas demonstrates the measurements that the glider (automated underwater vehicle) is sending from the flower garden banks marine sanctuary in the gulf of mexico measurements include oxygen levels temperature salinity and chlorophyl zach rolewicz is a master's student and heather zimmerle ms '14 is a research associate in oceanography the department of oceanography will formally dedicate the robert o reid ocean observing educational facility named in honor of a beloved faculty member and conceived as a unique learning environment for current and future oceanographers designed to provide a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary learning environment for both graduate and undergraduate students the two-room suite features space that visually and technically enhances students access to ocean-observing and oceanography tools techniques and data the first room features a wall of video monitors for the display and analysis of real-time and recorded data from ocean monitoring sources and devices including buoys gliders imaging flow cytobot ferry boxes flow-through systems and satellite imagery the information streams from around the world including the gulf of mexico and the eastern mediterranean among others in cooperation with the college of geosciences global research partners the video wall is mirrored by identical walls at the geochemical and environmental research group on graham road and texas a&m-galveston said dr debbie thomas professor and head of the department of oceanography and coming soon we will have a fourth monitoring station at the university of haifa in israel our newest partner in ocean observing    the interior room is home to a computational learning facility used for courses involving numerically intensive instruction including big data data methods and analysis and programming it is also set up for distance education learning the named facility honors dr robert osborne reid who died in 2009 dr reid remains one of the most iconic members of the international oceanographic community dr thomas said his pioneering work laid much of the foundation for modern ocean-observing science and technology renowned researcher revered teacherdr reid joined texas a&m university in 1951 as one of the founding members of the oceanography department and quickly became recognized worldwide as a prolific and eminent researcher at texas a&m he was named a university distinguished professor in 1978 the first designee for the college and during his tenure he received an association of former students distinguished achievement award for both research and for teaching and the minnie piper foundation award for teaching he also was granted the special award of the american meteorological society and the medal of the university of liege belgium he was a fellow in the american geophysical union and a member of the national academy of engineering according to colleagues and former students however his greatest legacy was as an educator chairing the graduate committees of nearly 100 masters and doctoral students in a dedication page of a1983 symposium honoring dr reid his students wrote that we believe that professor reids greatest academic achievement has been in the guidance of graduate students his scientific competence and interest combined with his kindness and patience make him uniquely qualified to guide graduate research we consider ourselves most fortunate in both the personal and professional sense to have had professor reid as a major professor – for we had the best the formal dedication is at 4 pm friday aug 21 in room 602 of the eller o&m building with former students colleagues and family members invited to attend i can only imagine how much bob reid would have appreciated a facility like this dr thomas said this facility is truly a living tribute to bobs impact on the cutting edge of oceanographic education and research past present and future   for more information about dr reids contributions to the intellectual and scientific fabric of the college of geosciences and beyond read the tribute written by colleague dr worth nowlin university distinguished professor emeritus[tribute to dr reid:eos] karen riedel communications manager979-845-0971for more information about the dedication or facility: dr debbie thomas department head oceanography979-862-7248 robert o reid university distinguished professor 1921–2009 " " where science meets societyaug 7 2015a fathers focus on environmental law influences his daughters choice of career the result is the george j miller scholarship to support students in environmental programsthe george j miller scholarship for students in the interdisciplinary environmental programs in the geosciences honors a pioneer in environmental law established by his daughter dr kate miller dean of college of geosciences the george j miller scholarship supports students who are prepared in several fields ranging from the geosciences to social studies so that they can meet provide leadership for a sustainable society george miller was an attorney in a large philadelphia law firm when the landmark clean air and clean water legislation was signed into federal law in 1972 understanding that the new law would have far-reaching implications miller changed his practice to emphasize environmental law in order to advise define strategies and defend corporate clients in suits enacted under the legislation he counted among his first clients the coal chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the late 1970s and early 1980s while kate miller was trying to chart her own career in the geosciences her father often remarked that he wished he could find attorneys with a background in the sciences or engineering dr miller never forgot her fathers frustration with this early disconnect between science and policy and legislation  upon retirement from his firm in 1999 mr miller was appointed by former governor tom ridge to be chairman and chief judge of the pennsylvania environmental hearing board the state body that hears appeals to decisions by the pennsylvania department of environmental protection until his retirement in 2010 judge miller heard appeals on all manner of environmental topics ranging from land planning issues to civil penalties over his 40 years in environmental law george miller watched the legal professions role change from litigation to judicial guidance on compliance and implementation of the law he also was one of the first to apply technology to this emerging specialization by putting environmental case law on line and setting up an online system to file documents kate millers own career choices have been greatly influenced by watching her father navigate the middle ground between meeting his corporate clients needs and complying with and implementing the legal controls that ensure a sustainable environment  our colleges environmental programs in the geosciences graduates exactly the kind of students whom my father wanted to hire 40 years ago said dean kate miller we are both pleased that the program at texas a&m is fulfilling a need that is even more relevant today both kate and her father hope that recipients of this scholarship will lead lives that include a commitment to sustaining our natural resources to learn how you can honor a family member esteemed professor or other individuals who have influenced your life choices contact senior development officer cara milligan at 979-862-4944 or cmilligan@txamfoundationcom three generations of millers were on hand when dr kate miller received the distinguished alumnae award from the baldwin school in 2013 from left: dr millers son lowell west dr miller and her father george miller " three generations of millers were on hand when dr kate miller received the distinguished alumnae award from the baldwin school in 2013 from left: dr millers son lowell west dr miller and her father george miller " ping yang named agu fellowjul 29 2015atmospheric scientist is the only elected fellow from texas in 2015dr ping yang professor and department head in atmospheric sciences has been named a 2015 fellow of the american geophysical union (agu) the only honoree from texas in this years class of 60 newly elected members  agu fellows are elected by their peers based on their exceptional contributions to earth and space sciences this honor is bestowed on only 01 percent of the membership in any given year with more than 62 000 members the agu is the worlds largest international professional society for earth and atmospheric scientists the class of 2015 fellows will be recognized at the honors ceremony during the agu fall meeting dec 16 in san francisco calif dr yang received the agu ascent award in 2013 given to an atmospheric or climate scientist for exceptional mid-career achievements he is also a fellow of the american meteorological society and the optical society of america his research focuses on electromagnetic scattering simulations involving atmospheric and oceanic particles radiative transfer in the atmosphere and remote sensing of ice-cloud properties karen riedel 979-845-0910 ping yang professor and department head atmospheric sciences " " atmospheric sciences researcher receives international awardjul 9 2015a promising young researcher receives recognition for early-career contributions to atmospheric sciences researchdr lei bi assistant research scientist in the department of atmospheric sciences has received the richard goody award for outstanding work in atmospheric radiation and remote sensing winners of the competitive award given by elsevier and the journal of quantitative spectroscopy and radiative transfer were announced during the 15th electromagnetic and light scattering conference in leipzig germany held june 21–26 in addition to recognition in the journal the prize also included a cash award and certificate  the early-career award honors its namesake dr richard goody for his pioneering research and long-lasting impact on the disciplines of atmospheric radiation remote sensing and climate change dr goody is emeritus professor of planetary physics at harvard and a member of the national academy of sciences dr bi whose undergraduate degrees are in physics from anhui normal and beijing normal universities in china holds a doctorate in physics from texas a&m university he is a member of dr ping yangs research team dr bi has published 25 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious international journals dr bi investigates the interaction of electromagnetic waves with particulate matter and their relevant applications in atmospheric radiative transfer and remote sensing dr bis collaboration with me and with several colleagues including george kattawar and michael mishchenko led to an innovative implementation of the invariant imbedding t-matrix (ii-tm) method that was pioneered by johnson (1988) in the case of axially symmetric particles said dr ping yang professor and department head in atmospheric sciences  dr yang explained further that this innovative implementation has been extended to arbitrary morphologies and inhomogeneous compositions moreover dr bi has made important contributions to light scattering theory by accounting for semi-classical scattering effects to bridge the solutions from maxwells equations for small-to-moderate particle sizes and semi-empirical physical geometrical solutions for large non-spherical particles his outstanding record of research achievements is rare among his cohorts at the same career stage said dr yang lei bi assistant research scientist in atmospheric sciences " " geosciences students explore the worldjun 24 2015high-impact learning opportunities this spring and summer have taken students from the great wall in china to the grand mountain ranges of the american west and a costa rican cloud foresta trip to montana costa rica or even china during the summer implies vacation but for many college of geosciences professors and their students these journeys are an opportunity for students to discover more about planet earth the spring and summer students are learning how to assess the air quality in china map mountain morphology in montana and operate an underwater vehicle gliding beneath the sea surface on its perpetual quest for information maymester in china don conlee instructional professor in atmospheric sciences took 13 geosciences students on a study trip to china this may called sea-met china participants experienced a packed 16 days of study travel and cultural exchange conlee and his students with help from renyi zhang and the college of geosciences connections with universities in china visited ocean university in qingdao and peking and tsinghua universities and the china meteorological office in beijing highlights conlee said included an impromptu invitation from a family in a chinese village to have tea and conversation and a climb up mount tai a steep formation in shandong province at more than 1500 meters conlee said the experience was like climbing o&m more than 20 times in succession a portion of the students expenses was funded through association of former student scholarships and contributions from the department of atmospheric sciences back: don conlee blythe sullivan emily lewis mark benoit casey rindfus daniel bosworth akira giddings madison toles shelby orme meredith seaver front: cecille sorio brittany toy edmar ruano megan mckeown soap reu and yap professors chris nowotarski anita rapp and conlee are currently conducting the departments annual soap program (student operational adrad project) which teaches students how to collect meteorological data using the aggie doppler radar weather balloons and other high-tech instrumentation this year the students are also designing products for a new regional high-resolution assessment planned by the department   ken bowman and conlee are also leading the nsf-funded reu (research experience) a program in which students from around the united states participate in undergraduate research projects in the lab and the field with eight other atmospheric sciences faculty mentors topics include weather and forecasting atmospheric chemistry and aerosols and radiative transfer and remote sensing further afield the students will travel to galveston for a sea-breeze study in late july conlee and courtney schumacher will host a youth adventure program (yap) conducted by the college of education and human development the weeklong summer camp introduces high school students to the field of meteorology nxsw heading north and southwest the department of geology and geophysics had a record 72 students participating in its traditional field course professors mike pope brent miller mike heaney tom olszewski david sparks andreas kronenberg and ryan ewing led four sections of the course where students mapped and studied spectacular outcrops up and down the rockies from montana to new mexico as well as other geological sites in texas utah and colorado in addition eight graduate assistants helped teach the class and cemented their own field skills in the process  from ocean to sea christian brannstrom and steven quiring are leading groups from geography and environmental programs in geosciences in costa rica june 6–july 3 brannstrom is teaching geog 450 (field geography) which includes survey of beach-user perceptions of rip currents and processes creating cultural landscapes in pacific and caribbean coasts the program ends in the soltis center for research and education with student presentations quiring is teaching geog 380 which focuses on climate and hydrological processes around the soltis center with students developing their own research projects  the 14 students enrolled are majoring in geography environmental studies and environmental geosciences all students received a $1000 scholarship from the association of former students this is the fourth summer a version of this program has been offered since 2011 ocean observations lisa campbell professor of oceanography and biology is leading a pilot program in anticipation of her reu project that formally begins next summer the seawater undergraduate research program focuses on observing the ocean: hypoxia harmful algae oil spills and ocean acidification students will work in the labs and on seagoing projects with faculty and staff from oceanography and the geochemical and environmental research group  by karen riedelcommunications manager979-845-0910   " " back: don conlee blythe sullivan emily lewis mark benoit casey rindfus daniel bosworth akira giddings madison toles shelby orme meredith seaver front: cecille sorio brittany toy edmar ruano megan mckeown " " energy-saving pilot project is under way in geosciencesjun 19 2015students and professors engage in aggie green fund initiative to determine energy-cost savings of special window filmthe aggie green fund awarded a $27 000 grant to apply an ir- and uv-reflective film known commercially as v-kool to 80 windows in o&m and halbouty this project is a cooperative effort between the deans office and environmental programs geos 405 class with generous technical support from utilities and energy services (ues) the v-kool film was applied to selected windows june 1-3 maureen reap facilities coordinator managed the project for a term project a five-member student research team collected data during the spring semester – temperature trends air volumes comfort levels – for the before period  they presented their data at a may 6 poster session at o&m succeeding teams of geos 405 students will continue observations for at least one calendar year to provide the after picture it is hoped that the student data will substantiate the manufacturers claims of significant energy reduction the students have been assisted in their data collection by utilities and energy services personnel ues is taking a particular interest in this project as a potentially inexpensive way to reduce energy consumption on campus students in environmental geosciences and environmental studies are required to take geos 405 a writing-intensive capstone course explained christian brannstrom director of environmental programs in geosciences  in spring 2015 five students working under dr brendan roark's supervision developed a project that aimed to test the manufacturers claim that v-kool 40 window film will result in a five-year payback in terms of energy savings brannstrom said  the students collected and analyzed data on the effect of v-kool 40 window film using solar radiation and temperature sensors on test sites in halbouty and o&m according to brannstrom the students found significant differences between film and non-film windows sixty percent of incoming solar radiation was reflected slightly less than the 65 percent claimed by the manufacturer monitoring is continuing post-installation of the film with students in future geos 405 courses using the data to determine what the actual energy savings have been and refining the true payback period should all the windows in o&m be coated in v-kool film this project is a good example of the real-world problem-based learning undertaken in geos 405 with multiple partners across the university that should directly benefit energy conservation at texas a&m brendan roark said by maureen reap with contributions from christian brannstrom and brendan roark " " chemical oceanographer joins geosciencesjun 19 2015welcome jessica fitzsimmons to the department of oceanographyjessica n fitzsimmons joined the college of geosciences june 15 as an assistant professor in oceanography she holds a phd in chemical oceanography from the mit-woods hole oceanographic institution joint program her undergraduate degree is from boston university where she majored in chemistry and biology with a specialization in marine science her current research focuses on the biogeochemistry of trace metals in the open ocean with funded projects exploring the chemical composition of marine colloidal iron species and the distribution and speciation of trace metals in the arctic ocean fitzsimmons was most recently a postdoctoral associate in the department of marine and coastal sciences at rutgers where she studied dissolved metals along the west antarctic peninsula and particulate metals in the east pacific rise hydrothermal plume  she was also a postdoctoral fellow at mit studying the temporal variability of iron at station aloha her honors and awards include the rossby award for the top dissertation in the mit programs in atmospheres oceans and climate an mit martin family society fellowship for sustainability an nsf graduate research fellowship and an mit presidential fellowship she has 17 papers published or in review and has participated in nine research cruises including serving as junior chief scientist on board r/v kilo moana in 2012 she will to sail on the multi-cruise international geotraces expedition to the arctic later this summer she is bringing two nsf grants to the college fitzsimmons was recently featured in oceanography magazines special issue women in oceanography: a decade later  by karen riedel  jessica fitzsimmons " " geology and geophysics welcomes new assistant professorjun 19 2015former student masako tominaga returns to texas a&m as a faculty membermasako tominaga joins the department of geology and geophysics july 1 as an assistant professor she is currently an adjunct scientist at woods hole oceanographic institution and an assistant professor in the department of geological sciences at michigan state tominaga received her masters and doctorate in geological oceanography from texas a&m she has a bachelors of engineering degree in natural resource and environmental engineering from waseda university in tokyo japan  her research interests include earths magmatism and lithosphere evolution geomagnetism and global carbon cycle she is an expert on deep submergence geophysics using submarine robotic vehicles tominagas research team at michigan state will move to college station with her tominaga has more than 550 days at sea including sailing on five international ocean discovery program (iodp) expeditions she has served as chief scientist on several national science foundation cruises she has received research grants from nsf nasa and iodp science support programs her research field work on land includes ophiolites in norway italy northern california and canada  while at texas a&m tominaga studied with professor will sager she also received the distinguished graduate student award in research from the texas a&m association of former students and the office of graduate studies the schlanger ocean drilling fellowship and the geosciences graduate excellence scholarship she has more than 20 published journal articles many as first author and some with her students as first authors and has contributed to several books and databanks by karen riedel " " research articles in atmospheric sciencesjun 19 2015researchers in atmospheric sciences published articles on topics ranging from methane on mars to the shale boom in eagleford title: martian airfall dust on smooth inclined surfaces as observed on the phoenix telltale mirrorauthors: john e moores taesung ha mark t lemmon and haraldur pal gunnlaugsson source: planetary and space science (january 2015) http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0032063315000021  title: eight-year climatology of dust optical depth on marsauthors: l montabone f forget e millour r j wilson s r lewis d kass a kleinboehl m t lemmon m d smith and m j  wolffsource: icarus (may 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0019103515000044  title: dust aerosol clouds and the atmospheric optical depth record over 5 mars years of the mars exploration rover missionauthors: mark t lemmon mj wolff jf bell iii md smith b cantor and ph smithsource: icarus (may 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0019103514001559 title: atmospheric movies acquired at the mars science laboratory landing site: cloud morphology frequency and significance to the gale crater water cycle and phoenix mission resultsauthors: john e moores mark t lemmon scott cr rafkin raymond francis jorge pla-garcia manual de la torre juárez keri bean et al  source: advances in space research (may 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0273117715001015 
title: chemcam passive reflectance spectroscopy of surface materials at the curiosity landing site marsauthors: johnson jr jf bell iii s bender d blaney e cloutis l deflores b ehlmann o gasnault b gondet k kinch m lemmon s le mouélic s maurice m rice r wiens and msl science team (2015)source: icarus (march 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0019103514001146  
title: observational evidence of a shallow planetary boundary layer in northern gale crater mars as seen by the navcam instrument onboard the mars science laboratory roverauthors: john e moores j mark t lemmon keri bean et alsource: icarus (march 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0019103514004825  title: spectrophotometric properties of materials observed by pancam on the mars exploration rovers: 3 sols 500-1525authors: jeffrey r johnson william m grundy mark t lemmon james f bell iii rg deen 2015source: icarus (march 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0019103514005739  title: mars methane detection and variability at gale crater
authors: christopher r webster et al mark t lemmon and the msl science teamsource: science (january 2015)http://wwwsciencemagorg/content/347/6220/415abstract  title: supercell low-level mesocyclones in simulations with a sheared convective boundary layer authors: christopher j nowotarski paul m markowski yvette p richardson and george h bryansource: monthly weather review (january 2015)http://journalsametsocorg/doi/abs/101175/mwr-d-14-001511  title: vertical motions of the tropical convective cloud spectrum over darwin australia authors:  courtney schumacher stephanie n stevenson and christopher r williams source: quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society (march 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/qj2520/abstract title: is the shale boom reversing progress authors: gunnar schade and geoffrey s roest source: eos buzz (april 2015) https://eosorg/opinions/is-the-shale-boom-reversing-progress-in-curbing-ozone-pollution title: modeling stepped leaders using a time dependent multi-dipole model and high-speed video data authors: sumedhe karunarathe thomas c marshall maribeth stolzenburg nadeeka karunarathna and richard e orville   source: journal of geophysical research (march 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/2014jd022679/full title: high-speed video and electric field observation of a negative upward leader connecting a downward positive leader in a positive cloud-to-ground flashauthors: saba m c schumann t warner j helsdon jr and r orvillesource: journal of electric power systems research (january 2015)   http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0378779614002119  atmospheric sciences and oceanography title: pollen as atmospheric cloud condensation nucleiauthors: allison l steiner sarah d brooks chunhua deng daniel c o thornton michael w pendleton vaughn bryantsource: geophysical research letters (may 2015)http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/2015gl064060/abstract " " research papers in geographyjun 19 2015geography researchers ripped into rip current signage warned about increased floods in urban areas and investigated shrub growth in the arctictitle: vegetation response to precipitation across the aridity gradient of the southwestern united statesauthors: sohoulande djebou d c v p singh and o w frauenfeld 2015: source: journal of arid environments (april 2015)http://dxdoiorg/101016/jjaridenv201501005 title: will brazils ethanol ambitions undermine its agrarian reform goals a study of social perspectives using q-methodauthors: claudio albuquerque frate and christian brannstrom  source: journal of rural studies (april 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0743016714001156  title: you cant see them from sitting here: evaluating beach user understanding of a rip current warning signsauthors: christian brannstrom chris houser heather lee brown sarah trimble anna santossource: applied geography (january 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0143622814002483  title: the rip current hazard in costa ricaauthors: isabel arozarena chris houser alejandro gutiérrez echeverría christian brannstrom  source: natural hazards (january 2015)http://linkspringercom/article/101007/s11069-015-1626-9  title: becoming carbon neutral: evaluating carbon neutrality certifications as a tool for reducing climate change impacts and securing financial livelihoodsauthor: jayme walentasource: sustainability: the journal of record (june 2015)http://onlineliebertpubcom/doi/pdfplus/101089/sus201529002  title: changing global patterns of urban exposure to flood and drought hazardsauthors: burak güneralp inci güneralp and ying liusource: global environmental change (march 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0959378015000047  title: opportunities and costs for preventing vertebrate extinctionsauthors: dalia a conde fernando colchero burak güneralp markus gusset ben skolnik michael parr onnie byers kevin johnson glyn young nate flesness hugh possingham and john e fa   source: current biology (march 2015) http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0960982215000809  title: balancing urban growth and ecological conservation: a challenge for planning and governance in chinaauthors: burak güneralp andrew s perlstein and karen c seto source: ambio (february 2015) http://linkspringercom/article/101007%2fs13280-015-0625-0 title: methods for measuring arctic and alpine shrub growth authors: myers-smith i hallinger m wilmking m blok d klaassen us rayback s weijers s trant a tape kd naito at dawes m rixen c wipf s wheeler j buchwald a baittinger c fauria mm levesque e boulanger-lapointe n beil i ravolainen v schweingruber fh   methods for measuring arctic and alpine shrub growth source: earth-science reviews (january 2015)101016/jearscirev201410004 title: patterns of shrub expansion in alaskan arctic river corridors suggest a phase transition authors: adam t naito and david m cairns source: ecology and evolution (january 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/ece31341/abstract title: effectiveness of geosciences exploration summer program (geox) for increasing awareness and knowledge of geosciencesauthors: chris houser sonia garcia and janet torressource: journal of geoscience education (may 2015)http://nagt-jgeorg/doi/abs/105408/14-0161 title: esex: characterizing the instability of aeolian landscapes using analytical reasoningauthors: chris houser michael p bishop and patrick barrineausource: earth surface processes and landforms (april 2015)http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/esp3679/abstract  title: post-storm beach and dune recovery: implications for barrier island resilience authors: chris houser phil wernette elizabeth rentschler hannah jones h brianna hammond and sarah trimble source: geomorphology (april 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0169555x1500029x title: influence of blade flexibility on the drag coefficient of aquatic vegetation authors: chris houser sarah trimble and bradley moralessource: estuaries and coasts (march 2015)http://linkspringercom/article/101007%2fs12237-014-9840-3 title: technical communication: alongshore correspondence of beach users and rip channels at pensacola beach florida  authors: chris houser trey murphy and daniel labude source: natural hazards (may 2015) http://linkspringercom/article/101007/s11069-015-1804-9/fulltexthtml geography and oceanography title: does afternoon precipitation occur preferentially over dry or wet soils in oklahomaauthors: trent w ford anita d rapp and steven m quiringsource: journal of hydrometeorology (april 2015)http://dxdoiorg/101175/jhm-d-14-00051 title: review of electromagnetic induction for mapping barrier island framework geology authors: bradley weymer mark e everett timothy s de smet and chris housersource: sedimentary geology (may 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0037073815000718  title: forecasting landscape response to future climate and land-use changes: an assessment accepted to earths futureauthors: pelletier jd murray ab pierce jl bierman pr breshears dd crosby bt ellis m foufoula-georgiou e heimsath am houser c lancaster n marani m merritts dj moore lj pederson jl poulos mj rittenour tm rowland jc ruggerio p ward dj whipple kx wickert ad and yager emsource: earths future (may 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/2014ef000290/full geography and geology and geophysics title: poststorm evolution of beach-dune morphology: padre island national seashore texasauthors: bradley a weymer chris houser and rick giardinosource: journal of coastal research (may 2015)http://wwwjcronlineorg/doi/abs/102112/jcoastres-d-13-000201 " " research articles in geology and geophysicsjun 19 2015researchers in the department of geology and geophysics published in the several prestigious journals including nature geological society london and pnastitle: clumped isotope thermometry in deeply buried sedimentary carbonates: the effects of bond reordering and recrystallization authors: brock j shenton ethan l grossman benjamin h passey gregory a henkes thomas p becker juan carlos laya alberto perez-huerta stephen p becker and michael lawsonsource: geological society of america bulletin (feb 2015)http://gsabulletingsapubsorg/content/early/2015/02/18/b311691fullpdf+html title: sand dune patterns on titan controlled by long-term climate cycles authors: ryan c ewing alex g hayes and antoine lucas source: nature (december 2014) http://wwwnaturecom/ngeo/journal/v8/n1/abs/ngeo2323html title: tephrochronology and geochemistry of eocene and oligocene volcanic ashes of east and central texasauthors: mindi l heintz thomas e yancey brent v miller and matthew t heizlersource: gsa bulletin  (november 2014)http://gsabulletingsapubsorg/content/127/5-6/770short  title: an effective medium model for the stress-dependence of anisotropic seismic velocities in fractured rockauthors: richard l gibson and kai gaosource: geological society london (may 2015)http://splyellcollectionorg/content/406/1/359abstract  title: application of the two-dimensional continuous wavelet transforms to imaging of the shatsky rise plateau using marine seismic dataauthors: au k vuong jinchang zhang richard gibson jr william sagersource: gsa special papershttp://specialpapersgsapubsorg/content/511/127abstract title: a numerical homogenization method for heterogeneous anisotropic elastic media based on multiscale theoryauthors: kai gao eric t chung richard l gibson shubin fu and yalchin efendievsource: geophysics (july 2015)http://librarysegorg/doi/abs/101190/geo2014-03631 title: generalized multiscale finite-element method (gmsfem) for elastic wave propagation in heterogeneous anisotropic mediaauthors: kai gao shubin fu richard l gibson eric t chung and yalchin efendievsource: journal of computational physics (april 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0021999115002405  title: morphological adaptations of 322 ga-old tufted microbial mats to archean coastal habitats (moodies group barberton greenstone belt south africa)authors: martin homann christoph heubeck alessandro airo michael m tice   source: precambrian research (april 2015)http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0301926815001308  title: abrupt global shifts in ecosystem statesauthor: thomas d olszewskisource: proceedings of the national academy of sciences (june 2015) wwwpnasorg/cgi/doi/101073/pnas1507590112   title: students' problem solving approaches for developing geologic models in the fieldauthors: balliet rn em riggs and av maltese source: journal of research in science teaching (may 2015)http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/tea21236/abstract (also with geography) title: poststorm evolution of beach-dune morphology: padre island national seashore texasauthors: bradley a weymer chris houser and rick giardinosource: journal of coastal research (may 2015)http://wwwjcronlineorg/doi/abs/102112/jcoastres-d-13-000201   " " research articles in oceanographyjun 19 2015oceanography research ranged from the equatorial pacific to the southern ocean and from the danube river to palau and places in betweentitle: biogenic sediment regimes in the neogene equatorial pacific iodp site u1338: burial production and diatom community authors: mitch lyle jack baldauf source: palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology (april 2015) http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0031018215001868 title: controlling high-latitude southern ocean convection in climate models authors: achim stössel dirk notz f alexander haumann helmuth haak johann junglcaus uwe mikolajewicz source: ocean modeling (february 2015) http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s1463500314001760 title: revamping amphinomidae (annelida: amphinomida) with a description of a new species of notopygos from the gulf of californiaauthors: borda e yañez-rivera b ochoa g sánchez-ortíz c schulze a and rouse g wsource: zoologica scripta  (february 2015)http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101111/zsc12099/abstract;jsessionid=47df256cf0b5ebeef4ff5b5e552c2b53f02t01  title: how schlieren affects beam transmissometers and lisst-deep: an example from the stratified danube river delta nw black seaauthors: karageorgis a georgopoulos d gardner wd mikkelsen oa velaoras d   source: mediterranean marine science (may 2015)http://wwwmedit-mar-scnet/indexphp/marine/article/view/1116 title: dissolved organic matter composition drives the marine production of brominated very short-lived substancesauthors: yina liu daniel co thornton thomas s bianchi william a arnold michael r shields jie chen and shari a yvon-lewissource: environmental science and technology (february 2015)http://pubsacsorg/doi/abs/101021/es505464k title: changes in coral reef communities across a natural gradient in seawater phauthors: hannah c barkley1 anne l cohen2 yimnang golbuu victoria r starczak thomas m decarlo and kathryn e f shambergersource: science advances (june 2015) http://advancessciencemagorg/content/1/5/e1500328 title: responses of the coastal phytoplankton community to tropical cyclones revealed by high-frequency imaging flow cytometry authors: sílvia anglès antoni jordi and lisa campbell source: limnology and oceanography (may 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/lno10117/full  title: labile pyrogenic dissolved organic carbon in major siberian arctic rivers: implications for wildfire-stream metabolic linkagesauthors: allison n myers-pigg patrick louchouarn rainer m w amon anatoly prokushkin kace pierce and alexey rubtsovsource: geophysical research letters (january 2015) http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/2014gl062762/full title: the contribution of mangrove expansion to salt marsh loss in the western gulf of mexicoauthors: anna r armitage wesley e highfield samuel d brody and patrick louchouarnsource: plos one (may 2015) http://journalsplosorg/plosone/articleid=101371/journalpone0125404  title: shamals and climate variability in the northern arabian/persian gulf from 1973 to 2012 authors: fahad al senafi and ayal anissource: international journal of climatology (march 2015)http://onlinelibrarywileycom/doi/101002/joc4302/abstract " " atmospheric sciences graduate student receives nasa fellowshipjun 18 2015souichro hioki is the only texas a&m graduate student to be awarded competitive fellowship the nasa earth and space science fellowship program (nessf) has selected souichro hioki to receive a one-year competitive fellowship under one of four research programs of the science mission directorate hiokis fellowship was awarded by the earth science program his research topic is variability of ice cloud particle roughness determined from polarimetric satellite observations he is the only graduate student at texas a&m to be designated to receive an nessf fellowship the $30 000 fellowships are for one year and are renewable for two more years if satisfactory progress is made nasa received 712 applications including 391 for the earth science division of which 64 were selected  a graduate of tohoku university in sendai japan hioki is studying under ping yang professor and department head of atmospheric sciences hioki received the best student poster presentation award at the american meteorological society meetings conference on satellite meteorology and oceanography in january he also received the outstanding graduate student seminar departmental award in december 2014 hioki is currently a research assistant in the department of atmospheric sciences his research interests are radiative transfer of polarized light in the atmosphere and atmospheric optics and bioaerosols the project proposed by mr hioki for a nessf fellowship is to quantify the degree of the surface roughness of ice crystals within ice clouds yang said in the literature it has been demonstrated that ice crystal surface roughness has important implications from remote sensing and radiation budget perspectives in my opinion the project that hioki proposed is in the frontier of research with a potentially significant impact on remote sensing of ice cloud properties   by karen riedel [embed: kriedel@tamuedu " " pacific mystery: coral reefs are thriving but howjun 5 2015 a college of geosciences researcher and her colleagues have found healthy coral reefs in highly acidic ocean waters ""the reefs appear to be thriving and we want to understand why "" says kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography fragile coral reefs can be barometers of healthy ocean conditions but a large reef in palau in the far western pacific ocean seems to be defying all odds – it is thriving in high levels of acidification says a team of international researchers hannah barkley anne cohen victoria starczak and thomas decarlo of the woods hole oceanographic institution yimnang golbuu of the palau international coral reef center and kathryn shamberger of texas a&m university have had their work published in the current issue of science advances the team examined eight coral reefs in the palauan archipelago and found high levels of acidification within the lagoons and inlets of the palau rock islands but despite the high levels the rock island coral reefs appear to be extremely healthy based on lab experiments and other studies this is the opposite of what we expected says barkley the lead author as the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide released by human activities its chemistry is changing the carbon dioxide reacts with water molecules lowering ocean ph in a process known as ocean acidification this process also removes carbonate ions an essential ingredient needed by corals and other organisms to build their skeletons and shells though coral reefs cover less than 1 percent of the ocean they are ecosystems that are home to at least one-fourth of all marine life why the reefs are so healthy despite the high acidification levels is one of the key questions the team wants to answer the researchers found that acidification levels in the palau rock islands are as high now as the open ocean is projected to be by the end of this century the reefs appear healthy but they have high levels of bioerosion which occurs when organisms like mollusks and worms bore into the reef and break it down shamberger adds we see coral skeletons that are eaten up and have holes on top and the sides the coral almost looks like swiss cheese because of the volume that has been removed says barkley but the reefs appear to be thriving despite acidification and bioerosion and we want to understand why says shamberger the team says that the acidification process in palau is a natural one due to a combination of biological activity and the slow flushing of water through the rock island lagoons that allows acidification levels to build up over time ocean acidification is happening in every ocean everywhere on earth shamberger says we do know that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and deforestation contribute to higher acidification levels  it is very important for us to understand how coral reefs around the world will respond to continuing ocean acidification and places like palau with natural acidification provide valuable clues the project was funded by the national science foundation with additional funding from the dalio foundation inc the tiffany & co foundation the nature conservancy and the whoi access to the sea fund for more information click here ### media contact: erin koenig media relations coordinator woods hole oceanographic institution (508) 289-2270 or ekoenig@whoiedu or  keith randall texas a&m news service at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger " " summer program introduces high school students to the geosciencesjun 5 2015students explore the geosciences learn about career opportunities and receive guidance in applying to college during a weeklong programthe college of geosciences welcomes the fifth class of geox the weeklong summer program that introduces high-school sophomores juniors and seniors to environmental programs geography geographic information science and technology (gist) geology geophysics meteorology and oceanography this year 22 are on campus and on field trips june 7–12 geox provides students their first step to a successful college experience and a long and productive career in the geosciences said judy nunez director of recruitment for the college of geosciences individual and corporate donations provide the funds for geox to cover room board field trips and student counselors nunez says which makes the experience more affordable during a time when parents and students are trying to save for college more than 20 faculty graduate students and staff volunteer their time dr chris houser associate dean for undergraduate and faculty affairs and associate professor in geography is the faculty leader for the program    the texas students are from schools ranging from el paso the rio grande valley and galveston to san antonio laredo and houston and out-of-state as far away as minnesota minorities and women are historically underrepresented in the geosciences said dr kate miller dean of the college of geosciences one of the colleges goals is to ensure that our graduates not only contribute to the future workforce of texas but also reflect its population and diversity students and their parents are welcomed the first day with a bar-b-cue tailgate on the lawn in from of the o&m building the week is filled with hands-on activities experiments and demonstrations given by geosciences faculty members and graduate students houser said the students will also go on the road to visit bp headquarters in houston after exploring the various disciplines in the geosciences the students will also talk to professionals in the field who will walk them through some career opportunities in a variety of fields nunez said geox ends with the amazing race a geocaching event that eventually leads students to their destination lunch in the msc with their parents while on campus the students stay in eppright hall and dine at campus facilities or local spots around town in addition to the academic side nunez said we also give students a slice of aggie life adding that the students will also spend time at the recreation center swimming pool and the memorial student center students also learn what steps to take to become an aggie with representatives from admissions the honors program financial aid study abroad and fish camp to help them make the transition manyif not mostare the first in their families to attend college nunez notes it can be difficult to navigate the admissions process we want to help students enter a top-rate university like texas a&m and to be successful contributions from bp america houston; james benham 01 president jb knowledge technologies bryan; timothy bryan 72 ceo of bank & trust bryan; chris dailey 93 ceo of dailey electric bryan; eddie v gray president gray enterprises baytown; and guy matthews guy matthews and associates houston funded the all-expenses-paid program for information about next summers geox 2016 or other recruitment opportunities contact judy nunez (jnunez@tamuedu) or 979-845-3651 by karen riedel  june 5 2015 texas a&m yell leaders teach the geox class of 2014 how to ""hump it"" " " online rip current survey aimed at increasing safety of beach visitorsjun 4 2015the survey is designed to determine the publics knowledge about rip currents and the effectiveness of the current warning signs in use at surf beaches around the country the survey was developed by dr chris houser of texas a&m university (tamu) and dr rob brander of the university of new south wales with support from the texas sea grant college programthe results of this survey will be used to determine whether our current efforts are visible memorable and can be understood by beach users or whether we need to rethink how to warn beach users of the rip danger before they enter the water we hope that this information will help reduce the number of fatalities involving rip currents  said houser associate professor of geography and associate dean for undergraduate and faculty affairs in tamus college of geosciences the survey is available here (https://tamuqualtricscom/se/sid=sv_e8nbaghb7r7vetr) rips are fast-moving currents of water that can pull even the strongest swimmer away from the shore according to the us lifesaving association (usla) rip currents account for at least a hundred deaths each year at us surf beaches the warning signs and other educational materials and activities including national weather service surf zone forecasts and rip current preparedness week june 7-13 are part of the decade-long break the grip of the rip public awareness campaign by usla and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) the signs are illustrations designed to instruct people how to escape from a rip current if they become trapped in one and show the rip from a birds-eye view rather than the perspective of someone on the beach there have been an extraordinary number of rip current-related drownings already this year in the united states houser said the number of drownings can be reduced through an increased presence of lifeguards and effective warning signs but to our knowledge no study has tested whether beach users are aware of the us warning signs or whether they comprehend the prevention strategy to ‘break the grip of the rip and are able to translate the simple illustration of a rip current on the sign into a feature observable from the beach shore the national online survey was inspired by an earlier in-person survey houser and his tamu colleague dr christian brannstrom professor of geography did of visitors to texas beaches under a grant from texas sea grant their study found that the break the grip of the rip sign is mainly successful in describing what beach visitors should do when caught in a rip but not successful in helping beach users identify rip currents from the perspective of standing or sitting on the beach before they enter the surf zone more than half of beach users had difficulty translating the rip current image on the sign into a feature observable from the shore houser and brannstroms suggestions include redesigning the sign to include an eye-level photo of a rip current adding information about the conditions and locations where rips occur and listing the visible features that would help beach users identify rip currents rip currents can occur at any beach with breaking waves including the great lakes and most often form at low spots or breaks in sandbars and near structures like piers jetties and groins according to usla more than 80 percent of the surf beach rescues performed by lifeguards each year involve rip currents they are not always easy to identify but signs of rip currents include a break in the pattern of incoming waves; a channel of churning choppy water; an area with a noticeably different water color; a line of foam seaweed or debris moving steadily seaward if caught in a rip current dont fight the current directly swim out of it in a direction that follows the shoreline then swim back to the shore once you are clear if you cant escape the current float or tread water until the current stops then swim back to shore; if you are still unable to reach shore wave your arms and call for help for greater safety know how to swim never swim alone swim at beaches with lifeguards and if in doubt dont go out more information about rip currents including online training to help learn how to spot a rip current is available at http://wwwripcurrentsnoaagov and http://wwwuslaorg houser can be reached at chouser@tamuedu by cindi powelltexas sea grant editor texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources participating in a new online survey about rip currents could someday save a life " participating in a new online survey about rip currents could someday save a life " debbie thomas is appointed department head in oceanographyjun 1 2015debbie thomas began her career at texas a&m in 2004 as an assistant professordeborah (debbie) j thomas associate professor has been appointed head of the department of oceanography effective june 1 she was previously interim and assistant department head she has been approved for promotion to professor effective sept 1 thomas is the first female department head in the college of geosciences thomas received her masters degree in marine sciences and her doctoral degree in geological sciences from the university of north carolina her undergraduate degree is in geological sciences from brown university thomas research mainly concentrates on the paleoceanography of the cretaceous and cenozoic using the deep-sea sedimentary record to investigate the role of the deep oceans in global heat transport during different climate states she was instrumental in establishing the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory among thomas honor and awards are invited keynote speaker for the shell science seminar at the national science teachers associations national conference; the freshman convocation keynote speaker at texas a&m; and distinguished lecturer for the consortium for ocean leadership she was also a montague center for teaching excellence scholar and she received the college-level distinguished achievement teaching award from the association of former students she and her students have published numerous publications and she has been thesis or dissertation advisor to 13 students she is a geology editorial board member is an invited speaker to numerous workshops and conferences and a steering committee and panel member on several nsf and iodp initiatives debbies leadership capabilities were evident early in her career said kate miller dean she has already led the department in establishing the 3 + 2 program that offers students the opportunity to earn undergraduate and masters degree in five years and forging a stronger alliance with the marine science programs in galveston by karen riedel debbie thomas " " watch out new york: houston floods could be headed your wayjun 1 2015as coastal cities like houston continue to expand flooding problems will grow even faster and become more critical predict texas a&m geographersa heads-up to new york baltimore houston and miami: a new study suggests that these metropolitan areas and others will increase their exposure to floods even in the absence of climate change according to researchers from texas a&m university their work is published in global environmental change the study presents first-ever global forecasts of how the exposure of urban land to floods and droughts may change due to urban expansion in the near future in 2000 about 30 percent of the global urban land (over 75 000 square miles) was located in the high-frequency flood zones; by 2030 this will reach nearly 40 percent (280 000 square miles) as the global urban land grows from 250 000 square miles to 720 000 square miles the authors say the researchers also predict that by 2030 the urban extent in drylands will nearly double reaching over 190 000 square miles and that even without climate change extent of urban areas exposed to both floods and droughts would more than triple by 2030 according to the study urban areas exposed to flood and drought hazards will increase considerably due to the sheer increase in their extents driven primarily by socio-economic forces says burak güneralp lead author of the study and a research assistant professor in geography at texas a&m in particular coastal megacities will house a majority of the urban populations and they will increasingly be hubs of significant economic activity in the coming decades yet potential future changes in the extent and layout of the urban areas are typically ignored in resilience planning for these cities the study points to significant variation in the geographical patterns of how the exposure of cities especially to flood hazards will change in the first three decades of the 21st century the largest increases in urban exposure are expected in high-frequency flood zones and arid lands of asia and africa in particular emerging coastal metropolitan regions in these two continents are expected to have larger areas exposed to flooding than those in developed countries although relatively small compared to what we can expect in asia and africa in the us the expansion of houston and miami metropolitan areas as well as the metropolitan area between baltimore and new york is expected to increase their exposure to flooding in addition the expansion of many urban areas in the southwest us in particular central and southern california is expected to increase their exposure to drought the researchers used existing urban land cover maps and urban expansion forecasts and employed gis analysis to identify the amount of urban expansion in flood and drought prone zones around the world in 2000 and 2030 the infrastructure requirements of all this forecasted growth would be phenomenal for example elsewhere it is estimated that a staggering $57 trillion will be required to meet the global infrastructure demand worldwide by 2030 these are huge investments on infrastructure some of which will be located in flood or drought prone areas but the authors say there are initiatives that can be taken to adapt to and mitigate floods and droughts these include individual cities preventing development in flood-prone zones and thus protecting natural habitats that would reduce the likelihood of being flooded large-scale adoption of green infrastructure which includes reducing impervious surface cover can decrease the exposure of cities to high-frequency floods and droughts although the researchers focus was on the increase in urban areas the impact of urban land cover on river flooding is not simply a matter of increasing impervious surface cover which causes an increase in the intensity and duration of peak river discharges says i̇nci güneralp second author of the study and assistant professor at texas a&m through land change bank protection channelization and other means urbanization can also alter the geomorphology of river channels and floodplains which in turn may contribute to increased risk of flooding our findings suggest that future urban expansion in flood and drought prone zones will at least be as important as population growth and economic development in increasing their exposure the researchers add with climatic changes this exposure is only expected to increase in the future thus proper planning and financing in fast growing cities today will be critical in mitigating future losses due to floods and droughts ### contact: burak güneralp at (979) 845-6422 or bguneralp@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu original story was published in texas a&m today enough rain fell in may to cover the entire state with 8 inches of water " " six faculty members receive promotionsmay 10 2015geosciences has three new professors and three newly tenured associate professors the texas a&m system board of regents approved during their may meeting three college of geosciences faculty members for tenure with promotion in addition it was announced that three geosciences professors were promoted from associate professor to professor receiving tenure and promotion to associate professor are inci guneralp and erin (brendan) roark geography and eric riggs geology and geophysics receiving promotion to professor are andrew klein geography and deborah thomas and shari yvon-lewis oceanography in reviewing the recommendations for these faculty members i was impressed with the breadth that each brings to teaching research and service said kate miller dean the class of 2015 is indeed a strong one and i join with my colleagues in congratulating all of them for their contributions to the geosciences the promotions are effective sept 1 by karen riedel andrew klein debbie thomas shari yvon-lewis inci guneralp eric riggs brendan roark " " the texas a&m system board of regents approved during their may meeting three college of geosciences faculty members for tenure with promotion in addition it was announced that three geosciences professors were promoted from associate professor to professor receiving tenure and promotion to associate professor are inci guneralp and erin (brendan) roark geography and eric riggs geology and geophysics receiving promotion to professor are andrew klein geography and deborah thomas and shari yvon-lewis oceanography in reviewing the recommendations for these faculty members i was impressed with the breadth that each brings to teaching research and service said kate miller dean the class of 2015 is indeed a strong one and i join with my colleagues in congratulating all of them for their contributions to the geosciences the promotions are effective sept 1 by karen riedel andrew klein debbie thomas shari yvon-lewis inci guneralp eric riggs brendan roark " " the tie that bindsmay 8 2015a devotion to texas a&m runs through four generations of the morgan family patricia and george morgan jr maroon blood has run through four generations of morgans beginning with george morgan sr class of 1918 my grandfather left college to fight in world war i says george b morgan iii 79  and my father george followed in his footsteps leaving texas a&m to fight in world war ii both men returned to texas a&m after the respective world wars to complete their degrees they went on to run a successful family business in beaumont raise their families and inculcate a love of all things texas a&m in their children the morgan tradition continues today with the children of george and his brother david in various stages of attending graduating or planning to attend texas a&m the only outlier in the morgan and texas a&m equation was patricia morgan beloved wife of george jr my mother graduated from louisiana tech george relates but she always loved the aggies and she adopted texas a&m as her own patricia morgan demonstrated her devotion in her husbands declining years george says by making sure he still got to texas a&m for a ballgame or a meeting mrs morgan did the same for her father-in-law she would bring him to college station to attend the presidents endowed scholarship reception he said she loved texas a&m as much as we did george says her never remembers a time when the family wasnt making day trips or overnights to aggieland my parents took us to everything they showed us around the school and this is how we came to love texas a&m as much as they did george jrs undergraduate degree from texas a&m was in geology and he went on to get his master's degree from the colorado school of mines before starting his career in the oil field he was with skelly oil company in the 1950s and 60s until he opened his own office as an independent geologist in 1967 in shreveport la  he returned to his hometown in 1970 to join the family business texas metal works a machine shop that manufactures forgings and forged steel-pipe flanges he was president and chief executive officer at the time of his death in 2001  my father carried his love for geology to the end of his life george said he was completely devoted to the profession and i know his life was more meaningful because of his interest in geology patricia and george b morgan jr 48 had established a charitable trust that provided them life income payments and some significant tax benefits after their lifetimes the trust terminated and the remaining trust assets were transferred to the texas a&m foundation to benefit texas a&m in the ways the morgans had specified a significant portion of their gift established the patricia and george morgan 48 endowed fellowship fund   the morgan link to texas a&m is a long and rich legacy george says it has meant so much to all of our lives and i am glad that our children in the fourth generation carry on the tradition by karen riedel 80 92 " " geologists without bordersmay 8 2015college of geosciences study abroad and research opportunities find their next home at hacienda santa clara in san miguel de allende geology and geophysics students work with students from mexicos universidad de guanajuato evaluate to san miguels water issues picture this: brightly colored buildings with tiled roofs cobblestone roads panoramic mountain views and a world-renowned art culture all nestled in an old-world setting declared a unesco world heritage site add some mellow latin guitar music and average year-round temperatures of 70 degrees and youve got san miguel de allende one of mexicos premier tourist destinations now picture this: rapid population growth and booming tourism nestled in one of mexicos top agricultural areas along with an expanded manufacturing sector all dependent on an increasingly polluted and diminishing groundwater supply add data from a 2006 ecosystem sciences foundation report indicating the quality of the regions water does not meet mexicos acceptable drinking water standards and the travelers maxim dont drink the water takes on a whole new meaning this year with the help of a combined funding program by mexicos consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnología (the national council of science and technology) and texas a&m's division of research the college of geosciences geology and geophysics students embarked on what promises to be a long and fruitful collaboration with students from mexicos universidad de guanajuato in quantifying and qualifying san miguels water issues but they will also gain another invaluable asset to a texas a&m education: a cross-cultural experience this is a unique opportunity says dr rick giardino geology and geophysics professor and department head san miguel de allende can change students global perspectives dramatically this is important significant research but the most important thing to come out of it is relationships between the two universities when you build personal relationships you develop lifelong admiration and cultivate understanding relationships between texas a&m and san miguel de allende have been deepening since the 2009 opening of the hacienda santa clara study and research center by pablo marvin a 1966 aggie and member of the departments advisory council last fall giardino took 32 members and their spouses from the college of geosciences external advisory board to san miguel to experience firsthand its potential for hosting student research and study abroad programs mission accomplished; no one wanted to leave and san miguel came in with flying colors in all areas: safety cost efficiency cultural significance and directly relatable experience in solving some of texas own water issues  marvin and his wife barbara designed hacienda santa clara specifically for hosting collaborative research and educational opportunities replete with dormitories classrooms computer labs wet and dry laboratories and multiple classrooms with wireless internet and video conferencing capabilities the hacienda is well-equipped to carry out its mission to be an incubator where universities government and the private sector will collaborate to solve real-life problems a 20-minute drive from san miguel the center is not only environmentally sustainable but maintains mexicos warm and rich culture with hacienda style architecture lush gardens that supply ingredients for much of the centers authentic mexican cuisine and an art collection built around some of mexicos most famous artists giardino and colleague peter knappett have been working with two co-principal investigators from the universidad de guanajuato dr horaico hernandez and dr yanmei li in establishing a program that emphasizes scientific collaborations and cultural exchanges between students professors and the two universities this past january 10 students and professors from mexico traveled to texas a&m to participate in field demonstrations involving water quality testing and monitoring as well as various geophysical techniques to be used in the field in mexico the week-long workshop also involved team building between the guanajuato students and texas a&m students before working in the field together in mexico in february four texas a&m graduate students  raquel granados aguilar amy price kim rhodes and taylor rowley accompanied giardino and knappett to san miguel to work with the guanajuato students the students collected data and did analysis to accurately quantify the diminishing water resources of the acuífero de la independencia that underlies the guanajuato-san miguel de allende region we will use the results from this for an in-depth long-term study giardino said in conjunction with universidad de guanajuato giardino and frank hopf are currently at work on an undergraduate program they will introduce in fall 2016 that takes incoming freshman to mexico we will be able teach incoming freshman about the geology of the trans-mexican volcanic belt giardino says but they will also be exposed to the culture during the day well take field trips and look at some spectacular geology the hydrology of the streams and the distinctive volcanoes throughout area then in the evening students will have lectures about history and the politics of mexico from professors at the university of guanajuato ""my goal is to make a long-term sustainable program that lasts not just as long as im involved but a program that continues long after i retire by sharon roesharonroe@livecom for more information about the college of geosciences program in mexico email rick giardino: rickg@tamuedu " " geology and geophysics students work with students from mexicos universidad de guanajuato evaluate to san miguels water issues " " pollen and clouds: april flowers bring may showersmay 4 2015not many people have a cloud-making machine in their labs but sarah brooks does and it demonstrated the role pollen plays in cloud creation  dr brooks working in her lab   the main job of pollen is to help seed the next generation of trees and plants but a new study from the university of michigan and texas a&m university shows that the grains might also seed clouds the unexpected findings demonstrate that these wind-carried capsules of genetic material might have an effect on the planets climate and they highlight a new link between plants and the atmosphere the teams work is in the current issue of geophysical research letters  and the project is supported by the national science foundation pollen has been largely ignored by atmospheric scientists who study aerosols – particles suspended in the air that scatter light and heat and play a role in cloud formation the grains were thought to be too large to be important in the climate system too large to form clouds or interact with radiation said allison steiner an associate professor of atmospheric oceanic and space sciences at u-m and also the large particles dont last in the atmosphere they tend to settle out relatively quickly but steiner and her colleagues werent sure that was the whole story sweeping a dusting off her porch one spring morning she wondered what happens to the grains in the air steiner turned to the medical community pollen causes seasonal allergies which affect between 10- and 20 percent of us residents when we were looking in the allergy literature we discovered that its pretty well known by epidemiologists that pollen can break up into these tiny pieces and trigger an allergic response steiner said smaller grains could have big implications the research team set out to see if moisture could cause the pieces to break down what we found is when pollen gets wet it can rupture very easily in seconds or minutes and make lot of smaller particles that can act as cloud condensation nuclei or collectors for water steiner said in the lab-based experiment at texas a&m the researchers tested pollen from oak pecan birch cedar and pine trees as well as ragweed these are the most common sources of wind-driven pollen in the us they soaked two grams from each source in pure water for an hour they used an atomizer to produce a spray of the moist pollen fragments the pollen fragments were sent into a cloud chamber in sarah brooks laboratory at texas a&m the team found that three different sizes – 50 100 and 200 nanometers – of all six types began to pull in moisture and form clouds samples entering the cloud chamber are exposed to moist conditions representative of the relative humidity found in the atmosphere  if a sample is an effective cloud activator droplets will rapidly grow on the sample fragments forming large cloud droplets cloud droplets are 10 times larger than the pollen fragments cloud droplets are counted at the exit of the cloud chamber by an optical particle counter according to brooks scientists are just beginning to identify the types of biological aerosols which are important for cloud formation our results identify pollen as a major contributor to cloud formation for confirmation they looked at the samples under a scanning electron microscope and they saw that grains that had begun as10-20 micrometer diameter had ruptured releasing many fragments of 100 nanometer or greater diameter in size well within the size that can lead to cloud formation the findings could impact climate science and public health what happens in clouds is one of the big uncertainties in climate models right now steiner said one of the things were trying to understand is how do natural aerosols influence cloud cover and precipitation under present day and future climate brooks adds that specifically our results suggest that increased pollen could lead to the formation of thicker clouds and longer cloud lifetimes and the allergy community might be interested in knowing what the particles are made of when the particles ruptured the researchers determined that theyre mostly carbohydrate and protein as next steps the researchers plan to conduct similar studies in the field and through computer simulations model the potential feedback between the plant life and the atmosphere its possible that when trees emit pollen that makes clouds which in turn makes rain and that feeds back into the trees and can influence the whole growth cycle of the plant steiner noted contact: sarah brooks at (979) 845-5632 or sbrooks@tamuedu resources abstract: pollen as atmospheric cloud condensation nuclei youtube video: university of michigan how pollen might make clouds  profile: dr sarah brooks  bags of pollen were collected from texas and michigan in order to test the hypothesis " bags of pollen were collected from texas and michigan in order to test the hypothesis " texas a&ms womens faculty network recognizes professors leadership in mentoring apr 30 2015students and colleagues credit dr lisa campbell for her encouragement and support in advancing their careersdr lisa campbell professor of oceanography received the outstanding mentoring award from the womens faculty network campbell also has a joint appointment with the department of biology in the college of science  not only is campbell an internationally known authority on harmful algal blooms which affect human health and fisheries and marine life worldwide she is also acknowledged by her students and colleagues alike for the positive influence she has made in their professional and personal lives dr reagan errera a former graduate student now at louisiana state university writes of the time spent and encouragement given when she was pursuing her doctorate over the years i have come to appreciate that dr campbell provides much more to her students than simply advising on research projects she connects with each of us and helps us realize our full potential as researchers and members of the scientific community errera said she especially appreciates how campbell stresses professionalism in every aspect of her students early careers as fledgling scientists dr campbell didnt just correct the grammar in my research and grant applications errera writes of her mentor she was always willing to talk with me about how to make a paragraph stronger paying it forward campbell has made her commitment to mentoring a priority in her career in an eloquent essay written for the oceanography societys special issue on women in oceanography she points with pride to the 60 undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have worked in her laboratory over the years a majority of them women i hope i have been a positive mentor she writes as i recall how important mentors were to me in addition to the accolades she has received from her students campbell is also acknowledged for the encouragement advice and support she gives her colleagues my mentor relationship with lisa has meant a great deal to me personally said dr sarah bednarz professor of geography she has been a tremendous sounding board bednarz wrote in her nomination letter she always has time to talk to reflect and to listen bednarz credits campbell for initiating a brown-bag lunch for women faculty members in geosciences with discussions ranging from applying for grants to raising visibility on national boards to finding good childcare in the brazos valley   it is both a social event and a terrific informal time to talk about the issues we face a little gossip a little wine great food and a life- and career-affirming experience which enriches us all and lisa is the catalyst bednarz says  campbell will be honored the wfn spring luncheon 11:30 am may 7 at the agrilife center  the women's faculty network is an organization committed to encouraging and promoting the professional development of women faculty through both formal programming and informal networking opportunities   by karen riedel  former graduate student reagan errera and dr lisa campbell " " geosciences geography students receive awardsapr 30 2015geography continues to be recognized for graduate excellence in both research and teachingfor the fifth year in a row a graduate student in the department of geography is being awarded a prestigious gramm fellowship award and for the second year in a row one of wendy jepsons graduate students is receiving a fellowship from the society of women geographers liang chen liang chen liang chen a phd candidate in the department of geography was awarded the 2015 gramm fellowship award the award was created to support and encourage the research and teaching of outstanding doctoral students who exemplify scholarly excellence liangs research examines climate change in china using state-of-the-art general circulation models his fieldwork in northwestern china peaked liangs interest in this topic as he witnessed firsthand the amount of environmental degradation caused by climate change and human activities being a part of the climate science lab and studying in the department of geography allows me to learn climate change from different perspectives and explore this issue using integrated methodology says liang  studying under the advisement of dr oliver frauenfeld assistant professor of geography liang says he has benefited from his professors knowledge of climate change and environmental studies liang will complete his phd this summer and join the center for ocean-land-atmosphere studies (cola) as a postdoctoral fellow at george mason university the award is named after former texas a&m faculty member us senator phil gramm who served many years in the us congress and senate contributing to countless laws and policies tianna bruno tianna bruno geography graduate student tianna bruno has been selected to receive the pruitt national minority fellowship awarded by the society of woman geographers established by evelyn l pruitt the fellowship goes to a female of a minority group who demonstrates excellence in academics and a passion for the study of geography pruitt was a geographer with the us navy whose research increased the use of remote sensing in the study of geography and coastal environments in the 1940s  applicants must be part of a masters program to be eligible bruno research will focus on state-society relations and how states handle the uneven distribution of environmental burdens caused by refineries and chemical plants analyzing how states pursue an environmental justice agenda bruno will measure how this lines up with the goals of the communities affected her research will culminate in a comparative research study of the us environmental protection agencys environmental justice showcase communities project in milwaukee wisc and port arthur texas bruno says she has a personal connection with this work because her family lives in port arthur one of her case study locations she is currently studying under dr wendy jepson professor of geography dr jepsons knowledge of political ecology as well as environmental justice are invaluable to my educational development my personal goal for this research is to be able to inform policy and empower marginalized communities she says she will begin her research in summer 2015 by emily j peter ‘15 " " texas a&m award recognizes environmental programs coordinatorapr 30 2015emily dykes receives third award this year for advisingdescribed by a student as one of the greatest assets that our major has to offer emily dykes program coordinator in environmental programs in the geosciences will receive the ed guthrie advisor award on may 7 after graduating cum laude with a bs in environmental studies dykes was hired in 2008 to establish the academic advising office for a newly reorganized environmental programs and to build the advisor position from the ground up in exit surveys students consistently score her performance between 48 and 5 the highest mark no one cared as much wrote one student a+ many students throughout the years simply state: emily is amazing   since its inception in 2002 enrollment in environmental programs in the geosciences has had one of the largest percentage increases in the university especially after 2006 and dr christian brannstrom director and professor of geography credits dykes for making the programs friendly and accessible while managing a large increase in enrollment emily has developed several valuable initiatives that indicate her concern for student welfare brannstrom said citing her leadership in not only recruiting and retaining students but also creating socialization events and student networking opportunities organizing an annual former student tailgate developing a strong social media presence advising the epic student organization establishing pathways for transfer students and founding a yearly environmental careers panel emilys career with us is exemplary of our best commitments to support our teaching mission because of the care and compassion with which she advises our current environmental geosciences and environmental studies students brannstrom said during this academic year dykes has been named a fish camp namesake and she received the texas a&m presidents advising award and the college of geosciences deans distinguished achievement award in 2011 she received the colleges annual runnels advising award we appreciate emilys many accomplishments at the college level and it is gratifying to see university-wide recognition for her outstanding contributions to student success said dr kate miller dean  established in 1990 the ed guthrie advising award is given by the university advisors and counselors organization the award recognizes the efforts of faculty and staff members who exemplify former advisor dr ed guthries spirit and concern for students welfare combined with skillful and insightful advisement dykes will be honored at a breakfast may 7  by karen riedel     emily dykes 08 " " robyn blackmon joins college communications teamapr 30 2015a wide range of skills will enhance colleges communications endeavorsa communicator with a 25-year track record of higher education and private sector experience joined the college of geosciences march 1 as communications coordinator robyn blackmon brings extensive experience in all aspects of communications with specific skills in development and alumni relations event management web development graphic design magazine and newsletter management and videography  blackmon was most recently director of communications at rice university she also held the same title at the texas a&m association of former students (afs) where she served as managing editor of the associations electronic and paper publications including texas aggie magazine true maroon quarterly and aggienews an electronic monthly newsletter at rice blackmon led an initiative to strategically enhance the universitys relationship with its alumni constituency including serving in leadership roles for the centennial celebration homecoming and class reunions regional fundraising and other outreach programs and special events during her career at texas a&m blackmon has been a writer and editor in the office of public information (now marketing and communications) and texas a&m dining services she was also a development associate for the college of architecture in the private sector she has been executive director for a regional healthcare foundation vice president and coo for an information technology transfer company and director of management programs and consumer affairs for the public utility commission in austin blackmon has received awards from case (council for the advancement and support of education) for the afs 125th anniversary campaign the international association of business communicators for video production and the advertising club of waco for communications campaigns and logo designs  her professional affiliations include the association of private college and university alumni directors case and the american marketing association she is also a member of several community and service boards and organizations robyns experience in strategic planning and integrated marketing as well as alumni relations and development rounds out the communication and development teams said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences she will lead the communications effort for the 50th anniversary working closely with cara milligan [senior director of development] and other faculty and staff in the college to properly acknowledge the colleges scientific achievements over the past 50 years and their relevance for the future blackmon attended baylor university majoring in journalism advertising and marketing  she grew up in saudi arabia in an oil services community and attended boarding schools in europe and the united states more recently she has continued to travel internationally for work and personal business as well as to remote fly- fishing destinations  by karen riedel robyn blackmon " " six new faculty members join college of geosciencesapr 30 2015a professor two tenure-track assistant professors a visiting lecturer and two visiting assistant professors joined the college of geosciences this academic year atmospheric sciences dr timothy logan is a visiting lecturer his phd and ms are from the university of north dakota in atmospheric sciences with a concentration in atmospheric chemistry he received his bachelors degree from the university of virginia in environmental science with a concentration in geochemistry dr logan was most recently a graduate research assistant at the university of north dakota and a participant in the nsf east asian pacific summer institute he has also been a science teacher in public schools in new jersey geology and geophysics dr hiroko kitajima is an assistant professor who received a bs in science from kyoto university japan and a phd in geology from texas a&m university she carried out postdoctoral research at pennsylvania state university and worked for the geological survey of japan as a research scientist dr kitajimas research interests are the interaction of mechanical thermal chemical and fluid flow processes during deformation of sediments and rocks with the aim of better understanding and modeling a wide range of geological problems current research focuses on deformation processes of sediments and rocks under complicated loading conditions associated with earthquakes and faulting in active plate boundaries dr julia reece is an assistant professor whose research focuses on understanding the mechanics and flow properties of mud rocks she is particularly interested in marine sediments and subsurface fluid flow additionally she studies transport behavior and diagenesis in shale-gas reservoir rocks dr reece has held post-doctoral positions at the bureau of economic geology at the university of texas and most recently at stanford university she received her phd from the jackson school university of texas and her undergraduate and masters degrees in geosciences from the university of bremen germany geography dr keith gaddis is a visiting assistant professor his bachelors degree is in biology in environmental science from the university of iowa and his doctorate is from ucla between his undergraduate and graduate coursework dr gaddis served in the peace corps in mauritania teaching and coordinating environmental education programs and girls mentoring centers throughout the country dr gaddis works on a range of topics integrating ecological genetic and geographic tools to trace the effects of climate environment and landscape on the contemporary and historic movement patterns in plant and animal species dr adam naito is a visiting assistant professor his master and bachelors degrees are from penn state and his phd is from texas a&m all in geography his areas of specialization are biogeography landscape ecology ecological modeling and gis applications in environmental science and remote sensing oceanography dr gerardo gold bouchot came to texas a&m as a professor a position he held at the center for research and advanced studies merida mexico he is recognized internationally for his research on environmental levels of pollutants in marine and coastal ecosystems he studies the use and validation of biomarkers of various species from the molecular to community levels he has broad expertise and experience related to research on oil in the sea a continuing issue of concern to the gulf of mexico and texas dr gold bouchot has published 53 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and 10 book chapters and edited two books dr gold bouchot is also involved in coastal management issues and programs including the development of the gulf of mexico large marine ecosystem project " " atmospheric sciences dr timothy logan is a visiting lecturer his phd and ms are from the university of north dakota in atmospheric sciences with a concentration in atmospheric chemistry he received his bachelors degree from the university of virginia in environmental science with a concentration in geochemistry dr logan was most recently a graduate research assistant at the university of north dakota and a participant in the nsf east asian pacific summer institute he has also been a science teacher in public schools in new jersey " " geology and geophysics dr hiroko kitajima is an assistant professor who received a bs in science from kyoto university japan and a phd in geology from texas a&m university she carried out postdoctoral research at pennsylvania state university and worked for the geological survey of japan as a research scientist dr kitajimas research interests are the interaction of mechanical thermal chemical and fluid flow processes during deformation of sediments and rocks with the aim of better understanding and modeling a wide range of geological problems current research focuses on deformation processes of sediments and rocks under complicated loading conditions associated with earthquakes and faulting in active plate boundaries " " dr julia reece is an assistant professor whose research focuses on understanding the mechanics and flow properties of mud rocks she is particularly interested in marine sediments and subsurface fluid flow additionally she studies transport behavior and diagenesis in shale-gas reservoir rocks dr reece has held post-doctoral positions at the bureau of economic geology at the university of texas and most recently at stanford university she received her phd from the jackson school university of texas and her undergraduate and masters degrees in geosciences from the university of bremen germany " " geography dr keith gaddis is a visiting assistant professor his bachelors degree is in biology in environmental science from the university of iowa and his doctorate is from ucla between his undergraduate and graduate coursework dr gaddis served in the peace corps in mauritania teaching and coordinating environmental education programs and girls mentoring centers throughout the country dr gaddis works on a range of topics integrating ecological genetic and geographic tools to trace the effects of climate environment and landscape on the contemporary and historic movement patterns in plant and animal species " " dr adam naito is a visiting assistant professor his master and bachelors degrees are from penn state and his phd is from texas a&m all in geography his areas of specialization are biogeography landscape ecology ecological modeling and gis applications in environmental science and remote sensing " " oceanography dr gerardo gold bouchot came to texas a&m as a professor a position he held at the center for research and advanced studies merida mexico he is recognized internationally for his research on environmental levels of pollutants in marine and coastal ecosystems he studies the use and validation of biomarkers of various species from the molecular to community levels he has broad expertise and experience related to research on oil in the sea a continuing issue of concern to the gulf of mexico and texas dr gold bouchot has published 53 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and 10 book chapters and edited two books dr gold bouchot is also involved in coastal management issues and programs including the development of the gulf of mexico large marine ecosystem project " " join us for the 2015 graduation awards ceremony & reception apr 28 20152015 graduation awards ceremony & reception on may 14 2015please join us for the 2015 graduation awards ceremony and reception on may 14  we will be honoring the 2015 graduating class at 3:30 in the koldus building room 110-111  the ceremony will be followed by cake punch and coffee  rsvp to rrussell@tamuedu by may 12 " " cara milligan named senior development director for college of geosciencesapr 23 2015new senior director for development brings a range of fundraising experience to the college of geosciencescara milligan 08 joined the college of geosciences march 1 as senior director of development she will be responsible for providing donor relations in support of major gift donors to achieve the fundraising goals for the college milligan joined the a&m foundation in july 2010 and previously served as director of development in the college of agriculture and life sciences and assistant director of development with mays business school as a fundraiser for texas a&m milligan has raised nearly $20 million in pledges and commitments including gifts ranging from six to eight figures she has contributed to the success of several large fundraising projects such as the texas a&m gardens and greenway the nontraditional student success program and the business honors program i am extremely excited to be a part of the geosciences team and i am ready to accept the challenge of significantly increasing our major gift fundraising success said milligan i look forward to working with cara in reaching the college of geosciences development goals especially as we enter a capital campaign said kate miller dean cara brings the fundraising experience organizational skills and ability to mentor our faculty and staff that this college needs cattle clays and camping before joining the texas a&m foundation milligan was operations manager for kallion farms a local business that specializes in sugar cane and cotton production as well as brahman cattle breeding milligan helped increase production and organization in all operations developed marketing and collateral communications materials and spearheaded the campaign that led to the registration of more brahman cattle than any other breeder in the brahman association nationwide milligan is a passionate equestrian and has been riding since childhood she is an avid outdoors enthusiast and enjoys hiking camping fishing and visiting texas state as well as national parks it is on my bucket to see all 58 of our national parks says milligan she also spends her free time shooting sporting clays and hitting golf balls at the driving range milligan received her bachelors of science degree in animal science from texas a&m with a minor in business she also has a certificate in non-profit management from the bush school of government and public service and is continuing her education by pursuing a master's degree in public administration by karen riedel cara milligan '08 senior development director " " college of geosciences mourns oilman philanthropist and distinguished alumnus dudley j hughes '51apr 22 2015softly call the musterdudley j hughes 51 legendary oilman author scientist soldier philanthropist and loyal texas a&m alumnus passed away april 21 the day of muster where aggies gather the world over to remember those who have gone before aggie muster is a time-honored celebration of those who have served and set the stage for texas a&m's university current and future success knowing dudleys love for texas a&m said carlos dengo director of the berg-hughes center and long-time friend i am sure he would have appreciated the coincidence his life and contributions certainly exemplify that description of service and success   dudley hughes along with his twin brother dan came to texas a&m from their hometown in palestine texas they both majored in geology and after graduation they both joined the union producing co before being called for active duty to serve during the korean war   after the war dudley rejoined union producing before founding hughes & hughes with his brother over his 40-year career hughes was a highly accomplished independent oil producer and philanthropist owning and operating more than 10 different oil and gas companies he was a member of the all american wildcatters an elite group of 100 members and recipient of the american association of petroleum geologists outstanding explorer award he also received lifetime achievement awards from several state and national organizations including philanthropist of the year from the state of mississippi   in addition to dozens of technical papers related to the oil and gas industry hughes is author of korean war experience the wall of fire: a diary of the third korean winter campaign (2003) and oil in the deep south: a history of the oil business in mississippi alabama and florida 1859–1945 published in 1993 at texas a&m hughes was awarded the sterling c evans medal the texas a&m foundations highest honor he was named a distinguished alumnus by the texas a&m association of former students in 2010 hughes and his wife robbie created the dudley j hughes 51 chair in geology and geophysics and he contributed to the robert r berg professorship in geology and the william r bryant oceanography chair for teaching research and mentoring excellence he was a lead contributor in the endowment of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems  dudley hughes has left an indelible mark on our college said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences his vision has guided us his support has helped educate hundreds of young geoscientists and his life has served as an example of what hard work loyalty and a love for geosciences can accomplish he will be missed but always remembered hughes is survived by his wife robbie watson hughes daughters and sons-in-law vikki hughes johnson (price) and cindy hughes meehl (brian) five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren surviving hughes family members his twin sisters beverly june hughes ainsworth and barbara jane hughes christian brother dan a hughes 51 and nephew dan a hughes jr 80 also founding members of the berg-hughes center dudley j hughes 51 " " seminar series focuses on cross-border water issuesapr 21 2015annual seminar series features mexican economist business leader and former governor access to clean water in sufficient quantity has reached a critical point worldwide an annual lecture series sponsored by texas a&m university water management and hydrological science program and the texas a&m university school of law is helping address this challenge by engaging the public in an annual lecture series that looks at different aspects of the crisis dr rogelio montemayor seguy president of the mining and energy cluster of the state of coahuila will speak april 27 at the texas a&m school of law in fort worth and april 28 in college station water is likely the most significant and pressing concern of the 21st century for texas the united states and nearly every nation on earth said gabriel eckstein professor of law and a leading expert in global water law and policy clean plentiful water is at crisis levels globally with 800 million people lacking fresh water to meet basic living needs but the breaking point is also hitting closer to home not only is the us southwest and mexico suffering through increasing cycles of extreme drought a projected doubling of the population by 2060 and a decline of fresh water availability of at least 10 percent during the same period will further strain the already delicate balance between water availability and human and environmental requirements eagle ford formation complicates border's water problemsfurthermore the scarcity of water in the rio grande region now competes with the oil and gas industry as the eagle ford formation extends into mexico said ronald kaiser professor of water law and policy and director of the water management and hydrological science program at texas a&m an interdisciplinary program offering masters and doctoral degrees in water issues this lecture series provides a public forum to address the energy food and water challenges in the region kaiser said an open discussion with our neighbors across the border will help us to reshape the framework that governs water availability and what it means to the environment human needs and economic development in addition to his current position montemayor is a former governor of coahuila and former president of pemex the national petroleum company of mexico since mexicos recent deregulation of its energy sector he has been an active voice in the energy reform and shale gas industry he holds a phd in economics from the university of pennsylvania where he worked with dr lawrence klein nobel laureate in economics kaiser said that montemayor brings not just a business perspective to the issue his political and international economics experience gives him the ability to address the issue from all angles seminarsboth events are free and open to the public energy food and water in the rio grande basin: drought and challenges between mexico and texas  noon april 27 texas a&m school of law in fort worth rsvp to dbarnett@lawtamuedu) mexico and texas energy water and food issues under drought conditions: opportunities and challenges11:00 am april 28 rm 208 scoates hall texas a&m university college stationinformation: rosario sanchez resourcestexas a&m school of lawtexas a&m water management and hydrological science program karen riedelcommunications manager979-845-0910 " " chris houser receives award for leadership in honors education apr 20 2015the texas a&m honors program recognizes dr christopher a houser for outstanding contributions in undergraduate programs  among chris houser's research interests are dune geomorphology dr chris houser associate dean for undergraduate and faculty affairs has been awarded the 2015 betty m unterberger award for outstanding service to honors education dr houser is being recognized for his exemplary record of commitment for providing research opportunities for undergraduates advising undergraduate students in the college of geosciences and spearheading the honors programs in geosciences geography and geographic information science and technology dr houser is an associate professor with joint appointments in the departments of geography and in geology and geophysics he is also global faculty ambassador in support of global engagement in the office of the provost he conducts research and helps faculty develop academic programs at the soltis center for research and education in costa rica where he has directly and indirectly made it possible for hundreds of texas a&m undergraduates to conduct research and complete service learning projects in the rainforest and in the surrounding communities in addition students from around the nation participated in his national science foundation program at the soltis center ecohydrology of a tropical montane cloud forest between 2010 and 2013  established in 2004 the award was initiated to honor dr betty miller unterberger first female full professor at texas a&m mentor to numerous graduate and undergraduate students and advocate for honors education at texas a&m dr houser is the first to receive the award from the college of geosciences dr houser will be recognized in at the honors and undergraduate research recognition ceremony at 10 am may 14 in the msc bethancourt ballroom dr housers undergraduate and masters degrees are from the university of guelph his doctorate is from the university of toronto at scarborough his research interests are process geomorphology in coastal and aeolian environments with a specific focus on the impact of extreme storms on and recovery of barrier islands following storms he also investigates the role of boundary conditions in swash zones where sediment is exchanged between land and sea wave attenuation through submerged vegetation geological controls on beach-dune recovery and the evolution of blowouts and parabolic dunes along the coast of texas   karen riedel communications manager 979-845-0910 dr christopher a houser associate dean for faculty and undergraduate affairs " dr christopher a houser associate dean for faculty and undergraduate affairs " texas a&m geographer is recognized for diversity effortsapr 20 2015wendy jepson receives national award for championing diversity in her discipline college and universitydr wendy jepson will be honored at this years annual conference of the association of american geographers (aag) held in chicago april 21–25 an associate professor dr jepson is receiving the 2015 enhancing diversity award  which honors geographers who have pioneered efforts in creating a more diverse discipline dr jepson is past chair of the aag status on women in geography and board member of the nsf-funded aag aligned project on enhancing diversity in geosciences part of her role was to implement strategies to target potential geography majors from under-represented groups nationwide as a result she recruited students in urban high schools in houston that are located in predominately mexican-american or lower-income neighborhoods her recruitment efforts have also contributed to broadening participation in the geography graduate program as an advisor for several women and underrepresented minorities beyond recruitment dr jepson takes considerable time and effort to support the academic success of women and underrepresented groups at all levels she has mentored a diverse group of undergraduate students in the classroom and in research to achieve success recently her graduate student tianna bruno received the society of women geographers pruitt national minority fellowship not only is dr jepson one of the most approachable professors that i have ever encountered she challenges her students while providing endless encouragement and advice to build us all into well-equipped scholars "" bruno said of her mentor in her role as chair of the texas a&m university faculty senate committee on diversity dr jepson has contributed to enhancing diversity initiatives on campus she just completed her term as a member of the presidential council on climate and diversity which supports the provosts office in planning and evaluating all university units regarding diversity-related endeavors in addition she regularly serves on the selection committee for the office of graduate programs diversity fellowship dr jepson also directs undergraduate education for the department of geography where she has renewed recruitment efforts to increase the diversity of geography students she is also a strong supporter of the diversity certificate program wendy jepson is a diversity champion said dr christine a stanley vice president and associate provost for diversity and professor of higher education you are consumed by her energy as soon as you engage her in conversation or in faculty or student initiatives at the university her commitment to diversity and inclusion exemplifies texas a&ms vision to maintain a learning environment that encourages everyone to succeed to their full potential this award comes as no surprise to me as it justifiably recognizes her tireless efforts to provide opportunities for all students and underscoring through example that one individual can have a profound impact on someones life dr jepsons research focuses on political ecology environmental governance and politics legal geography and the interaction between technology and society in recent years she has devoted much of her research time focusing on environmental justice and water resources in the united states in particular the complex political economic and social inequalities in the colonias of the lower rio grande valley     karen riedel  communications manager 979-845-0910 wendy jepson is honored by geography professional society for her considerable contributions in creating a more inclusive learning environment " wendy jepson is honored by geography professional society for her considerable contributions in creating a more inclusive learning environment " geosciences welcomes new academic advisorapr 20 2015new academic advisor joins geosciencesbrady dennis is the new undergraduate academic advisor ii in meteorology and he will also assist in advising undergraduate students in geology and geophysics dennis has a bachelor and masters degree from texas a&m and he is working on his dissertation in educational administration before coming to the college of geosciences dennis was assistant director of external relations in the division of marketing & communications he has also been an advisor in biomedical sciences in the college of veterinary medicine in addition to advising dennis has experience in student recruitment event planning campus-visits coordination and web development his achievements include a bronze quill award from brazos valley iabc 2014; texas a&m leadership institute 2010; texas a&m partners in learning award from the diversity awards 2009; and the presidents award for academic advising 2008 dennis will split his time between o&m 105 and halbouty brady dennis academic advisor ii " " dan goldberg receives diversity award apr 13 2015students say he creates an inclusive learning environmentdan goldberg assistant professor of geography is being honored april 15 at texas a&ms annual diversity awards ceremony the partners in learning award of excellence sponsored by the department of disability services recognizes faculty or staff who go above and beyond to provide an inclusive academic experience for students with disabilities goldberg was cited in his nomination letters for his ability to mentor encourage and provide opportunities for all students in a field that has traditionally not been inclusive in one nomination letter a student writes that dr goldberg demonstrates a commitment to both providing quality interactions between different groups of people and allowing them a space for that to occur not only does he provide opportunities to all groups he devotes his time to assisting students so they can enter the workforce and change the face of stem another student who has struggled in her academic subjects since suffering from traumatic brain injury in a car accident writes: until i had a class with dr goldberg no professor seemed approachable or impressed with my efforts not only did goldberg encourage her to develop a mobile application of a student project she did on crowdsourcing aggieland sustainability he also funded her trip to a developers conference in california she was offered an internship at the conference which turned into a full-time job i have a job because of him and how he believed in me she writes goldberg an assistant professor whose degrees are in computer science teaches geographic information science (gis) in the college of geosciences he also holds a joint appointment in computer science in the college of engineering his research interests include applying gis techniques to assess risk and exposure in the areas of health and the environment dan goldberg has made impressive contributions to stem education in the college and university in the short time he has been here said kate miller dean of the college of geosciences dans commitment to creating an inclusive learning environment that nourishes and mentors all students reflects our core values faculty and staff receiving awards will be honored at 3 pm april 15 in 2300 msc the event is sponsored by the division of student affairs department of multicultural services office of the vice president and associate provost for diversity department of disability services and aggie allies karen riedelcommunications manager979-845-0910 dr dan goldberg " " join us for the 50th anniversary of geosciences celebration!apr 1 2015october 2015 marks the 50th year of the college of geosciences at texas a&m we will celebrate the anniversary with events october 1-3 2015 details to followalthough the first degrees in geology were awarded in 1930 merging the departments of geology and geophysics geography oceanography and meterology came decades later october 5 1965 as part of the sweeping changes that gen james earl rudder instituted at texas a&m during his tenure the creation of the college of geosciences became official to commemorate the many achievements and distinctions of the past 50 years of geosciences at texas a&m we will host a variety of activities october 1-3 2015  more information to come    join the celebration as the college of geosciences celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2015 " " college honors scholars and their donorsfeb 26 2015students and the donors who helped make their education possible will be honored at the college of geosciences' annual donor recognition and scholarship dinner friday march 27 in the jon l hagler center""this event celebrates both our donors who have so generously given and the students who have worked hard for their education "" said kate c miller dean  the college annually gives almost 200 scholarships and fellowships although the primary aim of the dinner is to give the young scholars a chance to meet and thank their donors it also gives the college the opportunity to celebrate scholarship and individual achievements said cara milligan senior director for development in addition to remarks from miller and milligan guests will view a presentations of students' activities in the field in the classroom and in the lab as well as a special video thanking the donors  reservations for faculty staff students and donors can be made at geosciencestamuedu/scholarshipdinner for questions or more information please contact the event coordinator rachel rodriguez at 979-845-3651 or rrodriguez@tamuedu  resources: 2013 donor thank-you (video) karen riedel '80 '92kriedel@tamuedu  979-845-0910 " " the national academy of science awards prestigious physics medal to atmospheric sciences professorjan 30 2015a texas a&m professor is to be honored by the national academy of sciences with the award of the arctowski medal for his notable imagination in framing many of space sciences most basic concepts about the expanding solar atmosphere and the interplanetary magnetic field and their interactions with the magnetic fields of earth and other planetsalexander dessler adjunct professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and professor emeritus at rice university is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to the study of solar physics and solar terrestrial relationships as a teenager in california dessler did not set out to be a renowned physicist i liked tinkering with cars he said figuring out how engines work i think i would have been perfectly happy being an auto mechanic he served in the us navy at the end of world war ii as an electronics technician on a destroyer where radar technology captured his imagination i was fascinated by radar the idea that electromagnetic waves pulsing through the atmosphere allowed you to see objects far away he said the gi bill allowed dessler to attend caltech for his undergraduate degree in physics he received his phd from duke in 1956 a decade after the cold war had started and one year before sputnik was placed in orbit jobs for physicists then werent in the universities but in the defense industry he said my first job was with lockheed aircraft it was a great time to be a space physicist aerospace companies receiving government contracts had to spend 1 percent on unrelated research we could be completely theoretical we were free to do anything dessler speaks about how little was known about space before rockets and satellites were able to get out there and make measurements at first it seemed that every rocket carrying any instrument in any direction away from earth made a discovery we found the suns atmosphere was not stationary; rather it explodes into interplanetary space at speeds of about a million miles per hour this hot solar gas strikes the magnetic fields of earth and other planets to distort them and create spectacular phenomena like the van allen radiation belt and the polar aurora it was a golden age discoveries abounded and money for research was easy to obtain before sputnik was launched only a few people were studying space physics because i had started a year earlier he said i was one of these few the field was rich and not crowded as spacecraft data poured in there was opportunity to make imaginative suggestions that when correct were useful in guiding future research when i came up with an idea on what was going on i often got to name features that were needed to understand the phenomenon that had been observed overall it was fun and unimaginably rewarding i had been incredibly lucky to have been born at the right time and to have made a number of coin-flip choices that mostly came up heads he said dessler will be honored in a ceremony on sunday april 26 during the national academy of sciences' 152nd annual meeting for more information about the award see these sitesnational academy of sciencerice university dr alexander dessler " " meteorology student wins grand prize for virtual posterjan 28 2015carlos martinez a junior meteorology major in the college of geosciences was awarded the grand prize in the virtual student poster showcase at the 2014 american geophysical unions (agu) annual conference the largest geosciences conference in the world held each december in san franciscothe virtual poster showcase is for students who cannot attend the conference but who want to participate by sharing their research they submit their posters to the conference and explain their research through a video on youtube martinez submitted north atlantic atmospheric blocking and multidecadal oscillation in cesm1le simulations the research reflected his work as a participant in the significant opportunities for atmospheric research and science (soars) program this past summer at the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) in boulder colo his mentors were justin small at ncar and young-oh kwon and hyodae seo both from woods hole oceanographic institution the undergraduate experience and education at texas a&m university in addition to the soars program is surreal martinez said i never imagined being able to experience such an enriched involvement in the science during my undergraduate career i say this with a heart of gratitude to my mentors professors friends family and faith for the life i am incredibly blessed to have poster submissions are first judged by other students during the peer judging process followed by an expert judging session martinez placed second in the peer judging and first in the expert judging the final announcement names the grand prize winner for the first two placements martinez received a student membership in agu a gift certificate from amazon and a plaque his grand prize is an all-expense paid trip to the 2015 agu fall meeting jan 26 2015 karen riedel(979) 845-0910 richard orville research professor (left) and gerald north university distinguished professor congratulate carlos martinez (center) on receiving the american geophysical union's grand prize for his poster and a free trip to the 2015 agu fall meeting " richard orville research professor (left) and gerald north university distinguished professor congratulate carlos martinez (center) on receiving the american geophysical union's grand prize for his poster and a free trip to the 2015 agu fall meeting " rocking the boatdec 11 2014magazine marks years of progress for women in oceanography dr mary jo richardson dr debbie thomas darren henrichs sílvia anglès dr lisa campbell darcie ryan mckensie daugherty   eight texas a&m-affiliated oceanographers are featured in a special supplement of oceanography  the magazine of the oceanography society women in oceanography: a decade later looks at the progress made in the traditionally male-dominated discipline with more than 200 autobiographical essays that express the scientists triumphs and challenges during the 10 years since the first supplement was printed in 2005 other articles also refer to texas a&m in particular womens roles in scientific ocean drilling the three college of geosciences faculty members featured are lisa campbell professor departments of oceanography and biology; mary jo richardson regents professor of oceanography; and debbie thomas associate professor and oceanography department head each of these faculty members have made substantial contributions in helping mentor junior faculty and undergraduate and graduate students raising the profile of women in the discipline and securing scholarships and other funds to help students enter and thrive in the geosciences  for example in addition to managing her own laboratory and research in analyzing harmful algal blooms campbell points with pride in her essay to her commitment to mentoring and promoting women faculty   looking back i can count more than 60 undergraduates graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have worked in my laboratory a majority of them women she writes richardson serves as co-chair of the workplace climate change part of the universitys advance program to increase representation and advancement of women in science and engineering careers she has also been successful in obtaining grants from the nsf scholarships in stem initiative helping more than 120 undergraduates and graduates achieve degrees in geosciences she concludes her essay by noting: in the last 10 years i am pleased and proud to have been able to provide opportunities for students junior colleagues and peers that were not available to me thomas looks back at the last 10 years in wonder she began as an assistant professor and in the intervening years built a lab with her husband brent miller a geologist and gave birth to their son van she is now department head and a candidate for full professor i find it crazy to think that over the past 10 years ive evolved from an early career scientist into a leadership role thomas writes i now fully recognize that as women in the ocean sciences we must all serve as mentors and leaders at every stage in our careers in order to broaden future opportunities for girls and women past present and future the five other essays written by women connected to texas a&m include two former students a current researcher and two future faculty members paula bontempi 95 is an ocean biology and biochemistry program specialist at nasa in washington dc while obtaining her masters degree from texas a&m she also worked at gerg   ashanti johnson 93 99 a chemical oceanographer was the first african american student to receive a doctorate in oceanography from texas a&m she is currently assistant vice provost for faculty recruitment and associate professor of environmental science at the university of texas at arlington during her career johnson has been at the forefront in breaking down barriers for women and minorities in stem fields her numerous awards include a presidential award for excellence in science mathematics and engineering mentoring and recognition as one of nbcs 100 history makers in the making kristen thyng is a post-doctoral research associate in the oceanography department she says oceanography is a good fit for her unusual background which includes degrees in physics applied mathematics and mechanical engineering jessica fitzsimmons currently a postdoctoral research associate at rutgers university is a biogeochemist who begins this summer as assistant professor in the department of oceanography in her essay fitzsimmons says she has been overwhelmed by the texas a&m and the departments welcoming attitude and willingness to help place her husband a sociologist the family-friendly attitude shown at tamu is a big step forward for academia with effects that will hopefully trickle down through my students my teaching and my science she writes masako tominaga 05 09 a marine geophysicist received her graduate degrees in oceanography and is returning to texas a&m as an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics women at sea other references to texas a&m include the article women in oceanography: continuing challenges with a 50-50 ratio of female to male students the department of oceanography compares favorably with 25 other oceanographic institutions at the assistant and associate professor level the percentages of female faculty members are 100% and 50% respectively but only 14% for full professors in her article women of the academy and the sea: 2000–2014 suzanne oconnell professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences at wesleyan university and former staff scientist in the ocean drilling program (odp) at texas a&m traces women scientists shipboard participation in scientific ocean drilling beginning on glomar challenger with the original deep sea drilling project to the three programs at texas a&m which is science operator for joides resolution drillship for the international ocean discovery program there are over 100 graduate student and early career women with shipboard scientific drilling experience who should be encouraged to take a leadership role in planning the future of scientific ocean drilling oconnell concludes in a news release the oceanography society notes that although progress during the last decade has achieved parity in numbers of men and women graduate students men continue to outnumber women at other levels especially in leadership positions and representation among senior faculty reports like these the organization concludes help bring attention to the issue and identify areas where improvements can be made " " dr mary jo richardson dr debbie thomas darren henrichs sílvia anglès dr lisa campbell darcie ryan mckensie daugherty   " " peter knappett published in nature communicationsjan 30 2017the current issue of nature communications features an article about the work of dr peter knappett a texas a&m assistant professor of hydrogeologypeter knappett assistant professor of hydrogeology at texas a&m and colleagues have had their work published in the current issue of nature communications this publication represents what their team of scientists have accomplished in the most recent first four years of a sixteen year major project knappett has been going to bangladesh since 2008 to conduct his research many of the worlds megacities depend on groundwater from aquifers that are threatened by contamination a team of international scientists and our own texas a&m researcher dr peter knappett have studied groundwater pumping under urban landscapes and how it poses drinking water contamination problems that have the potential to kill millions of people the group focused on the widespread naturally occurring arsenic in shallow deltas of the ganges-bramhaputra-meghna river delta in aquifers underlying dhaka the capital of bangladesh with a large population like the 15 million people in dhaka  intense pumping occurs may pull the arsenic-contaminated shallow groundwater down into deep groundwater the intensive urban pumping will cause the toxic shallow and deep groundwater to mix dhaka shares many of the water management problems common to other major cities using computer models and field observations the team is demonstrating how important it is for dhaka to minimize their impact on deep aquifer water levels by slowing their pumping rates and installing wells that are farther away from the city as well as develop the capacity to treat abundant surface water for drinking in general intensive urban groundwater pumping can cause an incredible amount of change in the chemistry of the aquifer in some cases making it toxic to drink cities can deplete the quantity and quality of water through numerous sources of pollution as they have a regional footprint future research in the study area will include monitoring water levels and water chemistry and studying how this will impact the area in terms of viable water sources for drinking and human exposure to arsenic the study was funded by the national institutes for environmental health superfund research program journal reference: mahfuzur r khan mohammad koneshloo peter s k knappett kazi m ahmed benjamin c bostick brian j mailloux rajib h mozumder anwar zahid charles f harvey alexander van geen holly a michael megacity pumping and preferential flow threaten groundwater quality nature communications 2016; 7: 12833 doi: 101038/ncomms12833 dr peter knappett in bangladesh " " angela and kerry stein establish scholarship endowmentsdec 19 2016the giving spirit of aggieland is alive and well with angela m 85 and kerry w stein 85 when the opportunity came along for the couple to continue the kindness that was once given to them from other fellow aggies they didnt hesitateboth angela and i were aided by the generosity of others through scholarships this of course helped us with the cost of college so by contributing funds to establish a series of scholarships at texas a&m we are only continuing the generosity that was started by others said kerry one way for a person to give back to texas a&m is establishing a planned gift with the texas a&m foundation which involves donors designating the foundation as a beneficiary of their will or trust from a specific percentage of their estate value distributions from the steins estate gift will be used to support the angela m 85 and kerry w stein 85 scholarship in the college of geosciences for undergrad students along with the angela m 85 and kerry w stein 85 presidents endowed scholarship for students meeting the established guidelines angela and kerrys contribution specifically designates funds for the college of geosciences there are currently over 200 scholarships available within the college that allow students opportunities such as conducting research & field work and paying for tuition  since 1968 the merit-based president's endowed scholarship (pes) program has been inspiring high-achieving high school seniors to make texas a&m university their school of choice a pes can be established by an individual or group with a one-time gift or through a series of installments over a period of up to five years the endowment established by the gift funds a stipend for one student for four years plus a bonus for a study abroad experience from their own personal experiences kerry and angela understand the level of impact that a scholarship can provide in my case the scholarship was funded by pat olsen ‘22 and for angela it was walter lechner ‘16 we can never repay these gentlemen directly but we can certainly follow their example and hopefully honor them in doing so said kerry angela earned a degree in geography and kerry graduated with a degree in geophysics  education touches all of society education allows not just the student but all of society the opportunity to adapt and enhance any landscape whether it is social environmental technical or other kerry added the steins hold a strong belief in education as one of the most meaningful ways a person can impact someones life ­– and as graduates of texas a&m theyve lived it and continue that legacy to help others  for more information on giving to the college of geosciences  contact cara milligan:cmilligan@txamfoundationcom (979) 862-4944 angela and kerrys contribution specifically designates funds for the college of geosciences there are currently over 200 scholarships available within the college that allow students opportunities such as conducting research & field work and paying for tuition " angela and kerrys contribution specifically designates funds for the college of geosciences there are currently over 200 scholarships available within the college that allow students opportunities such as conducting research & field work and paying for tuition " 2016 faculty and staff awardsdec 16 2016we would like to take the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions from our faculty and staff that have been made throughout this momentous yearlisa campbell shannon ferrell erik moortgat debra stark and hongbin zhan are celebrating 20 years of service in the college laura caldwell patrick edwards lee linwood robert mitchell john nielsen-gammon alex orsi richard orville lisa reichert and niall slowey are celebrating 25 years and finally gudelia delgado jerry north and edward webb are celebrating 30 years there were two recipients for this years deans achievement award for exemplary staff services: michael cannon serves as technical staff for the international ocean discovery program (iodp) james rosser (manager of development it & databases iodp) had this to say about michael: mike cannon is a remarkably gifted and motivated professional who consistently thinks ‘out of the box when solving problems and always stands ready to assist teammates and customers alike… in every instance mr cannons distinctive accomplishments reflect unyielding dedication to mission and extraordinary service in support of operations onboard the joides resolution the second recipient was kristine mcroberts data analyst for the deans office the geobusiness team remarked: kristy has made a tremendous contribution to the streamlining of business processes  she has saved staff hundreds of hours of mind-numbing work and freed them to better utilize their resources  she has done so quickly  she has done so responsively  she has done so brilliantly the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in teaching went to andrew klein professor in geography one of his students reese dunn 12 had the following to say: dr andrew klein is clearly an outstanding professor researcher and mentor; but i believe above all else he is an exceptional educator beyond the influences of his direct transfer of knowledge andrew has impacted how i learn he taught the conceptual approach to understanding science and technology which will serve me for not only the remainder of my career but also the remainder of my life  the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in research went to hongbin zhan professor in geology & geophysics david sparks professor & associate department head of geology & geophysics added: dr zhan is an amazingly prolific scientist [his] impressive research record has been compiled while he was also making significant contributions to our departments missions in teaching and service hongbin zhan has been an inspiration to a generation of students and colleagues  his amazing stretch of research productivity over the last several years does not actually appear to be a peak but part of a continuing upward trend that will continue for years the 2016 distinguished achievement college-level teaching award recipients are anita rapp assistant professor in geology & geophysics and mary jo richardson regents professor in oceanography and geology & geophysics the award was started in 1982 by the association of former students in which they fund awards to honor faculty members who demonstrate unwavering dedication to teaching where anita especially excels is that she is capable of walking that teaching fine line:  she clearly shows she cares about students and bonds with them in a shared academic experience yet she does not compromise on rigor or expectations… it is when students respect and admire a teacher that obviously holds them to high standards that you are witnessing a superior college classroom educator said don conlee instructional professor in atmospheric sciences dr richardson is one of the true heroes of our university and generations of aggies have benefited and continue to benefit from her tireless efforts to enhance the student experience at tamu  her body of work speaks for itself and it is impossible to highlight all that she gives to her students and colleagues added debbie thomas interim dean thank you for your dedication and hard work! congratulations to our award winners: andrew klein michael cannon hongbin zhan anita rapp kristine mcroberts and mary jo richardson " congratulations to our award winners: andrew klein michael cannon hongbin zhan anita rapp kristine mcroberts and mary jo richardson " texas a&m expert: polar vortex has cold air but what does it really meandec 6 2016with a major cold air mass expected to cover most of the us this week – as much as 75 percent of the country could experience temperatures below freezing its the time of year when the term polar vortex creeps into the news  but it might be a good time to set the record straight on what exactly a polar vortex is says a texas a&m university weather expertjohn nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences who also serves as the state climatologist says the term polar vortex has been around longer than you think  it was first identified in the 1850s and fully mapped out by the 1950s but only in the last five years or so has the nomenclature made it to popular culture perhaps in a misleading way technically he explains a polar vortex is a large zone of very cold air that forms around the arctic or antarctic there are actually two polar vortices – one at around 65 000 feet high the other at about 25 000 feet high called the tropospheric polar vortex and the one that most often affects the us the term itself has a star wars ring to it that evokes images of death stars and ray guns  instead nielsen-gammon believes its just an unfamiliar term for something very familiar most people already know that the jet stream carries storms from west to east especially in the wintertime says nielsen-gammon they might also have a sense that the jet stream is not just something over the united states it circles the globe  the tropospheric polar vortex is nothing more than this jet stream making a complete loop around the hemisphere plus all the cold air inside the loop so is the polar vortex the jet stream or is it the cold air inside the jet stream  its both says nielsen-gammon  its sort of a chicken and egg thing  whenever you have deep cold air youll have a jet stream along its edge and whenever you have a jet stream youll have cold air on one side  you cant have one part of the polar vortex without the other in the northern hemisphere whenever were north of the polar jet stream were inside the polar vortex and the weather is cold  this happens a lot in the winter as the vortex expands and waves in the jet stream occasionally cause the jet stream to swing even farther south while waves like that are common the coldest weather is usually underneath the very center of the polar vortex he points out  usually the center of the vortex is somewhere over the arctic ocean or northern canada or siberia  on rare occasions though it can temporarily swing down over the northern united states nielsen-gammon says thats what happened in the winter of 2013-2014 nielsen-gammon adds  the center of the vortex made it all the way across the northern united states border so cold air covered a large portion of the united states this week will be different nielsen-gammon says  the problem this time is that the jet stream is unusually wavy  rather than forming a round vortex about the north pole it will look more like a squeezed water balloon with one lobe extending into the northern united states and the other into siberia whats noteworthy about this cold snap arriving in a few days is that it could be the coldest air of 2016 and set temperature records in many locations he adds  thats because the traditionally cold months of last january and february were very mild across much of the country also nielsen-gammon says the cold air is arriving rather early in the season  i would not be surprised to see many record lows occur in the central united states this week ### media contact: john nielsen-gammon at (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu in the northern hemisphere whenever were north of the polar jet stream were inside the polar vortex and the weather is cold this happens a lot in the winter as the vortex expands and waves in the jet stream occasionally cause the jet stream to swing even farther south " in the northern hemisphere whenever were north of the polar jet stream were inside the polar vortex and the weather is cold this happens a lot in the winter as the vortex expands and waves in the jet stream occasionally cause the jet stream to swing even farther south " laboratory sharing to improve rock deformation researchdec 6 2016an ever-growing group of scientists seeks to integrate rock deformation labs from across the united states into one shared national facilityby: a kronenberg g hirth n lapusta j chester a freed c marone and t tullis imagine the scientific potential that could be unlocked if researchers with novel ideas could be matched with laboratories with cutting-edge technology a new program promises to do that for the field of rock deformation research in fact such collaborations are already under way for example after years of development geoscience students at texas a&m university are making the first direct observations of flash heating on frictional rock surfaces sliding at seismic rates using a prototype instrument in the john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation these data are leading to a better understanding of the microphysics of friction and to an improvement of friction constitutive relations used in numerical modeling of earthquake rupture dynamics and strong ground motion developing new instruments for testing the physical properties of geomaterials is key to scientific advances and similar instrument development and learning experiences are occurring in other rock deformation laboratories throughout the world unfortunately many such instruments are rarely produced beyond the prototype because of limited resources and the relatively small number of rock deformation laboratories whats more experimental observational and theoretical studies are not often integrated as each approach requires a unique set of methods preparation and specialization how do we solve these problems to foster new integrated research of tectonically significant processes experimental scientists field researchers and modelers need shared access to working laboratories and technical support a new group born from discussions at meetings and workshops [tullis et al 2013] aims to facilitate this access called the deformation experimentation at the frontier of rock and mineral research (deform) the group seeks to integrate rock deformation labs from across the united states into one shared national facility with access to visiting scientists and students why share facilities scientists who study deformation in laboratory experiments are interested in the mechanical behavior and physical properties of rocks taking the same approach as materials scientists who investigate properties of metals and structural materials for engineering purposes in the earth these properties govern tectonic responses to geodynamic loads; the rates of plate tectonics; and the catastrophic rupture episodic slip and creep on faults experimental studies of fracture friction and flow of rocks provide failure and slip criteria rate laws and understanding of deformation fabrics microstructures and mechanisms that can be applied to earth they provide key insights into earths tectonics and fault zone processes on a testable scale for example data collected in the lab are often used as input into numerical models of geodynamic and fault processes experimentally generated deformation microstructures and textures are also compared to those of naturally deformed rocks fault gouge cataclasites and mylonites however since the early studies of griggs [1936 1940]  brace [1960] and handin et al [1963] the development of rock deformation facilities in us academic institutions has not kept pace with scientific needs or technical challenges faced by experimental scientists with the exception of a few remarkable new deformation apparatuses early prototype apparatuses have not been replaced by a new generation of advanced instruments with limited access to experimental facilities feedback between experimental theoretical and observational approaches is restricted and priority lab experiments are not always defined by theory or field studies for example numerical modelers cannot easily test predictions of their new theories of coseismic weakening of rock materials that can also creep under tectonic loading through experiments there is little opportunity for a structural geologist to test hypotheses of the origin of frictional melting observed in a natural fault zone through laboratory experiments that isolate conditions of melt generation whats more in the case of experimental studies of deformation laboratories with one-of-a-kind equipment designed and built in house and uniquely qualified technical staff are not available to the broader range of geoscientists but shouldnt and couldnt they be deforms vision to address these issues deform hopes to connect individual laboratories to form a conglomerated shared facility with greater access for multidisciplinary research collaboration of experimental geoscientists will lead to greater access to a broad community improved calibrations uniform procedures and a new generation of deformation apparatuses access to participating laboratories by students of theoreticians and observational scientists will lead to a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists the vision of deform is that through this shared conglomerate scientists will work together to enhance communication and technology exchange within the rock mechanics community provide facilities for early-career scientists and promote broader collaboration across geophysics geology and engineering deform hopes to host schools and tutorials and directed research meetings that facilitate new collaborations as well as instrument development workshops focused on improved designs protocols and experimental instrumentation community design efforts will involve experimental geoscientists who define the technical needs for new instrumentation and consulting professional engineers who design new apparatuses using the latest performance modeling all of the designs generated by deform will be open source and they may form the basis to build new apparatuses and fund major research instrumentation grants building a national facility deform is modeled in part after the successful research consortia consortium for materials properties research in earth sciences (compres) incorporated research institutions for seismology (iris) southern california earthquake center (scec) and university navstar consortium (unavco) which have revolutionized the fields of high-pressure mineral physics seismology earthquake science and geodesy deform already has 77 member institutions from university and governmental institutions including 26 international members most members include scientists who have applied experimental results in their own research but have no experimental facilities and welcome greater integration and feedback between experimental measurements of rock properties geodynamics seismology and structural geology experimental facilities consist of 15 participating rock deformation laboratories (see table 1) these labs plus any more that join will form the collaborative national facility operated by participating lab managers with oversight by deform leadership new members and experimental facilities are welcome (contact andreas kronenberg) table 1 participating deform laboratories experimental capabilities lab location low p-t facilities crustal deformation friction and physical and chemical processes lamont-doherty earth observatorypennsylvania state universityrice universitysandia national laboratoriesuniversity of marylandus geological survey mixed facilities low p-t (crustal) and high p-t (mantle) conditions brown universitytexas a&m university high p-t facilities deep crust and mantle creep attenuation university of akronuniversity of california riversideuniversity of minnesotauniversity of nevada las vegaswashington universityyale university cryogenic p-t glacier and icy satellite conditions lamont-doherty earth observatoryuniversity of pennsylvania membership and opportunities for collaboration the primary objective of deform is to increase collaborative observational theoretical and experimental approaches to answer fundamental questions in geodynamics seismology earthquake source physics geodesy structural geology hydrology sedimentology and planetary dynamics to this end we seek scientists who wish to undertake multidisciplinary approaches to studies such as the following lithosphere dynamics and mantle flow this approach seeks to examine for example mechanical properties that govern plate-like behavior of the lithosphere the transition to flow in the asthenosphere rates and patterns of isostatic adjustment to glacial unloading and sea level change the depth dependence of earthquakes and seismic anisotropy associated with shear and deformation fabrics earthquake physics and stability of slip on faults studies here include the spectrum of fault slip behaviors  mechanics of nucleation triggering dynamic weakening rupture propagation postseismic slip aftershock decay interseismic creep and episodic slip coupled crustal deformation and fluid flow these studies have applications to the mechanics of accretionary prisms coupled fault motion and fluid transport unconventional energy and resource management  isolation of chemical and radioactive wastes carbon dioxide sequestration and induced seismicity glacier and planetary ice dynamics this approach scrutinizes the mechanics of glacial thinning intraglacial meltwater transport changes in basal boundary conditions and viscous resistance loss of ice shelves in response to climate change and the thermomechanical evolution and tectonics of icy satellites of the outer solar system a foundation for the future by welcoming visiting scientists into existing rock deformation laboratories distributed across the united states deform hopes to support both the careers of young experimental geoscientists who may ultimately plan to build their own labs and the broader group of geoscientists at all career stages who want to use the shared deform facilities opportunities go beyond collaboration: deform hopes to host meetings workshops and summer schools for students and postdocs we strongly feel that access to shared laboratory facilities under the deform initiative will benefit students and early-career geoscientists and help a new generation take multidisciplinary approaches in the mechanics of plate tectonics and earthquakes let the collaborations begin! references brace w f (1960) an extension of the griffith theory of fracture to rocks  j geophys res 65 3477–3480 griggs d t (1936) deformation of rocks under high confining pressures: i experiments at room temperature  j geol 44 541–577 griggs d t (1940) experimental flow of rocks under conditions favoring recrystallization  geol soc am bull 51 1001–1022 handin j et al (1963) experimental deformation of sedimentary rocks under confining pressure: pore pressure tests  am assoc pet geol bull 47 717–755 tullis t e et al (2013) advancing experimental rock deformation research: scientific personnel and technical needs white paper 85 pp div of earth sci natl sci found  http://espmwustledu/files/2016/11/tullis-et-al-2012-experimental-rock-deformation-23yyaqppdf a kronenberg (email: kronenberg@geotamuedu) center for tectonophysics department of geology and geophysics texas a&m university college station; g hirth department of earth environment and planetary sciences brown university providence ri; n lapusta seismological laboratory and department of mechanical and civil engineering california institute of technology pasadena; j chester center for tectonophysics department of geology and geophysics texas a&m university college station; a freed department of earth and atmospheric sciences purdue university west lafayette ind; c marone department of geosciences pennsylvania state university university park; and t tullis department of earth environment and planetary sciences brown university providence ri citation: kronenberg a g hirth n lapusta j chester a freed c marone and t tullis (2016) laboratory sharing to improve rock deformation research  eos 97  doi:101029/2016eo063465 published on 29 november 2016 a visiting postdoc prepares for a high-pressure experiment in texas a&ms john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation the instrument pictured here is a triaxial griggs deformation apparatus which allows scientists to perform compression experiments at pressures and temperatures of the middle crust to upper mantle " a visiting postdoc prepares for a high-pressure experiment in texas a&ms john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation the instrument pictured here is a triaxial griggs deformation apparatus which allows scientists to perform compression experiments at pressures and temperatures of the middle crust to upper mantle " 6 000 years ago the sahara desert was tropical so what happeneddec 1 2016as little as 6 000 years ago the vast sahara desert was covered in grassland that received plenty of rainfall but shifts in the worlds weather patterns abruptly transformed the vegetated region into some of the driest land on earth  a texas a&m university researcher is trying to uncover the clues responsible for this enormous climate transformation – and the findings could lead to better rainfall predictions worldwiderobert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences along with colleague william boos of yale university have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the two researchers have looked into precipitation patterns of the holocene era and compared them with present-day movements of the intertropical convergence zone a large region of intense tropical rainfall using computer models and other data the researchers found links to rainfall patterns thousands of years ago the framework we developed helps us understand why the heaviest tropical rain belts set up where they do korty explains tropical rain belts are tied to what happens elsewhere in the world through the hadley circulation but it wont predict changes elsewhere directly as the chain of events is very complex  but it is a step toward that goal the hadley circulation is a tropical atmospheric circulation that rises near the equator it is linked to the subtropical trade winds tropical rainbelts and affects the position of severe storms hurricanes and the jet stream where it descends in the subtropics it can create desert-like conditions the majority of earths arid regions are located in areas beneath the descending parts of the hadley circulation we know that 6 000 years ago what is now the sahara desert was a rainy place korty adds it has been something of a mystery to understand how the tropical rain belt moved so far north of the equator  our findings show that that large migrations in rainfall can occur in one part of the globe even while the belt doesnt move much elsewhere this framework may also be useful in predicting the details of how tropical rain bands tend to shift during modern-day el niño and la niña events (the cooling or warming of waters in the central pacific ocean which tend to influence weather patterns around the world) the findings could lead to better ways to predict future rainfall patterns in parts of the world korty believes one of the implications of this is that we can deduce how the position of the rainfall will change in response to individual forces he says  we were able to conclude that the variations in earths orbit that shifted rainfall north in africa 6 000 years ago were by themselves insufficient to sustain the amount of rain that geologic evidence shows fell over what is now the sahara desert  feedbacks between the shifts in rain and the vegetation that could exist with it are needed to get heavy rains into the sahara the project was funded by the national science foundation ### about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu media contact: media contact: robert korty at (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu or robyn blackmon  communications manager at  (979) 845-6324 or robyn blackmon@tamu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu the sahara desert was once a tropical jungle " " texas a&m to establish premier stable isotope capabilitiesnov 28 2016$1 million grant enables purchase of two highly technical instrumentscollege station - a $1 million grant - stable isotope partnership for ecology environment and energy research - will help texas a&m develop a unique shared mass spectrometry core facility this will be a useful new approach for predicting petroleum maturation and more cost effective exploration and understanding of biogeochemical processes researchers said as well as many other discoveries funding was provided by the texas a&m university research development fund which makes strategic investments that support the total texas a&m research enterprise and catalyze new ventures the stable isotopes for biosphere science laboratory which will soon be home to a compound-specific mass spectrometer system the development of this premier capability is possible through the partnership of the stable isotopes for biosphere science laboratory or sibs in the college of agriculture and life sciences and the stable isotope geosciences facility or sigf in the college of geosciences ""this will provide technology at the forefront of ecology environment and energy research "" said dr thomas boutton regents professor and texas a&m agrilife senior faculty fellow the key team members are a part of several texas a&m multidisciplinary faculties and have developed collaborative relationships with a diverse cross-section of faculty staff and graduate students in texas a&m agrilife research and five colleges on campus leading the efforts in the sibs lab are faculty from the department of ecosystem science and management including boutton dr jason west dr jason vogel and dr ayumi hyodo other faculty on the lead team and sigf directors are dr ethan grossman geology department; dr brendan roark geography department and dr niall slowey oceanography department ""the funds will primarily support the purchase of new instrumentation including a gas chromatography combustion/pyrolysis isotope ratio mass spectrometer and a high resolution isotope ratio mass spectrometer for clumped isotopes "" west said ""this expansion will give texas a&m university research capacity in stable isotope ratio analysis that is unmatched in the state and region"" the compound-specific mass spectrometer system to be housed in the sibs lab separates and identifies chemical compounds in samples then measures the stable carbon nitrogen oxygen or hydrogen isotope ratios of those compounds ""this system will provide cutting-edge capabilities to utilize individual molecule isotope ratios as fingerprints of biosphere geosphere hydrosphere and atmosphere processes "" west said ""some potential applications include reconstructing past climates from hydrocarbons in soil and sediments identifying soil microbes and their biogeochemical functions and unraveling food web structure"" the clumped isotope mass spectrometer to be housed in the sigf measures the relative abundance of molecules with two rare isotopes this ratio in carbonate rocks and minerals is temperature-dependent and therefore being used as a new technique in geothermometry reconstruction of the precise temperatures at which carbonate rocks shells or foraminifera were formed will be useful in soil science geology and oceanography hyodo said ""in addition this instrumentation would also provide triple oxygen isotope analysis an emerging tracer for hydrologic and atmospheric research "" she said ""to our knowledge neither of the analytical capabilities are available in texas research institutions "" hyodo said ""to facilitate use among the texas a&m community we will be hosting joint seminars focused on the new applications training through a methods course and an international symposium"" both stable isotope mass spectrometer systems are expected to be available for on- and off-campus users in 2018 she said ### more information can be found on the sibs lab at http://sibstamuedu and more information on the sigf can be found at http://bitly/2fdcojuu dr ethan grossman; professor michel t halbouty chair (top) dr brendan roark; associate professor geography (middle) dr niall slowey; professor oceanography (bottom) " dr ethan grossman; professor michel t halbouty chair (top) dr brendan roark; associate professor geography (middle) dr niall slowey; professor oceanography (bottom) " texas a&m team examines role of dispersants in 2010 gulf oil spillnov 23 2016following the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico dispersants were used to keep the oil from coming ashore by dispersing and diluting it according to a new study led by a texas a&m university at galveston researcher marine oil snow formation – a natural process whereby sticky materials excreted by plankton and bacteria can help to enhance dispersing effects by providing a microhabitat for oil degradation – was observed for the first timea team of texas a&m-galveston researchers have examined how oil and dispersants act together in the ocean to examine the fate of oil spills and have had their work published in the current issue of limnology and oceanography letters the team led by antonietta quigg professor of marine biology includes texas a&m-galveston researchers laura bretherton manoj kamalanathan alicia williams chen xu saijin zhang kathleen schwehr luni sun and peng lin and texas a&m oceanographers anthony knap peter santschi terry wade shawn doyle jason sylvan and colleagues from the university of california-santa barbara university of california-merced old dominion university and mount allison university in new brunswick (canada) in their study which is supported by funds that resulted from the settlement of bp the team looked especially at the role of eps (exopolymeric substances) which help determine the fate and transport of oil after a spill in producing marine oil snow which is a showering particle aggregates that contain oil corexit eps and other natural organic and inorganic particles into deep waters of the ocean marine snow formation is a natural process after the bp spill marine oil snow – where the marine snow and oil combined – was visibly seen on the surface of the ocean for the first time  as larger and heavier particle aggregates sink eps helps them to stick together leading in the ocean to what resembles a heavy snowstorm  this storm of marine oil snow takes the oil back down to the sediments conducting large aquaria-type experiments with water samples from the gulf of mexico at different locations and using small amounts of the water-accomodated fraction of oil from the spill and a dispersant called ‘corexit the team found that they could produce marine snow and marine oil snow in a laboratory setting this behavior is attributed to the role that marine snow which is composed of exopolymeric substances (made up mostly of sugars and proteins) excreted by microbes play these microbially derived substances can then act as either soap- or glue-like depending on conditions helping not only oil dispersion but also degradation and removal from the water column exopolymeric substances produced is directly related to the microbes and the environmental conditions says quigg the microbes act differently for example offshore vs coastal communities and so the marine snow also varies when you combine oil dispersants and water you will not get the same reaction every time  sometimes dispersants help solve the problem by making the oil into smaller droplets  this helps the microbes break it down those that like the oil at least the deepwater horizon explosion and resulting spill started on april 20 2010 and is considered the largest marine oil spill in history  before the well was successfully capped on sept 19 an estimated 210 million gallons of oil were released damaging beaches fishing areas and wildlife throughout the gulf of mexico an estimated 350 000 gallons of dispersants were used at various locations in the gulf to help remove the enormous amounts of oil  dozens of studies are still being conducted to determine the role of dispersants the texas a&m-led groups focus on eps in alleviating the oil spill however is unique to improve our response to future oil spills we need a better understanding of the microbes and the exopolymer production under a range of environmental conditions quigg adds the research project was funded by gomri (gulf of mexico research initiative)  for more about it go to http://gulfresearchinitiativeorg/ ### texas a&m university at galveston is a special-purpose campus of texas a&m university offering undergraduate and graduate programs under the name and authority of texas a&m university with a distinct identity in marine themes texas a&m galveston is intimately connected to the land grant mission of texas a&m university and as such its academic programs and research initiatives are linked to finding basic and applied solutions in maritime affairs science and technology and ocean studies the institution is under the management and control of the board of regents of the texas a&m university system for more information visit wwwtamugedu contact: antonietta quigg at (409( 740-4990 or quagga@tamugedu or bob wright executive director of marketing and communications texas a&m university at galveston office: 409-740-4840 cell: 713-586-9870 email: wrightb@tamugedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu a team of texas a&m-galveston researchers have examined how oil and dispersants act together in the ocean to examine the fate of oil spills and have had their work published in the current issue of limnology and oceanography letters " a team of texas a&m-galveston researchers have examined how oil and dispersants act together in the ocean to examine the fate of oil spills and have had their work published in the current issue of limnology and oceanography letters " renyi zhang recognized as 2016 aaas fellownov 22 2016dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has been recognized as a 2016 fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas)zhang earned a phd from mit and completed his postdoctoral work at caltech/nasa jet propulsion laboratory he is holder of the harold j haynes endowed chair in geosciences his research at texas a&m has led to breakthroughs and paradigm shifts in several atmospheric fieldsphotochemical oxidation of hydrocarbons; formation growth and properties of aerosols; urban and regional air pollution; ambient measurements of trace gases and aerosols; and assessment of aerosol-cloud-climate interactionand provided critical insights into the impacts of human activities on the environment weather and climate he has received numerous awards including honorary professorships at peking university and fudan university in china the outstanding international collaboration researcher award from the china national science foundation the association of former students distinguished achievement awardresearch the bush excellence award for faculty in international research and the cheung-kong distinguished scholar award from the ministry of education china zhang joins hongcai joe zhou in the college of science karen-beth goldberg scholtof and bir bahadur singh in the college of agriculture and life sciences and jyotsna vaid in the college of liberal arts among the 391 aaas members honored this year for scientific or socially distinguished efforts to advance the study of science the aaas fellows will be presented with an official certificate in a ceremony during the 2017 aaas annual meeting on saturday february 18 in boston they were formally announced on november 21 in the widely circulated journal published by aaas science aaas was founded in 1848 and became the first permanent organization that promoted the development of science and engineering at the national level it has become the worlds largest general scientific society serving over 10 million people with around 250 affiliated societies and academies of science visit wwwaaasorg for further information dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and harold j haynes endowed chair in geosciences " dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and harold j haynes endowed chair in geosciences " kaytan kelkar wins 2016 agu data visualization storytelling competitionnov 21 2016congratulations to geology graduate student kaytan kelkar grand prize winner at the 2016 agu data visualization storytelling competition the 2016 agu data visualization storytelling competition is a partnership between nasa and agu the competition focuses on innovation and creativity in presenting data and must address one of the three themes for the contest the three themes for the contest were the: 2015/2016 el nino innovative use of new and emerging technologies and extreme events and natural hazards from cause to effect and beyond the competition was judged on the creativity of the presentation and the applicants ability to present the data and complex problems the perceived level of impact and engagement the planned presentation incites in audience and the organization and conceivability of proposed presentation of data the grand prize winner receives the following: $2500 travel grant to attend the 2016 agu fall meeting $2500 travel grant to attend an earth and space science meeting in 2017 $1000 travel stipend to visit a nasa center to collaborate with nasa scientists in 2017 one complimentary registration to 2016 agu fall meeting opportunity to tell their story via nasa hyperwall at the 2016 agu fall meeting and other agu affiliated meetings kaytan kelkars research interests are in geomorphology focusing on mass movement for his thesis kaytan has developed a gis-based 3d model for landslide susceptibility in the western san juan mountains of colorado his model integrates six parameters where each parameter is assigned a weighted percentage based on relative influence to cause slope failure kaytan has presented his work at multiple conferences more information about the competition and winners can be found here kaytan kelkar is a graduate student in the department of geology and geophysics " kaytan kelkar is a graduate student in the department of geology and geophysics " g&g fall 2016 picnic/open housenov 18 2016october 7th the geology & geophysics department held its fall picnic/open house where faculty staff current and former students were invited to join in seminars as well as an evening of food and fun!  open house 2016 talks october 7th 4-5 pm in halbouty 101: bobby reece investigating earth process through multi-scale seismology ryan ewing wind-blown bedform dynamics on earth and other worlds hiroko kitajima rock deformation in the nankai subduction zone patrick fulton 25 000 feet under the sea: taking the temperature inside japan's magnitude 9 earthquake fault masako tominaga deciphering geological processes using deep submergence geophysics peter knappett geogenic contaminants in groundwater julia reece multi-scale investigation of geomechanical processes in mudstones thanks to our speakers and all that joined us! check out pictures from the event here: https://googl/photos/w7afw9fyldqlyvxc6 by cristina figueroa '15 faculty staff current and former students enjoying the picnic " " researchers solve mystery of historic 1952 london fog and current chinese hazenov 16 2016few americans may be aware of it but in 1952 a killer fog that contained pollutants covered london for five days causing breathing problems and killing thousands of residents  the exact cause and nature of the fog has remained mostly unknown for decades but an international team of scientists that includes several texas a&m university-affiliated researchers believes that the mystery has been solved and that the same air chemistry also happens in china and other localestexas a&m researcher renyi zhang university distinguished professor and the harold j haynes chair of atmospheric sciences and professor of chemistry along with graduate students yun lin wilmarie marrero-ortiz jeremiah secrest yixin li jiaxi hu and bowen pan and researchers from china florida california israel and the uk have had their work published in the current issue of proceedings of the national academy of sciences (pnas) in december of 1952 the fog enveloped all of london and residents at first gave it little notice because it appeared to be no different from the familiar natural fogs that have swept over great britain for thousands of years but over the next few days conditions deteriorated and the sky literally became dark  visibility was reduced to only three feet in many parts of the city all transportation was shut down and tens of thousands of people had trouble breathing  by the time the fog had lifted on dec 9 at least 4 000 people had died and more than 150 000 had been hospitalized thousands of animals in the area were also killed recent british studies now say that the death count was likely far higher – more than 12 000 people of all ages died from the killer fog  it has long been known that many of those deaths were likely caused by emissions from coal burning but the exact chemical processes that led to the deadly mix of fog and pollution have not been fully understood over the past 60 years the 1952 killer fog led to the passage of the clean air act in 1956 by the british parliament and is still considered the worst air pollution event in the european history through laboratory experiments and atmospheric measurements in china the team has come up with the answers people have known that sulfate was a big contributor to the fog and sulfuric acid particles were formed from sulfur dioxide released by coal burning for residential use and power plants and other means zhang says but how sulfur dioxide was turned into sulfuric acid was unclear our results showed that this process was facilitated by nitrogen dioxide another co-product of coal burning and occurred initially on natural fog another key aspect in the conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfate is that it produces acidic particles which subsequently inhibits this process natural fog contained larger particles of several tens of micrometers in size and the acid formed was sufficiently diluted evaporation of those fog particles then left smaller acidic haze particles that covered the city the study shows that similar chemistry occurs frequently in china which has battled air pollution for decades  of the 20 most polluted cities in the world china is home to 16 of them and beijing often exceeds by many times the acceptable air standards set by the us environmental protection agency the difference in china is that the haze starts from much smaller nanoparticles and the sulfate formation process is only possible with ammonia to neutralize the particles zhang adds in china sulfur dioxide is mainly emitted by power plants nitrogen dioxide is from power plants and automobiles and ammonia comes from fertilizer use and automobiles again the right chemical processes have to interplay for the deadly haze to occur in china interestingly while the london fog was highly acidic contemporary chinese haze is basically neutral zhang says china has been working diligently over the past decade to lessen its air pollution problems but persistent poor air quality often requires people to wear breathing masks during much of the day chinas explosive industrial and manufacturing growth and urbanization over the past 25 years have contributed to the problem a better understanding of the air chemistry holds the key for development of effective regulatory actions in china he adds the government has pledged to do all it can to reduce emissions going forward but it will take time he notes  we think we have helped solve the 1952 london fog mystery and also have given china some ideas of how to improve its air quality reduction in emissions for nitrogen oxides and ammonia is likely effective in disrupting this sulfate formation process the study was funded by the national natural science foundation of china the robert a welch foundation the ministry of science and technology of china a us national science foundation fellowship a nasa earth and space science fellowship and a collaborative research grant between texas a&m and china ### about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu media contact: renyi zhang at (979) 845-7656 or renyi-zhang@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor and the harold j haynes chair of atmospheric sciences and professor of chemistry " dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor and the harold j haynes chair of atmospheric sciences and professor of chemistry " gis day aggie accessibility contest this week ipad mini first prizenov 15 2016come and take a group ""selfie from space"" in the field across from the o&m building at 11am on wednesday november 16gis day an educational event designed to promote geographic information science & technology will be on wednesday (nov 16) and texas a&m is participating with the aggie accessibility mapping challenge today through wednesday texas a&m students are invited to locate and photograph features of the campus that make the university either accessible or inaccessible to people with disabilities dan goldberg assistant professor of geography and computer science & engineering is one of the organizers of the event and says the goal is to help texas a&m disabilities services texas a&m facilities coordination and texas a&m transportation services ensure the campus is as accessible as possible for disabled individuals texas a&m university libraries is also sponsoring the event we wanted to find a way to participate in gis day that would improve campus in some way goldberg notes so we came up with the idea to collect data about areas and features on campus that are either helpful or hurtful to people trying to navigate with disabilities although campus is quite accessible there is no way currently to measure where there needs to be improvement to play download the texas a&m gis day app on your iphone or android phone; the app will display your location then walk around and find and photograph a location or feature that is accessible or inaccessible and submit the data the person who collects the most data will win the first prize of an ipad mini 4; the second place winner will receive in-ear headphones goldberg says everyone on and off campus is encouraged to participate but only currently enrolled students are eligible to win the prizes for more information including contest rules visit here ##### media contact: lesley henton 979-845-5591  lshenton@tamuedu come and take a group ""selfie from space"" in the field across from the o&m building at 11am on wednesday november 16 " "come and take a group ""selfie from space"" in the field across from the o&m building at 11am on wednesday november 16" " geoffrey roest awarded science policy fellowshipnov 15 2016congratulations to atmospheric sciences phd student geoffrey roest on receiving the science policy fellow of the gulf research programoriginally from upstate new york mr roest has a bs in meteorology from plymouth state university and an ms in geosciences from san francisco state university his research focuses on measuring and quantifying emissions from unconventional oil and gas operations in the eagle ford shale in southern texas – in addition to climate and air quality impacts with those emissions  he has presented work at multiple conferences and co-authored two peer-reviewed publications mr roest has also served as an officer on the atmospheric sciences graduate student council and directed a seminar series exclusively for graduate students focused on leadership development science policy fellowships are awarded to graduate or professional students who have completed their studies within the past five years and demonstrate a strong scientific or technical background leadership qualities and academic achievement the gulf research program was established in 2013 as a result of the deepwater horizon oil spill it funds studies projects and other activities though research and development education and training and environmental monitoring congratulations to atmospheric sciences phd student geoffrey roest on receiving the science policy fellow of the gulf research program " congratulations to atmospheric sciences phd student geoffrey roest on receiving the science policy fellow of the gulf research program " students measure methane leaks from pipelines in bryan/college stationnov 9 2016fifteen students in the college of geosciences participated in projects on atmospheric methane the second most important emitted greenhouse gas after carbon dioxidethe project was part of geos 405 a capstone course for environmental programs the class split self-selected into three groups with four students and one with three students the larger three groups made measurements using a gas chromatograph in my laboratory: one group measured methane atop the currently active old municipal waste dump on hwy 30 one group measured methane around local oil and gas well sites and the third measured methane uptake on soils in lick creek park said dr gunnar w schade who teaches the course one group of students analyzed possible leaks for three neighborhoods in the bryan/college station area through mobile measurements using a high precision methane analyzer the students were able to gather data for the three different locations each area was evaluated three times and the neighborhoods were chosen based on age and land use any methane spikes exceeding 25 ppm were classified as leaks according to their study the age of a pipeline was a significant factor in determining current and future leaks they discovered the largest methane leaks around the oldest neighborhood and the texas a&m natural gas plant fewer leaks were found in the neighborhood that was slightly newer no leaks were found in the youngest neighborhood which was less than 20 years old overall the group discovered one leak per mile of urban road  dr schade was pleased with the results and considered all of the projects a success i also took a subset of students to dallas for a legislative hearing on epa methane regulations so they got to see what was said and how such public hearings work he added go here to read more on this project through mobile measurements using a high precision methane analyzer the students were able to gather data for the three different locations " through mobile measurements using a high precision methane analyzer the students were able to gather data for the three different locations " carbonate rocks field tripnov 7 2016this past october dr mike pope led a carbonate rocks class (geol 623) composed of graduate students on a trip to southeastern new mexico and west texasthe students spent most of the 8-day trip hiking in the guadalupe mountains national park studying the different facies of the permian reef platform measuring stratigraphic columns and collecting rock samples carbonate rocks focuses on the principles of carbonate sedimentology and carbonate depositional sequences utilized to interpret the rock record through time check out the pictures from their trip here by cristina figueroa '15 graduate students in front of el capitan in the guadalupe mountains national park " graduate students in front of el capitan in the guadalupe mountains national park " iodp drilling project studies fault behind devastating japanese earthquakenov 4 2016research from dr patrick fulton of geology & geophysics along with emily brodsky of the university of california santa cruz reveals that earthquakes redistribute fluid pressures within fault zones – possibly leading to triggering other earthquakesin march of 2011 a catastrophic 90 magnitude earthquake struck off the pacific coast of tōhoku japan the earthquake was the most powerful ever recorded to have hit japan and the fourth most powerful in the world since modern records began in 1900 inside the fault that created the devastating earthquake a study was conducted measuring the temperature continuously for nearly a year – revealing the thermal signature of pulses of water squirting out of fractures in response to other earthquakes on neighboring faults the tōhoku-oki earthquake resulted in the largest amount of slip ever observed the overriding plate and seafloor jumped more than 50 meters to the east over the down-going pacific plate this large slip contributed to a much greater size earthquake and tsunami that had been expected for this region said dr fulton the international ocean discovery programs (iodp) japan trench fast drilling project (jfast) temperature observatory was installed inside the japan trench plate boundary fault zone more than 45 miles beneath the ocean stretching nearly a half mile  the jfast observatory data captured temperature measurements within the damage zone above the japan trench plate boundary fault according to the study pressure from fluid can reduce the strength of a fault water pressure within fault zones (which impacts the risk of faults to slip) can then become disturbed by earthquakes on other faults the findings from the study also suggest that fluid pressures could be involved in triggering other earthquakes to earthquake physicists like myself this is extremely interesting we have long known that changes in fluid pressures within rocks can make them break or cause faults to slip here we see earthquakes on distant faults causing fluids to move around in ways that would change the stress conditions within a plate boundary fault zone and perhaps trigger other earthquakes explained dr fulton as a result scientists can gain a better understanding of the processes that control earthquakes through observing the interactions between faults in the aftermath of a major earthquake this extremely challenging project was only feasible due to the unique drilling capabilities engineering expertise and scientific community framework associated with iodp added dr fulton we hope that our results will contribute to a better understanding of how hydrogeology within faults can both change in response to earthquakes and also influence the occurrence of other earthquakes the research paper can be downloaded in its entirety here the international ocean discovery programs (iodp) japan trench fast drilling project (jfast) temperature observatory was installed inside the japan trench plate boundary fault zone more than 45 miles beneath the ocean stretching nearly a half mile (photo credit: jamstec/iodp) " the international ocean discovery programs (iodp) japan trench fast drilling project (jfast) temperature observatory was installed inside the japan trench plate boundary fault zone more than 45 miles beneath the ocean stretching nearly a half mile (photo credit: jamstec/iodp) " hurricanes from 3 million years ago give clues about present stormsnov 3 2016studying hurricane and tropical storm development from three million years ago might give todays forecasters a good blueprint for 21st century storms says a team of international researchers that includes a texas a&m university atmospheric sciences professorrobert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m along with colleagues from china norway and the university of wisconsin have had their work published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team studied storm development from the pliocene era roughly three million years ago and chose that time period because it was the last time the earth had as much carbon dioxide as it does now and the changes in climate from it can play a major role in storm formation and intensity using computer models and simulations the team found an increase in the average intensity during the period and the storms most often moved into higher latitudes – to a more northward direction there seems to be a limit on how strong these ancient storms might be but the number getting close to the limit appears to be larger during warmer periods korty explains they reached their peak intensity at higher latitudes following an expansion of tropical conditions with warming it is consistent with smaller changes in the same patterns that we have observed over recent decades and project to continue over the next 100 years i think it gives us greater confidence in some trends we are witnessing about how storms may change in future years researchers today know that the oceans continued to be relatively warm during the pliocene era though there has been some uncertainty where waters were warmest  their study found that the increase in average intensity and in the poleward expansion occurred regardless of where the greatest change in temperatures occurred in the pliocene korty says the study adds more evidence that future storms are likely to be stronger in their intensity and to remain strong even as they move out of the tropics the study was funded by the national science foundation media contact: media contact: robert korty at (979) 847-9090  or korty@tamuedu or robyn blackmon  communications manager at  (979) 845-6324 or robyn blackmon@tamu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu ### about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu media contact: for more news about texas a&m university see http://todaytamuedu/ studying hurricane and tropical storm development from three million years ago might give todays forecasters a good blueprint for 21st century storms says a team of international researchers that includes a texas a&m university atmospheric sciences professor " studying hurricane and tropical storm development from three million years ago might give todays forecasters a good blueprint for 21st century storms says a team of international researchers that includes a texas a&m university atmospheric sciences professor " october goes down as 4th warmest ever says texas a&m state climatologist nov 2 2016warm temperatures in texas dominated the month of october so much so that the month will go down as the fourth warmest october in the states history according to figures from the state climatologist at texas a&m universityjohn nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist says the month also tied for the sixth driest since official record keeping began in 1895  so far we know that 215 records were set all across the state from alpine to amarillo to brownsville and beaumont nielsen-gammon says about 70 percent of those records were set during the period oct 16-20 every single station reported above-normal temperatures for the month  the warmest areas relative to normal were the northern panhandle the midland-odessa area and the area northeast of dallas numerous national records have also been set in much of the southwest  midwest and northeast with many stations recording october temperatures 20 degrees above normal  also many northern cities have yet to record their first freeze and areas such as denver had no measureable snowfall in october does it mean another warm winter is in store octobers weather doesnt mean much going forward but the combination of a long-term warming trend and a likely la niña (cooler than normal waters in the central pacific ocean that tend to influence weather patterns) event does mean that winter is likely to be warm across texas he added were seeing drought spreading across much of the state with core drought areas in east texas and south texas  at this point november is looking quite a bit wetter than october but the overall outlook for the winter favors drier than normal conditions ### this story is on texas a&m today http://todaytamuedu/2016/11/02/october-goes-down-as-4th-warmest-ever-says-texas-am-state-climatologistmedia contact: john nielsen-gammon at (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu more news about texas a&m university todaytamuedu texas state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon " " texas a&m launches new zika-fighting appoct 31 2016how texas a&m is adding a tool to the mosquito control arsenal encouraging communities to clean up their yards to prevent standing wateras the zika virus spreads locally in the continental united states communities across the country have started thinking about mosquito control measures theaedes mosquito that transmits the virus can breed in containers of standing water as small as a bottle cap and the eggs can survive even without water for months still the egg and larval stage is the best time to control the insect because the adult mosquito tends to be very resistant to traditional pesticides jennifer a horney phd mph cph associate professor in the texas a&m school of public health and daniel w goldberg phd assistant professor of geography in the texas a&m college of geosciences and of computer science and engineering in the college of engineering have created a type of mobile health technology to fight the mosquitos at their source: standing water with our new app community memberscitizen scientists so to speakcan do surveys and note the prevalence and locations of potential mosquito breeding grounds horney said this data will then all be mapped online and health departments can use that information to prioritize areas for mosquito control measures people can record the number of different types of containersold tires buckets bird baths clogged guttersthat could harbor zika-carrying mosquito eggs along with the address of the property the app then automatically adds the location to a website for local health officials to review the app is available to download for ios and android devices we work with a number of people involved in community engagement including many students the green ambassadors in houston for example who were going to train how to use the app horney said the health departments get some free data without having to use their own very limited staff resources and its a great learning experience for the students as well the students will learn about sampling data collection data analysis and more effectively combating the spread of zika will require contributions from many stakeholder groups goldberg said with the release of this app members of the community will be empowered to help monitor and control the risk of zika in their own neighborhoods by: christina sumners daniel w goldberg phd assistant professor of geography " " texas a&m chooses faculty and administrators for sec leadership program oct 26 2016texas a&m university has selected four faculty and administrators to participate in the 2016-17 southeastern conference academic leadership development program (sec aldp) a professional growth initiative that seeks to identify prepare and advance academic leaders for roles within sec institutions and beyondthose chosen from texas a&m are: david cairns department head and professor geography college of geosciences; cecilia giusti associate professor and associate dean for outreach and diversity college of architecture; mark houston department head marketing mays business school; and antonietta quigg associate vice president for research and graduate studies texas a&m-galveston it is our strong belief that helping to prepare administrators for the next phase of their careers has the potential to impact all of higher education both now and in the future says sec commissioner greg sankey our universities make a significant investment in these individuals and we are proud to work with them through this program texas a&m university is delighted to have this opportunity to participate again in this years sec academic leadership development program notes john august texas a&m dean of faculties and associate provost as a result of their experiences over the coming year we are confident that our four participants will develop important administrative skills and a richer understanding of the shared academic aspirations of our fellow institutions in the sec this years first sec aldp workshops are being held this week at the university of alabama and a second one will be held feb 22-24 2017 at mississippi state university the sec academic leadership development program is part of secu the academic initiative of the southeastern conference the sec supports and promotes the endeavors and achievements of the students and faculty at its 14 member universities about secu using its secu academic initiative the southeastern conference sponsors supports and promotes collaborative higher education programs and activities involving administrators faculty and students at its fourteen member universities the goals of the secu initiative include highlighting the endeavors and achievements of sec faculty and universities; advancing the merit and reputation of sec universities outside of the traditional sec region; identifying and preparing future leaders for high-level service in academia; increasing the amount and type of education abroad opportunities available to sec students; and providing opportunities for collaboration among sec university personnel to connect with secu visit the academic initiative online – wwwthesecucom; on facebook – thesecu; on twitter – @thesecu; on instagram – @thesecuniversity; and on you tube – secuniversity ##### this story is on texas a&m today http://todaytamuedu/2016/10/19/faculty-and-administrators-chosen-for-sec-leadership-program media contact: lesley henton 979-845-5591 lshenton@tamuedu more news about texas a&m university http://todaytamuedu david cairns department head and professor geography " " texas a&m program stresses research experience for undergraduates oct 25 2016bright undergraduate students who are interested in marine science and oceanography are getting hooked into a program that may be the catch of the day – a new research experience for undergraduates (reu) program at texas a&m university that is attracting students from across the countryfunded by a national science foundation grant of $350 000 the three-year program will support 10 selected students each year from colleges across the united states they will focus on a broad topic titled observing the ocean: hypoxia harmful algae oil spills and ocean acidification and each student has an individual research project geared to those areas with a texas a&m professor working closely alongside him or her to guide and counsel their research work professors from texas a&ms geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) and the department of oceanography co-sponsor the project which had its first session this summer following a rigorous vetting procedure the 10 students selected for summer 2016 were from oberlin college the university of miami; the university of tampa; the university of south carolina; the university of new haven; houston community college; colorado college; bethel college; the university of texas and texas a&m the students developed a research plan received training on sensors data management and science writing met weekly to present progress on their research and presented a final seminar on their research at a department of oceanography symposium each students research presentation was judged and veronica de pascuale of oberlin college whose project was detecting chlorophyll degradation in open-ocean and coastal phytoplankton communities that are exposed to treatments of oil and oil dispersants placed first she received a $1 500 travel award and will present her findings next year at a conference in hawaii the students worked hard and had a texas a&m professor by their side serving as a mentor says lisa campbell professor of oceanography who along with gergs tony knap serves as co-director of the reu program the students get a lot out of it and our faculty members really seem to enjoy seeing young scholars learning the process of actual research what the students appreciated the most was the opportunity to join a research cruise in the gulf of mexico because they got to see how research is conducted at sea on the research vessel pelican students launched underwater gliders and collected water samples to measure dissolved oxygen nutrients and salinity applications for next summers reu program will be accepted beginning dec 15 with a deadline of feb 15 2017 for more about the program go to: http://oceantamuedu/academics/reu/indexhtml ###  about research at texas a&m university: as one of the world's leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu media contact: lisa campbell at (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu or robyn blackmon communications manager college of geosciences at (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu funded by a national science foundation grant of $350 000 the three-year program will support 10 selected students each year from colleges across the united states " funded by a national science foundation grant of $350 000 the three-year program will support 10 selected students each year from colleges across the united states " 13 geosciences cadets awarded stars for academic excellenceoct 21 2016every semester the office of the commandant of the corps of cadets at texas a&m recognizes current cadets who achieve academic excellenceone of the most recognizable ways the corps of cadets awards such an achievement is through a gold or silver star worn above the right pocket of a cadets uniform gold stars are awarded to those who post a 40 gpr with a minimum of 12 hours from the previous semester  silver stars are awarded to cadets earning a 35 gpr the star is presented after semester grades post each cadet is authorized wear their star for only the following semester unless it is earned again the following cadets from the college of geosciences were awarded stars for the fall semester based on their spring ‘16 grades: gold stars:nicholas alexanderjordan andersonkaewan gardijackson miltonjordan smithemily yoder  silver stars:robert bakermatthew ballardalessandro lioneshawn mcarthurbrett minorpaul sayerscecille sorio  congratulations to our students for their hard work! bg(r) joe e ramirez jr commandant of cadets had the following remarks about the achievement: we are proud of our cadets who earned their academic stars through hard work and academic success in your college as members of the corps of cadets in addition to the many academic resources available to cadets we recently completed construction of 2 additional leadership learning centers on the quad these 4 buildings allow our cadets to study work with groups use computer labs attend academic support sessions and pursue academic endeavors in the midst of their living and training environment the llc's serve as a constant reminder to the corps commitment to academic excellence thank you for all you do to help our cadets achieve academic success! we hope you are as proud of these students as we are! " " seventh annual berg-hughes research symposium takes place at annenbergoct 13 2016the seventh annual berg-hughes research symposium took place at the annenberg presidential conference center on october 11 2016 with great successhere are the winners for the student posters: 1st place – $1 000maddie pike           volcanism anoxia and planktonic community turnover in the cenomanian-turonian western interior seaway advisor: mike tice 2nd place – $750philipp tesch         quantification of architectural variability and controls in an eocene – mid miocene carbonate ramp browse basin australiaadvisors: mike pope/bobby reece                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          3rd place –  $500sudiptya banerjee   field use of tubing-deployed flow control devices to improve the economics and environmental costs of albertan sagd operations  advisor: berna hascakir congratulations to our winners! " " carria collins diana mills and jessica radnitzer awarded eod certificatesoct 13 2016congratulations to carria collins diana mills and jessica radnitzer on completing employee & organizational development certificate programs!carria collins – professional development program diana mills – microsoft office essentials certificate & professional development program jessica radnitzer – microsoft office essentials certificate thank you for your hard work! eod certificate awards " " fall department open house/picnicoct 7 2016join the department of geology and geophysics at our fall open house/picnic!the department fall open house/picnic is october 7th from 4-7pm in the halbouty building food and drinks will be provided open house 2016 talks october 7th 4-5pm in halbouty 101: bobby reece investigating earth process through multi-scale seismology ryan ewing wind-blown bedform dynamics on earth and other worlds hiroko kitajima rock deformation in the nankai subduction zone patrick fulton 25 000 feet under the sea: taking the temperature inside japan's magnitude 9 earthquake fault masako tominaga deciphering geological processes using deep submergence geophysics peter knappett geogenic contaminants in groundwater julia reece multi-scale investigation of geomechanical processes in mudstones   the following day the college of geosciences will host a college tailgate on october 8th for the texas a&m versus tennessee football game the tailgate will be held between the kamu building and the hagler center starting at 11am until game time " " alumni facebook groupoct 7 2016please join our official texas a&m geology & geophysics alumni facebook group to learn about future events and job opportunities as well as to stay connected to our department!search: texas a&m geology & geophysics alumni (official) or use the link: https://wwwfacebookcom/groups/tamuggalumni " " meet elizabeth collinsoct 7 2016elizabeth is the lead office assistant for the department of geology & geophysics business office she is responsible for ap/ar invoice preparation and submission personal reimbursement preparation monitors aging invoice submissions handles building keys department truck reservation assisting the business administrators mail coordination and other clerical tasks elizabeth began working for the department in may of 2014 and has loved being able to interact with students in a friendly atmosphere in her spare time elizabeth loves to cook and reconstruct pescatarian-friendly recipes she belongs to numerous animal rescues and advises various groups including the women veterans panel on campus elizabeth was a member of the last graduating class of wacs the womens army corps and served 14 years on active duty and 3 years on reserve elizabeth also assists in raising her grandchildren 2 boys and 1 girl and is very involved in their school activities  " " introduction to geology & geophysics courseoct 7 2016for the past three years the departments academic advisor suzanne rosser has conducted a course specifically designed to introduce new students into the geology & geophysics program it started as a small class geared for transfer students to meet faculty and has grown to include transfer students freshmen and students who have changed majors into our program this course now focuses not only on students getting to know the departments faculty but also exposes students to university resources such as the academic success center and the writing center as well as other geologic exposure this course also has a high impact learning experience where students are introduced to various aspects of geology and are given the opportunity to go outside students will take a field trip to canyon lake gorge this october 22nd to explore the geology in texas click here to see pictures from the students trip to nearby hensel park where they completed simple field exercises such as taking a bearing and calculating a proper scale for their maps this course is a part of the departments new undergraduate curriculum to be in effect fall 2017 " " august graduation brunchoct 7 2016the department would like to congratulate all those that graduated this past august!  our new alumni: ba geology: brad alexander  bs geology: allayne babin sam berg jennifer blake sean borremans inva braha lucas daudt ryan dziuk oby ebere garret fisler monica fortuna meredith gregory william hughes cory hungate scott lansford gonzalo may zachry neely daniel ravenna dalton schulze hayden stansbury greg sullivan paige thompson matt vacek judson ward ryan wernette tim wilcox bs geophysics: phillip sinclair ms geology: mike deluca maria antonieta gutierrez azuaje bronwyn moore hongyu tian ms geophysics: akhil amara katie bales jacob bayer daniel tebo phd geology: brad weymer phd geophysics: dehan zhu click here to see images from our august graduation and graduation brunch! " " new undergraduate curriculumoct 7 2016the department has recently submitted its new curriculum to the university for approval and will be in effect starting this upcoming fall 2017starting during the summer of 2014 the department began running curriculum study groups where current and former students industry employers and graduate programs indicated areas where our degrees needed to be modified or enhanced following the suggestions made by this group rubrics were created to define the learnings to produce the ideal tamu g&g graduate discipline-specific groups met to review and revise the rubrics to decide what learning outcomes needed to be met and how they would be met in the classroom setting  there are various advantages of the new curriculum which will standardize courses between professors the new curriculum will maintain the broad foundation in traditional disciplines such as rigorous math and science courses with the new curriculum students will spend time in the field earlier in their degree and will get more experience with writing speaking and research in the geology degree new courses will be implemented and new aspects of courses will go into effectfor example geologic field methods will now include a gis short course upon returning from the field the geophysics degree is implementing various new courses such as a geophysical signal processing course and geophysical field methods course the goals of the changes in the geophysics degree are to strengthen and broaden students hands-on experience with modern geophysical data collection and manipulation the department is excited about the new changes occurring to the undergraduate curriculum and hope future graduates will be excellent candidates for graduate school and careers special thanks to dr david sparks dr julie newman suzanne rosser cristina figueroa the center for teaching excellence staff the college of geosciences and the department of geology & geophysics for their efforts in the new geology and geophysics undergraduate curriculum  " " geology summer field campoct 7 2016 the department of geology & geophysics is educating the leaders of tomorrow through high impact learning opportunities such as field camp in summer 2015 tim powell 79 made a significant contribution toward the departments field camp endowment goal of $5 million whether you make an impact by supporting the annual fund a major gift for academic or high impact learning programs or by establishing an endowment through a planned giving strategy your support is critical geosciencestamuedu/give for more information about supporting field camp experiences contact cara milligan ‘08 senior director of development at cmilligan@txamfoundationcom or (979) 862-4944 " " department tailgatesoct 7 2016two geology and geophysics organizations aapg and the texas a&m geology & geophysics society host the department tailgate every texas a&m home game has a tailgate with food and water provided as well as some games the tailgate location is right across the saw ‘em off statue across from kyle field current and former students faculty and staff are welcome! click here to view pictures from our last tailgate! " " 2016 geosciences career fairoct 7 2016every year recruiters attend texas a&m universitys career fair to seek out potential employees there was a networking event held the night before the career fair at the hilton hotel where students are given the opportunity to socialize with recruiters in a social settingthe following companies attended the 2016 geosciences career fair: apache corporation bhp billiton petroleum bp cgg chevron corporation conocophillips davita duke tip enercon energy access solutions llc freese and nichols halliburton intera incorporated killeen independent school district marine officer programs national geospatial-intelligence agency naval intelligence activity noaa commissioned officer corps oasis petroleum peace corps schlumberger sm energy tamu accelerate online alternative teachers certification program tamu college of geosciences graduate programs tamu mays business school ms business program texas a&m health science center school of public health university lands / ts oil and gas institute unt health science center school of public health us fish and wildlife service w&m environmental group yes prep public schools we thank all those that came to our career fair whether current students former students recruiters or staff!   picture from the student geosciences council of the networking event " " dr ryan ewingoct 7 2016ryans research aims to understand the evolution of landscapes and the sedimentary record through physical processes operating at the surface-atmosphere interface of earth mars and titan (a moon of saturn)ryan c ewing hails from rogers arkansas and finished an undergraduate geology degree in 1998 at the colorado college in colorado springs ut with an honors thesis on mars geomorphology his continued interest in geology led him to the university of texas at austin where he finished his phd in 2009 studying wind-blown sediments on earth and mars following his phd ewing was awarded a two-year national science foundation postdoctoral fellowship from 2009-2011 and was hosted at princeton university and the california institute of technology (caltech) ewing held a tenure-track position in the department of geological sciences at the university of alabama from 2011-2013 before arriving in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m in 2013 ewing received tenure and promotion to associate professor at texas a&m in 2016 the ewings research uses field work laboratory experiments airborne and satellite remote sensing and numerical modeling to interrogate the climate histories of rocks and landscapes on earth mars and titan a moon of saturn he has received external funding from the american chemical society petroleum research fund national science foundation (nsf) national parks service and nasa ewings field work takes him to the outback of australia to study 650 million year old rocks formed during an extreme glaciation southern utah to study 280 million year old sandy deserts and white sands new mexico to study modern sand dunes ewings recent planetary work has been published in the major scientific journals nature geoscience and science these works focus on present and past climate reconstructions of titan and mars using satellite data and data from nasas mars science laboratory curiosity rover ewing worked on the curiosity rover team member for two years he contributed scientifically through image analysis of rocks and modern sediments and operationally as a surface properties scientists who helps the rover engineers interpret the terrain over which the rover drives ewing will continue his research in earth and planetary geology and is aiming to expand his field areas to southern california to study the dynamics of giant sand dunes using multi-temporal high resolution topography and to padre island texas to study the dynamics of microbially influenced wind-blown sand transport as a potential analog for early earth and mars ​​  dr ewing has active field work in texas new mexico utah and south australia " dr ewing has active field work in texas new mexico utah and south australia " texas a&m researcher: matthews latest tracking models potentially bad scenario for floridaoct 6 2016updated models have hurricane matthew affecting 9 million along the southeastern coastover 9 million people could be impacted by hurricane matthew along the florida georgia and carolina coasts as it draws closer to landfall – according to the latest tracking matthew is expected to gain intensity and reach its peak off the atlantic coast of florida as a strong category 4 hurricane with sustained winds up to 140-145 mph matthew is potentially the strongest storm to hit the florida coast since hurricane andrew in 1992 dr brent mcroberts of texas a&ms department of geography in the college of geosciences is part of a team that includes researchers from the university of michigan (seth guikema) and ohio state university (steven quiring) their objective: to make accurate predictions for power outages in devastating storms dr mcroberts is tasked with looking at multiple factors such as wind population land environment soil conditions – and adding them to the power outage model to form a more accurate prediction for the storm typically hurricane-related outages are caused by downed power lines which result from strong winds or trees getting entangled with the lines strong winds will blow over both the powerlines and the trees said dr mcroberts but with additional information such as soil moisture they can get a more accurate idea of the potential devastation for populated areas with large power grids if the soils are wetter before the storm hits then the soil is going to be looser and the trees and power lines are more susceptible to being blown over continued dr mcroberts the team also looks at drought conditions if an area has been under a long-term drought the trees are going to be weakened from lacking the necessary water to be properly nourished – putting them at greater risk for being blown over in a powerful storm matthews current path is very troubling for the state of florida its expected to travel right along the florida coastline keeping it in close enough proximity to unleash some of its strong winds over land in heavily populated areas such as miami said dr mcroberts but matthews strong winds arent the only problem  when a hurricane goes on land and remains there for a significant amount of time the storm loses its energy source and can eventually die out but according to dr mcroberts with matthew traveling over the warmer and shallow waters along the coast of florida ­– it is highly likely to maintain its strength and be a very destructive storm  its close enough to the coast to unleash its winds but its also expected to stay over water which is the natural energy source for a hurricane"" its a pretty bad scenario for florida added dr mcroberts read more here by: andrew vernon ‘06 for more information contact robyn blackmon at 979-845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu the latest tracking has hurricane matthew traveling up the florida atlantic coast and potentially making landfall around cape canaveral model provided by dr brent mcroberts " the latest tracking has hurricane matthew traveling up the florida atlantic coast and potentially making landfall around cape canaveral model provided by dr brent mcroberts " kristen thyng authors paper on the importance of colormap accuracysep 26 2016a research team from across the state of texas recently joined dr kristen thyng in publishing a research paper – true colors of oceanography: guidelines for effective and accurate colormap selectionthe paper focuses on encouraging scientists to think about the impact of colormaps in presenting their data many colormaps tend to use jet (rainbow) based colors which can be misleading to viewers while evidence shows colormap choice is important for an audience in understanding data it doesnt necessarily get a lot of attention we present literature that speaks to the importance of how people perceive color scales – showing that while hue-based (rainbow) colormaps are commonly-used they can lead to misinterpretation said dr kristen thyng lead author of the paper the research team suggests that scientists focus on making sure colors are just as accurate as the words theyre using to interpret the data they emphasize the importance of color beyond simply being an artistic expression inaccurate color scales can give viewers an unrealistic perspective of data which impacts its perception  for example we see yellow in a typical rainbow as being brighter than the surrounding colors so an audience will tend to notice whatever is represented in yellow more strongly compared to the rest of the plot regardless of whether it was intended to be more important or not we propose that in general a colormap that accounts for human perception and does not have incidental artificial perceptual jumps are better for properly displaying your data added dr thyng additionally the team offeres guidelines for scientists to consider when creating colormaps for oceanographic data their main focus is increasing more accurate communication of scientific data – while also considering human intuition and visual perception with interpreting data as part of the paper the team also put together several scientific software packages of uniform colormaps available online  the response that we have gotten to this paper and the colormaps has been phenomenal and really encouraging people are interested to learn more about colormaps – and also happy to have easily available nice-looking options to use for their own plots said dr thyng  you can read the research paper in its entirety here colormaps shown at left in jet and at right in a colormap from cmocean figure courtesy of dr kristen thyng " colormaps shown at left in jet and at right in a colormap from cmocean figure courtesy of dr kristen thyng " uav flyovers survey south texas red tidesep 26 2016south padre island texas – as the red tide continues to linger off the south texas coast the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is collaborating with two other texas universities to test the effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs) to monitor these harmful algal bloomsat the request of tony reisinger the cameron county coastal and marine agent for texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension dr jinha jung assistant professor of engineering at texas a&m university-corpus christi brought two uavs to the lower coast on sept 20 right now we track red tide movement with satellite flyovers reisinger said not only is that very expensive but cloud cover sometimes limits data collection we currently determine red tide concentrations by manually taking hundreds of water samples to measure red tide cell concentrations a multi-spectral equipped uav could quickly do all that from the air in a fraction of the time and expense if concentrations can be correlated with color change jung flew the two uavs out of the university of texas rio grande valley coastal studies laboratory on south padre island each spent 20 to 25 minutes in the air flying about half a mile out to sea and back while recording video and a series of still images the first a dji phantom 4 camera drone used a natural color sensor; the second a 3d robotics rtf x8+ multicopter was outfitted with thermal and multispectral sensors a multispectral sensor captures data from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum including outside the spectrum visible to humans red tides in texas are caused by a bloom of toxic algae called karenia brevis there is growing interest in the agricultural applications of uav remote sensing but it also may have the potential to assess algae bloom movement cell density and fish kills the latter useful in determining fisheries resource impacts jung and reisinger said a uav can be programmed to follow a predetermined flight path cameras can be programmed to operate remotely and pictures sensors and multispectral imaging can be used to measure determine and document growth in crops like corn jung said flights like this help us test to see if the same can be said for red tide growth this was jungs second visit to south padre island with his uavs; he conducted similar trials last october during the red tide then the current texas red tide stretches from the lower laguna madre to just north of aransas pass the algae can kill fish shellfish mammals and birds while its not life-threatening for humans red tide toxin can aerosolize when cells are broken up by the surf causing temporary symptoms including burning eyes coughing sneezing skin irritation and respiratory problems reisinger said people with asthma or other respiratory problems should avoid exposure k brevis concentrations tend to be patchy and levels of respiratory irritation can vary locally based on nearby concentrations ocean currents and wind speed and direction members of a volunteer group called the red tide rangers started by reisinger in 1992 in partnership with the utgrv coastal studies laboratory and now managed by the laboratory visit sites around south padre island daily to collect water samples check for fish kills and gauge the severity of aerosolized toxin these specially trained citizen scientists then examine the samples at the coastal studies laboratory to count the number of cells of k brevis a very time-consuming process the data they collect are sent to the state which uses them to issue timely advisories to the public fishermen and resource managers the information is also used to ground-truth satellite tracking of red tide by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration using uavs may eventually be an excellent way to monitor these red tide algal blooms reisinger said it has the potential to save state and federal agencies lots of time and money by tracking the movement and concentration of the bloom and conducting fish-kill counts along the shore which are measurements now taken by hand so to speak all that takes lots of man hours and resources by: tiffany evans you can check the red tide status online for texas at http://tpwdtexasgov/landwater/water/environconcerns/hab/redtide/statusphtml and for the entire gulf coast at http://wwwfacebookcom/habredtidewatchnoaagov/fref=nf you can follow the red tide rangers on facebook or find more information at http://seagrantnoaagov/whatwedo/currentfocusareas/environmentalliteracyandworkforcedevelopment/citizenscienceprojectsaspx or http://wwwutrgvedu/csl/public-service/red-tide/indexhtm media contact: tiffany evans communication specialist texas sea grant   979-458-8442 or cindie powell assistant director texas sea grant  979-862-3770 at the request of tony reisinger the cameron county coastal and marine agent for texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension dr jinha jung assistant professor of engineering at texas a&m university-corpus christi brought two uavs to the lower coast on sept 20 photo by seth patterson/texas sea grant " at the request of tony reisinger the cameron county coastal and marine agent for texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension dr jinha jung assistant professor of engineering at texas a&m university-corpus christi brought two uavs to the lower coast on sept 20 photo by seth patterson/texas sea grant " gordon p eaton chosen to receive the 2016 michel t halbouty medalsep 14 2016the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2016 michel t halbouty geosciences medal dr gordon p eatondr eatons career spans over 40 years in geosciences as an educator researcher director and college administrator gordon eaton began as an assistant professor at wesleyan university from 1955-1959 after accepting a position at the university of california at riverside in 1959 and advancing to associate professor he began an association with the united states geological survey (usgs) that would eventually lead to him join their ranks in 1967 at the usgs dr eaton held several positions – including serving as scientist-in-charge of the hawaiian volcano observatory and project chief of the southwestern geophysics project  dr eaton returned to academia in 1981 when he was named dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university after just two years as dean his leadership was quickly recognized – and promoted to provost and vice president for academic affairs in 1986 he became president of iowa state university and served until 1990 when he resigned to become the director of columbia universitys lamont-doherty geological observatory dr eaton returned to the usgs in 1994 as its twelfth director after being appointed by president bill clinton he retired from the usgs in 1997 upon his retirement secretary of the interior bruce babbitt paid tribute with the following remarks: dr eaton has guided the helm of the us geological survey and its community of scientists for over three years during a dramatic sea-change for the survey under his guidance the usgs has expanded to become the preeminent science bureau for the department of the interior one that now encompasses the disciplines of biology geology hydrology and mapping in addition he has been a tireless advocate for the survey through difficult periods of downsizing funding uncertainties and transformation of its mission i accept his retirement with regret and a great deal of respect without a doubt gordons most lasting and most important contribution to the geosciences was the role of defender and protector of the geosciences in the us federal government noted one of his nominators gordon reshaped the usgs to provide relevant science to the citizens of the united states the usgs became known as an agency that was sensitive and responsive under his leadership another nominator adds during dr eatons tenure at texas a&m the college of geosciences was actively pursuing and eventually selected to be the science operator for the ocean drilling program this was by far the largest scientific research program that the college had ever been associated with dr eaton as dean of the college and the provost of the university was instrumental in bringing this prestigious program to the college of geosciences today the iodp is the largest federally funded research project at texas a&m the michel t halbouty geosciences medal is conferred by the dean college of geosciences for distinguished achievement in the development of earth resources and in the application of geoscience to the discovery use and conservation of earth resources  the award will be presented at a gala celebration on the evening of friday november 11 2016 at texas a&m university in college station texas dr gordon p eaton in front of the residence hall at iowa state university bearing his namesake (photo courtesy of iowa state university) " dr gordon p eaton in front of the residence hall at iowa state university bearing his namesake (photo courtesy of iowa state university) " understanding japanese current could help weather predictionsaug 9 2016the kuroshio current off the east coast of japan is one of the worlds strongest currents and like the gulf stream current in the atlantic ocean is comprised of warm water a team of international scientists led by five researchers from texas a&m university have completed a detailed study of the kuroshio current and their findings could have an impact on predicting future weather patterns in the north pacific sector and beyondxiaohui ma zhao jing ping chang xue liu and raffaele montuoro of the departments of oceanography and atmospheric sciences at texas a&m along with colleagues from the ocean university of china the national center for atmospheric research in boulder colo and the university of kiel in germany have had their work published in the current issue of nature magazine using computer models the team found that kuroshio current which stretches from the philippines and past japan transports warm tropical waters to high latitudes  the current is so strong that it produces significant eddies swirling streams of water that directly affect ocean dynamic conditions current climate models today are not able to accurately represent the current and its eddies chang explains these eddies are very strong like storms in the atmosphere  they contain great amounts of energy  our study shows how the energy released from the ocean to the atmosphere can affect the simulation of kuroshio current which can potentially impact prediction of weather patterns the kuroshio (meaning black stream) is also known as the japan current and it sustains key reef systems off the japanese coast  it is at least 2 000 miles long and about 60 miles wide and is responsible for relatively mild conditions around alaskas southern coast and in british columbia the eddies created from the current are a key component of the study it is very important that we understand and represent the conditions of these eddies and their relationship to the current chang adds it is very likely that in doing so we can have better predicting models for future weather patterns and even climate change he notes  winter storm predictions in this part of the world may depend on information from this region so we need as much information as possible in formulating forecasts university officials note the professors work underscores texas a&ms commitments to discovery and innovation that have positive impacts for the state nation and world in keeping with its lead by example comprehensive campaign the project was funded by the national science foundation and noaa ### contact: ping chang at (979) 845-8196 or ping@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu current climate models today are not able to accurately represent the current and its eddies chang explains " current climate models today are not able to accurately represent the current and its eddies chang explains " texas sea grant fisheries specialist serving on international committee to improve vaquita-safe fishingaug 9 2016a marine fisheries specialist at texas a&m universitys texas sea grant college program has been named to an international committee to improve fishing techniques to protect the most endangered marine mammal in the worldgary graham who has more than 45 years of experience working with commercial fisheries especially the gulf of mexico and southeastern us shrimp fishery and other experts from around the world have been charged with improving existing fishing technology to protect the critically endangered vaquita the worlds smallest porpoise which lives only in a small area of the upper gulf of california some experts believe there may be as few as 60 vaquita porpoises left in the world in the past few years in particular illegal gillnet fishing for the endangered totoaba a large fish whose swim bladders fetch a high price in china has pushed the vaquita to the brink but even before the illegal totoaba trade legal commercial fishing in the small portion of the gulf the vaquita call home had threatened the species survival as the porpoises frequently were entangled in the nets and drowned mexico implemented an emergency two-year ban on gillnet fishing in 2015 in the vaquitas range mexican president enrique peña nieto at a meeting with us president barack obama late last month announced that the ban will become permanent effective september 1 2016 the two nations pledged to work with international experts to develop alternative fishing gear and to establish vaquita-safe fisheries the experts committee which was established by mexicos national institute of fisheries (inapesca) and the world wildlife fund (wwf) mexico will advise the mexican government on improved fishing techniques the group is expected to have recommendations for guidelines and protocols for vaquita-safe shrimp fishing later this month graham said the future of the vaquita hangs on a threadit is going to be a tremendous challenge to stop their further decline and potential extinction he said it is an honor to work with such a diverse group of international scientists as well as artisanal fishermen in finding practical solutions to address this important issue graham has worked extensively with the gulf of mexico and southeastern us shrimp fishery to aid their adoption of federally mandated devices designed to reduce bycatch the capture of non-target species he teaches captains and crews proper installation use and maintenance of these devices including turtle excluder devices (teds) which when used correctly are 97 percent effective in excluding sea turtles from the nets the use of these devices has been credited as a contributor to the rebound of the kemps ridley sea turtle the most endangered species of sea turtle in the world by: cindie powell texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources " " estate gift from bill and barbara barnes will support newly endowed professorship and scholarshipsaug 4 2016selfless service: the desire and ability to put others before self making personal sacrifices to better our corps university state and nation – this is one of the corps values for members of the texas a&m corps of cadets and those values are embodied in its members like bill barnes (76)bill and his wife barbara have made a contribution to establish the endowed barbara s and bill s barnes 76 professorship in geology & geophysics for the college of geosciences with an estate gift any remaining funds from the gift will also be used to establish the barbara s and bill s barnes 76 endowed scholarship the department of geology & geophysics has thirty-two faculty members including three joint appointments and four post-doctoral researchers bill and barbara hope this endowment will further the continued success of faculty within g&g the college as a whole leads the way with a 1:13 faculty to student ratio our desired impact would be for the professorship to attract an outstanding faculty member and for the scholarships to ease the financial burden for future students said bill the college of geosciences has over 200 scholarships available to help its students better afford the opportunities to earn a degree from texas a&m in addition the barnes gift will establish the barbara s and bill s barnes 76 corps of cadets endowed scholarship  bill graduated from texas a&m as a member of the corps of cadets and enjoyed a 30-year career in oil & gas exploration with various companies barbara graduated with a degree in geophysics from the university of houston in addition to her 30 years in oil & gas exploration she was also very active with the girl scouts  the barnes strongly believe that education is the foundation for future success i always felt having a degree from texas a&m university was a real advantage the degree is just the start real success comes as a result of hard work added bill and because of contributions from people like bill and barbara barnes – future aggies geoscientists and cadets will have a better opportunity for success by: andrew vernon ‘06  for more information on giving to the college of geosciences contact cara milligan:(979) 862-4944 or cmilligan@txamfoundationcom our desired impact would be for the professorship to attract an outstanding faculty member and for the scholarships to ease the financial burden for future students said bill " our desired impact would be for the professorship to attract an outstanding faculty member and for the scholarships to ease the financial burden for future students said bill " dr kristen thyng's research on the texas city ""y"" oil spillaug 2 2016in march 2014 a massive oil spill occurred in the galveston bay near the texas city y when an inbound cargo ship had collided with an oil tank-barge according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration over 168 000 gallons of oil was spilt into the bay most of the oil washed up on shore and tar residue was left on the beaches around galveston within a few days the same oil and tar residue was washing up on the shores near the mustang and padre islands dr kristen thyng an assistant research professor at texas a&m university and a few of her colleagues began a research experiment ­– with the goal being to recreate an oil spill from galveston bay near the texas city y in her report the research group analyzed 44 total tarball samples that were collected after the texas city oil spill on galveston island and mustang island with a combined interdisciplinary effort my co-authors and i used numerical modeling to examine the oil transport tarball source-fingerprinting chemistry and microbiology together to better understand what occurred during the spill said dr thyng by the end of the research they were able to successfully demonstrate an integrated approach to determining the fate of spilled oil dr thyng and her research team were able to successfully demonstrate an integrated approach to determining the fate of spilled oil the link below directly connects you to dr kristen thyngs published paper on her findings during her research http://wwwsciencedirectcom/science/article/pii/s0025326x16303964   this map shows the progress of dr thyng's research into the fate of spilled oil " this map shows the progress of dr thyng's research into the fate of spilled oil " the college of geosciences launches two high frequency radars in the gulf of mexicojul 25 2016texas a&m universitys college of geosciences has successfully launched two new high frequency (hf) radars as the first phase of the highly collaborative smart gulf initiative that will provide instant oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the gulf of mexico  this data will impact the lives of thousands of commercial fishermen oil and gas workers shipping and recreational boaters coastal residents and others who are in and around the gulf at any moment of the day ocean observation is essential for emergency preparedness and response and to provide data for our future resiliency in oil and gas production shipping public health disaster avoidance and recovery and ecosystem vitality texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp whose chancellors research initiative provided the seed money for the project said the gulf of mexico has a profound impact on the weather climate ecosystem resources and economy of the 50 million people who live in texas and the other gulf states the gulf region is among the most important to the interests of the united states and texas with many economic public safety and geopolitical implications said chancellor sharp texas a&m has the obligation and the responsibility to provide the expertise leadership and solutions to real world challenges that affect texans and other people around the globe ""the gulf of mexico is a complex observing environment with a diverse slate of human and environmental activity and texas accounts for nearly 25% of that observing area "" said zdenka willis director us integrated ocean observing system (ioos[1]) ""these new sea sonde radars have proven effective not only with day-to-day operations and for search and rescue but also in expediting response to offshore oil spill response in the gulf and the pacific they're a valuable asset to a growing observing network that provides critical data for navigation research and public safety"" with the use of hf a new era of scientific discovery is under way – one that will change our understanding of how interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere impact the citizens of texas we live in an environment that is complex and dynamic and we lack data of sufficient resolution in space and time to reliably forecast environmental changes or decision makers to respond in a timely and responsible way this is not only an incredible accomplishment for the college of geosciences and texas a&m but it is also a responsibility for the university to serve the citizens of the state the nation and the world – we are very proud to do so said dr kate miller dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m the college of geosciences in collaboration with other colleges industry partners and state agencies plans to establish a robust ocean observing network made up of sensors hf radars buoys ships of opportunity gliders (asvs and auvs) that build on existing infrastructure to collect a variety of oceanographic atmospheric chemical and biotic data in real and near-real-time texas a&m vice president for research glen a laine said this networked observation system will provide unprecedented access to data that will advance both texas a&ms research enterprise and our understanding of critical life-affecting environmental cycles of which no corner of our planet is immune the impact of this transformational research will reach from the curriculum and learning to opportunities and experiences for our students two radars are now operational and providing data and new radars will soon be installed for a total of 7 in and around the gulf of mexico not all coastal sites in texas have power so for some of the sites gerg is building solar systems to power these radars we hope to have two more operating by the end of august said dr anthony knap director geochemical and environmental research group professor of oceanography this ocean-observing network is central to positioning texas a&m as a recognized leader in research teaching and amplifies the universitys public service commitment as it provides critical data develops models and provides environmental forecasts that have direct societal impact the initiative will lead to new tools that more effectively communicate complex issues in environmental science to policy makers educators and the general public the long-term vision is to establish an ocean-observing network throughout the entire gulf of mexico and eventually to integrate it into a global framework for the north atlantic and the low latitudes this long-term strategy not only optimizes the sciences but also advances key collaborations with the ocean observing initiative (ooi) gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) the national atmospheric and space administration (nasa) and industry and researchers in other gulf coast states international collaborations with mexico brazil and cuba as well as partnerships with researchers and industry in europe china and israel are also part of the comprehensive plans these radars are a great addition to our observing system funded through the texas general land office they provide real time information on ocean conditions so for oil spills storms etc texas is well prepared as they complement the tabs buoy network i would like to thank steve dimarco john walpert andrew dancer kerri whilden and luz zarate for the hard work in getting this system installed said dr knap as the state lead in coastal oil spill response the texas general land office (tglo) is extremely excited about the implementation of the texas a&m hf radar array! the tglo response capabilities and its long running tabs buoy system will surely be enhanced by the addition of the surface current monitoring capabilities of the hfs their use in assessing the capabilities of our offshore roms model which is integral in plotting trajectories of oil spill movements will be an invaluable asset! said steve buschang tglo state scientific support coordinator director of research and development the tglo allocates substantial financial commitments to the college of geosciences as well as many other agencies for contaminant analysis of texas fish and wildlife as well as for oil-spill dispersion modeling the further development of this network combined with related efforts proposed for land-based operations will improve the understanding of the ocean-land nexus and provide new models and tools for effective management of natural and manmade environmental hazards and phenomena these efforts include collaborations with other colleges and texas a&m components including agrilife engineering offshore technology research center science health sciences texas a&m at galveston and texas a&m at corpus christi among others hfr is vital to protecting coastlines from man-made disasters such as oil spills and to forecasting and mitigating natural disasters like habs and hurricanes said gcoos[2] executive director dr barbara kirkpatrick gcoos has been promoting the need for a stronger hfr network in the gulf of mexico and we applaud the commitment that dr knap and texas a&m university have made by installing these radar systems that will ultimately enhance boater and maritime operator safety on our waters this is an important step in building a complete observing system for the gulf of mexico [1] us ioos® is a federal regional and private sector partnership working to enhance the ability to collect deliver and use ocean information ioos delivers data and information needed to increase understanding of our ocean and coasts so that decision makers can act to improve safety enhance the economy and protect the environment for more information visit: ioosnoaagov[2] the nonprofit gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system is a network of business leaders marine scientists resource managers non-governmental organizations and other stakeholder groups that combine their data to provide timely information about our oceans similar to the information gathered by the national weather service to develop weather forecasts information from the texas hfr stations will be streamed on gcooss online data portal at http://datagcoosorg/  gcoos is one of the 11 regional coastal ocean observing systems now under the us integrated ocean observing system (ioos) which coordinates a comprehensive national ocean observing network critical to the social welfare and economic success of the united states for more information contact robyn blackmon communications manager at (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu one of the two high frequency radars now online " " jason sylvan named ocean discovery distinguished lecturerjul 21 2016congratulations to dr jason sylvan on being named to the 2016-2017 class of ocean discovery distinguished lecturers!dr sylvans research focuses on microbial ecology of marine hydrothermal ecosystems subseafloor volcanic crust oil spill microbial ecology and biogeochemistry and microbiology of coastal hypoxia (""dead zones"") he has participated in several scientific ocean drilling expeditions most recently iodp expedition 360 which drilled into the atlantis bank on the southwest indian ridge six ocean discovery lecturers are chosen for each academic year after completion of the required lectures the usssp (united states scientific support program) provides a small honorarium for the speakers participation congratulations to dr jason sylvan on being named to the 2016-2017 class of ocean discovery distinguished lecturers! " congratulations to dr jason sylvan on being named to the 2016-2017 class of ocean discovery distinguished lecturers! " dr julia reecejul 19 2016dr reece was born in bremen a city in northern germany known to many geoscientists because of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) core repository that is located at the university of bremeninspired by an open day at a german university that was geared towards female students in stem fields she decided early during high school that she wanted to study earth sciences so she completed her bs and diplom (ms) in geosciences at the university of bremen in germany growing up close to the north sea dr reece was particularly interested in marine geology and geophysics during her undergraduate and graduate studies in germany she went out to sea on three research expeditions with the r/v meteor to offshore costa rica / nicaragua the r/v polarstern to the arctic ocean (svalbard) and the joides resolution to the gulf of mexico for iodp expedition 308 the latter changed her life the day after she received her diplom (ms) degree certificate she was on an airplane to the usa with no return ticket she had decided to pursue a phd at the pennsylvania state university with dr flemings who was one of the two co-chiefs on iodp expedition 308 and actively recruited her to work with him after her first year at psu she followed her phd advisor and transferred to the university of texas at austin where she completed her phd degree in geosciences in 2011 during her phd studies dr reece worked on samples and data related to iodp expedition 308 particularly stresses and pore pressures in the subsurface and compression and permeability behavior of mudstones after completing her phd dr reece was a post-doc at the bureau of economic geology at ut austin she studied mass transport behavior in the barnett shale dr reece then completed a second post-doc at stanford university studying fracture permeability during shear-slip in the haynesville shale and matrix permeability in the eagle ford shale following this dr reece began working at texas a&m university as an assistant professor in august 2014 her current research focuses on understanding the mechanics and flow behavior of mudstones as well as diagenesis in shale gas reservoirs she built her own sediment mechanics laboratory in the department in which her group employs a suite of laboratory techniques including sedimentological and geotechnical experimentation as well as microscale imaging techniques one research project funded by the american chemical society petroleum research fund studies the effect of microbial activity on mechanical and flow behavior of mudstones other projects in development include studying interactions between mudstone matrix pore fluid and organics; determining deformation processes from micro- to macroscale and fracture analysis in the eagle ford formation; and understanding processes behind mechanical and chemical consolidation a future research project is the quantification of seismic strengthening within in the submarine landslide zone dr reece is also co-proponent on a multidisciplinary iodp full proposal to study the evolution of oceanic crust along a crustal flow-line of the slow-spreading southern mid-atlantic ridge during her free time dr reece loves to spend time with her 15-month old son luca and husband bobby and enjoys yoga cooking baking and craft projects dr reece's current research focuses on understanding the mechanics and flow behavior of mudstones and the diagenesis in shale gas reservoirs " dr reece's current research focuses on understanding the mechanics and flow behavior of mudstones and the diagenesis in shale gas reservoirs " alumni: where are they nowjul 19 2016an update into what some of our alumni are up to and where they have gone since graduating from texas a&m universityrandy crowe 74 26 years as chief geologist for a family owned drilling and engineering company 10 years as independent and consultant retired and moved to college station 6 years ago (kids and grandkids live here)  dave weinberg 77 dave got his phd in geology from texas a&m university and worked for 20+ years for shell citgo and conoco in 1995 he went to does idaho national laboratory developing and overseeing technology-development projects aimed at the petroleum industry starting in 2002 dave spent over 12 years in and consulting with the department of homeland security on issues addressing infrastructure protection and terrorism risk analysis clint barnette ‘13 completed grad school (univ of houston) and working on the eagle ford development team at an independent e&p donald campbell ‘68 after teaching geology for three years at stephen f austin state university i worked in the oil patch in houston for a couple years then went into the cement and concrete industry doing research and diagnosing problems at the portland cement association in skokie illinois and eventually set up a lab in dodgeville wisconsin where i continued work in cement and concrete microscopy retired in 2012 but could not resist doing petrographic work on shale (lagerstatte) deposited in an ordovician meteorite crater in decorah iowa i look back with many treasured memories of friends and events meredith denton-hedrick ‘89 & ‘92 completed grad school (univ of houston) and working on the eagle ford development team at an independent e&p don harville ‘82 & ‘85 started my career in denver as a petrologist for core laboratories running xrd and doing ts petrography; became a research geologist and gained a us patent for developing an ftir rapid mineralogy system; advanced to management as a reservoir geology supervisor and (later) as rock properties manager for core lab canada in calgary i am currently reservoir r&d manager at chesapeake energy where i helped build the chk reservoir technology center a state of the art rock properties laboratory specializing in analysis of tight unconventional shale tight sand and carbonates; been here for almost 10 years growing the group to currently 30 employees matt bergman 11 after graduating from a&m i earned a petroleum engineering degree from texas tech i then went to work for an aggie owned and operated e&p walsh petroleum here in midland william blount ‘85 worked for thirty years in petroleum mostly exploration ‘retired from exxonmobil officially in 2006 after 21 years and several significant discoveries then worked for el paso e&p and marathon oil in unconventional resources retired again in february 2015 now traveling swimming writing and playing chess lisa buckner 84 i survived the up and down cycles of the oil & gas industry as a processing geophysicist for 30+ years i obtained a ms geophysics degree from uh attending part-time while working full-time at western geophysical then promptly took an offer for nearly double the pay from chevron worked for them for 2 years in houston plus 8 years in new orleans and was finally laid off in the texaco merger i went to work at shell in new orleans as a contract employee until hurricane katrina while in new orleans i was an active member of the new orleans a&m club and served as their president in 1999 my first day in office started with yell practice and singing auld lang syne later that day the aggies got beat by ohio state in the sugar bowl i also served two terms on the board of the southeastern geophysical society (local seg society) as secretary and 2nd vp four days after evacuating for katrina i interviewed with hess got the job and moved back to houston i manage and load seismic data to interpretation systems most of the time but still get to have some fun processing data now and then i was the hess recruiting team lead for uh g&g graduate students for eight years and the uh eas dept recognized me last november with outstanding alumni award for my service to the students i have co-lead the hess geophysics acquisition and processing technical community for a number of years mainly organizing lunch 'n learns now i'm serving the geophysical society of houston (gsh) as the 1st vice president elect responsible for all technical events i've been the gsh outreach committee chair since 2008 i was co-guest editor of the october 2015 issue of the seg's the leading edge special section: education in the geosciences i am also a gsh section representative to the seg council in a way i've been recruiting future aggies as a role model mentor in the houston a&m club's caring aggies mentoring program (camp) we started mentoring a group of 3rd graders and have followed them all the way through high school we took them on a trip to visit the college of geosciences a year ago and couple of them attended geox camp last summer we visited campus and attended the last home game in kyle field in november i'm the lead for group one and they are now high school seniors a couple of students have been accepted to a&m and others are planning to transfer in later we're really proud of all of them my husband and i are really looking forward to the birth of our first grandchild this summer hunter lockhart 11 immediately upon leaving tamu i decided to pursue graduate studies at rice university following my first year of studies i interned at bhp billiton in their new ventures group where i completed a seven month study on the stratigraphic and structural evolution of the great australian bight (gab) basin one year later i was awarded an ms in geology from rice in 2013 upon graduation i was hired by bhp billiton first working in a role in field development on the billion-barrel stampede field central gulf of mexico after that i was rotated into bhpb's permian basin operations team where i was responsible for planning and executing a proprietary helicopter-borne gravity resistivity and magnetics survey over a large portion of our acreage in the delaware basin following a year in that role i was again rotated into my current position as exploration geologist responsible for the caribbean region in addition i served as the short course chairman for gcags 2015 and am currently the chairman for the aapg gulf coast young professionals as well as the sponsorship chairman for aapg ace 2017 jim gordon 80 living just north of san antonio and married with two children daughter is an aggie graduate of december 2015 and son is currently attending texas a&m retired in march 2015 after a 35 year career with dowell and schlumberger pressure pumping services in various engineering sales and management roles hired on with dowell during the 1980 oil boom as a field engineer trainee in abilene tx worked in field operations and engineering/sales support for the first thirteen years at various locations in central and south texas including bryan luling corpus christi alice mission and pleasanton transferred to dallas in 1993 as a technical sales engineer for about four years before moving to midland in 1997 as area engineer for the permian basin moved to san antonio in 2003 as a sales engineer for stimulation and cementing services in the south texas area and retired in 2015 during the decline of the eagle ford shale drilling activity brian elias 93 most recently working for southwestern energy developing the marcellus and utica in pa and wv laura carr 97 i left in texas a&m in the summer of '97 after my last class - field camp i changed paths and pursued a career in gis versus hard core geology i worked for the city of denton tx in their gis department for three years and moved into the private sector of gis consulting my pri-mary focus is city governments and i've worked all over texas louisiana arkansas oklahoma and many other states through my career i've been able to dabble in other areas such as environmental gis geotechnical and oil and gas some of these brought back those geology skills i learned so long ago in may of 2015 i started my own company called newedge services with another aggie alumni once again the focus is gis consulting for city governments but we are wide open and i'm very excited about where this opportunity will take me hopefully to some clients a little more geology related i have two boys that i love to bring to the hill country in texas and show them the old stomping grounds for my geology classes gig 'em '96 matthew patrolia 15 i am at boise state working towards my ms in geology thinh nguyen 14 since august 2015 i am serving denver community as a denver math fellow and an americorps member working closely with denver public schools to provide small group math tutoring to highest need students in order to close the opportunity gap and accelerate their academic growth adam harper 14 geoscientist at weston solutions inc r shane mcgary 07 went to graduate school at the massachusetts institute of technology/woods hole oceanographic institution joint program finishing with a phd in geophysics in feb 2013 spent two years as a visiting assistant professor in the physics department at the college of new jersey started as an assistant professor in the geology and environmental sciences department at james madison university in the fall of 2015 javin hatcherian 15 i am working for the usgs as a physical science technician i'm working with a team researching shales and assisting research geologists with oil and gas assessments for their assigned regions my leadership and coworkers are great i have a lot of variety in my work i love what i do and i live close to family and friends when i was looking for a job though i applied to 137 jobs got turned down after 5 interviews and was certain i had blown the interview that got me my current job if you are looking for work keep at it! i know it sucks but the right job is out there never forget it's a great day to be alive and be an aggie a beautiful day to be alive and be an aggie stephen woods 04 i graduated from rice university with a masters in geophysics in 2007 i have since been employed with exxonmobil sameer chandra 02 upon graduating from a&m i joined an environmental consulting firm in san antonio texas i've been in the industry ever since and currently a senior geologist with a global engineering/consulting firm (tetra tech inc) i recently completed an executive mba from mays business school in 2015 as well on the personal front i got married in 2004 my wife nidhi is regional vice president at oracle and we have a beautiful daughter ria " " geol 609 bahamas field tripjul 18 2016 modern carbonates is a graduate course led by dr juan carlos laya that travels to andros island bahamas this course focuses on studying the modern analog of a carbonate environment to better understand ancient carbonate environments such as the southern us mexico and middle east students spent one week on andros island where they looked at various environments including tidal flats ooid shoals and patch reefs students were expected to geologically map the areas with the use of google earth prior to the trip then edit maps based on observations made during the trip students took cores samples and made smear slides while in the field this course required a swimming test so that students could snorkel while in the bahamas by cristina figueroa ‘15  view the photos here students spent one week on andros island where they looked at various environments including tidal flats ooid shoals and patch reefs " students spent one week on andros island where they looked at various environments including tidal flats ooid shoals and patch reefs " study uses gulf science data to analyze water chemistry near deepwater horizonjul 13 2016texas a&m university scientists analyzed data made publically-available by bp for 20 000+ water samples collected from 13 000 stations during and after the 2010 spill they found that oil occurrence was patchy with only about 20% of the samples having hydrocarbon levels above pre-spill background conditionsthe highest hydrocarbon concentrations were within 25 kilometers of the wellhead at or near the surface or in dispersant-treated areas the percentage of samples above background concentrations decreased rapidly after the well was capped the team published their findings in the marine pollution bulletin: spatial and temporal distribution of water column total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pah) and total petroleum hydrocarbons (tph) from the deepwater horizon (macondo) incident multiple response agencies trustees and bp collected samples during the response and recovery efforts that reached from a few meters to over 800 kilometers in all directions from the wellhead these data were joined together as a dataset on the gulf science data site the team used rstudio a free open-source programming language for statistical computing to compare tph and pah levels throughout the dataset wade explained more about the samples they analyzed sampling was not random but was concentrated in areas where oil was expected especially layers ~900 – 12 000 meters below the surface and southwest of the spill and at the leaking riser stream and in or near surface slicks the gulf science data site represents the work of scientists and responders from government agencies universities and bp collections started in april 2010 became public in november 2013 and were updated in may 2014 the authors said that the gulf science data are a valuable resource documenting the spatial and temporal range and distribution of hydrocarbon concentration during and after a major oil spill event the availability of the gulf science data is notable as this has not been the case for many previous spills lead author terry wade remarked it is extremely important that the nrda (natural resource damage assessment) and bp data sets have been released to scientists and the public the studys authors are terry l wade josé l sericano stephen t sweet anthony h knap and norman l guinasso jr data for this study are publically available at wwwgergtamuedu/macondodataanalysis " " elissa smith and drew koeritzer awarded noaa scholarshipsjul 8 2016congratulations to meteorology majors elissa smith 19 and drew koeritzer 18 on being selected to the noaa class of 2016 hollings scholarselissa and drew will spend their first summer at the noaa headquarters in washington dc the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) ernest f hollings scholarship program increases undergraduate training in oceanic and atmosphere science the program provides a paid summer internship that gives students hands-on experience and training in noaa-related science technology and research included in the awards are travel funds to attend the noaa scholarship program orientation student presentations at conferences and a housing subsidy to help scholars who do not reside at home during their summer internship elissa and drew will spend their first summer at the noaa headquarters in washington dc " elissa and drew will spend their first summer at the noaa headquarters in washington dc " phd student andrea kealoha ‘18 receives nancy foster scholarshipjun 27 2016congratulations to oceanography phd student andrea kealoha 18 on being awarded the 2016 noaa (national oceanic and atmospheric administration) dr nancy foster scholarshipnoaa's support and guidance will ensure success in the goals i pursue both as a student and throughout my career i'm so excited and grateful to be part of the nancy foster scholarship team and serve as an ambassador for the national marine sanctuary system says andrea her work will focus on coral reef health in response to ocean acidification with her research being conducted at the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary in the gulf of mexico ""these coral reef ecosystems are so abundant in marine life yet very susceptible to the impacts of anthropogenic activity and climate change it is imperative we protect them so that our future generations can also enjoy their beauty she adds the scholarship was established in memory of dr nancy foster a leader in marine resource conservation the scholarship was created by congress in 2000 to honor her lifes work noaa's support and guidance will ensure success in the goals i pursue both as a student and throughout my career i'm so excited and grateful to be part of the nancy foster scholarship team and serve as an ambassador for the national marine sanctuary system says andrea " noaa's support and guidance will ensure success in the goals i pursue both as a student and throughout my career i'm so excited and grateful to be part of the nancy foster scholarship team and serve as an ambassador for the national marine sanctuary system says andrea " ernest mancini 74 receives 2016 marcus milling legendary geoscientist medaljun 27 2016congratulations to former professor and phd student dr ernest a mancini ‘74 on being selected as the recipient of the 2016 marcus milling legendary geoscientist medaldr mancini received his phd from texas a&m in 1974 he was named the first director of the berg-hughes center in 2010 and also served as research professor in geology & geophysics my time both as a student at tamu and in being part of the early days of the bhc (berg-hughes center) contributed significantly to my selection for this award says he says the award will be presented at the agi/gsa meeting in denver this fall the marcus milling legendary geoscientist medal is awarded to individuals with consistent contributions of high-quality scientific achievements and service to the earth sciences that produces lasting historic value dr mancini received his phd from texas a&m in 1974 he was named the first director of the berg-hughes center in 2010 where he served until 2013 " dr mancini received his phd from texas a&m in 1974 he was named the first director of the berg-hughes center in 2010 where he served until 2013 " geox introduces the world of geosciences to student scholarsjun 16 2016this past week the college of geosciences hosted their annual geox conference a six day conference for high school students who are interested in pursuing futures in the world of geosciences through the school faculty and staff were able to introduce the students to the subjects of environmental geosciences environmental studies geographic information science and technology (gist) geography geology geophysics and meteorologystudents from around the country were invited to apply for a program that has proven to be very selective students came from all parts of the country as close as houston texas to as far as new jersey out of 174 applicants 30 students were accepted into the program judy nunez director of the geox program emphasized the benefit in keeping the program small allowing students to form relationships with other students and create a cohesive community for the six day program this program which has a six year history provided students numerous activities to help expand their knowledge of each subject some of the events in which they participated included searching for fossils in a river helping launch a weather balloon discovering the equipment used for deep sea exploration and exploring the geosciences of mars core and surface geox also provided the opportunity for students to discover what it takes to make it in certain fields of study numerous advisors and faculty volunteered to spend time with students to inform them of the admissions process and financial aid information on the third day the students sat down for a presentation about the human effect on the aquatic environment i was able to sit in and listen to dr pamela plotkin an associate research professor and director of texas sea grant present about how she got involved in the world of sea turtles and their digestive intakes her presentation covered how she began her studies and the abnormal discoveries she encountered when she started her research for example she shared with the students that 512% of the loggerhead sea turtles she performed a necropsy on contained anthropogenic debris or human trash in their digestive system dr plotkin went on to tell the story about how one of her former students encountered a sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nose this was a glaring example of the threat humans pose to the wild life around us especially in the ocean dr plotkins final advice for students considering a future in geosciences is to just do it geosciences is a field in which they will always be employable; it is a field that will provide them with work that is meaningful and where there are endless opportunities the program also placed emphasis on informing the students on their possible futures the school accomplished this by bringing in leaders from different industries along with faculty to discuss possible career options when pursuing a future in geosciences one of the days during the program the students were taken to bp (british petroleum) where they witnessed from a first-hand perspective how a company focuses on geosciences and its functions on a day to day basis alex ryan an incoming high school sophomore from new jersey said he was able to learn a great deal from his trip to the bp office the most interesting part he told me was how open the managers and workers were about how oil is not the best energy source for our world and how we can concentrate our efforts on so many renewable resources rather than oil alex also discussed how he currently plans on pursuing his dream of becoming a meteorologist while also serving our country in the military when asked what he would tell students who are considering applying for geox alex replied give it a shot and just do it it is an amazing opportunity in which you are able to meet people from around the country and learn so much about the realm of geosciences and what it has to offer geox not only informs the students on the opportunities in the world of geosciences the students are able to learn about the vast amount of opportunities provided at texas a&m university judy nunez emphasizes the importance of helping the students realize that every school will have opportunities for their students; at texas a&m there are numerous opportunities available especially to undergraduate students she adds what makes a program like geox so special is the emphasis that is placed on learning and the futures of the students the staff who plans this event truly has the drive to show students the types of futures they can pursue judys favorite aspect of the program is being able to expose these students to the unending possibilities in the world of geosciences she states that having the students realize the approachability and passion of the faculty and staff and the excitement of the college students plays such a big role in helping the students realize there is so much potential for them here this program is completely funded through corporate sponsors bp and marathon oil and former tamu student eddie gray these students get to spend six days in college station with the intent of learning something they are passionate about while in high school it can leave so many decisions a mystery; but a program like geox can help students know and understand what kind of potential they hold written by: craig clements '17 on the second day of the program students were able to help launch a weather balloon with dr conlee " on the second day of the program students were able to help launch a weather balloon with dr conlee " oceanography launches new reu programjun 14 2016the department of oceanography and the geochemical & environmental research group (gerg) at texas a&m university has launched a new reu (research experience for undergraduates) program that focuses on ""observing the ocean: hypoxia harmful algae oil spills and ocean acidification"" ten students will participate in learning new ocean observing technologies using data from ocean observatories buoys and time series to investigate the ocean students will work with faculty and staff mentors in laboratories and seagoing projects to acquire the necessary analytical skills for multidisciplinary research in oceanography students participating: ashley davis – university of south carolina veronica de pascuale – oberlin college priscilla flores – houston community college mandy frazier – university of miami heath goertzen – bethel college newton nathan lanning – university of new haven rayna nolen – colorado college andrew pressly – university of tampa chase martin – texas a&m university alex pappas – university of texas ten students will participate in learning new ocean observing technologies using data from ocean observatories buoys and time series to investigate the ocean " ten students will participate in learning new ocean observing technologies using data from ocean observatories buoys and time series to investigate the ocean " grad students place 2nd at global eage competitionjun 13 2016a team of graduate students from texas a&m universitys departments of geology & geophysics and petroleum engineering competed against six other schools in the global european association of geoscientists and engineers 2016 field challenge in vienna austriatheir goal was to construct a field development plan for an oil field based on the data available after an initial exploration and appraisal phase the team was made up of geologist/geophysicist noah miller and three reservoir engineers emmanuel belostrino tarang lal and ashley knorr gehring they placed 2nd on the global stage being the only north american team in the competition the team was made up of geologist/geophysicist noah miller and three reservoir engineers emmanuel belostrino tarang lal and ashley knorr gehring " the team was made up of geologist/geophysicist noah miller and three reservoir engineers emmanuel belostrino tarang lal and ashley knorr gehring " bobby reece selected as montague-cte scholarjun 8 2016congratulations to dr bobby reece on being selected as the 2016-2017 montague-cte scholar for the college of geosciences!dr reece's research interests include the study of plate boundaries and processes associated with climate-tectonic interaction continental margin deformation and high-resolution studies of marine hazards  he utilizes most types of marine geophysical data but specialize in seismic reflection tomography bathymetry high-resolution techniques and seismic-core integration his current research projects are being conducted in bonaire the mid-atlantic ridge in the south atlantic and the gulf of alaska dr reece focuses on providing hands-on experience for students in the newly revised curriculum for geology and geophysics  as a montague-cte scholar dr reece will purchase equipment and build models for use in these classroom activities and demonstrations   congratulations to dr bobby reece on being selected as the 2016-2017 montague-cte scholar for the college of geosciences! " congratulations to dr bobby reece on being selected as the 2016-2017 montague-cte scholar for the college of geosciences! " texas a&m university system graduate students awarded more than $22 000 for researchjun 6 2016college station texas twelve graduate students from three texas a&m university system institutions will receive $22 048 in research funding for one-year grants starting june 1 from the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m universitythe funds are awarded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which is intended to promote scientific excellence and achievement by providing small grants to graduate students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) whose marine- or coastal-related research in any field of study is relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program supports students in their early research career as they develop their research skills and learn the way to fund that research – grant proposal writing said mia zwolinski texas sea grants research coordinator they become more proficient in the proposal process including finding funding opportunities and ensuring their applications are compliant with proposal guidelines with mentorship from their faculty advisors the students learn how to translate research needs into a competitive proposal narrative and develop a budget to support the project all the students were awarded amounts ranging from $1 000 to $2 000 after a rigorous review process the students their degree level and institution and the titles of their projects are listed below ali al-badran doctoral student in wildlife and fisheries sciences at tamu: experimental evaluation of the ecotoxicological effects of common agricultural and household pesticide on aquatic organisms using shrimp and fish patricia faulkner masters degree student in marine biology at tamug: physiological effects of salinity stress in juvenile american alligators (alligator mississippiensis) christine figgener doctoral student in marine biology at tamu: evolution and underlying mechanisms of female alternative reproductive strategies: variation in habitat-use in olive ridley sea turtles linked to their nesting polymorphism jennifer hemphill masters student in marine biology at tamucc: spatial-temporal distribution of microzooplankton along an estuarine eutrophication gradient andrea kealoha doctoral student in oceanography at tamu: the influence of oceanic particulate organic matter uptake on coral reef calcification: implications for ocean acidification yui matsumoto doctoral student in marine biology at tamug: the immortal jellyfish (turritopsis dohrnii): model system for aging regeneration and cellular plasticity andrew pekowski doctoral student in oceanography at tamug: estimating rates of subsidence using sedimentation over the trinity river incised valley galveston bay texas noura randle doctoral student in oceanography at tamu: uk37 reconstructions of surface water temperatures during the eocene-oligocene transition to the late miocene: a northwestern pacific perspective on the onset of antarctic glaciation avery scherer doctoral student in life sciences at tamucc: use of novel predator diet cues in the eastern oyster crassostrea virginica jason selwyn doctoral student in marine biology at tamucc: determining the causes of spatial and temporal variation in the dispersal kernels of a marine fish anne tamalavage masters degree student in oceanography at tamu: mapping hydrologic variability through measuring hydrogen isotopic signatures within blackwood sinkhole abaco northern bahamas phil wernette doctoral student in geography at tamu: assessing the influence of geologic framework on barrier island resiliency with storm activity and sea-level rise by: tiffany evans more information about texas sea grant's grants-in-aid of graduate research program is available online at http://texasseagrantorg/funding/grants-in-aid-of-graduate-research-program-request-for-proposals/ or by contacting mia zwolinski at mzwolinski@tamuedu or (979) 458-0449 " " nine faculty promotionsmay 31 2016congratulations to our nine faculty who were selected for promotions this year! these promotions will go into effect on september 1 2016dr sarah d brooks – promotion to professordr brooks research focus is to develop a better understanding of how natural and anthropogenic aerosol particles influence aerosol/cloud interactions on local to global scales through a combination of field studies and laboratory experiments she explores how concentration chemical composition surface chemical reactions and shape of aerosols impact cloud formation and properties dr ryan c ewing – promotion to associate professorryans research aims to understand the evolution of landscapes and the sedimentary record through physical processes operating at the surface-atmosphere interface of earth mars and titan (a moon of saturn) his current research themes include (1) development of patterns in wind-blown landscapes and the interpretation of these patterns as records of climate (2) bedform self-organization in the rock record and (3) the role of wind-blown systems at critical climate transitions in earths history dr oliver w frauenfeld – promotion to associate professordr frauefelds research includes a broad range of topics in climate variability and climate change he focuses on surface-atmosphere interactions over both land and the oceans some of his other research studies the effects of land cover and land use change on climate across the tibetan plateau and china dr chris houser – promotion to professordr houser's general areas of expertise are process geomorphology in coastal and aeolian environments with a specific focus on the impact of extreme storms on barrier islands and the recovery of barrier islands following storms his current research projects include the role of boundary conditions in swash zone morphodynamics wave attenuation through submerged vegetation geological controls on beach-dune recovery and the evolution of blowouts and parabolic dunes along the coast of texas  dr wendy e jepson – promotion to professordr jepsons research examines the complex political economic and social production of environmental inequities in low-income rural and peri-urban mexican-american neighborhoods (colonias) in the lower rio grande valley along the texas-mexico border  in this region the countrys poorest communities face ad-hoc water delivery and inadequate potable water which threaten environmental well-being and erode prospects for a healthy life  dr julie newman – promotion to professordr newmans research focuses on structural geology and tectonics she and her students carry out field microstructural and experimental studies of crustal and upper mantle rocks to investigate the rheology or strength and behavior of the earths lithospheric layers currently they are working on ultramafic rocks from mantle massifs in western washington new zealand and california as well as low-temperature thrust faults from the foreland of the southern appalachians  dr erik g prout – promotion to associate professordr prout has been with the college of geosciences at texas a&m since 2001 his affiliations include the association of american geographers association of pacific coast geographers southwestern aag and national council for geographic education he has been an instructor for 10 distinct courses: 43 sections of geog 305 geography of texas; 21 sections of geog 202 geography of the global village 10 sections of geog 450 field methods in geography 6 sections of geog 325 geography of europe (also as geog 489) 5 sections of geog 420 geography of terrorism (also as geog 489) 4 sections of geog 201 introduction to human geography 3 sections of geog 301 geography of the united states 3 sections of geog 401 political geography 2 sections of ints 201 introduction to international studies and 2 sections of freshman seminars dr steven m quiring – promotion to professorsteven quiring is a climatologist with research interests in hydroclimatology climate change drought monitoring and prediction and hurricanes steven is currently working on an nsf career project entitled ""role of soil moisture in seasonal to inter-annual climate variability in the us great plains"" (2011-2016) his research is funded by the national science foundation department of energy national oceanic and atmospheric administration and department of interior south central climate science center among others dr david m sparks – promotion to professordr sparks research focuses on mathematical and numerical modeling of dynamic geophysical and geochemical systems including: grain-scale dynamics of unconsolidated sediment and fault gouge discrete element method for modeling granular materials mantle convection and crustal generation beneath spreading centers subduction zones and intraplate volcanoes sarah brooks ryan ewing oliver frauenfeld chris houser wendy jepson julie newman erik prout steven quiring and david sparks receive promotions " sarah brooks ryan ewing oliver frauenfeld chris houser wendy jepson julie newman erik prout steven quiring and david sparks receive promotions " robert and sarah bednarz receive appointmentsmay 27 2016congratulations to dr robert s bednarz on being appointed professor emeritus (effective june 2) and dr sarah w bednarz on being appointed professor emerita (effective september 2)dr robert bednarzs academic interests fall into two areas geographic education and urban-economic geography over the past 15 years during which he served as editor of the journal of geography and now as north american editor of the journal of geography in higher education dr bednarz has focused mainly on topics related to how people learn organize and use geographic information his research interests lie within the broad area of spatial thinking especially in how information technology (it) affects individuals' ability to perceive understand and analyze spatial patterns distributions and relationships dr sarah bednarzs primary research focuses on the intersections of the learning sciences geography the geosciences and geospatial technologies with a special focus on spatial and geographic thinking at a range of educational levels her related research interests include environmental and geosciences education curriculum development assessment and professional development for educator preparation she also served as associate dean for academic affairs for the college of geosciences from 2008-2014 congratulations to dr robert s bednarz on being appointed professor emeritus (effective june 2) and dr sarah w bednarz on being appointed professor emerita (effective september 2) " congratulations to dr robert s bednarz on being appointed professor emeritus (effective june 2) and dr sarah w bednarz on being appointed professor emerita (effective september 2) " david cairns receives barry bishop career achievement awardmay 25 2016congratulations to dr david m cairns on receiving the barry bishop career achievement award from the mountain geography specialty group of the association of american geographers (aag)dr cairns' research concentrates on the impacts of climate change on vegetation at short and long time scales in a variety of environments  he has worked extensively at ecotones the transion zones between different vegetation types  most of dr cairns' work has been accomplished at treelines in the western united states alaska and in northern sweden  he also has projects in two other sensitive environments: saltmarshes on the coasts of denmark and texas and in tundra environments on the north slope of alaska  dr cairns utilizes a variety of methods to answer questions pertinent to the response of these environments to climate change including: population genetics dendroecological methods and simulation modeling congratulations to dr david m cairns on receiving the barry bishop career achievement award from the mountain geography specialty group of the association of american geographers (aag) " congratulations to dr david m cairns on receiving the barry bishop career achievement award from the mountain geography specialty group of the association of american geographers (aag) " wine to water texas a&m goes to costa ricamay 24 2016students investigate water shortage and conduct their own big event in costa ricabeing in costa rica didnt stop the students in wine to water texas a&m from participating in tamus annual big event they just brought it with them though the purpose of their trip goes much deeper than that from the beginning of the spring semester students from the wine to water texas a&m course in the college of geosciences had been preparing for this service learning trip – covering topics such as such as culture geopolitics and geography of costa rica their journey led them to the costa rican towns of san isidro and san juan the group stayed at the texas a&m soltis center for research & education in the mountains near san isidro de peñas blancas the center – which opened in 2009 – is a gift from wanda and bill soltis 55 who wanted to preserve a piece of the rainforest and provide a research facility to help tamus global reach agriculture is paramount in costa rica – and the idea that even in america we have problems getting water for agriculture it bridged a gap between two very different groups of people says meredith faix a member of wine to water texas a&m that attended the trip they were shown the water systems of san isidro met with locals about the conditions of their water treatment viewed the water source for san juan and trained in water sanitation and hygiene (wash) the students also visited local schools in both towns which gave them a chance to spend time with the local communities the week culminated with what the group referred to as big event costa rica where they dug holes for a septic system and constructed a walkway for the people of san juan  probably one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do was say goodbye to costa rica the country and the people have made a huge impact on our lives in such a short time meredith added  by: andrew vernon '06 you can read more of merediths account about wine to water texas a&ms trip to costa rica here you can read more about the beginning of wine to water texas a&m here the week culminated with what the group referred to as big event costa rica where they dug holes for a septic system and constructed a walkway for the people of san juan " the week culminated with what the group referred to as big event costa rica where they dug holes for a septic system and constructed a walkway for the people of san juan " multidisciplinary initiative yields forecasts of more houston floodsmay 19 2016extreme rainfall events in houston like the april 18 2016 deluge will become more frequent in the future according to research conducted by two texas a&m graduate geography students conducted for the resilience and climate change cooperative project an initiative that is spurring collaboration among texas a&m college of architecture researchers and their counterparts in several disciplinesr3cp researchers are investigating how the triple threat associated with climate change inland flooding hurricane storm surge and anticipated seal-level rise imperils the sims bayou watershed an urban area in south houston in the rainfall study students examined weather population economic development and greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions data compiled by the intergovernmental panel on climate change an international body that provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change its impacts and future risks and options for adaptation and mitigation students found that in addition to facing more frequent flooding from extreme rainfall events houston will see less annual precipitation due to a higher number of days each year without rain said steven quiring an associate professor of geography at texas a&m who advised graduate geography students yue wang and xiao li on their project because the analysis is part of the larger r3cp collaboration the students shared their findings with the groups faculty and student researchers in urban planning landscape architecture hydrology epidemiology sociology public policy and geography the collaboration said quiring is an example of whats exciting about r3cp the findings regarding rainfall are significant he said but they become more tangible and actionable when researchers in other disciplines also use them to inform their projects for example an engineering student is using the rainfall findings to calculate new flood plain boundaries for houstons sims bayou watershed if people hear theres going to be more extreme precipitation they might ask ‘so what said quiring but if they learn after new flood plain boundaries are established with the rainfall findings that their house is now at a higher risk of flooding which could lead to a loss of life or property and that their insurance is going to rise dramatically in the next 20 years people are much more likely to pay attention planners can also use the data he said to help a community shape its future by preparing for catastrophic downpours and channeling further development to reduce flooding landscape architects he added can also use the data to identify flood-prone areas and create designs to mitigate flooding additional r3cp projects include an ongoing partnership with students at furr high school who are gathering local environmental data along sims bayou with assistance from texas a&m urban planning and school of public health faculty and graduate students in another r3cp study urban planning professors philip berke and galen newman investigated flooding and pollution problems in the sims bayou watershed their research identified people and structures in the watershed vulnerable to flooding and sea level rise and compared those findings to flood vulnerability in other parts of the city this they said will be the first step in helping people who live in the watershed understand the social and physical context in which a disaster occurs the group of faculty and student researchers across campus participating in r3cp projects meets every two weeks to present their projects share data compare ideas and discuss future collaborations the r3cp is focusing on environmental issues one of the five areas that comprise the universitys grand challenges other challenges in the faculty-led faculty-driven initiative include discovering ways to enrich youth's classroom learning improve people's health feed the world and expand the economy geography student research helps impact future flood predictions " " geos 405 students return from research trip to panamamay 18 2016students take spring semester data-collecting tripgeos 405 is the capstone course for environmental geosciences and environmental studies students – a total of 300 students  the course requires student research with faculty instructing students in the research and writing process  for the spring semester students took field trips to collect data for their projects – including panama the trip included 5 days at the smithsonian tropical research institutes (stris) bocas del toro research station (brs) and 2 days in stris barro colorado island research station (cbi) in the panama canal zone there was a great response from the students particularly lorena cisneros being the only one of the tamu group fluent in spanish lorena was extremely helpful and selfless throughout the trip not only was lorena fearless in approaching people and asking for help but she did so enthusiastically the trip would not have run so smoothly were it not for lorena says geology & geophysics professor ethan grossman the students sampled waters for an ocean acidification study deployed water samplers filled bottles recorded information and took gps readings many of the students spent additional time studying the wildlife – including spider and howler monkeys coati anteater agouti and toucans the group also participated in a boat tour of the tropical rainforest in bahia honda ate a traditional lunch from the ngabe indigenous people and learned about cacao farming and chocolate production just ask the students they were engaged excited and educated besides learning about marine and terrestrial ecology and environments and human impact they learned about latin american cultures and living conditions their projects will test for human impacts on bocas del toro waters and hopefully add to our understanding of this fragile environment professor grossman adds i hope this experience will impact their life long after graduating texas a&m university by: andrew vernon '06 the students sampled waters for an ocean acidification study deployed water samplers filled bottles recorded information and took gps readings " the students sampled waters for an ocean acidification study deployed water samplers filled bottles recorded information and took gps readings " raquel granados-aguilar becomes only the 2nd tamu student to receive the peo peace fellowshipmay 13 2016congratulations to geology & geophysics phd student raquel granados-aguilar on being awarded the peo peace fellowshipthis scholarship represents a tremendous aid in undertaking my educational goals it is also a great honor considering i was competing with numerous international students pursuing degrees in the united states and canada being awarded with this scholarship provides great motivation for me as it proves the work i have been doing in the past has earned me the privilege of receiving outstanding recommendations from my supervisors says raquel established in 1949 the international peace scholarship fund is a program which provides scholarships for selected women in graduate study in the united states and canada members of peo believe that education is fundamental to world peace and understanding i am grateful for the support i am receiving from the peo sisterhood the international peace scholarship will be instrumental in my academic success and i will continue my efforts to make my educational endeavors become a reality raquel becomes only the second student from texas a&m to ever receive this fellowship congratulations to geology & geophysics phd student raquel granados-aguilar on being awarded the peo peace fellowship " congratulations to geology & geophysics phd student raquel granados-aguilar on being awarded the peo peace fellowship " college of geosciences hosts annual scholarship banquetmay 6 2016the college of geosciences held its annual scholarship banquet on friday march 26th at the college station hilton the event gives student scholarship recipients the opportunity to connect face-to-face with their donors this is an important aspect of the scholarship experience for students these opportunities wouldnt be possible without the help of the donors who support us this event presents a great opportunity to say 'thank you'  the program culminated with remarks from dr chris houser about the new aggies making change initiative i thought it would be an easy painless way to help out fellow aggies in their academic careers and efforts to make change in their colleges university and community says freshman eryn lyle the founder of aggies making change i was motivated to start aggies making change because many of my graduating peers see 'giving back' as something you do in 50 years when you're rich and retiring students don't always realize what an impact even a small donation can have and that giving back to the university (and importantly your college as well) can start as soon as you graduate aggies making change encourages graduates to give back in the same way that others have given to them through scholarships and support next year the college will present a scholarship with funds that were given directly from recent graduates i really hope it will encourage long-term donation back to the university and be a way to link graduates to not just tamu but the college of geosciences as well by: andrew vernon the event gives student scholarship recipients the opportunity to connect face-to-face with their donors " the event gives student scholarship recipients the opportunity to connect face-to-face with their donors " as el niño fades expect warmer and drier weathermay 6 2016the current el niño that has lasted since summer of 2015 is on its way out and after one of the warmest winters on record in texas that could change weather patterns in the next few months says texas a&m university professor and state climatologist john nielsen-gammonits believed the el niño – warm waters in the central pacific ocean has been responsible for above-average rainfall over much of texas and the southwest the past year and its almost certain it will be replaced by a la niña – cooler waters in the central pacific that also influence weather but in different ways nielsen-gammon says the tropical pacific temperatures are almost certain to continue to decline nielsen-gammon says a tongue of cooler-than-normal temperatures has been working its way eastward across the tropics just below the surface of the ocean and it has now reached south america those cooler waters will continue to spread across the surface of the ocean as the warmer water moves westward back toward new guinea and indonesia what that means is that it still seems likely that temperatures will cool enough to reach la niña territory by late summer or fall the climate prediction center rates the chances of a la niña at about 75 percent by next winter if la niña is in place texas is likely to experience a warm and dry winter he notes that the past six months were typical for an el niño in some ways and atypical in others although there was a dry stretch in january and february the six-month period november through april was the 7th wettest november-april on record statewide with records going back to 1895  the extremely wet october of 2015 in texas actually makes the october-april period the wettest october-april period on record his figures show but the rainfall was not evenly distributed across texas  many parts of west-central north-central and northeast texas received more than double their normal precipitation for november through april while parts of the coastal bend and much of the texas panhandle and high plains received less than normal precipitation though above-normal rainfall is common during an el niño above-normal temperatures are not common he points out usually temperatures are below normal during an el niño though that effect has been moderated somewhat by global warming  this year though many cities across the state from amarillo to brownsville and el paso to beaumont experienced one of their 10 warmest cool seasons (november-april) on record  midland-odessa came closest to setting a record their average temperature was 548 degrees second only to the year 2000 cold weather was mostly a no-show and winter this year was almost non-existent in many parts of texas the temperature only got down to 22 degrees in abilene 27 degrees in dallas 30 in san antonio 31 in urban austin and 40 in galveston  all of these were new records for mildness with weather records going back for more than a century in most locations nielsen-gammon explains unlike winter weather in texas which is strongly affected by el niño and la niña the weather during the summer is difficult to predict far in advance nielsen-gammon says the wet weather this winter will help keep summer temperatures on the mild side especially during the early part of the summer in late summer attention turns to the danger of hurricanes making landfall in texas for hurricanes the key will be how quickly la niña develops in the tropical pacific he says the sooner la niña forms the more active the atlantic hurricane season is likely to be  even so texas is a small target so an active hurricane season across the entire atlantic would not necessarily mean one or more landfalls in texas itself ### media contact: john nielsen-gammon at (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu the dark areas show el niño patterns where warm waters tend to influence weather across the world (shutterstock photo) " the dark areas show el niño patterns where warm waters tend to influence weather across the world (shutterstock photo) " former phd student renée heilbronner receives 2016 stephan mueller medalmay 6 2016dr renée heilbronner has been awarded the 2016 stephan mueller medal for outstanding research on the analysis of rock microstructures and textures and the quantification of rock deformationshe received her phd from texas a&m in 1984 the stephan mueller medal is reserved specifically for scientists in recognition of their outstanding contributions to tectonics and lithospheric geophysics  dr heilbronner is an internationally leading scientist in the field of earth deformation and rock physics more recently dr heilbronner has been at texas a&m as the visiting halbouty chair – where she offered a short course on microstructural analysis which was held on campus and attended by graduate students from around the country her methods have made a tremendous impact on advancing the understanding of the links between microstructures and rock rheological properties dr heilbronner has also been very involved in the scientific community – working to create better conditions and acceptance for women dr heilbronner is an internationally leading scientist in the field of earth deformation and rock physics " dr heilbronner is an internationally leading scientist in the field of earth deformation and rock physics " 45 years of texas sea grantmay 5 2016as the national sea grant program is celebrating its 50th anniversary the texas sea grant college program one of the first four members of the network will reach its 45th anniversary later this yearpresident lyndon johnson signed the national sea grant college and program act in 1966 establishing the sea grant program five years later the first four universities including texas a&m university achieved sea grant college status nationally todays sea grant is a network of 33 programs based at top universities in every coastal and great lakes state puerto rico and guam these programs represent partnerships between universities and the federal governments national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) allowing sea grant to direct federal resources to pressing problems in local communities by drawing on the experience of more than 3 000 scientists engineers public outreach experts educators and students from more than 300 institutions sea grant is able to make an impact at local and state levels and serve as a powerful national force for change  the sea grant concept was the brainchild of dr athelstan spilhaus who in the early 1960s saw the potential of the land grant system and its cooperative extension component for people who were struggling to make their living from the sea why to promote the relationship between academic state federal and industrial institutions in fisheries do we not do what wise men had done for the better cultivation of the land a century ago spilhaus asked the assembled crowd during his 1963 keynote address to the american fisheries society why not have ‘sea grant colleges spilhaus reflected on the thoughts that led to his historic words 33 years later during an interview he gave to texas shores texas sea grants magazine in 1996 for a story on the programs 25th anniversary everyone involved with marine issues at that time worried about the relationship between industry government and the universities he said a little less than two years before his death land grant colleges had taken engineering botany and academic subjects out of the colleges and put them to work on land that proved to be so successful in bringing government academia and the farmers together why not have a sea grant program i said something during my address that caught everyones fancy instead of land-based county agents we would have county agents in hip boots carrying their knowledge to fishermen on trawlers and fishing vessels champions of spilhaus concept included rhode island senator claiborne pell florida rep paul rodgers and texas rep olin teague whose district included the area around texas a&m university three years after spilhaus first mentioned the concept publicly the national sea grant college and program act was law the fledgling sea grant program was part of the national science foundation and its first advisory panel included dr john c calhoun jr who was texas a&m universitys vice president and the texas a&m university systems vice chancellor for programs in the late 1960s the sea grant advisory panel was charged with reviewing university proposals from across the nation to determine where the first sea grant funds would be distributed from his vantage point on the panel calhoun saw serious problems with texas a&ms proposal he had a heightened awareness of marine issues gained from his service as science advisor to us secretary of the interior stuart udall from 1963 to 1965 i thought the proposal that texas a&m submitted was doomed for failure with a focus on the department of oceanography rather than on the university as a whole calhoun said in an email interview about a year before his death in late 2012 at age 95 the a&m proposal in no way reflected bringing an entire university concern to bear on issues of the marine environment he took that news to legendary texas a&m university president and system chancellor earl rudder mr rudders response was typical of many of his responses when i would bring up an issue for his discussion he said in effect to do what i needed to do to solve the problem calhoun said he resigned from the nsf advisory panel because he didnt think it was appropriate to remain while making the case for texas a&m to be one of the original sea grant grantees with himself as its first director (a position he held in 1968-1972 and later returned to in 1974-1976) in the mid-1960s there was no program office at the university to launch such broad issues like sea grant for the university however calhouns a&m system office did oversee programs like water resources and the gulf university research consortium (gurc) he recalled realistically then seeing no other place at a&m for a broad focus such as envisioned by the sea grant concept i decided i had to undertake the sea grant directorship myself calhoun said with calhouns guidance texas a&m submitted a second and ultimately successful proposal that made it one of the first six universities to receive sea grant funds in 1969 and in 1971 it became one of the first four universities in the nation to have its sea grant efforts gain status as an institutional program in the intervening four and a half decades texas sea grant has worked to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources through funded research and extension professionals in the field it unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas from national sea grant college program reports and ruby year for a texas gem by mike l downey in texas shores winter 2012 texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources in 1971 four universities were the first to achieve sea grant college status: oregon state university university of rhode island texas a&m university and university of washington photo courtesy dr john c calhoun jr " in 1971 four universities were the first to achieve sea grant college status: oregon state university university of rhode island texas a&m university and university of washington photo courtesy dr john c calhoun jr " 1 000th oceanography degree to be awardedmay 2 2016on friday may 13th the department of oceanography will hand out its 1 000th degree1 000 degrees is a beautiful milestone and yet the worldwide legacy of our program is so much bigger than the sum of those degrees  one thousand tamu oceanographers have applied their degrees toward improving our understanding of the oceans past present and future (actually 1 003 now!)  far more inspiring is how tamu oceanography alumni have ‘paid forward the impact of their tamu experience by inspiring and mentoring innumerable others in the ocean sciences and beyond says oceanography department head dr debbie thomas the 1 000th degree will be awarded to dr zhao jing (phd) the inaugural winner of the chapman award for graduate research during the 4-years of dr jings graduate tenure (2012-2016) he has published 8 papers including 2 in natures scientific reports dr jing has 2 other papers currently under review including one submitted to nature in addition to a number of others that are in preparation for publication  as degree recipient number 1 000 we are absolutely thrilled to celebrate dr zhao jings accomplishments and all of his exceptional potential as an emerging leader in physical oceanography  dr jing truly exemplifies the global impact of a tamu oceanography degree his research initiative originality and creativity are truly impressive and he is a genuinely wonderful member of our team notes dr thomas beginning with four professors the department of oceanography at texas a&m became the first university department of oceanography in the country when it was established in 1949 on friday may 13th the department of oceanography will hand out its 1 000th degree " on friday may 13th the department of oceanography will hand out its 1 000th degree " melodie french 2014 geophysics phd joins rice facultyapr 29 2016dr melodie french 14 (phd) has accepted a faculty position in the department of earth sciences at rice university beginning july 1 2016melodies berg-hughes center-funded research is published in geofluids her southern california earthquake center- and earthscope-related phd research is published in geophysical journal international (1 paper) and in the journal of geophysical research-solid earth (2 papers) melodie received her ba in physics with honors in geology from oberlin college in 2006 and a ms in geology from the university of wisconsin - madison in 2009 while here melodie was an active member of the center for tectonophysics earning a phd in geophysics in 2014 after completing her degree in september of 2014 she worked with dr wenlu zhu at the university of maryland - college park as a postdoctoral scientist in december of 2014 melodie was awarded an nsf postdoctoral fellowship and is a 2015-2016 earthscope distinguished speaker melodie will be developing a new experimental rock deformation laboratory at rice university this new lab will contribute to the strength in rock deformation research in the mid-continent region and will enhance the opportunity for student and faculty collaboration between the university of oklahoma university of texas at arlington texas a&m university and rice university dr melodie french 14 (phd) has accepted a faculty position in the department of earth sciences at rice university beginning july 1 2016 " dr melodie french 14 (phd) has accepted a faculty position in the department of earth sciences at rice university beginning july 1 2016 " michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in geology and geophysicsapr 28 2016the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in geology and geophysicsthe purpose of mr halbouty's generous gift is to ""promote excellence in the teaching and research of the department of geology and geophysics"" we expect to appoint 4 to 5 distinguished scholars to the visiting chair over the next few years and provide them the opportunity to visit our campus and interact with department faculty and students for six to twelve months duration  the appointment provides partial salary support and additional funds to cover lodging and travel as well as proposed engagement activities  interested persons are encouraged to contact faculty members in the department of geology and geophysics (http://geowebtamuedu/) applications should identify potential faculty proponents include a cv a 2-page proposal identifying engagement activities in teaching and research as a visiting chair holder availability for visiting the department in the upcoming academic year and tabulation of desired funds needed for salary and other expenses  texas a&m university is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty and student body and compliance with the americans with disabilities act the university is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment we strongly encourage applications from women underrepresented ethnic groups veterans and individuals with disabilities texas a&m university also has a policy of being responsive to the needs of dual-career partners (hrtamuedu/employment/dual-careerhtml)  please send your application materials to fm chester chair of the halbouty visiting chair committee (chesterf@tamuedu) for further information contact fm chester or other faculty members of the department (http://geowebtamuedu) the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in geology and geophysics " the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in geology and geophysics " geology & geophysics student research symposium highlights graduate and undergraduate workapr 27 2016on march 31st th department hosted its annual student research symposium this is an effort made possible by the geology & geophysics graduate student council (gggsc) a total of 59 students participated which was composed of 23 undergraduate and 36 graduate students the final results were calculated based on the project overview methods conclusions presentation style and visuals the winners of the 2016 research symposium were:  undergraduate research1 melanie bowen2 oby ebere3 tied melissa altobelli3 tied kyle gillespie & gerardo valenzuela master research1 john reed2 chase stanford3 kaytan kelkar phd anticipated research1 szu-ting kuo2 tanner mills3 kittipong somchat  phd research1 maria a reimi sipala2 lauren holder3 yongchae cho the department would like to thank the individuals that helped judge the 2016 geology & geophysics student research symposium: adrian purdy - bhp billiton joseph chandler - bhp billiton eric peterson - bhp billiton eleanor yudelman - bhp billiton elizabeth collins - bhp billiton kenneth elsbury - baker hughes dr kam lulla - nasa dr mike pope - tamu geology professor dr franco marcantonio - tamu geology professor dr carlos dengo - tamu geology professor/berg-hughes director dr hiroko kitajima - tamu geophysics professor dr earl hoskins - emeritus professor jeff fitzgerald - jacobs engineering matt hammer - tamu alumni carl steffensen - geodec chris breed - baylor university graduate angela van boeing - tamu graduate student michelle chrpa - tamu graduate student lauren holder - tamu graduate student bronwyn moore - tamu graduate student matt jackson - tamu graduate student connor moore - tamu graduate student holly goggin - tamu graduate student katie bales - tamu graduate student philip tesch - tamu graduate student congratulations to the winners and again thank you to everyone who helped participated and attended the symposium  winners of the geology & geophysics student research symposium " " dr christian brannstrom receives bush excellence awardapr 25 2016congratulations to geography professor and environmental programs director dr christian brannstrom on receiving the bush excellence award for faculty in international teachingdr brannstroms research focuses on social and political aspects of renewable energy and unconventional fossil fuels in texas and environmental governance in brazil where he has conducted field work since 1994  he has supported collaborators working on perceptions of rip currents and pedagogical aspects of his study abroad experiences his work has been supported by the national science foundation and the national geographic society congratulations to geography professor and environmental programs director dr christian brannstrom on receiving the bush excellence award for faculty in international teaching " congratulations to geography professor and environmental programs director dr christian brannstrom on receiving the bush excellence award for faculty in international teaching " college of geosciences celebrates parents weekendapr 21 2016the college of geosciences celebrated the campus-wide annual parents weekend on april 9ththe event consisted of a breakfast facility tours discussions with student researchers and faculty/student demonstrations at various locations of the college activities included a tour led by atmo students of the cloud & visibility observatory on the 15th floor of o&m a seismic demonstration at the halbouty building and a tour of the ocean observatory learning/teaching lab since 1919 parents' weekend has been a special tradition at texas a&m university as aggies we pride ourselves on making our visitors feel welcome this is a special time for parents and guests to feel the warm greeting of aggieland parents' weekend has become our official ""howdy!"" we thank our parents for their continued support and we look forward to celebrating with you again next year! the college of geosciences celebrated the campus-wide annual parents weekend on april 9th " the college of geosciences celebrated the campus-wide annual parents weekend on april 9th " grad students place 3rd at aapg competitionapr 20 2016a team of five graduate students from texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics competed against 11 other schools in the gulf coast regional for the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) imperial barrel award (iba) aapg's imperial barrel award program is an annual prospective basin evaluation competition for geoscience graduate students from universities around the world university teams compete to win scholarship funds for their geoscience department and the international recognition that comes from competing or winning in the competition the program is rigorous and contributes to aapg's mission of promoting petroleum geoscience training and advancing the careers of geoscience students in this competition university teams analyze a dataset in the eight weeks prior to their local competition each team delivers their results in a 25 minute presentation to a panel of industry experts judges select the winning team on the basis of the technical quality clarity and originality of presentation the five ms students on the team walker ligon john phillips meagan depugh ryan wilcoxson and tyler ruchala placed 3rd and won $500 the team was mentored by two alumni petroleum geologists vernon moore (marathon oil) and tim powell (independent) the faculty advisor for the team was assistant professor dr nicholas perez walker ligon john phillips megan depugh ryan wilcoxson and tyler ruchala placed 3rd and won $500 " walker ligon john phillips megan depugh ryan wilcoxson and tyler ruchala placed 3rd and won $500 " david eller 59 receives distinguished alumnus awardapr 19 2016congratulations to david eller 59)on receiving the distinguished alumnus awardeller received bachelors degrees in business administration and geological engineering he is currently founder and ceo of a biotechnology firm eller also served as a&m system chancellor and board of regents chair awarded since 1962 to some 250 of texas a&ms 440 000 former students the distinguished alumnus award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of texas a&m university presented jointly by the university and the association of former students the award recognizes aggies who have achieved excellence in their chosen professions and made meaningful contributions to texas a&m university and their local communities congratulations to david eller (59) on receiving the distinguished alumnus award " congratulations to david eller (59) on receiving the distinguished alumnus award " halbouty nominations through may 20thapr 18 2016it is with great pride and anticipation that dean kate miller and the college of geosciences invite nominations for the 2016 michel t halbouty medalsince its inception in 1978 the halbouty medal represents the highest distinction that the college of geosciences bestows for distinguished achievement in the development of earth resources and in the application of geosciences to the discovery use and conservation of earth resources the list of previous recipients clearly demonstrates the high caliber of character   guidelines and qualifications for the award can be found on our website at http://geosciencestamuedu/about/awards-recognition/halbouty-medal/indexphp and there you will also find the link to the nomination form   nominations will be accepted from today april 18 through friday may 20 2016 at 5:00 pm  we will honor the award recipient on november 11 2016 on a grand college of geosciences scale " " powells contribute $100 000 to college of geosciencesapr 18 2016couple supports field camp experiences for geology and geophysics majorsa love for travel geology and texas a&m university led vivian and tim powell 79 to make the first contribution toward a $5 million field camp endowment the college of geosciences hopes to fund over the course of the lead by example campaign the couple gave $100 000 to support undergraduate fieldwork travel costs equipment and program-activity expenditures associated with field camp a required travel course for all undergraduates in the department of geology and geophysics during the course students spend two to six weeks in places like big bend the guadalupe mountains colorado new mexico and montana learning to map various geological aspects geology requires direct field observation to get the full understanding and scale of earth processes and history said tim field camp synthesizes many aspects of geologic training and allows students to apply their classroom learning to real-world practice fieldwork develops many skills in students including the ability to observe the subtle aspects of geologic formations structures and rock compositions these skills are important in recognizing patterns in geologic and geophysical interpretations throughout a geoscientists career said tim students are also able to take clues from geologic formation outcrops to understand subsurface structure paleo-depositional environments and past geologic history ample funding is required to support field camp supplies camping lodging and transportation the powells hope their gift will enable more students to gain a quality field camp experience with the right tools and accommodations while keeping costs within reason tim graduated with a degree in geology and retired from devon energy co in 2015 as vice president of exploration he is currently president of powell xploration llc an oil and gas consulting company and credits the college of geosciences for giving him a head start and a strong foundation for a career in the oil and gas industry the college of geosciences is highly respected as a leader in oil and gas geology he said throughout my career i have maintained contact with geoscience professors and colleagues about academic projects at texas a&m currently he is involved with the colleges advisory committee and is working with geoscience graduate students on the imperial barrel award an annual worldwide prospective basin evaluation competition vivian is a retired hairdresser and spends much of her time scrapbooking and tending to grandkids their children gary 08 and natalie 05 graduated with degrees in construction science and biomedical science respectively during their free time the couple enjoys travelinganother reason field camp resonates with them by having a larger view of the world you can sometimes better understand your own specific area tim said i applied this philosophy to many projects throughout my geological exploration career large regional interpretations are extremely important to oil and gas prospecting when completed the $5 million field camp endowment will help the college of geosciences maintain and increase the quality of tools and facilities available for the program by: april romero 16 to support field camp experiences in the college of geosciences contact cara milligan 08 senior director of development at cmilligan@txamfoundationcom or (979) 862-4944 a love for travel geology and texas a&m university led vivian and tim powell 79 to make the first contribution toward a $5 million field camp endowment the college of geosciences hopes to fund over the course of the lead by example campaign " a love for travel geology and texas a&m university led vivian and tim powell 79 to make the first contribution toward a $5 million field camp endowment the college of geosciences hopes to fund over the course of the lead by example campaign " geosciences student selected as maroon coatapr 15 2016congratulations to nathalie simoes (17) for being selected as a maroon coatnathalie joined the college of geosciences in the spring semester of her freshman year shes pursuing an environmental geoscience degree consisting of courses related to environmental history earths systems and the future of policy and research maroon coats are student leaders from across the tamu campus that serve the texas a&m foundation through service and ambassadorship i chose to be a maroon coat because of the purposeful mission behind the organization which is to form relationships and most importantly thank the supporters of a&m as a member of the aggie family i am extremely grateful for the lasting traditions and legacies but also the new renovations and events our ever-changing university hosts and believe it is important to recognize where those resources and visions come from and how they change the campus says nathalie being a maroon coat has provided me an outlet to give back to a university that has done so much for me by: andrew vernon '06 being a maroon coat has provided me an outlet to give back to a university that has done so much for me " being a maroon coat has provided me an outlet to give back to a university that has done so much for me " new program funded by national science foundation brings multiple tamu colleges togetherapr 15 2016the national science foundation has funded a grant on cyber-healthgis (geographic information science) at texas a&m university (college station) for the summers of 2016 2017 and 2018the 10-week program invites undergraduate students from all disciplines who are interested in pursuing research in technology geospatial analysis mapping & visualization and human health the program will also bring in 5 faculty experts from around the country each summer to act as project mentors for the students involved we hope to provide students with interdisciplinary research experiences that get them interested in pursuing graduate degrees and careers in stem (science technology engineering mathematics) – particularly with respect to gis health computing and engineering says geography assistant professor dr daniel goldberg the programs principle investigator the program will bring together 10 undergraduate students for each of the next three summers with 1/3 coming from geography & gis 1/3 from computer science & engineering and 1/3 from public health & pre-med programs students from allied stem disciplines with interests that match the program are also being sought the university has 27 other reu (research experiences for undergraduates) and summer research programs but this is a unique one in that it spans geosciences engineering and public health – and it also fits in with the tamu one health initiative dr goldberg explains some of the research projects students will undertake include: tracking disease outbreaks using social media applying hazard simulation and supercomputing for disease spread and food accessibility analysis during natural disasters and combining very large heterogeneous data sets to investigate food deserts on national and global scales  this reu research program blossomed out of the coalition for healthy active living (chal) an initiative led by dr tracy hammond director of the sketch recognition lab in the computer science & engineering department and copi of the reusite to develop an interdisciplinary cyber-healthgis program using seed funding from the college of engineering  im excited about this reu because computer science is often developed within a box – where students are not aware of how their research really affects the people around them this program provides a great opportunity for computer scientists to start using their skills in a way that can better affect the entire world dr hammond notes dr goldberg echoes this sentiment theres a catch phrase geographers always use – ‘spatial is special if you dont know where people are then you cant truly make advances that improve health and well-being everything happens somewhere; location is the key to health more information can be found at: cyberhealthgistamuedu by: andrew vernon ‘06 we hope to provide students with interdisciplinary research experiences that get them interested in pursuing graduate degrees and careers in stem – particularly with respect to gis health computing and engineering says geography assistant professor dr daniel goldberg " we hope to provide students with interdisciplinary research experiences that get them interested in pursuing graduate degrees and careers in stem – particularly with respect to gis health computing and engineering says geography assistant professor dr daniel goldberg " norman guinasso named research professor emeritus apr 15 2016dr norman l guinasso jr has been named research professor emeritus approved by the tamu board of regents effective feb 11 2016dr guinasso began his career at texas a&m in 1972 he has authored over 60 scientific papers and numerous reports in the areas of marine chemistry marine geology and physical oceanography he has served as senior scientist or chief scientist on more than 58 cruises to the atlantic and pacific oceans and european mediterranean sea – where he directed coring operations hydrographic data collection and continuous underway data collection  dr guinasso served as director of gerg (geochemical and environmental research group) from 2004 to 2010 he holds ba degrees in mathematics and physics from san jose state college along with m s and phd degrees in oceanography from texas a&m university by: andrew vernon ‘06 dr norman l guinasso jr (right) began his career at texas a&m in 1972 " dr norman l guinasso jr (right) began his career at texas a&m in 1972 " three faculty receive chairs & professorship awardsapr 14 2016the college of geoscience is pleased to announce three new chairs & professorship holders: dr lisa campbell dr andreas kronenberg and dr courtney schumacherlisa campbell – professor william r bryant chair in oceanography dr campbell joined the faculty in the department of oceanography at texas a&m in 1996 as an associate professor and has served as full professor in the department since 2006  her research statistics are inspiring: over 90 peer-reviewed scientific articles with and h-index of 40 and over 5000 lifetime citations to her papers  such intense research productivity has been powered by a prolific funding record – since joining tamu in 1996 dr campbell has received nearly $5m in grant funding as a pi and co-pi her research focuses on phytoplankton ecology phytoplankton community structure and diversity harmful algal blooms and flow cytometry and in situ imaging the william r bryant chair was established in 2008 in honor of professor william bryant by 22 of his colleagues and former students andreas kronenberg – professor michel t halbouty chair in geology dr kronenberg's expertise spans topics in structural geology tectonophysics and mineral physics with emphasis on the mechanical properties of earth materials and the deformation mechanisms that govern rheology his research addresses the plasticity creep and failure of minerals and rocks examining the roles of crystalline defects grain boundaries interfaces and fluids in determining macroscopic behavior of the earth's lithosphere dr kronenberg is president of the deform consortium and is an active member of agu's mineral and rock physics (mrp) community and its focus group on physical properties of earth materials (ppem)  the michel t halbouty chair was established in 1982 by the late michel t halbouty a 1930 texas a&m graduate and pioneering wildcatter who founded halbouty energy co and was the first recipient of texas a&m¹s professional degree in geological engineering courtney schumacher – ed brockett professorship in geosciences dr schumachers research includes tropical meteorology ­­– from small cumulus to large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology – utilizing both ground-based and space-borne radars and mesoscale-climate interactions – with observations of precipitation and storm structure  the ed brockett professorship was established in 1974 by e d brockett a texas a&m graduate who began his career in the oil industry in 1934 when he joined the gulf oil corporation as a roustabout in the oil fields of texas he later became president of the british american oil company limited by: andrew vernon '06 the college of geoscience is pleased to announce three new chairs & professorship holders: dr lisa campbell dr andreas kronenberg and dr courtney schumacher " the college of geoscience is pleased to announce three new chairs & professorship holders: dr lisa campbell dr andreas kronenberg and dr courtney schumacher " student weather balloon launches impact forecastsapr 14 2016the saying goes: if the radar on o&m starts turning somethings happening and typically that involves dr don conlee with his team of studentsfor quite some time now texas a&m and the college of geosciences have worked in conjunction with the national weather service (nws) in gathering local forecast data once dr conlee is informed of a system in the area he assembles his teams – one on the ground to set up the weather balloon launch and another at the top of o&m that will track the balloon and gather data as it comes in the gulf oil spill of 2010 became a watershed moment for these launches the nws contacted dr conlee and asked if they could conduct balloon launches at the site of the spill  that was our first launch with equipment we actually owned dr conlee adds the nws knowing tamu had the capability began calling on a more regular basis  for this specific launch (march 30) bryan/college station happened to be on the border of the ‘slight risk area of an active weather system with the storm developing there were no sources of local data thats where dr conlee and his team stepped in what were doing will really help them understand the boundary of the severe risk area which falls right on top of us – where theres no balloon unless we launch he explains  the weather balloon launches can have a significant impact on local forecast predictions  they have to issue a tornado watch later this will help them bound where that watch should go dr conlee adds the balloon takes approximately one hour to fly – traveling at higher altitudes than a jet since forecast information is so timely their goal is to gather as much data as possible on its way up so they can quickly relay it to the nws eventually the balloon pops and the data pack parachutes to the ground if the pack is found in reasonable shape the team will reuse it – which also contains their contact information in case anyone discovers it theyve had people return them from as far away as huntsville on average we do about 10 a year  by: andrew vernon '06 once dr conlee is informed of a system in the area he assembles his teams – one on the ground to set up the weather balloon launch and another at the top of o&m that will track the balloon and gather data as it comes in " once dr conlee is informed of a system in the area he assembles his teams – one on the ground to set up the weather balloon launch and another at the top of o&m that will track the balloon and gather data as it comes in " service learning in geosciences - the story of wine to water texas a&mapr 14 2016in the fall 2015 semester the college of geosciences introduced an undergraduate level course that focused on the world water crisis as seen through the eyes of doc henley founder of wine to water the ngo what came out of it was something no one could have predictedthe course started out as a landmark the first class in the college of geosciences to focus on service learning as part of the high impact learning program students were informed about the class during their new student conference and given the opportunity to sign up if they had interest the proposition was met with great response the main goal of the course was presented by professor judy nunez consisting of a service learning trip to costa rica that focused on helping the local population of san isidro with water testing ­­­­– along with educating the local students on water conservation but before anything could be accomplished the students had to learn why the trip was so important the assigned reading for the class was doc henleys autobiography wine to water the book outlines henleys journey and personal discovery of the world water crisis along with his mission that transferred into the ngo which was founded in 2007 throughout the fall semester students were presented with an idea: what do you think it would be like to not have access to clean drinking water they were encouraged to explore this proposition through individual research and in-class discussion the passion for the project was quickly apparent within the group of students before long they were applying to become a recognized student organization so they could better spread their message to others at texas a&m university and the surrounding community the class also participated in a tour of the wastewater treatment plant the spring 2016 semester focused on learning about the water crisis as it pertained to costa rica – a water-rich country with its own unique crisis in order to better prepare themselves for their service learning trip to costa rica in april the students chose topics to present ­– such as culture geopolitics and geography of costa rica the spring also brought a nice surprise for the class when they were presented with the student assistance funding award from the association of former students by: andrew vernon '06 the spring also brought a nice surprise for the class when they were presented with the student assistance funding award from the association of former students " the spring also brought a nice surprise for the class when they were presented with the student assistance funding award from the association of former students " trey murphy wins earl cook awardapr 13 2016congratulations to trey murphy (14) of aledo tx on winning the earl cook award for best graduate student paper for the energy and environment specialty group of the american association of geographersthis is the second consecutive year that one of my students won this award says dr christian brannstrom professor and director of environmental programs trey's award is testament to his analytical skills and perseverance in working with mineral wealth by using tax appraisal data from a county in the eagle ford shale  trey adds the important aspect of wealth ownership of hydrocarbons to the social science approaches to hydraulic fracturing that have mainly focused on policy debates and public opinion murphy says his interests can be traced back to his time as an undergraduate researcher under dr brannstrom with collaborators from our department and the university of north texas we interviewed policymakers in north texas about their intuition for putting in place municipal fracking regulations this background knowledge of oil and gas extraction would serve well for my masters degree he explains the earl cook award was established to honor the work of dr earl ferguson cook particularly his 1976 book man energy and society dr cook served as dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university from 1971 to 1981 murphy adds to me the award is a reflection of the great research carried out in the department and the college of geosciences earl cook was the dean of our college many years ago and his legacy of energy geography research continues to this day through dr christian brannstrom dr wendy jepson and their many undergraduate and graduate students i am proud to claim heritage to this lineage"" by: andrew vernon '06 congratulations to trey murphy (14) of aledo tx on winning the earl cook award for best graduate student paper for the energy and environment specialty group of the american association of geographers " congratulations to trey murphy (14) of aledo tx on winning the earl cook award for best graduate student paper for the energy and environment specialty group of the american association of geographers " professor joins international research team studying the impact of dust and iron input to the pacific oceanapr 13 2016dr franco marcantonio (robert r berg professor in geology) recently joined an international team of scientists to study samples taken from the pacific ocean that analyzed the impact of iron delivered in dust to the pacific ocean thousands of years ago  their work is published in the journal naturein the harsh conditions of the previous ice age which consisted of colder and windier weather large amounts of dust containing iron were scattered from land into the ocean the purpose of the study focused on whether the increase in iron supplied to the pacific ocean produced more carbon-sequestering phytoplankton to take in co2 from the earths atmosphere potentially creating conditions for a cooler climate we proved it was dustier – but was there more photosynthetic production to to help lower co2 we looked at the chemistry of the sediments and concluded that there was not more productivity at least for this area of the worlds ocean says dr marcantonio however he and other scientists believe an increase in iron did lead to an increased growth of phytoplankton in other locations such as the ocean surrounding antarctica iron can only fertilize if there are major nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) available he explains it turns out there was more dust in the southern ocean (off antarctica) during the last ice age about 20 000 years ago and there was a lot more productivity there as a consequence because of the increased iron supply most of the major nutrients were depleted as a result these waters which are ultimately the source for waters upwelled in the equatorial pacific were already devoid of their nutrients so while it was dustier and extra iron was being delivered to the pacific the study found the lack of nitrogen and phosphorus limited phytoplankton growth in that region dr marcantonio was joined by colleagues from columbia university princeton university the university of california-santa cruz and national taiwan university by: andrew vernon '06 dr franco marcantonio (robert r berg professor in geology) recently joined an international team of scientists to study samples taken from the pacific ocean that analyzed the impact of iron delivered in dust to the pacific ocean thousands of years ago their work is published in the journal nature " dr franco marcantonio (robert r berg professor in geology) recently joined an international team of scientists to study samples taken from the pacific ocean that analyzed the impact of iron delivered in dust to the pacific ocean thousands of years ago their work is published in the journal nature " faculty named to inaugural class of aslo fellowsapr 13 2016dr lisa campbell has been named to the inaugural class of aslo sustaining fellows (association for the science of limnology and oceanography) for her years of sustained excellence in contributions to aquatic scienceaslos mission involves the creation communication and integration of knowledge across the full spectrum of aquatic sciences through public awareness and education regarding research – while also promoting scientific stewardship of resources for the public interest it has been a leading organization for educators and researchers of aquatic science for over 60 years tracing its roots back to the limnological society of america (lsa) –  founded in 1936 dr campbell joined the faculty in the department of oceanography at texas a&m in 1996 as an associate professor and has served as full professor in the department since 2006  her research statistics are inspiring: over 90 peer-reviewed scientific articles with and h-index of 40 and over 5000 lifetime citations to her papers she has received nearly $5m in grant funding as a pi and co-pi her research focuses on phytoplankton ecology phytoplankton community structure and diversity harmful algal blooms and flow cytometry and in situ imaging  dr campbells research seeks to understand the environmental factors that lead to harmful cell proliferation and why these organisms actually produce neurotoxins the society has been very important to me throughout my career so the recognition of my service and contributions is very rewarding dr campbell replied dr debbie thomas (professor and department head – oceanography) adds it is an honor and an inspiration to work with such an outstanding scholar and educator – to use a cycling analogy dr campbell is a true ‘gc rider in that she excels at all aspects of the role of a tenured full professor  this award is only the beginning for her! by: andrew vernon '06 dr lisa campbell has been named to the inaugural class of aslo sustaining fellows (association for the science of limnology and oceanography) for her years of sustained excellence in contributions to aquatic science " dr lisa campbell has been named to the inaugural class of aslo sustaining fellows (association for the science of limnology and oceanography) for her years of sustained excellence in contributions to aquatic science " summer 2016 fellowship opportunity at the berg-hughes centerapr 7 2016the berg-hughes center is pleased to announce a new fellowship opportunity for the summer of 2016the fellowships are intended to assist with living and educationally related expenses for full-time study during the summer semester and make progress on your research we will award 6 fellowships for a full summer semester and each award will be for $9 000 to submit your proposal please complete the attached proposal form and note that this proposal requires endorsement from your academic faculty advisor proposals are due by april 29th 2016 and awards are expected to be announced by may 13 2016 proposals need to meet the intent of the funding donors to support students working towards degrees in petroleum geosciences related field the proposals will be evaluated by a team of faculty members composed of drs r gibson j reece m everett n perez and c dengo please submit your proposal to dawn spencer dspencer@tamuedu should you have any questions related to this request please contact carlos dengo at cdengo@tamuedu phone (979) 845-6269 application " " geography professor dr wendy jepson named fulbright scholarmar 21 2016geography professor dr wendy jepson has recently been named a fulbright scholar for her work on urban water provisioning and household water security  the prestigious fulbright scholar program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by senator j william fulbright of arkansas the us department of states bureau of educational and cultural affairs sponsors the program and awards roughly 8 000 grants a year and the fulbright program is present in over 155 countries around the world dr wendy jepson has been selected to teach in brazil at the universidade federal de ceará - fortaleza (ufc) while there she will conduct research on water accessibility and the infrastructure required to meet growing demand in urban and peri-urban areas this correlates with jepsons most recent research which has studied household water security among low-income communities on the us-mexico border dr jepson is no newcomer to brazil as she conducted research ten years ago on brazilian agricultural development and the dynamic transformation of central brazils cerrado a tropical savanna ecoregion jepson is looking forward to returning to the country and developing the institutional collaborations between the texas a&m university geography department and the faculty at universidade federal de ceará - fortaleza (ufc) the fulbright program will allow me to build on these emerging connections by deepening the sustainability of our educational and research relationships said jepson the proposed project will provide the necessary institutional and collaborative context to exchange methodologies and research approaches on water resource governance and water security with brazilian geographers dr jepson will be teaching a graduate course on environmental justice at ufc followed by a shortened course on this topic at the universidade federal do pará in bragança while there she will be co-supervising graduate students at both universities on topics related to water security these students will then partake in an exchange program in the us working with texas a&m students and faculty in the human-environment research group when asked about her goals for this trip dr jepson replied with three objectives the first to strengthen ties with brazilian scholars and pave the way for future collaborative research the second to expand her research on water security in urban and peri-urban communities and the third to reestablish a research portfolio in brazil to be built on for years to come fulbright allows me to do what i love my vocation said dr jepson in the end i am a geographer scholar and explorer at heart   by: emily peter '15 dr wendy jepson has recently been named a fulbright scholar for her work on urban water provisioning and household water security " dr wendy jepson has recently been named a fulbright scholar for her work on urban water provisioning and household water security " facilities director maureen reap retires from the college of geosciencesmar 9 2016facilities coordinator maureen reap has recently retired from the college of geosciences she leaves behind a long list of accomplishments and very large shoes to fill maureen has been an asset to the texas a&m university system for quite some time starting out as a student she graduated with a bachelor's degree in education curriculum and instruction after teaching science for a few years she returned to aggieland where she earned a masters degree in oceanography this is when her career in the college of geosciences began working as a graduate assistant-researcher in 1986 for the department of oceanography maureen then moved into the role of research associate where she worked until 2002 following this position she accepted the job of operations manager for the department of oceanography she spent three years in this space learning the basics of facility management her experiences included conducting inventories managing building personnel and overseeing the renovation of a chemistry laboratory it is these skills which carried maureen to her most recent and impactful role maureens heroic contributions arise from her inspiring efforts to improve the teaching and research infrastructure of the college so that the aggies who pass through our doors have access to world-class facilities said deborah thomas oceanography department head her goal is not functional facilities but exceptional facilities - facilities that propel us toward our strategic goals in december 2015 maureen was awarded with the prestigious deans achievement award for exemplary staff services within the college of geosciences  one of her many nominators said the following maureen serves the college with dedication striving for and achieving excellence in her work her excellence integrity loyalty respect and selfless service through the 30 years she has been with the college do all aggies proud maureen has had a profound influence on the college of geosciences and the thousands of students and faculty members who have walked through its doors dr thomas states maureen is one of the true heros of our university and generations of aggies have benefitted and continue to benefit from her insight proactive planning and creative design maureen embodies the aggie spirit with loyalty and pride in everything that she does although her presence will be missed her impact will not be forgotten by: emily peter '15  dean miller presenting maureen reap with the deans achievement award for exemplary staff services " dean miller presenting maureen reap with the deans achievement award for exemplary staff services " meteorology major cecille sorio ‘17 is selected as second female corps commander in texas a&m historyfeb 26 2016meteorology major cecille sorio is leaving her mark on this university as the second female corps commander in texas a&m history following in the footsteps of alyssa michalke sorio is the second consecutive female to hold this prestigious position originally from san antonio texas sorio knew she wanted to attend a university with a strong rotc program it wasnt until she tagged along on a friends college visit that she found her way to texas a&m and the college of geosciences all of the staff and student recruiters were incredibly friendly and passionate about their courses of study said sorio growing up sorio was always curious about the weather and as she puts it - she was the kid who did rain dances during recess with dreams of commissioning as a weather officer in the united states air force meteorology seemed like the perfect major to prepare me for my goal stated sorio sorio has enjoyed her time in the college of geosciences especially in her atmo 335 class - dynamics i the college has provided her with a wide range of experiences and a niche for passionate scientific thinkers who are diligent in their studies but who also love to embrace hands-on learning experiences in the wild outdoors sorios time at texas a&m has been filled with classes leadership training and of course the age-old traditions of this campus she will serve as the corps commander for the 2016-2017 school year and said she is most looking forward to creating an environment that both highlights the importance of leadership development along with scholastic success and career-motivation applicable post-graduation sorio wants her cadets to be prepared to take on the real world after graduation and to represent this university with the upstanding character which aggies are known for texas a&m university the corps of cadets and the college of geosciences have given this to her and she views this position as her opportunity to pass these skills along to others texas a&m and the college of geosciences have equipped me with the knowledge i will need said sorio preparing me to be a woman who knows how to balance the rigors of education while leading a group of motivated individuals   by: emily peter '15 sorio in front of the texas a&m radar pedestal " " gis goes far beyond geography at texas a&mfeb 26 2016 from its humble beginnings gis at tamu has grown to support research in virtually every college and agency at the university  deep in the heart of texas lies texas a&m university (tamu) known to generations of former students as aggieland founded in 1876 tamu was the first public university in texas and is now one of the largest research universities in the united states with more than 58 000 students including nearly 14 000 graduate students it was one of the first us universities to hold the triple distinction of being a land- sea- and space-grant institution meaning it does leading research in all three domains thus it is prime breeding ground for gis  the organic growth of gis during the 1980s gis research developed organically across tamu professors in several departmentsincluding landscape architecture entomology parks and recreation forest science and geosciencesused the emerging technology to support their diverse research needs due to the high costs of computers at the time tamu began gis instruction in 1985 only in the forest science department after phd student (and now associate professor) douglas wunneburger developed microgis this homegrown program ran on 20 tandy 2000 personal computers in the universitys then state-of-the- art computer lab  continue reading on page 32 of the winter 2016 issue of arcnews " " marathon oil donates laptops workstations and monitors to geology and geophysicsfeb 23 2016the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university would like to thank marathon oil for a generous donation of used laptops workstations and monitors vernon moore '98 senior geologist at marathon oil was instrumental in facilitating the donation the department will use the 20 laptops as the foundation for a new undergraduate computer lab the transportable laptops will allow the department to have a roaming lab which can be used in multiple classrooms and even outdoors for a variety of courses and applications the 52 monitors will be used to upgrade aging monitors in the seismic computing lab and to extend capability in the graduate working lab additionally two linux boxes will be used as workstations in the seismic computing lab and specialty workstations in the graduate working lab the seismic computing lab is currently used to teach graduate courses in seismic processing and interpretation this donation marks an important step in the department's continued growth and towards the realization of an advance computing center for geoscience research " " the berg-hughes center partners with the crisman institute on an integrated research initiative to provide innovative solutions for the petroleum industryfeb 11 2016the crisman institute for petroleum research harold vance department of petroleum engineering college of engineering and the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems department of geology & geophysics college of geosciences have initiated a joint industry project production from unconventional oil and gas reservoirs has revolutionized the energy outlook for north america and the world and has placed texas as the number one producer in the country  these resources are of vital economic and social importance to texas and the nation  yet fundamental geoscience and engineering questions remain to be solved  the joint industry project aims at developing predictive geologic reservoir simulation and fracture propagation models to help industry optimize field development this project will focus on two integrated data sets; one from the permian basin unconventional oil plays and the other from the eagleford/eaglebine oil play  more than 25 faculty in both colleges have participated in designing the research program  to date more than a dozen oil and gas companies have agreed to provide financial data and other support  it is anticipated that additional texas a&m departments and corporate partners will join the project   in the petroleum industry solutions are most often advanced by interdisciplinary teams  through this innovative partnership faculty and graduate students in the geosciences petroleum engineering and other disciplines will work together to develop new solutionsber to build predictive models to solve complex problems associated with developing shale reservoirs for additional information please contact dr steve holditch (crisman institute; sholditch@petamuedu) or dr carlos dengo (berg-hughes center cdengo@tamuedu) " " ping yang receives nasa exceptional scientific achievement medal dec 20 2017nasa has awarded a nasa exceptional scientific achievement medal  to dr ping yang professor and department head of the department of atmospheric sciences and david bullock harris chair in geosciences yang accepted the recognition oct 31 at the nasa goddard space flight centers 2017 agency honor awards ceremony  only six medals of this category were bestowed by nasa in 2017 this prestigious nasa medal is awarded to both government and non-government individuals for exceptional scientific contributions (specific concrete scientific achievements) toward achievement of the nasa mission the award is given for individual efforts that have resulted in a key scientific discovery or resulted in contribution(s) of fundamental importance in this field or significantly enhanced understanding of the field the college of geosciences commends yang for his tireless service to texas a&m university and to leading research that benefits the state nation and world " " exemplary geosciences faculty and staff honored with 2017 awardsdec 19 2017on dec 1 the college of geosciences celebrated and recognized the outstanding contributions of faculty and staff during its college of geosciences interim dean dr debbie thomas presented the evening's awards mark mccann senior information technology professional was honored with a 2017 deans achievement award for exemplary staff services bobby reece marks nominator wrote that mark has come through countless times in short order to fix problems critical to a teaching or research mission he is always happy to help and responds selflessly to anything asked of him although mark is truly a brilliant technician and carries knowledge critical to the complex computing support mission he does not shy away from small tasks and fills in to help wherever asked or needed  michelle beal and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland michele beal business administrator ii was also honored with a 2017 deans achievement award for exemplary staff services michele started working for the college of geosciences in 1982 she currently serves as a lead business person for the college providing administrative and business support to all of the colleges business staff one of her colleagues wrote michele is not only dedicated to helping her co-workers but ensuring that our students and everyone else she works with is given the highest customer service she can possibly achieve dr christina wiederwohl and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in teaching went to dr christina wiederwohl instructional assistant professor of oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis wrote dr wiederwohl excels at teaching her significant activities in this area are numerous she teaches large sections of the departments core curriculum course and she runs the corresponding lab class she also developed a wholly online section for ocng 251 to expand our ability to offer this class to more students student reviews are routinely well above average for these classes  dr istvan szunyogh and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland  the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in research went to dr istvan szunyogh professor of atmospheric sciences one of his nominators wrote dr szunyogh has been a very productive researcher throughout his career and has garnered over $24 million in grant awards since joining texas a&m with awards from many federal agencies and industry including nasa noaa nsf onr dod doe and bp in 2016 he was awarded three grants for data assimilation and mid-latitude atmospheric predictability from onr and noaa for over a half million dollars dr dave sparks and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in service went to dr dave sparks professor of geology and geophysics department head dr mike pope said dave has been the key faculty mover and shaker to get the graduate curriculum modified to something most of us are not only excited about but also wholeheartedly believe will produce better students to do this he had to write innumerable position papers lead two full-day retreats and many other meetings  dr don collins (right) receives his award photo by butch ireland a 2017 association of former students college-level distinguished teaching award winners was presented to dr don collins professor of atmospheric sciences and director of the center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment one of dr collins' nominators wrote despite managing a busy research group dr collins remains one of the most thorough well-organized and creative teachers i have encountered the operating principles of several atmospheric instruments are burned in my memory because a special topics course taught by dr collins over a decade ago included not only the theory of their operation but a field trip to see them installed on a research aircraft dr andrew klein and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland another 2017 association of former students college-level distinguished teaching award was also presented to dr andrew klein who holds the eog teaching professorship in geosciences and is a professor of geography the college also presented a new award to klein: the selfless service award his nominator wrote since promotion to associate professor teaching has been dr kleins foremost activity driven by his professional interest as well as departmental curricular needs …of the many admirable and inspirational stories i have heard about andrew is that while hes been on field work trips in antarctica he showed great dedication to teaching by waking at 3 am to teach early morning classes in college station via the internet! dr ron kaiser and dr debbie thomas photo by butch ireland the 2017 innovator award went to dr ron kaiser a professor of recreation park and tourism science dr kaiser started water management and hydrological science program in 2000 in conjunction with faculty in four colleges and directed it for many years one of his nominators wrote dr kaiser gives special attention to every student who joins the program especially international students despite his busy schedule he makes time for a face-to-face meeting with every international student the moment they arrive on campus this meeting has helped international students to quickly realize that aggieland is not a huge campus where one easily gets lost but a place with a beacon shining giving the right directions he has provided a home away from home the following faculty and staff were recognized for their years of service with the college celebrating 20 years of service with the college: renyj zhang marion stoessel chad broyles michael hodge celebrating 25 years of service with the college: philip rumford julio flores peter blum kenneth bowman margaret hastedt celebrating 30 years of service with the college: chieh peng william lamb david lehnert jaime gracia celebrating 35 years of service with the college: anne raymond ethan grossman michele beal matthew howard celebrating 40 years of service with the college: norman guinasso all of the photos from the event can be viewed in this album by taylor fuechec '18   " " from the himalayas to exxonmobil this aggie geology grad is ready for anythingdec 13 2017senior melanie bowen reflects on her time in the texas a&m college of geosciencesstanding at the foothills of the himalayan mountains is a moment melanie bowen will never forget ""as a geology student getting to see the lower himalayas was just a dream so breath-taking and beautiful and geologically complex said bowen a graduating senior in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university how did bowen wind up traveling with a group of scientists to india undergraduate research was the ticket conducting research as an undergraduate research assistant in the international ocean discovery program (iodp) had afforded bowen the opportunity to travel to india with her supervisor dr denise k kulhanek iodp expedition project manager and staff scientist they attended iodps july 2017 post-cruise meeting for expedition 355 which had sailed in 2015 bowen was studying indian ocean floor sediment cores that were collected during that research cruise melanie bowen at an outcrop in the himalayas (photo courtesy of dr denise k kulhanek) at iodp it was my job to do the processing of a lot of the data from expedition 355 in the indian oceans laxmi basin she said i studied variations in calcium carbonate and other geochemical proxies over time trying to relate that to carbonate burial production or dilution and at a larger scale trying to relate those variations to the uplift and erosion of the himalaya mountains and changes to the summer monsoon her research has implications for better understanding monsoons which are a major annual threat to public safety in india we obtain that elemental data through a method called x-ray florescence which involves using instruments that shoot x-rays at sediment core samples which then emit characteristic wave-lengths that can be analyzed and identified as calcium or other elements she said this research could help us better understand monsoon and how it could change and evolve in the future based on what we've seen in the past bowen started conducting research at iodp when she was just a sophomore and she advises that fellow undergraduates take that leap as well try to do undergraduate research because it opens so many doors she said and find something that you love whether that be one individual class that you can specialize in or run with or a research area if i wasnt passionate about what i was reading or researching i wouldnt be motivated to work as hard try your best because it really does pay off in the end melanie bowen and dr denise k kulhanek in new dehli (photo courtesy of dr denise k kulhanek) but her passion for geological exploration wasnt always at the front of bowens mind when she began at texas a&m as a freshman she was studying petroleum engineering after taking one geology course she soon realized that the aspect of petroleum that she was most interested in was geology bowen said that after reassessing my skills and passions transferring to the department of geology and geophysics was a perfect fit the department is highly acclaimed and has phenomenal programs she said ive been very fortunate to receive several scholarships from the college and department thanks to our generous donors bowen received the murry d page endowed scholarship from the college of geosciences and the george w crocker ii scholarship from the department of geology and geophysics after graduating from texas a&m in december with her bs in geology and as the top-ranked geology student among december graduates bowen began a paid internship at exxonmobil this january after a paid summer internship with sm energy she is planning to pursue graduate school later in 2018 she said bowen overlooking palo duro canyon during aapg student chapter field trip march 2017 (photo courtesy of melanie bowen) but first bowen is culminating her undergraduate research experience by presenting a research poster on her work at the american geophysical union (agu) fall meeting the largest gathering of space and earth scientists in the world in new orleans in january as she looked ahead to her career moving forward bowen said what shell miss the most about aggieland is the people ill miss the sense of community that ive grown to become a part of here in g&g she said my peers and our professors who have given me such fantastic advice over the years – i will miss them ill miss them a lot by leslie lee media contact: leslie lee communications coordinator college of geosciences (979) 845-0910 leslielee@tamuedu bowen in an iodp core repository housed at texas a&m and an example of what ocean core samples which are each several feet long look like in the iodp labs (photos courtesy of melanie bowen and iodp) " bowen in an iodp core repository housed at texas a&m and an example of what ocean core samples which are each several feet long look like in the iodp labs (photos courtesy of melanie bowen and iodp) " predicting droughts requires accurate data and this texas a&m team is helpingnov 28 2017drought-predicting computer models are not made just so that scientists can say i told you so when your favorite lake runs low from agriculture to infrastructure to tourism major sectors of the economy need a heads-up on what weather conditions are coming down the pipethese vitally needed models run on input data and two texas a&m university experts are working to improve the precipitation data fed into models which will in turn help federal agencies such as the national oceanographic and atmospheric administrations (noaa) research line office and national weather service (nws) better predict and prepare for droughts  dr brent mcroberts research assistant professor in the texas a&m department of geography has received a grant from noaas modeling analysis predictions and projections (mapp) program in partnership with the national integrated drought information system (nidis) the newly funded project improving the drought monitoring capabilities of land surface models by integrating bias-corrected gridded precipitation estimates will be led by mcroberts with co-investigator dr john nielsen-gammon texas state climatologist and regents professor in texas a&ms department of atmospheric sciences as part of this new project the research team will participate in noaas mapp drought task force working with other mapp-funded scientists on related projects to rapidly advance project objectives  the team will be using the grant funds to improve drought monitoring by integrating reliable high-resolution precipitation information into land surface models  land surface models are critical in our ability to assess future drought conditions so that we can properly allocate water resources said mcroberts precipitation is one of the most important variables driving land surface models so it is essential to have confidence that the precipitation is accurately depicted  drought has and continues to cause serious social and economic impacts throughout the united states according to the noaa national centers for environmental information a single drought event costs the us about $97 billion on average from agricultural and drinking water supplies to infrastructure health ecosystems and energy costs drought negatively affects myriad sectors and regions ""high resolution and accurate precipitation can help improve operational us drought monitoring and potentially improve our drought prediction capability especially over arid and semi-arid regions in the western and southwestern parts of the us "" said mike ek deputy director of noaa's environmental modeling center within the national weather service  through the new national drought resilience partnership as well as nidis and its regional drought early warning systems (dews) noaa working with interagency and academic colleagues strives to improve the countrys capacity to manage drought-related risks and mitigate impacts by providing the best available information and tools investing in research to improve drought monitoring directly supports this mission dr brent mcroberts and dr john nielsen-gammon " " texas a&ms andrew dessler named a fellow of aaasnov 21 2017dr andrew dessler of texas a&m university has been named a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas)dessler is a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and the earl f cook professor of geosciences at texas a&m election as a aaas fellow is an honor bestowed upon aaas members by their peers this year 396 members have been awarded this honor by aaas because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications new fellows will be honored feb 17 at the aaas fellows forum during the 2018 aaas annual meeting in austin as part of the atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences aaas section dessler was elected as an aaas fellow for outstanding research in atmospheric chemistry and physics teaching writing and community service we are so proud that dr desslers profound contributions to atmospheric and climate science are being honored by the aaas said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m this distinction truly is a fitting affirmation of his impact on the field the tradition of aaas fellows began in 1874 currently members can be considered for the rank of fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the associations 24 sections or by any three fellows who are current aaas members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominees institution) or by the aaas chief executive officer the council is the policymaking body of the association chaired by the aaas president and consisting of the members of the board of directors the retiring section chairs delegates from each electorate and each regional division and two delegates from the national association of academies of science the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) is the worlds largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal science aaas is a non-profit founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals aaas mission is to advance science and serve society by leslie lee '09 dr andrew dessler " " where i feel like i belong:"" new degree draws ocean-minded aggiesnov 16 2017spending days at sea on research ships in the gulf of mexico may not be how typical aggie undergraduate students spend their time in between classes but for junior victoria scriven its nothing out of the ordinarythats because scriven is one of the first students in the oceanography undergraduate degree program at texas a&m university fall 2017 was the inaugural semester of the texas a&m department of oceanographys undergraduate program and the pioneering students have gotten to take advantage of unique hands-on research opportunities and faculty mentoring  one thing these soon-to-be aggie oceanographers have in common is a deep passion for the worlds oceans i always knew i loved the ocean; it is where i feel like i belong said sophomore samantha longridge ""my dad kent longridge 91 graduated from a&m and he has his masters in ocean engineering so he has a passion for the ocean"" scriven said ive always been passionate about the ocean; i thought maybe ocean engineering but i fell in love with the science of it oceanography students conducting researh aboard the rv trident in galveston bay on nov 4 texas a&m has long offered graduate and doctoral degrees in oceanography and received state approval to add the undergraduate program in december 2016 the department of oceanography is very excited to be able to offer this new stem degree the bs degree in oceanography  dr shari yvon-lewis professor and interim oceanography department head said the students agreed that one thing that makes texas a&ms undergraduate oceanography program so unique is that you can tell all the professors are really into what they are teaching longridge said i took oceanography 251 with dr david brooks and he was so passionate about it you could just tell that he loved it she said  the size of the program also plays a role in its uniqueness being able to know my professors by their first name being able to sit on a boat with them and talk to them about my future and where they think i should go has been very beneficial to me scriven said the community lets me get to know the people that will help me in my future undergraduate students aboard the rv trident in galveston bay on nov 4 from left to right: kelsey gibbons oceanography major; cassie oswood ocng 491 student; ana ramos oceanography major; samantha longridge oceanography major; victoria scriven oceanography major; james chapman oceanography major; cody padlo ocng 491 student; brian buckingham  tamu-gerg student worker the degree program provides hand-on experience that will be valuable to each students futures ive been on two boats this semester both in response to hurricane harvey said scriven i also got to do research with iodp (the international ocean discovery program) which is the more geological side of oceanography after my freshmen year and then i went to peru this summer on the boats this semester it opened my eyes to the fact that i want to be in operational oceanography i want to be out in the boats; i want to be in the field less so in the lab she said i want to be interactive with the ocean environment students in the degree program get unique opportunities to further develop their ability to problem solve and think critically research experiences including field lab and modeling studies are necessary for students to get that hands-on experience yvon-lewis said  for high school students considering majoring in oceanography scriven said just go for it apply as soon as you can and get to know your professors in the basic oceanography classes; i met shari yvon-lewis she was my 251 professor and ive taken six of her classes now as for the future both scriven and longridge plan to attend graduate school get more information on the oceanography degree program by taylor fuechec '18 undergraduate oceanography students on a research cruise in galveston bay aboard the rv trident on nov 4 " undergraduate oceanography students on a research cruise in galveston bay aboard the rv trident on nov 4 " aggie oceanographers return from expedition to assess harvey impacts on marine sanctuaryoct 27 2017scientists now estimate that more than 13 trillion gallons of floodwater from hurricane harvey flowed into the gulf of mexico following the stormthat massive plume of freshwater potentially threatens marine ecosystems in the gulf and the salinity-sensitive coral reefs of the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary about 100 miles offshore of galveston a team of researchers recently returned from a 6-day expedition sailing out of galveston oct 20-25 to collect data in the marine sanctuarys reefs the influence of harvey runoff could still be seen along the coast right of galveston where salinity levels were low for this time of year said dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of oceanography and texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) scientist who was on the expedition the team discovered that salinity levels in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary were normal; ongoing research is also needed we will now compare the water quality data we collected last week to data collected in 2016 to assess the health of the reef now shamberger said the research team sailed on the r/v point sur and included texas a&m oceanography assistant professor dr jason sylvan rice university marine biologist dr adrienne correa boston university biologist dr sarah davies and university of houston-clear lake biologist dr lory santiago-vazquez the team expects to receive a one-year rapid research response grant from the national science foundation (nsf) to support their work at the flower garden banks researchers on the r/v point sur manage water sampling equipment photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan   two tamu undergraduate students miranda hooper and brian buckingham were also on the cruise as well as postdoctoral researcher dr shawn doyle gulf researchers had cause for concern after hurricane harvey because of salinity data collected by buoys in the texas automated buoy system (tabs) run by texas a&m gerg tabs network buoys monitor the waters off the texas coast and relays real-time ocean data on sept 28 tabs buoy v measured a 10-percent drop in salinity in the flower garden banks coral reefs the salinity at one buoy on the reef dropped from 36 to 32 on sept 28 but it rebounded to 36 by oct 4 and it has been between 35 and 36 since then correa said shamberger and sylvan are also working in collaboration with staff scientists from the national oceanic and atmospheric administrations office of national marine sanctuaries to collect samples of water microbes sediment corals and sponges to monitor the health of the reefs  the harvey freshwater had moved toward corpus christi and was northwest of the flower garden banks when i was on the last cruise which ended oct 1 shamberger said this nsf grant and the teams post-harvey research at the reefs have roots in the april 2016 tax day floods that also inundated parts of houston in late july 2016 there was a partial die-off on the east flower garden bank said correa assistant professor of biosciences at rice we didnt know it was happening until a recreational dive boat happened to go out there and see it because we didnt know about the risk ahead of time we couldnt sample on a timeline that made it easy to figure out a mechanism for the die-off with harvey we were able to catch the ‘before much better than we were in 2016  ""samples collected after the 2016 event revealed differential microbes in the water column near the reefs that experienced mortality compared to those who didn't "" said sylvan he and his team are seeking to describe the water column microbial community in relation to harvey to determine if this more recent freshwater runoff event had similar results to 2016s when people look at the impact of hurricanes on coral reefs they often look at physical damage or breakage of reef frameworks by waves and storm surge correa said much less is known about the impacts of freshwater influx from the precipitation associated with a hurricane flower garden banks the only national marine sanctuary in the gulf of mexico is one of 14 federally designated underwater areas protected by noaas office of national marine sanctuaries written in collaboration with rice university by leslie lee researchers on the r/v point sur manage water sampling equipment photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan " researchers on the r/v point sur manage water sampling equipment photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan " volunteers bring the geosciences to texas a&m chemistry open houseoct 26 2017the texas a&m university department of chemistry hosted the 30th annual chemistry open house and science exploration gallery oct 21 at texas a&mfaculty and student volunteers from the college of geosciences at texas a&m joined in the annual open house showcasing the american chemistry societys theme for its 2017 event chemistry rocks!  thousands of attendees from around the region took part in interactive geosciences demonstrations such as why tap water tastes like alka seltzer hurricanes and atmospheric chemistry space rocks ocean acidification conductivity and heat capacity! im so grateful to our team – their contributions as the inaugural group of geosciences chemistry open house volunteers are inspiring said dr debbie thomas professor and interim dean of the college their efforts are a beautiful example of our commitment to sharing geosciences with young students and helping empower lifelong learners to deepen their knowledge of the world in which they live college of geosciences volunteers educated participants at the chemistry open house   college of geosciences outreach volunteers included: dr j brian balta visiting professor of petrology in the department of geology and geophysics; graduate students brandon geddie matthew couchman and undergraduate students samantha bowers rigoberto godinez javier romero and tamara dorgu dr ethan l grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in the department of geology and geophysics; and post-doctoral scholar dr will defliese and graduate student meagan depugh dr chrissy stover wiederwohl instructional assistant professor in the department of oceanography; and graduate students veronica ruiz xomchuk alyssa alsante noura randle ruby schaufler and elise wilbourn dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences harold j haynes chair in geosciences and professor of chemistry in the college of science; and graduate students bowen pan jiaxi hu jeremiah secrest yixin li and yun li view more photos from the event by leslie lee volunteers from the college of geosciences educating participants at the 2017 chemistry open house at texas a&m photo by elise wilbourn " "   college of geosciences outreach volunteers included: dr j brian balta visiting professor of petrology in the department of geology and geophysics; graduate students brandon geddie matthew couchman and undergraduate students samantha bowers rigoberto godinez javier romero and tamara dorgu dr ethan l grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in the department of geology and geophysics; and post-doctoral scholar dr will defliese and graduate student meagan depugh dr chrissy stover wiederwohl instructional assistant professor in the department of oceanography; and graduate students veronica ruiz xomchuk alyssa alsante noura randle ruby schaufler and elise wilbourn dr renyi zhang university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences harold j haynes chair in geosciences and professor of chemistry in the college of science; and graduate students bowen pan jiaxi hu jeremiah secrest yixin li and yun li view more photos from the event by leslie lee " volunteers from the college of geosciences educating participants at the 2017 chemistry open house at texas a&m photo by elise wilbourn " college of geosciences bestows 2017 highest honors to three exemplary recipientsoct 13 2017each distinctly renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science three award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences each recipient will be recognized on nov 10 at the college of geosciences distinguished alumni awards ceremonydr gerald north texas a&m university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography has been awarded the michel t halbouty geosciences medal as a texas a&m faculty member since 1986 and head of the department of atmospheric sciences from 1995 to 2003 north tirelessly made significant contributions to climate science communicating earth sciences to the public and the long-term success of the department the departments transformation from a conventional meteorology department to a comprehensive atmospheric science department with expertise in virtually all aspects of the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere is due in large part to his efforts said dr kenneth p bowman david bullock harris professor of geosciences in atmospheric sciences the department owes much of its current success to the commitment of dr north to academic and scientific integrity north was also a driving force behind the tropical rain measuring mission (trmm) one of the most important satellites ever launched to study the earth system said dr edward zipser university of utah atmospheric sciences professor and former texas a&m atmospheric sciences faculty member a joint effort between the us and japan trmm was a pioneering effort to understand the atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle particularly in the tropics dr north was co-creator of the project and helped lead it for the next 30 years without the leadership and persuasive powers of jerry north trmm would never have made it zipser said jerry north is a scientist of the first order who has devoted himself tirelessly to his department his college his university his profession and to the world said dr h joseph newton senior professor of statistics and retired deal of the texas a&m college of science we are very lucky he chose to come to texas a&m dr gerald north kristian siem and austin heider college of geosciences 2017 award recipients kristian siem chairman of siem industries inc an industrial holding company engaged in the oil and gas services industries ocean shipping solar farms ship building and financial investments has been recognized with the geosciences innovator award for the past three decades siem has been instrumental in the long-term success of the joides resolution research drill ship and it scientific operations which texas a&m has continually managed now through the international ocean drilling program currently a resident of london siem is known for his long-standing commitment to the joides resolution currently owned by overseas drilling ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of siem offshore he has helped ensure the international science communitys continued access to the ships capabilities said dr bradford m clement iodp director of science services and professor of geology and geophysics at texas a&m the resulting research programs have completely redefined the understanding of our planet and none of these discoveries would have been possible without a drilling platform to provide access to the subseafloor clement said the ship has been owned by various entities since the 1980s and siem was instrumental in keeping it a research vessel clement said siems innovative approach to supporting the joides resolution includes leading and prioritizing a culture of safety and professionalism actively minimizing environmental impacts and navigating complex logistical working arrangements to keep the research ship financial solvent wrote one of his award nominators austin heider division manager of remediation and assessment at w&m environmental group has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award heider received a bachelors of environmental geosciences from texas a&m in 2010 heider has been an enthusiastic eloquent and reliable partner to the environmental studies programs efforts to prepare students for successful careers said dr christian brannstrom director of environmental programs and associate dean for academic affairs in the college of geosciences through serving on career panels heider has helped students understand environmental consulting as a career path describing his projects typical workday and the skills required for success he communicates well with students and provides clear examples about the field brannstrom said heiders input on needed environmental programs curriculum changes which were implemented in 2017 was invaluable and key to these major curricular accomplishments brannstrom said he offered relevant and actionable advice drawing from his experiences in esas the environmental consulting field and as a student in our college austin is an accomplished environmental consultant whose clients routinely acknowledge the high level of interaction and support they receive from him said nic andreani pe president of w&m environmental group llc he is an impressive problem solver who is always able to address complex issues with strategy and confidence he mentors junior staff and has developed a rigorous training program to help them succeed in their careers for more details on the colleges awards read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09 the michel t halbouty geosciences medal " " dr gerald north kristian siem and austin heider college of geosciences 2017 award recipients " " this aggie oceanography student spent her summer with the us navy oct 11 2017for three sweltering months this summer  lauren replogle called the naval oceanographic office homea texas a&m department of oceanography graduate student  replogle worked in the oceanographic office  which plays a role in ocean forecasting and protecting us assets and personnel through an internship with the united states navy in mississippi the goal of that department is to provide global ocean forecasting capability using the navy ocean circulation models/hydrodynamic wave ocean circulation numerical models replogle said using those models they analyze and forecast ocean properties for the us navy scientists within the department run and maintain the ocean models collect and quality-control ocean observing data sets and prepare forecasting products that align with the navys mission objectives they also develop and maintain data basis of oceanographic observations and collect observations on oceanographic service ships that deploy oceanographic sensing devices such as gliders profiling floats and buoys she explained as a student in the science mathematics and research for transformation defense scholarship for service program (smart) a stem-focused department of defense program for undergraduate and graduate students an internship was a requirement for replogle different facilities within the department of defense hand-pick students who align with that facilities mission or goal she said the department of defense will then pay for your education and then however many years they pay for you work that amount of years back she was introduced to the program simply by walking the halls of the o&m building seeing a bulletin-board flyer and then consulting with dr don conlee an atmospheric sciences professor about the opportunity students apply for the program just as they would any other scholarship i was selected to work for the naval oceanographic office within the program said replogle that office will provide funding for my masters degree and then following that i will work two years of service in the navy although two years are required replogle plans to continue working there after those are over it's something that i really enjoy and it makes me feel like i am contributing to society and the protection of the country through the same goal as the military she said for undergraduates hoping to follow in her footsteps and attend graduate school replogle had this advice: find a professor with your research interest and ask to work under them so you can get experience in researching; and participate in undergraduate research scholars   replogle graduated in 2016 with a bachelors of science in meteorology with a minor in oceanography from texas a&m her undergraduate education helped her this summer she said by taking classes such as ocean observing systems and data methods in geosciences as well as my background in meteorology and understanding how coupled atmospheric ocean models work it gave me a full understanding of how to produce products that fit the objectives of the us navy   one of the most important things replogle learned this summer was how hard both uniformed and civilian people work to keep the country safe through oceanographic information  by taylor fuechec top: lauren replogle texas a&m university; malarie obrien coastal carolina university bottom: katie david tulane university; patrick saylor dartmouth university photo courtesy of the us navy " top: lauren replogle texas a&m university; malarie obrien coastal carolina university bottom: katie david tulane university; patrick saylor dartmouth university photo courtesy of the us navy " soil holds potential to slow global warming multi-university research team findsoct 5 2017what does soil have to do with climate changemanaged well soils ability to trap carbon dioxide is potentially much greater than previously estimated according to a stanford university-led research team that includes a texas a&m university expert they found that soil could significantly offset increasing global emissions published in an annual review of ecology evolution and systematics article and a global change biology paper their work  emphasizes the need for more research into how soil – if managed well – could mitigate a rapidly changing climate more research is needed to unlock soils potential to mitigate global warming improve crop yields and increase resilience to extreme weather the experts said dr julie loisel assistant professor in texas a&ms department of geography contributed to the research and is a co-author of the global change biology article soils are a frontier of carbon cycle science because they're deep dark heterogeneous and hard to sense with our satellites loisel said but now is a great time to rescue data tap into new technologies and build better computer models that embrace the complexity of this biological chemical mineralogical and physical enigma organic matter in soil such as decomposing plant and animal residues stores more carbon than do plants and the atmosphere combined unfortunately the carbon in soil has been widely lost or degraded through land-use changes and unsustainable forestry and agricultural practices fires nitrogen deposition and other human activities the experts said dirt is not exciting to most people said stanford earth system science professor rob jackson but it is a no-risk climate solution with big co-benefits fostering soil health protects food security and builds resilience to droughts floods and urbanization the greatest near-term threat comes from thawing permafrost in earths northern reaches which could release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere soil scientists and modelers have the knowledge and tools to reduce uncertainties pertaining to quantifying soil organic matter stocks and associated processes loisel said improving how the land is managed could increase soils carbon storage enough to offset future carbon emissions from thawing permafrost the researchers found among the possible approaches: reduced tillage year-round livestock forage and compost application planting more perennial crops instead of annuals could store more carbon and to reduce erosion by allowing roots to reach deeper into the ground  the researchers also found that about 70 percent of all sequestered carbon in the top meter of soil is in lands directly affected by agriculture grazing or forest management – an amount that surprised the authors   funding for the research came from the us department of agriculture the gordon and betty moore foundation the national science foundation the swedish research council the inter-american institute collaborative research network the comision sectorial de investigacion cientıfica and the proyecto plurianuales de investigacion the us geological survey the bolin climate research center at stockholm university the eu jpi climate consortium the us department of energy and the pacific northwest national laboratory by leslie lee in conjunction with the stanford woods institute for the environment photo courtesy of the stanford woods institute for the environment " " gift from robbie hughes establishes the dudley j hughes 51 teaching microscopy laboct 5 2017a legendary aggie geologists family has continued his legacy of excellence and generosity with the establishment of a new teaching laboratory equipped with the latest technologythanks to an incredibly generous gift by mrs robbie w hughes the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences has announced the establishment of the dudley j hughes '51 teaching microscopy lab which will be constructed in 2018 the gift was given in honor of her late husbands devotion passion and generosity for texas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics mr hughes was an acclaimed exploration geologist and celebrated philanthropist during the sept 29 2017 department open house and the re-dedication ceremony of the dudley hughes '51 lecture hall texas a&m college of geosciences interim dean dr debbie thomas announced the gift by mrs hughes the new laboratory will add significant opportunities for hands-on learning for geology and geophysics students the impact that this technology will have on each and every students future is undeniable dr thomas said our mission is to prepare the next generations thought leaders for solving the worlds most pressing issues and this teaching laboratory enables our faculty to teach and train our students specifically for their careers the impact will be immediate and transformative dr mike pope geology and geophysics department head said that the lab will be a game-changer for the department mrs robbie hughes gift provides our undergraduate students with a world-class undergraduate microscopy laboratory and will provide them with an incredible high-impact learning experience that is second to none said dr pope we are very grateful to mrs hughes for choosing to honor her husband with this outstanding gift mrs hughes recalled her beloved husbands devotion and generosity to texas a&m and praised aggies and the department during the ceremony the honesty integrity and outlook of texas a&m are second to none she said mr hughes grew up near palestine texas and graduated from texas a&m in 1951 with a bachelors degree in geology robbie received her bachelors degree from texas womans university also in 1951 and she and dudley married later that year he then served as a first lieutenant in the us army in the korean war and was awarded the bronze star medal after returning from the war mr hughes and his twin brother dan hughes started a company hughes & hughes for independent operations in mississippi mr hughes had an accomplished 40-year career in exploration geology dudley and robbie lived in jackson mississippi and also championed numerous philanthropic causes in the arts sciences and church-related organizations he received numerous professional and civic honors including a lifetime achievement recognition from the alabama oil and gas board in 1994 induction into the mississippi business hall of fame in 1996 the american association of petroleum geologists' 2008 outstanding explorer award and the 2010 colonel edwin l drake legendary oilman award honoring a lifetime of achievement with the oil and gas industry in 2010 he was given the distinguished alumni award by texas a&m university – the highest honor a former student can receive from the university mr hugues was also instrumental in the establishment of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems in 2009 the berg-hughes center was named for distinguished professor dr robert berg and for the hughes family dan a hughes and dudley hughes '51 and dan a hughes jr '80 in recognition of their generous financial support survived by his beloved wife of 64 years his two daughters vikki and cynthia and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren dudley died on april 21 2015 as aggies around the world gathered for aggie muster more details on the construction and opening of the microscopy lab will be forthcoming for more information on giving to the college of geosciences contact rachel rodriguez at rrodriguez@tamuedu or (979) 862-1730 by leslie lee view pictures from the re-dedication here: http://bitly/2drvq6c robbie and dudley hughes " " oceanographers kick into high gear to study harveys effectssep 25 2017tamu oceanographers research the effects of harvey to learn about severe environmental changesthe first major hurricane to make landfall on the united states mainland since 2005 hurricane harvey was a disaster: killing tens displacing millions and causing billions of dollars in property damage such fast severe environmental alterations also leave behind conditions that need to be studied harveys quick escalation gave texans little time to prepare: at 10 am on august 23 the weather system had no sustained winds of tropical storm force; forty-eight hours later harvey was a category 2 hurricane and strengthening that night harvey made landfall as a category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph causing storm surges in excess of six feet four technicians with the texas a&m department of oceanography affiliated geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) were caught out on the gulf of mexico repairing buoys that provide oceanographic data now the department hopes to learn from the hurricane thanks to recent funding from the federal government the national science foundation issued a dear collegues letter on sept 1 requesting proposals focusing on projects with severe urgency to address the challenges related to this storm numerous professors in the department of oceanography responded three proposals were funded and the work has already begun dr tony knap dr steve dimarco dr henry potter dr kathryn shamberger and dr piers chapman were awarded a grant for their proposal ""the impact of increased fresh water input from hurricane harvey to the water quality and stratification of coastal and offshore waters of texas"" the team will take two research cruises to study the extent of the freshwater plume coming out of galveston bay corpus christi bay and rivers such as the brazos taking real-time data onboard the ship as well as water samples for further lab analysis they will be keeping a close eye out for hypoxia which is caused by too little oxygen dissolved in the water a common late-summer phenomenon in the area that may be exacerbated by the surface freshwaters inability to mix with deeper water dr kristen thyng and dr scott socolofsky were awarded funding for their proposal measuring freshwater exports from galveston bay after hurricane harvey they with gerg postdoctoral researcher dr kerri whilden will be sampling the freshwater plume coming out of galveston bay to better understand the complex and previously unstudied dynamics when such a huge pulse of freshwater enters the bay and then the shelf they will be collaborating with dr rob hetland (tamu) and dr ben hodges (ut) the team has extensive experience modeling and hopes that their findings calibrate and validate current and future models according to the proposal they are excited to study galveston bay as it recovers from harveys extreme freshwater input and returns to its normal semi-salty state the campbell lab led by dr lisa campbell has been awarded a grant for their proposal hurricane impact on phytoplankton community dynamics and metabolic response the lab already has an imaging flowcytobot that collects automated continuous time series data of phytoplankton abundance at surfside beach on the texas coast this data will be combined with metatransciptomics or molecular information on the genes that have been expressed to provide insights on the environmental factors and metabolic responses structuring the phytoplanktonic community during the aftermath of the hurricane the researchers said that while it is feared that the frequency of extreme storms will increase with future climate change experts hope that the responses identified by this research will be valuable in predicting how such events will affect primary production – the basis of most food webs in the ocean the lead investigators of the three projects have coordinated ship time on the rv point sur from sept 22 to oct 1 and they are now out in the coastal waters of texas where this research is taking place the freshwater plume from gavleston bay black lines depict the shipping channel top data are wind and tide data image credit: dr kristen thyng " the freshwater plume from gavleston bay black lines depict the shipping channel top data are wind and tide data image credit: dr kristen thyng " as harveys huge rains flow towards fragile coral reefs this surfing robot is tracking water datasep 15 2017while you read this an unmanned wave glider surface vehicle is riding swells alone in the gulf of mexico collecting critically needed post-hurricane harvey water quality data thanks to a texas a&m university partnership with liquid robotics the wave gliders manufacturer researchers will use the gliders real-time data to examine how harveys record-breaking rainfall now flowing into the gulf will affect water quality coral reefs and ecosystems researchers call the approximately 11-trillion-gallons of freshwater flowing out of river deltas and into the gulf the freshwater plume unfortunately its potentially headed towards the fragile coral reefs in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary 100-miles off the texas coast as of sept 14 texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) researchers reported the plume had spread about 30 miles from the coast the freshwater plumes potential effects could be severe dangerously low salinity harmful algal blooms and low oxygen levels could all result and cause major harm to the corals as well as saltwater habitats fish and other organisms throughout the affected gulf area partnerships made quick deployment of gulf research vehicle possible named the gulf explorer by the research team the wave glider sv3 was deployed sept 8 from the rv manta a research ship operated by the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary which is funded by noaa gerg part of the college of geosciences at texas a&m launched the wave glider from the manta in partnership with liquid robotics the rv manta also carried its captain and crew a field engineer from liquid robotics and 17 faculty staff graduate students and undergraduate students from gerg and the college of geosciences the texas a&m chancellors research initiative also had a hand in making this research possible; the wave glider was initially purchased by gerg with funding from the initiative after hurricane harvey devastated the texas coast it became clear to gerg and liquid robotics that using an autonomous surface vehicle would be an efficient way to gather and report important real-time ocean data and understand the new impacts to the ecosystem this research effort would not have happened without the support of liquid robotics said dr steve dimarco gerg team leader for ocean observing and professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography together our rapid response to the events surrounding hurricane harvey will provide us some very useful data to understand the impacts of the flood waters as they flow out to the gulf of mexico and along the coast  we are honored to assist texas a&m on this historic mission to help oceanographers understand how parts of the gulf of mexico ecosystem are impacted by hurricane harvey added mark bindon vice president mission services at liquid robotics ""its a great example of how wave gliders are augmenting traditional oceanographic tools to help scientists gain real time insights to the changing conditions of the gulf and its tributaries"" freshwater plume extends and a pristine coral reef hangs in the balance  the researchers deployed the gulf explorer wave glider about 25 nautical miles from galveston where freshwater intrusion into the gulf was evident we were tracking extremely low salinity values very uncharacteristic for this time of year dimarco said all of the freshwater that resulted from hurricane harvey is coming out of galveston bay out of the brazos trinity and sabine rivers and all of that flows out into the gulf then impacting the coastal environment he added because such major in-flows are not typical in these parts of the gulf from those watersheds he said this much freshwater flowing out there could impact the coastal environment tremendously potentially causing low-oxygen conditions and harmful algal blooms for the next 60 days the gulf explorer wave glider will be piloted by gerg and liquid robotics personnel as it collects ocean data in a daily path around the northern gulf taking salinity and temperature measurements every 5 minutes and reporting those to the shore station every 30 minutes we are very pleased that we were able to respond so quickly to this event and with some of our new technology said dr anthony knap gerg director and professor of oceanography gerg pilots were focused on our buoyancy gliders in the eastern gulf of mexico so the offer from liquid robotics and the rapid mobilization from the gerg and oceanography team was quite extraordinary the research team is very concerned about the freshwater plumes potential negative impacts to the flower garden banks these are stunningly beautiful coral reefs that are just 100 miles south of galveston dimarco said so the fear is that if that plume makes it all the way out there it could impact the health of the coral there they are open-ocean corals that are used to high salinities; having so much freshwater come through could stress those corals and lead to bleaching and mortality this could put the flower garden banks in jeopardy he said view this photo album for more images from the wave glider's deployment by leslie lee the gulf explorer wave glider sv3 in the gulf of mexico " " texas eyes and ears in the gulf of mexico: state-funded buoy system streamed real-time harvey data to shoresep 8 2017when a hurricane is rolling towards land accurate real-time data can be a matter of life and deathwater temperature water density wave height such data helps validate forecast models and inform governmental agencies work notifying communities and protecting residents  thanks to the texas general land office (glo) and texas a&m university a system of eight enormous buoys in the gulf of mexico was providing that essential real-time in-the-water data to decision-makers before and after hurricane harvey made land-fall  the texas automated buoy system (tabs) is funded and supported by glo which is led by texas land commissioner george p bush although its primary purpose is to collect measurements and data for oil-spill trajectory modelling off the texas coast the buoy system is also an invaluable source of information when a tropical storm is barreling through the gulf not only does data from the tabs network flow into noaas national data buoy center and into national weather service forecast models its also used by glo to keep texas residents and responders safe in the fulfillment of our mission to protect the texas coast we rely on the tabs network as our first line of defense as it utilizes remote sensing equipment and gives us real-time data on currents and other metrological conditions said steve buschang glo director of research and development and scientific support coordinator the buoy network is built maintained and operated by the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) in the college of geosciences at texas a&m the tabs buoy system is really the eyes and ears for texas in the gulf said dr steve dimarco gerg team leader for ocean observing and professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography tabs has been protecting texans and the texas coast 24/7 since 1995 when responding to disasters such as hurricanes glo provides personnel teams equipment and transport for livestock and wildlife buschang said the tabs data helps glo first get those assets and teams out of harms way and then helps inform their response and relief actions after the storm  in situations such as the passage of hurricanes the hydrodynamic models i normally use to track and anticipate where oil debris and other contaminates may be going are of limited use he said it is imperative to have these robust in-situ remote sensors giving us real-time accurate accounting of what is happening  the buoys send in ocean current and wave height data that is not obtainable otherwise oil spill trajectory models hurricane trajectory models all models need verification and the bathymetry of the gulf of mexico can sometimes confound computer models said dr anthony knap gerg director and professor of oceanography ocean currents off the texas coast can be highly variable he said you can view a very nice satellite image showing exactly what a hurricane looks like and the eye location everything but what we want to know is what are the ocean currents doing dimarco said and without the tabs buoys we wouldnt know during hurricane harvey one of buoys reported 25-foot waves the gerg team was especially interested in that buoys dataset because a gerg maintenance team unexpectedly had to ride out the storm in their ship near that buoy we knew our crew had weathered 25-foot seas because they were sitting right by buoy b and the buoy was registering 25-foot waves dimarco said the buoys responded just incredibly; you could instantaneously tell where the hurricane and the high-intensity winds were by looking at the data knap added long-term funding commitments for these types of monitoring systems are not common so the state of texas is very fortunate that glo sees the value of it and supports it by leslie lee eight tabs buoys collect data in the gulf of mexico photo courtesy of gerg " eight tabs buoys collect data in the gulf of mexico photo courtesy of gerg " this texas a&m crew weathered hurricane harvey at seasep 5 2017on monday aug 21 as the sky dimmed in texas and the whole country paused to watch a solar eclipse a crew of buoy technicians from texas a&m university embarked out of port arthur on a routine cruise into the gulf of mexico to repair and replace data-collection buoysby friday their expedition had become anything but routine as part of the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) in the college of geosciences at texas a&m the crew was responsible for servicing a system of eight enormous buoys doing an important job in the gulf: sending real-time ocean data to state agencies on-shore gerg operates the texas automated buoy system (tabs) funded and supported by the texas general land office (glo) which is led by texas land commissioner george p bush the buoy system is designed to collect measurements and data for aiding in oil-spill trajectory modelling off the texas coast but because tabs works constantly it is also quite helpful when a tropical storm starts churning through the gulf and forecasters need real-time data four of the eight tabs buoys were on the crews service schedule as it embarked monday after losing some functionality of one of the ships four engines that day the team continued on through the gulf and finished repairing and replacing buoys the gerg crew included: marty bohn willie flemings shawn jarnagin and adam luedke mid-week tropical storm harvey quickly accelerated into a major hurricane with ports closing and one of the ships engines weakened they could not outrun the storm and had no choice but to weather it luedke said that the ship chartered for this cruise the brooks mccall operated by tdi brooks headed to the flower gardens area to ride out the storm we spent the next several days dancing with a hurricane out in the gulf bouncing around weathering 25-foot waves jarnagin said the ships very experienced captain first mate and chief engineer privately contracted by gerg made the safe voyage possible navigating the storm and keeping the gerg crew safe bohn said for the most part this was a typical buoy cruise that ended with a hurricane bohn added but we all made it back healthy and we all made it back safe were already planning the next one weve got two buoys that were impacted by the storm which are not working after bearing the brunt of harvey and were trying to figure out how to get back out there meanwhile glo staff on-shore were using the tabs-gathered data said steve buschang glo director of research and development and scientific support coordinator throughout hurricane harveys passage we monitored these sensors to help us better direct assets and predict impacts buschang said we applaud the dedication of the gerg team and crew of the brooks mccall and sincerely appreciate their service to the mission our thoughts were continually with them while they were at sea and we are very happy for their safe return tabs is an essential observing system for the state and keeping it functioning is very important said dr anthony knap gerg director and professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography the dedication of the gerg team to providing service to the glo the state of texas and texas a&m university is commendable and we greatly appreciate their efforts he said the experiences we had during the hurricane are good examples of the challenges we face to collect observations in the open ocean reflected dr steve dimarco gerg team leader for ocean observing and professor of oceanography the performance of our technicians at sea is a testament to their tenacity getting a job done that provides important information that helps protect texans lives"" to see the tabs real-time data go to tabsgergtamuedu by leslie lee in the midst of hurricane harvey the gerg crew weathered 25-foot waves " " harvey could knock-out power for 125 million texans texas a&m expert saysaug 24 2017as the middle texas coast braces for hurricane harveys landfall forecast models show that the storm could leave at least 125 million texans without powerour model is forecasting that a significant number of utility customers along the middle texas coast and south central texas including corpus christi san antonio and victoria will experience outages said dr brent mcroberts of texas a&m universitys department of geography in the college of geosciences who is part of the research team that runs the model the national hurricane center (nhc) updated harvey to a hurricane thursday describing the storm as intensifying rapidly and predicting its landfall near rockport texas just north of corpus christi either late friday evening or early saturday morning storm surge high winds and flooding are likely called the spatially generalized hurricane outage prediction model the research teams model uses nhc hurricane data such as eye location and wind speed and duration along with environmental variables for each location – elevation land cover soil moisture drought indices tree and vegetation characteristics and population densities to compute a statistical outage forecast power outages are often highly correlated with wind speed mcroberts said the models latest prediction shows approximately 420 000 power customers losing power which would total 125 million total people affected in those residences typically hurricane-related outages are caused by downed power lines which result from strong winds or trees getting entangled with the lines he explained strong winds will blow over both the powerlines and the trees the forecast model has been developed over a decade at texas a&m the university of michigan and johns hopkins university and the research team now includes mcroberts dr seth guikema and sara shashaani of the university of michigan and dr steven quiring of the ohio state university   texas utilities use the research teams forecast to prepare for tropical storms and hurricanes and following the storms they then provide the research team with the actual outage data which the team uses to refine and improve the model its a mutually beneficial relationship that helps the utilities keep residents and businesses informed and also helps the researchers keep the model accurate mcroberts said before hurricane sandy caused devastating damage in october 2012 the model accurately predicted the number of power outages it would cause in the us he said and the team has continued to refine and improve it since for up-to-date power outage forecasts see the models website which is updated about every 6 hours with the latest data and for more detailed information about the model see this journal article by: leslie lee  outage forecast based on the national hurricane center official track and intensity forecast " outage forecast based on the national hurricane center official track and intensity forecast " renovations of dudley hughes '51 lecture hallaug 23 2017this summer the department of geology and geophysics has been overseeing the renovation of the dudley hughes 51 lecture hall also known as room 101 within the halbouty geosciences buildingtexas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics invested a million dollars into the renovation that will include making the room look nearly as it did when the building underwent original construction including a decorative stenciled ceiling the media in the lecture hall will also undergo an update during the renovation the halbouty building originally named the petroleum engineering and geology building was constructed in 1932 the buildings intricate and highly ornate architectural details include tile mosaics and cast stone sculptural details typical of designs by samuel c p vosper who designed 10 of the original texas a&m campus buildings the building features castings of seashells pebble mosaics and recessed doors with iron grillwork a heroic panel over the side entrance symbolizes petroleum exploration while mexican tile adorns the buildings front exterior other cast stone figures and mosaics in the building also reflect mexican architecture the original t-shaped building had a central tower with an octagonal art-deco dome that disguised a water tank used to maintain pressure in the campus heating system the building underwent massive renovations in 1972 when the tower was removed for safety reasons and a 60 000-square-foot addition to the building was completed the building was renamed as the geosciences building in 1977 for michel t halbouty class of 1930 a successful geologist and petroleum engineer in 1997 the dudley hughes 51 lecture hall underwent renovations which included the addition of modern educational technologies such as a smart lectern and surround sound now twenty years after the most recent renovation to the lecture hall every effort is being made to preserve the historical characteristic of the room including the beautiful stained glass windows that depict mineral classes and other characteristics that were hidden during the last renovation this renovation will end before classes begin this fall 2017 semester the department of geology and geophysics will host a re-dedication ceremony of the dudley hughes 51 lecture hall on september 29 2017 at 4 pm during the department open house to rsvp for the re-dedication ceremony please click here   please click here to view pictures of the halbouty building and how it has changed over time (photos courtesy of the texas a&m cushing library and spirit magazine)  image of the michel t halbouty building " " center for tectonophysics' 50th anniversaryaug 22 2017october 2017 marks the 50th anniversary for the center for tectonophysicsthe center for tectonophysics is an interdisciplinary research group initiated in 1967 for dual purposes: to undertake basic and applied research of both natural and induced rock deformation processes and the broad range of geologic structures formed and to provide research support training and mentoring of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows pursuing advanced studies in the area of tectonophysics the john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation is the centerpiece of the research program and provides a variety of experimental systems allowing study of deformation and transport behavior of rock at physical and chemical states simulating surface to upper mantle conditions the laboratory is equipped with more than a dozen testing machines to deform rock and measure physical properties controlled environment chambers sensors and digital data acquisition systems a rock repository sample preparation equipment and a machine shop graduate students visiting scientists research scientists and faculty use the laboratory for research and teaching activities the center also manages the mel friedman petrofabrics laboratory and sowers library to support teaching and research activities the friedman laboratory is dedicated to the study of deformation textures of naturally and experimentally deformed rocks to celebrate the many achievements in education research and service over the past 50 years the center will host a variety of activities over the 2017-2018 academic year more information about the celebration and center for tectonophysics is at their website: https://tectonotamuedu/ graduate students with dr fredrick chester dr judith chester dr ben duan dr patrick fulton and dr hiroko kitajima on a field trip while at the southern california earthquake center (scec) for an annual meeting " graduate students with dr fredrick chester dr judith chester dr ben duan dr patrick fulton and dr hiroko kitajima on a field trip while at the southern california earthquake center (scec) for an annual meeting " dr hiroko kitajimaaug 22 2017dr hiroko kitajima joined texas a&ms faculty in 2014 as an assistant professor working with the center for tectonophysicsdr hiroko kitajima was born in fukuoka japan and completed her undergraduate degree in japan at kyoto university her undergraduate advisor dr toshihiko shimamoto was an a&m alumnus and suggested kitajima attend texas a&m to pursue her graduate degree kitajima attended texas a&m for her phd and worked with dr frederick chester and dr judith chester in the center for tectonophysics upon completing her phd kitajima attended penn state as a post-doctoral researcher and then worked for two years at the geological survey of japan in 2014 kitajima joined texas a&ms faculty as an assistant professor dr kitajimas research interests include experimental rock deformation with emphasis on the physics of earthquakes specifically in subduction zones her research focuses on experimental rock and soil mechanics to characterize the hydromechanical properties of rocks and sediments deformed at different pressure temperature and strain rate conditions with the aim of better understanding a wide range of geological problems dr kitajima combines lab experimental work with numerical modeling geophysical data and field work including ocean/continental drilling projects her current research focuses on understanding the interaction between sediment/rock deformation and fluid flow under complicated loading conditions associated with earthquakes in subduction zones and the micromechanics of compaction and shear deformation and on granular materials at high strain rates and high pressures kitajima has had previous funding through one nsf grant (nsf-margins postdoctoral fellowship) and two japan society for the promotion of science (jsps) grants kitajimas current funding comes from a national science foundation (nsf) grant which she will use to hire a post-doc (tamara jeppson from the university of wisconsin-madison) starting this october dr kitajimas research was published in various geophysical and geological journals kitajima currently has one doctoral student and one msc student working with hertwo undergraduate students working with her graduated this past may kitajima and her phd both attended the last agu conference in san francisco and at the southern california earthquake center (scec) meeting last year kitajimas phd student also attended the workshop on feedbacks among climate erosion and tectonics (facet) both her phd and undergraduate students presented at the departments research symposium hosted by the geology and geophysics graduate student council (gggsc) dr kitajimas future projects include sailing for the international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 375 with a team of scientists to study the hikurangi subduction zone off new zealand from march to may 2018 the best documented shallow slow-slip events occur about every two years at the northern hikurangi subduction margin in new zealand iodp expedition 375 will investigate the processes and in situ conditions that underlie the subduction zone slow-slip events this will be done by coring various sections of the continental plate and plate margin as the tectonics of this area of new zealand are not known well present-day new zealand broke away from australia and antarctica about 80 million years ago and since then the underwater continent half the size of australia known as zealandia or the worlds ‘lost 8th continent has more than 90 percent of the continental crust underwater unlike other continents slow-slip events involve transient aseismic slip on a fault at a rate intermediate between plate boundary displacement rates and rates required to generate seismic waves where a cycle can last anywhere from weeks to months expedition 375 will provide slow slip cycle information on changes in deformation rate and associated physical and chemical properties surrounding the slow-slip event source area and borehole observatories will be installed to monitor other processes during a slow-slip event cycle in her spare time dr hiroko kitajima enjoys swimming cooking and traveling reference: https://iodptamuedu/scienceops/expeditions/hikurangi_subduction_marginhtml dr hiroko kitajima assistant professor at texas a&m university " " 2017 geologic field campaug 21 2017the largest geologic field camp in department history occurred this past summerthe 2017 geologic field camp had 75 students participating in the montana dorm field camp and 22 students in each of the two traveling field camps coming to a grand total of almost 120 undergraduate students completing their field camp this summer students mapped the geology around dillon montana for four weeks while the traveling field camps also completed maps in utah our undergraduate students utilize various geologic mapping techniques such as taking strikes and dips utilizing steronets taking bearings and more we give a special thanks to the support of chevron as they provided student scholarships to make field camp more affordable click here to check out these pictures of the 2017 the montana field camp (taken by dr patrick fulton and teaching assistant cristina figueroa) student taking strike and dip of rock unit during montana geologic field camp (photo credit: dr patrick fulton) " student taking strike and dip of rock unit during montana geologic field camp (photo credit: dr patrick fulton) " oceanographers monitor east flower garden bank in gulf of mexicoaug 10 2017tamu oceanographers undertake two-month ocean acidification monitoring deployment at a coral reef in the gulf of mexicocollege station july 11 2017  lying silently off the texas cost under about 70 feet of clear blue gulf water rests a beautiful coral reef the rigs that pepper the surrounding horizon are abandoned but the east flower garden bank of the remains a popular destination for recreational divers and has long piqued the interest of scientists the federal government instituted the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary in 1992 but researchers from around the country especially texas a&m university have been interested far longer according to professor niall slowey of tamus oceanography department at least 32 banks valleys and other features in the gulf of mexico have been named after the tamu professors and students who studied them it was a team of tamu oceanographers that did all the pioneering work and studies that led the flower gardens to be added to the national sanctuary system slowey pointed out the current scientific studies conducted by at the flower garden banks included a two-month monitoring period this summer a team led by slowey designed fabricated and deployed a system of six sensors to measure important water parameters directly at the coral reef every two hours the sensors recorded the state of a variety of conditions: salinity temperature pressure dissolved oxygen ph sunlight intensity dissolved organic matter turbidity and chlorophyll-a from these parameters the scientists will study physical processes – water mass mixing carbonate saturation remineralization seasonal temperature trends etc – and biological processes like photosynthesis respiration and calcification sanctuary staff from the local noaa office assisted with getting the scientific instruments installed at and removed from the study site though unfortunate that i was not sufficiently certified to scuba down and see our sensors at the reef itself im deeply grateful to the professionally trained divers from noaa said graduate student vance nygard who works on the project and accompanied the sensors during deployment and retrieval cruises their extensive expertise and impeccable character made each cruise easy and enjoyable one of the major topics in the oceanographic community right now is ocean acidification by analyzing this whole suite of variables over different timeframes we hope to gain a first-hand look at how conditions are typically and how theyre changing at this valuable coral reef nygard said the flower garden banks have long been among the healthiest and broadly representative coral reefs we have unfortunately there have been some big morality events over the past few years hopefully this project will bolster our understanding of conditions at the reef and assist protection efforts the research group hopes to deploy their instruments again supplementing them with a buoy equipped with additional sensors by monitoring the surface conditions simultaneously they plan on studying the extent that vertical mixing and atmospheric conditions affect the reef once the whole system is deployed i hope a hurricane comes through mused nygard his eyes twinkling well have a solid baseline of data [with which] to compare those changes it certainly would make for a more interesting masters thesis " " divya saxena trains at nsfs national lacustrine core facility in umn aug 8 2017exploration drilling and coring of near- and sub- surface earth materials is a conventional practice widely employed in all allied fields of geo-sciences the scientific technique of field acquisition of geologic material for research purpose involves meticulous planning and execution of an array of protocols to maximize recovery and make specific measurements while on board the drilling platformgeology phd student divya saxena spent two weeks of her summer in minneapolis mn to train in continental scientific drilling and coring as part of national science foundations drilling & coring summer program jointly coordinated by the continental scientific drilling coordination office (csdco) and national lacustrine core facility (laccore) hosted by university of minnesota divya was selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants to participate in the two-week comprehensive hands-on training program  the continental scientific drilling consortium is a large entity that facilitates coring of lacustrine and related deposits in continental basins across the world with support from nsf icdp csdco and regional funding agencies the primary role of the drilling coordination office is to offer integrated support to scientific parties in planning and coordinating their drilling projects by providing field equipment instrumentation man-power core processing facilities as well as core archival at laccores repository said divya the training began with an overview of mission and functionalities of the continental drilling consortium and a walking tour of the core processing facilities and instruments housed at laccore participants spend the next couple days doing field-work on lake gervais in little canada mn drilling through and catching (ie coring) recent-holocene age lacustrine deposits from two laterally co-relatable drill-sites our days on lake gervais started early and ended with a serene view of dusk over the rugged topography craved by the laurentide icesheet we systematically cored the sediments using a variety of laccore-customized drilling and coring tools that are specific to drilling depth and site characteristics explains divya  field acquisition of material was followed by detailed laboratory analysis and initial core description which involves splitting the cores open running the archival half of core through the geotek multisensor core logger (mscl) for magnetic susceptibility measurements high-resolution digital imaging macroscopic lithological description and initial correlation using digital programs a stop on lake superior during a weekend trip to the x-ray fluorescence (xrf) facility at university of minnesota – duluth campus was a much-needed break from the hectic training schedule besides training in continental drilling participants visited the fond du lac reservation of native americans and their resource management center in cloquet mn to learn about the indigenous ojibwe band their wetland management practices wild rice (manoomin) cultivation and consideration of wild rice as a sacred component in tribal cultural ceremonies as well as for healthy sustenance appreciating the history of tribal reservation in the region ancient philosophies of the ojibwe people their dependence on the annual harvest of aquatic grass which is native to great lakes region and understanding the interplay of geologic setting and historic fe-mining in mesabi iron range on manoomin yield was thoroughly insightful and an invaluable learning experience reports divya most importantly i was inspired to see how the local tribal community has partnered with the scientific community in minnesota to better understand factors such as elevated sulfate concentration in lake waters that adversely influence wild rice growth  scientific pursuit doesnt culminate at reporting findings and results in journals; new developments should have positive impact on societies and populations at large representatives from the ojibwe band are actively advocating policy amendments based on research findings to limit unprecedented mining and waste dumping that releases sulfate into the environment which eventually finds its way to the lakes where wild rice grows saxena says that the training is instrumental in furthering her graduate career she is empowered with new skills that she learned at laccores exemplary summer training program and motivated from her interaction at fond du lac resource center i am driven to conduct impactful research that has a significant bearing on improving livelihood of humans with tangible results and policy changes clock-wise from top-left: (1) a section of sediment core from lake gervais with conspicuous annual laminations (light & dark bands) (2) divya seen taking a frost-bitter slab from one of the recovered cores (3) graduate students coring at lake gervais little canada mn (4) phd student divya at dead fish lake fond du lac reservation with incipient wild rice growth " " clock-wise from top-left: (1) a section of sediment core from lake gervais with conspicuous annual laminations (light & dark bands) (2) divya seen taking a frost-bitter slab from one of the recovered cores (3) graduate students coring at lake gervais little canada mn (4) phd student divya at dead fish lake fond du lac reservation with incipient wild rice growth " " new director for the chevron basin modeling center of excellencejul 31 2017the chevron basin modeling center of research excellence (cbm-core) is pleased to announce the appointment of dr mauro becker as the new director the cbm-core is part of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systemsdr becker brings three decades of scientific and technologic experience in the petroleum industry where he had the opportunity to develop in geologic operation research teaching and managerial positions most of the time for the brazilian noc petrobras he worked onshore and offshore in brazilian basins and the gulf of mexico in business units and corporate head quarters as well as at the companys corporate university and its research center dr becker holds a doctorate degree in geology from the university of texas at austin dr andrea miceli-romero is a new research professor for the centers team dr miceli-romero likewise comes from the petroleum industry and has a doctorate degree in organic geochemistry and petroleum system analysis at the university of oklahoma she has research interests in petroleum systems analysis organic geochemistry and basin modeling of unconventional resources in 2013 chevron funded a research and teaching center of excellence in the berg-hughes center focused on basin modeling the multi-year graduate program has been developing next-generation basin modelers and advancing research in petroleum system and basin analysis and modeling research focus is on the understanding modelling and simulating of the fundamental controls in the generation retention and expulsion migration and accumulation of hydrocarbons in unconventional and hybrid systems from source to trap in a variety of basin settings and play types such as the lower permian in the delaware basin west texas equipped with state-of-art hardware and software the center uses industry-standard modeling software platforms to integrate data from production petroleum engineering organic and inorganic geochemistry rock-fluid interactions fluid properties tectonics sedimentology geophysics petrophysics and stratigraphy to perform basin and petroleum systems analyses modeling and simulation the chevron basin modeling center supports five graduate candidate students working in areas as diverse as organic-inorganic geochemistry seismic signals gravimetry - magnetometry petroleum systems modeling and simulation (mass balance) and petroleum engineering with direct application to the objective of the center nowadays as the petroleum industry faces great economic hardships advanced scientific and technologic innovations as well as graduate professionals such as the ones under development in the cbm-core can make a great difference in the effectiveness of current and future exploration and production projects dr mauro becker director of the chevron basin modeling center of research excellence " dr mauro becker director of the chevron basin modeling center of research excellence " berg-hughes center funding awardsjul 31 2017congratulations to the following students who will be receiving funding for the 2017-2018 academic year from the berg-hughes center we would like to acknowledge the donors in addition to bp who have generously supported these scholarships and fellowshipsthis years awardees and current thesis/dissertation titles are: phd students matthew couchman (bp fellowship)     controlled source electromagnetic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing clyde findlay     paleohydraulics sorting and sediment mixing in an alluvial-fluvial-eolian system – permian cutler group paradox basin utah and colorado  madison pike     volcanic controls on carbonate forcing in the eagle ford shale and equivalent rocks justin estep     seismic evolution of oceanic crust in the south atlantic ocean   msc students zihui gao    the temporal evolution of the sediment sources into the delaware basin of west texas howard naylor     thermal history of the delaware basin using carbonate clumped isotope thermometry ana cristina figueroa     influence of pore types on the petrophysical properties of carbonate rocks and seismic monitoring of co2 in carbonates james dobbs     investigation of expert geoscientists' behavior attention and feature evaluation " " meet allayne babinjul 31 2017allayne babin holds the business associate ii position for the department of geology & geophysicsallaynes responsibilities are to verify and reconcile all account transactions within the college of geosciences as well as manage the department payment cards and compiles backups for card reconciliation allayne also provides staff support for the full range of accounting budget and personnel functions allayne serves as the building proctor assistant for the halbouty building manages after-hours building access and coordinates building repairs allayne also assists with handling equipment and inventory for the department and surplus unused property allayne has worked at texas a&m university since april 2015 where he was a student worker in the advising office for a year and a half and has worked as a business associate for almost half a year allayne enjoys working at texas a&m university and being able to interact with both faculty and students he is attending mays business school for a master of science in business this year and hopes to continue to earn a phd in business administration and then to work as a professor and administrator at a university in his spare time allayne enjoys spending time with family and friends cooking working out and teaching his cat tricks allayne babin business associate ii for the department of geology & geophysics " allayne babin business associate ii for the department of geology & geophysics " undergraduate researchers observe the ocean in intensive summer research programjul 13 2017ten undergraduates spend the summer with oceanography dept researching in the laboratory and on the ocean photo credit: dr darren henrichs college station tx undergraduate students from around the country have converged at texas a&m university's department of oceanography and geochemical and environmental research group for the research experiences for undergraduates program observing the ocean they join the first-rate faculty staff and graduate students to dive into an intense summer of research this year ten students are immersed in summer research throughout the department: lauren castanon from california state university monterey bay is working on the assessment of sources of chromophoric dissolved organic materials to galveston bay via emission-excitation florescence with her mentor:  professor gerardo gold-bouchot amanda ceroli from university of north carolina at wilmington joins her mentors professor ping chang and dr jaison kurian on the assessment of coupled model skill in simulating coastal winds in the gulf of mexico cassidy gonzalez-morabito from rutgers university is working with her mentor dr kristen thyng on the analysis of hydrodynamic impact induced by tidal turbine arrays cameron henderson from university of south carolina is studying the carbonate chemistry of galveston bay with dr katie shamberger charles holmes from james madison university works with dr jason sylvan on understanding the growth of microbial exopolymers in response to oil and dispersants ashley king from university of connecticut is working on determining anthropogenic contribution to methyl halides in galveston bay with her mentor dr shari yvon-lewis madeline neuhaus from boston university is studying the evolution of the kuroshio current: an examination of planktonic foraminiferal biogeography during the miocene with dr yige zhang diana sandoval from bryn mawr college is conducting a study of interannual changes in hypoxia at the flower garden banks and the texas coast with dr henry potter alyssa van doorn from rowan university is studying polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contamination in the benthic marine environment surrounding mcmurdo and palmer stations antarctica with her mentor dr andrew klein andrew whitesell from north carolina state university is examining exopolymer formation by phytoplankton in relation to marine aerosols with his mentor dr daniel thornton the summer research experience includes not only quality time in the laboratory with their research mentors but these undergraduates got their feet wet in active field work during a research cruise in the gulf of mexico aboard the r/v pelican over three days on the water the students experienced a multidisciplinary oceanography adventure visiting sabine bank and the flower garden banks coral reefs and seeing the autonomous glider stommel be deployed this cruise was funded by the national science foundation communication is an integral part of the scientific endeavor so each student gives multiple presentations to the rest of the cohort during the summer working and conversing with the faculty and current graduate students provides inquisitive undergraduates unique insight into graduate school and the life of a research scientist more information on the reu program can be found on the texas a&m oceanography website the oto facebook page the oto blog or by contacting dr lisa campbell director of reu observing the ocean applications for summer 2018s reu program will be available december 1 2017 by: vance nygard " " oceanography phd candidate engages policy crash course in dcjul 11 2017college station july 11 2017 doctoral candidate andrea kealoha discusses her science policy experience in dc over the summerdesigning and conducting experiments interpreting data and integrating criticisms (ie the scientific method) while certainly challenging is not the culmination of scientific truth per se if new scientific developments are going to have tangible effects on society then communicating findings clearly and confidently is key oceanography phd candidate andrea kealoha of maui hawaii spent two weeks of her summer in washington dc to explore the policy side of the scientific endeavor through the science outside the lab workshop with funding assistance from texas a&m university system – alliance for graduate education and the professoriate (tamus agep) program supported by the national science foundation one of the major career fields for scientists is policy making: engaging politicians regulators activists and lobbyists on scientific issues each day federal employees and experts from the private nonprofit and consulting sectors shared the goals experiences and insights with attendees much of the learning came through thoughtful questions posed by kealoha and compatriots after all communication is a two-way street among the most time-consuming and complex topics covered at the workshop was the federal budget and how it relates to research and development the participants got a crash course in understanding past budgets how theyve changed over time and the players involved in the budget process it was especially interesting given the new administration kealoha said for example the trump administration has made funding the department of defense a priority but has left the office of science and technology policy greatly understaffed compared to the obama years being confident in what we know and cultivating the ability to communicate were the major themes of the experience with new scientific contacts from around the nation and a first-hand look at the national science policy discussion kealoha is more invigorated than ever to conduct good research and tell the world about it we need to communicate our research in a way that policy makers can then create specific tangible policies if nobody understands us then what we do isnt worthwhile *any opinions findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the national science foundation* update: this article was updated to include funding source and nsf disclaimer by: vance nygard doctoral candidate andrea kealoha on the ocean " " though not a hurricane cindy can pack a big punchjun 22 2017college station june 21 2017 – it doesnt take a hurricane to cause problems from a storm and many residents along the gulf coast may be about to find that out the hard way  tropical storm cindy formed just a few days ago is expected to make landfall thursday and it could bring a strong punch despite its non-hurricane status says a texas a&m university expertrobert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m and a severe storms expert says cindy could still have a major impact despite maximum winds of only 45 to 50 miles per hour the biggest threat from this tropical storm is likely to be heavy rain  it isn't moving fast and it has a large area of thunderstorms on its eastern side so rain totals could reach as high as 10 inches in localized pockets explains korty i don't expect much heavy weather to the west of where its center passes so if the current forecast holds i think we are unlikely to see much in this area other than the possibility of some rain  louisiana and states farther east should get some good rain totals from this cindy may be remembered best for when she formed it is not every year that tropical storms develop in june and this is very early in the season for the third named storm to have formed even rarer is when two tropical storms form at the same time  tropical storm bret formed about the same time as cindy and it is now making its way through the caribbean  that marks only the third time in the last 100 years that two atlantic storms existed at the same time in the month of june – in 1909 1959 and 1968 according to weather records with texas experiencing another mild winter and warm spring water temperatures in the gulf could be a concern  water temperatures across most of the tropical atlantic are running a little warmer than average which may help this season be more active than average says korty  however they are actually running slightly cooler than usual in the northern gulf  we do not expect cindy to become a hurricane  the storm will continue to face strong wind shear between now and the time it reaches the texas and louisiana coast the last hurricane to hit texas was ike which killed 74 people in the state caused $30 billion in damage and ruined the lives of thousands and it was only a category 2 storm when it hit on sept 13 of 2008 ### this is posted on texas a&m today media contact: media contact: robert korty at (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu or robyn blackmon  communications manager at  (979) 845-6324 or robyn blackmon@tamu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu " " texas a&m storm expert: minor hurricanes are still capable of major damagemay 31 2017with hurricane season starting june 1 its interesting to note that the united states has now gone 12 years – the longest period on record – without a major hurricane making landfall but thats a bit deceiving because if its one thing weve learned in recent years is that it doesnt take a major hurricane to cause major damage says a texas a&m university severe storms expertrobert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m notes that its a combination of pure luck and favorable weather conditions that have prevented a category 3 storm (winds of at least 111 miles per hour) from striking the us hurricane wilma was the last to hit and the category 3 storm pummeled the florida and the southeast on oct 24 2005 on average the houston-galveston area gets hit by a major storm every 15 years its mainly the luck of the draw korty explains weve been pretty lucky ever since the mid-2000s when there were so many storms that made landfall especially around 2004 to 2005 weve had some strong el niños (warmer than usual waters in the central pacific ocean that tend to influence weather patterns around the world) and its true that when those occur storms are a less likely to form in the atlantic but last years el niño has weakened considerably we will have to watch and see what develops over the next couple of months in 2005 much of the gulf coast area was devastated by a series of storms that included dennis katrina rita and wilma those combined storms killed more than 4 000 people and caused more than $150 billion in damages and its the only year on record when four major hurricanes hit the us but a storm doesnt have to be major to be deadly texans will never forget hurricane ike which killed 74 people in the state caused $30 billion in damage and ruined the lives of thousands and it was only a category 2 storm when it hit on sept 13 of 2008 likewise residents of the east coast will never forget superstorm sandy in 2012 which barely made hurricane status as it formed in the caribbean and skirted numerous atlantic states and eventually killed over 230 people in eight countries before causing $75 billion in damage the second costliest storm in us history behind katrina if you look at the number of hurricanes that form around the world its been pretty close to average over the last 10 years or so korty says weve had several storms in recent years that have not been especially intense but they have created a lot of damage especially coastal flooding in many areas hurricane matthew last year is a good example it formed as a category 5 storm in the lower caribbean and then weakened before it skirted the coast of georgia florida and the carolinas in 2016 and did all sorts of damage i think the message is that we have to pay attention to every storm that forms and see how it develops even the smaller storms can be devastating by keith randall texas a&m university marketing and communications ### this story is posted on texas a&m today media contact: robert korty at (979) 847-9090  or korty@tamuedu or robyn blackmon  communications manager at  (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu  texans will never forget hurricane ike which killed 74 people in the state caused $30 billion in damage and ruined the lives of thousands and it was only a category 2 storm when it hit on sept 13 of 2008 (credit: noaa environmental visualization laboratory) " texans will never forget hurricane ike which killed 74 people in the state caused $30 billion in damage and ruined the lives of thousands and it was only a category 2 storm when it hit on sept 13 of 2008 (credit: noaa environmental visualization laboratory) " tamu gis graduate and air force veteran takes his experience to chevronmay 23 2017paul barth 17 discusses his journey as a transfer student in the college of geosciencesevery aggie has their own journey many grow up knowing about aggieland from the time they are born while others grow to know about it in time some travel more unconventional paths to get here paul barth 17 of las vegas nevada did not take the common path to becoming an aggie but in may of 2017 he walked away with his degree aggie ring and a job with one of the largest companies in the world prior to landing in aggieland paul spent 4 years in the united states air force as a geospatial intelligence analyst – and that is where his journey to texas a&m began in the air force paul analyzed drone video feed and satellite imagery thats what got me interested in gis (geographic information science) he explained i didnt know what gis was prior to that i really loved my job in the air force paul knew he wanted to work in the oil & gas industry and that played a major role in drawing him to texas a&m the gis program (at texas a&m) looked great – and its close to houston where oil & gas is centered i knew that would be a great opportunity for me he said but paul did not make the move on his own he also has a wife and two kids which meant paul had to balance his time even more than the typical aggie student its definitely doable he added my advice for people with families who are starting out as aggies is to make sure you keep some time just for them having a family also meant paul needed to support them in addition to keeping up with his degree program one thing that really helped me since i had to work to support my family was getting a job on campus working for a professor in the chevron basin modeling center with the college of geosciences berg-hughes center – doing something related to my degree that helped solidify the things i learned in class and better develop my skills that was definitely a blessing for me paul said having a busy schedule with work class and family did not stop paul from making the most of his opportunities he attended texas a&ms gis day and acquired an internship with conocophillips in the summer of 2015 he worked as a gis analyst embedded on land teams – dealing with leases property rights drilling rights and permits i loved it he added paul was able to take that experience and secure a full-time position with chevron in houston where he will work as a geospatial analyst but it was not just the classes and internship experience that helped paul get to this point my favorite part of my gis degree were the projects that i got to work on in class theyre real-life projects that someone would do after they get out of school i also really enjoyed the gis events that a&m puts together like gis day he explained i like the relationship a&m has with people in the (oil & gas) industry it provides students the opportunity to network with professionals and learn how to become one when they graduate networking with other people in his field was crucial for paul i also joined the association of petroleum surveying & geomatics (apsg) and helped lead the texas a&m apsg student chapter he added i go to their meetings every 6 months in houston ive been able to network with people there and learn a lot more about the industry i think thats been key to my success in getting a good job at chevron in his time in the college of geosciences at texas a&m paul discovered what it took to set himself apart from his peers – and he embraced it in order to be successful i would tell students to get involved with as much as they can outside of the classroom go to all the events at gis day network with people talk to everyone ask them questions get involved with organizations like geography society or apsg develop relationships with your professors outside of the classroom he explained an important part of my successes were the professors in the college of geosciences one of pauls professors dan goldberg had this to say:""paul is definitely one of the success stories of our gis program he took every opportunity that texas a&m offered and ran with them his hard work in and out of the classroom really paid off he is an excellent role model for current and future students to follow we know he will have a successful career and we look forward to him mentoring future generations of aggies"" for paul its very clear the hard work has paid off – and that he made the right choice applying what youve learned in the classroom to real life will give you great experience for your resume he added all of the high impact learning experiences at texas a&m helped me get my dream job by: andrew vernon the gis program (at texas a&m) looked great – and its close to houston where oil & gas is centered i knew that would be a great opportunity for me – paul barth '17 " the gis program (at texas a&m) looked great – and its close to houston where oil & gas is centered i knew that would be a great opportunity for me – paul barth '17 " department of oceanography recognizes first two graduates of the masters of ocean science and technology degreemay 18 2017laura farris and emily lewis reflect on becoming the first graduates of the most programacting department head dr shari yvon-lewis (second from left) and interim dean of geosciences dr debbie thomas (right) present certificates to most graduates laura farris (left) and emily lewis (second from right) this spring graduation marked a special milestone for the department of oceanography as the first two students of the master of ocean science and technology (most) graduate program walked across the stage at reed arena to receive their degrees the most program is a non-thesis professional masters degree offered through the department of oceanography that prepares students for careers that require strong data analysis (big data) and presentation skills including: meteorologist marine technician coastal planning and management ocean observing systems and more within the last week of their enrollment at texas a&m university both graduates were asked to reflect on their experience in the most program to miss laura farris joining the 3+2 degree offered the opportunity to explore geoscience beyond her main focus of atmospheric sciences q: what prompted you to pursue the 3+2 program lf: i am passionate about the weather and im very interested in the physical processes that are responsible for driving it i chose to do the 3+2 most degree program because the ocean and the atmosphere are closely related; they behave very similarly in a physical sense because they are both fluids and they depend on one another i wanted to learn more about oceanography so that i could have a broader knowledge base and so that i could have a better understanding of how the ocean influences weather q: what was the best part of the program lf: this program not only expands your academic knowledge on oceanography but it also supplies you with tools that are helpful for a wide range of career options its a lot of work but if you have a career goal that this degree would help you accomplish it is absolutely worth it the skills i gained such as presenting communication skills data analysis computer programming and problem-solving have better equipped me for my career when reflecting on her experience miss emily lewis also a meteorology student had similar positive remarks q: what prompted you to pursue the 3+2 program el: during the fall of my junior year i realized had enough space to add on an environmental geosciences minor so i enrolled in ocng 440 and geos 105 in spring 2015 the chemical oceanography course did a great job of linking physical oceanography with how chemicals move around the ocean and sparked my interest in oceanography during office hours dr yvon-lewis told me about the most program and i was immediately impressed with it and decided to pursue it q: what was the best part of the program el: my favorite part of the program was learning more about programming i learned python for the first time under dr thyng and dr hetland and was fascinated by how quickly i was able understand it with their guidance dr dimarco dr wiederwohl and dr potter all aided in my proficiency in coding within matlab© which was the language i was somewhat familiar with before the program this program gave me an extra boost to entering the national weather service noaa or other government organizations – and it also enhanced my ability to analyze data in a more thorough manner as alumni of texas a&m university both ms farris and ms lewis plan to pursue careers in the private weather forecasting or data analysis sectors applying the strong communication and analytical skills gained through the most program students have the opportunity to join the most program via two routes: either as a 3+2 fast track bachelor plus masters program complementing one of numerous geoscience degrees at texas a&m university – or through the standard graduate application offered through apply tx for more information please contact dr wiederwohl at chrissyw@tamuedu by: natalie zielinski " " geophysics students recognized at agumay 16 2017two undergraduate geophysics majors placed in the 2017 agu virtual poster showcaseformer texas a&m geophysics seniors jordan skipwith and collin brandl placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the spring 2017 agu virtual poster showcase undergraduate research section both jordan and collin completed their research projects with dr bobby reece and graduated in may of 2017 the virtual poster showcase (vps) is an online poster presentation opportunity that allows students to share their research without having to travel to a conference jordan and collin will both receive a plaque and complimentary agu membership for 2018 students are guided through the essential peer-review process during which they learn to evaluate each others research all students that participate receive a citation for their abstract and a certificate of participation after the completion of the showcase poster judging has two phases – a peer judging and expert judging based on a judging rubric each lead author participating in the poster showcase is required to judge three other posters and provide a score based on the visual appeal and scientific content of the poster students are expected to ask questions about the posters they are judging and students do not judge peers from the same institution or research project the expert judging phase involves experts who are scientists and faculty experts judge the posters based on scientific merit and on visual appeal and are allowed to submit comments and questions about the poster second place went to jordan skipwith for his work entitled geophysical analysis of anomalous extrusive volcanism in south atlantic oceanic crust jordans particular project consisted of studying swath bathymetry and seismic data collected on dr bobby reeces recent expedition to the south atlantic which spanned from the mid-atlantic ridge to the rio grande rise jordan utilized this data to interpret anomalous extrusive volcanism on the seafloor and correlated this volcanism to potentially influential factors such as mantle upwelling and crustal spreading rate along with the agu virtual poster showcase jordan also had the opportunity to present his research at the 2017 geological society of america (gsa) south-central section conference the tamus louis stoke's for minority participation (lsamp) symposium and the 2017 gggsc symposium hosted through the department of geology & geophysics jordan plans on attending graduate school at colorado school of mines to study hydrologic science engineering with an emphasis in geophysics jordan plans on attending graduate school at colorado school of mines to study hydrologic science engineering with an emphasis in geophysics  third place went to collin brandl for his project entitled constraining regional stress and deformation around bonaire and the bonaire basin: a seismic reflection study collins work in bonaire is focused on better constraining the regional stress and resulting deformation in the southern caribbean bonaire sits in the center of the bonaire block which is tectonically influenced by the caribbean and south american plates as well as a series of smaller blocks the overall tectonic mechanism is not well understood and we hope to add input to the discussion by working specifically on the understudied offshore bonaire basin the dataset collin used is a 1972 usgs seismic survey that was converted from paper to seg-y for interpretation in paradigm several stages of faulting and folding were interpreted but the main concern for the research project was the present-day features such as the deformation of the most recent sediment package or the seafloor collins research resulted with an observation of a west to east trend in fault interpretations changing in nature from reverse/thrust to normal to further collins work they are evaluating possible causes of this trend and plan to write a manuscript on this research after graduation collin is starting his ms at the university of new mexico congratulations to jordan skipwith and collin brandl on their success! for more information: https://educationaguorg/virtual-poster-showcase/ by: cristina figueroa '15 geophysics seniors collin brandl (left) and jordan skipwith (right) " " department of geology & geophysics spring 2017 outstanding seniorsmay 15 2017congratulations to the three students honored at the college of geosciences' commencement as 2017 outstanding seniors!the department of geology & geophysics honored three seniors at the college of geosciences may 2017 commencement ceremony seniors ben gremillion  oluwaseyifunmitan olaniyi-sholanke and jordan skipwith were awarded the outstanding senior award by the department all three students graduated this past may 12 2017 with their geology and geophysics bachelors degrees ben gremillion graduated from texas a&m university with a 397 gpa and a bachelor of science in both geophysics and math ben will be attending the university of texas at austin to pursue his master of science degree  oluwaseyifunmitan olaniyi-sholanke graduated from texas a&m university with a bachelor of science in geology after being a leader in student organizations and receiving the first place at the geology & geophysics research symposium oluwaseyifunmitan plans to further her education by attending adelaide university in australia jordan skipwith graduated from texas a&m university with a bachelor of science in geophysics jordan was an active student as a leader in many student and community organizations including fish camp jordan also won second place in the 2017 agu virtual poster session (click here to read more about jordan's agu award) jordan will be attending colorado school of mines in the fall   congratulations to the 2017 department of geology & geophysics outstanding seniors! to view all the pictures from the ceremony click here by: cristina figueroa '15 from left to right: geology & geophysics department head dr mike pope with oluwaseyifunmitan olaniyi-sholanke jordan skipwith and interim dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas not pictured: ben gremillion " from left to right: geology & geophysics department head dr mike pope with oluwaseyifunmitan olaniyi-sholanke jordan skipwith and interim dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas not pictured: ben gremillion " oceanography heads to spacemay 4 2017may phd graduate michael evans continues research on carbonates on mars meteorites through accepted position at nasa johnson space centermichael evans a may 2017 graduate of the phd program in the department of oceanography has accepted a position as a planetary scientist at nasas johnson space center in the astromaterials research and exploration science division with a background in oceanography it might be hard to image how such expertise can be applied to extraterrestrial research however knowledge gained from studying processes on earth through geochemistry stable isotope analysis and climate change assessment is a key building block to understanding the origins and chemical changes in our solar system in particular michael evans will analyze the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in carbonates from martian and other meteorites collected in antarctica carbonates formed on mars record its aqueous conditions but the meteorites can also be contaminated with carbonates formed from earth thus a research challenge as been to identify which planet the carbonates originated from mars is one of eight planets orbiting the sun and is fourth away in distance (earth is third) the environment on mars is well below freezing at an average of -80 °f and the rocky surface is scattered with former volcanoes craters and canyons (nasaorg) known as the red planet due to its iron-rich soils mars offers scientists a rare and stimulating study environment for understanding planetary origin and the potential for extraterrestrial life in addition to his work with carbonates michael evans will also be making an impact on future nasa programs i will also be working with nasa engineers to plan future mars missions said michael when asked about his role at the johnson space center   i will combine my phd science expertise with my prior 20 years of experience in nasa flight operations to design spacecraft and instruments that will eventually lead to human exploration of mars  this work requires much communication between engineers and scientists who often have very different objectives michael evens (third from left) with his phd committee drs ethan grossmann paul niles and piers chapman at michaels old desk the original control room at nasa's johnson space center committee members not pictured: dr katie shamberger and dr niall slowey beginning with his acceptance to the nasa pathways program during his second year of his phd michael evans instilled a close relationship between the department of oceanography and the nasa johnson space center his research was coordinated by a civil servant supervisor dr paul niles who worked closely with his texas a&m advisor dr piers chapman opening a branch of opportunity for current and future students to work at the various field centers at nasa through his background in oceanography michael aspires to expand our understanding of planetary chemistry and geology by taking advantage of the scientific procedure and analysis based upon decades of research completed by oceanographers and geologists alike studying biogenic carbonates including work at texas a&m he will truly make a splash at nasa and hopes to continue his relationship with texas a&m university for more information on his current and upcoming research please contact michael evans at mevans@oceantamuedu by: natalie zielinski michael evans in the light element analysis laboratory at nasa johnson space center " " michael evens (third from left) with his phd committee drs ethan grossmann paul niles and piers chapman at michaels old desk the original control room at nasa's johnson space center committee members not pictured: dr katie shamberger and dr niall slowey " michael evans in the light element analysis laboratory at nasa johnson space center " rick giardino receives 2017 texas a&m bush excellence award for faculty in international teaching may 4 2017congratulations to dr rick giardino for winning the 2017 texas a&m bush excellence award for faculty in international teaching!dr giardinos selection for this prestigious award reflects highly on his international teaching achievements and his personal dedication to international education at texas a&m dr giardino has participated in various international courses for the department of geology and geophysics which travel to destinations like costa rica and mexico dr giardino received his phd from the university of nebraska in 1979 and began working for texas a&m in 1984 dr giardino has held various positions within texas a&m university the college of geosciences and the department of geology and geophysics dr giardino was dean of graduate studies before becoming a full-time professor in 2007 dr giardino was department head of the department of geology & geophysics from 2011 until 2015 dr giardino has accompanied dr michael heaney on trips to costa rica where students were exposed to the regional geology of the area surrounding the soltis center for research and education in san isidro costa rica the soltis center offers support to the universitys research education and outreach initiatives in costa rica and throughout the central american region in 2015 with the help of a combined funding program by mexicos consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnologia (the national council of science and technology) and texas a&ms division of research dr giardino led a collaboration between texas a&m geology and geophysics students and the students from mexicos universidad de guanajuato in investigating san miguels water issues this unique opportunity allows the students to gain a cross-cultural experience as well as emphasizes scientific collaborations and cultural exchanges between students professors and the two universities the effort dr giardino has made to continue this exposure to various cultures includes his geos 101 course which in january of 2016 introduced freshmen to the geology and culture of mexico dr giardino also took students to mexico to conduct research during spring break of 2017 dr giardinos effort to establish a program between texas a&m and the universidad de guanajuato is aided by colleague peter knappett and two co-principal investigators from the universidad de guanajuato dr horaico hernandez and dr yanmei li dr giardinos goal is to create a long-term sustainable program that can continue after he retires the 2017 texas a&m bush excellence award for faculty in international teaching is accompanied by a $2 000 check from the george bush presidential library foundation congratulations to dr rick giardino for receiving this prestigious award! click here to see pictures from the ceremony!   by: cristina figueroa '15 reference: https://geonewstamuedu/news/2015/05/geologists-without-bordersphp dr rick giardino is a professor in the department of geology & geophysics " dr rick giardino is a professor in the department of geology & geophysics " rick carlson honored at geology & geophysics department picnicmay 1 2017the department of geology and geophysics honored dr rick carlson at the 2017 department picnic this past springdr rick carlson is retiring from the department of geology and geophysics after 40 years as a geophysics professor he taught various courses including physical geology mineralogy geophysical methods global geophysics geodynamics and geomechanics dr carlson was appointed the associate director of the geodynamics research institute in 1987 and was the inaugural holder of the dudley j hughes endowed chair in the department since 2002 beginning in 2003 dr carlson served as department head of the department of geology and geophysics and was also named a regents professor in 2003 by texas a&m university the regents professor award recognizes and honors professors who have provided exemplary service as faculty members not only to their university but also to the community outside of texas a&m dr carlson served a term as the director of the national science foundation (nsf) marine geology and geophysics program an associate editor for the journal of geophysical research a science advisor to the ocean drilling program and was active in the bryan-college station community dr carlson received his bs ms and phd in geophysics from the university of washington dr carlsons research interests are in rock physics with application to the structure evolution composition and physical state of the oceanic crust and lithosphere his work was funded through various sources including the nsf dr carlson has been with the department of geology and geophysics since 1977 and has not only contributed within those 40 years but was also present to see the merge between the department of geology and the department of geophysics into the department of geology and geophysics he also served as the department advisor to the geophysics program where he advised both undergraduate and graduate students dr carlson was also very active at texas a&m participating in various university and college committees including his position as speaker for the universitys faculty senate we thank dr carlson for his contributions to department of geology and geophysics dr carlson will split his time after retirement between his home state of washington and bryan-college station to see pictures from the geology & geophysics department picnic where we honored dr rick carlson click here by: cristina figueroa '15 dr andreas kronenberg (left) and dr rick carlson (right) on april 29 2017 at the department picnic " dr andreas kronenberg (left) and dr rick carlson (right) on april 29 2017 at the department picnic " step in to the game-changer for petroleum professionals apr 25 2017the on-campus geographic information science & technology degree has been the fastest growing program because it produces the most in-demand professionals in the history of the college of geosciences – and now a master of geoscience in gist is launching in fall 2017 completely onlinethe online degree program demands the same academic rigor and maintains the high academic standards of the on-campus program but offers more flexibility and customization for professionals seeking a degree while working online learning is available 24x7x365 to students anywhere in the world it covers the same material learning activities and assessments – and is designed to add significant career advantages in the petroleum applications of gist configured to teach value-added skills to petroleum professionals this non-thesis 36 credit program encompasses all aspects of the geosciences    david cairns geography department head said very few geospatial technology professionals working in the energy sector are specifically trained for this industry a track emphasizing petroleum industry applications as part of the degree will change that and texas a&m has the world-class faculty to lead the way dan goldberg a faculty member in the program said that the texas oil and gas track in gist would feature oil and gas data workflows and experiences we also plan to work with industry partners and members of an advisory council to ensure that texas a&m students have the skills the industry needs when they enter the workforce he added  andrew klein a professor in the program said that it makes sense for geography to have one specialization of its gis program in oil and gas over the years it has probably been the largest employment sector for our gis graduates and we are in close geographic proximity to houston the support we have gotten for our proposed program from the industry and our former students has been outstanding and inspiring "" klein said   courses begin six times a year and students may be admitted three times during the year; fall spring or summer classes start august 28 2017 for more information go to geosonlinetamuedu configured to teach value-added skills to petroleum professionals this non-thesis 36 credit program encompasses all aspects of the geosciences " configured to teach value-added skills to petroleum professionals this non-thesis 36 credit program encompasses all aspects of the geosciences " congratulations to the geology & geophysics student winners at the gggsc research symposiumapr 18 2017congratulations to all the geology & geophysics students who won an award at the 2017 gggsc research symposium!the geology & geophysics graduate student council (gggsc) hosted their 10th annual student research symposium on march 30 2017 in rudder tower every spring semester the leadership positions in the gggsc run a research symposium which includes oral presentations and poster presentations for both graduate students and undergraduate students in the department of geology & geophysics various undergraduate and graduate students not only present but volunteer at the symposium throughout the day faculty members and guest judges from various industries judge the presentations with a grading rubric that is then scored     the 2017 annual gggsc research symposium winners for the four categories are listed below: graduate completed research – oral presentations: 1st – kaytan kelkar 2nd – roy bowling 3rd – zihui gao graduate completed research – poster presentations: 1st – autumn eakin 2nd – tyler ruchala 3rd – john phillips graduate proposed research – poster presentations: 1st – raquel granados-aguilar 2nd – justin estep 3rd – samuel price undergraduate research – poster presentations: 1st – oluwaseyifunmitan olaniyi-sholanke 2nd – sarah giles 3rd – connor lofton congratulations to all the winners of the 10th annual gggsc symposium! the gggsc would like to thank all of the presenters judges and volunteers that contributed to the symposium as well as the berg-hughes center the gggsc is also very grateful for the generous support provided for the student research symposium by bhp billiton marathon oil bp and chevron to view the 2017 gggsc student research symposium technical program click here  winners of the 2017 gggsc research symposium from left to right: raquel granados-aguilar kaytan kelkar autumn eakin roy bowling john phillips tyler ruchala and justin estep " winners of the 2017 gggsc research symposium from left to right: raquel granados-aguilar kaytan kelkar autumn eakin roy bowling john phillips tyler ruchala and justin estep " sara baber named director of distance learning for the college of geosciencesapr 17 2017new director brings unique experience for the future of higher educationsara baber joined the college of geosciences in november of 2016 for a newly created position – director of distance learning her primary responsibilities include development and implementation of online education programs for the college with a career in higher education and academic technology that spans 30 years sara brings a unique set of skills and experience she spent time at the university of massachusetts dartmouth the university of north texas health science center case western reserve university the university of houston and oklahoma state university at the unt health science center where she served as director of online education sara helped launch the first online masters degree in public health for the state of texas it was great because (the degree) was for working healthcare professionals she said we had people enrolled in the program who were nurses doctors epidemiologists county health officials and more in the fall of 2017 sara will help take part in launching a new online degree for the college of geosciences the opportunity to start a whole new program which is the only online degree of its kind for a master of geoscience was a major aspect of what drew her to texas a&m  if youre working in fairbanks alaska – you can still graduate with your masters degree from texas a&m or anywhere else in the world sara explained it makes so much sense if youre a working professional youve got family challenges youre trying to work and youve got other social obligations – yet youd like to earn a degree this program is ideal for that because its self-paced sara knows a thing or two about that from her own first-hand experience which gives her a unique perspective for someone in her position i earned my doctorate as an online student ive sat in the online students chair which has helped me immensely she said sara received her doctorate in instructional technology and distance education from nova southeastern university not only is sara excited about coming in on the ground level with a new online degree program shes also encouraged by the timing according to the us department of labor the necessity for responsible land and resource management energy and environmental protection is projected to increase the demand for geoscientists in the coming years this is a timely degree with the resurgence of the energy industry she pointed out for more information on the new online degree go to geosonlinetamuedu sara baber director of distance learning " " future leaders learning from the pros: ""pizza with a pro""apr 13 2017during the fall 2016 geosciences advisory councils discussion the topic of professional development for our students evolved in to a star-studded program called pizza with a prosince january 2017 tuesday evenings in the o&m building feature the mouth-watering aroma of fresh pizza throngs of students and one very successful geosciences former student the program was kicked off with interim dean debbie thomas giving an overview of topics that would be covered and discussion on communications skills in the workplace next bill read 71 (former director of the national hurricane center) presented how a c+ high school student get to be director of the national hurricane center then bruce appelbaum 71 discussed how to be employable in the geosciences then stuart burbach 77 entertained with oh the places youll go and wrapping up the spring semester on april 11th was ruth perry 04 with oil and gas opportunities each event grew in size and numbers of pizzas as word spread among the students pizza with a pro will continue in the fall 2017 with jill urban-karr 86 the chair of the geoscience advisory council among others dates and speakers will come soon our students are so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from their guidance and experience each event has had its own dynamic with students getting so much from the talks they have each been perfectly crafted combinations of history personal journeys and critical professional advice the long lines of students waiting to talk one on one is clearly indicative of the value and the impact said interim dean debbie thomas i am looking forward to engaging our former students in many meaningful and rewarding ways pizza with a pro will continue in the fall 2017 with jill urban-karr 86 the chair of the geoscience advisory council among others dates and speakers will come soon " pizza with a pro will continue in the fall 2017 with jill urban-karr 86 the chair of the geoscience advisory council among others dates and speakers will come soon " the 2017 scholarship appreciation celebration had a celebrity to amplify the appreciation apr 12 2017the first lady of aggieland reveille ix was on hand to give her distinctive brand of appreciation to our generous donors and their scholarship recipients at the 2017 scholarship celebration the college of geosciences recently celebrated the generosity and support of the people who help make our students dreams come true and ultimately make a very positive difference in our world during the march 31st event some of our donors met the students whose lives theyve changed and our students had a chance to show their appreciation for our donors generosity interim dean debbie thomas the host of the evenings program remarked: scholarships are the only way for many current and future students to realize their university degree and so many times we hear from our donors that they themselves were the beneficiary of someone who helped them achieve their goals through a scholarship and it inspired them to pay it forward by giving back our donors are critical to delivering on our promise for a low or no-debt education we know that geoscientists are required to address the worlds most critical challenges – our students are uniquely educated and trained to lead in the geoscientific fields and to make a difference in their field of endeavor scholarship recipients jordan skipwith 17 (recipient of the natalie 82 and doug mcgehee 81 endowed scholarship) and edith sotelo gamboa 13 (recipient of the priscilla and thomas e kelly 53 petroleum geosciences fellowship and currently working towards her phd) took the stage to talk about their texas a&m experience and how their respective scholarships made their education possible jordan said in the time that i have been at texas a&m university i have been able to be a part of exceptional experiences that have enabled me to meet incredible people tackle exciting academic challenges and give back to my school and community through service whenever i reflect upon these experiences i realize that none of them would be possible if not for the gracious support of donors words cannot express how humbled and fortunate i am to be a scholarship recipient scholarships have profoundly impacted my college experience as i can now focus on excelling in my higher education and giving back to my university – rather than worrying about my financial situation but even more than that this scholarship inspires me to challenge myself to be a better individual i feel empowered to recognize my abilities and take advantage of the opportunities given to me at this incredible university and beyond! with this mindset i hope that i can achieve a prosperous career in the geosciences and support future geoscience students in a similar position – just as donors have done for me"" we were delighted to welcome some of our donors: bill barkhouse don and gwen conlee violetta cook deaun golding eddie gray 57 tom and cyd kelly 53 john and sandy matush 54 natalie mcgehee 82 george and jean morgan 80 richard and barbara orville tim and vivian powell 79 hal schade 67 curtis samford 83 ray and melba scurlock 45 and elliot vaughn 74 some of the college of geosciences advisory council members were also in attendance: matt hammer 80 ruth perry 04 thomas ratliff 84 chris samsury 90 and jill urban-karr 86 jordan summed up his appreciation beautifully: ""scholarships from the college of geosciences have opened up the door to so many incredible opportunities and experiences for me in my education and life over the last four years these scholarships have provided me with the privilege of attending my dream school: texas a&m university when i was growing up my dream of attending college seemed unlikely due to my familys financial background but because of the financial support of generous donors and moral support from my family and friends this dream has become a reality the evening finished with everyone lingering to visit a little longer and taking many pictures the photo gallery can be viewed here reveille ix with eddie gray 57 " " geology & geophysics graduate students awarded 2017 aapg grants-in-aidapr 12 2017congratulations to department of geology & geophysics graduate students that have been awarded 2017 aapg grants-in-aid!the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) provides various methods of funding through different programs the aapg foundation grants-in-aid program fosters research in the geosciences providing financial assistance to graduate students (currently enrolled in masters or phd programs) whose thesis research has application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-mineral resources and/or to related environmental geology issues to be considered for an aapg grant-in-aid award graduate students are required to submit an abstract as well as an application project budget and summary of their research project's timeline   the grants-in-aid committee scores each application at least three times scoring is based on the following five areas: student's academic and employment history scientific merit of proposal suitability to program objectives financial merit of proposal and endorsement by faculty or department advisor grants are based on merit and in part on the financial needs of the applicant grants range from $500 to $3 000 and are to be applied to expenses directly related to the students thesis work such as field work and laboratory analyses wed like to congratulate the following graduate students that have been awarded 2017 aapg grants-in-aid: clyde findlay vicky gao telemachos manos tanner mills of these students clyde findlay is a phd student working with dr ryan ewing and dr nick perez tanner mills is a phd student working with dr julia reece and vicky gao and telemachos manos are master students working with dr nick perez congratulations! for more information about the grants-in-aid program click here " " six geosciences faculty receive endowed chairs & professorship awardsapr 12 2017the college of geosciences is pleased to announce six new chairs and professorship holders endowed chairs and professorships are among the the most prestigious distinctions that a faculty member can receive from an institution of higher learning the college of geosciences is fortunate to have many committed benefactors who are passionate about the teaching research and service of exemplary faculty  their generosity makes it possible for the faculty at texas a&m to be the leaders in world-class geosciences this years honorees: (pictured from left to right)andrew dessler benchun duan mark everett andrew klein franco marcantonio hongbin zhan andrew dessler – earl f cook professorship in geosciencesdr desslers research focuses on climate change and water vapor climate change policy and atmospheric chemistry the goal of his work is to improve the understanding of the physics of the atmosphere and provide measurements to better test the validity and accuracy of global climate models he has served as a senior policy analyst in the white house office of science and technology policy and wrote a book on climate change politics based on his experiences the earl f cook professorship in geosciences was established in 1983 by the ray c fish foundation through the endowed faculty scholars matching program it honors former dean of the college of geosciences (1971-1981) and distinguished professor of geology and geography earl f cook benchun duan – francesco paolo di gangi/heep endowed professorship in theoretical geophysicsdr duan's current research interests focus on earthquake source physics particularly earthquake rupture dynamics on geometrically complex fault systems within complex geologic structures – along with physics-based strong ground motion prediction and seismic hazard analysis the francesco paolo di gangi/heep endowed professorship in theoretical geophysics was established in 2003 by the heep trust it honors retired geology & geophysics professor emeritus anthony f gangi mark everett – howard karren endowed professorship in geology & geophysicsdr everetts research interests include: near-surface applied geophysics environmental site characterization geomagnetic induction and mantle structure ground penetrating radar magnetics marine electromagnetics hydrogeophysics and engineering geophysics this professorship was established in 2007 by howard karren a ‘51 texas a&m graduate with a degree in geology mr karren held multiple executive positions with several oil companies over the course of his 50-year career mr karren traveled to over 120 countries on 6 continents and negotiated oil development rights and partnership agreements in every major oil and gas producing region in the world andrew klein – eog teaching professorship in geosciencesdr klein's current research interests lie in the application of remote sensing and geographic information science (gis) techniques to study the cryosphere he and his students are currently using remote sensing to monitor tropical glacier recession dr klein has also been actively involved in the development of algorithms to measure snow extent and snow albedo from data collected by nasa's modis instrument the eog teaching professorship in geosciences was established by eog in 1994 as a teaching professorship it is awarded to an associate or full professor who excels in mentoring students in the classroom lab and through advising franco marcantonio – jane and r ken williams '45 endowed chair in ocean drilling sciencedr marcantonio focuses on how isotope and trace element tracers can be used to understand the relationship between past climate change and past oceanic biological productivity along with deep-ocean circulation established in 2001 this chair was given by jane and ken williams ken williams graduated from texas a&m with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1947 he is the 2007 recipient of the michel t halbouty geosciences medal williams has been a generous supporter of the college and a major figure in the oil and gas industry throughout his career hongbin zhan – ray c fish professorship in geologydr zhans research interests include: groundwater hydrology flow and transport in geological formations stream-aquifer interaction with connected and disconnected rivers vapor flow and transport in the subsurface and coupled unsaturated-saturated flow process established in 1983 by the ray c fish foundation this professorship honors the late ray c fish mr fish was the founder of the fish engineering corporation in houston tx overseeing engineering and construction of intercontinental gas pipeline systems including projects such as the transcontinental gas pipeline system (transco) the pacific northwest pipeline system and the campo-duran project in argentina " " geosciences advisory council updatesapr 11 2017since 2007 the college of geosciences advisory council has been represented by leaders in their respective fields former students and friends and dedicated to the success of the college and the students withinin august 2007 the then dean bjorn kjerfve wrote to the inaugural council members the demands for energy resources combined with global awareness of environmental issues have never been greater  he continued with your individual contributions are critical and greatly valued and as a council your combined efforts are essential for our future successes  that impetus is even stronger today  although some of the faces have changed our advisory council remains a vital and influential part of our team   during the advisory council meeting in fall 2016 interim dean debbie thomas outlined the comprehensive advancement strategy for the college which aligned with the fundraising priorities for lead by example the texas a&m capital campaign  dr thomas identified the top three priorities as (1) recruiting and retaining the best and brightest students; (2) provide them with transformational professional development and experience; and (3) place our graduates in rewarding career trajectories  the fundraising goals for the college map directly in to seeking donor support in those three priorities through endowed scholarships undergraduate experience initiatives a brand-new living learning community for geosciences students and ultimately an endowed student success center  the council provided valuable feedback on advancing each of the priorities and as always were very eager to take the lead in further developing actionable strategies towards the goals  one particular idea emerged within the transformational professional development priority  stuart burbach identified the value of creating opportunities for current students to interact with successful former geosciences students - the deans professional development series was born  the first program of the series is affectionately known as pizza with a pro  on tuesday evenings since january council members have presented materials in regards to their own professional experiences offered advice suggested opportunities and answered many questions from the students   dr thomas said i cannot thank the advisory council enough for their time effort and vision  it is clearly their passion for this college but specifically for the students that will be the future leaders that inspire their commitment  the current list of council members may be found here  the geosciences advisory council meets in the spring and fall of each year and serves according to the charter & bylaws  more information may be found here the council provided valuable feedback on advancing each of the priorities and as always were very eager to take the lead in further developing actionable strategies towards the goals " the council provided valuable feedback on advancing each of the priorities and as always were very eager to take the lead in further developing actionable strategies towards the goals " texas a&m university 2017 imperial barrel award team wins third place at the gulf coast regional iba competitionapr 10 2017congratulations to the texas a&m university imperial barrel award (iba) team for winning third place in the gulf coast section of the iba competition!the texas a&m university iba team won third place at the 2017 gulf coast regional imperial barrel award competition sponsored by the gulf coast association of geological societies and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the students competed march 17 2017 against 10 other universities from alabama louisiana mississippi and texas the competition was held at the anadarko headquarters in the woodlands texas where the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of the offshore northern carnarvon basin in northwest australia this years iba team included geology masters students cristina figueroa vicky gao and telemachos manos geophysics master student april rider and geology doctoral degree student james teoh this is the first iba team in the departments history to have a majority female team with 3 of the 5 team members being female the teams faculty advisor was dr juan carlos laya an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics the team was mentored by two alumni petroleum geologists vernon moore (marathon oil) and tim powell (independent) the annual imperial barrel award (iba) competition consists of five graduate students specializing in either geology or geophysics these teams have eight weeks prior to the competition to analyze a basin dataset and come up with potential prospects students complete a technical assessment of the basins petroleum potential and then recommend a drill or no drill plan for future exploration this petroleum system analysis of the basin is given in a 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts the graduate students participating in iba gain experience using real technology on a real dataset and benefit from the feedback provided during the competition congratulations to the 2017 texas a&m university iba team for bringing home a third place trophy and $250 check! for more information about the iba program click here the 2017 texas a&m university iba team with third place trophy from left to right: telemachos manos cristina figueroa april rider vicky gao and james teoh " the 2017 texas a&m university iba team with third place trophy from left to right: telemachos manos cristina figueroa april rider vicky gao and james teoh " steven dimarco and ruth perry appointed to national academy of sciences committeeapr 10 2017dr steven dimarco and alumna dr ruth perry appointed to the national academy of sciences committee on advancing the understanding of the gulf of mexico loop current dynamicsin early march this year professor steven dimarco and alumna dr ruth perry (bs 04 phd 13) were honored through an appointment to the national academy of sciences committee on advancing the understanding of the gulf of mexico loop current dynamics the process of being selected was a rigorous procedure that started last october through a recommendation from fellow experts on topics related to the gulf research program as a committee of only 14 representatives the selection of two aggies from the department of oceanography does not go unnoticed (image credit: noaa) [it] is a tremendous honor to be considered and i am humbled to have been selected said dr dimarco when asked what this nomination means to him to me the selection is a significant recognition to the contributions i have made for more than 20 years on oceanographic observations in the gulf of mexico it is definitely a highlight of my career as part of the committee dr dimarco and dr perry will help determine critical procedures to improve models and forecasts assess the capacity of current technology in understand the loop current suggest new approaches and design and implement improved field campaigns the gulf of mexico has a profound effect on the weather climate ecosystem natural and living resources and economy of populations in the us mexico and cuba the coastal region bordering the gulf of mexico also is home to more than 56 million people in five us states and is the nexus of natural and anthropogenically derived processes the main source of energy that drives the gulf of mexico is the loop current system with a focus on the oceanographic processes controlling the circulation and dynamics of the loop current its no wonder that drs dimarco and perry were selected for the committee dr dimarco is a professor of oceanography and team leader of ocean observing at the geochemical and environmental research group where he and fellow scientists focus on applied interdisciplinary research through modeling and observational oceanography specifically dr dimarco focuses on hypoxia in the northern gulf interdisciplinary oceanography and ocean technology and response to tropical weather dr ruth perry a current employee of shell as a marine scientist and regulatory policy specialist focuses on environmental issues in offshore operations and the integration of marine science and ocean technology with regulatory policy and decision making when asked about her appointment dr perry said this is a very prestigious opportunity to grow as a scientist and also to bring my experience in the oil and gas industry to nas gulf research program also the nature of this committee is unique and presents an amazing opportunity to build and multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder partnership to provide new comprehensive data (monitoring and modeling) to tackle a complex problem that has a strong impact on the safety of gulf of mexico people and health and understanding of gulf of mexico environment and ecosystem which also affects people  together this pair of experts are sure to represent the department of oceanography in the best way possible and to further the understanding of the complex and dynamically rich and societally important environment of the loop current of the gulf of mexico by: natalie zielinski " " dr mukul bhatia named director of the berg-hughes centerapr 3 2017the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the appointment of dr mukul r bhatia as the new director  he was concurrently awarded both the dudley j hughes endowed chair in geology and geophysics and the dan a hughes 51 chair in geosciences  dr bhatia joins the department of geology and geophysics as an executive professor effective march 1 2017before coming to the college of geosciences dr bhatia worked with bhp billiton petroleum for 27 years in australia and the us he consecutively moved to positions of increasing responsibility in bhp and retired as the senior manager of geoscience in the production division a major part of dr bhatias experience in the oil and gas industry involved integration of geoscience and engineering functions for resource development he specializes in the development of both shale plays and deep water fields and has worked in australia asia the gulf of mexico and shale plays in the us onshore dr bhatia was the senior subsurface manager and led the integrated teams of geoscientists and engineers for a number of sub-salt deep water developments in the gulf of mexico in addition dr bhatia has led several production teams for unconventional resource developments in the lower 48 states as the global production geoscience leader for bhp billiton dr bhatia was responsible for developments of several major fields in australia algeria asia north sea trinidad and tobago and the gulf of mexico prior to bhp billiton dr bhatia worked for elf aquitaine (now total) and the australian gas light company in sydney and was involved in several liquefied natural gas and domestic gas projects  his vision is to create value through integration of geoscience engineering and other disciplines and directly impact how industry develops these resources dr bhatia was also a member of the inclusion and diversity council of the bhp billiton petroleum as a promoter of inclusive culture i am well aware of the enormous impact a senior professional or a teacher can have in shaping the thinking behavior and future of young students i intend to use my lifelong experience and learning to enhance leadership qualities of staff and students and nurture the future leaders at texas a&m dr mukul r bhatia director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems " dr mukul r bhatia director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems " students get hands-on look at wetland restoration in texas sea grant internshipmar 30 2017six texas undergraduate students spent their spring break earlier this month learning about wetland restoration as the first participants in the texas sea grant coastal wetland restoration internship program pictured from left maryam cheta laura mae hinson j brandon hearron thuy chau lillian mcafee and abigail brown (photo courtesy tcwp stormwater wetland program) during the week of march 13-17 abigail brown thuy chau maryam cheta and lillian mcafee from texas a&m university (tamu) and j brandon hearron and laura mae hinson from texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) learned plant identification and propagation techniques at wetland plant nurseries in clear lake city and lake jackson under the guidance of mary carol edwards the stormwater wetland program coordinator at texas sea grants texas coastal watershed program (tcwp) in houston the nurseries grow freshwater plants for tcwp stormwater wetland demonstration projects which are designed to improve water quality and habitat in the galveston bay watershed the interns also visited local stormwater wetland sites to learn planting techniques for a constructed wetland and participated in hands-on wetland restoration activities at sheldon lake state park with the local texas master naturalists wetland restoration team there were many teachable moments where they learned why we were doing the various tasks and how they fit into the big picture of wetland restoration and stormwater wetland creation edwards said some of the students will continue their internship in may after the spring semester ends the paid internship is open to undergraduate students from tamu tamug and texas a&m university-corpus christi hearron and hinson who are both seniors majoring in ocean and coastal resources gave similar reasons for applying to the program hearron said he signed up for the internship to build on what he has learned in the classroom about wetland restoration the career field he plans to pursue he said he learned a lot during spring break and is looking forward to learning more when he returns in may this internship demonstrated the applications of groundwork in freshwater wetland conservation restoration and mitigation he said we learned practical techniques working in nurseries and established wetlands including plant propagation identification and invasive species removal we also benefited from working with and learning from several texas master naturalists all of whom brought different career experiences to supplement the wetland restoration they do hinson said her goals in pursuing the internship were two-fold primarily i see it as an opportunity to continue to gain practical field knowledge and expertise in handling the sensitive flora that is so critical to the coastal wetlands ecosystem she said it is also an opportunity to form relationships with professionals in the field of wetland sustainability in local areas both of these goals will serve to further my career and professional development hinson also shared why the internship was important to her i acquired my passion for the outdoors from my father he was a biologist for texas parks and wildlife and worked as a wetland delineator for several years she said he taught me to love respect and protect all that is wild and natural so that it remains a valued resource for generations to come i see the texas sea grant internship as an important step towards building a career where i can practice this belief in stewardship for the outdoors edwards said the interns had a great time and that they impressed her with knowledge and work ethic i was honored to work with these students who opted to spend their spring break doing something that makes a difference to the environment of the texas gulf coast each one of them has a lot of passion for the environment and the future and a lot of life experience and skills already edwards said they got to wade right in and do the kinds of things that wetland restoration biologists do in the field sometimes that can be pretty muddy and yes  there are wildlife surprises! by: tiffany evans texas sea grant ### texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources " " featured geology & geophysics seminar: dr sean gulickmar 28 2017dr sean gulick from the university of texas at austin is the featured seminar speaker for the department of geology & geophysics this friday march 31 and will be presenting on drilling the chicxulub impact structure: study of large impact formation at 11:30 am in halbouty room 101 refreshments and coffee will be serveddr sean gulick was the co-chief scientist on a team of diverse researchers that drilled offshore into one of the worlds most famous cataclysms – the 66 million year old asteroid impact that led to one of the earths biggest mass extinctions and the demise of the dinosaurs the impact was so strong that the asteroid triggered a domino effect of natural disasters as well as covered the planet with a thick blanket of dust and sediment an artist's recreation of what the chicxulub crater might have looked like soon after the asteroid struck the yucatan peninsula in mexicoresearchers studied the peak rings inside the crater (photo credit: detlev van ravenswaay/science source) the drilling of the chicxulub crater began in april of 2016 and is sponsored by the international ocean discovery program (iodp) these scientists targeted the peak ring in the crater (a circular ridge inside the crater rim) where they hope to test models of crater formation and determine whether the crater itself was one of the first habitats for microbial life after the impact according to dr gulick chicxulub is the only crater on earth with an intact peak ring that we can go sample the next intact peak ring would be on the moon from the core samples the team has discovered the peak rings are made of shocked granite which is usually found deeper in the earths crust the scientists concluded that the asteroid impact was so incredibly powerful that it lifted sediment from the basement of the earths crust several miles up to its surface core samples recovered from the chicxulub crater showing that the peak rings were made of granite at least half of the core material will be reserved for future study when lab equipment is more advanced than it is today (photo credit: d smith/european consortium for ocean research drilling) the rocks the researchers have encountered also include limestones and rocks that contain the fossils from the world after the impact some of the ‘disaster species that have been identified are organisms that love stressed environments which include tiny plankton-type organisms like particular forms of dinoflagellates the teams results may help end a debate over how the chicxulub crater formed in the minutes following the colossal collision their research can lend support to the dynamic collapse model theory as well as a challenge for other models dr sean gulick graduated with his bachelor of science degree from the university of north carolina in 1993 and his phd from lehigh university in 1999 gulick is a research professor for the university of texas institute for geophysics with research interests in marine geology and geophysics plate boundaries glacial sequences and impact processes his current projects into tectonic and climate interactions in the st elias mountains and surveyor submarine fan geohazards and margin evolution of the subduction and transform faulting in alaska sumatra and japan and the geologic processes and environmental effects of the cretaceous-paleogene chicxulub meteor impact  dr gulick will present his talk this friday march 31st at 11:30am in halbouty room 101 on drilling the chicxulub impact structure: study of large impact formation the teams early results were published in the journal science; the full publication may be found at: http://sciencesciencemagorg/content/354/6314/878full references amos j (2016) chicxulub 'dinosaur crater' investigation begins in earnest bbc  http://wwwbbccom/news/science-environment-37625348 brumfiel g (2016) geologists find clues in crater left by dinosaur-killing asteroid npr  http://wwwnprorg/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/06/476871766/geologists-find-clues-in-crater-left-by-dinosaur-killing-asteroid hand e (2016) updated: drilling of dinosaur-killing impact crater explains buried circular hills  science  http://wwwsciencemagorg/news/2016/11/update-drilling-dinosaur-killing-impact-crater-explains-buried-circular-hills#sthashyuzqhi4udpuf imam j (2016) dinosaur-killing asteroid to be drilled by scientists  cnn   http://wwwcnncom/2016/03/04/world/scientists-drill-impact-crater-irpt/ st fleur n (2016) drilling into the chicxulub crater ground zero of the dinosaur extinction  new york times  https://wwwnytimescom/2016/11/18/science/chicxulub-crater-dinosaur-extinctionhtml_r=0 utig (2016) co-chief scientists sean gulick arrives at chicxulub impact crater  utig  http://igutexasedu/2016/04/20/co-chief-scientist-sean-gulick-arrives-at-chicxulub-impact-crater/ by: cristina figueroa '15 dr sean gulick before boarding the transport vessel linda to the iodp expedition 364 site (photo credit utig and dr sean ps gulick) " dr sean gulick before boarding the transport vessel linda to the iodp expedition 364 site (photo credit utig and dr sean ps gulick) " christian brannstrom and ping yang receive distinguished achievement awardsmar 24 2017geosciences faculty members recognized with prestigious awardtwo faculty members in the college of geosciences have been selected to be honored with 2017 distinguished achievement awards from the association of former students dr christian brannstrom – professor of geography associate dean for academic affairs and director of environmental programs – will receive the distinguished achievement award for teaching dr ping yang – professor and department head of atmospheric sciences – will recieve the distinguished achievement award for research dr christan brannstrom (left) and dr ping yang (right) dr brannstroms research focuses on social and political aspects of renewable energy and unconventional fossil fuels in texas and environmental governance in brazil where he has conducted field work since 1994 he has supported collaborators working on perceptions of rip currents and pedagogical aspects of his study abroad experiences his work has been supported by the national science foundation and the national geographic society dr yang's research group has been studying cloud properties and forcing on the basis of data sets acquired by the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (modis) the clouds and the earth's radiant energy system (ceres) the atmospheric infrared sounder (airs) and the cloud-aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observation (calipso) instruments the university-level distinguished achievement awards were first presented in 1955 and have since been awarded to more than 1 000 individuals at texas a&m who have displayed the highest standards of excellence the 2017 distinguished achievement awards will be presented during a ceremony at rudder theatre at 1:30 pm on monday april 24 " " featured geology & geophysics seminar: dr ursula hammesmar 22 2017dr hammes is our featured seminar this friday march 24th and will be presenting on ""recent mudrocks of the cariaco basin: analog for shale oil/gas unconventional reservoirs"" at 11:30 am in halbouty room 101 refreshments and coffee will be serveddr ursula hammes is the current halbouty visiting chair for the department of geology and geophysics teaching the special topics graduate course geofluids and mudrock characterization hammes graduated with her diploma in geology from the university of erlangen in germany in 1987 and her phd from the university of colorado at boulder in 1992 she spent ten years as a consultant performing postdoctoral research at the bureau of economic geology and as an exploration geologist in the petroleum industry hammes joined the bureau of economic geology in 2001 as a research associate her main research focus is in clastic and carbonate sequence stratigraphy depositional systems and carbonate and clastic diagenesis her recent research is in shale-gas/oil systems specializing in basin to nano-scale characterization of shale basins dr hammes will present her talk this friday march 24th at 11:30am in halbouty room 101 on ""recent mudrocks of the cariaco basin: analog for shale oil/gas unconventional reservoirs"" (biography taken from texas executive education) dr ursula hammes halbouty visiting chair (photo credit: wtgs) " " research by dr shamberger selected for feature video at south by southwestmar 22 2017research on palau coral reef growth and ocean acidification by dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor in the department of oceanography was selected by texas a&m university to appear in a feature video at the festival south by southwest in march 2017 humans are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and deforestation about a quarter to a third of this carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean causing a decrease in the ph of ocean water making it more acidic this process is called ocean acidification and is only expected to continue as more carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere driving a scientific emphasis on understanding the effects on marine ecosystems  of particular interest are coral reef systems around the world because ocean acidification slows coral reef growth putting reefs in danger of being eroded away faster than they can grow in collaboration with woods hole oceanographic institution and the palau international coral reef center and funded by the national science foundation and the nature conservancy dr shamberger is working in the country of palau on coral reef growth at the ecosystem level under high and low levels of acidification to try to understand what is driving coral reef growth and how it is being affected by ocean acidification today and in the future  this is an ideal area of the world to study ocean ph because the bays and lagoons in the rock islands of palau including risong lagoon have naturally high levels of acidification [at levels] close to what is expected at the end of this century giving scientists the opportunity to study a system under conditions that may be the ‘new normal in coming years rising lagoon an inlet of risong bay while increased acidification generally has a negative effect on coral reef systems the reefs in palau appear to be flourishing despite the low ph levels there are a handful of other naturally acidified coral reefs in the world said dr shamberger when asked about the uniqueness of her project but palau is the only one discovered so far that looks this healthy despite acidification  this does not mean other coral reefs will be able to withstand ocean acidification in the future but it gives us an amazing opportunity to learn about the impacts of ocean acidification through the appearance of the palau coral reefs video at the south by southwest conference and festival march 10-19 in austin texas texas a&m university and dr shamberger hope to focus public awareness on the increasingly important issue of ocean acidification to give the public an even more intimate experience dr shamberger appeared live through skype to answer questions during the festival  for more information on this research please contact dr shamberger at katieshamberger@geostamuedu by: natalie zielinski " " carlos dengo announces retirementmar 21 2017dr carlos a dengo  executive professor and director for the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems has announced his retirement""i feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to be the second director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems as a founding member of the center i shared the vision with many others that this center would establish texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics as a pre-eminent academic center to educate future generations of students with the technical and leadership skills that will be required by the oil industry for decades to come "" said dengo a native of costa rica dengo received his masters in 1978 and doctorate in 1982 in geology from texas a&m he joined exxon production research company after graduation focusing on structural geology research and technology applications with exxon affiliates worldwide increasing responsibility within exxon and later with exxonmobil gave him experience in a variety of managerial functions he was the companys geoscience resource operations manager worldwide before being appointed technical vice president for exxonmobil exploration company in 2006 and geoscience vice president for exxonmobil upstream research company in 2008 he retired in 2012 with 30 years of service  dengo received his undergraduate degree from syracuse university which honored him in 2009 with the winchell distinguished alumni award from the department of earth sciences  he has received best paper awards from the us national rock mechanics committee and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg)  he has also served as an aapg international distinguished lecturer ""as i step down as director i wish the new director dr mukul bhatia continued success – along with our faculty and students i believe i leave the center better than how i found it and positioned to do even better after i leave "" dengo added housed in the department of geology & geophysics the berg-hughes center is part of a joint program with the department of petroleum engineering integrating geology geophysics and petroleum engineering dr carlos a dengo executive professor and director for the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems dan a hughes '51 chair " dr carlos a dengo executive professor and director for the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems dan a hughes '51 chair " richard and barbara orville establish gift supporting future undergraduates in geosciencesmar 21 2017longtime faculty member gives back to the college of geosciencesdr richard orville is no stranger to service in higher education it has been part of his life for almost 60 years – 26 of them right here at texas a&m but when he glanced at the donor plaque in the lobby of the o&m building last year something inspired him to do more seeing the name of kate miller former dean of the college of geosciences gave him inspiration  when i saw kate and what she had done thats when i made a decision to give said orville the gift agreement establishes the dr richard and barbara orville endowed scholarship which supports students pursuing an undergraduate degree in the college of geosciences the fact is the geosciences are experiencing an expansion now which is significant said orville the expansion is dependent on getting good students and behind getting good students is having sufficient funds there to help support their education orville joined the college of geosciences at texas a&m in 1991 and currently serves as research professor and professor emeritus in the department of atmospheric sciences he is active in national atmospheric science programs ­– having served 4 years on the council of the american geophysical union (agu) as atmospheric sciences section president and president-elect 12 years on the council of the american meteorological society (ams) as commissioner of education and commissioner of publications and 6 years as a member of the university corporation for atmospheric research (ucar) board orville wants to see a greater number of students get into geosciences more specifically he hopes his gift will contribute to recruiting more students interested in atmospheric sciences it can improve the number of students that are majoring in atmospheric sciences and to do that in some cases just requires scholarship assistance theyre not going into atmospheric sciences for the money but if the funding isnt there to assist them they may not do it at all he explained this is a particularly important area for orville when asked about what he would say to encourage others on the importance of giving to geosciences his answer was clear: climate change – which is going to affect all of us your children your grandchildren and beyond that we can argue about whats causing it – but the fact is it is occurring he said our department signed a document supporting the existence of climate change so studying it and understanding it is critical orville is thankful for the opportunity to serve as a faculty member in the college of geosciences and hopes that his decision to give something back will inspire others to do so as well richard and barbara orville saw a need and stepped up to ensure that future students will have scholarship opportunities in the college of geosciences at texas a&m  he added a reasonable question is why arent there more thanks to the orvilles there will be more by: andrew vernon ‘06 for more information on giving to the college of geosciences contact cara milligan:cmilligan@txamfoundationcom (979) 862-4944 dr richard orville research professor and professor emeritus in the department of atmospheric sciences " dr richard orville research professor and professor emeritus in the department of atmospheric sciences " sarah brooks selected to inaugural class of presidential impact fellowsmar 8 2017congratulations to dr sarah brooks professor of atmospheric sciences on being selected to the inaugural class of presidential impact fellowspresidential impact fellows program members receive an annual stipend of $25 000 each of the next three fiscal years for research and service impacts members possess the title for life candidates are considered for new or continued national and international acclaim and will utilize this selection to create new partnerships and paticipate in national dialogue president michael k young and provost karan watson made the announcement on tuesday march 7 dr sarah brooks professor of atmospheric sciences " " educational outreach event at rock prairie elementarymar 7 2017graduate students from the department of oceanography at texas a&m university traveled to rock prairie elementary on thursday february 23rd for an educational outreach event on ocean acidification students had a unique opportunity to participate in a hands-on activity illustrating the negative effects of additional co2 in the oceans we conducted an ocean acidification experiment that visually shows them how carbon dioxide decreases the ph of the ocean and subsequently harms marine organisms that form calcium carbonate what is amazing is that even at such a young age they seem to fully grasp the concept of oa which can be a complicated topic said graduate student andrea kealoha when asked about the event the activity included students blowing air (co2) into a cup of cabbage juice that acted as a ph indicator as more bubbles were blown into the juice the acidity increased and changed the color of the juice visually showing how the addition of atmospheric co2 to the ocean affects the ph students further discussed how this change to the ocean potentially effect the marine organisms that live there and brainstormed what changes they could make in their daily lives to reduce their carbon footprint graduate student katherine crabill an active participant in educational outreach for the department of oceanography said the main take-away from doing the oceanography outreach for me is getting kids excited about science and the ocean its fun to make them think and test their thoughts with our experiments i want them to realize there are different avenues of science that they can explore and learn about ones that are potentially different than what they are currently aware of community outreach continues to be an important avenue for spreading awareness about different environmental issues and to encourage the next generation of scientist to consider a career in geoscience the department of oceanography at texas a&m university schedules multiple educational outreach events each semester and is always looking to add more opportunities please contact dr chrissy wiederwohl (chrissyw@tamuedu) for more information on how to bring educational events to you!  by: natalie zielinski graduate student veronica ruiz xomchuk teaches about ocean acidification at rock prairie elementary " graduate student veronica ruiz xomchuk teaches about ocean acidification at rock prairie elementary " gift from ben vaughn ‘74 establishes the patty holyfield ‘74 foundation excellence awardfeb 28 2017planned gift will support female graduates in geology & geophysics from the college of geoscienceswhat does it mean to leave behind a legacy how does that impact the people around you what can you do to help others after youre gone when elliott b ben vaughn 74 began asking himself these questions he knew that part of his legacy would be to honor the memory of patty holyfield 74 graduating from texas a&m with a degree in geology mr vaughn spent a good part of his career overseas but is now happy to be retired from exxonmobil in houston tx  in 2016 mr vaughn designated a planned gift from his life insurance policy to the texas a&m foundation to establish the patty holyfield 74 foundation excellence award this endowed scholarship will support in perpetuity undergraduate women seeking degrees in geology & geophysics at the college of geosciences patty holyfield 74 lived out a legacy of her own from blazing a trail for women at texas a&m sharing her passion for geology with prospective and current students to her entrepreneurial spirit – the example she set helped pave the way for others she graduated from texas a&m in 1974 summa cum laude in geology she was one of only three women to graduate from the college of geosciences that year  remaining in aggieland ms holyfield received her ms in geology in 1976 her thesis work in wyoming was something that gave her a love for studying the geology of the western us explained vaughn she started her career with hunt energy and before starting a family joined supron ms holyfield continued working in various areas of the oil industry for many years and after her children were in school she found her way back to her love for geology doing consulting work  in 1990 she started an education program for teachers called rocks in your head which gave students in grades 3-12 the basic tools for understanding and appreciating geology the program included an oil exploration simulation designed to teach students real-world skills about drilling negotiating and figuring profits and losses for a company this program was an important part in introducing students to geology and creating excitement for the field at such a young age she was also very active in church cub scouts and various charitable organizations but her true love was geology added vaughn she passed away in march of 2002 from cancer but leaves a legacy of profound work in the field of geology that exemplified her aggie spirit its that spirit and legacy which inspired vaughn to give back because of that future generations of aggie geologists will have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of people like patty holyfield by: andrew vernon '06 for more information on giving to the college of geosciences  contact cara milligan:cmilligan@txamfoundationcom (979) 862-4944 patty holyfield graduated from texas a&m in 1974 she was one of only three women to graduate from the college of geosciences that year " patty holyfield graduated from texas a&m in 1974 she was one of only three women to graduate from the college of geosciences that year " texas a&m researcher examines impact of fire prevention on appalachian forestfeb 23 2017the impact of fire prevention since the early 20th century has altered the vegetation of the appalachian region according to a new reportfire was frequent in the past and an important shaper of vegetation in the appalachian forest – along with the rest of north america these werent the catastrophic forest fires we see in the news today they generally were moderate fires that burned through grasses shrubs and dry leaves with the implementation of fire prevention and suppression practices in the 20th century the vegetation has changed in ways that are harmful for certain species some of these species include oak and pine trees which have great value for timber and wildlife dr charles lafon professor and assistant department head in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been studying the history of fire since 2002 this research entails sawing cross-sections from fire-scarred trees and using the trees annual growth rings to determine in which years the scars were formed he recently partnered with colleagues from the university of arizona university of tennessee and us forest service to put together the publication fire history of the appalachian region: a review and synthesis this publication synthesizes fire history studies that used fire-scarred trees as well as other types of evidence such as charcoal fragments retrieved from soil or lake sediments the report was funded by the consortium of appalachian fire managers and scientists (cafms) according to lafon evidence shows that fire prevention has seriously altered the vegetation and environment of the appalachian region the fires prepared the environment like we prepare a garden explains lafon in the last few hundred years fires occurred frequently (every few years) up until the 1930s – and then pretty much stopped the vegetation has changed as a consequence some refer to this post 1930s period as the fire suppression era because the us forest service and other agencies have contained more fires through active suppression – such as fire lines and helicopters however dr lafon explains that suppression isnt the only reason for the decline in fire another important reason is fire prevention think smokey the bear prevention has been a major campaign with a goal of reducing the number of fires that are ignited in the first place so prevention and suppression have worked in tandem to virtually exclude fire from the landscapes of the eastern united states other factors have also contributed to the decline in fire – such as social and economic changes and landscape changes he added the consequence the vegetation is now much thicker and very different than it was in the past the forest has become a lot more dense so instead of woodlands with grass and diverse vegetation now we have a pretty dense forest with a lot of shade and a lot of shrubs said lafon  species like maple trees which couldnt thrive under frequent burning are now overtaking the fire-tolerant vegetation we like maples theyre pretty but in terms of a wildlife perspective or timber perspective theyre just not as a valuable as the oaks and pines theyve grown a lot more dense and theyre outcompeting these fire-dependent species for resources explained lafon  he continued at one time the trees that loved moist sites were constrained to the stream-side areas and the more fire-dependent drought-tolerant species were up on the ridges so now without fire the stream-side species have moved up on the ridges  as the older pines and oaks die theyre being replaced – and the forest has transitioned into something different the once open forest which was favorable for species like pines and oaks has changed  the forest has shifted in terms of what species live there how abundant certain species are how dense the forest is a change in wildlife and habitat and change in the timber quality added lafon the full report can be accessed here by: andrew vernon '06 fire scars embedded in tree rings " " suzanne rosser receives presidents meritorious service awardfeb 22 2017congratulations to suzanne rosser on receiving the presidents meritorious service awardsuzanne serves as senior academic advisor i in the department of geology & geophysics the presidents meritorious service awards recognizes texas a&m staff for their commendable service recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service this award is sponsored by the office of the president and the association of former students and coordinated by the division of human resources and organizational effectiveness visit employeestamuedu/pmsa for additional information suzanne serves as senior academic advisor i in the department of geology & geophysics " suzanne serves as senior academic advisor i in the department of geology & geophysics " iron particles in pacific ocean can be carried 2 500 milesfeb 20 2017iron particles coming from hydrothermal vents along volcanic mountain ridges deep in the ocean persist for more than 2 500 miles across the pacific according to a study led by a texas a&m university researcherjessica fitzsimmons assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and colleagues from rutgers university the university of south carolina the university of minnesota and the woods hole oceanographic institute have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the team examined a 2 500-mile-long deep hydrothermal plume of water in the central pacific ocean specifically studying the iron transformations as the heated water mixes with cold deep pacific water iron is important in the ocean because iron concentrations are generally low and microscopic organisms called phytoplankton – a key part of the marine food chain – need iron to survive phytoplankton serve as food for the fish that feed people all over the world no one ever knew how far these metal particles which are 7 000 to 8 000 feet deep in the ocean could travel away from their source vents explains fitzsimmons so we couldnt understand what effect they had on the overall chemistry of the worlds oceans  by measuring hundreds of seawater samples along the track of the plume the team found that iron particles persisted for thousands of miles the biggest surprise was that through exchange between hydrothermal iron particles and the iron dissolved in seawater the slowly sinking particles caused the dissolved iron to sink by 1 000 feet while it was carried west this iron exchange facilitated by the natural organic compounds to which iron is bound controls where the eventually upwelled to the surface ocean this is critical since it is this supply of iron to phytoplankton at the surface that affects carbon dioxide sequestration from the atmosphere fitzsimmons teams conclusions suggest that the supply of iron by hydrothermal vents and subsequent transformations when mixing with seawater are important for scientists to understand in order to predict how the oceans could help to reduce the carbon dioxide levels emitted by fossil fuels that are leading to climate change today the project was funded by the national science foundation chemical oceanography and was associated with the international geotraces program for more about the study go to http://wwwgeotracesorg by: keith randall  texas a&m marketing and communications ### contact: jessica fitzsimmons at (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu or robyn blackmon communications manager college of geosciences at (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644or keith-randall@tamuedu deepwater plumes in the pacific ocean can carry iron particles 2 500 miles " deepwater plumes in the pacific ocean can carry iron particles 2 500 miles " new oceanography degree prepares students to tackle challenges facing the worlds oceansfeb 17 2017responding to new challenges impacting the earths oceans texas a&m universitys department of oceanography will offer a new undergraduate degree in oceanographythe new bachelor of science degree in oceanography is necessary for several reasons officials say the exploration and exploitation of energy resources in deeper waters offshore the continued growth of human populations along the coast and growing efforts to predict and mitigate coastal hazards such as hurricanes tsunamis oil spills and harmful algal blooms are driving an increase in the need and opportunities for well-trained ocean scientists says shari yvon-lewis acting department head of oceanography we are extremely excited to offer the new bachelor of science degree in oceanography this new degree is tailored to providing skills for new oceanography-related jobs emerging as we tap further into the resources provided by the ocean as well as skills that are transferable to a wide array of technical careers this new degree will provide students with the skills they need to go directly into the workforce as well as provide a strong stem (science technology engineering and math) foundation for students wanting to pursue an advanced degree we have built professional development opportunities into the curriculum and provide opportunities for study abroad and internships the new major will provide education and training in one of three areas of concentration: ocean observing systems and technology; ocean climate and marine ecosystem science and health some experts say geosciences could be the defining scientific discipline of the 21st century noting that human society of the future depends more on innovation and application of discovery in the geosciences than on any other discipline the field is essential to solving societys critical challenges – global climate change air and water quality and adequate energy and food supplies for more information about the new degree go to http://oceantamuedu/academics/degrees/indexhtml by: keith randall ##### contact:  robyn blackmon communications manager college of geosciences at (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu the new major will provide education and training in one of three areas of concentration: ocean observing systems and technology; ocean climate and marine ecosystem science and health " the new major will provide education and training in one of three areas of concentration: ocean observing systems and technology; ocean climate and marine ecosystem science and health " geography students help ‘future proof texas a&ms fiber optic systemfeb 14 2017fiber network overhaul provides transformational learning experience for studentstexas a&m universitys flagship campus is one of the largest in the nation at over 5 200 acres so when it comes to the universitys underground fiber optic lines theres a lot of ground to cover a lot of ground approximately 100 miles when added up in fact the data for the campus fiber optic lines had not been updated in decades as a result texas a&m turned to the department of geography in the college of geosciences to help bring the severely outdated system into the 21st century for the past year and half a team of geography students has worked to collect field data from the fiber cables across the entire campus but the project didnt exactly come together in a conventional way it was a random involvement explained geography professor dr dan goldberg goldberg received a phishing email which he forwarded to the geosciences it director paul stine who then sent it to the university-wide it group led by tom golson once golson saw the email signature and noticed goldberg was in the department of geography he asked if the professor would come talk with it about the campus fiber dilemma once we got down there i explained what gis (geographic information science) was and how we could potentially help solve their problem said goldberg golson was very excited at the news and immediately went to senior management and secured the funding necessary for the equipment and students to conduct the project the experience was a valuable one for the students ""it's been rewarding to watch the undergrads go from having very little gis and gps field experience to operating this equipment and learning what it's like in the real world said andy evans ­– a geography phd student and the project lead everett neucere an undergrad in geography chose to participate in the project over taking a higher paying job because he knew the experience would be more worthwhile for his future im working on a project like this at an undergrad level whereas many companies do these at a professional level its given me experience to show other companies ive done this before he explained the process of locating and mapping the fiber optic lines wasnt an easy task the teams first step was using the original cad data to locate every ground access port on campus and create a dotted map if you look around (campus) there are these square ‘man hole covers in the ground that say ‘electric or ‘fiber so they open them up and get down inside explained goldberg because of their underground locations the students had to be prepared to pump out as much as 10 feet of runoff water – and even fend off snakes and other pests  ""thankfully i have a construction background so i've been able to show these guys how you open them up noted evans otherwise we would have been out there scratching our heads! once the obstacles were removed the students clipped into the underground fiber optic cables with a line finder the team could then walk above ground with a piece of equipment that signaled to let them know when they were above the fiber line one student would walk along to see where the device was beeping a second student marked the location with red spray paint and a third followed with a gps tracker they would get all the data and bring it back to the lab run some post-processing to clean it up and load it into the databases that were using to store it said goldberg but the team didnt just want to put together a rough map of the fiber lines they wanted to provide texas a&m with detailed information that could benefit the university for years to come ""industry standards are basically getting within three feet of a line added evans being geographers three feet is a really wide margin of error we were able to convince (it) to install a gps base station on the top of o&m so now we're looking at accuracy within an inch for 90% of campus the new digital database will provide the university with a better understanding of the networks capabilities and weaknesses this is critical for maintaining and installing fiber lines unlike the previous system data will now be easily shared with facilities utilities other campus departments ­– in addition to outside contractors working on new construction projects now we can give them a tablet or usb drive with the data on it and they can actually pull it up in real time explained evans it will definitely help the university in the long run with future construction it wont involve digging out these papers from the 80s to find out where a line went that no ones touched since then theyll receive a link on their phone and it will take just minutes said neucere this helped me get an internship because the work im doing on this project several companies are doing for government entities or other universities he added not only did the project bring texas a&ms fiber network up to date and save the university in future costs it also provided a transformational learning experience for these students  see the video here by: andrew vernon '06 the new digital database will provide the university with a better understanding of the networks capabilities and weaknesses this is critical for maintaining and installing fiber lines " the new digital database will provide the university with a better understanding of the networks capabilities and weaknesses this is critical for maintaining and installing fiber lines " texas a&m oceanography student awarded prestigious scholarshipfeb 9 2017the united states branch of the society for underwater technology (sut) has awarded texas a&m university phd student natalie zielinski as one of the recipients of the 2017 society for underwater technology scholarship award a scholarship cocktail reception was held at the milford house in houstons museum district to celebrate the recipients of the scholarships with nearly 50 members of sut in attendance the event was standing room only  the night began with an introduction by dr zenon medina-cetina president of suts us branch and associate professor in the zachry department of civil engineering at texas a&m followed by a keynote presentation by craig shipp phd pg shell international exploration and production inc and shortly after the presentation of the scholarship recipients was made  it was definitely an honor to be acknowledged for the work that im doing at a&m zielinski said i think i heard that i was the only a&m recipient that is an honor because i am invested in this school i want to continue representing the aggie name in the best way that i can zielinski received her bachelors degree in environmental science from the university of delaware and completed her masters degree in oceanography at texas a&m in 2016 while she has started working towards her phd in oceanography zielinski has also volunteered as a member of the executive board for the texas a&m student chapter of sut for the last three years im not the type of person who likes to sit calmly on the sideline watching zielinski said about her involvement with sut-tamu i want to be involved in the action working with people to solve problems and hopefully be a long lasting and positive influence she has future goals of making a lasting impact on the earths environment especially humanities role on the environment as we begin to explore deeper into the ocean as well as the potential impacts of natural forces on our offshore projects and structures communication and talking to people is what i really enjoy doing so if i can somehow interact oceanographic work and environmental work in all of that that would be perfect she seems to be on the right path to meeting her goals for the future especially by being a dedicated and active member of sut sut is perfectly challenging in the way that i can interact with people that have completely different backgrounds than i do giving me the opportunity to bring fresh ideas to the society  i have made many connections and have found that my active membership in the society continues to benefit me as i move forward sut is a global non-profit multi-disciplinary learned society that brings together organizations and individuals with common interests in underwater technology ocean science and offshore engineering zielinski is a defining example of the passion that runs deep within sut and its members who come from many different backgrounds of the underwater science and engineering community its that confidence that being in a society with people who have all these life experiences give you both professionally and personally you can learn anything on any level just from talking to people zielinski said about sut and its members the fact that its bringing ideas and opportunities into one sole location all based on this huge field that extends in every direction is great the scholarships are the culmination of years of hard work from suts dedicated volunteers and members through learning courses membership events and sponsorships these scholarships are made available each year to deserving students the award is offered each year to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a course of study in marine science underwater technology offshore engineering or in related areas to the marine field  by: anna heller zielinski received her bachelors degree in environmental science from the university of delaware and completed her masters degree in oceanography at texas a&m in 2016 " zielinski received her bachelors degree in environmental science from the university of delaware and completed her masters degree in oceanography at texas a&m in 2016 " peter hugill named professor emeritusfeb 8 2017congratulations to dr peter hugill on being named professor emeritus of geographypeter hugill has been a stalwart of the geography program and the texas a&m community since 1978 when he joined the geography department we were a small teaching-oriented program since then we have tripled in size and diversified both in both our teaching and research said geography department head dr david cairns dr hugill has worked to build ties between the college of geosciences and the bush school of government and public service becoming a fellow at the scowcroft institute he was president of the texas conference of the aaup from 2008-2012 in addition to having served as president of the tamu chapter of aaup  he also served as president of the texas association of college teachers from 2010-2013 at texas a&m he has served in the faculty senate dr hugills primary interest is the historical relationship between people and their environment as mediated through technology he also has an ongoing interest in the role played by agricultural commodities in defining world trade flows industrial development and consumer markets he recently completed a book on cotton in the global economy since 1771 and is currently working on another book on the transformation from british to american hegemony in the world-system peter has been a great source of institutional memory in geography and also in the college of geosciences hell be missed around the geography department but we all wish him the best as he transitions into the next phase of his life in san antonio and virginia added dr cairns congratulations to dr peter hugill on being named professor emeritus of geography " congratulations to dr peter hugill on being named professor emeritus of geography " 2016 had few tornadoes but that could changejan 31 2017although there have been several outbreaks in recent weeks the overall number of tornadoes in the united states in 2016 was below average and it was one of the quietest years since modern record keeping began in 1954  the reason is likely that a strong el niño occurred in the first half of the year says a texas a&m university severe storms expert but conditions could soon revert back to normalchris nowotarski assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m says an el niño (warm water in the central pacific which tends to influence weather patterns worldwide) has been associated with a decrease in tornadic activity over the area called tornado alley that stretches from the southwest to the midwest and where tornadoes most frequently form  this likely resulted in the 901 tornadoes in 2016 which is below the yearly average of 1 061 while that is good news the better news is that only 17 deaths in the us occurred from tornadoes the fewest in 30 years in 1986 15 tornado fatalities occurred nationwide the lowest amount ever in regard to texas the state had 90 tornadoes reported in 2016 which was well below the average number of 140 in a typical year says the texas a&m professor although there have been several outbreaks in recent weeks the overall number of tornadoes in the united states in 2016 was below average and it was one of the quietest years since modern record keeping began in 1954  the reason is likely that a strong el niño occurred in the first half of the year says a texas a&m university severe storms expert but conditions could soon revert back to normal chris nowotarski assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m says an el niño (warm water in the central pacific which tends to influence weather patterns worldwide) has been associated with a decrease in tornadic activity over the area called tornado alley that stretches from the southwest to the midwest and where tornadoes most frequently form  this likely resulted in the 901 tornadoes in 2016 which is below the yearly average of 1 061 while that is good news the better news is that only 17 deaths in the us occurred from tornadoes the fewest in 30 years in 1986 15 tornado fatalities occurred nationwide the lowest amount ever in regard to texas the state had 90 tornadoes reported in 2016 which was well below the average number of 140 in a typical year says the texas a&m professor the el niño is thought to generally weaken southerly winds off the gulf of mexico into the southern and central plains area nowotarski explains  that means less moisture and wind shear which are crucial for tornadoes to form another reason is that we did not have a large-scale tornado outbreak over a two or three-day period that we often have and those often account for a significant portion of total tornadoes while it is difficult to predict what will happen the rest of the year – for instance  february of 2016 was the deadliest month killing seven people instead of april and may which are the months most often associated with tornado deaths – there are some clues to look for nowotarski adds weve shifted to a weak la niña this year (colder waters in the central pacific) which suggests more typical numbers of tornadoes could occur this year he says in fact weve already had more than 90 tornadoes this year which is well above the average number of 39 by this time so indications are the tornado season is off to a strong start ### contact: chris nowotarski at  (979) 845-3305 or cjnowotarski@tamuedu or keith randall news & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu in regard to texas the state had 90 tornadoes reported in 2016 which was well below the average number of 140 in a typical year says the texas a&m professor " in regard to texas the state had 90 tornadoes reported in 2016 which was well below the average number of 140 in a typical year says the texas a&m professor " geology & geophysics 2016 holiday partyjan 31 2017faculty graduate students and staff enjoyed the 2016 holiday party hosted by the department of geology & geophysics  click here to view pictures from the event graduate students enjoy the 2016 holiday party " " departments field camp endowment goaljan 31 2017the department of geology & geophysics is educating the leaders of tomorrow through high impact learning opportunities such as field camp in summer 2015 tim powell 79 made a significant contribution toward the departments field camp endowment goal of $5 million whether you make an impact by supporting the annual fund a major gift for academic or high impact learning programs or by establishing an endowment through a planned giving strategy your support is critical geosciencestamuedu/give for more information about supporting field camp experiences please contact: dr michael pope at mcpope@tamuedu or (979) 845-4376 or  cathy bruton at bruton@geotamuedu or (979) 845-2400 students taking notes during field camp summer 2016 " " dr hongbin zhan receives dean's distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in researchjan 31 2017congratulations to geology & geophysics professor dr hongbin zhan on being awarded the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in researchdavid sparks professor & associate department head of geology & geophysics stated: dr zhan is an amazingly prolific scientist [his] impressive research record has been compiled while he was also making significant contributions to our departments missions in teaching and service hongbin zhan has been an inspiration to a generation of students and colleagues his amazing stretch of research productivity over the last several years does not actually appear to be a peak but part of a continuing upward trend that will continue for years  thank you for your dedication and hard work! click here to read more about the college's faculty awards dr hongbin zhan " " alumni meeting at aapg conference in houstonjan 31 2017we invite you to join dr mike pope and other representatives from the department as we celebrate 100 years of aapg and our aggie spiritmonday april 3rd from 5:30pm-7:30pm in the hilton americas hotel 600 lamar st houston tx 77010 further details will be announced at a later date refreshments will be provided if you have any questions please contact rachel rodriguez at rrodriguez@geostamuedu or (979) 862-1730 g&g roadshow 2017 alumni meeting at aapg conference in houston " " meet dawn spencerjan 31 2017dawn joined the berg-hughes center in february 2014 before that she was with texas a&m forest service for 14 years with administrative duties as program coordinator for the berg-hughes center and crisman institute duties involve project coordination with industry faculty and students financial reporting and operating budgets contracts amendments invoices organizing and planning the annual research symposium as well as industry review quarterly meetings prepares and analyzes spreadsheets reports compilations presentations agendas publications as well as communications between departments colleges and the public/private sector takes care of requirements for projects and interfacing with program faculty and students with regards for program support plans works and assists berg hughes and crisman directors in determination of work priorities attends meetings or committees on behalf of the supervisor/director logistical and administrative support on-site and off-site develops and oversees project timelines analyzes and develops administrative support operations prepares presentation and communication materials works proactively with college web designer to keep relevant websites updated not to mention the day to day administrative functions of running an office dawn came to work here for additional professional development and experiences her spare time is often spent two-stepping (dancing) she also likes to visit historic dancehalls tent camp read and jigsaw puzzles dawn spencer cap-om " " 50th anniversary of the center for tectonophysicsjan 31 2017this year 2017 marks the 50th anniversary for the center for tectonophysics the center for tectonophysics is an interdisciplinary research group initiated in 1967 for dual purposes: to undertake basic and applied research of both natural and induced rock deformation processes and the broad range of geologic structures formed and to provide research support training and mentoring of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows pursuing advanced studies in the area of tectonophysics  the john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation is the centerpiece of the research program and provides a variety of experimental systems allowing study of deformation and transport behavior of rock at physical and chemical states simulating surface to upper mantle conditions the laboratory is equipped with more than a dozen testing machines to deform rock and measure physical properties controlled environment chambers sensors and digital data acquisition systems a rock repository sample preparation equipment and a machine shop graduate students visiting scientists research scientists and faculty use the laboratory for research and teaching activities the center also manages the mel friedman petrofabrics laboratory and sowers library to support teaching and research activities the friedman laboratory is dedicated to the study of deformation textures of naturally and experimentally deformed rocks currently faculty from the center are working towards creating a shared national facility through deform deformation experimentation at the frontier of rock and mineral research the vision of deform is that participating scientists and member institutions will work together to enhance communication and technology exchange within the rock mechanics community provide experimental facilities for early-career scientists and promote broader collaboration across the geosciences and engineering click here to read more about their efforts towards a national facility reference: kronenberg a g hirth n lapusta j chester a freed c marone and t tullis (2016) laboratory sharing to improve rock deformation research eos 97 doi:101029/2016eo063465 published on 29 november 2016 visiting postdoc preps a high-pressure experiment in texas a&m's john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation " visiting postdoc preps a high-pressure experiment in texas a&m's john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation " new computers for computational seismology labjan 31 2017halbouty room 65 serves as the computational seismology lab for the department of geology and geophysics the lab is currently used to teach graduate courses in seismic data interpretation and processingwith the use of internal funds and key assistance from the college of geosciences it group and various texas a&m services the seismic lab was renovated in summer 2016 the renovation included the purchasing of 16 new dell t7810 dual monitor workstations and reconfiguring of power cooling and networking the new workstations are configured with a linux operating system and connect to a network virtual server to run the newest paradigm seismic software the department gave the new lab configuration a solid stress test in the fall 2016 semester with both seismic processing and interpretation courses being taught in the lab the department hopes to expand use of the lab to other courses and high demand software in the near future the computers formerly in the computational seismology lab are being moved upstairs to support research efforts in a student computing lab student working in the computational seismology lab " " fall 2016 agu meetingjan 31 2017the fall 2016 agu was held december 16th in san francisco california in agus 97th year texas a&ms department of geology & geophysics sent a record-breaking number of undergraduates graduate students and faculty attended agu as well as presented their research the departments undergraduate academic advisor suzanne rosser attended as well and presented a poster on her first-semester seminar class for geology and geophysics students photo credit: melissa altobelli " " dr brent miller researchjan 31 2017if the earth had an operating manual that was carved in stone then the page numbers of that manual would be found in the mineral zircon dr brent miller the departments geochronologist uses his research of zircon dating to see those page numbersdr miller found interest in the nature of time as a child reading hg wells novels zircon is one of earths longest-running and most accurate minerals used for dating zircon incorporates uranium at the time it crystallizes which over time decays to lead by using a very sensitive measuring device called a thermal ionization mass spectrometer the amounts of uranium and lead in zircon can be determined it is then a simple calculation to determine how much time is required for the measured amount of lead to have decayed from the measured uranium dr miller has most recently applied these methods to determining the ages of volcanic eruptive deposits in the eagle ford shale in west texas zircon is used to very precisely determine the ages of volcanic ash beds interbedded with the sediments those ages help to constrain the timing of microfossil occurrences in the surrounding sediment which could otherwise not be dated directly this information then provides a consistent timeline for testing ideas about past climate changes sedimentary basin evolution and correlations with other local regional or global sections the ultimate geological timekeeper however is to be found in the rhythms of the earth itself not in the laboratory according to dr miller we are currently limited to about 01 percent precision in the best of cases by dating zircon for late cretaceous ages that means each zircon age has an uncertainty of about plus-or-minus one hundred thousand years and extrapolating the age into the surrounding sediments only increases the uncertainty more importantly the zircon ages can be used to calibrate the subtle signals preserved in the sediments caused by environmental changes tied to known periodicities in earths orbital parameters knowing the absolute ages of a few key points in a stratigraphic section miller uses that information to ‘tune the sediments in between the ash beds to orbital or milankovitch periodicities armed with this information dr miller and his students and colleagues can estimate the age at any point in the section to about a five-fold higher precision mike deluca a recently graduated masters student co-supervised by dr miller and dr mike pope did exactly this type of work for his thesis entitled ash bed analysis of the cretaceous eagle ford shale using id-tims u/pb methods: implications for biostratigraphic refinement and correlations within the western interior seaway but its not just volcanic deposits that can be dated by zircons for the past seven years dr miller has been involved in teaching field camps igneous and metamorphic rock mapping in southwestern montana where some of the oldest rocks in the world can be found each year several undergraduate students who have mapped these rocks in field camp also bring samples back to college station as part of a topping off the capstone independent research project now a masters graduate student in the department brandon geddie recently completed an undergraduate honors thesis on montana rocks entitled constraints on the timing of deformational fabric development: ca 1780 ma big sky orogeny southwestern montana prior undergraduate researchers have used zircons to demonstrate that rocks in the field camp map area are as old as 327 billion years the very sensitive instruments in the williams lab can be used for much more than just analyzing rocks claims dr miller he has recently begun partnering with colleagues in nuclear engineering and the cyclotron institute to analyze uranium ore materials and reactor fuels for projects involving nuclear nonproliferation and safeguards the elemental and isotopic composition of these materials can serve as a fingerprint of their sources methods of refinement and previous uses this collaboration has led to the acquisition of a new robust mass spectrometer designed for rapid and accurate analysis of both nuclear and geological materials yet another mass spectrometer along with a laser ablation sampling instrument recently acquired through a national science foundation major research instrumentation grant will elevate the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope laboratory to among the best equipped labs in the world capable of measuring millions to billions of years in geologic time the thermoscientific triton thermal ionization mass spectrometer is one of the high-precision geochemical instruments in the r ken williams '45 isotope geosciences laboratory located in the department of geology & geophysics " capable of measuring millions to billions of years in geologic time the thermoscientific triton thermal ionization mass spectrometer is one of the high-precision geochemical instruments in the r ken williams '45 isotope geosciences laboratory located in the department of geology & geophysics " first-semester seminar classjan 31 2017a new component of our undergraduate curriculum is the first-semester seminar class created and organized by our undergraduate advisor suzanne rosser this class focuses on creating a welcoming environment for both transfer students and freshmen this course uses team building exercises introduces faculty to students through presentations about their research or through faculty mentors this course has created an increase in the number of students that undertake undergraduate research has given students the chance to form study groups and the confidence to reach out to professors the new undergraduate curriculum starts fall of 2017 click here to view pictures students sit with their faculty mentor dr nick perez " " texas a&m study: higher urban population densities could lead to less energy usejan 10 2017college station jan 9 2017 population densities in urban areas worldwide will continue to drop until 2050 with significant consequences for energy use in buildings according to a study by an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers that includes a texas a&m professorburak güneralp research assistant professor in the department of geography and colleagues from hungary china iowa state the university of maryland boise state and yale have had their work published online in pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) this is the first global-scale analysis of future urban densities and associated building energy use under different scenarios of urban population densities and demand for buildings says güneralp the studys lead author from texas a&m researchers report forecasts of future urban population densities and the associated energy use of buildings worldwide from 2010 to 2050 their forecasts suggest that increasing urban densities could lead to greater reductions in energy use than increasing energy efficiency in many developing regions such as china we now have a reasonably good understanding of the scale of future urbanization over the next few decades he notes also there is already plenty of evidence that urban density significantly impacts urban energy use and the quality-of-life of urban residents however we still know very little how population densities of cities will change in the coming decades and what the impact will be in terms of energy use this is important not only for energy use and greenhouse gas emissions but also for the well-being of people who will be living in those cities says güneralp the study looks at the future changes in urban population densities and the impacts on energy use in buildings for space heating and cooling in different world regions by mid-century there are differences across the world regions in relative importance of urban density and energy-efficient technologies in developing regions urban density tends to be the more critical factor that determines building energy use whereas both urban density and energy-efficient technologies matter more or less the same in developed regions globally annual energy use for these purposes is expected to increase by only 7 percent assuming the most compact urban growth and most advanced technologies however it can also increase by as much as 40 percent assuming the most dispersed urban growth and no significant advances in technology the researchers assumed fixed regional population projections; hence in their analysis higher urban-density futures are equivalent to compact development whereas low urban-density futures are indicative of dispersed development they also focused only on direct energy -- energy used in cooling and heating of buildings although the indirect energy such as energy consumed in construction of a building is also considerable over time the direct energy use tends to exceed indirect usage the researchers forecast that china europe and north america would account for the bulk of the future cumulative energy use for heating and cooling through 2050 continuing declines in urban population densities are primarily responsible for these trends in north america urban population densities are expected to decline from 5473 person/square-mile (2113 person/hectare in 2010) to between 2644 to 5449 person/square mile (1021 to 2104 person/hectare) in 2050 the study shows as a result annual energy use for heating and cooling will increase on average by 15 to 30 percent in comparison chinas annual energy use for heating and cooling would increase on average by 35 to 50 percent and exceed the energy use of north america across almost all of the scenarios by mid-century the analysis shows that energy-efficient technologies such as retrofitting will play an important role in reducing building energy use especially in cities of the developed world where most of the building stock is aging and energy-inefficient however the same is true also for china whose cities after decades of phenomenal urban growth now have an abundance of poorly constructed energy- inefficient buildings the authors say retrofitting refers to the addition of new technology or features to older systems in the study it refers to improving existing buildings with energy-efficiency equipment to save energy used for building heating and cooling the findings from the study also indicate that retrofitting existing buildings after the most advanced energy-saving technology is widely available could yield greater energy savings than premature retrofitting buildings as any other infrastructure investment typically stay in service for decades says güneralp the energy performance of buildings can be improved through retrofitting but it is much harder to change the layout of a neighborhood let alone of an entire city once it is in place it is more preferable to have our cities develop in energy-efficient forms and using energy-efficient technologies to get it right the first time rather than trying to correct retroactively which is almost always more expensive most of the time prohibitively so for more about the study go to http://wwwpnasorg/content/early/2017/01/03/1606035114full about research at texas a&m university: as one of the world's leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu/ this story may be viewed on texas a&m today http://todaytamuedu/2017/01/09/higher-urban-population-densities-could-lead-to-less-energy-use/ media contact: burak güneralp at (979) 845-6422 or cell at (979) 595-7262 or bguneralp@tamuedu or keith randall new & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu for more news about texas a&m university see http://todaytamuedu/ " " expansion of cities to decrease worlds food supply says texas a&m professorjan 5 2017college station jan 4 2017 – the increase of mega-cities in certain regions of the world is almost certain to eliminate huge areas of farmland that are critical for food production by 2030 and could have severe implications across the world according to a study by an international team of researchers that includes a texas a&m university professorburak güneralp research assistant professor in the department of geography and colleagues from germany new zealand sweden austria the university of maryland and yale university have had their work published in the current issue of the pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the study shows that some urban areas that are located near key farmland producing regions will triple in size resulting in huge implications on agricultural systems already affected by rising populations africa and parts of asia are most likely to feel the major impacts of declining farmlands but other regions of the world could also be affected the study shows one major worry: about 60 percent of the worlds irrigated cropland areas are very close to major cities and these farmlands tend to be twice as productive as other areas the study shows it means a loss of 3 to 4 percent in global agricultural production by 2030 the study shows which could affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide the study says the key crops most likely to be affected will be rice maize soy beans and wheat – all of them key food sources for billions of people egypt could lose as much as 60 percent of its maize and nigeria as much as 17 percent of its rice overall rice production could fall as much as 9 percent worldwide the study shows there is no doubt that urban expansion is already having a big impact on declining farmland in some areas of the world and this problem may get much worse in the next few decades güneralp confirms the study shows that key land losses will likely occur in africa and asia especially in countries such as egypt nigeria and eastern china where some parts of china might experience as much as one-fourth of the worldwide cropland loss these very fertile lands tend to be on the outskirts of major cities and as cities expand more land is lost güneralp adds these are high-quality tracts of land that have been owned by small farmers who depend on access to urban food markets for their livelihoods he says that as cities take over these lands it results in lost food production that these areas depend on one solution for countries such as egypt is trade to compensate for cropland loss; however this could make them more susceptible to food supply shocks another potential solution for many sub-saharan countries is opening new farmlands but that would typically result in conversion of habitats that are critical for conservation of biodiversity güneralp notes the loss of these critical farmlands puts even more pressure on food producing systems and shows that we must produce strategies to cope with this global problem this story is posted on texas a&m today http://todaytamuedu/2017/01/04/expansion-of-cities-to-decrease-worlds-food-supply-says-texas-am-prof/ media contact: burak güneralp at (979) 845-6422 or cell at (979) 595-7262 or bguneralp@tamuedu or keith randall new & information services at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamuedu about research at texas a&m university: as one of the world's leading research institutions texas a&m is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $8666 million in fiscal year 2015 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2014) based on expenditures of more than $854 million in fiscal year 2014 that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu/ dr burak güneralp " " december 2018 g&g graduation congratulations to all the students who graduated this december 2018 from the department of geology & geophysics!dec 17 2018congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated december 14 2018 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics! special congratulations to the following students who received these awards:geology and geophysics outstanding senior awardscatherine elizabeth hobartivanakbar purwamaskacollege of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program goldjulio garciakyle groverjaime laws silvernatali arzolaalexander ferrellgayle guthriemaria hruskajessica jowettadrian rangel bronzecatherine elizabeth hobartjacob tallown undergraduate students graduate studentsview photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/ca9abre " "congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated december 14 2018 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics! special congratulations to the following students who received these awards:geology and geophysics outstanding senior awardscatherine elizabeth hobartivanakbar purwamaskacollege of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program goldjulio garciakyle groverjaime laws silvernatali arzolaalexander ferrellgayle guthriemaria hruskajessica jowettadrian rangel bronzecatherine elizabeth hobartjacob tallown undergraduate students graduate studentsview photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/ca9abre" " meet dr david w bapstlearn more about one of the department's paleontologists and statistical analysts dr david w bapst dec 14 2018dr david william bapst grew up in upstate new york specifically western new york near buffalo on the shores of lake erie - a land of chicken wings bills and sabres fanatics and a lot of devonian shales he would often walk a few blocks to a creek bed behind a fire station to collect brachiopods and trilobites from the middle-devonian hamilton shale he wasnt really into collecting though more just seeing how to collect fossils bapst was very interested in what the fossil record could tell us about the world and how evolution worked from a very early age after high school bapst decided to go to college nearby at the state university of new york at buffalo (suny buffalo) it is a large state university dominated by engineering - very much like texas a&m although of course with much more snow - all the buildings are connected by tunnels and walkway bridges so you dont have to go outside as you walk from one of campus to another as soon as he was on campus bapst immediately introduced himself to the paleontologists on campus - a lab led by chuck mitchell full of researchers working on the enigmatic and extinct group of paleozoic zooplankton known as the planktonic graptolites he was very interested already in the big evolutionary questions from the beginning after reading bob bakkers dinosaur heresies in high school it introduced him to the weird theory known as punctuated equilibrium in college and through chuck mitchell bapst was introduced to dave raups extinction the work of steve gould (especially his early work on the evolution of development) and the troubles and trials of analyzing biological form (a field called morphometrics as an organisms shape is known as its morphology) and inferring evolutionary family trees (phylogenetics which in paleontology is usually limited to inferences based on morphology)bapst didnt really think he would learn to like invertebrate taxa having grown up more familiar with vertebrate groups but that changed after a few years of doing vertebrate fossil collection with a few different groups and understanding the differences between fossil records he began to see how the invertebrate fossil record was just better for the evolutionary and ecological questions he was interested in as an undergrad bapst became very interested in statistics and data analysis and started taking courses in those areas those courses gave him his first exposure to computer programming in particular he took a class specific to data analysis in geology a version of which he is offering here at tamu in the spring of 2019meanwhile bapst worked on a research project looking at the morphological change in graptolites as they went through an evolutionary bottleneck during the late ordovician mass extinction that undergraduate research project eventually became his first publication because of this experience he really valued the ability of undergrads to work on projects with faculty and have ownership of their undergraduate research of course bapst went on from buffalo to apply to graduate school particularly to major invertebrate paleontology programs and went to the university of chicago because they are well known for producing some of the sharpest minds in paleontological data analysis and theoryat buffalo bapst never thought hed be a graptolite worker but in graduate school he realized how rare it is for groups to have well sampled fossil records with incredibly precise chronological dates (graptolite biozone boundaries are dated to within a few hundred thousand years and biozones themselves are often much less than a million years in duration) or have exquisite three-dimensional preservation (because graptolites are organic fossils we can dissolve them as three-dimensional specimens from carbonate rock) enabling us to infer detailed information about their phylogenetic relationships even more so graptolites are fascinating because theres really nothing like a planktonic graptolite around today – graptolite colonies are constructed by the zooids in a way that is more like a communal bee hive than a body and theres simply no modern ecological equivalent to these tiny submersible cathedrals how planktonic graptolites swam or otherwise maintained their position up in the water column is a complete mystery; while we realized that some groups of hemichordates (a phylum most closely related to echinoderms – sea stars sea urchins etc) are living graptolites those live in tiny colonies attached to the sea floor that we know so much about graptolites because of their detailed fossil record and yet understand so little about what they did is something that fascinates bapst everydayso bapst convinced his advisors at chicago to let him work on graptolites and from there his dissertation became focused on how we combine stratigraphic and phylogenetic data – how do we know when major groups diverged from each other how can we best account for the uncertainties of an incomplete fossil record how does our assumptions about when lineages speciate or go extinct impact our ability to know when a group might actually existed and how that inform how we do biostratigraphy can we quantify our confidence when we infer that two fossil species are in an ancestor-descendant relationship and if we can what types of ancestor-descendant relationships do we infer from the fossil record how can we best compare the differing phylogenetic relationships inferred from morphology of living taxa versus from molecular sequences and how can we use that information to inform how we do systematics in paleontology these are questions that impact essentially every group of organisms and how we might answer those questions differs from one fossil record to the next that has led bapst to leading groups of collaborators involving analyses of not just the graptolite fossil record but also the early avian dinosaurs modern articulate brachiopods cambrian trilobites and many others these questions also cannot be asked without new and better methods for analyzing our data so he has designed and released scientific software for doing phylogenetics in the fossil record (named `paleotree`) which has become widely used in paleontology and evolutionary biologybapst was a geology bs at buffalo but some of the most important classes he took were electives from outside his department: several classes on statistics and probability theory a course on linear algebra (which is the basis for multivariate statistics) as well as several courses from the philosophy department particularly philosophy of science personally bapst sees statistics and data analysis as being very much like philosophy primarily concerned with the metaphysical question of how we might know something – he often says that statistics is philosophy that just looks like math that said his background as a geologist is what makes it possible for him to have the understanding to build models of the incompleteness of the rock record and understanding the wide breadth of stratigraphic cyclical and regional sampling issues that we still dont account for in our modelsat chicago bapsts degree was a phd in geophysical sciences – the geosci department at chicago is a combination of paleontologists geologists geophysics oceanographers and atmospheric scientists not to mention cosmological geochemists and planetary geologists hed say that was really good preparation for being in our diverse college of geosciences here at a&m at chicago in seminars and journal clubs he was always able to constantly be in the same room and interacting with ecologists organismal biologists geneticists philosophers and historians of science that was one of the most valuable pieces of his graduate career as it taught him how important it was in interdisciplinary work to understand the language of those other scientists that you are talking to because so much confusion and conflict can arise because they might use the same words but mean something totally different or use different words to mean the same thing theres no way to learn those obstacles of vocabulary without being in the same room and having those interdisciplinary discussionsbapsts post-doc research is focused on approximate bayesian computation approaches to measuring adaptation and competition in the evolutionary history of organismal traits the project that bapst is most excited about is currently is a collaboration with eight other collaborators where they are measuring the support for different types of ancestor-descendant relationships in more than thirty different groups of fossils invertebrates mainly from the paleozoic this work really builds off of the research he mentioned previously about how we reconstruct evolutionary trees in the fossil record for a long time paleontologists have treated the question of ancestor-descendant relationships among fossil taxa as an issue that could only be treated qualitatively because support for a particular ancestor-descendant relationship could not be quantified thus the only format for talking about whether some trilobite species was a direct descendant of another trilobite species (as opposed to only referring to the two as unspecified close relatives) was to simply draw a diagram of that ancestor-descendant relationship around five years ago however methods started to appear in the literature that allowed them to test for and measure their confidence in inferring ancestor-descendant relationships including the cal3 method he released and published in 2013 already in one published paper with melanie hopkins from the american museum of natural history they found that the ancestor-descendant relationships for cambro-ordovician pterocephaliid trilobites closely matched those inferred by trilobite workers decades ago this was great news for them believing their methods because they expected that experts working based on their own domain knowledge should be able to identify the likely ancestor descendant relationships even if those workers hadnt quantified the morphological data or developed a precise stratigraphic age model (as melanie has done) or were able to apply methods that considered support for different ancestor- descendant relationships their results did differ from previous work in that they found little support for species of trilobites evolving into a new species of trilobite via morphological shifts (such that there was only lineage just two different morphotaxa) as was previously argued for many of these ancestor-descendant relationships but rather that descendants had ‘budded off from their ancestral species during a branching speciation event analyses like these are what are now expanding to datasets that include graptolites brachiopods more trilobites eurypterids crinoids blastoids sea urchins and many other invertebrate groups from the fossil record by doing large scale analysis across so many groups they hope to understand what modes of ancestor-descendant relationships occur most often and how their reconstruction of different types of relationships are impacted by taxonomic practice and the sampling of the fossil record  those interested in hearing more about graptolites can hear bapst talk about them and his research on them in an interview he gave to laura soul in 2016 for the paleontology podcast palaeocast:http://wwwpalaeocastcom/episode-71-graptolites/ additionally bapst gave an interview to the royal society about the innovations in the intersection of evolutionary biology and paleontology here which was timed to come out with a special issue on that topic for the journal biology letters that he served as a special editor for: http://blogsroyalsocietyorg/publishing/fossils-in-trees  photos courtesy of dr david william bapst  " "dr david william bapst grew up in upstate new york specifically western new york near buffalo on the shores of lake erie - a land of chicken wings bills and sabres fanatics and a lot of devonian shales he would often walk a few blocks to a creek bed behind a fire station to collect brachiopods and trilobites from the middle-devonian hamilton shale he wasnt really into collecting though more just seeing how to collect fossils bapst was very interested in what the fossil record could tell us about the world and how evolution worked from a very early age after high school bapst decided to go to college nearby at the state university of new york at buffalo (suny buffalo) it is a large state university dominated by engineering - very much like texas a&m although of course with much more snow - all the buildings are connected by tunnels and walkway bridges so you dont have to go outside as you walk from one of campus to another as soon as he was on campus bapst immediately introduced himself to the paleontologists on campus - a lab led by chuck mitchell full of researchers working on the enigmatic and extinct group of paleozoic zooplankton known as the planktonic graptolites he was very interested already in the big evolutionary questions from the beginning after reading bob bakkers dinosaur heresies in high school it introduced him to the weird theory known as punctuated equilibrium in college and through chuck mitchell bapst was introduced to dave raups extinction the work of steve gould (especially his early work on the evolution of development) and the troubles and trials of analyzing biological form (a field called morphometrics as an organisms shape is known as its morphology) and inferring evolutionary family trees (phylogenetics which in paleontology is usually limited to inferences based on morphology)bapst didnt really think he would learn to like invertebrate taxa having grown up more familiar with vertebrate groups but that changed after a few years of doing vertebrate fossil collection with a few different groups and understanding the differences between fossil records he began to see how the invertebrate fossil record was just better for the evolutionary and ecological questions he was interested in as an undergrad bapst became very interested in statistics and data analysis and started taking courses in those areas those courses gave him his first exposure to computer programming in particular he took a class specific to data analysis in geology a version of which he is offering here at tamu in the spring of 2019meanwhile bapst worked on a research project looking at the morphological change in graptolites as they went through an evolutionary bottleneck during the late ordovician mass extinction that undergraduate research project eventually became his first publication because of this experience he really valued the ability of undergrads to work on projects with faculty and have ownership of their undergraduate research of course bapst went on from buffalo to apply to graduate school particularly to major invertebrate paleontology programs and went to the university of chicago because they are well known for producing some of the sharpest minds in paleontological data analysis and theoryat buffalo bapst never thought hed be a graptolite worker but in graduate school he realized how rare it is for groups to have well sampled fossil records with incredibly precise chronological dates (graptolite biozone boundaries are dated to within a few hundred thousand years and biozones themselves are often much less than a million years in duration) or have exquisite three-dimensional preservation (because graptolites are organic fossils we can dissolve them as three-dimensional specimens from carbonate rock) enabling us to infer detailed information about their phylogenetic relationships even more so graptolites are fascinating because theres really nothing like a planktonic graptolite around today – graptolite colonies are constructed by the zooids in a way that is more like a communal bee hive than a body and theres simply no modern ecological equivalent to these tiny submersible cathedrals how planktonic graptolites swam or otherwise maintained their position up in the water column is a complete mystery; while we realized that some groups of hemichordates (a phylum most closely related to echinoderms – sea stars sea urchins etc) are living graptolites those live in tiny colonies attached to the sea floor that we know so much about graptolites because of their detailed fossil record and yet understand so little about what they did is something that fascinates bapst everydayso bapst convinced his advisors at chicago to let him work on graptolites and from there his dissertation became focused on how we combine stratigraphic and phylogenetic data – how do we know when major groups diverged from each other how can we best account for the uncertainties of an incomplete fossil record how does our assumptions about when lineages speciate or go extinct impact our ability to know when a group might actually existed and how that inform how we do biostratigraphy can we quantify our confidence when we infer that two fossil species are in an ancestor-descendant relationship and if we can what types of ancestor-descendant relationships do we infer from the fossil record how can we best compare the differing phylogenetic relationships inferred from morphology of living taxa versus from molecular sequences and how can we use that information to inform how we do systematics in paleontology these are questions that impact essentially every group of organisms and how we might answer those questions differs from one fossil record to the next that has led bapst to leading groups of collaborators involving analyses of not just the graptolite fossil record but also the early avian dinosaurs modern articulate brachiopods cambrian trilobites and many others these questions also cannot be asked without new and better methods for analyzing our data so he has designed and released scientific software for doing phylogenetics in the fossil record (named `paleotree`) which has become widely used in paleontology and evolutionary biologybapst was a geology bs at buffalo but some of the most important classes he took were electives from outside his department: several classes on statistics and probability theory a course on linear algebra (which is the basis for multivariate statistics) as well as several courses from the philosophy department particularly philosophy of science personally bapst sees statistics and data analysis as being very much like philosophy primarily concerned with the metaphysical question of how we might know something – he often says that statistics is philosophy that just looks like math that said his background as a geologist is what makes it possible for him to have the understanding to build models of the incompleteness of the rock record and understanding the wide breadth of stratigraphic cyclical and regional sampling issues that we still dont account for in our modelsat chicago bapsts degree was a phd in geophysical sciences – the geosci department at chicago is a combination of paleontologists geologists geophysics oceanographers and atmospheric scientists not to mention cosmological geochemists and planetary geologists hed say that was really good preparation for being in our diverse college of geosciences here at a&m at chicago in seminars and journal clubs he was always able to constantly be in the same room and interacting with ecologists organismal biologists geneticists philosophers and historians of science that was one of the most valuable pieces of his graduate career as it taught him how important it was in interdisciplinary work to understand the language of those other scientists that you are talking to because so much confusion and conflict can arise because they might use the same words but mean something totally different or use different words to mean the same thing theres no way to learn those obstacles of vocabulary without being in the same room and having those interdisciplinary discussionsbapsts post-doc research is focused on approximate bayesian computation approaches to measuring adaptation and competition in the evolutionary history of organismal traits the project that bapst is most excited about is currently is a collaboration with eight other collaborators where they are measuring the support for different types of ancestor-descendant relationships in more than thirty different groups of fossils invertebrates mainly from the paleozoic this work really builds off of the research he mentioned previously about how we reconstruct evolutionary trees in the fossil record for a long time paleontologists have treated the question of ancestor-descendant relationships among fossil taxa as an issue that could only be treated qualitatively because support for a particular ancestor-descendant relationship could not be quantified thus the only format for talking about whether some trilobite species was a direct descendant of another trilobite species (as opposed to only referring to the two as unspecified close relatives) was to simply draw a diagram of that ancestor-descendant relationship around five years ago however methods started to appear in the literature that allowed them to test for and measure their confidence in inferring ancestor-descendant relationships including the cal3 method he released and published in 2013 already in one published paper with melanie hopkins from the american museum of natural history they found that the ancestor-descendant relationships for cambro-ordovician pterocephaliid trilobites closely matched those inferred by trilobite workers decades ago this was great news for them believing their methods because they expected that experts working based on their own domain knowledge should be able to identify the likely ancestor descendant relationships even if those workers hadnt quantified the morphological data or developed a precise stratigraphic age model (as melanie has done) or were able to apply methods that considered support for different ancestor- descendant relationships their results did differ from previous work in that they found little support for species of trilobites evolving into a new species of trilobite via morphological shifts (such that there was only lineage just two different morphotaxa) as was previously argued for many of these ancestor-descendant relationships but rather that descendants had ‘budded off from their ancestral species during a branching speciation event analyses like these are what are now expanding to datasets that include graptolites brachiopods more trilobites eurypterids crinoids blastoids sea urchins and many other invertebrate groups from the fossil record by doing large scale analysis across so many groups they hope to understand what modes of ancestor-descendant relationships occur most often and how their reconstruction of different types of relationships are impacted by taxonomic practice and the sampling of the fossil record  those interested in hearing more about graptolites can hear bapst talk about them and his research on them in an interview he gave to laura soul in 2016 for the paleontology podcast palaeocast:http://wwwpalaeocastcom/episode-71-graptolites/ additionally bapst gave an interview to the royal society about the innovations in the intersection of evolutionary biology and paleontology here which was timed to come out with a special issue on that topic for the journal biology letters that he served as a special editor for: http://blogsroyalsocietyorg/publishing/fossils-in-trees  photos courtesy of dr david william bapst " " meet luz romeroluz romero serves as the technical laboratory coordinator for the radiogenic isotope geosciences facility in the department of geology & geophysicsdec 13 2018  luz romero was born and raised in columbia she came to the united states to attend florida international university in miami where she received her bachelors and masters degrees in biology the focus of her degree was in the area of ecology with a masters research project in nutrient cycle in decaying mangrove wood after wide areas of mangrove ecosystems were devastated by hurricane andrew romero worked for about six years in the everglades national park as a field scientist doing work in the mangrove systems (she fed enough mosquitos during the summer time to keep a healthy community of mosquitoes alive) she also worked as a consultant in the florida keys assessing the impact of power boats on seagrass blades since moving to college station she has worked in the wildlife and fisheries department in the geography and oceanography departments and for the flower gardens marine sanctuary she has been working in the geology department for the last 10 years as a lab coordinator in the radiogenic isotope laboratory luz romeros main hobby while living in the keys was snorkeling and kayaking but this changed to running when she moved to college station now that running has caused some damage to her knee she prefers to walk/run swim lift weights and likes to make soaps and lotions                            " "  luz romero was born and raised in columbia she came to the united states to attend florida international university in miami where she received her bachelors and masters degrees in biology the focus of her degree was in the area of ecology with a masters research project in nutrient cycle in decaying mangrove wood after wide areas of mangrove ecosystems were devastated by hurricane andrew romero worked for about six years in the everglades national park as a field scientist doing work in the mangrove systems (she fed enough mosquitos during the summer time to keep a healthy community of mosquitoes alive) she also worked as a consultant in the florida keys assessing the impact of power boats on seagrass blades since moving to college station she has worked in the wildlife and fisheries department in the geography and oceanography departments and for the flower gardens marine sanctuary she has been working in the geology department for the last 10 years as a lab coordinator in the radiogenic isotope laboratory luz romeros main hobby while living in the keys was snorkeling and kayaking but this changed to running when she moved to college station now that running has caused some damage to her knee she prefers to walk/run swim lift weights and likes to make soaps and lotions                           " " meteorology student contributed to hurricane forecast model improvementsmeet quinton lawton whose life-long interest in meteorology undergraduate research opportunities at texas a&m and noaa internship have shaped his career path nov 30 2018quinton lawton on a barbados beach taking measurements this took place on a sea-breeze study tamu students conducted as part of a meteorology study abroad on the island in the summer of 2016(photo courtesy of quinton lawton)lawton and fellow texas a&m meteorology students ethan williams (left) and sarah randall (right) operating the dow-8 dow stands for doppler on wheels a mobile radar truck the department of meteorology used to conduct a field experiment on sea-breeze convection for a few weeks in the summer of 2017 (photo courtesy of quinton lawton)while he always found the sky fascinating it was not until quinton lawton witnessed the impact that hurricane ike left on his hometown of cypress texas that he immediately became interested in weather he clearly remembers the storm and how it affected his neighborhood i stayed up all night because it [hurricane ike] was exciting and scary lawton said the next morning i just remember going outside and seeing the trees down and seeing the impact on homes we were out of electricity for two weeks and i really saw how weather impacted people  people spend their lives studying and predicting this hurricane ike was a trigger in my mind and the push i needed to realize that this was something i wanted to do from that point on lawton dedicated his life to becoming a meteorologist in hopes of better-predicting storms to help communities better prepare now well on his way to making those dreams happen lawton is a senior meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences the journey to aggieland having been intrigued by meteorology for most of his life it was only natural that lawton was drawn to a school with an extraordinary meteorology program after attending the geox program an immersive opportunity for high school students lawton knew texas a&m was where he wanted to be my junior year of high school i applied to one of the programs put on by the college of geosciences the geox summer program where prospective students are given a chance to learn about the geosciences he said you are here for a week and you get to live on campus and go to lectures and do all of these fun activities  when lawton arrived at geox he was set on studying meteorology but undecided about which university to attend hands-on experiences during geox showed him the opportunities available in texas a&m geosciences  we launched weather balloons and we were taking observations he said that really started to sell me on texas a&m  other universities did not show me that when i went on tours they had all of this cool stuff but they never told me that undergraduates were allowed to use it  when he returned for his senior visit he was impressed by the research experiences that undergraduates in meteorology got to have they were very involved in research and very involved in hands on activities like launching balloons running the radar and a lot of other stufflawton with dr bin liu and dr sergio garcia after giving a presentation on the hwrf hurricane model (photo courtesy of quinton lawton)the dow-8 truck in use (photo courtesy of quinton lawton)from rooftops to hurricane models to barbados after choosing texas a&m lawton jumped into undergraduate research soon after arriving in aggieland freshman through junior year he was heavily involved in the texas a&m green roof project undergraduate research program there he had the opportunity to learn about all of the cool instrumentation and we took a poster to a national conference for that  lawton was also able to conduct undergraduate research supervised by dr robert korty  associate professor of atmospheric sciences in his sophomore year dr robert korty does research on tropic cyclones and climates lawton said his focus is looking at climate simulations generally paleo-climates ice age and 20th century and they model hurricanes in these climates to see how characteristics change; i have been working on this project with him and it has been an incredible experience in the summer of 2016 lawton took a two-week meteorology study abroad trip to barbados in the caribbean the students studied tropical meteorology and the trip included a lot of field study and sea-breeze study lawton said it was really cool to enjoy the culture while doing good amazing science with the caribbean institute for meteorology and hydrology  in april 2018 lawton gave a presentation at the 33rd annual american meteorology society conference on hurricanes and tropical meteorology: intermodel variability in tropical cyclones downscaled from paleoclimate simulations he also wrote an undergraduate thesis on the research and is currently working on a related journal article to be published the department of atmospheric sciences and the college of geosciences offer so many impactful experiences to undergraduate students he said  you have to become comfortable reaching out to seize the opportunities that this college has to offer  interning at noaa  this past summer lawton had the opportunity to intern at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration in the environmental modeling center (emc)  they actually run the operational forecast models used by the weather service to predict the weather he said one of the models that they run is the hurricane weather research and forecasting model (hwrf); this model is one of two that is essential for predicting hurricane intensity lawton was assigned to do a research project on this model and work with the scientists who work to improve it this was probably the most impactful thing that i have ever done because some of the work that i started there will be used there every year to evaluate the model so some of my research project will be there for the time being i can say that i was able to improve a hurricane model  he will present a poster at a national conference in january on that work and he also had the opportunity to give a seminar at texas a&m about it and meet some amazing scientists lawton said after graduating in may 2019 he plans to eventually obtain a phd and continue studying hurricanes and he has begun applying to graduate schools  hurricanes is where i see myself going because it is very interesting and impactful he said there is a lot of talk about how do people listen how can we make forecasts to communicate in a way that the public not only listens but take action there is still a lot of great research to be done im happy to be a part of it in any way that i can be ultimately my goal is to use research as a way to mitigate some of the impact that hurricanes have on people by rachel swindell '19 " quinton lawton on a barbados beach taking measurements this took place on a sea-breeze study tamu students conducted as part of a meteorology study abroad on the island in the summer of 2016(photo courtesy of quinton lawton)lawton and fellow texas a&m meteorology students ethan williams (left) and sarah randall (right) operating the dow-8 dow stands for doppler on wheels a mobile radar truck the department of meteorology used to conduct a field experiment on sea-breeze convection for a few weeks in the summer of 2017 (photo courtesy of quinton lawton) "while he always found the sky fascinating it was not until quinton lawton witnessed the impact that hurricane ike left on his hometown of cypress texas that he immediately became interested in weather he clearly remembers the storm and how it affected his neighborhood i stayed up all night because it [hurricane ike] was exciting and scary lawton said the next morning i just remember going outside and seeing the trees down and seeing the impact on homes we were out of electricity for two weeks and i really saw how weather impacted people  people spend their lives studying and predicting this hurricane ike was a trigger in my mind and the push i needed to realize that this was something i wanted to do from that point on lawton dedicated his life to becoming a meteorologist in hopes of better-predicting storms to help communities better prepare now well on his way to making those dreams happen lawton is a senior meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences the journey to aggieland having been intrigued by meteorology for most of his life it was only natural that lawton was drawn to a school with an extraordinary meteorology program after attending the geox program an immersive opportunity for high school students lawton knew texas a&m was where he wanted to be my junior year of high school i applied to one of the programs put on by the college of geosciences the geox summer program where prospective students are given a chance to learn about the geosciences he said you are here for a week and you get to live on campus and go to lectures and do all of these fun activities  when lawton arrived at geox he was set on studying meteorology but undecided about which university to attend hands-on experiences during geox showed him the opportunities available in texas a&m geosciences  we launched weather balloons and we were taking observations he said that really started to sell me on texas a&m  other universities did not show me that when i went on tours they had all of this cool stuff but they never told me that undergraduates were allowed to use it  when he returned for his senior visit he was impressed by the research experiences that undergraduates in meteorology got to have they were very involved in research and very involved in hands on activities like launching balloons running the radar and a lot of other stuff" lawton with dr bin liu and dr sergio garcia after giving a presentation on the hwrf hurricane model (photo courtesy of quinton lawton)the dow-8 truck in use (photo courtesy of quinton lawton) "from rooftops to hurricane models to barbados after choosing texas a&m lawton jumped into undergraduate research soon after arriving in aggieland freshman through junior year he was heavily involved in the texas a&m green roof project undergraduate research program there he had the opportunity to learn about all of the cool instrumentation and we took a poster to a national conference for that  lawton was also able to conduct undergraduate research supervised by dr robert korty  associate professor of atmospheric sciences in his sophomore year dr robert korty does research on tropic cyclones and climates lawton said his focus is looking at climate simulations generally paleo-climates ice age and 20th century and they model hurricanes in these climates to see how characteristics change; i have been working on this project with him and it has been an incredible experience in the summer of 2016 lawton took a two-week meteorology study abroad trip to barbados in the caribbean the students studied tropical meteorology and the trip included a lot of field study and sea-breeze study lawton said it was really cool to enjoy the culture while doing good amazing science with the caribbean institute for meteorology and hydrology  in april 2018 lawton gave a presentation at the 33rd annual american meteorology society conference on hurricanes and tropical meteorology: intermodel variability in tropical cyclones downscaled from paleoclimate simulations he also wrote an undergraduate thesis on the research and is currently working on a related journal article to be published the department of atmospheric sciences and the college of geosciences offer so many impactful experiences to undergraduate students he said  you have to become comfortable reaching out to seize the opportunities that this college has to offer  interning at noaa  this past summer lawton had the opportunity to intern at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration in the environmental modeling center (emc)  they actually run the operational forecast models used by the weather service to predict the weather he said one of the models that they run is the hurricane weather research and forecasting model (hwrf); this model is one of two that is essential for predicting hurricane intensity lawton was assigned to do a research project on this model and work with the scientists who work to improve it this was probably the most impactful thing that i have ever done because some of the work that i started there will be used there every year to evaluate the model so some of my research project will be there for the time being i can say that i was able to improve a hurricane model  he will present a poster at a national conference in january on that work and he also had the opportunity to give a seminar at texas a&m about it and meet some amazing scientists lawton said after graduating in may 2019 he plans to eventually obtain a phd and continue studying hurricanes and he has begun applying to graduate schools  hurricanes is where i see myself going because it is very interesting and impactful he said there is a lot of talk about how do people listen how can we make forecasts to communicate in a way that the public not only listens but take action there is still a lot of great research to be done im happy to be a part of it in any way that i can be ultimately my goal is to use research as a way to mitigate some of the impact that hurricanes have on people by rachel swindell '19" " dr lisa campbell and dr antonietta quigg named regents professorsthe texas a&m university system has named oceanography faculty members dr lisa campbell and dr antonietta quigg as regents professorsnov 28 2018dr lisa campbell (left) and dr antonietta quigg (right)the texas a&m university system board of regents has designated 15 faculty members as regents professors and the new awardees include dr lisa campbell and dr antonietta quigg faculty members in the texas a&m department of oceanography these outstanding individuals are doing incredible work on behalf of the a&m system and the entire state of texas said a&m system chancellor john sharp they exemplify the values and commitment to excellence that defines the a&m system and i am grateful for their dedication the texas a&m regents professor award recognizes outstanding faculty members who provide exemplary service on behalf of the texas a&m system and the entire state of texas i thank the regents for this award; it is a great honor said dr lisa campbell texas a&m oceanography professor and the william r bryant chair in oceanography i would also like to acknowledge all my students and colleagues who have contributed to the success of my research program dr antonietta quigg serves in a joint appointment as a professor in texas a&m oceanography and as texas a&m-galvestons senior associate vice president for research and graduate studies i am very pleased to be selected as a regents professor at texas a&m quigg said it is a great honor to be recognized for this prestigious award i look forward to continuing to serve this wonderful institution and work alongside its faculty staff and students texas a&m oceanography former student dr thomas mcdonald professor at the texas a&m school of public health was also named a regents professor for more information read the article on texas a&m today by bumsoo kim " "the texas a&m university system board of regents has designated 15 faculty members as regents professors and the new awardees include dr lisa campbell and dr antonietta quigg faculty members in the texas a&m department of oceanography these outstanding individuals are doing incredible work on behalf of the a&m system and the entire state of texas said a&m system chancellor john sharp they exemplify the values and commitment to excellence that defines the a&m system and i am grateful for their dedication the texas a&m regents professor award recognizes outstanding faculty members who provide exemplary service on behalf of the texas a&m system and the entire state of texas i thank the regents for this award; it is a great honor said dr lisa campbell texas a&m oceanography professor and the william r bryant chair in oceanography i would also like to acknowledge all my students and colleagues who have contributed to the success of my research program dr antonietta quigg serves in a joint appointment as a professor in texas a&m oceanography and as texas a&m-galvestons senior associate vice president for research and graduate studies i am very pleased to be selected as a regents professor at texas a&m quigg said it is a great honor to be recognized for this prestigious award i look forward to continuing to serve this wonderful institution and work alongside its faculty staff and students texas a&m oceanography former student dr thomas mcdonald professor at the texas a&m school of public health was also named a regents professor for more information read the article on texas a&m today by bumsoo kim" " aggie oceanographer sailed on the lost city hydrothermal expedition graduate student shu ying wee joined a research cruise aboard the r/v atlantis visiting the lost city hydrothermal field to study a microbial community in the deep sea from sep 08 to oct 01nov 20 2018shu ying wee a graduate student working with dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university participated in a month-long research cruise aboard the r/v atlantis to sample the lost city hydrothermal field (lchf) with rov (remote operated vehicle) jason from woods hole oceanography institute (whoi) from september 08 – october 01 2018 this research project was a large interdisciplinary effort and the first time the site had been sampled by a us-led team in over a decade the chief scientist of the cruise was dr susan lang a geochemist from the university of south carolina and the co-chief scientist was dr william brazelton a microbiologist from the university of utahthe scientific crew onboard r/v atlantis (wee pictured second from the left) for the research cruise to the lchf at42-01 the rov (remotely operated vehicle) jason primarily used for retrieving fluid and chimney samples is pictured in the background (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute photographed by ronnie whims and mitch elend)the lchf is a field of hydrothermal vents located off-axis from the mid-atlantic ridge that was first discovered in 2000 hydrothermal vents are similar in structure to a chimney and are commonly found near tectonically active environments such as mid-ocean ridges and submarine volcanoes where ambient fluid or seawater becomes geothermally heated in the subseafloor and then rises back up through cracks in the seafloor as acidic (ph <7) hydrothermal fluid that ranges in temperature from 60 °c (140˚f) up to high as >450 °c (>840˚f)screen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis of the tall chimney named nature tower from marker h at lchf (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute)compared to other hydrothermal vent systems however the lchf is relatively low-temperature (up to 90 °c) and highly alkaline (ph of 9 to 11)  this unusual composition is because lost city results from the geochemical reaction process called ‘serpentinization as opposed to the typical subseafloor heating of hydrothermal fluids that generates black smokers  also unique to lost city the chimneys there are composed of the white rock carbonate as opposed to sulfides produced at other vent fields serpentinization occurs when mantle rocks come up to the surface seafloor and react with seawater which produces methane and hydrogen that can fuel microbial life this is what makes lost city so unique said wee with the rov jason from whoi the primary goal of the cruise was to collect fluids from diffuse vents using the hydrothermal organic geochemistry (hog) sampler in addition to collecting chimney samplesscreen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis from a marker at lchf called beehive the actively diffusing portion of the chimney emits warmer fluid (~80-90°c) and is visible by when it comes into contact with the colder ambient fluid (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute)during the cruise ying also collected chimney samples from actively diffusing sites that were sampled by rov jason placed in an incubator and then placed back on the seafloor at a non-diffuse site where the conditions are not affected by actively venting hydrothermal fluid the goal of the incubation experiment was to study how microbes react during the transition from active venting to inactive wee said you can think of it as a forest fire before the fire there are certain microbes that are living in the forest when the forest burns down these microbes cannot survive; however there are other microbes will take over and survive after the firescreen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis depicting (left) the active chimney samples obtained with rov jason being placed into the incubation crate and (right) the non-diffuse site at which the incubation was placed (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute)the goal was to incubate the environmental samples for at least 4 to 7 days and analyze the samples using metagenomics cell abundance quantification and transcriptomics to learn which microbes are present and what microbiological processes are occurring after the transition a control sample of the active chimney was used for comparison studies with the incubation experiment samples at the beginning i was worried if could stay on a month-long cruise and wondering if i will get sea sick however in addition to having the privilege to view the beauty of lost city firsthand it was a great opportunity for me to meet other researchers in similar fields and also make lasting friendships wee said in march 2019 sylvan will be the chief scientist leading another hydrothermal vent study at the east pacific rise to conduct larger scale incubation experiments studying deep-sea microbiology on transitioning vent sulfides this expedition is planning to conduct not only a one-week long incubation but also a one-year incubation experiment to see the microbial community transition in a longer timescale during the cruise hov (human occupied vehicle) alvin from whoi will be used to collect hydrothermal vent samples postdoctoral research associate amanda achberger and graduate student charles homes ii both from dr sylvans lab are expected to participate on the 2019 cruise to find out more information about the lost city hydrothermal field visit the lost city expedition blog by bumsoo kim " "shu ying wee a graduate student working with dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university participated in a month-long research cruise aboard the r/v atlantis to sample the lost city hydrothermal field (lchf) with rov (remote operated vehicle) jason from woods hole oceanography institute (whoi) from september 08 – october 01 2018 this research project was a large interdisciplinary effort and the first time the site had been sampled by a us-led team in over a decade the chief scientist of the cruise was dr susan lang a geochemist from the university of south carolina and the co-chief scientist was dr william brazelton a microbiologist from the university of utah" the scientific crew onboard r/v atlantis (wee pictured second from the left) for the research cruise to the lchf at42-01 the rov (remotely operated vehicle) jason primarily used for retrieving fluid and chimney samples is pictured in the background (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute photographed by ronnie whims and mitch elend) the lchf is a field of hydrothermal vents located off-axis from the mid-atlantic ridge that was first discovered in 2000 hydrothermal vents are similar in structure to a chimney and are commonly found near tectonically active environments such as mid-ocean ridges and submarine volcanoes where ambient fluid or seawater becomes geothermally heated in the subseafloor and then rises back up through cracks in the seafloor as acidic (ph <7) hydrothermal fluid that ranges in temperature from 60 °c (140˚f) up to high as >450 °c (>840˚f) screen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis of the tall chimney named nature tower from marker h at lchf (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute) "compared to other hydrothermal vent systems however the lchf is relatively low-temperature (up to 90 °c) and highly alkaline (ph of 9 to 11)  this unusual composition is because lost city results from the geochemical reaction process called ‘serpentinization as opposed to the typical subseafloor heating of hydrothermal fluids that generates black smokers  also unique to lost city the chimneys there are composed of the white rock carbonate as opposed to sulfides produced at other vent fields serpentinization occurs when mantle rocks come up to the surface seafloor and react with seawater which produces methane and hydrogen that can fuel microbial life this is what makes lost city so unique said wee with the rov jason from whoi the primary goal of the cruise was to collect fluids from diffuse vents using the hydrothermal organic geochemistry (hog) sampler in addition to collecting chimney samples" screen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis from a marker at lchf called beehive the actively diffusing portion of the chimney emits warmer fluid (~80-90°c) and is visible by when it comes into contact with the colder ambient fluid (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute) "during the cruise ying also collected chimney samples from actively diffusing sites that were sampled by rov jason placed in an incubator and then placed back on the seafloor at a non-diffuse site where the conditions are not affected by actively venting hydrothermal fluid the goal of the incubation experiment was to study how microbes react during the transition from active venting to inactive wee said you can think of it as a forest fire before the fire there are certain microbes that are living in the forest when the forest burns down these microbes cannot survive; however there are other microbes will take over and survive after the fire" screen capture of a video log recorded with rov jason onboard the r/v atlantis depicting (left) the active chimney samples obtained with rov jason being placed into the incubation crate and (right) the non-diffuse site at which the incubation was placed (image credit: scientific party of at42-01 cruise onboard the r/v atlantis chief scientist: susan lang copyright woods hole oceanographic institute) "the goal was to incubate the environmental samples for at least 4 to 7 days and analyze the samples using metagenomics cell abundance quantification and transcriptomics to learn which microbes are present and what microbiological processes are occurring after the transition a control sample of the active chimney was used for comparison studies with the incubation experiment samples at the beginning i was worried if could stay on a month-long cruise and wondering if i will get sea sick however in addition to having the privilege to view the beauty of lost city firsthand it was a great opportunity for me to meet other researchers in similar fields and also make lasting friendships wee said in march 2019 sylvan will be the chief scientist leading another hydrothermal vent study at the east pacific rise to conduct larger scale incubation experiments studying deep-sea microbiology on transitioning vent sulfides this expedition is planning to conduct not only a one-week long incubation but also a one-year incubation experiment to see the microbial community transition in a longer timescale during the cruise hov (human occupied vehicle) alvin from whoi will be used to collect hydrothermal vent samples postdoctoral research associate amanda achberger and graduate student charles homes ii both from dr sylvans lab are expected to participate on the 2019 cruise to find out more information about the lost city hydrothermal field visit the lost city expedition blog by bumsoo kim" " texas a&m geography research: enormous urban growth poses huge problemsa study co-led by dr burak güneralp predicts over 70 000 square miles of natural habitat could be lost to urban expansion between 2000 and 2030nov 13 2018the city of austin texasthe rapid expansion of cities has accelerated in recent decades so much so that a city the size of london could be created every seven weeks by 2050 if current trends continue according to a study co-led by a texas a&m university professor burak güneralp assistant professor of geography and colleagues have had their work published as a report by the nature conservancy the report will be presented to the national delegates at the 14th conference of the parties to the united nations convention on biological diversity in egypt later this month the findings in the report largely rely on the urban expansion forecasts güneralp developed earlier (studies in erl  pnas) the study shows that urban growth presents extreme challenges to biodiversity and ecosystem services due to the ongoing loss and fragmentation of habitats from the expansion of cities the message is clear: we have to take action and we must do it quickly güneralp says of the teams findings the challenges presented by urban expansion for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services we all depend on are only going to get more intense as the world continues to urbanize the reports findings show that by 2050 there will be 24 billion more people in cities it means: humanity will urbanize an area of over 460 000 additional square miles larger than the entire country of colombia; over 70 000 square miles of natural habitat could be destroyed by 2030 natural habitats likely to be lost to urban growth store an estimated 43 billion tons of carbon dioxide this would be the equivalent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 931 million cars on the road coastal areas could be especially affected by urban expansion and by 2030 urban areas are projected to more than double increasing the number of those urban dwellers who depend on protection from natural ecosystems to more than 330 million people countries expected to lose the most natural habitat due to urban growth include the united states brazil nigeria and china the study finds solutions to the problems could include more effective integration of local governments in national planning efforts; encouraging and empowering cities to incorporate protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services in their planning efforts; leveraging the work of international institutions such as the green climate fund and the global environmental facility; and coordinating the work of the united nations convention of biological diversity to find ways to combat these future problems cities have been called one of mankinds greatest inventions güneralp said but we should not be blindsided by the potentially detrimental impacts of the ongoing rapid urban expansion not even in the us or in texas in fact this unprecedented urban growth presents us with a fleeting opportunity to act so that it takes place in a way that safeguards biodiversity and ecosystem services that are so critical for human wellbeing   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " "the rapid expansion of cities has accelerated in recent decades so much so that a city the size of london could be created every seven weeks by 2050 if current trends continue according to a study co-led by a texas a&m university professor burak güneralp assistant professor of geography and colleagues have had their work published as a report by the nature conservancy the report will be presented to the national delegates at the 14th conference of the parties to the united nations convention on biological diversity in egypt later this month the findings in the report largely rely on the urban expansion forecasts güneralp developed earlier (studies in erl  pnas) the study shows that urban growth presents extreme challenges to biodiversity and ecosystem services due to the ongoing loss and fragmentation of habitats from the expansion of cities the message is clear: we have to take action and we must do it quickly güneralp says of the teams findings the challenges presented by urban expansion for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services we all depend on are only going to get more intense as the world continues to urbanize the reports findings show that by 2050 there will be 24 billion more people in cities it means: humanity will urbanize an area of over 460 000 additional square miles larger than the entire country of colombia; over 70 000 square miles of natural habitat could be destroyed by 2030 natural habitats likely to be lost to urban growth store an estimated 43 billion tons of carbon dioxide this would be the equivalent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 931 million cars on the road coastal areas could be especially affected by urban expansion and by 2030 urban areas are projected to more than double increasing the number of those urban dwellers who depend on protection from natural ecosystems to more than 330 million people countries expected to lose the most natural habitat due to urban growth include the united states brazil nigeria and china the study finds solutions to the problems could include more effective integration of local governments in national planning efforts; encouraging and empowering cities to incorporate protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services in their planning efforts; leveraging the work of international institutions such as the green climate fund and the global environmental facility; and coordinating the work of the united nations convention of biological diversity to find ways to combat these future problems cities have been called one of mankinds greatest inventions güneralp said but we should not be blindsided by the potentially detrimental impacts of the ongoing rapid urban expansion not even in the us or in texas in fact this unprecedented urban growth presents us with a fleeting opportunity to act so that it takes place in a way that safeguards biodiversity and ecosystem services that are so critical for human wellbeing   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " texas sea grant co-sponsored the first texas plastic pollution symposiumnov 5 2018texas sea grant was honored to attend and co-sponsor the first ever texas plastic pollution symposium on october 30th  session topics included: impacts to fish and wildlife chemistry policy & urban communities monitoring plastic pollution and solutions one disturbing theme that was evident across all sessions is that microplastics are a huge environmental and biological problem animals mistake plastic for food and ingest it inhibiting their ability to efficiently gain nutrients moreover the plastic and its chemistry is toxic which harms animals health often leading to mortality furthermore the most prevalent type of microplastic appears to be plastic fibers these fibers are ubiquitous and end up in the drainage systems and waterways from washing polyester clothing for example this is important to consider when it comes to human health  how much plastic are humans eating and drinking just through their diet what does this mean for human health one overall consensus of this symposium was these questions need to be researched further two of texas sea grants funded graduate students lee pinnell and polly hajovsky both from texas a&m corpus christi presented their research pinnell discussed the life of a nurdle how traditional petroleum-based plastic is not easily broken down by bacteria compared to bio-plastic hajovsky presented occurrence of microplastic in the diet of juvenile fish and discovered that 84% of juvenile fish had eaten suspected-microplastics in corpus christi bay and the upper laguna madre additionally texas sea grants graduate assistant researcher christine figgener introduced the documentary straws where she comments on her sea turtle research in costa rice  in the film figgener witnessed first-hand how plastic impacts sea turtles  the footage shows the now infamous clip of a straw that was lodged within a sea turtles nasal cavity being pulled out  at the symposium texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin served as the ""monitoring plastic pollution"" session chair moderator other texas sea grant staff in attendance included kimber de salvo chris hale morgen ayers laura picariello and ashley bennis texas sea grants extends a special thank you to university of texas marine science institute mission-aransas reserve texas parks and wildlife and coastal bend chapter – surfrider foundation for co-hosting this symposium  thank you to all of the speakers and presenters (including: researchers scientists policy makers lawyers industry and advocates) who brought so much depth and variety to the symposium   by kimber desalvo " "texas sea grant was honored to attend and co-sponsor the first ever texas plastic pollution symposium on october 30th  session topics included: impacts to fish and wildlife chemistry policy & urban communities monitoring plastic pollution and solutions one disturbing theme that was evident across all sessions is that microplastics are a huge environmental and biological problem animals mistake plastic for food and ingest it inhibiting their ability to efficiently gain nutrients moreover the plastic and its chemistry is toxic which harms animals health often leading to mortality furthermore the most prevalent type of microplastic appears to be plastic fibers these fibers are ubiquitous and end up in the drainage systems and waterways from washing polyester clothing for example this is important to consider when it comes to human health  how much plastic are humans eating and drinking just through their diet what does this mean for human health one overall consensus of this symposium was these questions need to be researched further two of texas sea grants funded graduate students lee pinnell and polly hajovsky both from texas a&m corpus christi presented their research pinnell discussed the life of a nurdle how traditional petroleum-based plastic is not easily broken down by bacteria compared to bio-plastic hajovsky presented occurrence of microplastic in the diet of juvenile fish and discovered that 84% of juvenile fish had eaten suspected-microplastics in corpus christi bay and the upper laguna madre additionally texas sea grants graduate assistant researcher christine figgener introduced the documentary straws where she comments on her sea turtle research in costa rice  in the film figgener witnessed first-hand how plastic impacts sea turtles  the footage shows the now infamous clip of a straw that was lodged within a sea turtles nasal cavity being pulled out  at the symposium texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin served as the ""monitoring plastic pollution"" session chair moderator other texas sea grant staff in attendance included kimber de salvo chris hale morgen ayers laura picariello and ashley bennis texas sea grants extends a special thank you to university of texas marine science institute mission-aransas reserve texas parks and wildlife and coastal bend chapter – surfrider foundation for co-hosting this symposium  thank you to all of the speakers and presenters (including: researchers scientists policy makers lawyers industry and advocates) who brought so much depth and variety to the symposium   by kimber desalvo" " free well disinfection and water quality workshop for private well ownersnov 2 2018rockport private water well owners whose wells flooded should assume that their well water is contaminated until tested according to dr diane boellstorff texas a&m agrilife extension service water resource specialist college station you should not use water from a flooded well for drinking cooking making ice brushing your teeth or even bathing until you are satisfied that it is not contaminated boellstorff said ""wells are a direct link from the land surface into our delicate aquifers this workshop provides information on the importance of capping or plugging select water wells in order to keep surface contaminants out of our groundwater "" said morgen ayers natural resources specialist with texas sea grant agrilife extension is offering a free well water disinfection and water quality workshop nov 14 6:30-8:00 pm at the aransas county extension office 892 airport rd rockport the workshop is being co-sponsored by texas sea grant the workshop aims to improve the understanding of how floods impact private well waters and to provide information about well water quality free test kits will be distributed at the workshop for well owners to return to the aransas county extension office on december 3 instructions for decontaminating a well are available through the following publications free for download at http://twontamuedu/flood-resources/  additionally the best protocol to follow for disinfecting a private well system is found at http://twontamuedu/media/668950/waterwell_tri-fold__state_10-13-17pdf  boellstorff said after a flood wells should be inspected for physical damage and signs of leakage if it appears damaged consult a licensed water well contractor to determine whether repairs are needed she said  she also noted flooding can damage the well pump and electrical systems if the pump and/or electrical system has been underwater and it is not designed to be underwater do not turn on the pump as there is a potential for electrical shock or damage to your well or pump she said boellstorff said once the floodwaters have receded and the pump and electrical system have dried have a qualified electrician well driller or pump installer check the wiring system and other well components workshop sponsors include texas a&m agrilife extension texas well owners network texas sea grant and tamu cc center for water studies refreshments will be provided for more information about the workshop contact the texas a&m agrilife extension office in aransas county at 361-790-0103 or aransas-tx@tamuedu it is free and open to all contacts: drew gholson 979-845-1461 dgholson@tamuedu ginger easton smith 361-790-0103 vasmith@agtamuedu dorina murgulet 361-825-2309 dorinamurgulet@tamuccedu  morgen ayers 361-825-6216 morgenayers@tamuedu diane boellstorff 979-458-3562 dboellstorff@tamuedu by morgen ayers " "rockport private water well owners whose wells flooded should assume that their well water is contaminated until tested according to dr diane boellstorff texas a&m agrilife extension service water resource specialist college station you should not use water from a flooded well for drinking cooking making ice brushing your teeth or even bathing until you are satisfied that it is not contaminated boellstorff said ""wells are a direct link from the land surface into our delicate aquifers this workshop provides information on the importance of capping or plugging select water wells in order to keep surface contaminants out of our groundwater "" said morgen ayers natural resources specialist with texas sea grant agrilife extension is offering a free well water disinfection and water quality workshop nov 14 6:30-8:00 pm at the aransas county extension office 892 airport rd rockport the workshop is being co-sponsored by texas sea grant the workshop aims to improve the understanding of how floods impact private well waters and to provide information about well water quality free test kits will be distributed at the workshop for well owners to return to the aransas county extension office on december 3 instructions for decontaminating a well are available through the following publications free for download at http://twontamuedu/flood-resources/  additionally the best protocol to follow for disinfecting a private well system is found at http://twontamuedu/media/668950/waterwell_tri-fold__state_10-13-17pdf  boellstorff said after a flood wells should be inspected for physical damage and signs of leakage if it appears damaged consult a licensed water well contractor to determine whether repairs are needed she said  she also noted flooding can damage the well pump and electrical systems if the pump and/or electrical system has been underwater and it is not designed to be underwater do not turn on the pump as there is a potential for electrical shock or damage to your well or pump she said boellstorff said once the floodwaters have receded and the pump and electrical system have dried have a qualified electrician well driller or pump installer check the wiring system and other well components workshop sponsors include texas a&m agrilife extension texas well owners network texas sea grant and tamu cc center for water studies refreshments will be provided for more information about the workshop contact the texas a&m agrilife extension office in aransas county at 361-790-0103 or aransas-tx@tamuedu it is free and open to all contacts: drew gholson 979-845-1461 dgholson@tamuedu ginger easton smith 361-790-0103 vasmith@agtamuedu dorina murgulet 361-825-2309 dorinamurgulet@tamuccedu  morgen ayers 361-825-6216 morgenayers@tamuedu diane boellstorff 979-458-3562 dboellstorff@tamuedu by morgen ayers" " aggie meteorologists launching noaa-funded severe weather research balloon projectthe project will span nov 1 2018 to april 30 2019 nov 1 2018dr conlee and students launch a weather balloon during a previous project photo courtesy of dr chris nowotarskiphoto courtesy of dr chris nowotarskifor the next six months when severe weather strikes at universities across the southeast united states meteorology students will be helping noaa collect important atmospheric sciences data and aggie meteorologists will be leading the way in texas texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences dr don conlee instructional professor and dr chris nowotarski assistant professor were recently awarded a noaa contract to participate in the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) 2018-2019 field campaign named meso18-19 which is a national field project funded by noaa  we'll be leveraging the student operational upper-air program (soup) that dr conlee has led over the years to provide balloon launches during severe weather events as part of meso18-19 nowotarski said the program is operated by the noaa national severe storms laboratory and includes a multi-university collaboration the goal of the project is to understand how the regional environment changes in advance of and during severe weather and tornado outbreaks in the southeast united states where the weather conditions supportive of severe weather are often unique from typical severe weather outbreaks elsewhere in the nation during active severe weather events between nov 1 2018 and april 30 2019 students led by conlee and nowotarski will be launching weather balloons every six hours from the lawn in front of the jack k williams administration building at texas a&m    in total we anticipate doing over 80 launches in ten separate events over this period nowotarski said as part of a regional network of concurrent balloon launches we'll learn a lot about the temporal evolution of the vertical and horizontal structure of temperature pressure moisture and winds in advance of and during severe weather events downstream over the gulf coast states  graduate and undergraduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences will participate in the launches through a mixture of formal meteorology courses taught by nowotarski and conlee and independent research in addition to data collection students will participate in data analysis and independent research projects generated by the data following the field phase of the project  these observations will also be assimilated into high-resolution weather models real time to improve forecasting of the events he said a dense observation network of surface observation platforms radars lightning mapping arrays and profilers in northern alabama will provide storm-scale observations of the resulting severe weather  each helium-filled weather balloon will tow a radiosonde more than 10 kilometers high through the troposphere which is the portion of the atmosphere where active weather exists the radiosonde will contain sensors for pressure temperature and moisture as well as a gps tracker which is used to determine the balloons height latitude and longitude  as the balloon is blown by the winds changes in position allow for calculation of wind speed and direction nowotarski said all of this information is then transmitted via radio to a ground station atop the eller o&m building on campus where students will track the hour-long flights progress and transmit data from the completed launches to other university and noaa scientists by leslie lee 09 " dr conlee and students launch a weather balloon during a previous project photo courtesy of dr chris nowotarskiphoto courtesy of dr chris nowotarski "for the next six months when severe weather strikes at universities across the southeast united states meteorology students will be helping noaa collect important atmospheric sciences data and aggie meteorologists will be leading the way in texas texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences dr don conlee instructional professor and dr chris nowotarski assistant professor were recently awarded a noaa contract to participate in the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) 2018-2019 field campaign named meso18-19 which is a national field project funded by noaa  we'll be leveraging the student operational upper-air program (soup) that dr conlee has led over the years to provide balloon launches during severe weather events as part of meso18-19 nowotarski said the program is operated by the noaa national severe storms laboratory and includes a multi-university collaboration the goal of the project is to understand how the regional environment changes in advance of and during severe weather and tornado outbreaks in the southeast united states where the weather conditions supportive of severe weather are often unique from typical severe weather outbreaks elsewhere in the nation during active severe weather events between nov 1 2018 and april 30 2019 students led by conlee and nowotarski will be launching weather balloons every six hours from the lawn in front of the jack k williams administration building at texas a&m    in total we anticipate doing over 80 launches in ten separate events over this period nowotarski said as part of a regional network of concurrent balloon launches we'll learn a lot about the temporal evolution of the vertical and horizontal structure of temperature pressure moisture and winds in advance of and during severe weather events downstream over the gulf coast states  graduate and undergraduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences will participate in the launches through a mixture of formal meteorology courses taught by nowotarski and conlee and independent research in addition to data collection students will participate in data analysis and independent research projects generated by the data following the field phase of the project  these observations will also be assimilated into high-resolution weather models real time to improve forecasting of the events he said a dense observation network of surface observation platforms radars lightning mapping arrays and profilers in northern alabama will provide storm-scale observations of the resulting severe weather  each helium-filled weather balloon will tow a radiosonde more than 10 kilometers high through the troposphere which is the portion of the atmosphere where active weather exists the radiosonde will contain sensors for pressure temperature and moisture as well as a gps tracker which is used to determine the balloons height latitude and longitude  as the balloon is blown by the winds changes in position allow for calculation of wind speed and direction nowotarski said all of this information is then transmitted via radio to a ground station atop the eller o&m building on campus where students will track the hour-long flights progress and transmit data from the completed launches to other university and noaa scientists by leslie lee 09" " texas sea grants heather wade selected as a subject matter expert for the resilience dialoguesoct 26 2018texas sea grant congratulates heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension for the prestigious honor of being selected as a subject matter expert for the resilience dialogues  the resilience dialogues are a national collaboration effort that works to build climate-resilient communities through facilitated dialogues between scientists practitioners and community leaders  climate risks that communities face include changing patterns of extreme weather events shifting growing seasons more flooding near rivers and coastal regions less water availability and greater exposure to wildfires as a subject matter expert wade will help define questions that drive resilience planning characterize local risks and explore the resources and strategies needed to develop climate risk assessments and plans wade has rich experience with helping communities evaluate their resilience to natural hazards and help assess their land-use plans and ordinances with texas sea grant she has provided technical assistance to urban planners and facilitated land-use and environmental planning workshops  as the coastal state-federal relations coordinator for oregon coastal management program and department of land conservation & development wade managed oregons coastal development and restoration projects database performed federal consistency reviews managed grant projects and networked with local state and federal governments to reach solutions to coastal issues her educational background also makes wade a strong candidate as a subject matter expert  from texas a&m university she received a bachelor of science in environmental studies with minors in geography and earth sciences and a master of urban planning with a focus on land use and environmental planning with a certificate in environmental hazards management  currently wade is working on her phd in urban and regional science also at texas a&m university texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin stated heather is a leader in coastal planning and reducing risks from coastal hazards as a scientist and practitioner her important contributions to the resilience dialogues are timely as climate risks escalate and threaten texas communities and their economies for more information about resilience dialogues is available online at http://wwwresiliencedialoguesorg by kimber de salvo " "texas sea grant congratulates heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension for the prestigious honor of being selected as a subject matter expert for the resilience dialogues  the resilience dialogues are a national collaboration effort that works to build climate-resilient communities through facilitated dialogues between scientists practitioners and community leaders  climate risks that communities face include changing patterns of extreme weather events shifting growing seasons more flooding near rivers and coastal regions less water availability and greater exposure to wildfires as a subject matter expert wade will help define questions that drive resilience planning characterize local risks and explore the resources and strategies needed to develop climate risk assessments and plans wade has rich experience with helping communities evaluate their resilience to natural hazards and help assess their land-use plans and ordinances with texas sea grant she has provided technical assistance to urban planners and facilitated land-use and environmental planning workshops  as the coastal state-federal relations coordinator for oregon coastal management program and department of land conservation & development wade managed oregons coastal development and restoration projects database performed federal consistency reviews managed grant projects and networked with local state and federal governments to reach solutions to coastal issues her educational background also makes wade a strong candidate as a subject matter expert  from texas a&m university she received a bachelor of science in environmental studies with minors in geography and earth sciences and a master of urban planning with a focus on land use and environmental planning with a certificate in environmental hazards management  currently wade is working on her phd in urban and regional science also at texas a&m university texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin stated heather is a leader in coastal planning and reducing risks from coastal hazards as a scientist and practitioner her important contributions to the resilience dialogues are timely as climate risks escalate and threaten texas communities and their economies for more information about resilience dialogues is available online at http://wwwresiliencedialoguesorg by kimber de salvo" " the new and updated version of the texas homeowner's handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards is hereoct 25 2018the new and updated version of the texas homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards is here! whether youre retrofitting an existing home or repairing or rebuilding a home that was damaged by hurricane harvey a publication available from the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university can provide some helpful information the handbook includes general information about hurricanes and tropical storms including preparation and evacuation but it also describes ways to build or retrofit a home to make it more resistant to wind and rain the handbook includes sections on roof stability keeping water out and power issues as well as a section on wind and flood insurance the publication was produced through a partnership with the gulf of mexico alliance the texas general land office texas sea grant and the us environmental protection agency and national oceanic and atmospheric administration it was modeled after a similar publication produced by the university of hawaii sea grant college program since hurricane harvey texas sea grant staff have already distributed over 7 500 copies of the texas homeowners handbook to 30 federal emergency management agency (fema) disaster recovery centers and 7 texas a&m agrilife extension county offices around the state and to the fema joint field office in austin   by cindie powell kimber de salvo " "the new and updated version of the texas homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards is here! whether youre retrofitting an existing home or repairing or rebuilding a home that was damaged by hurricane harvey a publication available from the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university can provide some helpful information the handbook includes general information about hurricanes and tropical storms including preparation and evacuation but it also describes ways to build or retrofit a home to make it more resistant to wind and rain the handbook includes sections on roof stability keeping water out and power issues as well as a section on wind and flood insurance the publication was produced through a partnership with the gulf of mexico alliance the texas general land office texas sea grant and the us environmental protection agency and national oceanic and atmospheric administration it was modeled after a similar publication produced by the university of hawaii sea grant college program since hurricane harvey texas sea grant staff have already distributed over 7 500 copies of the texas homeowners handbook to 30 federal emergency management agency (fema) disaster recovery centers and 7 texas a&m agrilife extension county offices around the state and to the fema joint field office in austin   by cindie powell kimber de salvo" " oreilly named a 2018 texas a&m presidential impact fellowhonor comes with $75 000 stipend to accelerate faculty teaching research and serviceoct 25 2018dr kathleen oreilly (photo by chris mouchyn)texas a&m university president michael k young and provost and executive vice president carol fierke have announced the second class of presidential impact fellows which are among the most prestigious recognitions for scholarly impact presented to texas a&m faculty dr kathleen oreilly professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences has been named a 2018 presidential impact fellow dr oreillys early career successes include an nsf career award and a gates foundation grant and this track record of accomplishment as well as her continued trajectory skyward have propelled her into an elite group of faculty at texas a&m said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences we are so thrilled that her accomplishments are now recognized at the university level a total of 21 faculty members across texas a&ms 16 colleges and schools two branch campuses and university libraries received the honor this year each recipient will receive an annual stipend of $25 000 for the next three fiscal years to accelerate their teaching research and service efforts the honorarium helps foster opportunities to dialogue and collaborate with other leading scholars and create new partnerships the award also confers the lifetime title of presidential impact fellow oreilly discusses sanitation at the 2016 3ie delhi evidence week (video by 3ie)   texas a&m university is proud to invest in our amazing faculty who continue to make significant impacts through teaching research and service efforts young said these rising stars are meeting the challenges in their field and demonstrating what influence they have toward creating a better world the award winners were identified by their college and dean and confirmed by the academic leadership each is considered to be a candidate for continued or new national and international acclaim in 2017 dr sarah brooks atmospheric sciences professor in the college of geosciences was named a presidential impact fellow this honor is clear recognition of the excellence of these faculty in their scholarly endeavors fierke said they are among the nations very best and will continue for many years to make transformational impacts that reach far beyond the walls of texas a&m the 2018 presidential impact fellows were formally recognized in a ceremony oct 25 read the full list of all 21 honorees by texas a&m university office of the provost and texas a&m geosciences " "texas a&m university president michael k young and provost and executive vice president carol fierke have announced the second class of presidential impact fellows which are among the most prestigious recognitions for scholarly impact presented to texas a&m faculty dr kathleen oreilly professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences has been named a 2018 presidential impact fellow dr oreillys early career successes include an nsf career award and a gates foundation grant and this track record of accomplishment as well as her continued trajectory skyward have propelled her into an elite group of faculty at texas a&m said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences we are so thrilled that her accomplishments are now recognized at the university level a total of 21 faculty members across texas a&ms 16 colleges and schools two branch campuses and university libraries received the honor this year each recipient will receive an annual stipend of $25 000 for the next three fiscal years to accelerate their teaching research and service efforts the honorarium helps foster opportunities to dialogue and collaborate with other leading scholars and create new partnerships the award also confers the lifetime title of presidential impact fellow oreilly discusses sanitation at the 2016 3ie delhi evidence week (video by 3ie)   texas a&m university is proud to invest in our amazing faculty who continue to make significant impacts through teaching research and service efforts young said these rising stars are meeting the challenges in their field and demonstrating what influence they have toward creating a better world the award winners were identified by their college and dean and confirmed by the academic leadership each is considered to be a candidate for continued or new national and international acclaim in 2017 dr sarah brooks atmospheric sciences professor in the college of geosciences was named a presidential impact fellow this honor is clear recognition of the excellence of these faculty in their scholarly endeavors fierke said they are among the nations very best and will continue for many years to make transformational impacts that reach far beyond the walls of texas a&m the 2018 presidential impact fellows were formally recognized in a ceremony oct 25 read the full list of all 21 honorees by texas a&m university office of the provost and texas a&m geosciences" " gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team receives national superior outreach programming awardoct 24 2018chris hale texas sea grants oil spill science outreach specialist is a member of gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team  in portland oregon on september 20th the team was awarded sea grants highest extension honor the national superior programming award for their excellence and outstanding success in oil spill-related science and information outreach  when the deepwater horizon oil spill devastated the gulf of mexico in 2010 people needed answers to questions about the spills impact on the environment and their well-being  to answer these questions and deliver the information to the people whose lives depended on a healthy gulf of mexico the gulf of mexico research initiative requested the oil spill science outreach team to distribute their research findings the team has since synthesized peer-reviewed science into easily digestible pieces and continues to deliver it back to the people asking questions about oil-spill impacts   since the gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team was founded in 2014 the program has become a major hub for oil spill-related science and information with workshops seminars and distributing publications  one of the teams goals was to gain trust from gulf coast communities  through the oil spill outreach teams dedication to providing reliable information and resources people have begun to identify the program as the go-to source for oil spill-related subjects  the team works with a variety of audiences to communicate this information; such as fishermen emergency responders elected officials oil and gas industry educators tourism professionals and natural resource managers additional members of the team include manager steve sempier (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) communications specialist tara skelton (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) extension specialist missy partyka who took over for larissa graham (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) extension specialist emily maung-douglass (louisiana sea grant) and extension specialist monica wilson (florida sea grant) hale states i am lucky to be part of an amazing regional team…together we work hard to make sure we address the needs of people across the gulf on behalf of the oil spill science outreach team hale is the lead for addressing environmental issues and questions  shes has organized seminars and workshops and wrote publications discussing and exploring how oil and dispersants can impact corals sea turtles oysters and fish  additionally hale is the team lead for addressing oil spill science concerns in the caribbean region  a new facet of her work includes putting together a workshop series focusing on prioritizing human well-being issues related to oil spill preparedness in the gulf of mexico us west coast including alaska and the us mid-atlantic hale explained that she was honored be on the team that received the award and that it was wonderful sea grant is an extra-large family of the most talented and passionate people you can find working in the cross section of science & society  we come from all walks of life pulling all sorts of innovative ideas forward to address some of the most challenging problems humans face i am full of gratitude to be counted among this family texas sea grants senior associate director for planning & extension heather wade explains the oil spill team is the epitome of what extension is all about they are a model for all programs on how to effectively synthesize research findings engage communities and leaders and assist with using peer-reviewed science in decision-making processes wade continues chris hale has excelled in her role as an oil spill science outreach specialist and has naturally evolved into providing great leadership and guidance to not only her regional team members but to her texas colleagues and coworkers as well  we are proud of the work chris has accomplished and are excited to see her continue her work and passions into the future more information about gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team is available online at https://gulfseagrantorg/oilspilloutreach/     by kimber de salvo " "chris hale texas sea grants oil spill science outreach specialist is a member of gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team  in portland oregon on september 20th the team was awarded sea grants highest extension honor the national superior programming award for their excellence and outstanding success in oil spill-related science and information outreach  when the deepwater horizon oil spill devastated the gulf of mexico in 2010 people needed answers to questions about the spills impact on the environment and their well-being  to answer these questions and deliver the information to the people whose lives depended on a healthy gulf of mexico the gulf of mexico research initiative requested the oil spill science outreach team to distribute their research findings the team has since synthesized peer-reviewed science into easily digestible pieces and continues to deliver it back to the people asking questions about oil-spill impacts   since the gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team was founded in 2014 the program has become a major hub for oil spill-related science and information with workshops seminars and distributing publications  one of the teams goals was to gain trust from gulf coast communities  through the oil spill outreach teams dedication to providing reliable information and resources people have begun to identify the program as the go-to source for oil spill-related subjects  the team works with a variety of audiences to communicate this information; such as fishermen emergency responders elected officials oil and gas industry educators tourism professionals and natural resource managers additional members of the team include manager steve sempier (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) communications specialist tara skelton (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) extension specialist missy partyka who took over for larissa graham (mississippi-alabama sea grant consortium) extension specialist emily maung-douglass (louisiana sea grant) and extension specialist monica wilson (florida sea grant) hale states i am lucky to be part of an amazing regional team…together we work hard to make sure we address the needs of people across the gulf on behalf of the oil spill science outreach team hale is the lead for addressing environmental issues and questions  shes has organized seminars and workshops and wrote publications discussing and exploring how oil and dispersants can impact corals sea turtles oysters and fish  additionally hale is the team lead for addressing oil spill science concerns in the caribbean region  a new facet of her work includes putting together a workshop series focusing on prioritizing human well-being issues related to oil spill preparedness in the gulf of mexico us west coast including alaska and the us mid-atlantic hale explained that she was honored be on the team that received the award and that it was wonderful sea grant is an extra-large family of the most talented and passionate people you can find working in the cross section of science & society  we come from all walks of life pulling all sorts of innovative ideas forward to address some of the most challenging problems humans face i am full of gratitude to be counted among this family texas sea grants senior associate director for planning & extension heather wade explains the oil spill team is the epitome of what extension is all about they are a model for all programs on how to effectively synthesize research findings engage communities and leaders and assist with using peer-reviewed science in decision-making processes wade continues chris hale has excelled in her role as an oil spill science outreach specialist and has naturally evolved into providing great leadership and guidance to not only her regional team members but to her texas colleagues and coworkers as well  we are proud of the work chris has accomplished and are excited to see her continue her work and passions into the future more information about gulf sea grants oil spill science outreach team is available online at https://gulfseagrantorg/oilspilloutreach/     by kimber de salvo" " inaugural ions at work symposium brings together mass spectrometry researchers at texas a&mdr ethan grossman continues to do research in mass spectrometry and helped organize the first mass spectrometry symposium at texas a&m oct 24 2018a mass spectrometer is a scientific instrument that converts a compound or element into an ion in gas or plasma and sometimes a solid it allows scientists to measure very very minute quantities of elements and compounds and can identify where the compounds originated explained dr ethan grossman professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university ions at work: a symposium introducing tamus mass spectrometry core took place on oct 5 and was the first of its kind researchers from across the country were invited to discuss their research and the impact that mass spectrometry has on their research the symposium was organized by the director of the mass spectrometry for isotope analyses (msia) dr ethan grossman and the director of the applied mass spectrometry subunit which includes gerg office of the state chemist and the flavor chemistry laboratory dr anthony knap professor of oceanography at texas a&m the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) and the radiogenic lab are two of the three labs making up the mass spectrometry for isotope analyses (msia) subunit of the mass spectrometry collaborative core the newly established mass spectrometry collaborative core helps researchers collaborate and coordinate with each other as their labs stay separate from each other funding for the symposium and the collaborative core was provided by the texas a&m system chancellors office using part of the $5 million dedicated to mass spectrometry in 2016 funding support was also provided by texas a&m president michael k young's president's excellence fund the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) was established at texas a&m in 2009 designed to provide accessible reliable and high-quality stable isotope measurements for the college of geosciences and the texas a&m community it was also placed for current students to get the chance to experience working with equipment that theyre going to see in industry not equipment thats 10 or 15 years behind the times grossman said sigf is co-directed by grossman and dr brendan roark and it is a partnership between four faculty members in the college of geosciences: grossman in geology and geophysics roark in geography and dr niall slowey and dr yige zhang in oceanography  students and the executive committee of the stable isotope geosciences facility current research led by geology and geophysics faculty and students grossmans current research focuses on three main topics: earths temperature history during the early evolution of animals; clumped isotope paleothermometry and its application to paleo-ocean temperatures and petroleum basin thermal histories; and caribbean extinctions environmental change and the uplift of the isthmus of panama his currents students are involved in numerous projects as well graduate student meagan depugh helps measure oxygen isotope profiles in brachiopod shells to quantify high latitude seasonality in the late paleozoic while grad student bryce barney is using carbonate clumped isotope analyses of brachiopod shells to study paleotemperature in the late ordovician post-doctoral student will defliese and phd student zeyang sun are conducting studies of clumped isotope reordering rates and of the thermal history of the oil-rich delaware basin research done by nate naylor who graduated this past year helped show that clumped isotopes can be used to reconstruct basin thermal histories and that the geothermal gradient in the delaware basin was higher in the western part than the eastern part consistent with other geothermometers grossmans project in panama has involved former post-docs john robbins and paola rachello; former graduate students kai tao and lauren graniero; and current student divya saxena grossmans research has been funded by two recently-expired nsf grants and the berg-hughes center he is also a co-pl on a tamu seed grant for water research and a senacyt grant from panama grossman holds the michel t halbouty chair in the college of geosciences and that endowment also supports his research by mariana figueroa '19  " "a mass spectrometer is a scientific instrument that converts a compound or element into an ion in gas or plasma and sometimes a solid it allows scientists to measure very very minute quantities of elements and compounds and can identify where the compounds originated explained dr ethan grossman professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university ions at work: a symposium introducing tamus mass spectrometry core took place on oct 5 and was the first of its kind researchers from across the country were invited to discuss their research and the impact that mass spectrometry has on their research the symposium was organized by the director of the mass spectrometry for isotope analyses (msia) dr ethan grossman and the director of the applied mass spectrometry subunit which includes gerg office of the state chemist and the flavor chemistry laboratory dr anthony knap professor of oceanography at texas a&m the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) and the radiogenic lab are two of the three labs making up the mass spectrometry for isotope analyses (msia) subunit of the mass spectrometry collaborative core the newly established mass spectrometry collaborative core helps researchers collaborate and coordinate with each other as their labs stay separate from each other funding for the symposium and the collaborative core was provided by the texas a&m system chancellors office using part of the $5 million dedicated to mass spectrometry in 2016 funding support was also provided by texas a&m president michael k young's president's excellence fund the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) was established at texas a&m in 2009 designed to provide accessible reliable and high-quality stable isotope measurements for the college of geosciences and the texas a&m community it was also placed for current students to get the chance to experience working with equipment that theyre going to see in industry not equipment thats 10 or 15 years behind the times grossman said sigf is co-directed by grossman and dr brendan roark and it is a partnership between four faculty members in the college of geosciences: grossman in geology and geophysics roark in geography and dr niall slowey and dr yige zhang in oceanography  students and the executive committee of the stable isotope geosciences facility current research led by geology and geophysics faculty and students grossmans current research focuses on three main topics: earths temperature history during the early evolution of animals; clumped isotope paleothermometry and its application to paleo-ocean temperatures and petroleum basin thermal histories; and caribbean extinctions environmental change and the uplift of the isthmus of panama his currents students are involved in numerous projects as well graduate student meagan depugh helps measure oxygen isotope profiles in brachiopod shells to quantify high latitude seasonality in the late paleozoic while grad student bryce barney is using carbonate clumped isotope analyses of brachiopod shells to study paleotemperature in the late ordovician post-doctoral student will defliese and phd student zeyang sun are conducting studies of clumped isotope reordering rates and of the thermal history of the oil-rich delaware basin research done by nate naylor who graduated this past year helped show that clumped isotopes can be used to reconstruct basin thermal histories and that the geothermal gradient in the delaware basin was higher in the western part than the eastern part consistent with other geothermometers grossmans project in panama has involved former post-docs john robbins and paola rachello; former graduate students kai tao and lauren graniero; and current student divya saxena grossmans research has been funded by two recently-expired nsf grants and the berg-hughes center he is also a co-pl on a tamu seed grant for water research and a senacyt grant from panama grossman holds the michel t halbouty chair in the college of geosciences and that endowment also supports his research by mariana figueroa '19 " " summer ocean prediction center internship gives geography grad student invaluable experiencenicole casamassina was one of just 17 students selected nationally for the programoct 24 2018the noaa center for weather and climate prediction in college park maryland photo courtesy of nicole casamassinathis year the national centers for environmental prediction (ncep) student summer internship program in college park maryland selected just 17 students from around the country for its 10-week paid internships nicole casamassina a masters student advised by dr oliver frauenfeld in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences was one of the students selected to take part in the 2018 program casamassina was assigned to work with the ocean prediction center (opc) on a project looking at ship traffic in the northwestern atlantic ocean the focus of the project was to see how ship traffic interacted with the forecasts and warnings put out by the opc for a coastal winter storm in the spring of 2018 the project was part of a larger push by the opc to make sure the us is as the forefront of oceanic weather forecasting across the globethere is a lot more to learn about forecast interpretation she said and that is one of the big initiatives of the national weather service going forward in the next ten twenty years: understanding how people identify risk and avoid itphoto courtesy of nicole casamassinathe project ended with casamassina having the opportunity to present her work to her fellow interns and the opc staff as part of the internship she also got the opportunity to meet the director of the national weather service and numerous directors of the different centers and divisions within the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)cassamassina is grateful to have spent her summer working on a project that she sees as having the potential to preserve the lives and livelihoods of mariners across the globe she will be presenting her findings from the summer internship project at the american meteorological societys annual meeting in january of 2019by rhett douris " the noaa center for weather and climate prediction in college park maryland photo courtesy of nicole casamassina "this year the national centers for environmental prediction (ncep) student summer internship program in college park maryland selected just 17 students from around the country for its 10-week paid internships nicole casamassina a masters student advised by dr oliver frauenfeld in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences was one of the students selected to take part in the 2018 program casamassina was assigned to work with the ocean prediction center (opc) on a project looking at ship traffic in the northwestern atlantic ocean the focus of the project was to see how ship traffic interacted with the forecasts and warnings put out by the opc for a coastal winter storm in the spring of 2018 the project was part of a larger push by the opc to make sure the us is as the forefront of oceanic weather forecasting across the globethere is a lot more to learn about forecast interpretation she said and that is one of the big initiatives of the national weather service going forward in the next ten twenty years: understanding how people identify risk and avoid it" the project ended with casamassina having the opportunity to present her work to her fellow interns and the opc staff as part of the internship she also got the opportunity to meet the director of the national weather service and numerous directors of the different centers and divisions within the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)cassamassina is grateful to have spent her summer working on a project that she sees as having the potential to preserve the lives and livelihoods of mariners across the globe she will be presenting her findings from the summer internship project at the american meteorological societys annual meeting in january of 2019by rhett douris " meet the first freshman oceanography majors at texas a&mthe department of oceanographys new undergraduate degree welcomed freshman students for the first time this fall semesteroct 22 2018did you know that the fightin texas aggie class of 2022 is the very first freshman class at texas a&m university to include oceanography majors texas a&m has long offered graduate degrees in oceanography but the first bachelor of science in oceanography degree at texas a&m university  began accepting transfer and change of major students just last year the bs degree in oceanography provides students with an interdisciplinary education and training in one of three tracks in ocean sciences: ocean observing systems and technology (oost); ocean climate (oc); and marine ecosystem science and health (mesh) the department of oceanography is very excited to be able to offer this new stem degree the bs degree in oceanography said dr shari yvon-lewis professor and oceanography department head this new program will help support both the land-grant and sea-grant missions of texas a&m university as this new degree is tailored to provide skills for new oceanography-related jobs as well as skills that are transferable to a wide array of technical careers a large majority of our faculty are teaching in the new major said dr christina wiederwohl instructional associate professor in oceanography because we've offered an oceanography minor for a while our faculty have been fully invested in undergraduate teaching even before this major was offered starting this fall a total of 21 undergraduate students including freshmen change of majors and transfer students are enrolled in this new oceanography undergraduate degree programnew oceanography freshman hunter adams (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)hunter adams graduated from the science and engineering magnet high school in dallas texas is a third-generation aggie and is one of the first oceanography undergraduate freshman oceanography was the perfect major for me to pursue since i enjoyed every science class and was interested in environmental research such as climate change during high school he said also while searching for different degree programs i actually reached out dr piers chapman and he gave me great influence on my decision to apply here the in-depth graduate programs and numerous experiences of professors in the field that is what drew me to texas a&m oceanography i am so excited to be one of the first undergraduate student in oceanography i feel like it is making history for the entire degree program like a pioneer and i find a lot of excitement because i can make the degree program better for students following me adams saidoceanography senior victoria scriven (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven is a senior student who switched from environmental geosciences to oceanography major her undergraduate research project is focused on coastal studies i chose to change my major to oceanography because it was already my research focus and getting the opportunity to shift gears to a degree entirely based on classes and the department that i loved was a very natural fit scriven said being the first oceanography student is definitely exciting she said it means more than i can say to be a part of a group of ocean-minded students that will help define a degree that will continue on for generations knowing we have such a strong department of professors and faculty that want to help us succeed is personally what drew me to the program and what made the decision to change my major transfer all the more rewardingoceanography junior samantha longridge (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)i feel proud of myself to be one of the first oceanography undergraduates said samantha longridge who started as a freshman in biology major switched to environmental geosciences and finally to oceanography major i actually started my undergraduate degree as a biology major; i quickly realized that the biology major is geared towards people with an interest in medical school and i discovered geosciences longridge said i had never heard the word ‘geoscience until i came to college and took ocng 251 because i thought i might be interested i quickly realized after taking that class that oceanography was what i wanted to do i love this department and this subject and i think its amazing that the oldest oceanography department in the united states has finally made an undergraduate program she saidoceanography junior krista barentine (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)krista barentine is a junior student who transferred from texas state university to texas a&m environmental geosciences major and switched to oceanography i had always been interested in the ocean growing up and knew that is what i wanted to do; that is why i switched my major to oceanography when the new undergraduate degree was finally made barentine said becoming one of the first oceanography undergraduate student is really cool it is rewarding to be able to raise awareness and get others interested in the ocean because i think the ocean is our future to find out more information about the bs in oceanography visit the department of oceanography degree program or contact the department of oceanography academic advisor by bumsoo kim " "did you know that the fightin texas aggie class of 2022 is the very first freshman class at texas a&m university to include oceanography majors texas a&m has long offered graduate degrees in oceanography but the first bachelor of science in oceanography degree at texas a&m university  began accepting transfer and change of major students just last year the bs degree in oceanography provides students with an interdisciplinary education and training in one of three tracks in ocean sciences: ocean observing systems and technology (oost); ocean climate (oc); and marine ecosystem science and health (mesh) the department of oceanography is very excited to be able to offer this new stem degree the bs degree in oceanography said dr shari yvon-lewis professor and oceanography department head this new program will help support both the land-grant and sea-grant missions of texas a&m university as this new degree is tailored to provide skills for new oceanography-related jobs as well as skills that are transferable to a wide array of technical careers a large majority of our faculty are teaching in the new major said dr christina wiederwohl instructional associate professor in oceanography because we've offered an oceanography minor for a while our faculty have been fully invested in undergraduate teaching even before this major was offered starting this fall a total of 21 undergraduate students including freshmen change of majors and transfer students are enrolled in this new oceanography undergraduate degree program" "hunter adams graduated from the science and engineering magnet high school in dallas texas is a third-generation aggie and is one of the first oceanography undergraduate freshman oceanography was the perfect major for me to pursue since i enjoyed every science class and was interested in environmental research such as climate change during high school he said also while searching for different degree programs i actually reached out dr piers chapman and he gave me great influence on my decision to apply here the in-depth graduate programs and numerous experiences of professors in the field that is what drew me to texas a&m oceanography i am so excited to be one of the first undergraduate student in oceanography i feel like it is making history for the entire degree program like a pioneer and i find a lot of excitement because i can make the degree program better for students following me adams said" oceanography senior victoria scriven (photo courtesy of victoria scriven) "victoria scriven is a senior student who switched from environmental geosciences to oceanography major her undergraduate research project is focused on coastal studies i chose to change my major to oceanography because it was already my research focus and getting the opportunity to shift gears to a degree entirely based on classes and the department that i loved was a very natural fit scriven said being the first oceanography student is definitely exciting she said it means more than i can say to be a part of a group of ocean-minded students that will help define a degree that will continue on for generations knowing we have such a strong department of professors and faculty that want to help us succeed is personally what drew me to the program and what made the decision to change my major transfer all the more rewarding" "i feel proud of myself to be one of the first oceanography undergraduates said samantha longridge who started as a freshman in biology major switched to environmental geosciences and finally to oceanography major i actually started my undergraduate degree as a biology major; i quickly realized that the biology major is geared towards people with an interest in medical school and i discovered geosciences longridge said i had never heard the word ‘geoscience until i came to college and took ocng 251 because i thought i might be interested i quickly realized after taking that class that oceanography was what i wanted to do i love this department and this subject and i think its amazing that the oldest oceanography department in the united states has finally made an undergraduate program she said" "krista barentine is a junior student who transferred from texas state university to texas a&m environmental geosciences major and switched to oceanography i had always been interested in the ocean growing up and knew that is what i wanted to do; that is why i switched my major to oceanography when the new undergraduate degree was finally made barentine said becoming one of the first oceanography undergraduate student is really cool it is rewarding to be able to raise awareness and get others interested in the ocean because i think the ocean is our future to find out more information about the bs in oceanography visit the department of oceanography degree program or contact the department of oceanography academic advisor by bumsoo kim" " texas a&m and harvard team up on high-flying nasa-funded atmospheric researchdr kenneth bowman will lead the $30 million research projectoct 22 2018nasas high-altitude er-2 research aircraft will be used to study the impact of strong summer storms on the stratosphere (nasa photo by jim ross)texas a&m university researchers will be collecting important atmospheric data from a high-altitude nasa aircraft thanks to recent funding received from nasas earth venture program dr kenneth bowman professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m will lead the $30 million research project on the impact of strong storms on the stratosphere dr frank keutsch professor of engineering and atmospheric science at harvard university will be the deputy team leader titled dynamics and chemistry of the summer stratosphere the project will investigate how strong summertime convective storms over north america can change the chemistry of the stratosphere this is a large and complex effort bowman said with field deployments scheduled for the summers of 2020 and 2021 a kick-off meeting for the research team will be held at texas a&m in early 2019 intense thunderstorms regularly penetrate deep into the lower stratosphere carrying water and pollutants that can change the chemical composition of this important atmospheric layer potentially affecting stratosphere ozone bowman said at texas a&m this research will also involve dr anita rapp two graduate students a postdoctoral research scientist and several undergraduate students an additional goal of the study is to better understand aerosol composition in the central us currently the composition and sources of aerosol in this region are very poorly understood resulting in large uncertainties in their impact on the chemistry and radiative properties of the stratosphere said keutsch this study will provide unprecedented insights into this problem data will be collected across the central us using the nasa er-2 high-altitude aircraft with operations based out of salina kansas the project will also involve data from nasa and national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) satellites conventional weather observations and forecast models and ground-based meteorological radars in addition to researchers from texas a&m and harvard the project team will include university participants from mit the universities of miami north dakota and oklahoma and texas a&m corpus christi  government participants will include scientists from nasas ames armstrong goddard and langley research centers as well as the national center for atmospheric research and noaa this project is one of five new nasa earth science campaigns that will begin in 2019 to investigate a range of pressing research questions from what drives intense east coast snowfall events to the impact of small-scale ocean currents on global climate these studies will explore important but not-well-understood aspects of earth system processes and were competitively selected as part of nasas earth venture-class program atmospheric levels of harmful ozone-depleting chemicals continue to decrease due to successful limits on their production under international agreements bowman said but important aspects of the dynamics and chemistry of the stratosphere are not well understood  this project will use new approaches to investigate how strong convective storms may potentially impact the global stratosphere ""these innovative investigations tackle difficult scientific questions that require detailed targeted field observations combined with data collected by our fleet of earth-observing satellites "" said jack kaye associate director for research in nasa's earth science division in washington earth venture investigations are part of nasa's earth system science pathfinder program managed at langley for the agencys science mission directorate in washington learn more about nasas earth science activities and read nasas news release about all of the recently funded projects   by leslie lee '09  written in collaboration with texas a&m geosciences and harvard university " nasas high-altitude er-2 research aircraft will be used to study the impact of strong summer storms on the stratosphere (nasa photo by jim ross) "texas a&m university researchers will be collecting important atmospheric data from a high-altitude nasa aircraft thanks to recent funding received from nasas earth venture program dr kenneth bowman professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m will lead the $30 million research project on the impact of strong storms on the stratosphere dr frank keutsch professor of engineering and atmospheric science at harvard university will be the deputy team leader titled dynamics and chemistry of the summer stratosphere the project will investigate how strong summertime convective storms over north america can change the chemistry of the stratosphere this is a large and complex effort bowman said with field deployments scheduled for the summers of 2020 and 2021 a kick-off meeting for the research team will be held at texas a&m in early 2019 intense thunderstorms regularly penetrate deep into the lower stratosphere carrying water and pollutants that can change the chemical composition of this important atmospheric layer potentially affecting stratosphere ozone bowman said at texas a&m this research will also involve dr anita rapp two graduate students a postdoctoral research scientist and several undergraduate students an additional goal of the study is to better understand aerosol composition in the central us currently the composition and sources of aerosol in this region are very poorly understood resulting in large uncertainties in their impact on the chemistry and radiative properties of the stratosphere said keutsch this study will provide unprecedented insights into this problem data will be collected across the central us using the nasa er-2 high-altitude aircraft with operations based out of salina kansas the project will also involve data from nasa and national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) satellites conventional weather observations and forecast models and ground-based meteorological radars in addition to researchers from texas a&m and harvard the project team will include university participants from mit the universities of miami north dakota and oklahoma and texas a&m corpus christi  government participants will include scientists from nasas ames armstrong goddard and langley research centers as well as the national center for atmospheric research and noaa this project is one of five new nasa earth science campaigns that will begin in 2019 to investigate a range of pressing research questions from what drives intense east coast snowfall events to the impact of small-scale ocean currents on global climate these studies will explore important but not-well-understood aspects of earth system processes and were competitively selected as part of nasas earth venture-class program atmospheric levels of harmful ozone-depleting chemicals continue to decrease due to successful limits on their production under international agreements bowman said but important aspects of the dynamics and chemistry of the stratosphere are not well understood  this project will use new approaches to investigate how strong convective storms may potentially impact the global stratosphere ""these innovative investigations tackle difficult scientific questions that require detailed targeted field observations combined with data collected by our fleet of earth-observing satellites "" said jack kaye associate director for research in nasa's earth science division in washington earth venture investigations are part of nasa's earth system science pathfinder program managed at langley for the agencys science mission directorate in washington learn more about nasas earth science activities and read nasas news release about all of the recently funded projects   by leslie lee '09  written in collaboration with texas a&m geosciences and harvard university" " from grand junction to moab geophysics grad students journey on unforgettable tripfunded in-part by chevron the 6-day field trip immersed texas a&m and university of houston graduate students in world-class geological experiencesoct 19 2018photo courtesy of dr nick perezwhen the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics plans a field trip you can bet it wont be your average higher-education field trip  sept 29 – oct 6 10 texas a&m university graduate students and 11 university of houston graduate students spent an anything-but-average week in some of colorado and utahs most unforgettable landscapes we started in grand junction colorado and eventually ended up near moab utah said dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics we made a transect across the paradox basin beginning in the uncompahgre uplift composed of plutonic and metamorphic basement lithologies and ending outside moab perez co-led the trip with dr joel saylor assistant professor at the university of houston most of the trips texas a&m graduate students are currently enrolled in geop 628 – basin architecturephoto courtesy of dr nick perezbookended with travel days the trip included six full days of true field geology perez said  the graduate students focused on the permian cutler formation looking at multiple sites along a source-to-sink transect spanning the uncompahgre uplift near gateway colorado to the kane creek anticline near moab and canyonlands national park there is a saying that ‘the best geologist is the one whos seen the most rocks perez said and this trip gave students an immersive week-long learning experience in a world-class geologic setting they measured multiple stratigraphic sections collected paleocurrent and clast count data mapped basement/cover contact and described growth strata geometries near a salt diapir and each evening included paper discussions and every student co-led a paper discussion at some point in the week field experiences are invaluable for students because they get to investigate real geologic problems by seeing the rocks in person as opposed to working with remote or subsurface data perez saidphoto courtesy of dr nick perezon this trip they saw a range of depositional environments and rock types collected different types of data evaluated published literature against their own observations and were asked to work individually and as part of a team the students got to observe a variety of sedimentary rock types from various depositional environments: debris flow alluvial fan braided and meandering rivers shallow marine carbonates evaporites and eolian (wind-blown) he saidphoto courtesy of dr nick perezphoto courtesy of dr nick perezthe students will now work with data collected in the field during the trip as part of a group final project for the course the trip was funded in-part by chevron  by leslie lee 09 " "when the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics plans a field trip you can bet it wont be your average higher-education field trip  sept 29 – oct 6 10 texas a&m university graduate students and 11 university of houston graduate students spent an anything-but-average week in some of colorado and utahs most unforgettable landscapes we started in grand junction colorado and eventually ended up near moab utah said dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics we made a transect across the paradox basin beginning in the uncompahgre uplift composed of plutonic and metamorphic basement lithologies and ending outside moab perez co-led the trip with dr joel saylor assistant professor at the university of houston most of the trips texas a&m graduate students are currently enrolled in geop 628 – basin architecture" "bookended with travel days the trip included six full days of true field geology perez said  the graduate students focused on the permian cutler formation looking at multiple sites along a source-to-sink transect spanning the uncompahgre uplift near gateway colorado to the kane creek anticline near moab and canyonlands national park there is a saying that ‘the best geologist is the one whos seen the most rocks perez said and this trip gave students an immersive week-long learning experience in a world-class geologic setting they measured multiple stratigraphic sections collected paleocurrent and clast count data mapped basement/cover contact and described growth strata geometries near a salt diapir and each evening included paper discussions and every student co-led a paper discussion at some point in the week field experiences are invaluable for students because they get to investigate real geologic problems by seeing the rocks in person as opposed to working with remote or subsurface data perez said" "on this trip they saw a range of depositional environments and rock types collected different types of data evaluated published literature against their own observations and were asked to work individually and as part of a team the students got to observe a variety of sedimentary rock types from various depositional environments: debris flow alluvial fan braided and meandering rivers shallow marine carbonates evaporites and eolian (wind-blown) he said" "the students will now work with data collected in the field during the trip as part of a group final project for the course the trip was funded in-part by chevron  by leslie lee 09" " the geology and geophysics fall 2018 open housethe department of geology and geophysics held their open house this october that concluded of faculty talks and dinner being served oct 18 2018the department of geology and geophysics held their open house on friday october 12 2018 a series of short informative talks about faculty and student research was given the faculty talks were presented by: dr ethan grossman dr david william bapst dr franco marcantonio dr mauro r becker marion nachon (postdoc) dr christina belanger dr nick perez  dr brian balta and dr bobby reece after the faculty talks dinner was provided for faculty students and other guests to enjoy outside  department head dr pope with his wife and dr franco marcantonio  graduate students conserving after dinner   photos of the event may be viewed here: txag/flnicjo photos taken by: mariana figueroa '19  " "the department of geology and geophysics held their open house on friday october 12 2018 a series of short informative talks about faculty and student research was given the faculty talks were presented by: dr ethan grossman dr david william bapst dr franco marcantonio dr mauro r becker marion nachon (postdoc) dr christina belanger dr nick perez  dr brian balta and dr bobby reece after the faculty talks dinner was provided for faculty students and other guests to enjoy outside  department head dr pope with his wife and dr franco marcantonio  graduate students conserving after dinner   photos of the event may be viewed here: txag/flnicjo photos taken by: mariana figueroa '19  " " texas sea grant welcomes new natural resource specialistoct 15 2018morgen ayers an experienced environmental scientist with a background in local government and academia joined texas sea grant in july 2018 as the programs natural resources specialist i most look forward to the face to face conversations in coastal communities to help solve unique environmental and natural resource needs ayers states whether i am planting marsh leading students to science initiatives or identifying resource gaps for water quality and conservation – i believe texas sea grant has the functionality to meet those needs i am thankful to be here with such a motivated group of specialists and program leads ayers worked for several years in the hill country of bandera county texas where she monitored water quality facilitated programs on riparian health education and flood risk awareness and assisted with the management of other natural resource needs she also assisted with an awarded application on behalf of bandera county for a 2016 flood protection grant project from the texas water development board ayers has participated in the texas clean rivers program in partnership with the san antonio river authority and in invasive species management with the nueces river authority and texas parks and wildlife department while completing undergraduate courses she worked as a research assistant on a toxicological toolset via contract with the texas commission on environmental quality she holds a bachelors degree in environmental science with a minor in spanish from west texas a&m university we are thrilled to bring morgen on as a natural resource specialist at texas sea grant said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension morgens experience with watershed science and outreach is invaluable and her certification in floodplain management brings a new expertise to texas sea grant and the community resilience collaborative morgen is a leader in the state of texas for floodplain management and we are excited to see where she takes our healthy coastal ecosystems program into the future " "morgen ayers an experienced environmental scientist with a background in local government and academia joined texas sea grant in july 2018 as the programs natural resources specialist i most look forward to the face to face conversations in coastal communities to help solve unique environmental and natural resource needs ayers states whether i am planting marsh leading students to science initiatives or identifying resource gaps for water quality and conservation – i believe texas sea grant has the functionality to meet those needs i am thankful to be here with such a motivated group of specialists and program leads ayers worked for several years in the hill country of bandera county texas where she monitored water quality facilitated programs on riparian health education and flood risk awareness and assisted with the management of other natural resource needs she also assisted with an awarded application on behalf of bandera county for a 2016 flood protection grant project from the texas water development board ayers has participated in the texas clean rivers program in partnership with the san antonio river authority and in invasive species management with the nueces river authority and texas parks and wildlife department while completing undergraduate courses she worked as a research assistant on a toxicological toolset via contract with the texas commission on environmental quality she holds a bachelors degree in environmental science with a minor in spanish from west texas a&m university we are thrilled to bring morgen on as a natural resource specialist at texas sea grant said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension morgens experience with watershed science and outreach is invaluable and her certification in floodplain management brings a new expertise to texas sea grant and the community resilience collaborative morgen is a leader in the state of texas for floodplain management and we are excited to see where she takes our healthy coastal ecosystems program into the future" " ewing leading $11 million nasa-funded study of mars-like icelandic environmentsthe texas a&m team will conduct research in iceland that will inform the 2020 rover mission to mars oct 11 2018an example of terrain showing fluvial sorting in iceland (photo by ewan reid)if youre looking for a place on earth thats similar to the environment found on mars where would you go one scientifically correct answer is iceland specifically near thingvellir and askja and thanks to nasa thats where texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics associate professor dr ryan ewing will be conducting research next summer ewing is the lead principal investigator of a project recently funded by a $11 million grant from nasas planetary science and technology through analog research program in this program scientists go to environments on earth that are similar to environments on other worlds and conduct scientific research but we also do it in a way that mimics how that research might be approached on another world ewing said so were doing a science project but also an operational engineering project examining icelandic terrain an analog of mars ewing and a team of researchers will travel to two sites in iceland that are similar to environments on mars because the terrain includes: an abundance of igneous basaltic rock and sediment; glaciers; fluvial systems similar to martian ancient river systems; and wind-blown material similar to the sand dunes and ripples that cover mars today the project officially begins in january 2019 and the team will conduct research in iceland in the summer of 2019 and summer of 2020 our science question is how does the sediment in these basaltic environments chemically and physically evolve he said how are sediments chemically altered from their source rock from weathering in a cold climate how do sediments change through physical abrasion and sorting across different environments whether its in a river or in a windblown system the project team includes: dr elizabeth b rampe nasa johnson space center astromaterials research and exploration science division; dr briony horgan purdue university department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences; dr mathieu lapotre stanford university department of geological sciences; and dr karl iagnemma massachusetts institute of technology robotic mobility group ewings science team is also partnering with a private space company mission control space services inc led by ewan reid this public-private collaboration will also include mission control investigators melissa battler and michele faragalli  three texas a&m students two undergraduates and one doctoral will also be part of the research team from start to finish he said and will conduct research in icelanddr ryan ewingthis rover will be used by the research team in iceland it is pictured here at white sands national monument new mexico (photo by ryan ewing)well spend about three weeks in iceland each summer and well go to two different locations ewing said both of them are near glaciers on different parts of the island im very excited about it and it should be really interesting aggie-led research will inform the 2020 mars mission in addition to examining sediment processes in iceland the team will also conduct operational and engineering studies well be using a robotic rover and it will be instrumented with cameras and sensors that assess the terrain as its driving ewing explained a big part of this research is to test how autonomous terrain-analysis can be incorporated in scientific work flows for example if the rover senses a terrain thats sandy that can be useful information if its fed back to the science team which is making the decisions about where to go next or what to test next this research projects results will potentially influence and inform future mars rovers designs and operations the mars mission that will launch in 2020 will have a rover and a drone so we are testing both a rover and a drone in iceland he said the mars helicopter a small autonomous rotorcraft will travel on the mars 2020 rover mission scheduled to launch in july 2020 so what were doing will specifically inform operations for mars 2020 by leslie lee ‘09 " an example of terrain showing fluvial sorting in iceland (photo by ewan reid) "if youre looking for a place on earth thats similar to the environment found on mars where would you go one scientifically correct answer is iceland specifically near thingvellir and askja and thanks to nasa thats where texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics associate professor dr ryan ewing will be conducting research next summer ewing is the lead principal investigator of a project recently funded by a $11 million grant from nasas planetary science and technology through analog research program in this program scientists go to environments on earth that are similar to environments on other worlds and conduct scientific research but we also do it in a way that mimics how that research might be approached on another world ewing said so were doing a science project but also an operational engineering project examining icelandic terrain an analog of mars ewing and a team of researchers will travel to two sites in iceland that are similar to environments on mars because the terrain includes: an abundance of igneous basaltic rock and sediment; glaciers; fluvial systems similar to martian ancient river systems; and wind-blown material similar to the sand dunes and ripples that cover mars today the project officially begins in january 2019 and the team will conduct research in iceland in the summer of 2019 and summer of 2020 our science question is how does the sediment in these basaltic environments chemically and physically evolve he said how are sediments chemically altered from their source rock from weathering in a cold climate how do sediments change through physical abrasion and sorting across different environments whether its in a river or in a windblown system the project team includes: dr elizabeth b rampe nasa johnson space center astromaterials research and exploration science division; dr briony horgan purdue university department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences; dr mathieu lapotre stanford university department of geological sciences; and dr karl iagnemma massachusetts institute of technology robotic mobility group ewings science team is also partnering with a private space company mission control space services inc led by ewan reid this public-private collaboration will also include mission control investigators melissa battler and michele faragalli  three texas a&m students two undergraduates and one doctoral will also be part of the research team from start to finish he said and will conduct research in iceland" dr ryan ewingthis rover will be used by the research team in iceland it is pictured here at white sands national monument new mexico (photo by ryan ewing) "well spend about three weeks in iceland each summer and well go to two different locations ewing said both of them are near glaciers on different parts of the island im very excited about it and it should be really interesting aggie-led research will inform the 2020 mars mission in addition to examining sediment processes in iceland the team will also conduct operational and engineering studies well be using a robotic rover and it will be instrumented with cameras and sensors that assess the terrain as its driving ewing explained a big part of this research is to test how autonomous terrain-analysis can be incorporated in scientific work flows for example if the rover senses a terrain thats sandy that can be useful information if its fed back to the science team which is making the decisions about where to go next or what to test next this research projects results will potentially influence and inform future mars rovers designs and operations the mars mission that will launch in 2020 will have a rover and a drone so we are testing both a rover and a drone in iceland he said the mars helicopter a small autonomous rotorcraft will travel on the mars 2020 rover mission scheduled to launch in july 2020 so what were doing will specifically inform operations for mars 2020 by leslie lee ‘09" " texas a&m oceanography and atmospheric sciences welcome new academic advisormeet madeleine denison new academic advisor in the college of geosciencesoct 2 2018texas a&m universitys departments of oceanography and atmospheric sciences welcomed a new academic advisor madeleine denison this fall semester denison serves both graduate and undergraduate students in both departments my goal is to help every student to succeed whatever goals that they have denison said i am willing to learn as much as i can about the programs in texas a&m university so i can be the best resource to help students achieve their goal denison received an undergraduate degree in english from the university of louisiana at lafayette she began her career as an academic advisor at south louisiana community college (slcc) after serving there for five years she moved to texas to be an academic advisor at the university of houston and then an advisor at lone star college (lsc)-north harrison eventually moving up in leadership and serving as a program coordinator at lsc during her position at slcc she pursued a masters degree in communication to complement her role as an academic advisor and completed it while at lsc i lived in south louisiana so i was fascinated in waterways as well as weather which were very important in my culture denison said when i saw the new academic advisor position opening in the oceanography and atmospheric science department and as i had experience in advising i was very interested and decided to apply for the positionmadeleine denison in her office eller o&m 114 (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)i have met really great people – students faculty and other people who work here she said so far i am very happy to be here as an academic advisor and glad that people are eager to help me learn through the process and help me along denisons office is located in eller o&m building room 114 for questions regarding academic information contact advising-ocng@geostamuedu or advising-atmo@goestamuedu by bumsoo kim " "texas a&m universitys departments of oceanography and atmospheric sciences welcomed a new academic advisor madeleine denison this fall semester denison serves both graduate and undergraduate students in both departments my goal is to help every student to succeed whatever goals that they have denison said i am willing to learn as much as i can about the programs in texas a&m university so i can be the best resource to help students achieve their goal denison received an undergraduate degree in english from the university of louisiana at lafayette she began her career as an academic advisor at south louisiana community college (slcc) after serving there for five years she moved to texas to be an academic advisor at the university of houston and then an advisor at lone star college (lsc)-north harrison eventually moving up in leadership and serving as a program coordinator at lsc during her position at slcc she pursued a masters degree in communication to complement her role as an academic advisor and completed it while at lsc i lived in south louisiana so i was fascinated in waterways as well as weather which were very important in my culture denison said when i saw the new academic advisor position opening in the oceanography and atmospheric science department and as i had experience in advising i was very interested and decided to apply for the position" madeleine denison in her office eller o&m 114 (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim) "i have met really great people – students faculty and other people who work here she said so far i am very happy to be here as an academic advisor and glad that people are eager to help me learn through the process and help me along denisons office is located in eller o&m building room 114 for questions regarding academic information contact advising-ocng@geostamuedu or advising-atmo@goestamuedu by bumsoo kim" " save the datesbe sure to mark the following department of geology & geophysics events down in your calendar!sep 28 2018save the date for the distinguished achievement awards ceremony date: october 5 2018 time: 6 pm location: gates ballroom texas a&m memorial student center save the date for the fall geosciences tailgate date: october 6 2018 time: 2 hours before kickoff location: simpson drill field save the date for the g&g fall open house date: october 12 2018 time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm faculty talks  5:00 pm - 6:30 pm dinner location: halbouty building please rsvp for the fall open house by monday october 8 2018 at 5:00 pm at txag/rho3atf or scan the qr code below!   we look forward to seeing you! " "save the date for the distinguished achievement awards ceremony date: october 5 2018 time: 6 pm location: gates ballroom texas a&m memorial student center save the date for the fall geosciences tailgate date: october 6 2018 time: 2 hours before kickoff location: simpson drill field save the date for the g&g fall open house date: october 12 2018 time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm faculty talks  5:00 pm - 6:30 pm dinner location: halbouty building please rsvp for the fall open house by monday october 8 2018 at 5:00 pm at txag/rho3atf or scan the qr code below!   we look forward to seeing you!" " aggies at the end of the world: frigid expedition collects ‘time capsule peat samplesled by dr julie loisel these geography undergraduates unforgettable summer trip was actually quite coldsep 24 2018dr julie loisel (center back row) and the patagonia expedition team photo by patrick campbellcollecting peat samples from frozen land is far from the beach vacation most students imagine for their summer breaks but for five aggie geography majors a freezing summer field expedition to the far reaches of the southern hemisphere was unforgettable from may 21 to june 8 2018  texas a&m university department of geography assistant professor and national geographic explorer dr julie loisel led a group of five current undergraduate students along with a geophysicist from the university of wyoming  dr andrew parsekian to tierra del fuego in southern patagonia chile patrick campbell 18 geography major served as photographer and videographer on the trip funded by a grant from the national geographic society the expeditions objective was to sample peatlands and determine carbon stocks using peat cores and ground-penetrating radar the process of sampling each peatland location included: coring subsurface gpr mapping and collecting surface vegetation samples the team also set up a weather station and water-level data loggers in monitoring wells peatlands are unique environments that hold deep layers of important environmental data peatlands are also the most effective sink of carbon on the planet loisel saidtraveling to the end of the world the journey to get to southern patagonia and to their final destination – karukinka park – was long the research crew flew more than 10 hours total loisel said in addition to a day-long drive that included a ferry ride across the magellan strait on the last leg of the trip the crew stopped along the way to explore a shipwreck and see a rare colony of king penguins karukinka translates to ‘our land which accurately describes the park and its purpose loisel said the park has goals that revolve around conservation and sustainability and is only open to visitors who come to learn research and discover the base camp that the students would call home for the duration of the trip had no running water and only minimal electricity it was almost winter solstice during their time there so the sun set around 5:30 pm and rose at 10 am the students had to chop wood to fuel the houses fires both for warmth and for cooking their meals the long dark hours spent together in the cabins helped the group establish a strong bond with each other she said video by patrick campbell  the importance of peatlands peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale loisel said they also contain decomposed plant fragments volcanic ash and many other relicts from the past that can date back thousands of years she explained that peat deposits can be cored and their layers read like a history book peat cores are a sort of natural time capsule and their content reveals important information about the local and regional environmentstudents map the ground to prepare to collect peat samples photo by patrick campbellstudents collect peat core samples from the ground photo by patrick campbellsampling in peatlands the first collection site was called rasmussen peatland located at higher elevation towards the cordillera darwin this peatland was harsh with freezing air temperatures and strong winds the peatland surface was frozen and covered with iced-over puddles obtaining core samples there provided good training for new members interesting vegetation and beautiful views loisel said next the crew traveled to flarks peatland this area was different from the previous one; in a milder valley its vegetation was more lush and displayed bright colors of reds oranges and yellows this peatland had also been cut down by the eroding action of a river which allowed the team to observe the peat layers directly over the next four days the team traveled to four more sites to learn more about this research view campbells photo journal and video  by taylor fuechec 18 " dr julie loisel (center back row) and the patagonia expedition team photo by patrick campbell "collecting peat samples from frozen land is far from the beach vacation most students imagine for their summer breaks but for five aggie geography majors a freezing summer field expedition to the far reaches of the southern hemisphere was unforgettable from may 21 to june 8 2018  texas a&m university department of geography assistant professor and national geographic explorer dr julie loisel led a group of five current undergraduate students along with a geophysicist from the university of wyoming  dr andrew parsekian to tierra del fuego in southern patagonia chile patrick campbell 18 geography major served as photographer and videographer on the trip funded by a grant from the national geographic society the expeditions objective was to sample peatlands and determine carbon stocks using peat cores and ground-penetrating radar the process of sampling each peatland location included: coring subsurface gpr mapping and collecting surface vegetation samples the team also set up a weather station and water-level data loggers in monitoring wells peatlands are unique environments that hold deep layers of important environmental data peatlands are also the most effective sink of carbon on the planet loisel said" "traveling to the end of the world the journey to get to southern patagonia and to their final destination – karukinka park – was long the research crew flew more than 10 hours total loisel said in addition to a day-long drive that included a ferry ride across the magellan strait on the last leg of the trip the crew stopped along the way to explore a shipwreck and see a rare colony of king penguins karukinka translates to ‘our land which accurately describes the park and its purpose loisel said the park has goals that revolve around conservation and sustainability and is only open to visitors who come to learn research and discover the base camp that the students would call home for the duration of the trip had no running water and only minimal electricity it was almost winter solstice during their time there so the sun set around 5:30 pm and rose at 10 am the students had to chop wood to fuel the houses fires both for warmth and for cooking their meals the long dark hours spent together in the cabins helped the group establish a strong bond with each other she said video by patrick campbell  " "the importance of peatlands peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale loisel said they also contain decomposed plant fragments volcanic ash and many other relicts from the past that can date back thousands of years she explained that peat deposits can be cored and their layers read like a history book peat cores are a sort of natural time capsule and their content reveals important information about the local and regional environment" students map the ground to prepare to collect peat samples photo by patrick campbellstudents collect peat core samples from the ground photo by patrick campbell "sampling in peatlands the first collection site was called rasmussen peatland located at higher elevation towards the cordillera darwin this peatland was harsh with freezing air temperatures and strong winds the peatland surface was frozen and covered with iced-over puddles obtaining core samples there provided good training for new members interesting vegetation and beautiful views loisel said next the crew traveled to flarks peatland this area was different from the previous one; in a milder valley its vegetation was more lush and displayed bright colors of reds oranges and yellows this peatland had also been cut down by the eroding action of a river which allowed the team to observe the peat layers directly over the next four days the team traveled to four more sites to learn more about this research view campbells photo journal and video  by taylor fuechec 18" " college of geosciences gives 2018 highest honors to four exemplary recipientsdistinguished achievement awards will be presented oct 5 sep 11 2018dr carlos dengo 78 has been awarded the michel t halbouty geosciences medalwilliam r bill thomas 75 has been recognized with the geosciences distinguished alumni awardeach distinctly renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will all be recognized on oct 5 at the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards ceremony which will be held at 6:30 pm in the gates ballroom in the memorial student center dr carlos dengo 78 dr carlos dengo 78 former director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems at texas a&m has been awarded the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after earning his bachelors in geology from syracuse university dengo received a masters in geology from texas a&m in 1978 followed by a doctorate in geology in 1982 he went on to excel in a decades-long career at exxonmobil starting out at exxon production research company prior to his retirement in 2012 dengo served as the director and geoscience vice president of exxonmobils upstream research company and prior to that as director and vice president of exxonmobil research qatar dengo now serves as principal at tierranos consulting llc he has served on numerous boards and counsels in his field and has served on the american geophysical union board of directors since 2015 while serving as director of the berg-hughes center at texas a&m from 2014-2017 dengo provided essential vision and leadership his vision was to establish texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics as a pre-eminent academic center to educate future generations of students with the technical and leadership skills to succeed in academia and/or the oil industry said dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m he has been and still is a phenomenal representative of the college throughout his career william r bill thomas 75 william r bill thomas 75 chief executive officer of eog resources has been recognized with the geosciences distinguished alumni award bill thomas leadership honors the aggie core values and provides our current aggies with a peerless role model said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences bill constantly innovates strategies to outpace industry peers and set the standard of excellence across industries  over 37 years at eog resources he has worked his way up through the eog leadership ranks she said bill continues to promote an organizational culture of cultivating leadership within the team interim dean thomas said thus the leaders at eog emerge with an organizational pride and a personally vested interest in the success of the entire team – excellence that fosters loyalty and loyalty that perpetuates excellence i have had the privilege to get to know bill and i am continually inspired by his accomplishments and his career path but even more so by his humility   dr ruth mullins perry 04 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award the weather channel has been recognized with the geosciences innovator awarddr ruth mullins perry 04 dr ruth mullins perry 04 marine scientist and regulatory policy specialist at shell exploration and production company has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award prior to joining shell in 2014 perry received a bachelors in biology in 2004 a masters in oceanography in 2008 and a doctorate in oceanography in 2013 all from texas a&m dr perry is an exceptional scientist and has demonstrated an exceedingly broad expertise and disciplinary experience said dr steve dimarco texas a&m oceanography professor who served as her doctoral and post-doctoral advisor for the past five years dr perry has been developing private-public partnerships for shell to help improve industry and community knowledge of the offshore marine environment she has served on several boards and committees and has made presentations to the us congress to advocate for sustained ocean monitoring for societal benefits and to help advance the understanding of human impacts on the marine environment perry also conceptualized and is leading the ocean observing partnership of the stones observatory in the gulf of mexico which is a unique public-private collaboration the stones observational platform will provide interdisciplinary observations in 3 000 meters for decades to come and stands as a model for future private-public partnerships dimarco said the weather channel the weather channel has been recognized with the geosciences innovator award the weather companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news the environment and the importance of science to our lives said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head this broadcast reaches over 80 million households covering a variety of geosciences-related topics such as hurricanes climate change volcanoes and earthquakes the channel uses advanced technology and visualization tools to translate complicated and sometimes life-saving scientific information to the general public their contributions to geoscience and stem education are vast several members of the weather channel team have received special permission to travel during hurricane season and will be present at the awards ceremony on oct 5 at texas a&m for more details on the colleges awards read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09 " dr carlos dengo 78 has been awarded the michel t halbouty geosciences medalwilliam r bill thomas 75 has been recognized with the geosciences distinguished alumni award "each distinctly renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will all be recognized on oct 5 at the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards ceremony which will be held at 6:30 pm in the gates ballroom in the memorial student center dr carlos dengo 78 dr carlos dengo 78 former director of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems at texas a&m has been awarded the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after earning his bachelors in geology from syracuse university dengo received a masters in geology from texas a&m in 1978 followed by a doctorate in geology in 1982 he went on to excel in a decades-long career at exxonmobil starting out at exxon production research company prior to his retirement in 2012 dengo served as the director and geoscience vice president of exxonmobils upstream research company and prior to that as director and vice president of exxonmobil research qatar dengo now serves as principal at tierranos consulting llc he has served on numerous boards and counsels in his field and has served on the american geophysical union board of directors since 2015 while serving as director of the berg-hughes center at texas a&m from 2014-2017 dengo provided essential vision and leadership his vision was to establish texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics as a pre-eminent academic center to educate future generations of students with the technical and leadership skills to succeed in academia and/or the oil industry said dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m he has been and still is a phenomenal representative of the college throughout his career william r bill thomas 75 william r bill thomas 75 chief executive officer of eog resources has been recognized with the geosciences distinguished alumni award bill thomas leadership honors the aggie core values and provides our current aggies with a peerless role model said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences bill constantly innovates strategies to outpace industry peers and set the standard of excellence across industries  over 37 years at eog resources he has worked his way up through the eog leadership ranks she said bill continues to promote an organizational culture of cultivating leadership within the team interim dean thomas said thus the leaders at eog emerge with an organizational pride and a personally vested interest in the success of the entire team – excellence that fosters loyalty and loyalty that perpetuates excellence i have had the privilege to get to know bill and i am continually inspired by his accomplishments and his career path but even more so by his humility   " dr ruth mullins perry 04 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award the weather channel has been recognized with the geosciences innovator award "dr ruth mullins perry 04 dr ruth mullins perry 04 marine scientist and regulatory policy specialist at shell exploration and production company has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award prior to joining shell in 2014 perry received a bachelors in biology in 2004 a masters in oceanography in 2008 and a doctorate in oceanography in 2013 all from texas a&m dr perry is an exceptional scientist and has demonstrated an exceedingly broad expertise and disciplinary experience said dr steve dimarco texas a&m oceanography professor who served as her doctoral and post-doctoral advisor for the past five years dr perry has been developing private-public partnerships for shell to help improve industry and community knowledge of the offshore marine environment she has served on several boards and committees and has made presentations to the us congress to advocate for sustained ocean monitoring for societal benefits and to help advance the understanding of human impacts on the marine environment perry also conceptualized and is leading the ocean observing partnership of the stones observatory in the gulf of mexico which is a unique public-private collaboration the stones observational platform will provide interdisciplinary observations in 3 000 meters for decades to come and stands as a model for future private-public partnerships dimarco said the weather channel the weather channel has been recognized with the geosciences innovator award the weather companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news the environment and the importance of science to our lives said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head this broadcast reaches over 80 million households covering a variety of geosciences-related topics such as hurricanes climate change volcanoes and earthquakes the channel uses advanced technology and visualization tools to translate complicated and sometimes life-saving scientific information to the general public their contributions to geoscience and stem education are vast several members of the weather channel team have received special permission to travel during hurricane season and will be present at the awards ceremony on oct 5 at texas a&m for more details on the colleges awards read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09" " under the tundra: texas a&m geographer leading new nsf-funded arctic research projectdr julie loisel will lead project funded by nsfs macrosystems biology programsep 7 2018the new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut photo courtesy of charslying quietly at the top of the world the arctic tundras ancient frozen soils store enormous amounts of carbon these uniquely important landscapes have thick peat soil horizons and are vulnerable to warming temperatures the national science foundation (nsf) recently funded a new research project examining these systems and whether expanding peatlands may provide a ""sink"" for some of the carbon lost as permafrost thaws and texas a&m university department of geography assistant professor dr julie loisel will lead a team from texas a&m conducting a portion of the research in far northern canada  this new project will look at how arctic soils have been responding to warmer temperatures loisel said we know that vegetation has been growing faster due to warmer and longer growing seasons across most of the arctic a phenomenon referred to as ""greening"" but we don't know how or if this increase in biomass transfers to soils titled peat expansion in arctic tundra: pattern process and the implication for the carbon cycle the projects additional teams will be led by: dr zicheng yu lehigh university; dr philip camill bowdoin college; dr steve frolking university new hampshire; and qianlai zhuang purdue university the texas a&m team will be based at the new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut our main goal is to gather meteorological ecological and paleoecological data to look into the relationships between air and soil temperatures vs rates of carbon sequestration in soils from the eastern half of victoria island and the bathurst inlet region loisel saidthe new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut photo courtesy of charsthe texas a&m research team studying arctic soils will gather meteorological ecological and paleoecological data in cambridge bay nunavut the research has major implications: if shallow peatlands are widespread throughout the arctic the overall net carbon storage capacity of tundra might be underestimated globally this research will assess those implications for global climate models it will also be addressing one of nsf's ""ten big ideas for future nsf investments "" navigating the new arctic this project is one of nine efforts in which nsf recently invested a total of $9 million all researching biosphere processes and their complex interactions with climate land use and invasive species at regional to continental scales the awards are funded through nsfs macrosystems biology and early neon (national ecological observatory network) science programs these projects leverage nsf investments in biological infrastructure to study how organisms and ecosystems respond to environmental changes from local to continental scales said joanne tornow nsf acting assistant director for biological sciences macrosystems biology is an approach that works to identify the scales of biological processes and patterns and their cross-scale interactions in non-linear surprising ways the new research awards will explore ecological interactions that operate across spatial and temporal scales findings from environmental biological and ecological research can be incomplete if interacting scales are not considered research in the macrosystems biology program explores interactions that operate across spatial and temporal scales findings from environmental biological and ecological research can be uncertain if measured on the wrong scales (eg studies of local effects that ignore impact of changing global processes) to learn more read the full arctic project description and about the other eight new awards recently awarded by the nsf macrosystems and neon programs by leslie lee '09 " the new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut photo courtesy of chars "lying quietly at the top of the world the arctic tundras ancient frozen soils store enormous amounts of carbon these uniquely important landscapes have thick peat soil horizons and are vulnerable to warming temperatures the national science foundation (nsf) recently funded a new research project examining these systems and whether expanding peatlands may provide a ""sink"" for some of the carbon lost as permafrost thaws and texas a&m university department of geography assistant professor dr julie loisel will lead a team from texas a&m conducting a portion of the research in far northern canada  this new project will look at how arctic soils have been responding to warmer temperatures loisel said we know that vegetation has been growing faster due to warmer and longer growing seasons across most of the arctic a phenomenon referred to as ""greening"" but we don't know how or if this increase in biomass transfers to soils titled peat expansion in arctic tundra: pattern process and the implication for the carbon cycle the projects additional teams will be led by: dr zicheng yu lehigh university; dr philip camill bowdoin college; dr steve frolking university new hampshire; and qianlai zhuang purdue university the texas a&m team will be based at the new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut our main goal is to gather meteorological ecological and paleoecological data to look into the relationships between air and soil temperatures vs rates of carbon sequestration in soils from the eastern half of victoria island and the bathurst inlet region loisel said" the new canadian high arctic research station (chars) in cambridge bay nunavut photo courtesy of charsthe texas a&m research team studying arctic soils will gather meteorological ecological and paleoecological data in cambridge bay nunavut  "the research has major implications: if shallow peatlands are widespread throughout the arctic the overall net carbon storage capacity of tundra might be underestimated globally this research will assess those implications for global climate models it will also be addressing one of nsf's ""ten big ideas for future nsf investments "" navigating the new arctic this project is one of nine efforts in which nsf recently invested a total of $9 million all researching biosphere processes and their complex interactions with climate land use and invasive species at regional to continental scales the awards are funded through nsfs macrosystems biology and early neon (national ecological observatory network) science programs these projects leverage nsf investments in biological infrastructure to study how organisms and ecosystems respond to environmental changes from local to continental scales said joanne tornow nsf acting assistant director for biological sciences macrosystems biology is an approach that works to identify the scales of biological processes and patterns and their cross-scale interactions in non-linear surprising ways the new research awards will explore ecological interactions that operate across spatial and temporal scales findings from environmental biological and ecological research can be incomplete if interacting scales are not considered research in the macrosystems biology program explores interactions that operate across spatial and temporal scales findings from environmental biological and ecological research can be uncertain if measured on the wrong scales (eg studies of local effects that ignore impact of changing global processes) to learn more read the full arctic project description and about the other eight new awards recently awarded by the nsf macrosystems and neon programs by leslie lee '09" " aapg 2018-2019 grants-in-aid awardcongratulations to geology & geophysics graduate students that were awarded 2018 aapg grants-in-aid!aug 22 2018congratulations to geology & geophysics graduate students that were awarded 2018 aapg grants-in-aid! the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) provides various methods of funding through different programs the aapg foundation grantsin-aid program fosters research in the geosciences providing financial assistance to graduate students (currently enrolled in masters or phd programs) whose thesis research has application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-mineral resources and/or to related environmental geology issues to be considered for an aapg grant-in-aid award graduate students are required to submit an abstract as well as an application project budget and summary of their research projects timeline the grants-in-aid committee scores each application at least three times scoring is based on the following five areas: students academic and employment history scientific merit of proposal suitability to program objectives financial merit of proposal and endorsement by faculty or department advisor grants are based on merit and in part on the financial needs of the applicant grants range from $500 to $3 000 and are to be applied to expenses directly related to the students thesis work such as field work and laboratory analyses wed like to congratulate the following graduate students that have been awarded 2018 aapg grantsin-aid: szu-ting kuo michel t halbouty grant ben richards james w milliken memorial grant of these students szu-ting kuo is a phd student working with dr hiroko kitajima and ben richards is a phd student working with dr art donovan " "congratulations to geology & geophysics graduate students that were awarded 2018 aapg grants-in-aid! the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) provides various methods of funding through different programs the aapg foundation grantsin-aid program fosters research in the geosciences providing financial assistance to graduate students (currently enrolled in masters or phd programs) whose thesis research has application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-mineral resources and/or to related environmental geology issues to be considered for an aapg grant-in-aid award graduate students are required to submit an abstract as well as an application project budget and summary of their research projects timeline the grants-in-aid committee scores each application at least three times scoring is based on the following five areas: students academic and employment history scientific merit of proposal suitability to program objectives financial merit of proposal and endorsement by faculty or department advisor grants are based on merit and in part on the financial needs of the applicant grants range from $500 to $3 000 and are to be applied to expenses directly related to the students thesis work such as field work and laboratory analyses wed like to congratulate the following graduate students that have been awarded 2018 aapg grantsin-aid: szu-ting kuo michel t halbouty grant ben richards james w milliken memorial grant of these students szu-ting kuo is a phd student working with dr hiroko kitajima and ben richards is a phd student working with dr art donovan" " the dudley j hughes '51 teaching microscopy labthe generous gift by mrs hughes will play a key part in preparing the next generation's geoscientists aug 21 2018during the september 29 2017 department open house and the re-dedication ceremony of the dudley hughes ‘51 lecture hall texas a&m college of geosciences interim dean dr debbie thomas announced the establishment of the dudley j hughes ‘51 teaching microscopy lab this incredibly generous gift by mrs hughes will add significant opportunities for hands-on learning for geology and geophysics students the gift was given in honor of her late husbands devotion passion and generosity for texas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics mr hughes was an acclaimed exploration geologist and celebrated philanthropist the lab will feature new microscopes computers and equipment students will no longer need to share old run-down equipment construction for the new microscopy lab began in the summer of 2018 and is expected to be completed this fall dr mike pope geology and geophysics department head is excited for the improvements in the students learning experience that this lab will create mrs robbie hughes gift provides our undergraduate students with a world-class undergraduate microscopy laboratory and will provide them with an incredible high-impact learning experience that is second to none said dr pope we are very grateful to mrs hughes for choosing to honor her husband with this outstanding gift the college of geosciences believes the impact this technology will play a key part in preparing the next generations geoscientists robbie and dudley hughes '51 " "during the september 29 2017 department open house and the re-dedication ceremony of the dudley hughes ‘51 lecture hall texas a&m college of geosciences interim dean dr debbie thomas announced the establishment of the dudley j hughes ‘51 teaching microscopy lab this incredibly generous gift by mrs hughes will add significant opportunities for hands-on learning for geology and geophysics students the gift was given in honor of her late husbands devotion passion and generosity for texas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics mr hughes was an acclaimed exploration geologist and celebrated philanthropist the lab will feature new microscopes computers and equipment students will no longer need to share old run-down equipment construction for the new microscopy lab began in the summer of 2018 and is expected to be completed this fall dr mike pope geology and geophysics department head is excited for the improvements in the students learning experience that this lab will create mrs robbie hughes gift provides our undergraduate students with a world-class undergraduate microscopy laboratory and will provide them with an incredible high-impact learning experience that is second to none said dr pope we are very grateful to mrs hughes for choosing to honor her husband with this outstanding gift the college of geosciences believes the impact this technology will play a key part in preparing the next generations geoscientists robbie and dudley hughes '51" " local children learn ocean science through ‘under the sea summer camptexas a&m oceanography faculty partnered with local childrens museum to host campaug 17 2018on july 9-13 department of oceanography at texas a&m university faculty and other researchers collaborated to host a week-long under the sea camp for local youth held at the childrens museum of the brazos valley students who participated were 4 to 12 years old and each had the opportunity to complete hands-on science experiments and lessons many graduate students faculty and staff members helped make the camp happen including: drs chrissy wiederwohl katie shamberger and jason sylvan oceanography professors; tacey hicks miranda hooper and charles holmes ii oceanography graduate students; drs peter blum  denise kulhanek laurel childress and carlos alvarez zarikian of the international ocean discovery program (iodp); and drew casey from texas sea grant the vision of the camp started when wiederwohl dropped her daughter off at a science camp at the childrens museum the previous year i asked the director of the museum if they would be interested in doing an ocean science camp then met with their director of education and the camp grew from there she said the camp is just one of the outreach programs that wiederwohl plans to create through the oceanography department i wanted a way to expand our outreach offerings and reach the local community in a more impactful way than just small presentations here and there wiederwohl said  dr chrissy wiederwohl teaching students about density (photo courtesy of leslie lee)students learning ocean acidification using straws to blow carbon dioxide into a ph indicator during dr katie shambergers lecture (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley)during the camp children were able get their hands wet in learning marine science and different topics were covered each day by experts in the field on the first day wiederwohl taught the group about density the students looked at how fluids can have different densities and built an ocean in a bottle which can be used to set up internal waves and show how waves move energy on tuesday shamberger discussed ocean acidification and demonstrated common household items such as soap and vinegar and whether they are an acid or a base students also participated doing an experiment where they could see the direct relationship between carbon dioxide and acidifying water on the third day of the camp iodp faculty and students built mini sediment cores to explore the science of ocean drilling on thursday sylvan gave a lecture about ocean life from microbes to whales and on the last day of the camp texas sea grant experts talked about plastic pollution and how it is harming the ocean today students also had a chance to touch a real living brittle starfish  students touching a brittle starfish (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley)group photo of the under the sea camp after dr chrissy wiederwohl read the book larry gets lost under the sea (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley)it was a lot of fun and the kids were so bright and passionate about the ocean wiederwohl said they shocked me several times with how much they knew about all aspects of the ocean the department plans to host the camp again in mid-july next summer it was great to expose them to all corners of oceanography and show them all of the great scientific questions we are trying to answer many did not realize that we had a world class oceanography department right here in the local community said wiederwohl anyone from the local community interested in having tamu oceanography visit their classroom or speak to their group can email ocean-outreach@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim " "on july 9-13 department of oceanography at texas a&m university faculty and other researchers collaborated to host a week-long under the sea camp for local youth held at the childrens museum of the brazos valley students who participated were 4 to 12 years old and each had the opportunity to complete hands-on science experiments and lessons many graduate students faculty and staff members helped make the camp happen including: drs chrissy wiederwohl katie shamberger and jason sylvan oceanography professors; tacey hicks miranda hooper and charles holmes ii oceanography graduate students; drs peter blum  denise kulhanek laurel childress and carlos alvarez zarikian of the international ocean discovery program (iodp); and drew casey from texas sea grant the vision of the camp started when wiederwohl dropped her daughter off at a science camp at the childrens museum the previous year i asked the director of the museum if they would be interested in doing an ocean science camp then met with their director of education and the camp grew from there she said the camp is just one of the outreach programs that wiederwohl plans to create through the oceanography department i wanted a way to expand our outreach offerings and reach the local community in a more impactful way than just small presentations here and there wiederwohl said  " dr chrissy wiederwohl teaching students about density (photo courtesy of leslie lee)students learning ocean acidification using straws to blow carbon dioxide into a ph indicator during dr katie shambergers lecture (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley) "during the camp children were able get their hands wet in learning marine science and different topics were covered each day by experts in the field on the first day wiederwohl taught the group about density the students looked at how fluids can have different densities and built an ocean in a bottle which can be used to set up internal waves and show how waves move energy on tuesday shamberger discussed ocean acidification and demonstrated common household items such as soap and vinegar and whether they are an acid or a base students also participated doing an experiment where they could see the direct relationship between carbon dioxide and acidifying water on the third day of the camp iodp faculty and students built mini sediment cores to explore the science of ocean drilling on thursday sylvan gave a lecture about ocean life from microbes to whales and on the last day of the camp texas sea grant experts talked about plastic pollution and how it is harming the ocean today students also had a chance to touch a real living brittle starfish  " students touching a brittle starfish (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley)group photo of the under the sea camp after dr chrissy wiederwohl read the book larry gets lost under the sea (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley) "it was a lot of fun and the kids were so bright and passionate about the ocean wiederwohl said they shocked me several times with how much they knew about all aspects of the ocean the department plans to host the camp again in mid-july next summer it was great to expose them to all corners of oceanography and show them all of the great scientific questions we are trying to answer many did not realize that we had a world class oceanography department right here in the local community said wiederwohl anyone from the local community interested in having tamu oceanography visit their classroom or speak to their group can email ocean-outreach@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim" " department of geography creates new feature of aggie map: move-in day parking mapwith more than 11 000 students moving in to the residence halls across the texas a&m university campus navigating the complex drive-in move-in logistics can be a challenge especially for those with disabilitiesaug 17 2018unloading area near the north side residence hallsdr dan goldberg of the department of geography and his team have – once again - created a new feature on the aggie map that will help students and their families navigate campus efficiently on their move-in day this new tool allows students to indicate when and where they need to be for move-in day and the new feature identifies areas to park loading entrances trash and recycling bins and areas to avoid due to construction and congestion and has navigation assistance for special parking and disability access the college of geosciences was approached by texas a&m transportation services to help build a tool to provide a better move in experience this collaboration allowed us to leverage the power of aggie map to facilitate a more effective and enjoyable introduction to living on campus it will help texas a&m students and family find parking navigate campus find information and provide a safe and efficient convenient move in experience golderg said using cutting edge web technologies provided by esri we created a mobile-friendly and ada-compliant tool to help students navigate the 5200 acres of campus efficientlymove-in day parking map on aggie maptexas a&m is committed to maintaining an accessible campus community and complying with americans with disabilities act (ada) and now the official map of campus also reflects the important features that make aggieland and the residence halls accessible to all https://aggiemaptamuedu/movein catherine mccarthy ‘19 " "dr dan goldberg of the department of geography and his team have – once again - created a new feature on the aggie map that will help students and their families navigate campus efficiently on their move-in day this new tool allows students to indicate when and where they need to be for move-in day and the new feature identifies areas to park loading entrances trash and recycling bins and areas to avoid due to construction and congestion and has navigation assistance for special parking and disability access the college of geosciences was approached by texas a&m transportation services to help build a tool to provide a better move in experience this collaboration allowed us to leverage the power of aggie map to facilitate a more effective and enjoyable introduction to living on campus it will help texas a&m students and family find parking navigate campus find information and provide a safe and efficient convenient move in experience golderg said using cutting edge web technologies provided by esri we created a mobile-friendly and ada-compliant tool to help students navigate the 5200 acres of campus efficiently" "texas a&m is committed to maintaining an accessible campus community and complying with americans with disabilities act (ada) and now the official map of campus also reflects the important features that make aggieland and the residence halls accessible to all https://aggiemaptamuedu/movein catherine mccarthy ‘19" " august 2018 graduationcongratulations to all the students who graduated this august 2018 from the department of geology & geophysics!aug 13 2018congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated august 10 2018 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics!   special congratulations to the following students who received these awards: college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program gold kalain luke hosein shawn garrison miller nicholas hunter smart bronze cassidy rae brueggeman devin gold harris jeffrey sawyer kohlenberg undergraduate students graduate students view photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/by3kxcx " "congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated august 10 2018 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics!   special congratulations to the following students who received these awards: college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program gold kalain luke hosein shawn garrison miller nicholas hunter smart bronze cassidy rae brueggeman devin gold harris jeffrey sawyer kohlenberg undergraduate students graduate students view photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/by3kxcx " " texas a&m to lead nsf-funded water insecurity research networkdr wendy jepson will lead international interdisciplinary network of water insecurity experts aug 9 2018water! preserve our greatest good reads a banner in fortaleza brazil (photo by flavia bonolo dantas texas a&m geography graduate student)water insecurity is a reality for vulnerable households everywhere from flint michigan to são paulo brazil from the texas-mexico border colonias to cape town south africa  water security means adequate reliable affordable water for a healthy life said dr wendy jepson professor in texas a&m universitys department of geography in the college of geosciences household water insecurity can result when those conditions are not met and can happen almost anywhere to address the complex and global problem of water insecurity the national science foundation (nsf) recently awarded a $500 000 grant to jepson and several collaborators for the formation of the household water insecurity (hwise) research coordination network (rcn) jepson will lead the five-year project along with co-investigators dr justin stoler at university of miami dr amber wutich at arizona state university and dr sera young at northwestern university we will be consolidating our research resources and looking for new ways to study household water insecurity and impacts on health well-being and livelihoods jepson said well be developing a geospatial perspective and using the toolkit weve taken abroad we will take a harder look at water insecurity in the us and canada even in highly developed counties household water insecurity can result from aging infrastructure poverty or other systemic problems  the flint water crisis was not an anomaly water insecurity is experienced in many communities jepson said water insecurity among the homeless has been documented by dr wutich and my previous research on texas colonias underscored that despite massive investments low-income families face hard choices about paying water bills going to the grocery store or putting gas in the carrethinking household water insecurity: methods and metrics hwise workshop participants at texas a&m university in september 2016 (photo courtesy of dr wendy jepson)the rcn will create research infrastructure working groups and engagement and participation training the researchers are also planning to develop and test a water security metric – an analytical framework that could streamline water security measurements globally how do you measure this jepson said thats a key question because once you measure it you can look at causes and consequences in a more systematic way thats less anecdotal collaborating for solutions to water insecurity this group of household water insecurity researchers in the us has been collaborating since 2014 jepson said they have held three workshops and developed a proposal led by young on household water security metric development current hwise collaborators now include over 40 scholars from 24 us and international institutions spanning a variety of careers and social science disciplines their effort to-date is only the beginning of a productive collaborative research network to advance conceptual and methodological frontiers in water security and environmental social science jepson said now were building a global network she said the rcn will be developing new approaches for studying these questions and finding the causes and consequences we have outlined three major workshops including engagement with various stakeholders in the international water sector we are also developing tools webinars podcasts and a data platform for our research community texas a&m water management and hydrological sciences masters student amy truong will also be the program coordinator for the entire rcn in the end the research coordination network is an investment in research infrastructure and that infrastructure is human capital because ideas and creativity and problem solving happen in collaboration jepson said the nsf is not just funding three workshops it is about fostering organic growth collaboration and mentoring in a community of practice to advance discovery and research the team will also include practitioners who have doctorates but work outside of academia and the rcns steering committee will include diverse professionals from multiple countries as well  more than just a flowing tap water security is a complicated concept to measure and study jepson said because it means that water is available for various activities for personal hygiene cultural practices not just for biophysical we have to recognize that it means more than just drinking water its about how water is part of our daily cultural activities we try to think water not as a thing but how we can secure ways people interact with water the rcn will include experts in political science nutrition geography anthropology and more equipping them to study these complex water security problems jepson said she is excited to see how the rcn grows and informs water policy and practice around the world this is just the beginning by leslie lee 09 " water! preserve our greatest good reads a banner in fortaleza brazil (photo by flavia bonolo dantas texas a&m geography graduate student) "water insecurity is a reality for vulnerable households everywhere from flint michigan to são paulo brazil from the texas-mexico border colonias to cape town south africa  water security means adequate reliable affordable water for a healthy life said dr wendy jepson professor in texas a&m universitys department of geography in the college of geosciences household water insecurity can result when those conditions are not met and can happen almost anywhere to address the complex and global problem of water insecurity the national science foundation (nsf) recently awarded a $500 000 grant to jepson and several collaborators for the formation of the household water insecurity (hwise) research coordination network (rcn) jepson will lead the five-year project along with co-investigators dr justin stoler at university of miami dr amber wutich at arizona state university and dr sera young at northwestern university we will be consolidating our research resources and looking for new ways to study household water insecurity and impacts on health well-being and livelihoods jepson said well be developing a geospatial perspective and using the toolkit weve taken abroad we will take a harder look at water insecurity in the us and canada even in highly developed counties household water insecurity can result from aging infrastructure poverty or other systemic problems  the flint water crisis was not an anomaly water insecurity is experienced in many communities jepson said water insecurity among the homeless has been documented by dr wutich and my previous research on texas colonias underscored that despite massive investments low-income families face hard choices about paying water bills going to the grocery store or putting gas in the car" rethinking household water insecurity: methods and metrics hwise workshop participants at texas a&m university in september 2016 (photo courtesy of dr wendy jepson) "the rcn will create research infrastructure working groups and engagement and participation training the researchers are also planning to develop and test a water security metric – an analytical framework that could streamline water security measurements globally how do you measure this jepson said thats a key question because once you measure it you can look at causes and consequences in a more systematic way thats less anecdotal collaborating for solutions to water insecurity this group of household water insecurity researchers in the us has been collaborating since 2014 jepson said they have held three workshops and developed a proposal led by young on household water security metric development current hwise collaborators now include over 40 scholars from 24 us and international institutions spanning a variety of careers and social science disciplines their effort to-date is only the beginning of a productive collaborative research network to advance conceptual and methodological frontiers in water security and environmental social science jepson said now were building a global network she said the rcn will be developing new approaches for studying these questions and finding the causes and consequences we have outlined three major workshops including engagement with various stakeholders in the international water sector we are also developing tools webinars podcasts and a data platform for our research community texas a&m water management and hydrological sciences masters student amy truong will also be the program coordinator for the entire rcn in the end the research coordination network is an investment in research infrastructure and that infrastructure is human capital because ideas and creativity and problem solving happen in collaboration jepson said the nsf is not just funding three workshops it is about fostering organic growth collaboration and mentoring in a community of practice to advance discovery and research the team will also include practitioners who have doctorates but work outside of academia and the rcns steering committee will include diverse professionals from multiple countries as well  more than just a flowing tap water security is a complicated concept to measure and study jepson said because it means that water is available for various activities for personal hygiene cultural practices not just for biophysical we have to recognize that it means more than just drinking water its about how water is part of our daily cultural activities we try to think water not as a thing but how we can secure ways people interact with water the rcn will include experts in political science nutrition geography anthropology and more equipping them to study these complex water security problems jepson said she is excited to see how the rcn grows and informs water policy and practice around the world this is just the beginning by leslie lee 09" " new fisheries specialist joins texas sea grants extension teamaug 1 2018the texas sea grant college program recently welcomed a new fisheries specialist to its extension team laura picariello is headquartered at texas sea grants office on the texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) campus in her new role picariellos focus is on helping commercial and recreational fishermen understand and take advantage of the latest available fisheries technologies and on research to develop and apply solutions to the common problems they face i am so excited to be joining the amazing team of extension agents and specialists here at texas sea grant she said im looking forward to working hands-on with the members of our coastal fishing industries to address current challenges and strengthen our fishing communities picariello has already begun working closely with the texas shrimp fleet to help captains and crew members install and maintain federally mandated turtle excluder devices (teds) and bycatch reduction devices (brds) which are designed to reduce the accidental capture of non-target species she continues texas sea grants longstanding tradition of supporting both the texas shrimp industry and marine conservation begun by gary graham the states first-ever fisheries specialist who recently retired from texas sea grant after earning national and international recognition for his work over the course of his almost 50 years with the program before coming to texas sea grant picariello who has a masters degree in marine conservation and policy was director of the audubon nature institutes gulf united for lasting fisheries (gulf) a regional sustainable seafood program that supports fisheries in the gulf of mexico where she worked to expand the programs reach from louisiana into texas florida mississippi and alabama she also led the development and operation of the gulf responsible fisheries management (rfm) certification program a voluntary third-party certification to help gulf fisheries demonstrate responsible fishing practices and collaborated with gulf fishermen seafood distributors and fisheries managers to develop fishery improvement projects (fips) to increase the sustainability and promotion of gulf seafood texas sea grant is really fortunate to bring on ms picariello as our new fisheries specialist said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension her professional experience in the gulf of mexico and passion for sustainable fisheries brings much value to our extension program it is an exciting time for the gulf of mexico fisheries industries and she will lead texas sea grant in addressing their changing needs   by alex hood " "the texas sea grant college program recently welcomed a new fisheries specialist to its extension team laura picariello is headquartered at texas sea grants office on the texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) campus in her new role picariellos focus is on helping commercial and recreational fishermen understand and take advantage of the latest available fisheries technologies and on research to develop and apply solutions to the common problems they face i am so excited to be joining the amazing team of extension agents and specialists here at texas sea grant she said im looking forward to working hands-on with the members of our coastal fishing industries to address current challenges and strengthen our fishing communities picariello has already begun working closely with the texas shrimp fleet to help captains and crew members install and maintain federally mandated turtle excluder devices (teds) and bycatch reduction devices (brds) which are designed to reduce the accidental capture of non-target species she continues texas sea grants longstanding tradition of supporting both the texas shrimp industry and marine conservation begun by gary graham the states first-ever fisheries specialist who recently retired from texas sea grant after earning national and international recognition for his work over the course of his almost 50 years with the program before coming to texas sea grant picariello who has a masters degree in marine conservation and policy was director of the audubon nature institutes gulf united for lasting fisheries (gulf) a regional sustainable seafood program that supports fisheries in the gulf of mexico where she worked to expand the programs reach from louisiana into texas florida mississippi and alabama she also led the development and operation of the gulf responsible fisheries management (rfm) certification program a voluntary third-party certification to help gulf fisheries demonstrate responsible fishing practices and collaborated with gulf fishermen seafood distributors and fisheries managers to develop fishery improvement projects (fips) to increase the sustainability and promotion of gulf seafood texas sea grant is really fortunate to bring on ms picariello as our new fisheries specialist said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension her professional experience in the gulf of mexico and passion for sustainable fisheries brings much value to our extension program it is an exciting time for the gulf of mexico fisheries industries and she will lead texas sea grant in addressing their changing needs   by alex hood" " geography graduate student awarded glasscock research fellowshipaaron liras graduate research focuses on oregon farmers and water jul 31 2018photos courtesy of aaron lirathe glasscock research center at texas a&m university annually funds up to ten graduate research fellowship grants of $2 000 each and aaron lira a graduate student in the texas a&m department of geography in the college of geosciences was among the 10 students to receive the grant for the 2018-2019 school year his research centers around agricultural water use and governance in central oregon   what i am doing is looking into the changing livelihood of farmers specifically with modernization and new limitations on water resources in that region and how they are moving forward and what kind of new stressors are being put on them lira said the politics of water in oregon where irrigation districts can operate with few checks and balances can result in exploited farmers he said the grant money was used for my living expenses in central oregon and it sustained me for that whole time he explained during his time as an undergraduate at texas a&m after taking a class with his now-advisor dr kathleen o'reilly he realized that he wanted to go to graduate school ive always had a passion for learning and for helping people and i didn't really know where to put that passion or how to exercise that he said i want to be a voice for people that don't have a voice so i hope to do that in my research now and moving forward after discussing graduate school possibilities with oreilly lira chose to put his attention toward water farmers and irrigation districts in oregon at the end of his project lira hopes the information that he finds will be put to use i would like to impart what we find the new stressors and everything to the irrigation districts he said the fact that the decisions that the irrigation districts make affect the everyday lives of people is really important people fall through the cracks very easily after graduating in may of 2019 lira hopes to get his phd by taylor fuechec ‘18 " "the glasscock research center at texas a&m university annually funds up to ten graduate research fellowship grants of $2 000 each and aaron lira a graduate student in the texas a&m department of geography in the college of geosciences was among the 10 students to receive the grant for the 2018-2019 school year his research centers around agricultural water use and governance in central oregon   what i am doing is looking into the changing livelihood of farmers specifically with modernization and new limitations on water resources in that region and how they are moving forward and what kind of new stressors are being put on them lira said the politics of water in oregon where irrigation districts can operate with few checks and balances can result in exploited farmers he said the grant money was used for my living expenses in central oregon and it sustained me for that whole time he explained during his time as an undergraduate at texas a&m after taking a class with his now-advisor dr kathleen o'reilly he realized that he wanted to go to graduate school ive always had a passion for learning and for helping people and i didn't really know where to put that passion or how to exercise that he said i want to be a voice for people that don't have a voice so i hope to do that in my research now and moving forward after discussing graduate school possibilities with oreilly lira chose to put his attention toward water farmers and irrigation districts in oregon at the end of his project lira hopes the information that he finds will be put to use i would like to impart what we find the new stressors and everything to the irrigation districts he said the fact that the decisions that the irrigation districts make affect the everyday lives of people is really important people fall through the cracks very easily after graduating in may of 2019 lira hopes to get his phd by taylor fuechec ‘18" " tune in to on the ocean the aggie oceanography podcastphd student james fiorendino hosts the department of oceanographys podcast on kamu-fmjul 24 2018did you know that the department of oceanography at texas a&m university has a podcast dedicated to oceanography on the ocean is a 2-minute radio show created in august 2015 by faculty in the department of oceanography and broadcast through kamu-fm this radio program highlights oceanographic research conducted by texas a&m scientists regarding the biology chemistry and physical processes in the worlds oceans every month listeners are introduced to a different ocean science topic typically broken into 4-week segmentsjames fiorendino in the radio recording room (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)james fiorendino and mark edwards recording the show (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)james fiorendino hosts the show and is a graduate student in the department of oceanography at texas a&m studying phytoplankton dynamics in the gulf of mexico and working in the laboratory of dr lisa campbell her laboratory supports jims participation in this important outreach effort i have always been interested in communicating science said fiorendino that is why i volunteered when this position opened up he develops each episode of the show by interviewing professors in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and reducing the information from each interview into short weekly segments mark edwards radio traffic director at kamu-fm helps record the show and he says jim does a fabulous job with the program personally i really appreciate the opportunity to meet and talk to all the other professors in the department; which is an opportunity i might not have otherwise i enjoy this position and learn a lot when interviewing the professors plus it helps me to understand the other types of research going on said fiorendino but then i get to condense this information about ocean science and share it with a larger audience i think it is important to introduce people to the research conducted by oceanographers how they do it and why that research matters said fiorendino on the ocean is broadcast every tuesday at 8:30 am ct on kamu-fm all recordings and scripts are available on the shows website by bumsoo kim " "did you know that the department of oceanography at texas a&m university has a podcast dedicated to oceanography on the ocean is a 2-minute radio show created in august 2015 by faculty in the department of oceanography and broadcast through kamu-fm this radio program highlights oceanographic research conducted by texas a&m scientists regarding the biology chemistry and physical processes in the worlds oceans every month listeners are introduced to a different ocean science topic typically broken into 4-week segments" james fiorendino in the radio recording room (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)james fiorendino and mark edwards recording the show (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim) "james fiorendino hosts the show and is a graduate student in the department of oceanography at texas a&m studying phytoplankton dynamics in the gulf of mexico and working in the laboratory of dr lisa campbell her laboratory supports jims participation in this important outreach effort i have always been interested in communicating science said fiorendino that is why i volunteered when this position opened up he develops each episode of the show by interviewing professors in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and reducing the information from each interview into short weekly segments mark edwards radio traffic director at kamu-fm helps record the show and he says jim does a fabulous job with the program personally i really appreciate the opportunity to meet and talk to all the other professors in the department; which is an opportunity i might not have otherwise i enjoy this position and learn a lot when interviewing the professors plus it helps me to understand the other types of research going on said fiorendino but then i get to condense this information about ocean science and share it with a larger audience i think it is important to introduce people to the research conducted by oceanographers how they do it and why that research matters said fiorendino on the ocean is broadcast every tuesday at 8:30 am ct on kamu-fm all recordings and scripts are available on the shows website by bumsoo kim" " jepson and loisel receive inaugural texas a&m x-grantsresearch project proposals led by geography faculty dr wendy jepson and dr julie loisel were each chosen for funding jul 20 2018dr wendy jepsondr julie loiselinterdisciplinary research project proposals from two faculty in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences have been selected for funding by texas a&ms x-grants program only eight total x-grant proposals were funded across the university x-grant projects led by dr wendy jepson professor of geography and dr julie loisel assistant professor of geography were each selected for funding we are exceptionally proud of the leadership efforts of dr loisel and dr jepson in assembling these truly interdisciplinary teams and we are also thrilled that their teams include substantial efforts from seven additional college of geosciences faculty members said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences transformative proposal efforts such as these are striking examples of how the college of geosciences can help elevate texas a&ms ability to address the critical challenges of human and environmental sustainability texas a&ms x-grant program is an initiative of the 10-year $100 million presidents excellence fund the eight funded interdisciplinary research projects will share $7 million in funding during this first round of the program 81 faculty members and other researchers from eight colleges and two state agencies of the texas a&m university system are involved in the projects in the college of geosciences we have always understood that what we study is inherently interdisciplinary said dr david cairns geography department head the success of the college and particularly the department of geography goes a long way toward establishing us as the hub of interdisciplinary research at texas a&m examining desalination and water reuse jepsons project ""pathways to sustainable urban water security: desalination and water reuse in the 21st century will be funded by a $15 million grant over three years wastewater reuse and desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater are seen as strategies to address increasing stresses and demands on global water supplies but there are impediments to their sustainable implementation and negative impacts to consider jepson said the technology exists but the question is can how can they be integrated into sustainable strategies for urban water security she said jepson will lead the project with a team that includes dr christian brannstrom college of geosciences; gabriel eckstein texas a&m school of law; dr robert greer texas a&m bush school of government and public service; dr mark holtzapple texas a&m artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering; dr kent portney texas a&m bush school; dr john tracy texas water resources institute; and dr sierra woodruff texas a&m department of landscape architecture and urban planning we will examine the global desalination and water reuse corporate and finance sector analyze the legal framework for unconventional water production across case study sites and examine the complex water governance regimes that promote and challenge the transformation of this sector in water-stressed urban regions in texas california australia and israel jepson said our team will examine several aspects of desalination and wastewater reuse sector and socio-technical systems through a mixed-methods approach designed to operate in an integrated and comparative interdisciplinary case study framework  the team will develop a sectoral database as well as conduct legal analyses surveys documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews to support systematic comparative case studies social network analysis and q-methodology the project also includes substantial public and stakeholder engagement through workshops and participatory modeling to best identify the pathways to translate research outcomes to communities and policy makers monitoring rapidly changing arctic ecosystems using geospatial tech and machine learning loisels project ""monitoring rapidly changing arctic ecosystems using high-resolution satellite-based datasets and artificial intelligence will be funded by $500 000 over two years there have been recent breakthroughs in satellite technology that make it possible to obtain daily high-resolution imagery of the entire planet loisel said and this teams pilot project explores the use of artificial intelligence to analyze this large volume of high spatial and high temporal resolution satellite-based images from the arctic the teams main goal is to generate the first reliable map of permafrost-affected ecosystems and address fundamental research questions pertaining to arctic sciencepermafrost peatland mackenzie river basin northwestern territories canada (photo by: dr julie loisel)loisel will lead the interdisciplinary project and her collaborators are dr andrew klein dr michael bishop dr david cairns dr anthony filippi and dr oliver frauenfeld department of geography; dr atlas wang department of computer science and engineering; dr christine morgan department of soil and crop science; dr anita rapp department of atmospheric sciences; and dr zenon medina-cetina zachry department of civil engineering permafrost soils cover about 19 million square-kilometers of the arctic landscape and store about 1 700 billion tons of organic carbon equivalent to more than twice the total amount of carbon dioxide that is currently in the atmosphere loisel said should this carbon be released from those frozen soils it would act as a positive feedback that amplifies climate change the issue is that the magnitude of future greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost-affected ecosystems remains a large source of uncertainty in earth system models she noted that models analyzed for the latest report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change did not include permafrost this is alarming loisel said because most of the northern near-surface (top 3 meters) permafrost is predicted to thaw by the end of this century the teams goal is to combine high-resolution imagery and machine learning techniques to generate high-resolution maps of permafrost-affected ecosystems in the arctic provide new soil carbon stock and flux estimates for this region and document rapid changes in permafrost soils and associated greenhouse gas emissions by leslie lee 09 " "interdisciplinary research project proposals from two faculty in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences have been selected for funding by texas a&ms x-grants program only eight total x-grant proposals were funded across the university x-grant projects led by dr wendy jepson professor of geography and dr julie loisel assistant professor of geography were each selected for funding we are exceptionally proud of the leadership efforts of dr loisel and dr jepson in assembling these truly interdisciplinary teams and we are also thrilled that their teams include substantial efforts from seven additional college of geosciences faculty members said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences transformative proposal efforts such as these are striking examples of how the college of geosciences can help elevate texas a&ms ability to address the critical challenges of human and environmental sustainability texas a&ms x-grant program is an initiative of the 10-year $100 million presidents excellence fund the eight funded interdisciplinary research projects will share $7 million in funding during this first round of the program 81 faculty members and other researchers from eight colleges and two state agencies of the texas a&m university system are involved in the projects in the college of geosciences we have always understood that what we study is inherently interdisciplinary said dr david cairns geography department head the success of the college and particularly the department of geography goes a long way toward establishing us as the hub of interdisciplinary research at texas a&m examining desalination and water reuse jepsons project ""pathways to sustainable urban water security: desalination and water reuse in the 21st century will be funded by a $15 million grant over three years wastewater reuse and desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater are seen as strategies to address increasing stresses and demands on global water supplies but there are impediments to their sustainable implementation and negative impacts to consider jepson said the technology exists but the question is can how can they be integrated into sustainable strategies for urban water security she said jepson will lead the project with a team that includes dr christian brannstrom college of geosciences; gabriel eckstein texas a&m school of law; dr robert greer texas a&m bush school of government and public service; dr mark holtzapple texas a&m artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering; dr kent portney texas a&m bush school; dr john tracy texas water resources institute; and dr sierra woodruff texas a&m department of landscape architecture and urban planning we will examine the global desalination and water reuse corporate and finance sector analyze the legal framework for unconventional water production across case study sites and examine the complex water governance regimes that promote and challenge the transformation of this sector in water-stressed urban regions in texas california australia and israel jepson said our team will examine several aspects of desalination and wastewater reuse sector and socio-technical systems through a mixed-methods approach designed to operate in an integrated and comparative interdisciplinary case study framework  the team will develop a sectoral database as well as conduct legal analyses surveys documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews to support systematic comparative case studies social network analysis and q-methodology the project also includes substantial public and stakeholder engagement through workshops and participatory modeling to best identify the pathways to translate research outcomes to communities and policy makers monitoring rapidly changing arctic ecosystems using geospatial tech and machine learning loisels project ""monitoring rapidly changing arctic ecosystems using high-resolution satellite-based datasets and artificial intelligence will be funded by $500 000 over two years there have been recent breakthroughs in satellite technology that make it possible to obtain daily high-resolution imagery of the entire planet loisel said and this teams pilot project explores the use of artificial intelligence to analyze this large volume of high spatial and high temporal resolution satellite-based images from the arctic the teams main goal is to generate the first reliable map of permafrost-affected ecosystems and address fundamental research questions pertaining to arctic science" permafrost peatland mackenzie river basin northwestern territories canada (photo by: dr julie loisel) "loisel will lead the interdisciplinary project and her collaborators are dr andrew klein dr michael bishop dr david cairns dr anthony filippi and dr oliver frauenfeld department of geography; dr atlas wang department of computer science and engineering; dr christine morgan department of soil and crop science; dr anita rapp department of atmospheric sciences; and dr zenon medina-cetina zachry department of civil engineering permafrost soils cover about 19 million square-kilometers of the arctic landscape and store about 1 700 billion tons of organic carbon equivalent to more than twice the total amount of carbon dioxide that is currently in the atmosphere loisel said should this carbon be released from those frozen soils it would act as a positive feedback that amplifies climate change the issue is that the magnitude of future greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost-affected ecosystems remains a large source of uncertainty in earth system models she noted that models analyzed for the latest report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change did not include permafrost this is alarming loisel said because most of the northern near-surface (top 3 meters) permafrost is predicted to thaw by the end of this century the teams goal is to combine high-resolution imagery and machine learning techniques to generate high-resolution maps of permafrost-affected ecosystems in the arctic provide new soil carbon stock and flux estimates for this region and document rapid changes in permafrost soils and associated greenhouse gas emissions by leslie lee 09 " " texas a&m oceanography student named as 2019 knauss fellowship finalistjul 11 2018a texas a&m university oceanography doctoral student has been selected to receive the john a knauss marine policy fellowship for 2019 andrea kealoha will spend a year starting next february in washington dc on a paid fellowship with either the legislative or executive branches of the federal government the knauss fellowships pair highly qualified graduate students who have an interest in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources with hosts in the legislative and executive branches of government this provides a unique educational opportunity for students to learn about national policy decisions affecting these natural resources placement of the 2019 class of finalists will mark the 40th anniversary of the john a knauss marine policy fellowship which has paired more than 1 200 early career professionals with federal government offices since its inception in 1979 kealoha is studying the effect of climate change on the health of coral reefs by looking at how water chemistry changes affect coral growth she said that the importance of such ecosystems is something she learned early on as a hawaiian where im from coral reefs are a critical component of our culture economy and food supply she said after moving to texas and visiting the flower garden banks it helped opened my eyes to the importance of coral reefs at the national and global scale kealoha said she is excited to work with some of the most influential ocean professionals in the country and for the chance to have an impact on a much larger scale the knauss fellowship will give me the chance to learn how science supports and translates into policies and to engage in national policy efforts and discussions to protect ocean resources she said coral reefs are threatened by many local and global stressors and i think its really important that we do as much as we can to learn about and protect them so that they can continue to provide services for future generations the knauss fellowship program is open to students who are enrolled toward a degree in a graduate or professional program; they are required to apply through the nearest state sea grant program the fellowship is named in honor of one of sea grants founders former national oceanic and atmospheric administration administrator john a knauss   by alex hood " "a texas a&m university oceanography doctoral student has been selected to receive the john a knauss marine policy fellowship for 2019 andrea kealoha will spend a year starting next february in washington dc on a paid fellowship with either the legislative or executive branches of the federal government the knauss fellowships pair highly qualified graduate students who have an interest in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources with hosts in the legislative and executive branches of government this provides a unique educational opportunity for students to learn about national policy decisions affecting these natural resources placement of the 2019 class of finalists will mark the 40th anniversary of the john a knauss marine policy fellowship which has paired more than 1 200 early career professionals with federal government offices since its inception in 1979 kealoha is studying the effect of climate change on the health of coral reefs by looking at how water chemistry changes affect coral growth she said that the importance of such ecosystems is something she learned early on as a hawaiian where im from coral reefs are a critical component of our culture economy and food supply she said after moving to texas and visiting the flower garden banks it helped opened my eyes to the importance of coral reefs at the national and global scale kealoha said she is excited to work with some of the most influential ocean professionals in the country and for the chance to have an impact on a much larger scale the knauss fellowship will give me the chance to learn how science supports and translates into policies and to engage in national policy efforts and discussions to protect ocean resources she said coral reefs are threatened by many local and global stressors and i think its really important that we do as much as we can to learn about and protect them so that they can continue to provide services for future generations the knauss fellowship program is open to students who are enrolled toward a degree in a graduate or professional program; they are required to apply through the nearest state sea grant program the fellowship is named in honor of one of sea grants founders former national oceanic and atmospheric administration administrator john a knauss   by alex hood" " lance belobrajdic named tillman scholarmeteorology and oceanography student is one of only three aggies given honor in 2018jul 11 2018photos courtesy of lance belobrajdicphotos courtesy of lance belobrajdicthe pat tillman foundation has named texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 20 to the 10th class of tillman scholars in recognition of his service leadership and potential belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology 5-year accelerated graduate degree program the 2018 class of tillman scholars is a diverse innovative group of leaders dedicated to making an impact in their chosen fields from nursing practice and water conservation to business administration public policy and beyond tillman foundation board chair and co-founder marie tillman said this years class of scholars will receive more than $13 million in scholarships for their academic pursuits  air force experience informed belobrajdics academic choices belobrajdic enlisted in the air force in 2006 and after three deployments during operation iraqi freedom he served in a new capacity with air force special operations as a special operations weather team (sowt) technician during his training he was immersed into combat operations and atmospheric and environmental sciences he said he gained the skills necessary to install ground weather instruments for medical evacuation sites in afghanistan conduct avalanche zone assessments for public highways in turkmenistan and survey water quality for villages in north africa motivated by his fieldwork in atmospheric and environmental sciences and his experiences providing assistance to disadvantaged communities belobrajdic separated from the military in 2016 to pursue academic degrees at texas a&m  changing career paths from active-duty military to a full-time student civilian has been a challenge he said im grateful my continued educational development and community involvement has served my college and country so well i am deeply honored for the opportunity to be a part of the pat tillman foundation and his legacy as i continue my journey towards nasaphotos courtesy of lance belobrajdicphotos courtesy of lance belobrajdicbelobrajdic also actively serves with outreach programs to provide water purification in remote locations and severe weather reporting in the central united states he continues to serve as a weather forecaster in the texas air national guard we are very proud to have an exceptional student like lance in the new five-year two-degree program said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head about the pat tillman foundation in 2002 pat tillman put his nfl career on hold to serve in the military family and friends established the pat tillman foundation following pats death in april 2004 while serving in afghanistan created to honor pats legacy of leadership and service the pat tillman foundation invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships a national network and professional development opportunities  read more about the two additional aggie 2018 tillman scholars at texas a&m today learn more about the master of ocean science and technology 5-year accelerated graduate degree program by leslie lee 09 " photos courtesy of lance belobrajdicphotos courtesy of lance belobrajdic "the pat tillman foundation has named texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 20 to the 10th class of tillman scholars in recognition of his service leadership and potential belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology 5-year accelerated graduate degree program the 2018 class of tillman scholars is a diverse innovative group of leaders dedicated to making an impact in their chosen fields from nursing practice and water conservation to business administration public policy and beyond tillman foundation board chair and co-founder marie tillman said this years class of scholars will receive more than $13 million in scholarships for their academic pursuits  air force experience informed belobrajdics academic choices belobrajdic enlisted in the air force in 2006 and after three deployments during operation iraqi freedom he served in a new capacity with air force special operations as a special operations weather team (sowt) technician during his training he was immersed into combat operations and atmospheric and environmental sciences he said he gained the skills necessary to install ground weather instruments for medical evacuation sites in afghanistan conduct avalanche zone assessments for public highways in turkmenistan and survey water quality for villages in north africa motivated by his fieldwork in atmospheric and environmental sciences and his experiences providing assistance to disadvantaged communities belobrajdic separated from the military in 2016 to pursue academic degrees at texas a&m  changing career paths from active-duty military to a full-time student civilian has been a challenge he said im grateful my continued educational development and community involvement has served my college and country so well i am deeply honored for the opportunity to be a part of the pat tillman foundation and his legacy as i continue my journey towards nasa" "belobrajdic also actively serves with outreach programs to provide water purification in remote locations and severe weather reporting in the central united states he continues to serve as a weather forecaster in the texas air national guard we are very proud to have an exceptional student like lance in the new five-year two-degree program said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head about the pat tillman foundation in 2002 pat tillman put his nfl career on hold to serve in the military family and friends established the pat tillman foundation following pats death in april 2004 while serving in afghanistan created to honor pats legacy of leadership and service the pat tillman foundation invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships a national network and professional development opportunities  read more about the two additional aggie 2018 tillman scholars at texas a&m today learn more about the master of ocean science and technology 5-year accelerated graduate degree program by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m researchers collaborate with oceanographers in naples italyseawater undergraduate researcher victoria scriven visited stazione zoologica with dr lisa campbell to learn diatom isolating technique for future study in the gulf of mexicojul 6 2018on may 14-24 dr lisa campbell and undergraduate researcher victoria scriven a senior in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university visited the stazione zoologica in naples italy stazione zoologica is a research institute founded in 1872 by the renowned biologist anton dohrn interdisciplinary research is conducted not only in biological oceanography but also in various fields such as evolution neurobiology cell biology scriven participated in the trip as a member of seawater a high-impact learning research program funded by the college of geoscience that helps undergraduate students establish research and field experience with faculty and staff in oceanography and at the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) the seawater program also helps students develop leadership skills by serving as a mentor for research experience for undergraduates (reu) students in the oceanographys reu program observing the ocean during the summer campbell who is a professor of oceanography and the william r bryant chair in oceanography is involved in a joint project with scientists at the stazione zoologica funded by the european union scientific research & cooperation program focusing on the toxic diatom pseudo-nitzschia multistriata the objective of this project is to isolate the species in the gulf of mexico to compare with the gulf of naples i thought it will be a good opportunity for victoria to meet the scientists and learn their technique at the stazione campbell said victoria scriven is one of the first undergraduates in the new oceanography department major starting this august as the 2018 seawater undergraduate she will be working with dr campbell and mentor the 2018 reu undergraduates helping in the lab and advice on the campus visiting the stazione was the beginning of my research training said scriven diatoms are one of the ecologically important phytoplankton that are made of unique and geometric structure of siliceous shells they provide the basis of the food chain in both marine and freshwater environments and are a major source of atmospheric oxygen via photosynthesis however some species such as pseudo-nitzschia multistriata produce toxins which may accumulate in shellfish which can lead to human health risks from shellfish poisoning italys gulf of naples is one of the first study areas where pseudo-nitzschia multistriata were foundimage of pseudo-nitzschia multistriata through the microscope (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven in the lab (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)shelves with diatom cultures (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)during the visit in naples scriven learned how to establish cultures of the diatom pseudo-nitzschia multistriata prepare cultures for electron microscopy and extract dna for sequencing and phylogenetic analysis dna extraction is not itself unique however certain diatoms require specific protocols and tips scriven said so learning their technique was one of the main reason why i went because they have experience doing dna extraction on pseudo-nitzschia multistriata scriven said she will apply their techniques to study the gulf of mexico and eventually will have a joint comparative study on pseudo-nitzschia multistriata i think it was a good opportunity for her to learn about the project but also to interact with international scientists said campbell the researchers in the stazione zoologica are some of the leading experts in phytoplankton taxonomy it was a great experience for her to see and learn their technique as well as develop the collaboration the relationships she developed there will be valuable resource for her future research career it was a really beneficial experience i was lucky to get the opportunity to join the project with dr campbell said scriven i enjoyed working with all the staff and students at the stazione zoologica scriven said i was actually living with three phd students we went to the institute every morning work and come back home together the training was very intense during the couple of weeks but i learned a lot overall the protocols that i learned will be valuable scriven is also the vice president of the tamu scuba diving club during her free time while in italy she dove at the underwater archaeological park at baiaunderwater photograph of the mosaic from a submerged roman villa in the underwater archaeological park (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)by bumsoo kim " "on may 14-24 dr lisa campbell and undergraduate researcher victoria scriven a senior in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university visited the stazione zoologica in naples italy stazione zoologica is a research institute founded in 1872 by the renowned biologist anton dohrn interdisciplinary research is conducted not only in biological oceanography but also in various fields such as evolution neurobiology cell biology scriven participated in the trip as a member of seawater a high-impact learning research program funded by the college of geoscience that helps undergraduate students establish research and field experience with faculty and staff in oceanography and at the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) the seawater program also helps students develop leadership skills by serving as a mentor for research experience for undergraduates (reu) students in the oceanographys reu program observing the ocean during the summer campbell who is a professor of oceanography and the william r bryant chair in oceanography is involved in a joint project with scientists at the stazione zoologica funded by the european union scientific research & cooperation program focusing on the toxic diatom pseudo-nitzschia multistriata the objective of this project is to isolate the species in the gulf of mexico to compare with the gulf of naples i thought it will be a good opportunity for victoria to meet the scientists and learn their technique at the stazione campbell said victoria scriven is one of the first undergraduates in the new oceanography department major starting this august as the 2018 seawater undergraduate she will be working with dr campbell and mentor the 2018 reu undergraduates helping in the lab and advice on the campus visiting the stazione was the beginning of my research training said scriven diatoms are one of the ecologically important phytoplankton that are made of unique and geometric structure of siliceous shells they provide the basis of the food chain in both marine and freshwater environments and are a major source of atmospheric oxygen via photosynthesis however some species such as pseudo-nitzschia multistriata produce toxins which may accumulate in shellfish which can lead to human health risks from shellfish poisoning italys gulf of naples is one of the first study areas where pseudo-nitzschia multistriata were found" image of pseudo-nitzschia multistriata through the microscope (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven in the lab (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)shelves with diatom cultures (photo courtesy of victoria scriven) "during the visit in naples scriven learned how to establish cultures of the diatom pseudo-nitzschia multistriata prepare cultures for electron microscopy and extract dna for sequencing and phylogenetic analysis dna extraction is not itself unique however certain diatoms require specific protocols and tips scriven said so learning their technique was one of the main reason why i went because they have experience doing dna extraction on pseudo-nitzschia multistriata scriven said she will apply their techniques to study the gulf of mexico and eventually will have a joint comparative study on pseudo-nitzschia multistriata i think it was a good opportunity for her to learn about the project but also to interact with international scientists said campbell the researchers in the stazione zoologica are some of the leading experts in phytoplankton taxonomy it was a great experience for her to see and learn their technique as well as develop the collaboration the relationships she developed there will be valuable resource for her future research career it was a really beneficial experience i was lucky to get the opportunity to join the project with dr campbell said scriven i enjoyed working with all the staff and students at the stazione zoologica scriven said i was actually living with three phd students we went to the institute every morning work and come back home together the training was very intense during the couple of weeks but i learned a lot overall the protocols that i learned will be valuable scriven is also the vice president of the tamu scuba diving club during her free time while in italy she dove at the underwater archaeological park at baia" underwater photograph of the mosaic from a submerged roman villa in the underwater archaeological park (photo courtesy of victoria scriven) " accessible aggieland: gis teams award-winning work improves texas a&m's aggie mapan interdisciplinary team of faculty staff and students has added helpful accessibility features to the campus map jun 20 2018texas a&m university campus (photo courtesy of texas a&m)navigating the 5 200-acre texas a&m university campus just got a little simpler for aggies with disabilities thanks to recent improvements made to the texas a&m aggie map students faculty and staff on an interdisciplinary development gis team successfully designed new features for the map which now includes campus navigation via walking and biking for visitors students faculty and staff of all abilities texas a&ms aggie map has been enhanced to offer routing services to/from anywhere to anywhere on and off campus with a brand new mobile interface designed for modern phones those who use mobility devices can use the interface to find routes that easily guide them to accessible entrances via accessible routes on the aggie map avoiding obstacles such as curbs and stairs  texas a&m is committed to maintaining an accessible campus community and complying with the americans with disabilities act (ada) and now the official map of campus also reflects the important features that make aggieland accessible to all  having access to the locations of accessible building entrances automatic doors and the ability to map out accessible paths on the online aggie map makes the campus map more accessible and usable by everyone regardless of ability or disability said tracey forman assistant director for disability services in texas a&m disability services with the addition of text-based directions it also adds a new layer of accessibility to individuals with visual disabilities interdisciplinary team making aggie map more inclusive for their work on the aggie map accessibility project the gis team received a 2018 excellence outstanding team award from the texas a&m division of finance and operations the award is generously funded by the association of former students the gis teams work is a great example of how the entire texas a&m community can come together to solve problems said texas a&m executive vice president for finance and operations and chief financial officer dr jerry r strawser the combination of faculty staff and students bringing their expertise has created an asset of tremendous value for our campus we were so pleased to be able to recognize their outstanding worka screenshot of the aggie map with the accessible entrances layer visibleteam members include: daniel goldberg assistant professor aaron harmon programmer analyst i and edgar hernandez software applications developer i all in the department of geography in the texas a&m college of geosciences; christopher matus gis coordinator nathan brown it professional and arnold pearson geospatial specialist office of mapping & space information; eric irwin geospatial specialist transportation services; and andrew fleming and min-hung ‘hank chou both gist undergraduate students and earlier this year the esri development center at texas a&m awarded their student of the year award to fleming for his student leadership and work on the project  andrew worked hard to complete this student research service learning project and created important new accessibility functionality within the aggie map that will benefit students staff and faculty throughout campus said goldberg a grant from the texas a&m office for diversity  and support from the department of geography college of geosciences  funded the accessibility mapping project in addition to the above aggie map partners this project included the tamu department of computer science and engineering and tamu libraries maps and gis services all project partners wanted to see texas a&m meet the needs of all aggies goldberg said this project highlights what can be accomplished when a diverse group of students faculty and staff spanning the full breadth of academic research and operational communities of campus all come together to solve a challenge facing the aggie community high-impact learning experiences for students these gist students were exposed to a real-world accessibility problem affecting real members of our community which needed a solution goldberg said this was a high-impact learning experience for them what they accomplished will have real impacts on the lives of real people and its the kind of formative experience we provide for students in the college of geosciences during the spring semester fleming attended the esri developer summit with texas a&m faculty and staff and received guidance on building and completing the ada mapping project directly from industry leaders looking to push the boundaries of accessible navigation goldberg said  working on the ada mapping project has really helped me learn how to make and process gis data efficiently; our routing network is composed of over 100 000 features which would be impossible to create and maintain in a non-programmatic way fleming said because of this project i have furthered my skills with fme a software package by safe software it feels good and was fun to have helped build this network with my friend and colleague hank and the rest of the gis team fleming interned with conocophillips last summer will intern there again this summer and plans to graduate in december 2018 he said originally from virginia fleming plans to use his gis degree to continue solving real-world problems after graduation for more information visit: aggie map office of mapping & space information texas a&m disability services  disability services partners with facilities services residence life and transportation services to facilitate access to buildings residence halls parking lots and other locations on campus  students with disabilities who experience physical barriers should contact disability services for assistance by leslie lee 09 " "navigating the 5 200-acre texas a&m university campus just got a little simpler for aggies with disabilities thanks to recent improvements made to the texas a&m aggie map students faculty and staff on an interdisciplinary development gis team successfully designed new features for the map which now includes campus navigation via walking and biking for visitors students faculty and staff of all abilities texas a&ms aggie map has been enhanced to offer routing services to/from anywhere to anywhere on and off campus with a brand new mobile interface designed for modern phones those who use mobility devices can use the interface to find routes that easily guide them to accessible entrances via accessible routes on the aggie map avoiding obstacles such as curbs and stairs  texas a&m is committed to maintaining an accessible campus community and complying with the americans with disabilities act (ada) and now the official map of campus also reflects the important features that make aggieland accessible to all  having access to the locations of accessible building entrances automatic doors and the ability to map out accessible paths on the online aggie map makes the campus map more accessible and usable by everyone regardless of ability or disability said tracey forman assistant director for disability services in texas a&m disability services with the addition of text-based directions it also adds a new layer of accessibility to individuals with visual disabilities interdisciplinary team making aggie map more inclusive for their work on the aggie map accessibility project the gis team received a 2018 excellence outstanding team award from the texas a&m division of finance and operations the award is generously funded by the association of former students the gis teams work is a great example of how the entire texas a&m community can come together to solve problems said texas a&m executive vice president for finance and operations and chief financial officer dr jerry r strawser the combination of faculty staff and students bringing their expertise has created an asset of tremendous value for our campus we were so pleased to be able to recognize their outstanding work" a screenshot of the aggie map with the accessible entrances layer visible "team members include: daniel goldberg assistant professor aaron harmon programmer analyst i and edgar hernandez software applications developer i all in the department of geography in the texas a&m college of geosciences; christopher matus gis coordinator nathan brown it professional and arnold pearson geospatial specialist office of mapping & space information; eric irwin geospatial specialist transportation services; and andrew fleming and min-hung ‘hank chou both gist undergraduate students and earlier this year the esri development center at texas a&m awarded their student of the year award to fleming for his student leadership and work on the project  andrew worked hard to complete this student research service learning project and created important new accessibility functionality within the aggie map that will benefit students staff and faculty throughout campus said goldberg a grant from the texas a&m office for diversity  and support from the department of geography college of geosciences  funded the accessibility mapping project in addition to the above aggie map partners this project included the tamu department of computer science and engineering and tamu libraries maps and gis services all project partners wanted to see texas a&m meet the needs of all aggies goldberg said this project highlights what can be accomplished when a diverse group of students faculty and staff spanning the full breadth of academic research and operational communities of campus all come together to solve a challenge facing the aggie community high-impact learning experiences for students these gist students were exposed to a real-world accessibility problem affecting real members of our community which needed a solution goldberg said this was a high-impact learning experience for them what they accomplished will have real impacts on the lives of real people and its the kind of formative experience we provide for students in the college of geosciences during the spring semester fleming attended the esri developer summit with texas a&m faculty and staff and received guidance on building and completing the ada mapping project directly from industry leaders looking to push the boundaries of accessible navigation goldberg said  working on the ada mapping project has really helped me learn how to make and process gis data efficiently; our routing network is composed of over 100 000 features which would be impossible to create and maintain in a non-programmatic way fleming said because of this project i have furthered my skills with fme a software package by safe software it feels good and was fun to have helped build this network with my friend and colleague hank and the rest of the gis team fleming interned with conocophillips last summer will intern there again this summer and plans to graduate in december 2018 he said originally from virginia fleming plans to use his gis degree to continue solving real-world problems after graduation for more information visit: aggie map office of mapping & space information texas a&m disability services  disability services partners with facilities services residence life and transportation services to facilitate access to buildings residence halls parking lots and other locations on campus  students with disabilities who experience physical barriers should contact disability services for assistance by leslie lee 09" " aggie scientists reflect on the north atlantic aerosols and marine ecosystem studyphd students brianna hendrickson and alyssa alsante sailed on the nasa-funded cruise from march 20 - april 13 jun 19 2018brianna hendrickson doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and alyssa alsante doctoral student in the department of oceanography sailed aboard the r/v atlantis for the north atlantic aerosols and marine ecosystems study (naames) march 20 - april 13 both received the unique opportunity to join this research cruise through dr sarah brooks texas a&m atmospheric sciences professor naames is an interdisciplinary program investigating the major processes controlling the marine ecosystems and aerosols funded by national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) naames focuses on the north atlantic ocean where conspicuous plankton blooms occur annually those blooms make the regions an excellent test region to resolve the linkages between marine plankton aerosols and climate variabilities – based on combination of ship-based airborne and remote sensing measurements hendrickson and alsante saidsunset over the north atlantic (photo courtesy of alyssa alsante)the researchers aboard on r/v atlantis (photo courtesy of lee harrington)four different cruises were conducted annually for each naames campaign during different seasons and the cruise both hendrickson and alsante participated in was a part of the spring season the cruise started in san juan puetro rico and ended in woods hole massachusetts along with more than 30 other researchers hendrickson and alsante represented texas a&m on the cruise the main research goal of naames was to understand the processes associated with the annual phytoplankton cycle and marine aerosol production in the north atlantic and the implications on climate said alsante aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere the majority of aerosol are consisted of mineral dust and sea salt but also includes other particles such as volcanic ash sulfate nitrate and organic carbon this complex group of particles act as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) and ice nucleating particles (inp) which affect the formation growth and lifetime of clouds in the atmosphere clouds alter the earths heat balance through scattering and absorption of sunlight and hence the climate of the earthbrianna hendrickson in front of the condensation particle counter (cpc) located on the texas a&m instrument rack (photo courtesy of dr sarah brooks)brianna hendrickson and alyssa alsante learning how to use the university of california irvine particle into liquid sampler (pils) instrument (photo courtesy of dr sarah brooks)during the cruise hendrickson collected and measured marine aerosol particles related to cloud formation using a ‘ccn counter instrument her main goal was to assess the impact of phytoplankton processes on the climate by understanding aerosol and cloud production the aerosol properties including size and composition measured depend on the season and lifecycle of the phytoplankton said hendrickson i was also on the naames cruise during the fall season i was excited when i saw different patterns in the data from the spring season compared to the fall season alsante collected filters containing aerosols which were returned to the laboratory at texas a&m university for further analysis of particular interest is the potential for aerosol to act as ice nucleating particles (inp) causing water droplets to freeze at warmer temperatures than that of pure water in the atmosphere efficient inp are essential for the formation of clouds containing ice she also participated in collecting ambient cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) measurements to look at the number of particles that activate and grow to cloud droplet size inp and ccn measurements were taken continuously throughout the entire cruise in addition alsante and hendrickson were in charge of collecting samples from the sea surface microlayer for many research groups on the cruise it was actually my first time to be on a cruise hendrickson said i was nervous at the beginning but it was really an exciting experience one of the main reasons i came to graduate school was to gain lab and field experience now i have data that i can process and share with other researchers for collaboration also it was exciting to be involved in a nasa-funded project this research cruise was a great opportunity and learning experience for me alsante said i learned a lot of new skills and created many friendships along the way for more information about naames visit the official website by bumsoo kim " "brianna hendrickson doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and alyssa alsante doctoral student in the department of oceanography sailed aboard the r/v atlantis for the north atlantic aerosols and marine ecosystems study (naames) march 20 - april 13 both received the unique opportunity to join this research cruise through dr sarah brooks texas a&m atmospheric sciences professor naames is an interdisciplinary program investigating the major processes controlling the marine ecosystems and aerosols funded by national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) naames focuses on the north atlantic ocean where conspicuous plankton blooms occur annually those blooms make the regions an excellent test region to resolve the linkages between marine plankton aerosols and climate variabilities – based on combination of ship-based airborne and remote sensing measurements hendrickson and alsante said" sunset over the north atlantic (photo courtesy of alyssa alsante)the researchers aboard on r/v atlantis (photo courtesy of lee harrington) "four different cruises were conducted annually for each naames campaign during different seasons and the cruise both hendrickson and alsante participated in was a part of the spring season the cruise started in san juan puetro rico and ended in woods hole massachusetts along with more than 30 other researchers hendrickson and alsante represented texas a&m on the cruise the main research goal of naames was to understand the processes associated with the annual phytoplankton cycle and marine aerosol production in the north atlantic and the implications on climate said alsante aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere the majority of aerosol are consisted of mineral dust and sea salt but also includes other particles such as volcanic ash sulfate nitrate and organic carbon this complex group of particles act as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) and ice nucleating particles (inp) which affect the formation growth and lifetime of clouds in the atmosphere clouds alter the earths heat balance through scattering and absorption of sunlight and hence the climate of the earth" brianna hendrickson in front of the condensation particle counter (cpc) located on the texas a&m instrument rack (photo courtesy of dr sarah brooks)brianna hendrickson and alyssa alsante learning how to use the university of california irvine particle into liquid sampler (pils) instrument (photo courtesy of dr sarah brooks) "during the cruise hendrickson collected and measured marine aerosol particles related to cloud formation using a ‘ccn counter instrument her main goal was to assess the impact of phytoplankton processes on the climate by understanding aerosol and cloud production the aerosol properties including size and composition measured depend on the season and lifecycle of the phytoplankton said hendrickson i was also on the naames cruise during the fall season i was excited when i saw different patterns in the data from the spring season compared to the fall season alsante collected filters containing aerosols which were returned to the laboratory at texas a&m university for further analysis of particular interest is the potential for aerosol to act as ice nucleating particles (inp) causing water droplets to freeze at warmer temperatures than that of pure water in the atmosphere efficient inp are essential for the formation of clouds containing ice she also participated in collecting ambient cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) measurements to look at the number of particles that activate and grow to cloud droplet size inp and ccn measurements were taken continuously throughout the entire cruise in addition alsante and hendrickson were in charge of collecting samples from the sea surface microlayer for many research groups on the cruise it was actually my first time to be on a cruise hendrickson said i was nervous at the beginning but it was really an exciting experience one of the main reasons i came to graduate school was to gain lab and field experience now i have data that i can process and share with other researchers for collaboration also it was exciting to be involved in a nasa-funded project this research cruise was a great opportunity and learning experience for me alsante said i learned a lot of new skills and created many friendships along the way for more information about naames visit the official website by bumsoo kim" " meteorology student researches solar cooker efficiencies and possibilities conducting multiple undergraduate research projects gave ethan williams a better understanding of the meteorology fieldjun 14 2018meteorology student ethan williams '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)ocean currents storm surge measurements and solar cookers might sound like odd topics for atmospheric sciences students to study but for meteorology senior ethan williams they have been a major part of his undergraduate journey ethan williams ‘18 is from tomball texas and undergraduate research has been a highlight of his time in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university as an undergraduate research assistant for dr henry potter an assistant professor in the department of oceanography he has conducted research on hurricanes and tropical cyclones ive done a case study on hurricane ike and what the currents looked like during that storm and what it looked like when all that water got pushed up against the sea wall and coast in general williams said i also did a tropical storm surge project which helped to create a better index to use when predicting the storm surge for tropical cyclones and storms storm surge causes the greatest threat to life and property along the coast during a hurricane and ethans research provided valuable insight into the parameters that contribute most significantly to storm surges extent potentially leading to improved prediction potter said williams has also worked on green roof research projects with dr don conlee a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and a few other undergraduates the green roof project involves instrumentation and data logging and other measurements to give students in-field experience he said we do the measurements for the data on the roof of the architecture building where they have a few plots of vegetation and plants native to the brazos valley solar cookers could benefit people all over the world  with those undergraduate research experiences completed williams has now begun one on his own with potters advisement and the help of conlee   in his current research project williams is measuring the effectiveness of solar cookers a solar cooker absorbs sunlight turns it into thermal energy and then heats a target so you can boil water or cook food with it he explained the solar cooker is equipped with basic weather measuring devices it has an anemometer for wind speed measurements a pyrometer for solar radiance measurements thermocouples for temperature measurement and we are looking into a humidity sensor for itsolar cooker instrumentation (photos by ethan williams)meteorology student ethan williams '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)so that's step one of the project and step two would be to have a platform that you put these solar cookers on that rotates with the solar maximum as the day goes on williams said then you could measure the efficiency how much it heated up a liter of water or whatever it might be to measure efficiency you need to know what the current conditions were – how sunny it is and what the current temperature is the humidity at the time and what was the wind speed and all of those things that is why the measuring devices are important potter said that williams undergraduate research work resulted in both valuable science and beneficial hands-on experience for williams viability studies such as the one ethan has been working on are necessary to demonstrate that solar cookers are a suitable alternative to biomass burning and are an essential step towards getting organizations to fund their global distribution potter said ethan got a lot of hands-on experience building the solar cooker testing station especially with meteorological instruments data loggers and wiring solar cookers can be set up in basically any location around the globe and could be especially useful for people in developing countries he said some people rely on boiling their water and cooking their food on a traditional wood-burning fire that has impacts on the environment in the form of biomasses releasing aerosols and particles that are harmful to the environment it can also be difficult to find the resources needed a solar cooker could help make boiling water and cooking easier by simply using the sun learning the value of undergraduate research these sorts of projects are great because they get students away from their computers and provide the opportunity for self-guided learning and problem solving potter said williams agreed that all of his time spent conducting undergraduate research has taught him valuable lessons for the future the in-field instrumentation work that i have done learning how all those things work has been interesting williams said you can click on something online and get a wind reading or temperature but to see how thats all done and how it works is really cool i feel like i have gotten a good understanding of my field one that i would not have been able to get solely in the classroom williams graduates in december of this year and hopes to pursue a career with a private weather forecasting company or the national weather service by taylor fuechec 18 " "ocean currents storm surge measurements and solar cookers might sound like odd topics for atmospheric sciences students to study but for meteorology senior ethan williams they have been a major part of his undergraduate journey ethan williams ‘18 is from tomball texas and undergraduate research has been a highlight of his time in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university as an undergraduate research assistant for dr henry potter an assistant professor in the department of oceanography he has conducted research on hurricanes and tropical cyclones ive done a case study on hurricane ike and what the currents looked like during that storm and what it looked like when all that water got pushed up against the sea wall and coast in general williams said i also did a tropical storm surge project which helped to create a better index to use when predicting the storm surge for tropical cyclones and storms storm surge causes the greatest threat to life and property along the coast during a hurricane and ethans research provided valuable insight into the parameters that contribute most significantly to storm surges extent potentially leading to improved prediction potter said williams has also worked on green roof research projects with dr don conlee a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and a few other undergraduates the green roof project involves instrumentation and data logging and other measurements to give students in-field experience he said we do the measurements for the data on the roof of the architecture building where they have a few plots of vegetation and plants native to the brazos valley solar cookers could benefit people all over the world  with those undergraduate research experiences completed williams has now begun one on his own with potters advisement and the help of conlee   in his current research project williams is measuring the effectiveness of solar cookers a solar cooker absorbs sunlight turns it into thermal energy and then heats a target so you can boil water or cook food with it he explained the solar cooker is equipped with basic weather measuring devices it has an anemometer for wind speed measurements a pyrometer for solar radiance measurements thermocouples for temperature measurement and we are looking into a humidity sensor for it" solar cooker instrumentation (photos by ethan williams)meteorology student ethan williams '18 (photo by chris mouchyn) "so that's step one of the project and step two would be to have a platform that you put these solar cookers on that rotates with the solar maximum as the day goes on williams said then you could measure the efficiency how much it heated up a liter of water or whatever it might be to measure efficiency you need to know what the current conditions were – how sunny it is and what the current temperature is the humidity at the time and what was the wind speed and all of those things that is why the measuring devices are important potter said that williams undergraduate research work resulted in both valuable science and beneficial hands-on experience for williams viability studies such as the one ethan has been working on are necessary to demonstrate that solar cookers are a suitable alternative to biomass burning and are an essential step towards getting organizations to fund their global distribution potter said ethan got a lot of hands-on experience building the solar cooker testing station especially with meteorological instruments data loggers and wiring solar cookers can be set up in basically any location around the globe and could be especially useful for people in developing countries he said some people rely on boiling their water and cooking their food on a traditional wood-burning fire that has impacts on the environment in the form of biomasses releasing aerosols and particles that are harmful to the environment it can also be difficult to find the resources needed a solar cooker could help make boiling water and cooking easier by simply using the sun learning the value of undergraduate research these sorts of projects are great because they get students away from their computers and provide the opportunity for self-guided learning and problem solving potter said williams agreed that all of his time spent conducting undergraduate research has taught him valuable lessons for the future the in-field instrumentation work that i have done learning how all those things work has been interesting williams said you can click on something online and get a wind reading or temperature but to see how thats all done and how it works is really cool i feel like i have gotten a good understanding of my field one that i would not have been able to get solely in the classroom williams graduates in december of this year and hopes to pursue a career with a private weather forecasting company or the national weather service by taylor fuechec 18 " " geosciences hurricane experts guideaggie geoscientists are available to the media for scientific analysis and expertise as the 2018 hurricane season begins jun 12 2018hurricane season began june 1 and the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on severe storms how hurricanes form the history of texas hurricanes rapid formation of hurricanes in the gulf of mexico and the history of severe storms and hurricanes in the past 150 years contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu tim logan: instructional assistant professor of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m university college of geosciences logan is an expert in severe storms the formation of storms and lightning and the damage caused by severe storms and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m university college of geosciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: (979) 845-5522 or cschu@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures christine hale: texas sea grant oil spill science extension specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi hale has expertise in the offshore oil industry regulations and practices impacts of oil spills on the coastal and marine environment methods to contain and clean-up spills and emergency response contact: (361)825-6215 or hale@tamuedu brent mcroberts research assistant professor of geography texas a&m university college of geosciences mcroberts is an expert in power outage prediction modeling which gives forecasts of how many utility customers will lose power during and after a hurricane contact: (979) 845-6075 or mcrobert@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes shari yvon-lewis professor and department head in the department of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor texas a&m university college of geosciences fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu anthony knap director of gerg and professor of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu lisa campbell professor of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu - jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography in the texas a&m university college of geosciences sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography in the texas a&m university college of geosciences shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m in the texas a&m university college of geosciences dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems and data as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities heather wade: senior associate director texas sea grant college program co-director community resilience collaborative (crc) wade is an expert in environmental hazards management hazard mitigation post-disaster redevelopment planning and evaluating how well communities are prepared for and can recover from hurricanes she co-leads the crc a research-and-extension-based planning program to increase the resilience of the states coastal communities to natural hazards and to enhance or restore their habitats and ecosystems contact: (361) 205-7503 or hwade@tamuedu hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: lpicariello@seagranttamuedu andrew ropicki assistant professor and texas sea grant marine economics extension specialist   ropicki can comment on assessments of storm impacts on fishing infrastructure (vessels docks processing equipment etc) and on sessile fisheries (oysters) contact: (361) 825-6210 or ropicki@agtamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences communications manager (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences communications coordinator (979) 845-0910 or leslielee@tamuedu   " "hurricane season began june 1 and the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on severe storms how hurricanes form the history of texas hurricanes rapid formation of hurricanes in the gulf of mexico and the history of severe storms and hurricanes in the past 150 years contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu tim logan: instructional assistant professor of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m university college of geosciences logan is an expert in severe storms the formation of storms and lightning and the damage caused by severe storms and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m university college of geosciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: (979) 845-5522 or cschu@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures christine hale: texas sea grant oil spill science extension specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi hale has expertise in the offshore oil industry regulations and practices impacts of oil spills on the coastal and marine environment methods to contain and clean-up spills and emergency response contact: (361)825-6215 or hale@tamuedu brent mcroberts research assistant professor of geography texas a&m university college of geosciences mcroberts is an expert in power outage prediction modeling which gives forecasts of how many utility customers will lose power during and after a hurricane contact: (979) 845-6075 or mcrobert@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes shari yvon-lewis professor and department head in the department of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor texas a&m university college of geosciences fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu anthony knap director of gerg and professor of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu lisa campbell professor of oceanography texas a&m university college of geosciences campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu - jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography in the texas a&m university college of geosciences sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography in the texas a&m university college of geosciences shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m in the texas a&m university college of geosciences dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems and data as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities heather wade: senior associate director texas sea grant college program co-director community resilience collaborative (crc) wade is an expert in environmental hazards management hazard mitigation post-disaster redevelopment planning and evaluating how well communities are prepared for and can recover from hurricanes she co-leads the crc a research-and-extension-based planning program to increase the resilience of the states coastal communities to natural hazards and to enhance or restore their habitats and ecosystems contact: (361) 205-7503 or hwade@tamuedu hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: lpicariello@seagranttamuedu andrew ropicki assistant professor and texas sea grant marine economics extension specialist   ropicki can comment on assessments of storm impacts on fishing infrastructure (vessels docks processing equipment etc) and on sessile fisheries (oysters) contact: (361) 825-6210 or ropicki@agtamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences communications manager (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences communications coordinator (979) 845-0910 or leslielee@tamuedu  " " may 2018 graduationcongratulations to all the students who graduated this spring 2018 from the department of geology & geophysics!jun 10 2018congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated may 11 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics!   special congratulations to the following students who received these awards: geology and geophysics outstanding senior award andrea darrh sarah giles alden griffin chimnaz nadiri noah vento   college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program goldjuliet charbonneaumerna hannacassie mohkami  silverandros alexioubassam alzayerandrea darrhsarah gilesjessica martinchimnaz nadiritori patterson bronzejenna braggghervy guimbi nzoumbshweta mohandasanna olejniczaknoah vento   view photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/g6hjfdz " "congratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated may 11 at 2pm from the department of geology and geophysics!   special congratulations to the following students who received these awards: geology and geophysics outstanding senior award andrea darrh sarah giles alden griffin chimnaz nadiri noah vento   college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program goldjuliet charbonneaumerna hannacassie mohkami  silverandros alexioubassam alzayerandrea darrhsarah gilesjessica martinchimnaz nadiritori patterson bronzejenna braggghervy guimbi nzoumbshweta mohandasanna olejniczaknoah vento   view photos from the graduation brunch and graduation here: txag/g6hjfdz " " field tripscheck out the following trips hosted by the department of geology and geophysicsjun 9 2018the department of geology and geophysics has been actively engaging students in high-impact learning activities such as offering field trips to a variety of locations – including west texas washington california and mexico check out the following trips hosted by the department of geology and geophysics!field methods – mason and west texasbefore the retirement of dr michael heaney the field methods course traveled to mason texas to complete their field exercises with the new undergraduate curriculum in effect and under dr michael popes supervision (with the assistance of dr nick perez and dr ryan ewing) the revamped field methods course traveled off-campus this past spring break (march 10-18) to west texas and parts of new mexico the objective of the new field methods course is to show students field techniques that are used to create geologic interpretations for a variety of geologic locations as well as solidify students understanding of basic concepts in terms of field relationships students used the field data collected on this trip to assess quantitatively geologic map relationships using geographic informations systems (gis) students completed various geologic maps stratigraphic columns cross-sections and geologic interpretationsgroup photo of spring 2018 field methods class (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)geologic field trip - washington (missoula) dr michael pope led a trip to the state of washington prior to the gsa conference in seattle students learned the geologic history of the area to understand the formation of basins and depositional systems the class completed research prior to the trips departure and presented poster projects during the trip to demonstrate their understanding of the geologygroup photo (photo courtesy of suzanne rosser)geologic field trip - death valley dr michael pope took students to death valley in california as part of the geologic field trips elective course students learned the geologic history of the area to understand the formation of basins and depositional systems as well as to demonstrate their geologic field skills posters were completed prior to the trip and presented during the trip(photo courtesy of mary grace cloud)field methods in hydrogeology - san antonio txin april dr peter knappett led his graduate-level field methods in hydrogeology course on a field trip touring the san antonio water system (saws) they visited a site where saws is extracting brackish groundwater and desalinating it for potable use they also visited a site where saws is storing water from the edwards aquifer in a shallow section of the carrizo-wilcox aquifer at the h2o oaks site – this is one of the first three aquifer storage and recovery (asr) systems in texas! students in this course learn how to apply various methods to characterize an aquifers productivity and vulnerability to surface contamination as well as processing high frequency water levels using matlab to characterize seasonal flow in a shallow aquifer adjacent to the brazos river(photo courtesy of dr peter knappett) " the department of geology and geophysics has been actively engaging students in high-impact learning activities such as offering field trips to a variety of locations – including west texas washington california and mexico check out the following trips hosted by the department of geology and geophysics!field methods – mason and west texasbefore the retirement of dr michael heaney the field methods course traveled to mason texas to complete their field exercises with the new undergraduate curriculum in effect and under dr michael popes supervision (with the assistance of dr nick perez and dr ryan ewing) the revamped field methods course traveled off-campus this past spring break (march 10-18) to west texas and parts of new mexico the objective of the new field methods course is to show students field techniques that are used to create geologic interpretations for a variety of geologic locations as well as solidify students understanding of basic concepts in terms of field relationships students used the field data collected on this trip to assess quantitatively geologic map relationships using geographic informations systems (gis) students completed various geologic maps stratigraphic columns cross-sections and geologic interpretations group photo of spring 2018 field methods class (photo courtesy of dr nick perez) geologic field trip - washington (missoula) dr michael pope led a trip to the state of washington prior to the gsa conference in seattle students learned the geologic history of the area to understand the formation of basins and depositional systems the class completed research prior to the trips departure and presented poster projects during the trip to demonstrate their understanding of the geology geologic field trip - death valley dr michael pope took students to death valley in california as part of the geologic field trips elective course students learned the geologic history of the area to understand the formation of basins and depositional systems as well as to demonstrate their geologic field skills posters were completed prior to the trip and presented during the trip field methods in hydrogeology - san antonio txin april dr peter knappett led his graduate-level field methods in hydrogeology course on a field trip touring the san antonio water system (saws) they visited a site where saws is extracting brackish groundwater and desalinating it for potable use they also visited a site where saws is storing water from the edwards aquifer in a shallow section of the carrizo-wilcox aquifer at the h2o oaks site – this is one of the first three aquifer storage and recovery (asr) systems in texas! students in this course learn how to apply various methods to characterize an aquifers productivity and vulnerability to surface contamination as well as processing high frequency water levels using matlab to characterize seasonal flow in a shallow aquifer adjacent to the brazos river " save the datebe sure to mark the following department events down in your calendar!jun 8 2018save the date for the distinguished achievement awards ceremonydate: october 5 2018time: 6 pmlocation: gates ballroom texas a&m memorial student centersave the date for the fall geosciences tailgatedate: october 6 2018time: 2 hours before kickofflocation: simpson drill fieldsave the date for the g&g fall open housedate: october 12 2018time: tbdlocation: halbouty buildingwe look forward to seeing you! " save the date for the distinguished achievement awards ceremonydate: october 5 2018time: 6 pmlocation: gates ballroom texas a&m memorial student centersave the date for the fall geosciences tailgatedate: october 6 2018time: 2 hours before kickofflocation: simpson drill fieldsave the date for the g&g fall open housedate: october 12 2018time: tbdlocation: halbouty buildingwe look forward to seeing you! " stem teachers journey on a life-changing experience thanks to saudi aramcog-camp has hosted more than 300 teachers over the last decade impacting more than 100 000 students jun 8 2018g-camp participating teachers in 2016 (photo courtesy of dr rick giardino)learning geology in a classroom and laboratory is key to understanding and teaching earth systems but experiencing geology first-hand in the field is a whole different story instead of chalkboards on the horizon wide-open vistas fill your eyes instead of typing notes on a keyboard your hiking boots slide and skid on slick clays and your hand reaches for a rock ledge that holds millions of years of history in its layers theres nothing like experiencing the extraordinary features of the black canyon of the gunnison or carlsbad caverns for the first time and each summer for the last ten years texas a&m universitys college of geosciences has given that opportunity to stem educators from throughout texas and the united states  g-camp for teachers takes 36 fifth through 12th grade teachers on a three-week field trip through the southwest us to study geological features and develop curricula we tour texas new mexico and colorado visiting locations near sea level to those higher than 12 000 feet said dr rick giardino the professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m who developed and leads g-camp through astounding vistas and sights such as capulin volcano great sand dunes carlsbad caverns and the pg-t boundary created when a meteorite stuck earth resulting in the extinction of dinosaurs we map earths geological history this summers itinerary begins june 26 and concludes july 13 and includes adventures everywhere from the slopes of volcanoes to the footwalls of faults in the depths of glacial valleys on the toes of landslides and in pristine streams and ancient marine deposits giardino said generosity makes unique learning experience possible  saudi aramco is the lead sponsor of g-camp and the company has continually supported g-camp for many years generous donations from chevron and conocophillips also helped support g-camp in the programs early years saudi aramco makes g-camp for teachers possible ensuring that the program is able to educate and inspire teachers every summer he said  attendees only have to pay for their transportation to college station; once they arrive in aggieland their food housing and travel costs for the entire three weeks are covered by the programg-camp teachers in 2010 (photo courtesy of giardino)my motto for the camp is show and teach them a lot keep them busy and youll never have a complaint giardino said so far our participants have proved me right teachers spend 12-hour days in an exhausting but exhilarating whirlwind of learning they keep a daily field book of sketches measurements and general observations and develop lesson plans each night post-trip they present their knowledge and experiences to other teachers within their districts and at state and national meetings this is a life-changing experience teacher stacey welch said after the program i will never teach geology the same again my students are the winners from my g-camp experience! empowering educators helps equip the next generation teachers sue garcia and cheryl hammons both attended the first g-camp in 2008 sue was a 25-year teaching veteran who collected nearly 200 pounds of rock specimens during the trip giardino said to display her findings in her classroom she built shelves and created placards so that her sixth-grade pupils learned about each sample in detail after returning from g-camp cheryl conducted experiments with her middle school students by dropping hydrochloric acid on rocks students determined whether the samples were limestone or had traces of calcite; fizzing indicates a positive reaction he said for several years cheryl and her students also made jewelry from rocks and sold their creations to raise money for geology-based field trips like sue and cheryl many participating teachers report renewed enthusiasm for their subject matter after g-camp venturing beyond books more often developing new labs and using slides and videos from the trip to illustrate geological principles inspiring and equipping geosciences educators results in higher quality education for students helping recruit and inform the next generation of earth scientistsg-camp teachers doing field work in 2016 (photo courtesy of giardino)one geology student at texas a&m university reflecting on the impact of his g-camp-veteran teacher on her education recalled mrs garcia was so passionate about geology and g-camp that is all she talked about in fact she is the person who got me to love geology and i am here today as a result of g-camp g-camp is such a powerful program in so many ways and we are all do deeply inspired by the saudi aramcos visionary support of g-camp said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences i am in constant awe of dr giardinos boundless energy and drive to provide life-changing professional development opportunities for our teachers  and i am humbled by our teachers ability to translate their g-camp experiences into life-changing opportunities for their students and ultimately igniting their students passion to pursue science as a career path she said by all accounts this represents a colossal return on saudi aramcos philanthropic investment! giving opportunities the cost to operate g-camp is about $140 000 per year much of the annual cost is covered through gifts from sponsors but an additional endowment would ensure the program in perpetuity endowments can be established with a gift of $25 000 or more through the texas a&m foundation learn more about supporting g-camp and the college of geosciences by leslie lee 09 " g-camp participating teachers in 2016 (photo courtesy of dr rick giardino) "learning geology in a classroom and laboratory is key to understanding and teaching earth systems but experiencing geology first-hand in the field is a whole different story instead of chalkboards on the horizon wide-open vistas fill your eyes instead of typing notes on a keyboard your hiking boots slide and skid on slick clays and your hand reaches for a rock ledge that holds millions of years of history in its layers theres nothing like experiencing the extraordinary features of the black canyon of the gunnison or carlsbad caverns for the first time and each summer for the last ten years texas a&m universitys college of geosciences has given that opportunity to stem educators from throughout texas and the united states  g-camp for teachers takes 36 fifth through 12th grade teachers on a three-week field trip through the southwest us to study geological features and develop curricula we tour texas new mexico and colorado visiting locations near sea level to those higher than 12 000 feet said dr rick giardino the professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m who developed and leads g-camp through astounding vistas and sights such as capulin volcano great sand dunes carlsbad caverns and the pg-t boundary created when a meteorite stuck earth resulting in the extinction of dinosaurs we map earths geological history this summers itinerary begins june 26 and concludes july 13 and includes adventures everywhere from the slopes of volcanoes to the footwalls of faults in the depths of glacial valleys on the toes of landslides and in pristine streams and ancient marine deposits giardino said generosity makes unique learning experience possible  saudi aramco is the lead sponsor of g-camp and the company has continually supported g-camp for many years generous donations from chevron and conocophillips also helped support g-camp in the programs early years saudi aramco makes g-camp for teachers possible ensuring that the program is able to educate and inspire teachers every summer he said  attendees only have to pay for their transportation to college station; once they arrive in aggieland their food housing and travel costs for the entire three weeks are covered by the program" "my motto for the camp is show and teach them a lot keep them busy and youll never have a complaint giardino said so far our participants have proved me right teachers spend 12-hour days in an exhausting but exhilarating whirlwind of learning they keep a daily field book of sketches measurements and general observations and develop lesson plans each night post-trip they present their knowledge and experiences to other teachers within their districts and at state and national meetings this is a life-changing experience teacher stacey welch said after the program i will never teach geology the same again my students are the winners from my g-camp experience! empowering educators helps equip the next generation teachers sue garcia and cheryl hammons both attended the first g-camp in 2008 sue was a 25-year teaching veteran who collected nearly 200 pounds of rock specimens during the trip giardino said to display her findings in her classroom she built shelves and created placards so that her sixth-grade pupils learned about each sample in detail after returning from g-camp cheryl conducted experiments with her middle school students by dropping hydrochloric acid on rocks students determined whether the samples were limestone or had traces of calcite; fizzing indicates a positive reaction he said for several years cheryl and her students also made jewelry from rocks and sold their creations to raise money for geology-based field trips like sue and cheryl many participating teachers report renewed enthusiasm for their subject matter after g-camp venturing beyond books more often developing new labs and using slides and videos from the trip to illustrate geological principles inspiring and equipping geosciences educators results in higher quality education for students helping recruit and inform the next generation of earth scientists" "one geology student at texas a&m university reflecting on the impact of his g-camp-veteran teacher on her education recalled mrs garcia was so passionate about geology and g-camp that is all she talked about in fact she is the person who got me to love geology and i am here today as a result of g-camp g-camp is such a powerful program in so many ways and we are all do deeply inspired by the saudi aramcos visionary support of g-camp said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences i am in constant awe of dr giardinos boundless energy and drive to provide life-changing professional development opportunities for our teachers  and i am humbled by our teachers ability to translate their g-camp experiences into life-changing opportunities for their students and ultimately igniting their students passion to pursue science as a career path she said by all accounts this represents a colossal return on saudi aramcos philanthropic investment! giving opportunities the cost to operate g-camp is about $140 000 per year much of the annual cost is covered through gifts from sponsors but an additional endowment would ensure the program in perpetuity endowments can be established with a gift of $25 000 or more through the texas a&m foundation learn more about supporting g-camp and the college of geosciences by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m 2018 imperial barrel award teamcongratulations to the texas a&m university imperial barrel award (iba) team for winning second place in their division at the gulf coast section of the iba competition!jun 1 2018the texas a&m university iba team won second place in their division at the 2018 gulf coast regional imperial barrel award competition sponsored by the gulf coast association of geological societies and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the students competed march 23 2018 against 10 other universities from alabama louisiana and texas the competition was held at the anadarko headquarters in the woodlands texas where the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of their study areathis years iba team included geology masters students jay dobbs brandon geddie ryan kissinger and maria pesek and geophysics masters student samuel price the teams faculty advisor was dr andrea miceli romero a research professor in the department of geology and geophysics who works closely with the chevron basin modeling center of excellence the team was mentored by two former student petroleum geologists vernon moore (marathon oil) and tim powell (independent)dr andrea miceli romero stated that the texas a&m iba team did a fantastic job during the presentation and questions round showing tremendous technical excellence and professionalism the judges and other attendees were extremely impressed by their presentation dr miceli romero added that she is very proud of them and [commends] them for all the hard work they put in during [those] past 8 weeks and thanked all the faculty staff students and industry advisor mentors (tim powell and vernon moore) for their constant support the annual imperial barrel award (iba) competition consists of five graduate students specializing in either geology or geophysics these teams have eight weeks prior to the competition to analyze a basin dataset and come up with potential prospects students complete a technical assessment of the basins petroleum potential and then recommend a drill or no drill plan for future exploration this petroleum system analysis of the basin is given in a 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts the graduate students participating in iba gain experience using real technology on a real dataset and benefit from the feedback provided during the competitioncongratulations to the 2018 texas a&m university iba team for representing the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics! for more information about the iba program visit: http://ibaaapgorg/program   " "the texas a&m university iba team won second place in their division at the 2018 gulf coast regional imperial barrel award competition sponsored by the gulf coast association of geological societies and the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the students competed march 23 2018 against 10 other universities from alabama louisiana and texas the competition was held at the anadarko headquarters in the woodlands texas where the team presented a detailed petroleum systems analysis of their study areathis years iba team included geology masters students jay dobbs brandon geddie ryan kissinger and maria pesek and geophysics masters student samuel price the teams faculty advisor was dr andrea miceli romero a research professor in the department of geology and geophysics who works closely with the chevron basin modeling center of excellence the team was mentored by two former student petroleum geologists vernon moore (marathon oil) and tim powell (independent)dr andrea miceli romero stated that the texas a&m iba team did a fantastic job during the presentation and questions round showing tremendous technical excellence and professionalism the judges and other attendees were extremely impressed by their presentation dr miceli romero added that she is very proud of them and [commends] them for all the hard work they put in during [those] past 8 weeks and thanked all the faculty staff students and industry advisor mentors (tim powell and vernon moore) for their constant support the annual imperial barrel award (iba) competition consists of five graduate students specializing in either geology or geophysics these teams have eight weeks prior to the competition to analyze a basin dataset and come up with potential prospects students complete a technical assessment of the basins petroleum potential and then recommend a drill or no drill plan for future exploration this petroleum system analysis of the basin is given in a 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts the graduate students participating in iba gain experience using real technology on a real dataset and benefit from the feedback provided during the competitioncongratulations to the 2018 texas a&m university iba team for representing the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics! for more information about the iba program visit: http://ibaaapgorg/program  " " thanks to aggie gis partnership esri experts provide free courses at texas a&mtwo gis professionals from esri spent april 23-24 teaching texas a&m studentsmay 30 2018geri miller (left) and canserina kurnia (right) solutions engineers in esri's education outreach division at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee)texas a&m university students and staff had the unique opportunity to learn from two esri geospatial technology experts during two days of training sessions april 23-24 that were free for all attendees texas a&m has a long-standing relationship with esri said sierra laddusaw texas a&m university libraries map librarian we were able to make this training available to anyone on campus who was interested in learning esris fantastic instructors are covering everything from the basics to field apps and python in addition to students staff from campus utilities and transportation departments also attended the workshops laddusaw said the two-day training was supported by texas a&ms esri development center department of geography university libraries and college of geosciences geri miller and canserina kurnia both solutions engineers in esris education outreach division taught the trainings technology is changing very very rapidly and we as geospatial professionals want to help students faculty and researchers keep up with it said miller who works with academic institutions to support technology education students are graduating and theyll be looking for jobs and we want to help what the industry is looking for is different than it was 10 years agocanserina kurnia esri solutions engineer  teaching a gis software training at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee)any company that does any work related to location data needs geospatial professionals miller said and texas a&m gis students are equipped to fill those roles in utilities all levels of government business analytics transportation planning landscape architecture city planning were seeing growth in these jobs across all sectors she said data science is also a growing field for gis careers kurnia said alanna jajeh 18 a senior gis-t earth systems studies major attended the training she is also a gis student worker in texas a&m utilities and energy services where she uses esri software to map utilities on campus she was excited to learn additional skills in arc-gis collector that she could use in her current job as well as in future opportunities currently at work ive been creating field apps for our utilities workers who go out and fix light poles hydrants or water lines she said so ive been using arc-gis collector to make complex but easy-to-use maps that they can use in the field to change data right there in real-time they can go out and if a hydrant has been removed they can delete that from the map and itll be updated in our map online later that day it makes their data collecting more efficient and our maps more accurate she said that after initially planning to study business at texas a&m she became a gis student and found a passion for geospatial technology ive found such an awesome connection to gis and everything that it can do and all the ways that you can integrate gis into businesses she said she plans to graduate in may 2019 and then begin graduate school by leslie lee 09 " geri miller (left) and canserina kurnia (right) solutions engineers in esri's education outreach division at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee) "texas a&m university students and staff had the unique opportunity to learn from two esri geospatial technology experts during two days of training sessions april 23-24 that were free for all attendees texas a&m has a long-standing relationship with esri said sierra laddusaw texas a&m university libraries map librarian we were able to make this training available to anyone on campus who was interested in learning esris fantastic instructors are covering everything from the basics to field apps and python in addition to students staff from campus utilities and transportation departments also attended the workshops laddusaw said the two-day training was supported by texas a&ms esri development center department of geography university libraries and college of geosciences geri miller and canserina kurnia both solutions engineers in esris education outreach division taught the trainings technology is changing very very rapidly and we as geospatial professionals want to help students faculty and researchers keep up with it said miller who works with academic institutions to support technology education students are graduating and theyll be looking for jobs and we want to help what the industry is looking for is different than it was 10 years ago" canserina kurnia esri solutions engineer  teaching a gis software training at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee) "any company that does any work related to location data needs geospatial professionals miller said and texas a&m gis students are equipped to fill those roles in utilities all levels of government business analytics transportation planning landscape architecture city planning were seeing growth in these jobs across all sectors she said data science is also a growing field for gis careers kurnia said alanna jajeh 18 a senior gis-t earth systems studies major attended the training she is also a gis student worker in texas a&m utilities and energy services where she uses esri software to map utilities on campus she was excited to learn additional skills in arc-gis collector that she could use in her current job as well as in future opportunities currently at work ive been creating field apps for our utilities workers who go out and fix light poles hydrants or water lines she said so ive been using arc-gis collector to make complex but easy-to-use maps that they can use in the field to change data right there in real-time they can go out and if a hydrant has been removed they can delete that from the map and itll be updated in our map online later that day it makes their data collecting more efficient and our maps more accurate she said that after initially planning to study business at texas a&m she became a gis student and found a passion for geospatial technology ive found such an awesome connection to gis and everything that it can do and all the ways that you can integrate gis into businesses she said she plans to graduate in may 2019 and then begin graduate school by leslie lee 09" " oceanography recognizes 2018 graduate award winners and graduating studentsthe department congratulates all graduate award winners and those who graduated on may 11may 24 2018on may 9 two graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university damian simonini and andrea kealoha received the following prestigious graduate awards at the texas a&m college of geosciences graduation receptiondamian simonini (right) with dr shari yvon-lewis (left) (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon)andrea kealoha (photo courtesy of andrea kealoha)damian simonini received the john wormuth memorial award for excellence in undergraduate teaching it was a very pleasant surprise to receive this award which i was not expecting it at all! simonini said i have greatly enjoyed my time as a teaching assistant for both geos 470 and ocng 252 and overall all my interactions with the undergraduates during my time here it is great to be able to pass on knowledge i have learned and get to watch the student grow as the year progresses andrea kealoha received the chapman award for graduate research ""i am really grateful to my advisor and the oceanography department professors for providing me with the skills i need to become a good oceanographer kealoha said receiving this award gives me more confidence in my research abilities and gaining confidence is so important for a developing scientist i am so thankful for their continued support and guidance congratulations to the graduate students who graduated from the department of oceanography on may 11: brooke barker tariq alrushaid andrew mcguffin chuan-yuan hsu by bumsoo kim " on may 9 two graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university damian simonini and andrea kealoha received the following prestigious graduate awards at the texas a&m college of geosciences graduation reception damian simonini (right) with dr shari yvon-lewis (left) (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon)andrea kealoha (photo courtesy of andrea kealoha) "damian simonini received the john wormuth memorial award for excellence in undergraduate teaching it was a very pleasant surprise to receive this award which i was not expecting it at all! simonini said i have greatly enjoyed my time as a teaching assistant for both geos 470 and ocng 252 and overall all my interactions with the undergraduates during my time here it is great to be able to pass on knowledge i have learned and get to watch the student grow as the year progresses andrea kealoha received the chapman award for graduate research ""i am really grateful to my advisor and the oceanography department professors for providing me with the skills i need to become a good oceanographer kealoha said receiving this award gives me more confidence in my research abilities and gaining confidence is so important for a developing scientist i am so thankful for their continued support and guidance congratulations to the graduate students who graduated from the department of oceanography on may 11: brooke barker tariq alrushaid andrew mcguffin chuan-yuan hsu by bumsoo kim" " texas a&m geosciences by the numbers in 2018get an overview of the impact and reach of the college of geosciencesmay 23 2018the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is the most comprehensive geosciences program in the world we are the only academic program in the us with comprehensive geosciences: atmospheric sciences geography geology and geophysics and oceanography our extraordinary faculty and researchers are working to solve the most critical challenges facing humanity simultaneously our faculty are preparing students to step into professional careers that will change the world heres an overview of the texas a&m college of geosciences in 2018: a 1:10 faculty to student ratio 20 stem-based degree programs more than 68% of undergraduates participate in research 10 000 aggie geoscientists in the aggie network $337 million in nsf funding for iodp operations 1 425 students in geosciences 15 geosciences student organizations the only building at texas a&m with a doppler 45 years of texas sea grant community impacts contact us to get more information about how you can impact the world with texas a&m geosciences by leslie lee 09 " "the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is the most comprehensive geosciences program in the world we are the only academic program in the us with comprehensive geosciences: atmospheric sciences geography geology and geophysics and oceanography our extraordinary faculty and researchers are working to solve the most critical challenges facing humanity simultaneously our faculty are preparing students to step into professional careers that will change the world heres an overview of the texas a&m college of geosciences in 2018: a 1:10 faculty to student ratio 20 stem-based degree programs more than 68% of undergraduates participate in research 10 000 aggie geoscientists in the aggie network $337 million in nsf funding for iodp operations 1 425 students in geosciences 15 geosciences student organizations the only building at texas a&m with a doppler 45 years of texas sea grant community impacts contact us to get more information about how you can impact the world with texas a&m geosciences by leslie lee 09" " atmospheric sciences student nominated for 2018 astronaut scholarship quinton lawton is one of four aggie undergraduates nominatedmay 15 2018quinton lawton 19 a meteorology major in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciencesthe astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) seeks to support the brightest scholars in the fields of science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) while commemorating the legacy of americas pioneering astronauts and this year four texas a&m university undergraduate students were nominated for an asf scholarship quinton lawton 19 a meteorology major in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences has been nominated for the astronaut scholarship foundations 2018 astronaut scholarship along with oscar gonzalez 20  ashley hayden 19 and ashley holt 20 quinton lawton who is also minoring in oceanography is originally from houston texas in his undergraduate research work he studies the relation between tropical cyclone behavior and global climate change he also serves as a launch undergraduate research ambassador that position lets me share my passion with others and encourage them to deepen their involvement in research he said i dont just participate but lead while inspiring others to do the same undergraduate research ambassadors strive to expand and enrich student engagement in undergraduate research in long-term lawton said he hopes to carve a new path forward and serve as an example for others long into the future the asf has supported undergraduate students across the nation in pursuing their education for more than 30 years the astronaut scholarship is one of the most significant merit-based scholarships in stem fields that can be awarded to an undergraduate students must be nominated by faculty based on achievements in their chosen field out of a pool of 42 universities asf typically chooses one recipient from each school texas a&m university has had 30 honorees since the scholarship was established in 1984 by the surviving mercury 7 astronauts more than 100 astronauts have contributed to the cause resulting in over $4 million in scholarships the recipient of the astronaut scholarship will be announced at the astronaut scholarship foundation award ceremony on september 20 2018 at texas a&m university written in collaboration with texas a&m honors and undergraduate research " quinton lawton 19 a meteorology major in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences "the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) seeks to support the brightest scholars in the fields of science technology engineering and mathematics (stem) while commemorating the legacy of americas pioneering astronauts and this year four texas a&m university undergraduate students were nominated for an asf scholarship quinton lawton 19 a meteorology major in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences has been nominated for the astronaut scholarship foundations 2018 astronaut scholarship along with oscar gonzalez 20  ashley hayden 19 and ashley holt 20 quinton lawton who is also minoring in oceanography is originally from houston texas in his undergraduate research work he studies the relation between tropical cyclone behavior and global climate change he also serves as a launch undergraduate research ambassador that position lets me share my passion with others and encourage them to deepen their involvement in research he said i dont just participate but lead while inspiring others to do the same undergraduate research ambassadors strive to expand and enrich student engagement in undergraduate research in long-term lawton said he hopes to carve a new path forward and serve as an example for others long into the future the asf has supported undergraduate students across the nation in pursuing their education for more than 30 years the astronaut scholarship is one of the most significant merit-based scholarships in stem fields that can be awarded to an undergraduate students must be nominated by faculty based on achievements in their chosen field out of a pool of 42 universities asf typically chooses one recipient from each school texas a&m university has had 30 honorees since the scholarship was established in 1984 by the surviving mercury 7 astronauts more than 100 astronauts have contributed to the cause resulting in over $4 million in scholarships the recipient of the astronaut scholarship will be announced at the astronaut scholarship foundation award ceremony on september 20 2018 at texas a&m university written in collaboration with texas a&m honors and undergraduate research " " selfless service from 2 000 miles away: aggies facebook weather page helps trinidad and tobagogeophysics senior kalain hosein 18 helped get life-saving weather information to the islandsmay 14 2018geophysics senior kalain hosein 18geophysics senior kalain hosein 18just 8 years after moving to houston from trinidad and tobago the twin-island nation just off the coast of venezuela  geophysics major kalain hosein is set to walk the graduation stage at texas a&m university moving to houston helped spike hoseins interest in meteorology growing up in the eastern caribbean youre pretty much exposed to every natural hazard outside of winter weather he said my interest in meteorology was always there and when i moved to houston and experienced my first texas thunderstorm with the insane lightning and thunder i was in awe hosein eventually decided to major in geophysics at texas a&m but maintained his interest in meteorology as well i was and still am a huge earth science nerd so when i was around 8 or 9 documentaries about the indian ocean tsunamis and other historical mega-tsunamis began to air on national geographic and discovery channel he said the presenters and scientists on those programs typically had the title ‘geophysicist thats when i decided i wanted to do what they do texas a&ms college of geosciences stood out i chose a&m over most universities due to its fantastic geosciences college but it is one of the few universities in texas that offer both geophysics and meteorology he said hosein was involved in many organizations during his time a student in the texas a&m college of geosciences and he has also be involved in different undergraduate research projects what i loved about conducting research is the amount of self-teaching you have to do on material that is actively applied to a task at hand versus the purely theoretical content learned in some classes providing a community service from 2 000 miles away even though it has been several years since hosein has called trinidad and tobago home he has stayed connected in a unique way after growing up there and observing the hazardous weather conditions that frequent the eastern caribbean he saw a need for readily available timely public weather information so in 2014 he created a facebook page called the trinidad and tobago weather center the pages responsibility then and now is to use the information that is available to everyone and package it in a way that is easily understood by the public so that the desire for information can be met he said hosein worked to use already-vetted scientific weather data and information such as from the national weather service national hurricane center to provid accurate timely weather information on the page he also shared citizens' first-hand accounts such as updates on localized flooding he does not have any official training in meteorology but the page not have much activity until 2017 i had accepted an internship with bp at their port of spain office in trinidad for the summer of 2017 and two days after i landed in trinidad the national hurricane center began advisories on potential tropical cyclone which became tropical storm bret and was heading directly towards trinidad and tobago he recalled the storm was moving fast and hosein wanted to help i began alerting the public to the hazards of a tropical disturbance regardless of strength""hosein's trinidad and tobago weather center facebook page helped inform people on the islands of impending weatherhosein conducting field workbecoming a source for the weather channel this information was used a number of local and international media outlets such as the weather channel (us) weathernation (us) looptt (t&t) trinidad and tobagos the guardian the newsday (t&t) and trinidad and tobagos express hosein said governmental organizations and agencies also used the information from ttwc the pages reach went from a few hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people in just a few hours he said then over the summer as trinidad and tobagos soils were incredibly saturated combined with its high susceptibility for flash floods any rainfall produced flash flooding across the islands"" after ttwc covered two category 5 hurricanes one hitting barbuda and the other hitting dominica both of which caused mass destruction ttwcs twitter and facebook page reached a combined 35 million people the man the myth the face behind the facebook page at this point everything that i was doing was completely anonymous only my two brothers a cousin of mine and two friends knew i was behind the page hosein recalled in october of 2017 a rainfall event producing historic flooding in trinidad the flooding began to cripple major roads on the island so hosein began reporting on it when flooding just began to affect the highway i started relaying as much information that i was aware of whether that be first hand images videos or radar images of the continuing rainfall this flooding continued for at least 3 days across the island"" after that  trinidad and tobago newsday released an article about hosein and the rest is history hosein said he then received recognition from the local media and many governmental organizations his was also featured in the battalion student newspaper at texas a&m he said he continues to operate the page today and use it to share timely and accurate weather information including from the official trinidad and tobago meteorological service advice for future aggie geoscientists as he graduates from texas a&m this august hosein recommends that future geosciences students pursue undergraduate research as well as take electives in other fields if you have the slightest inclination of what topics youre interested in research the professors in the college and see whos interest align with yours and pitch them something youre interested in researching he said if you think thats too daunting then check out the aggie research scholars program undergraduate research is something i wish i started earlier in my degree and take an elective in another one of the geosciences the great thing about this field is how versatile a geoscience degree can be he also encouraged future geosciences students to persevere through the math courses that plague some undergraduates and to listen to their academic advisors math is your friend hosein said it can be gross or it can be beautiful depending on you outlook on the subject but regardless it is one of the most useful things in a geoscience degree listen to suzanne or your respective advisors! the advisors in the college of geosciences are phenomenal and they know what theyre telling you after he graduates this august hosein hopes to land an internship or a full time job in the oil and gas industry he also plans to return to school in the near future to obtain his masters degree by taylor fuechec '18 " "just 8 years after moving to houston from trinidad and tobago the twin-island nation just off the coast of venezuela  geophysics major kalain hosein is set to walk the graduation stage at texas a&m university moving to houston helped spike hoseins interest in meteorology growing up in the eastern caribbean youre pretty much exposed to every natural hazard outside of winter weather he said my interest in meteorology was always there and when i moved to houston and experienced my first texas thunderstorm with the insane lightning and thunder i was in awe hosein eventually decided to major in geophysics at texas a&m but maintained his interest in meteorology as well i was and still am a huge earth science nerd so when i was around 8 or 9 documentaries about the indian ocean tsunamis and other historical mega-tsunamis began to air on national geographic and discovery channel he said the presenters and scientists on those programs typically had the title ‘geophysicist thats when i decided i wanted to do what they do texas a&ms college of geosciences stood out i chose a&m over most universities due to its fantastic geosciences college but it is one of the few universities in texas that offer both geophysics and meteorology he said hosein was involved in many organizations during his time a student in the texas a&m college of geosciences and he has also be involved in different undergraduate research projects what i loved about conducting research is the amount of self-teaching you have to do on material that is actively applied to a task at hand versus the purely theoretical content learned in some classes providing a community service from 2 000 miles away even though it has been several years since hosein has called trinidad and tobago home he has stayed connected in a unique way after growing up there and observing the hazardous weather conditions that frequent the eastern caribbean he saw a need for readily available timely public weather information so in 2014 he created a facebook page called the trinidad and tobago weather center the pages responsibility then and now is to use the information that is available to everyone and package it in a way that is easily understood by the public so that the desire for information can be met he said hosein worked to use already-vetted scientific weather data and information such as from the national weather service national hurricane center to provid accurate timely weather information on the page he also shared citizens' first-hand accounts such as updates on localized flooding he does not have any official training in meteorology but the page not have much activity until 2017 i had accepted an internship with bp at their port of spain office in trinidad for the summer of 2017 and two days after i landed in trinidad the national hurricane center began advisories on potential tropical cyclone which became tropical storm bret and was heading directly towards trinidad and tobago he recalled the storm was moving fast and hosein wanted to help i began alerting the public to the hazards of a tropical disturbance regardless of strength""" hosein's trinidad and tobago weather center facebook page helped inform people on the islands of impending weatherhosein conducting field work "becoming a source for the weather channel this information was used a number of local and international media outlets such as the weather channel (us) weathernation (us) looptt (t&t) trinidad and tobagos the guardian the newsday (t&t) and trinidad and tobagos express hosein said governmental organizations and agencies also used the information from ttwc the pages reach went from a few hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people in just a few hours he said then over the summer as trinidad and tobagos soils were incredibly saturated combined with its high susceptibility for flash floods any rainfall produced flash flooding across the islands"" after ttwc covered two category 5 hurricanes one hitting barbuda and the other hitting dominica both of which caused mass destruction ttwcs twitter and facebook page reached a combined 35 million people the man the myth the face behind the facebook page at this point everything that i was doing was completely anonymous only my two brothers a cousin of mine and two friends knew i was behind the page hosein recalled in october of 2017 a rainfall event producing historic flooding in trinidad the flooding began to cripple major roads on the island so hosein began reporting on it when flooding just began to affect the highway i started relaying as much information that i was aware of whether that be first hand images videos or radar images of the continuing rainfall this flooding continued for at least 3 days across the island"" after that  trinidad and tobago newsday released an article about hosein and the rest is history hosein said he then received recognition from the local media and many governmental organizations his was also featured in the battalion student newspaper at texas a&m he said he continues to operate the page today and use it to share timely and accurate weather information including from the official trinidad and tobago meteorological service advice for future aggie geoscientists as he graduates from texas a&m this august hosein recommends that future geosciences students pursue undergraduate research as well as take electives in other fields if you have the slightest inclination of what topics youre interested in research the professors in the college and see whos interest align with yours and pitch them something youre interested in researching he said if you think thats too daunting then check out the aggie research scholars program undergraduate research is something i wish i started earlier in my degree and take an elective in another one of the geosciences the great thing about this field is how versatile a geoscience degree can be he also encouraged future geosciences students to persevere through the math courses that plague some undergraduates and to listen to their academic advisors math is your friend hosein said it can be gross or it can be beautiful depending on you outlook on the subject but regardless it is one of the most useful things in a geoscience degree listen to suzanne or your respective advisors! the advisors in the college of geosciences are phenomenal and they know what theyre telling you after he graduates this august hosein hopes to land an internship or a full time job in the oil and gas industry he also plans to return to school in the near future to obtain his masters degree by taylor fuechec '18" " geography department recognizes undergraduates achievements dr oliver frauenfeld director of geography undergraduate programs congratulates students on accoladesmay 9 2018as we finish up our spring semester and reflect on the past academic year the texas a&m university department of geography celebrates the exceptional achievements of our undergraduate students at our graduation reception today we will honor brian bowling (geog) and jordan anderson (gist) with our outstanding student award this accolade is given to both our top geog and gist majors in recognition of their academic achievements and also their involvement in research and other high-impact experiences during their undergraduate careers at texas a&m university congratulations on this fantastic accomplishment! brian bowling and jordan anderson were also inducted into the gamma theta upsilon (gtu) honor society the international geographical honor society with their lifetime dues generously covered by the texas a&m geoinnovation service center  in addition to celebrating our graduating seniors we also recognize our continuing students for their achievements this year based on the fall 2017 semester we are thrilled to have 18 students on our college of geosciences deans list an accomplishment indicated by a grade point average of 375 or greater those students in alphabetical order are cooper adams (usge) katherine beall (gist) jacob blankenship (gist) brian bowling (geog) catherin franklin (gist) mary haynes (geog) harold hewett (geog) russell kirkpatrick (gist) valeriya kuvshinova (geog) emma leppard (geog) benjamin lybrand (gist) william lyle (gist) andrew patterson (geog) karin sesiano (geog) luke vitullo (geog) kate von ness (gist) daniel wanke (gist) and kysan woolverton (gist)jordan anderson outstanding student award (gist) recipient and gtu honor society inducteebrian bowling outstanding student award (geog) recipient and gtu honor society inducteeandrew patterson fall 2018 university honors program studentour college of geosciences list of distinguished students indicated by a gpa between 35 and 375 are jordan anderson (gist) emily binnicker (gist) patrick campbell (geog) abir chaudhuri (gist) joshua childs (gist) keller herrin (geog) michael lanese (gist) william mann (geog) shawn mcarthur (geog) heidi mcchristy (gist) nicholas miller (gist) alessandra papa (geog) ennis rios (gist) and heather swienton (gist) gist major russell kirkpatrick is currently in the texas a&m university honors program this program focuses on personal professional and intellectual development through layering high-impact experiences the transformative education that is outlined in the universitys quality enhancement plan (qep) aggies commit to learning for a lifetime joining russell in fall 2018 will be current geog freshman andrew patterson who has been accepted to also start in the university honors program  texas a&m universitys undergraduate research scholars program seeks to provide eligible undergraduates with a graduate student experience by allowing them to participate in research and communicate their findings as principal authors to the university's scholarly community we recognize kate von ness (gist) for still being an undergraduate research scholar after taking on this challenge and completing her thesis already as a sophomore her project entitled long-term hydrological reconstruction from a beaver meadow even won the texas a&m university outstanding thesis in stem last year  we congratulate all of our students on their achievements best of luck to our 37 geography students scheduled to graduate may 11 and we look forward to seeing everyone else back in august! by: dr oliver frauenfeld director of undergraduate programs department of geography " "as we finish up our spring semester and reflect on the past academic year the texas a&m university department of geography celebrates the exceptional achievements of our undergraduate students at our graduation reception today we will honor brian bowling (geog) and jordan anderson (gist) with our outstanding student award this accolade is given to both our top geog and gist majors in recognition of their academic achievements and also their involvement in research and other high-impact experiences during their undergraduate careers at texas a&m university congratulations on this fantastic accomplishment! brian bowling and jordan anderson were also inducted into the gamma theta upsilon (gtu) honor society the international geographical honor society with their lifetime dues generously covered by the texas a&m geoinnovation service center  in addition to celebrating our graduating seniors we also recognize our continuing students for their achievements this year based on the fall 2017 semester we are thrilled to have 18 students on our college of geosciences deans list an accomplishment indicated by a grade point average of 375 or greater those students in alphabetical order are cooper adams (usge) katherine beall (gist) jacob blankenship (gist) brian bowling (geog) catherin franklin (gist) mary haynes (geog) harold hewett (geog) russell kirkpatrick (gist) valeriya kuvshinova (geog) emma leppard (geog) benjamin lybrand (gist) william lyle (gist) andrew patterson (geog) karin sesiano (geog) luke vitullo (geog) kate von ness (gist) daniel wanke (gist) and kysan woolverton (gist)" jordan anderson outstanding student award (gist) recipient and gtu honor society inducteebrian bowling outstanding student award (geog) recipient and gtu honor society inducteeandrew patterson fall 2018 university honors program student "our college of geosciences list of distinguished students indicated by a gpa between 35 and 375 are jordan anderson (gist) emily binnicker (gist) patrick campbell (geog) abir chaudhuri (gist) joshua childs (gist) keller herrin (geog) michael lanese (gist) william mann (geog) shawn mcarthur (geog) heidi mcchristy (gist) nicholas miller (gist) alessandra papa (geog) ennis rios (gist) and heather swienton (gist) gist major russell kirkpatrick is currently in the texas a&m university honors program this program focuses on personal professional and intellectual development through layering high-impact experiences the transformative education that is outlined in the universitys quality enhancement plan (qep) aggies commit to learning for a lifetime joining russell in fall 2018 will be current geog freshman andrew patterson who has been accepted to also start in the university honors program  texas a&m universitys undergraduate research scholars program seeks to provide eligible undergraduates with a graduate student experience by allowing them to participate in research and communicate their findings as principal authors to the university's scholarly community we recognize kate von ness (gist) for still being an undergraduate research scholar after taking on this challenge and completing her thesis already as a sophomore her project entitled long-term hydrological reconstruction from a beaver meadow even won the texas a&m university outstanding thesis in stem last year  we congratulate all of our students on their achievements best of luck to our 37 geography students scheduled to graduate may 11 and we look forward to seeing everyone else back in august! by: dr oliver frauenfeld director of undergraduate programs department of geography" " patrick fulton leads sub-seafloor observatory installation on iodp expedition 375aggie professors aboard international research drill ship help install two unique observatoriesmay 4 2018dr patrick fulton (right texas a&m geology and geophysics) and dr demian saffer (left penn state university) stand in front of one of two sub-seafloor observatories before it is installed beneath the sea while on board the joides resolution for iodp expedition 375 (credit: patrick fulton / iodp)this week the international ocean discovery program (iodp) is wrapping up its expedition 375 and the scientists engineers and crew members aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel are celebrating some major accomplishments from the voyage we successfully installed two sub-seafloor observatories into the hikurangi subduction zone said dr patrick fulton assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university fulton was the principal investigator leading the design and installation of the two observatories the observatories are designed to provide time-series information on formation pressure temperature fluid flow rates and formation fluid chemistry and aim to gain insight into the physics of earthquakes fulton said this project is just one part of the larger iodp expedition goals of studying the hikurangi subduction zone and earthquake mechanicspart of the observatory science and engineering team part of the nsf-sponsored project to design and install sub-seafloor observatories within the hikurangi subduction zone offshore new zealand to study the physics of earthquakes from left to right: patrick fulton (texas a&m – geology & geophysics) katerina petronotis (texas a&m – iodp) kevin grigar (texas a&m – iodp) demian saffer (penn state) laura wallace (gns-new zealand) john van hyfte (texas a&m – iodp) and bill rhinehart (texas a&m – iodp) (credit: iodp)new zealand lies on top of a boundary between two tectonic plates in the southwestern pacific ocean which is why it experiences many earthquakes subduction occurs when one tectonic plate (the pacific plate) pushes beneath the australian plate as a result the long hikurangi subduction zone is formed off the east coast of new zealands north island the subduction zone is poorly understood yet potentially the largest source of earthquake and tsunami hazard in new zealand according to iodp  expedition 375 extracted drill cores in the subduction zone for analysis and inserted two observatories into two of the drill holes to investigate the processes and the conditions that underlie slow slip events (sses) sometimes called slow earthquakes or silent earthquakes sses occur when over a period of weeks to months movement between the tectonic plates occurs slowly across the subduction zone iodp is an international research collaboration funded by the national science foundation (nsf) that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the jr scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m the program earns enormous prestige and federal grant money to texas a&m; the latest nsf grant provided $335 million over 5 yearsthe joides resolution drill ship (credit: patrick fulton / iodp)a screenshot from the iodp video ""seafloor observatories: lifetime beyond the drilling""dr hiroko kitajima assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics was also part of the science party for this expedition serving as a petrophysics specialist she is studying the physics of recurring slow slip along the fault zone through experiments on core samples from the subduction which will be conducted in the john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation part of the center for tectonophysics at texas a&m dr katerina e petronotis of iodp at texas a&m served as expedition project manager and staff scientist for expedition 375 and numerous iodp staff members from texas a&m served as the technical support team on board  read more about expedition 375 and the observatories: tapping into new zealands sleeping giant watch ‘old meets new – how we used the ‘lost art of rope splicing in our high-tech sub-seafloor observatory sub-seafloor observatory animation nz's new under-sea quake lab now in action  by leslie lee ‘09 " dr patrick fulton (right texas a&m geology and geophysics) and dr demian saffer (left penn state university) stand in front of one of two sub-seafloor observatories before it is installed beneath the sea while on board the joides resolution for iodp expedition 375 (credit: patrick fulton / iodp) "this week the international ocean discovery program (iodp) is wrapping up its expedition 375 and the scientists engineers and crew members aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel are celebrating some major accomplishments from the voyage we successfully installed two sub-seafloor observatories into the hikurangi subduction zone said dr patrick fulton assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university fulton was the principal investigator leading the design and installation of the two observatories the observatories are designed to provide time-series information on formation pressure temperature fluid flow rates and formation fluid chemistry and aim to gain insight into the physics of earthquakes fulton said this project is just one part of the larger iodp expedition goals of studying the hikurangi subduction zone and earthquake mechanics" part of the observatory science and engineering team part of the nsf-sponsored project to design and install sub-seafloor observatories within the hikurangi subduction zone offshore new zealand to study the physics of earthquakes from left to right: patrick fulton (texas a&m – geology & geophysics) katerina petronotis (texas a&m – iodp) kevin grigar (texas a&m – iodp) demian saffer (penn state) laura wallace (gns-new zealand) john van hyfte (texas a&m – iodp) and bill rhinehart (texas a&m – iodp) (credit: iodp) "new zealand lies on top of a boundary between two tectonic plates in the southwestern pacific ocean which is why it experiences many earthquakes subduction occurs when one tectonic plate (the pacific plate) pushes beneath the australian plate as a result the long hikurangi subduction zone is formed off the east coast of new zealands north island the subduction zone is poorly understood yet potentially the largest source of earthquake and tsunami hazard in new zealand according to iodp  expedition 375 extracted drill cores in the subduction zone for analysis and inserted two observatories into two of the drill holes to investigate the processes and the conditions that underlie slow slip events (sses) sometimes called slow earthquakes or silent earthquakes sses occur when over a period of weeks to months movement between the tectonic plates occurs slowly across the subduction zone iodp is an international research collaboration funded by the national science foundation (nsf) that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the jr scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m the program earns enormous prestige and federal grant money to texas a&m; the latest nsf grant provided $335 million over 5 years" "the joides resolution drill ship (credit: patrick fulton / iodp)a screenshot from the iodp video ""seafloor observatories: lifetime beyond the drilling""" "dr hiroko kitajima assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics was also part of the science party for this expedition serving as a petrophysics specialist she is studying the physics of recurring slow slip along the fault zone through experiments on core samples from the subduction which will be conducted in the john w handin laboratory for experimental rock deformation part of the center for tectonophysics at texas a&m dr katerina e petronotis of iodp at texas a&m served as expedition project manager and staff scientist for expedition 375 and numerous iodp staff members from texas a&m served as the technical support team on board  read more about expedition 375 and the observatories: tapping into new zealands sleeping giant watch ‘old meets new – how we used the ‘lost art of rope splicing in our high-tech sub-seafloor observatory sub-seafloor observatory animation nz's new under-sea quake lab now in action  by leslie lee ‘09" " texas a&m colorado state postgrads nominated by texas sea grant named coastal management fellowsmay 3 2018two postgraduate students nominated by the texas sea grant college program have been awarded prestigious 2018 coastal management and digital coast fellowships the program matches postgraduate students with state coastal resource agencies and nonprofit organizations to work on projects proposed by the hosts and selected by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration office for coastal management applications are submitted through the nations 33 state sea grant programs this is the first time that applicants nominated by texas sea grant have received the highly competitive two-year fellowship which was established to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students only nine fellows nationwide are placed each year the fellowships will begin in august ellen bartow-gillies will be traveling to augusta maine to work with the maine coastal program in the states department of marine resources and katie wilson will be working in chicago under the illinois coastal management program in the illinois department of natural resources i am thrilled that two of our applicants were awarded this prestigious fellowship said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant they are both outstanding early-career scientists who will provide tremendous intellectual capacity to their host offices and benefit greatly from these experiences as they tackle real-world challenges bartow-gillies who will be graduating with a master of science in geography from texas a&m university this summer has been working as a graduate research assistant at the universitys stable isotope geoscience facility her graduate field work has included two stints at sea as a research assistant on deep-sea coral recovery cruises for the hawaii undersea research lab including 10 dives in a pisces submersible and spelunking expeditions in cobbs cavern in central texas to collect samples for her research which centers on using stable isotopes found in texas cave formations to learn more about climate variability in the southern great plains she received her bachelor of arts in environmental studies and economics from tulane university in 2016 she was an undergraduate research assistant in the universitys school of architecture where she documented community input on coastal hazard preparedness and she also updated the citizens guide to environmental protection in louisiana while an undergraduate research intern in the tulane environmental law clinic in her fellowship assignment in maine bartow-gillies will help protect critical ecosystem services by designing and applying a method to prioritize habitats at risk and inform robust policies and strategies that will increase the resilience of important resource areas wilson will graduate with a master of science in the human dimensions of natural resources from colorado state university in july her graduate research has focused on the human dimensions of large marine protected areas specifically the marianas trench marine national monument and in particular stakeholder perceptions of the monument designation process and the resulting social outcomes she also has experience in hands-on coastal ecosystem restoration and marine conservation activities and in developing educational content on topics from invasive species to the impacts of overfishing and pollution on marine environments she received her bachelor of arts in anthropology from the university of idaho and was an undergraduate research assistant in the universitys aleutian fisheries anthropology laboratory editing and preparing reports about the archaeological geological ecological and cultural history of sanak island in alaska for publication for indigenous audiences her career goal is to work directly with coastal community stakeholders to help shape marine management decisions wilsons work in chicago will focus on enhancing coastal tourism and regional-identity branding in the three northernmost illinois coastal communities by strengthening outreach and communications about illinois beach state park   by cindie powell " "two postgraduate students nominated by the texas sea grant college program have been awarded prestigious 2018 coastal management and digital coast fellowships the program matches postgraduate students with state coastal resource agencies and nonprofit organizations to work on projects proposed by the hosts and selected by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration office for coastal management applications are submitted through the nations 33 state sea grant programs this is the first time that applicants nominated by texas sea grant have received the highly competitive two-year fellowship which was established to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students only nine fellows nationwide are placed each year the fellowships will begin in august ellen bartow-gillies will be traveling to augusta maine to work with the maine coastal program in the states department of marine resources and katie wilson will be working in chicago under the illinois coastal management program in the illinois department of natural resources i am thrilled that two of our applicants were awarded this prestigious fellowship said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant they are both outstanding early-career scientists who will provide tremendous intellectual capacity to their host offices and benefit greatly from these experiences as they tackle real-world challenges bartow-gillies who will be graduating with a master of science in geography from texas a&m university this summer has been working as a graduate research assistant at the universitys stable isotope geoscience facility her graduate field work has included two stints at sea as a research assistant on deep-sea coral recovery cruises for the hawaii undersea research lab including 10 dives in a pisces submersible and spelunking expeditions in cobbs cavern in central texas to collect samples for her research which centers on using stable isotopes found in texas cave formations to learn more about climate variability in the southern great plains she received her bachelor of arts in environmental studies and economics from tulane university in 2016 she was an undergraduate research assistant in the universitys school of architecture where she documented community input on coastal hazard preparedness and she also updated the citizens guide to environmental protection in louisiana while an undergraduate research intern in the tulane environmental law clinic in her fellowship assignment in maine bartow-gillies will help protect critical ecosystem services by designing and applying a method to prioritize habitats at risk and inform robust policies and strategies that will increase the resilience of important resource areas wilson will graduate with a master of science in the human dimensions of natural resources from colorado state university in july her graduate research has focused on the human dimensions of large marine protected areas specifically the marianas trench marine national monument and in particular stakeholder perceptions of the monument designation process and the resulting social outcomes she also has experience in hands-on coastal ecosystem restoration and marine conservation activities and in developing educational content on topics from invasive species to the impacts of overfishing and pollution on marine environments she received her bachelor of arts in anthropology from the university of idaho and was an undergraduate research assistant in the universitys aleutian fisheries anthropology laboratory editing and preparing reports about the archaeological geological ecological and cultural history of sanak island in alaska for publication for indigenous audiences her career goal is to work directly with coastal community stakeholders to help shape marine management decisions wilsons work in chicago will focus on enhancing coastal tourism and regional-identity branding in the three northernmost illinois coastal communities by strengthening outreach and communications about illinois beach state park   by cindie powell" " new hires at texas sea grant support community resilience collaborativeapr 30 2018the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has recently hired four new planning and research specialists to bolster its outreach team steven c washington and ashley bennis the two community resilience collaborative (crc) planning specialists who joined the program earlier this year are located in houston and on the texas a&m university-corpus christi campus respectively kate de gennaro the programs new planning research associate and drew casey the new extension program assistant are both located at texas sea grants headquarters on the texas a&m university (tamu) campus in college station texas sea grant is excited to bring on four accomplished professionals who will strengthen the community resilience collaborative and the texas sea grant extension program said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension and co-director of the crc these new positions will be invaluable in helping communities and economies become more resilient and expanding texas sea grant partnerships into the world of transdisciplinary research extension and community engagement the crc is a partnership between texas sea grant and the college of architectures texas target communities it is designed to help coastal communities create science-based plans for sustainable development increase their resilience to natural and technological hazards and enhance or restore their habitats and ecosystems it was initially scheduled to launch at the beginning of 2018 but hurricane harveys devastation of the texas coast prompted an early commencement in september of last year with the help of national oceanic and atmospheric administration rapid response funding the primary responsibility of the crc planning specialists is to provide assistance to their communities in land use planning and hazard mitigation this includes educating and training local community planners and extension agents providing hands-on technical assistance to coastal areas and translating research to help communities in reaching their sustainable planning goals washington will support harris county and bennis will support nueces county both areas recovering after sustaining massive damage from harvey washington and bennis join walter peacock the programs other houston-based planning specialist who has been with texas sea grant since 2016 washington holds a bachelors degree in chemistry and a masters degree in urban planning and environmental policy both from texas southern university prior to joining the crc washington was an environmental defense fund fellow where he worked to estimate the energy savings and emissions reductions from the adoption of an alternative supply chain strategy at port freeport in freeport texas his research interests are land use planning environmental justice port sustainability community engagement and capacity building bennis has a bachelors degree in anthropology from wayne state university and a masters degree in urban design and planning with a specialty in environmental planning from the university of washington while at the university of washington bennis was a research assistant with the institute for hazard mitigation planning and research where she worked to improve visual representations of the federal emergency management agency (fema)s revised floodplain maps to help with their usefulness and effectiveness for residents in flood prone areas her research interests are resilience planning public risk interpretation community engagement and coastal hazard planning de gennaro the programs new planning research associate was hired at the crcs inception in september 2017 her primary responsibility is to conduct research activities related to coastal communities affected by hurricane harvey including interviewing households and decision makers and documenting a needs assessment on topics such as hazard risk preparedness evacuation and disaster recovery she holds a bachelors degree in fine/studio arts and psychology from susquehanna university and a masters degree in urban planning from tamu where she worked with communities in aransas county to contribute to the development of their floodplain management plan under an assistantship with texas sea grant providing support for the crc and texas sea grants extension team is drew casey the programs new extension program assistant casey began in the position in late 2017 and assists with event planning and implementation analyzing and reporting data on department activities and initiatives and supporting the crcs long term hurricane harvey recovery efforts through data collection and analysis he holds a bachelors degree in technical and scientific communication from embry-riddle aeronautical university and a masters degree in asian studies from florida state university   by alex hood " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has recently hired four new planning and research specialists to bolster its outreach team steven c washington and ashley bennis the two community resilience collaborative (crc) planning specialists who joined the program earlier this year are located in houston and on the texas a&m university-corpus christi campus respectively kate de gennaro the programs new planning research associate and drew casey the new extension program assistant are both located at texas sea grants headquarters on the texas a&m university (tamu) campus in college station texas sea grant is excited to bring on four accomplished professionals who will strengthen the community resilience collaborative and the texas sea grant extension program said heather wade texas sea grants senior associate director for planning and extension and co-director of the crc these new positions will be invaluable in helping communities and economies become more resilient and expanding texas sea grant partnerships into the world of transdisciplinary research extension and community engagement the crc is a partnership between texas sea grant and the college of architectures texas target communities it is designed to help coastal communities create science-based plans for sustainable development increase their resilience to natural and technological hazards and enhance or restore their habitats and ecosystems it was initially scheduled to launch at the beginning of 2018 but hurricane harveys devastation of the texas coast prompted an early commencement in september of last year with the help of national oceanic and atmospheric administration rapid response funding the primary responsibility of the crc planning specialists is to provide assistance to their communities in land use planning and hazard mitigation this includes educating and training local community planners and extension agents providing hands-on technical assistance to coastal areas and translating research to help communities in reaching their sustainable planning goals washington will support harris county and bennis will support nueces county both areas recovering after sustaining massive damage from harvey washington and bennis join walter peacock the programs other houston-based planning specialist who has been with texas sea grant since 2016 washington holds a bachelors degree in chemistry and a masters degree in urban planning and environmental policy both from texas southern university prior to joining the crc washington was an environmental defense fund fellow where he worked to estimate the energy savings and emissions reductions from the adoption of an alternative supply chain strategy at port freeport in freeport texas his research interests are land use planning environmental justice port sustainability community engagement and capacity building bennis has a bachelors degree in anthropology from wayne state university and a masters degree in urban design and planning with a specialty in environmental planning from the university of washington while at the university of washington bennis was a research assistant with the institute for hazard mitigation planning and research where she worked to improve visual representations of the federal emergency management agency (fema)s revised floodplain maps to help with their usefulness and effectiveness for residents in flood prone areas her research interests are resilience planning public risk interpretation community engagement and coastal hazard planning de gennaro the programs new planning research associate was hired at the crcs inception in september 2017 her primary responsibility is to conduct research activities related to coastal communities affected by hurricane harvey including interviewing households and decision makers and documenting a needs assessment on topics such as hazard risk preparedness evacuation and disaster recovery she holds a bachelors degree in fine/studio arts and psychology from susquehanna university and a masters degree in urban planning from tamu where she worked with communities in aransas county to contribute to the development of their floodplain management plan under an assistantship with texas sea grant providing support for the crc and texas sea grants extension team is drew casey the programs new extension program assistant casey began in the position in late 2017 and assists with event planning and implementation analyzing and reporting data on department activities and initiatives and supporting the crcs long term hurricane harvey recovery efforts through data collection and analysis he holds a bachelors degree in technical and scientific communication from embry-riddle aeronautical university and a masters degree in asian studies from florida state university   by alex hood" " undergraduate research took this aggie everywhere from the eagle ford shale to marsfour undergraduate research projects helped juan acevedo prepare for an impactful careerapr 30 2018senior geophysics major juan acevedo had a unique experience during his time at texas a&m university: he participated in not one or two but four separate undergraduate research projects originally from colombia acevedo and his family moved to the united states about ten years ago and because both of his parents are geologists juan grew up around the geosciences ive always liked going out and learning about how mountains were formed and what makes up the rocks he said all it took was a visit to the texas a&m campus when he was in high school to convince acevedo to decide to bring his passion for geology to aggieland i came to one of the football games with my best friend and his sister who was an aggie geology alumni and she brought us in and i just loved it as soon as i came here acevedo said i fell in love and i decided this is where i wanted to go to school his undergraduate career would turn out to cover a lot of ground and acevedo believes his research experiences outside the classroom equipped him with the skills needed to excel in his field the texas a&m college of geosciences and the department of geology and geophysics prioritize high-impact student experiences such as undergraduate researchjuan acevedo '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)acevedo conducting field work (photo courtesy of acevedo)studying the eagle ford shale  acevedos first research experience at texas a&m was a summer research project with dr juan carlos laya assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics we studied foraminifera along the eagle ford shale he said we were studying how they evolved basically through the cretaceous cenomanian-turonian boundaries because there was a lot of ash bed deposition during that time so we were seeing if the ash bed had any sort of correlation to more abundance in the foraminifera population in the eagle ford geology and geophysics department head dr mike pope supervised his second project it was also on the eagle ford shale but i was doing a geochemical analysis of the core so i used an x-ray florescence device which is kind of like a little gun and it would just shoot x-rays into the rock and it would show me exactly what the geochemistry was acevedo said we did this to see how the chemistry changed throughout the deposition of the eagle ford shale geology research on mars and geophysical studies of alaska taking a much broader scope on his third project acevedo and dr ryan ewing associate professor in the department of geology and geophysics researched sedimentary dunes in the north pole of mars i was just very interested in planetary geosciences so i went and i sought him out and i asked him if there was any sort of work he had for me he said he brought up this project that was basically tracking the dunes on the north pole of mars and how they were moving through a span of four earth years it was really fun! acevedos fourth project was a summer 2017 internship with a seismological research company iris and the missouri university of science and technology in rolla missouri  all of the (iris) interns got sent out to different universities acevedo said our projects were seismologically based and focused on the work that each of the professors had we then presented our work at the american geophysical union (agu) conference in new orleans his resulting agu poster was titled seismic anisotropy beneath alaska constrained by shear wave splitting analysis i learned a lot throughout that project he said especially because it was more focused on the research i was going eight to five everyday just working on my research so it really got me into that mentality of what it is like to be a researcher that project was more geophysics-intense all of the other ones were geology basedacevedo with his research poster at agu 2017 (photo courtesy of acevedo)moving forward after graduation after graduating from texas a&m this month acevedo will begin graduate school at the university of texas at austin where hell be researching groundwater resources and groundwater policy hes looking forward to building on the experience he gained in aggieland the professors there thought that all of my experience as an undergraduate really helped me get that position as a graduate student because it put me out there acevedo said i was doing work; i was going above and beyond what was expected i really enjoyed my time here and im very happy for this future opportunity he recommends undergraduate research and thinks that its a component of his education that set him apart from other students even if youre not planning on going to graduate school or getting a doctorate or anything like that you should still experience that research process of having a question and not knowing how to solve it then going through the literature talking to advisors talking to graduate students who are maybe working on this and putting out your own work doing the scientific process and presenting that research is very important his time at texas a&m was also positively shaped by his participation in the colombian student association texas a&m quidditch team and college of geosciences exchange program with the university of leicester in the spring of 2016 he said though acevedo is leaving aggieland he says that hell miss the community itself; the school is very close-knit i like the feeling of knowing that everybody here is willing to do anything for everybody else my brother is studying geology and i feel like he and i and everybody else in the geology and geosciences community we all kind of know each other we all have our own little tight-knit group of people were the smallest college at this school so its something to be proud of by catherine mccarthy '19 " "senior geophysics major juan acevedo had a unique experience during his time at texas a&m university: he participated in not one or two but four separate undergraduate research projects originally from colombia acevedo and his family moved to the united states about ten years ago and because both of his parents are geologists juan grew up around the geosciences ive always liked going out and learning about how mountains were formed and what makes up the rocks he said all it took was a visit to the texas a&m campus when he was in high school to convince acevedo to decide to bring his passion for geology to aggieland i came to one of the football games with my best friend and his sister who was an aggie geology alumni and she brought us in and i just loved it as soon as i came here acevedo said i fell in love and i decided this is where i wanted to go to school his undergraduate career would turn out to cover a lot of ground and acevedo believes his research experiences outside the classroom equipped him with the skills needed to excel in his field the texas a&m college of geosciences and the department of geology and geophysics prioritize high-impact student experiences such as undergraduate research" juan acevedo '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)acevedo conducting field work (photo courtesy of acevedo) "studying the eagle ford shale  acevedos first research experience at texas a&m was a summer research project with dr juan carlos laya assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics we studied foraminifera along the eagle ford shale he said we were studying how they evolved basically through the cretaceous cenomanian-turonian boundaries because there was a lot of ash bed deposition during that time so we were seeing if the ash bed had any sort of correlation to more abundance in the foraminifera population in the eagle ford geology and geophysics department head dr mike pope supervised his second project it was also on the eagle ford shale but i was doing a geochemical analysis of the core so i used an x-ray florescence device which is kind of like a little gun and it would just shoot x-rays into the rock and it would show me exactly what the geochemistry was acevedo said we did this to see how the chemistry changed throughout the deposition of the eagle ford shale geology research on mars and geophysical studies of alaska taking a much broader scope on his third project acevedo and dr ryan ewing associate professor in the department of geology and geophysics researched sedimentary dunes in the north pole of mars i was just very interested in planetary geosciences so i went and i sought him out and i asked him if there was any sort of work he had for me he said he brought up this project that was basically tracking the dunes on the north pole of mars and how they were moving through a span of four earth years it was really fun! acevedos fourth project was a summer 2017 internship with a seismological research company iris and the missouri university of science and technology in rolla missouri  all of the (iris) interns got sent out to different universities acevedo said our projects were seismologically based and focused on the work that each of the professors had we then presented our work at the american geophysical union (agu) conference in new orleans his resulting agu poster was titled seismic anisotropy beneath alaska constrained by shear wave splitting analysis i learned a lot throughout that project he said especially because it was more focused on the research i was going eight to five everyday just working on my research so it really got me into that mentality of what it is like to be a researcher that project was more geophysics-intense all of the other ones were geology based" acevedo with his research poster at agu 2017 (photo courtesy of acevedo) "moving forward after graduation after graduating from texas a&m this month acevedo will begin graduate school at the university of texas at austin where hell be researching groundwater resources and groundwater policy hes looking forward to building on the experience he gained in aggieland the professors there thought that all of my experience as an undergraduate really helped me get that position as a graduate student because it put me out there acevedo said i was doing work; i was going above and beyond what was expected i really enjoyed my time here and im very happy for this future opportunity he recommends undergraduate research and thinks that its a component of his education that set him apart from other students even if youre not planning on going to graduate school or getting a doctorate or anything like that you should still experience that research process of having a question and not knowing how to solve it then going through the literature talking to advisors talking to graduate students who are maybe working on this and putting out your own work doing the scientific process and presenting that research is very important his time at texas a&m was also positively shaped by his participation in the colombian student association texas a&m quidditch team and college of geosciences exchange program with the university of leicester in the spring of 2016 he said though acevedo is leaving aggieland he says that hell miss the community itself; the school is very close-knit i like the feeling of knowing that everybody here is willing to do anything for everybody else my brother is studying geology and i feel like he and i and everybody else in the geology and geosciences community we all kind of know each other we all have our own little tight-knit group of people were the smallest college at this school so its something to be proud of by catherine mccarthy '19" " geosciences students win student research week awardsundergraduate and graduate students were recognized for excellence in research posters and presentations apr 25 2018student research week award ribbons (photo courtesy of texas a&m srw)student research week 2018 was held march 19-23 at texas a&m university and several students from the college of geosciences were recognized with awards both undergraduate and graduate students competed in poster and oral presentation competition categories university-wide special awards:  ace in higher education research award – undergraduate: hilario lumbreras iii 18 gis-t major title: campus  map for blind and visually impaired students at texas a&m university college station faculty advisor: dr dan goldberg lumberas received this $500 award which honors the best emergent research in the area of diversity and inclusion issues in higher education  it is designed to raise awareness and advance research on diversity and inclusion issues in higher education (accountability campus climate equity policy programming services role of technology student development etc)   lumberas is also a member of the texas a&m corps of cadets he noted that josh fiedler '17 and ty crawford '18 also assisted in collecting the data for the project  geosciences category awards: graduate poster first place: cesar castillo texas a&m department of geography phd student  title: a coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic model for assessing hydrologic surface connectivity between a river and its floodplainfaculty advisor: dr inci guneralp i plan to graduate in fall 2018 and my post-graduation plans include pursuing a post-doctoral or permanent position within a government or non-governmental organization that focuses on environmental science and management castillo said  graduate poster second place: john schiff geography phd student title: stable isotopes in proteinaceous black coral skeletons as proxies for ecosystem variability in the gulf stream over millennial timescalesfaculty advisor: dr brendan roark schiff plans to graduate in may 2019 and then pursue public policy fellowshipscesar castillo and undergraduate researcher yair torres (left) preparing to conduct a bathymetric survey of a river channel (photo courtesy of cesar castillo)victoria ford and john schiff with their srw awards (photo courtesy of ford and schiff)graduate oral first place: flavia bonolo dantas geography phd student  title: public-private partnerships: the role of sabesp in the 2014 urban water crisis in são paulo brazilfaculty advisor: dr wendy jepson  after completing her phd in 2021  she plans to continue doing research on water security from a political ecology perspective most importantly i wish that my work will contribute to a more just and equal division of burdens from environmental degradation and exploitation she said graduate oral second place: victoria ford geography phd student  title: determination of a critical sea ice thickness threshold for the central arctic ocean  advisor: dr oliver frauenfeld  ford plans to complete her phd in spring 2020 and then work in the public sectorflavia bonolo dantas with her srw award (photo courtesy of flavia bonolo dantas)jessica martin conducting fieldwork in virginia using a magnetometer (photo courtesy of jessica martin)undergraduate poster first place: hilario lumbreras iii 18 gis-t major (see beginning of this article for lumbreras' research information) undergraduate poster second place: kevin connally 18 gis-t minor title: trail trek: encouraging exercise through cooperative gameplayfaculty advisors: dr tracy hammond and teaching assistant puneet kohli  connallys project involved the creation of an app named trail trek a team of six senior department of computer science and engineering students worked on its development and connally said he and all of his teammates will be entering the software development field upon graduation  i am extremely excited about the potential of this project and i am so proud of what the team has accomplished already hammond said undergraduate oral first place: jessica martin '18 geology and geophysics major title: detection of buried anomalies using magnetics in lexington vafaculty advisor: dr mark everett martin's research projectwas funded by the geosciences dean's office high impact learning experiences program ""this wouldn't have been possible without the fantastic support of the college "" martin said  the second author of the project poster and presentation was geophysics undergraduate student bassam alzayer she said martin's work on this research also recently won in the department of geology and geophysics' student research symposium poster contest undergraduate division ""though it is my junior year i'm graduating a year early this may 2018 i have accepted a position as an environmental geologist in houston "" she saidthe trail trek app development team: bryce schumacher spencer harder dillon garner kevin connally nahiyan khandker nathan manickavasagam (photo courtesy of kevin connally)by leslie lee '09 " "student research week 2018 was held march 19-23 at texas a&m university and several students from the college of geosciences were recognized with awards both undergraduate and graduate students competed in poster and oral presentation competition categories university-wide special awards:  ace in higher education research award – undergraduate: hilario lumbreras iii 18 gis-t major title: campus  map for blind and visually impaired students at texas a&m university college station faculty advisor: dr dan goldberg lumberas received this $500 award which honors the best emergent research in the area of diversity and inclusion issues in higher education  it is designed to raise awareness and advance research on diversity and inclusion issues in higher education (accountability campus climate equity policy programming services role of technology student development etc)   lumberas is also a member of the texas a&m corps of cadets he noted that josh fiedler '17 and ty crawford '18 also assisted in collecting the data for the project  geosciences category awards: graduate poster first place: cesar castillo texas a&m department of geography phd student  title: a coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic model for assessing hydrologic surface connectivity between a river and its floodplainfaculty advisor: dr inci guneralp i plan to graduate in fall 2018 and my post-graduation plans include pursuing a post-doctoral or permanent position within a government or non-governmental organization that focuses on environmental science and management castillo said  graduate poster second place: john schiff geography phd student title: stable isotopes in proteinaceous black coral skeletons as proxies for ecosystem variability in the gulf stream over millennial timescalesfaculty advisor: dr brendan roark schiff plans to graduate in may 2019 and then pursue public policy fellowships" cesar castillo and undergraduate researcher yair torres (left) preparing to conduct a bathymetric survey of a river channel (photo courtesy of cesar castillo)victoria ford and john schiff with their srw awards (photo courtesy of ford and schiff) "graduate oral first place: flavia bonolo dantas geography phd student  title: public-private partnerships: the role of sabesp in the 2014 urban water crisis in são paulo brazilfaculty advisor: dr wendy jepson  after completing her phd in 2021  she plans to continue doing research on water security from a political ecology perspective most importantly i wish that my work will contribute to a more just and equal division of burdens from environmental degradation and exploitation she said graduate oral second place: victoria ford geography phd student  title: determination of a critical sea ice thickness threshold for the central arctic ocean  advisor: dr oliver frauenfeld  ford plans to complete her phd in spring 2020 and then work in the public sector" flavia bonolo dantas with her srw award (photo courtesy of flavia bonolo dantas)jessica martin conducting fieldwork in virginia using a magnetometer (photo courtesy of jessica martin) "undergraduate poster first place: hilario lumbreras iii 18 gis-t major (see beginning of this article for lumbreras' research information) undergraduate poster second place: kevin connally 18 gis-t minor title: trail trek: encouraging exercise through cooperative gameplayfaculty advisors: dr tracy hammond and teaching assistant puneet kohli  connallys project involved the creation of an app named trail trek a team of six senior department of computer science and engineering students worked on its development and connally said he and all of his teammates will be entering the software development field upon graduation  i am extremely excited about the potential of this project and i am so proud of what the team has accomplished already hammond said undergraduate oral first place: jessica martin '18 geology and geophysics major title: detection of buried anomalies using magnetics in lexington vafaculty advisor: dr mark everett martin's research projectwas funded by the geosciences dean's office high impact learning experiences program ""this wouldn't have been possible without the fantastic support of the college "" martin said  the second author of the project poster and presentation was geophysics undergraduate student bassam alzayer she said martin's work on this research also recently won in the department of geology and geophysics' student research symposium poster contest undergraduate division ""though it is my junior year i'm graduating a year early this may 2018 i have accepted a position as an environmental geologist in houston "" she said" the trail trek app development team: bryce schumacher spencer harder dillon garner kevin connally nahiyan khandker nathan manickavasagam (photo courtesy of kevin connally) " collaborative restoration project brings life back to magnolia-indianola wetlandsapr 20 2018for the better part of two decades the stretch of wetland between magnolia beach and indianola was slowly dying a blemish on the otherwise pristine and beautiful stretch of beach in calhoun county today thanks to a collaboration of state and federal agencies higher education industry and private citizens a large portion of the salt marsh has been improved and is now a functional thriving ecosystem where local residents fish and birdwatch and one of coastal texas noteworthy wetland restoration successes the shallow water marsh is home to a sizeable population of fish crabs and birds attracting anglers and kayakers man-made structures had changed the hydrology or circulation of water into and out of the wetlands the quality and productivity of the marsh was continually deteriorating and the water that remained sometimes became stagnant and smelled of the dead fish that collected there part of the value of that habitat is that its a blue crab and shrimp nursery said keith schmidt a magnolia beach property owner who had been trying to get something done about the declining marsh complex for years people call the bridge nearby the ‘crabbing bridge but most people dont know why it was a good place to go crabbing its because of the 700 acres of marsh connected to the inlet channel that the crabbing bridge crosses over that the magnolia-indianola salt marsh was in poor condition was well known in the local community it really was a grassroots project said rhonda cummins texas sea grant/texas a&m agrilife extension service coastal and marine resources agent for calhoun county the locals knew about it and wanted something done so they kept pushing she said that the area was brought to her attention almost immediately upon stepping into her role in 2008 in my first six months here i heard about that issue from a lot of places she said folks would come up to me and tell me how it used to be how they used to catch really big redfish back there but that the fish just werent there anymore just prior to her arrival in calhoun county the marsh had had a large fish kill an event in which a massive amount of fish in a population all die at once that stoked the concerns of local residents including schmidt keith was hugely involved and i learned more about the project from talking to him than anyone else cummins said he understood a lot about marshes and could explain the problems the area was having with input from schmidt and other private landowners cummins began searching for a solution and speaking about the problem to anyone who would listen but with little success she said the turning point came in 2010 when the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)s restoration center funded a community-based restoration partnership program led by the four sea grant college programs in the gulf of mexico the program focused on identifying and funding gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects throughout the region for decades the natural hydrology and tidal flows of the gulf coast have been altered by development including construction of roads and causeways or dredging the resulting changes in water flow have impaired coastal ecosystems needed by commercially important marine species the programs gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects inventory focused on relatively small projects such as removing barriers to tidal flow or freshwater exchange that could impact large areas and restore coastal and marine fisheries habitat immediately recognizing the opportunity the inventory presented cummins enlisted the help of the two texas sea grant research assistants karla dunlap and karen bishop who were tasked with identifying and listing texas sites for the inventory to include the magnolia inlet project on the list meanwhile as local concern about the vanishing wetland grew the area had also come to the attention of dr rusty feagin a professor in the department of ecosystem science and management and ocean engineering at texas a&m university and a texas a&m agrilife research coastal scientist in the coastal ecology and management lab feagin who became the restoration projects organizer and leader helped secure funding from various sources including the texas ornithological society the texas general land office and calhoun county; additional funding also came from the noaa restoration center making the magnolia inlet the first texas project in the gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects inventory to be funded through that program feagin also performed the research necessary to bring the project to fruition we did a lot of research to be able to say what the exact problem was he said we know things are dying but exactly what is the real cause here and how much of it has been dying feagin said his investigations showed that the marsh was blocked up on two sides allowing salt water to enter the marsh complex but not leave it much of the water would then evaporate leaving what remained at such a high level of salinity that very little life could survive in it the first and most severe blockage was at the north end of magnolia inlet where oyster shells and other debris built up over decades before eventually blocking all water flow between matagorda bay and old towne lake which fed the wetlands the second blockage was a shell-hash road that stretched across the marsh surface farther down at fish pass according to feagin his group was able to open up the blockage at fish pass fairly quickly we basically in the span of about a day just got a backhoe and opened it up we waited maybe six months to a year and it got better but only like 10 percent better so we took it upon ourselves to open magnolia inlet opening the more severe blockage proved to be a far more extensive task feagin said but once it was done the improvement was drastic and immediate water flow to the marsh was restored fish returned within weeks the area was recreationally rejuvenated with kayakers and crabbers again enjoying the lazy water tidal activity expanded the wetland area for new vegetation to grow in the end more than 700 acres of marsh habitat were restored you can see something scientifically and you can measure it but its not until you hear how much better it is from the average fisherman at the bait shop that it becomes real feagin said schmidt described some of the changes he has seen in the area i have kids and they like to come down with pole nets and wade in the inlet channel to catch the blue crabs at the end of the day we throw them all back in the water and its a lot of fun he said and now there are a lot more crabs and shrimp coming out of that marsh area and hopefully the collaborative work will continue to make additional improvements in the future the results of the project have also been noticed outside of calhoun county in 2016 the texas commission on environmental quality gave the effort the texas environmental excellence award in the civic/community category the award is considered the highest environmental honor in the state its exciting cummins said and it also gives me hope that the local community can be successful in future efforts to address other identified needs feagin stressed that the achievement took a massive amount of collaboration between countless individuals and organizations to accomplish including texas a&m university ecosystem and science management doctoral student thomas huff; consulting firm freese and nichols inc; carla kartman in the texas general land office; jaime schubert of the noaa restoration center; the national marine fisheries service; the four gulf of mexico sea grant programs including mississippi-alabama sea grant which led the partnership program; texas sea grant; calhoun county; and private landowners like schmidt   by alex hood " "for the better part of two decades the stretch of wetland between magnolia beach and indianola was slowly dying a blemish on the otherwise pristine and beautiful stretch of beach in calhoun county today thanks to a collaboration of state and federal agencies higher education industry and private citizens a large portion of the salt marsh has been improved and is now a functional thriving ecosystem where local residents fish and birdwatch and one of coastal texas noteworthy wetland restoration successes the shallow water marsh is home to a sizeable population of fish crabs and birds attracting anglers and kayakers man-made structures had changed the hydrology or circulation of water into and out of the wetlands the quality and productivity of the marsh was continually deteriorating and the water that remained sometimes became stagnant and smelled of the dead fish that collected there part of the value of that habitat is that its a blue crab and shrimp nursery said keith schmidt a magnolia beach property owner who had been trying to get something done about the declining marsh complex for years people call the bridge nearby the ‘crabbing bridge but most people dont know why it was a good place to go crabbing its because of the 700 acres of marsh connected to the inlet channel that the crabbing bridge crosses over that the magnolia-indianola salt marsh was in poor condition was well known in the local community it really was a grassroots project said rhonda cummins texas sea grant/texas a&m agrilife extension service coastal and marine resources agent for calhoun county the locals knew about it and wanted something done so they kept pushing she said that the area was brought to her attention almost immediately upon stepping into her role in 2008 in my first six months here i heard about that issue from a lot of places she said folks would come up to me and tell me how it used to be how they used to catch really big redfish back there but that the fish just werent there anymore just prior to her arrival in calhoun county the marsh had had a large fish kill an event in which a massive amount of fish in a population all die at once that stoked the concerns of local residents including schmidt keith was hugely involved and i learned more about the project from talking to him than anyone else cummins said he understood a lot about marshes and could explain the problems the area was having with input from schmidt and other private landowners cummins began searching for a solution and speaking about the problem to anyone who would listen but with little success she said the turning point came in 2010 when the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)s restoration center funded a community-based restoration partnership program led by the four sea grant college programs in the gulf of mexico the program focused on identifying and funding gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects throughout the region for decades the natural hydrology and tidal flows of the gulf coast have been altered by development including construction of roads and causeways or dredging the resulting changes in water flow have impaired coastal ecosystems needed by commercially important marine species the programs gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects inventory focused on relatively small projects such as removing barriers to tidal flow or freshwater exchange that could impact large areas and restore coastal and marine fisheries habitat immediately recognizing the opportunity the inventory presented cummins enlisted the help of the two texas sea grant research assistants karla dunlap and karen bishop who were tasked with identifying and listing texas sites for the inventory to include the magnolia inlet project on the list meanwhile as local concern about the vanishing wetland grew the area had also come to the attention of dr rusty feagin a professor in the department of ecosystem science and management and ocean engineering at texas a&m university and a texas a&m agrilife research coastal scientist in the coastal ecology and management lab feagin who became the restoration projects organizer and leader helped secure funding from various sources including the texas ornithological society the texas general land office and calhoun county; additional funding also came from the noaa restoration center making the magnolia inlet the first texas project in the gulf of mexico hydrological restoration projects inventory to be funded through that program feagin also performed the research necessary to bring the project to fruition we did a lot of research to be able to say what the exact problem was he said we know things are dying but exactly what is the real cause here and how much of it has been dying feagin said his investigations showed that the marsh was blocked up on two sides allowing salt water to enter the marsh complex but not leave it much of the water would then evaporate leaving what remained at such a high level of salinity that very little life could survive in it the first and most severe blockage was at the north end of magnolia inlet where oyster shells and other debris built up over decades before eventually blocking all water flow between matagorda bay and old towne lake which fed the wetlands the second blockage was a shell-hash road that stretched across the marsh surface farther down at fish pass according to feagin his group was able to open up the blockage at fish pass fairly quickly we basically in the span of about a day just got a backhoe and opened it up we waited maybe six months to a year and it got better but only like 10 percent better so we took it upon ourselves to open magnolia inlet opening the more severe blockage proved to be a far more extensive task feagin said but once it was done the improvement was drastic and immediate water flow to the marsh was restored fish returned within weeks the area was recreationally rejuvenated with kayakers and crabbers again enjoying the lazy water tidal activity expanded the wetland area for new vegetation to grow in the end more than 700 acres of marsh habitat were restored you can see something scientifically and you can measure it but its not until you hear how much better it is from the average fisherman at the bait shop that it becomes real feagin said schmidt described some of the changes he has seen in the area i have kids and they like to come down with pole nets and wade in the inlet channel to catch the blue crabs at the end of the day we throw them all back in the water and its a lot of fun he said and now there are a lot more crabs and shrimp coming out of that marsh area and hopefully the collaborative work will continue to make additional improvements in the future the results of the project have also been noticed outside of calhoun county in 2016 the texas commission on environmental quality gave the effort the texas environmental excellence award in the civic/community category the award is considered the highest environmental honor in the state its exciting cummins said and it also gives me hope that the local community can be successful in future efforts to address other identified needs feagin stressed that the achievement took a massive amount of collaboration between countless individuals and organizations to accomplish including texas a&m university ecosystem and science management doctoral student thomas huff; consulting firm freese and nichols inc; carla kartman in the texas general land office; jaime schubert of the noaa restoration center; the national marine fisheries service; the four gulf of mexico sea grant programs including mississippi-alabama sea grant which led the partnership program; texas sea grant; calhoun county; and private landowners like schmidt   by alex hood" " texas a&m geologist and team find first evidence of rapid sea-level rise after snowball earth erafunded by the national science foundation the project team successfully investigated and analyzed the first geologic evidence of sea-level-rise rates following the neoproterozoic snowball earth apr 20 2018ripples in the elatina formation in south australia (photo by: dr ryan ewing)though the term snowball earth was first coined in 1992 and the science behind the hypothesis had existed for decades now for the first time scientists have geologic proof showing just how fast sea levels rose following the neoproterozoic snowball earth era as the planet thawed the snowball earth hypothesis states that the earth was covered with ice about 635 million years ago said dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university who traveled with a team of researchers to south australia in july of 2014 for this study at the end of the snowball earth the ice sheets catastrophically melted because of a runaway greenhouse effect ewing said co2 build up during the snowball earth caused rapid warming and rapid melting of the ice sheets at the termination we knew that there was major sea level rise following the snowball earth but missing from the science was what was the rate of that sea level rise to answer that question a research team comprised of ewing dr paul m myrow professor in the department of geology at colorado college and dr michael p lamb division of geological and planetary sciences california institute of technology studied rocks in the elatina formation in south australia their resulting research rapid sea level rise in the aftermath of a neoproterozoic snowball earth was published in science recently funded by the national science foundation the project team successfully investigated and analyzed the first geologic evidence of sea-level-rise rates following the neoproterozoic snowball earthdr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&mthe elatina formation in south australia (photo by: dr ryan ewing)ewing and the team used paleohydraulic analysis of wave ripples and tidal laminae to investigate rocks in the elatina formation which were deposited at the end of the marinoan glaciation 635 million years ago the team investigated and measured the rock formation in australia and completed the calculations and analysis upon return to the us to calculate the rate of sea-level rise the team used the size of the ripples to estimate the size of the waves and in turn water depths the team found that the ripples remained about the same size throughout the formation which meant that water depths remained relatively constant during deposition these rocks were deposited during the deglaciation and are unique because they record daily tidal cycles meaning that they have preserved sedimentation from incoming and outgoing tides ewing said those layers of sedimentation provided a time-scale for the teams analysis showing that the calculated water depths of 9-16 meters remained nearly constant for about 100 years throughout 27 meters of sediment accumulation to accommodate that much sediment accumulating over a short amount of time about 27 meters of sediment accumulation over 100 years that requires a rate of sea-level rise of about one foot per year he said the teams proof of extraordinarily rapid rate of sea-level rise as their publication states validates a major tenant of the snowball earth hypothesis: that rapid deglaciation occurred during the early transition to a super-greenhouse climate its really the fastest rate of sea level rise thats ever been estimated on earth ewing said for reference its 100-times greater than current-day rates and 5-times greater than the fastest sea-level rise following the recent pleistocene glaciations the rocks analyzed in this study those deposited following the marinoan glaciation are found in only a handful of locations around the planet including the formation in south australia one of the interesting things about the snowball earth hypothesis is that you can find these rocks on every continent except antarctica which is why it is thought to be a global glaciation he said the rocks we studied in australia are also unique because they were deposited near the equator 635 million years ago and support evidence of glaciation at the equator this is rare and again makes the snowball earth hypothesis a realistic scenario for this time period by: leslie lee '09 " ripples in the elatina formation in south australia (photo by: dr ryan ewing) "though the term snowball earth was first coined in 1992 and the science behind the hypothesis had existed for decades now for the first time scientists have geologic proof showing just how fast sea levels rose following the neoproterozoic snowball earth era as the planet thawed the snowball earth hypothesis states that the earth was covered with ice about 635 million years ago said dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university who traveled with a team of researchers to south australia in july of 2014 for this study at the end of the snowball earth the ice sheets catastrophically melted because of a runaway greenhouse effect ewing said co2 build up during the snowball earth caused rapid warming and rapid melting of the ice sheets at the termination we knew that there was major sea level rise following the snowball earth but missing from the science was what was the rate of that sea level rise to answer that question a research team comprised of ewing dr paul m myrow professor in the department of geology at colorado college and dr michael p lamb division of geological and planetary sciences california institute of technology studied rocks in the elatina formation in south australia their resulting research rapid sea level rise in the aftermath of a neoproterozoic snowball earth was published in science recently funded by the national science foundation the project team successfully investigated and analyzed the first geologic evidence of sea-level-rise rates following the neoproterozoic snowball earth" dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&mthe elatina formation in south australia (photo by: dr ryan ewing) "ewing and the team used paleohydraulic analysis of wave ripples and tidal laminae to investigate rocks in the elatina formation which were deposited at the end of the marinoan glaciation 635 million years ago the team investigated and measured the rock formation in australia and completed the calculations and analysis upon return to the us to calculate the rate of sea-level rise the team used the size of the ripples to estimate the size of the waves and in turn water depths the team found that the ripples remained about the same size throughout the formation which meant that water depths remained relatively constant during deposition these rocks were deposited during the deglaciation and are unique because they record daily tidal cycles meaning that they have preserved sedimentation from incoming and outgoing tides ewing said those layers of sedimentation provided a time-scale for the teams analysis showing that the calculated water depths of 9-16 meters remained nearly constant for about 100 years throughout 27 meters of sediment accumulation to accommodate that much sediment accumulating over a short amount of time about 27 meters of sediment accumulation over 100 years that requires a rate of sea-level rise of about one foot per year he said the teams proof of extraordinarily rapid rate of sea-level rise as their publication states validates a major tenant of the snowball earth hypothesis: that rapid deglaciation occurred during the early transition to a super-greenhouse climate its really the fastest rate of sea level rise thats ever been estimated on earth ewing said for reference its 100-times greater than current-day rates and 5-times greater than the fastest sea-level rise following the recent pleistocene glaciations the rocks analyzed in this study those deposited following the marinoan glaciation are found in only a handful of locations around the planet including the formation in south australia one of the interesting things about the snowball earth hypothesis is that you can find these rocks on every continent except antarctica which is why it is thought to be a global glaciation he said the rocks we studied in australia are also unique because they were deposited near the equator 635 million years ago and support evidence of glaciation at the equator this is rare and again makes the snowball earth hypothesis a realistic scenario for this time period by: leslie lee '09" " congratulations to the geology & geophysics student winners at the 2018 gggsc research symposiumcongratulations to all the geology & geophysics students who won an award at the 11th annual gggsc research symposium!apr 20 2018the geology & geophysics graduate student council (gggsc) hosted their 11th annual student research symposium on march 22 2018 in the memorial student center every spring semester the leadership positions in the gggsc run a research symposium which includes oral presentations and poster presentations for both graduate students and undergraduate students in the department of geology & geophysics various undergraduate and graduate students not only present but volunteer at the symposium throughout the day faculty members and guest judges from various industries judge the presentations with a grading rubric that is then scored this year's symposium included a university writing center prize which was judged by faculty members on the student's ability to effectively communicate their research   prizes for this year's symposium were the following:  1st: $50 2nd: artwork donated by kajal shah 3rd: t-shirt university writing center (uwc) prizes: $50 the 2018 annual gggsc research symposium winners for the four categories are listed below: undergraduate poster awards: 1st place: jessica martin & bassam alzayer  detection of buried anomalies using magnetics 2nd place: juliet charbonneau  controlled source electromagnetic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing: lateral wellbore effect 3rd place: juliet charbonneau alexander ferell & david splawn  2d trajectory analysis of permian carbonate ramp clinoforms last chance canyon new mexico masters poster awards:  1st place: kathie guerra  ecohydrological analysis of soil moisture content using ert to determine the water uptake by trees in a floodplain in danciger tx 2nd place: telemachos manos  thermal maturity modeling of organic-rich mudrocks in the delaware basin using raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material 3rd place: estefania ortiz  deciphering equatorial pacific deep sea sediment transport regimes by core-log-seismic integration phd poster awards:  1st place: autumn eakin  cement paragenesis as revealed by sem cathodoluminescence imaging in the permian spraberry and wolfcamp formations 2nd place: ibrahim al atwah  molecular diamonds as a tool to understand petroleum migration in the anadarko basin oklahoma 3rd place: james teoh  unravelling reflux dolomitization: why size and salinity matters oral presentation awards: 1st place: phillip tesch  lateral variability of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic clinoforms in the permian upper san andres formation last chance canyon nm 2nd place: melly meyer  high-resolution chemostratigraphy of the woodbine and eagle ford groups brazos basin texas 3rd place: kieron prince  isotopic evidence for subaerial exposure and diagenesis of the miocene kardiva platform maldives --------------------------- uwc prizes: undergraduate poster winners:juliet charbonneau  controlled source electromagnetic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing: lateral wellbore effectmichael morse  integrating lithology and paleontology into seismic interpretation to support boundary identification in the gulf of alaska graduate poster winners:maya reimi  neodymium isotope ratios in fish debris as a tracer for a low oxygen water mass in the equatorial pacific acrossjames teoh  unravelling reflux dolomitization: why size and salinity matters oral presentation winners:tie between: bin luo three-dimensional earthquake cycle simulation on a rate- and state-dependent non-planar subduction plane kieron prince  isotopic evidence for subaerial exposure and diagenesis of the miocene kardiva platform maldives2018 symposium student winners (left to right): autumn eakin philipp tesch juliet charbonneau alexander ferell and james teoh (photo credit: cristina figueroa)congratulations to all the winners of the 11th annual gggsc symposium! the gggsc would like to thank all of the presenters judges and volunteers that contributed to the symposium the gggsc is also very grateful for the generous support provided for the student research symposium by bhp billiton bp marathon oil chevron and a personal donation from sara donnelly to view the 2018 gggsc student research symposium technical program click here  pictures of the event are found here    written by: cristina figueroa " "the geology & geophysics graduate student council (gggsc) hosted their 11th annual student research symposium on march 22 2018 in the memorial student center every spring semester the leadership positions in the gggsc run a research symposium which includes oral presentations and poster presentations for both graduate students and undergraduate students in the department of geology & geophysics various undergraduate and graduate students not only present but volunteer at the symposium throughout the day faculty members and guest judges from various industries judge the presentations with a grading rubric that is then scored this year's symposium included a university writing center prize which was judged by faculty members on the student's ability to effectively communicate their research   prizes for this year's symposium were the following:  1st: $50 2nd: artwork donated by kajal shah 3rd: t-shirt university writing center (uwc) prizes: $50 " "the 2018 annual gggsc research symposium winners for the four categories are listed below: undergraduate poster awards: 1st place: jessica martin & bassam alzayer  detection of buried anomalies using magnetics 2nd place: juliet charbonneau  controlled source electromagnetic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing: lateral wellbore effect 3rd place: juliet charbonneau alexander ferell & david splawn  2d trajectory analysis of permian carbonate ramp clinoforms last chance canyon new mexico masters poster awards:  1st place: kathie guerra  ecohydrological analysis of soil moisture content using ert to determine the water uptake by trees in a floodplain in danciger tx 2nd place: telemachos manos  thermal maturity modeling of organic-rich mudrocks in the delaware basin using raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material 3rd place: estefania ortiz  deciphering equatorial pacific deep sea sediment transport regimes by core-log-seismic integration phd poster awards:  1st place: autumn eakin  cement paragenesis as revealed by sem cathodoluminescence imaging in the permian spraberry and wolfcamp formations 2nd place: ibrahim al atwah  molecular diamonds as a tool to understand petroleum migration in the anadarko basin oklahoma 3rd place: james teoh  unravelling reflux dolomitization: why size and salinity matters oral presentation awards: 1st place: phillip tesch  lateral variability of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic clinoforms in the permian upper san andres formation last chance canyon nm 2nd place: melly meyer  high-resolution chemostratigraphy of the woodbine and eagle ford groups brazos basin texas 3rd place: kieron prince  isotopic evidence for subaerial exposure and diagenesis of the miocene kardiva platform maldives --------------------------- uwc prizes: undergraduate poster winners:juliet charbonneau  controlled source electromagnetic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing: lateral wellbore effectmichael morse  integrating lithology and paleontology into seismic interpretation to support boundary identification in the gulf of alaska graduate poster winners:maya reimi  neodymium isotope ratios in fish debris as a tracer for a low oxygen water mass in the equatorial pacific acrossjames teoh  unravelling reflux dolomitization: why size and salinity matters oral presentation winners:tie between: bin luo three-dimensional earthquake cycle simulation on a rate- and state-dependent non-planar subduction plane kieron prince  isotopic evidence for subaerial exposure and diagenesis of the miocene kardiva platform maldives" 2018 symposium student winners (left to right): autumn eakin philipp tesch juliet charbonneau alexander ferell and james teoh (photo credit: cristina figueroa) "congratulations to all the winners of the 11th annual gggsc symposium! the gggsc would like to thank all of the presenters judges and volunteers that contributed to the symposium the gggsc is also very grateful for the generous support provided for the student research symposium by bhp billiton bp marathon oil chevron and a personal donation from sara donnelly to view the 2018 gggsc student research symposium technical program click here  pictures of the event are found here    written by: cristina figueroa" " dr julia reece named an iodp ocean discovery lecturercongratulations to dr julia reece who was selected as an iodp ocean discovery lecturer!apr 16 2018congratulations to assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics dr julia reece who was selected as an iodp ocean discovery lecturer for the 2018-2019 academic year! for each academic year six distinguished lecturers are selected to be a part of the ocean discovery lecturer series where each lecturer must give at least six lectures focusing on results of international ocean discovery program (iodp) research to academic research institutions museums and aquaria the united states science support program (usssp) funds the lecturer's transportation expenses to and from various institutions  dr reece studies the hydromechanical behavior of marine sediments she was a schlander ocean drilling fellowship recipient and participated in two iodp expeditions (expeditions 308 and 322) dr reece plans to present results from investigations of early chemical and physical diagenesis using mudstones from the gulf of mexico (iodp expedition 308) and offshore japan (iodp expedition 322) during her lecture titled mud and bugs under stress: compression of marine sediments beneath the seafloor read more here: https://buffly/2uurpcu written by: cristina figueroa   " "congratulations to assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics dr julia reece who was selected as an iodp ocean discovery lecturer for the 2018-2019 academic year! for each academic year six distinguished lecturers are selected to be a part of the ocean discovery lecturer series where each lecturer must give at least six lectures focusing on results of international ocean discovery program (iodp) research to academic research institutions museums and aquaria the united states science support program (usssp) funds the lecturer's transportation expenses to and from various institutions  dr reece studies the hydromechanical behavior of marine sediments she was a schlander ocean drilling fellowship recipient and participated in two iodp expeditions (expeditions 308 and 322) dr reece plans to present results from investigations of early chemical and physical diagenesis using mudstones from the gulf of mexico (iodp expedition 308) and offshore japan (iodp expedition 322) during her lecture titled mud and bugs under stress: compression of marine sediments beneath the seafloor read more here: https://buffly/2uurpcu written by: cristina figueroa  " " 2018 department picnicthe department celebrated the end of the year and honored faculty and graduate students for their achievements at the 2018 geology & geophysics department picnic apr 14 2018this april 14 at bee creek park the department celebrated the end of the year and honored faculty and graduate students for their achievements at the 2018 geology and geophysics department picnic faculty graduate students and guests enjoyed an afternoon at the park with various games and lunch faculty members awarded pins for their years of service to the department of geology and geophysics: dr ethan grossman – 35 years dr william lamb – 30 years dr fredrick chester – 20 years dr judith chester – 20 years dr richard gibson – 20 yearsdr ethan grossmandrs judi and fred chester with department head dr mike popethe department of geology and geophysics also presented graduate awards for achievements in research teaching and service these awards honor both a master student and a phd student in research teaching and service for a total of six awards students applied for the awards through an application which included the submission of a cover letter a cv and letter of support from a faculty and/or staff member a department committee composed of five professors of diverse ranks and disciplines reviewed all complete graduate student award applications and decided on the six recipients the following graduate students were awarded for this 2017-2018 academic year:service award:michelle chrpakathie guerra service award:*alexandra snellshayna quidas research award:*kewei chen (*not pictured)michelle chrpa with department head dr mike popeshayna quidas with graduate academic advisor trisha fikekathie guerra with department head dr mike popephotos of the event may be viewed here: txag/cxkafljwritten by: cristina figueroa ‘15 photos by: mariana figueroa ‘19 " "this april 14 at bee creek park the department celebrated the end of the year and honored faculty and graduate students for their achievements at the 2018 geology and geophysics department picnic faculty graduate students and guests enjoyed an afternoon at the park with various games and lunch faculty members awarded pins for their years of service to the department of geology and geophysics: dr ethan grossman – 35 years dr william lamb – 30 years dr fredrick chester – 20 years dr judith chester – 20 years dr richard gibson – 20 years" dr ethan grossmandrs judi and fred chester with department head dr mike pope "the department of geology and geophysics also presented graduate awards for achievements in research teaching and service these awards honor both a master student and a phd student in research teaching and service for a total of six awards students applied for the awards through an application which included the submission of a cover letter a cv and letter of support from a faculty and/or staff member a department committee composed of five professors of diverse ranks and disciplines reviewed all complete graduate student award applications and decided on the six recipients the following graduate students were awarded for this 2017-2018 academic year:service award:michelle chrpakathie guerra service award:*alexandra snellshayna quidas research award:*kewei chen (*not pictured)" michelle chrpa with department head dr mike popeshayna quidas with graduate academic advisor trisha fikekathie guerra with department head dr mike pope photos of the event may be viewed here: txag/cxkafljwritten by: cristina figueroa ‘15 photos by: mariana figueroa ‘19 " barbara bayer honored with presidents meritorious service awardbayer was one of only two supervisors awarded from throughout the entire universityapr 13 2018barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration in the college of geosciences was honored with a 2018 presidents meritorious service award (photo by chris mouchyn)texas a&m university president michael k young has announced the recipients of the 2018 presidents meritorious service awards this year 25 individual staff members two supervisors and two teams were recognized for their service to texas a&m barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration in the college of geosciences was honored with a supervisor award these prestigious awards recognize and rewards staff who have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service barbara bayer epitomizes selfless service wrote dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences in her nomination letter every single dimension of the education research and engagement enterprises of our institution relies on the accounting and human resources functions that barbara supervises barbara has distinguished herself by performing all of these functions with impeccable transparency equity and fiscal responsibility in short she is the epitome of a team player because she is the perfect coach all university employees as well as chartwells and ssc services for education employees are invited to the award ceremony honoring these outstanding staff members the ceremony will be held on april 23 at 3:30 pm in the msc bethancourt ballroom a reception with refreshments will follow the ceremony and serve as the official kick-off for staff appreciation week at texas a&m  read the full list of recipients by leslie lee ‘09 " barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration in the college of geosciences was honored with a 2018 presidents meritorious service award (photo by chris mouchyn) "texas a&m university president michael k young has announced the recipients of the 2018 presidents meritorious service awards this year 25 individual staff members two supervisors and two teams were recognized for their service to texas a&m barbara bayer assistant dean for finance and administration in the college of geosciences was honored with a supervisor award these prestigious awards recognize and rewards staff who have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service barbara bayer epitomizes selfless service wrote dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences in her nomination letter every single dimension of the education research and engagement enterprises of our institution relies on the accounting and human resources functions that barbara supervises barbara has distinguished herself by performing all of these functions with impeccable transparency equity and fiscal responsibility in short she is the epitome of a team player because she is the perfect coach all university employees as well as chartwells and ssc services for education employees are invited to the award ceremony honoring these outstanding staff members the ceremony will be held on april 23 at 3:30 pm in the msc bethancourt ballroom a reception with refreshments will follow the ceremony and serve as the official kick-off for staff appreciation week at texas a&m  read the full list of recipients by leslie lee ‘09" " returning to galveston bay texas a&m oceanographers continue studying post-harvey coast aggie oceanographers and other collaborative researchers visited galveston bay on the r/v trident to continue studying the effects of hurricane harvey on the marine ecosystemapr 11 2018group photo of all the researchers aboard on r/v trident on march 24 (photo by: chris mouchyn)on march 24 dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university led aggie oceanographers aboard the r/v trident for a one-day cruise in galveston bay a range of undergraduate and graduate students from the department of oceanography and other collaborative departments were involved in this cruise to study the ocean environment along the texas coast the main goal of this cruise was to answer the big question – what were the effects of hurricane harvey on galveston bay said fitzsimmons the first cruise in this series of research cruises was in june 2017 led by dr shari yvon-lewis who is a professor and also the oceanography department head as an opportunity for her graduate students and collaborating students to collect and analyze samples then hurricane harvey hit texas a few months later in late august 2017 since then fitzsimmons yvon-lewis and other research faculty in the department of oceanography have gathered high impact learning and research funds to continuously visit their ocean backyard galveston bay not only to provide access to the ocean to collect samples but also to develop a collaborative research team to explore the coastal oceans response to contaminants released during hurricane harvey two more cruises were completed in september 2017 soon after harvey and in november 2017 to assess how the ecosystem in galveston bay had recovered from harvey the march 2018 outing was the fourth such cruise to visit galveston bay more than half a year after harvey the march cruise was meant to capture the final time point in the seasonality of galveston bay said fitzsimmons now we have a complete dataset over all four seasons including wet and dry seasons and also immediately following hurricane harveygraduate student laramie jensen (left) from the department of oceanography sampling seawater from pump and undergraduate student alexa mendoza (right) from the department of chemistry (photo by: bumsoo kim)dr shari von-lewis (left) and her graduate student stanford goodwin (right) from the department of oceanography collecting seawater sample from niskin bottle (photo by: bumsoo kim)undergraduate student reagan lucas from department of chemistry lowering the pump line (photo by: bumsoo kim)graduate student damian simonini (left) from the department of oceangoraphy and jerry chen (right) from department of civil engineering collecting sediment sample from grab (photo by: bumsoo kim)during the cruise students collected various environmental samples from seawater and the sediments at each station a ctd (conductivity temperature depth) sensor instrument was deployed to measure temperature salinity and depth of the water column and a secchi disk was deployed to measure turbidity seawater was sampled from a niskin bottle to measure various biogeochemical parameters including dissolved oxygen inorganic and organic carbon ph bacterial and phytoplankton abundances toxic contaminants and pollutants etc also samples for trace metals (such as dissolved iron and toxic lead) macronutrients petroleum oil compounds and suspended particles were collected using a pump deployed into the seawater from both the surface and near the seafloor sediment samples were collected by manually lowering a grab sampler to measure toxic heavy metals bacteria and organic abundances a symposium effects of hurricane harvey on galveston bay was held on jan 19 by the department of oceanography to introduce the cruises successful progress and results the symposium was attended by students faculty staff and local stakeholders including texas sea grant through this opportunity like never before we were able to unite our graduate students and faculty to access the ocean fitzsimmons said throughout the oceanography program and across the college of geosciences we are all interested in accessing the ocean we all have these small ideas that we need access to seawater in order to explore for example sampling and analytical methods tests calibrating and testing oceanography instruments and designing new experiments we now have that opportunity in our ocean backyard we can get our students to gain experience and get trained at both the undergraduate and graduate levels it is really exciting through this program we have developed a seasonal snapshot of a small but important anthropogenically-influenced ocean body galveston bay we have incredible coverage of a large suite of contaminant and biogeochemical parameters that are coming together into a great story following hurricane harvey they are open to any other faculty or researchers interested in collaborating with their interdisciplinary research team fitzsimmons saiddr jessica fitzsimmons and her students (photo by: bumsoo kim)dr shari von-lewis and her students (photo by: bumsoo kim)in addition to yvon-lewis and fitzsimmons these collaborative researchers have supported and were involved in this study: drs kathryn shamberger daniel thornton and gerardo gold bouchot in the department of oceanography and dr kung-hui (bella) chu in the department of civil engineering they are also collaborating with researchers at texas a&m galveston led by dr antonietta quiggphillip fitzsimmons preparing lunch for the students (photo by: bumsoo kim)group photo in the kitchen of r/v trident (photo by: bumsoo kim)by bumsoo kim   " group photo of all the researchers aboard on r/v trident on march 24 (photo by: chris mouchyn) "on march 24 dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university led aggie oceanographers aboard the r/v trident for a one-day cruise in galveston bay a range of undergraduate and graduate students from the department of oceanography and other collaborative departments were involved in this cruise to study the ocean environment along the texas coast the main goal of this cruise was to answer the big question – what were the effects of hurricane harvey on galveston bay said fitzsimmons the first cruise in this series of research cruises was in june 2017 led by dr shari yvon-lewis who is a professor and also the oceanography department head as an opportunity for her graduate students and collaborating students to collect and analyze samples then hurricane harvey hit texas a few months later in late august 2017 since then fitzsimmons yvon-lewis and other research faculty in the department of oceanography have gathered high impact learning and research funds to continuously visit their ocean backyard galveston bay not only to provide access to the ocean to collect samples but also to develop a collaborative research team to explore the coastal oceans response to contaminants released during hurricane harvey two more cruises were completed in september 2017 soon after harvey and in november 2017 to assess how the ecosystem in galveston bay had recovered from harvey the march 2018 outing was the fourth such cruise to visit galveston bay more than half a year after harvey the march cruise was meant to capture the final time point in the seasonality of galveston bay said fitzsimmons now we have a complete dataset over all four seasons including wet and dry seasons and also immediately following hurricane harvey" graduate student laramie jensen (left) from the department of oceanography sampling seawater from pump and undergraduate student alexa mendoza (right) from the department of chemistry (photo by: bumsoo kim)dr shari von-lewis (left) and her graduate student stanford goodwin (right) from the department of oceanography collecting seawater sample from niskin bottle (photo by: bumsoo kim) undergraduate student reagan lucas from department of chemistry lowering the pump line (photo by: bumsoo kim)graduate student damian simonini (left) from the department of oceangoraphy and jerry chen (right) from department of civil engineering collecting sediment sample from grab (photo by: bumsoo kim) "during the cruise students collected various environmental samples from seawater and the sediments at each station a ctd (conductivity temperature depth) sensor instrument was deployed to measure temperature salinity and depth of the water column and a secchi disk was deployed to measure turbidity seawater was sampled from a niskin bottle to measure various biogeochemical parameters including dissolved oxygen inorganic and organic carbon ph bacterial and phytoplankton abundances toxic contaminants and pollutants etc also samples for trace metals (such as dissolved iron and toxic lead) macronutrients petroleum oil compounds and suspended particles were collected using a pump deployed into the seawater from both the surface and near the seafloor sediment samples were collected by manually lowering a grab sampler to measure toxic heavy metals bacteria and organic abundances a symposium effects of hurricane harvey on galveston bay was held on jan 19 by the department of oceanography to introduce the cruises successful progress and results the symposium was attended by students faculty staff and local stakeholders including texas sea grant through this opportunity like never before we were able to unite our graduate students and faculty to access the ocean fitzsimmons said throughout the oceanography program and across the college of geosciences we are all interested in accessing the ocean we all have these small ideas that we need access to seawater in order to explore for example sampling and analytical methods tests calibrating and testing oceanography instruments and designing new experiments we now have that opportunity in our ocean backyard we can get our students to gain experience and get trained at both the undergraduate and graduate levels it is really exciting through this program we have developed a seasonal snapshot of a small but important anthropogenically-influenced ocean body galveston bay we have incredible coverage of a large suite of contaminant and biogeochemical parameters that are coming together into a great story following hurricane harvey they are open to any other faculty or researchers interested in collaborating with their interdisciplinary research team fitzsimmons said" dr jessica fitzsimmons and her students (photo by: bumsoo kim)dr shari von-lewis and her students (photo by: bumsoo kim) in addition to yvon-lewis and fitzsimmons these collaborative researchers have supported and were involved in this study: drs kathryn shamberger daniel thornton and gerardo gold bouchot in the department of oceanography and dr kung-hui (bella) chu in the department of civil engineering they are also collaborating with researchers at texas a&m galveston led by dr antonietta quigg phillip fitzsimmons preparing lunch for the students (photo by: bumsoo kim)group photo in the kitchen of r/v trident (photo by: bumsoo kim) " texas sea grant to screen straws documentary featuring aggie doctoral candidate april 20apr 9 2018christine figgener a texas a&m university doctoral candidate whose viral video about a sea turtle found with a straw up its nose has reached more than 20 million viewers is among the panelists at a free screening of straws an award-winning documentary about plastic pollution in the marine environment at 4 pm april 20 in rudder theatre figgener is featured in the film which examines the impacts of straws and other single-use plastic items in our waterways and oceans a marine conservation biologist who works with sea turtles she was leading a research team off the coast of costa rica in the summer of 2015 when she shot the iconic and graphic video of researchers pulling a 4-inch plastic drinking straw out of a sea turtles nose her video is referred to frequently in straws as a pivotal moment in awakening the public to the harm caused by discarded plastic in the worlds oceans plastic straws and all other single-use plastics are a major issue for wildlife but theyre also detrimental for us and our health plastics have unfortunately become part of our diet by now for instance when we eat fish figgener said i am really proud that this film is coming to the texas a&m campus and about the role my video has played in the anti-straw movement im also glad for the opportunity to show my fellow aggies more about my work and how they can make a difference every day four other panelists on the program are leaders of a variety of efforts from the local to international level to reduce plastic waste in waterways and oceans: megan eddings ceo and founder of accel lifestyle a company that manufactures eco-friendly and socially responsible fitness apparel made from anti-microbial fabric she invented that stays fresh and will not add micro-plastic to the environment when it is laundered zoe king cadette girl scout and co-founder of sea turtles vs straws a campaign aimed at reducing single-use straws in restaurants in aggieland martha parker manager of conservation impact at the houston zoo a non-profit organization that is committed to saving wildlife by reducing threats such as plastic pollution the zoo has reduced its plastic footprint by eliminating plastic bags plastic water bottles and single-use plastic straws to save animals and their habitats in the wild and to educate and inspire the public to take similar action ryan trahan distance runner youtube star and ceo and founder of neptune bottles a reusable water bottle company with a mission to make the world a better place by reducing the amount of plastic in our environment the panel discussion which will follow the screening of the 33-minute film will be moderated by dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences and professor of oceanography with colorful animation sequences and segments narrated by oscar winner tim robbins straws is an entertaining look at a serious subject it illustrates how individuals groups business owners and leaders around the globe are reducing plastic straw use and empowers its viewers to be part of the solution straws won the outstanding achievement award in environmental film at cayman international film festival and was called an inspiring story of how it's possible to make a sea of change one straw at a time by the philadelphia environmental film festival a trailer is available at http://wwwvideoprojectcom/strawshtml the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university which supported figgeners research project in costa rica is sponsoring and hosting the free screening several door prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the program for more information contact dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director at plotkin@tamuedu a video story about the incident is available at https://wwwyoutubecom/watchannotation_id=annotation_2942393383&feature=iv&src_vid=4wh878t78bw&v=nln52majcjw a shortened version of figgeners video is available at https://wwwyoutubecom/watchv=4mphbpmp6_i&t=1s " "christine figgener a texas a&m university doctoral candidate whose viral video about a sea turtle found with a straw up its nose has reached more than 20 million viewers is among the panelists at a free screening of straws an award-winning documentary about plastic pollution in the marine environment at 4 pm april 20 in rudder theatre figgener is featured in the film which examines the impacts of straws and other single-use plastic items in our waterways and oceans a marine conservation biologist who works with sea turtles she was leading a research team off the coast of costa rica in the summer of 2015 when she shot the iconic and graphic video of researchers pulling a 4-inch plastic drinking straw out of a sea turtles nose her video is referred to frequently in straws as a pivotal moment in awakening the public to the harm caused by discarded plastic in the worlds oceans plastic straws and all other single-use plastics are a major issue for wildlife but theyre also detrimental for us and our health plastics have unfortunately become part of our diet by now for instance when we eat fish figgener said i am really proud that this film is coming to the texas a&m campus and about the role my video has played in the anti-straw movement im also glad for the opportunity to show my fellow aggies more about my work and how they can make a difference every day four other panelists on the program are leaders of a variety of efforts from the local to international level to reduce plastic waste in waterways and oceans: megan eddings ceo and founder of accel lifestyle a company that manufactures eco-friendly and socially responsible fitness apparel made from anti-microbial fabric she invented that stays fresh and will not add micro-plastic to the environment when it is laundered zoe king cadette girl scout and co-founder of sea turtles vs straws a campaign aimed at reducing single-use straws in restaurants in aggieland martha parker manager of conservation impact at the houston zoo a non-profit organization that is committed to saving wildlife by reducing threats such as plastic pollution the zoo has reduced its plastic footprint by eliminating plastic bags plastic water bottles and single-use plastic straws to save animals and their habitats in the wild and to educate and inspire the public to take similar action ryan trahan distance runner youtube star and ceo and founder of neptune bottles a reusable water bottle company with a mission to make the world a better place by reducing the amount of plastic in our environment the panel discussion which will follow the screening of the 33-minute film will be moderated by dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences and professor of oceanography with colorful animation sequences and segments narrated by oscar winner tim robbins straws is an entertaining look at a serious subject it illustrates how individuals groups business owners and leaders around the globe are reducing plastic straw use and empowers its viewers to be part of the solution straws won the outstanding achievement award in environmental film at cayman international film festival and was called an inspiring story of how it's possible to make a sea of change one straw at a time by the philadelphia environmental film festival a trailer is available at http://wwwvideoprojectcom/strawshtml the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university which supported figgeners research project in costa rica is sponsoring and hosting the free screening several door prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the program for more information contact dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director at plotkin@tamuedu a video story about the incident is available at https://wwwyoutubecom/watchannotation_id=annotation_2942393383&feature=iv&src_vid=4wh878t78bw&v=nln52majcjw a shortened version of figgeners video is available at https://wwwyoutubecom/watchv=4mphbpmp6_i&t=1s" " 2018 geosciences scholarship appreciation celebrationthe 2018 geosciences scholarship appreciation celebration honored scholarship donors and recipients for the yearapr 6 2018thank you to all of our generous and passionate donors and inspiring student scholarship recipients who joined us for our 2018 geosciences scholarship appreciation celebration! this festive event was held on april 6 at the clayton w williams jr alumni center home of the association of former studentsfull resolution photos and additional photos are available for download here: txag/geo2018banquet   " "thank you to all of our generous and passionate donors and inspiring student scholarship recipients who joined us for our 2018 geosciences scholarship appreciation celebration! this festive event was held on april 6 at the clayton w williams jr alumni center home of the association of former studentsfull resolution photos and additional photos are available for download here: txag/geo2018banquet  " " after harvey flooded this aggies high school she stepped up to helpthird-generation aggie kaylin krienke helped organize a harvey relief benefit concert in her hometownapr 6 2018kaylin krienke senior environmental geosciences major and her grandfather dr jon botsford '75 (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)krienke's hometown experienced major flooding after hurricane harvey (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)over half a year ago hurricane harvey came barreling into the texas coast with the force of a category 4 storm the storm caused loss of life and massive amounts of damage throughout many texas cities including numerous aggies hometowns senior environmental geosciences major kaylin krienke was among the thousands of people affected by the storm her hometown of kingwood texas was one of the many cities near houston that experienced major flooding kingwood high school was so severely flooded that it was not able to reopen until march 19 2018 how this geosciences student decided to help krienke was a choir member during her high school years there and was touched when she found out how much the program had lost to flooding they lost everything in the flood all of their music all of their supplies equipment and stuff and they dont really have a huge budget to begin with she explained so she decided to do something about itkingwood high school inundated by floodwaters caused by the hurricane (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)the kingwood heb grocery store also flooded (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)there was a boy that lived not far from where i live and his house got very badly flooded krienke said he had a grand piano and they were throwing it away one day while he was waiting for the bus he was playing it sitting on the curb because he had a concert not long after and needed to practice seeing that touched my family's heart we thought about how these people had lost everything and then we thought about how the school had lost everything so we decided to put on a benefit concert for the fine arts department of the school to raise money the concert was held jan 20 and successfully raised $1 500 for the schools fine arts and over 300 people attended krienke helped support the fundraiser through developing event marketing and social media campaigns that helped communicate the devastation harvey had caused one of the other things that our community really suffered from is that we had just gotten a brand new heb krienke said it got several feet of water in it and they had to completely rebuild that was the location of our charity concert although her own home was spared from flooding krienke said her relatives homes in matagorda were flooded and her fathers business in south houston was also flooded it affected everything around me she said aggie excellence is a family tradition krienke is a third-generation aggie her father ken krienke graduated from texas a&m in 1984 and her grandfather had earned his phd at texas a&m in 1972 her grandfather dr jon botsford became a professor in the department of engineering technology and taught a manufacturing class at texas a&m for 20 years when krienke began at texas a&m she was a different major but after taking an environmental science elective she quickly realized that her passions were in environmental geoscience the people that i was around in that class were so passionate about the environment and wanting to do good in the world that it really inspired me; it was a no-brainer to switch over and ive been really happy ever since after graduating this may krienke is considering beginning her career before possibly pursuing graduate school i would like to get out and explore the world before i go back to school she said krienke hopes to find a career that involves a lot of field work i have a real passion for handling samples and just getting your hands dirty so i hope to find a job with a lot of that  if you would like to help krienkes high school you can donate to this fund  by taylor fuechec " kaylin krienke senior environmental geosciences major and her grandfather dr jon botsford '75 (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)krienke's hometown experienced major flooding after hurricane harvey (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke) "over half a year ago hurricane harvey came barreling into the texas coast with the force of a category 4 storm the storm caused loss of life and massive amounts of damage throughout many texas cities including numerous aggies hometowns senior environmental geosciences major kaylin krienke was among the thousands of people affected by the storm her hometown of kingwood texas was one of the many cities near houston that experienced major flooding kingwood high school was so severely flooded that it was not able to reopen until march 19 2018 how this geosciences student decided to help krienke was a choir member during her high school years there and was touched when she found out how much the program had lost to flooding they lost everything in the flood all of their music all of their supplies equipment and stuff and they dont really have a huge budget to begin with she explained so she decided to do something about it" kingwood high school inundated by floodwaters caused by the hurricane (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke)the kingwood heb grocery store also flooded (photo courtesy of kaylin krienke) "there was a boy that lived not far from where i live and his house got very badly flooded krienke said he had a grand piano and they were throwing it away one day while he was waiting for the bus he was playing it sitting on the curb because he had a concert not long after and needed to practice seeing that touched my family's heart we thought about how these people had lost everything and then we thought about how the school had lost everything so we decided to put on a benefit concert for the fine arts department of the school to raise money the concert was held jan 20 and successfully raised $1 500 for the schools fine arts and over 300 people attended krienke helped support the fundraiser through developing event marketing and social media campaigns that helped communicate the devastation harvey had caused one of the other things that our community really suffered from is that we had just gotten a brand new heb krienke said it got several feet of water in it and they had to completely rebuild that was the location of our charity concert although her own home was spared from flooding krienke said her relatives homes in matagorda were flooded and her fathers business in south houston was also flooded it affected everything around me she said aggie excellence is a family tradition krienke is a third-generation aggie her father ken krienke graduated from texas a&m in 1984 and her grandfather had earned his phd at texas a&m in 1972 her grandfather dr jon botsford became a professor in the department of engineering technology and taught a manufacturing class at texas a&m for 20 years when krienke began at texas a&m she was a different major but after taking an environmental science elective she quickly realized that her passions were in environmental geoscience the people that i was around in that class were so passionate about the environment and wanting to do good in the world that it really inspired me; it was a no-brainer to switch over and ive been really happy ever since after graduating this may krienke is considering beginning her career before possibly pursuing graduate school i would like to get out and explore the world before i go back to school she said krienke hopes to find a career that involves a lot of field work i have a real passion for handling samples and just getting your hands dirty so i hope to find a job with a lot of that  if you would like to help krienkes high school you can donate to this fund  by taylor fuechec" " rasoulkhani wins texas sea grant award at texas a&ms 21st annual student research weekmar 28 2018a doctoral student whose research focuses on the resilience of urban water infrastructure is the recipient of the second texas sea grant special award at last weeks texas a&m university (tamu) student research week (srw) kambiz rasoulkhani a civil engineering phd candidate in the zachry department of civil engineering received the $250 prize for his poster presentation towards resilient urban water infrastructure system rasoulkhani is conducting his research under the mentorship of dr ali mostafavi rasoulkhanis study sought to evaluate how the long-term resilience of urban water infrastructure systems changes in response to common stressors such as infrastructure age and climate change his research could help communities anticipate potential points of failure in their water infrastructure and save money by building sturdier infrastructure systems in the future  srw is a four-day event highlighting research at the university with a special emphasis on student participation the program provides a venue for students to share their work through oral presentations and posters and it also gives the university community an opportunity to see the breadth and depth of research conducted at tamu texas sea grant offers the special award each year to honor the undergraduate or graduate student from any discipline who submits the most outstanding oral presentation or poster that shows the most innovative yet practical research that exemplifies the focus areas of texas sea grant: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem education and workforce development tamus srw is the largest single-university student-run research symposium it is hosted by the graduate and professional student council this was the 21st year of the program " "a doctoral student whose research focuses on the resilience of urban water infrastructure is the recipient of the second texas sea grant special award at last weeks texas a&m university (tamu) student research week (srw) kambiz rasoulkhani a civil engineering phd candidate in the zachry department of civil engineering received the $250 prize for his poster presentation towards resilient urban water infrastructure system rasoulkhani is conducting his research under the mentorship of dr ali mostafavi rasoulkhanis study sought to evaluate how the long-term resilience of urban water infrastructure systems changes in response to common stressors such as infrastructure age and climate change his research could help communities anticipate potential points of failure in their water infrastructure and save money by building sturdier infrastructure systems in the future  srw is a four-day event highlighting research at the university with a special emphasis on student participation the program provides a venue for students to share their work through oral presentations and posters and it also gives the university community an opportunity to see the breadth and depth of research conducted at tamu texas sea grant offers the special award each year to honor the undergraduate or graduate student from any discipline who submits the most outstanding oral presentation or poster that shows the most innovative yet practical research that exemplifies the focus areas of texas sea grant: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem education and workforce development tamus srw is the largest single-university student-run research symposium it is hosted by the graduate and professional student council this was the 21st year of the program" " conlee and dessler honored with university-level distinguished achievement awardstwo college of geosciences professors have been recognized for their exemplary teaching and research accomplishmentsmar 20 2018texas a&m university and the association of former students have announced the 2018 university-level distinguished achievement awards recipients in the college of geosciences dr don t conlee 94 instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences received a distinguished achievement award for teaching and dr andrew dessler atmospheric sciences professor and the reta a haynes chair in geosciences received a distinguished achievement award for researchdr don t conleedr andrew desslertwenty-four outstanding members of texas a&ms faculty and staff will be honored with distinguished achievement awards which were first presented in 1955 and have since been awarded to more than 1 000 professionals who have exhibited the highest standards of excellence at texas a&m dr conlee is one of the most effective and engaging educators with whom i have had the privilege to work said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences when we ask our graduating students who in the college had the greatest positive impact on their educational professional and personal development during their years at texas a&m dr conlees influence clearly shines through the distinguished achievement award is such a beautiful tribute to dr conlees impact – we are so thrilled for him!   dr desslers passion for advancing our understanding of climate change is truly inspiring thomas said he is a gifted scholar with the equally important ability to make scientific advances in this challenging discipline accessible to anyone interested in the future of our planet we are so fortunate to have his intellect and communications skills at the forefront of this science and so fortunate to have him on the texas a&m team  the awards will be formally presented at 10 am on april 27 during ceremonies in rudder theatre at texas a&m in recognition of their achievements each recipient will receive a cash gift an engraved watch and a commemorative plaque learn more about conlees teaching and research read more about desslers teaching and research by leslie lee 09 " "texas a&m university and the association of former students have announced the 2018 university-level distinguished achievement awards recipients in the college of geosciences dr don t conlee 94 instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences received a distinguished achievement award for teaching and dr andrew dessler atmospheric sciences professor and the reta a haynes chair in geosciences received a distinguished achievement award for research" "twenty-four outstanding members of texas a&ms faculty and staff will be honored with distinguished achievement awards which were first presented in 1955 and have since been awarded to more than 1 000 professionals who have exhibited the highest standards of excellence at texas a&m dr conlee is one of the most effective and engaging educators with whom i have had the privilege to work said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences when we ask our graduating students who in the college had the greatest positive impact on their educational professional and personal development during their years at texas a&m dr conlees influence clearly shines through the distinguished achievement award is such a beautiful tribute to dr conlees impact – we are so thrilled for him!   dr desslers passion for advancing our understanding of climate change is truly inspiring thomas said he is a gifted scholar with the equally important ability to make scientific advances in this challenging discipline accessible to anyone interested in the future of our planet we are so fortunate to have his intellect and communications skills at the forefront of this science and so fortunate to have him on the texas a&m team  the awards will be formally presented at 10 am on april 27 during ceremonies in rudder theatre at texas a&m in recognition of their achievements each recipient will receive a cash gift an engraved watch and a commemorative plaque learn more about conlees teaching and research read more about desslers teaching and research by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m experts reflect on oceanographic lessons learned from hurricane harveyoceanography researchers presented new studies on how the unusual ocean condition contributed to hurricane harvey at recent ocean sciences meeting mar 12 2018did unusual ocean conditions contribute to hurricane harveys intense rainfall and flood and if so how dr steven dimarco professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and dr henry potter associate professor in the same department and dr arnoldo valle-levinson professor in the department of civil and coastal engineering at university of florida answered these questions and presented new studies at the american geophysical union (agu) press conference during the ocean sciences meeting (osm) in portland oregon on feb 18 the studies focused on the impact of harvey on the gulf of mexico many aggie oceanography researchers and students participated in research cruises aboard various research vessels which included the r/v point sur r/v trident r/v lithos and the r/v manta before and after harvey photo of press conference video archive   students collecting samples onboard the r/v point sur (photo courtesy of dr henry potter)potter discussed how heat content of the ocean affected the rapid intensification of harvey based on tropical cyclone heat potential (tchp) thcp is defined as the integrated heat of the ocean water column above the 26 °c isotherm (constant temperature) which is a useful metric to estimate the energy available to fuel a hurricane despite the observation of significant heat increase in the texas coastal surface water tchp was much lower than normally associated with the rapid intensification of hurricane this may suggest that tchp may not be an ideal metric for shallow coastal environment or other factors might have contributed potter said dimarco presented in-situ observations based on texas automated buoy system (tabs) data collected from 10 buoys in the gulf of mexico including 8 buoys along the texas coast and 2 buoys in flower garden banks national marine sanctuary 100 miles offshore of galveston texas these buoys provided real-time observations throughout the passage of the storm including temperature salinity and current velocity these measurements were used to monitor the distribution of terrestrial freshwater flux along the coast after harvey made landfall  strong surface currents were continuously observed during the harvey dimarco said maximum was up to 160 cm/s which was the strongest current ever that was measured in this region during the past two decades based on our measurements an unusual massive freshwater plume had been detected along the texas coast but the storms floodwater and contaminants that posed a threat to the coastal marine ecosystems luckily did not reached the protected reefs of the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary he said lastly the university of floridas valle-levinson found that three conditions prevented harveys floodwater from flowing into the ocean first and second were buffalo bayou and the san jacinto river which were so overwhelmed that a bottleneck of freshwater clogged and slowed flows to the ocean thirdly high sea-level rise made the flooding worse in the houston area because the ocean was preconditioning the flooding in houston and galveston bay valle-levinson said for more details view the full video record of the press conference talk on agus youtube channel by bumsoo kim " "did unusual ocean conditions contribute to hurricane harveys intense rainfall and flood and if so how dr steven dimarco professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and dr henry potter associate professor in the same department and dr arnoldo valle-levinson professor in the department of civil and coastal engineering at university of florida answered these questions and presented new studies at the american geophysical union (agu) press conference during the ocean sciences meeting (osm) in portland oregon on feb 18 the studies focused on the impact of harvey on the gulf of mexico many aggie oceanography researchers and students participated in research cruises aboard various research vessels which included the r/v point sur r/v trident r/v lithos and the r/v manta before and after harvey" students collecting samples onboard the r/v point sur (photo courtesy of dr henry potter) "potter discussed how heat content of the ocean affected the rapid intensification of harvey based on tropical cyclone heat potential (tchp) thcp is defined as the integrated heat of the ocean water column above the 26 °c isotherm (constant temperature) which is a useful metric to estimate the energy available to fuel a hurricane despite the observation of significant heat increase in the texas coastal surface water tchp was much lower than normally associated with the rapid intensification of hurricane this may suggest that tchp may not be an ideal metric for shallow coastal environment or other factors might have contributed potter said dimarco presented in-situ observations based on texas automated buoy system (tabs) data collected from 10 buoys in the gulf of mexico including 8 buoys along the texas coast and 2 buoys in flower garden banks national marine sanctuary 100 miles offshore of galveston texas these buoys provided real-time observations throughout the passage of the storm including temperature salinity and current velocity these measurements were used to monitor the distribution of terrestrial freshwater flux along the coast after harvey made landfall  strong surface currents were continuously observed during the harvey dimarco said maximum was up to 160 cm/s which was the strongest current ever that was measured in this region during the past two decades based on our measurements an unusual massive freshwater plume had been detected along the texas coast but the storms floodwater and contaminants that posed a threat to the coastal marine ecosystems luckily did not reached the protected reefs of the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary he said lastly the university of floridas valle-levinson found that three conditions prevented harveys floodwater from flowing into the ocean first and second were buffalo bayou and the san jacinto river which were so overwhelmed that a bottleneck of freshwater clogged and slowed flows to the ocean thirdly high sea-level rise made the flooding worse in the houston area because the ocean was preconditioning the flooding in houston and galveston bay valle-levinson said for more details view the full video record of the press conference talk on agus youtube channel by bumsoo kim" " texas sea grant wants students to have a safe spring break at the beachmar 8 2018as thousands of college students converge on texas beaches this month the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university would like everyone to be aware of the dangers of rip currents which can sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea rip currents cause at least 100 deaths each year at united states coastal and great lakes beaches a rip current is a horizontal current that pulls people away from the shore drowning deaths occur when people pulled offshore are unable to keep themselves afloat or swim to safety dr christian brannstrom associate dean for academic affairs in the college of geosciences has studied rip currents and beachgoers perceptions of them he warns that it can be much more difficult for occasional beach visitors to identify rip currents compared to frequent beach users including surfers who ride rip currents out to the breaking waves so they can surf back to shore but there are some clues that can help there are signs beach visitors can look for including a break in the incoming wave pattern; a channel of churning choppy water; an area with a visible difference in water color; or a line of foam seaweed or debris moving steadily seaward brannstrom said rip currents often form around man-made structures like piers groins and jetties and theyre also more likely to form when there are heavy surf conditions texas sea grant the national weather service and the united states lifesaving association (usla) recommend that beachgoers learn to swim and never swim alone; be cautious at all times especially when swimming at unguarded beaches; and whenever possible swim at lifeguard-protected beaches and obey all warning signs and instructions from lifeguards if you are caught in a rip current usla recommends the following strategy: remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly dont fight the current by trying to swim against the current straight to shore escape the current by swimming in a direction following the shoreline when free of the current swim at an angle – away from the current – toward shore if you are unable to escape by swimming float or tread water when the current weakens swim at an angle away from the current toward shore if you dont think you will be able to reach the shore draw attention to yourself – face the shore and call or wave for help other factors that can increase the danger include consuming excessive alcoholic beverages before entering the water texas strong alongshore current can also be a danger especially to young children many people have died trying to rescue rip current victims if you see someone in trouble get help from a lifeguard if there is no lifeguard yell instructions on how to escape throw the victim something that floats and have someone call 9-1-1 additional information about avoiding and surviving rip currents is available at wwwripcurrentsnoaagov by cindie powell  " "as thousands of college students converge on texas beaches this month the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university would like everyone to be aware of the dangers of rip currents which can sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea rip currents cause at least 100 deaths each year at united states coastal and great lakes beaches a rip current is a horizontal current that pulls people away from the shore drowning deaths occur when people pulled offshore are unable to keep themselves afloat or swim to safety dr christian brannstrom associate dean for academic affairs in the college of geosciences has studied rip currents and beachgoers perceptions of them he warns that it can be much more difficult for occasional beach visitors to identify rip currents compared to frequent beach users including surfers who ride rip currents out to the breaking waves so they can surf back to shore but there are some clues that can help there are signs beach visitors can look for including a break in the incoming wave pattern; a channel of churning choppy water; an area with a visible difference in water color; or a line of foam seaweed or debris moving steadily seaward brannstrom said rip currents often form around man-made structures like piers groins and jetties and theyre also more likely to form when there are heavy surf conditions texas sea grant the national weather service and the united states lifesaving association (usla) recommend that beachgoers learn to swim and never swim alone; be cautious at all times especially when swimming at unguarded beaches; and whenever possible swim at lifeguard-protected beaches and obey all warning signs and instructions from lifeguards if you are caught in a rip current usla recommends the following strategy: remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly dont fight the current by trying to swim against the current straight to shore escape the current by swimming in a direction following the shoreline when free of the current swim at an angle – away from the current – toward shore if you are unable to escape by swimming float or tread water when the current weakens swim at an angle away from the current toward shore if you dont think you will be able to reach the shore draw attention to yourself – face the shore and call or wave for help other factors that can increase the danger include consuming excessive alcoholic beverages before entering the water texas strong alongshore current can also be a danger especially to young children many people have died trying to rescue rip current victims if you see someone in trouble get help from a lifeguard if there is no lifeguard yell instructions on how to escape throw the victim something that floats and have someone call 9-1-1 additional information about avoiding and surviving rip currents is available at wwwripcurrentsnoaagov by cindie powell " " in cyberhealthgis reu students connect public health problems with gis analysisus undergraduate students can apply by march 15 to 10-week summer programmar 5 2018how could geospatial analytical tools help identify and measure public health risks what does mapping dentist office locations have to do with occurrences of chronic disease could mapping a shade-maximized route around campus minimize uv exposure and have public health benefits tackling such complicated problems through independent research work is the task given to 10 undergraduate students who travel to texas a&m university to participate in the cyberhealthgis research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program each summer the department of geography department of computer science and engineering and department of epidemiology and biostatistics partner to host undergraduates from across the country in the reu program for 10 weeks the national science foundation funds the nationwide reu program and the college of geosciences at texas a&m university helps host three reus including this one applications for the summer 2018 reu are due march 15 and students from anywhere in the us can applyisaac lello-smith a 2017 reu participant collecting data for his research projectsummer 2017 reu participants learn to build a circuitthe program is highly competitive and we accept about one third of our ten students from geography majors a third from computer science majors and a third from public health majors said dr daniel goldberg one of the three faculty leaders of the reu we help them learn how to do interdisciplinary research and work in teams to solve problems that affect the health and well-being of americans dr tracy hammond computer science and engineering professor and dr jennifer horney department head and associate professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics also lead the reu with the guidance of graduate students and faculty members they develop their own research idea find data to support it and then figure out ways to use technology and maps to communicate their findings horney said each student gets one-on-one guidance and research training from faculty mentors i was exposed to so many new ideas and ways of thinking said sterling laboo a 2017 reu participant and public health student at texas a&m the mentors help the students complete an entire research project in just 10 weeks – collaboratively posing executing and evaluating a research project resulting in research advances in cyberhealthgis several students have had their reu research published in academic journals following their summer research experience every student who has come through this program has shown themselves to be capable researchers goldberg said one of our main goals is to introduce these students to different research and different techniques and different fields that theyre not familiar with the most important thing i learned this summer is that interdisciplinary fields are really important said maeve scully a 2017 reu participant and geography major at the ohio state university all of my peers here now have experience in three fields versus just one  scully said that during the reu program she built on her geography knowledge and learned the computer programming language python and how to build a circuit which will make her a more appealing candidate to employers for more information: apply to this reu program  watch more video interviews with reu participants by leslie lee " "how could geospatial analytical tools help identify and measure public health risks what does mapping dentist office locations have to do with occurrences of chronic disease could mapping a shade-maximized route around campus minimize uv exposure and have public health benefits tackling such complicated problems through independent research work is the task given to 10 undergraduate students who travel to texas a&m university to participate in the cyberhealthgis research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program each summer the department of geography department of computer science and engineering and department of epidemiology and biostatistics partner to host undergraduates from across the country in the reu program for 10 weeks the national science foundation funds the nationwide reu program and the college of geosciences at texas a&m university helps host three reus including this one applications for the summer 2018 reu are due march 15 and students from anywhere in the us can apply" isaac lello-smith a 2017 reu participant collecting data for his research projectsummer 2017 reu participants learn to build a circuit "the program is highly competitive and we accept about one third of our ten students from geography majors a third from computer science majors and a third from public health majors said dr daniel goldberg one of the three faculty leaders of the reu we help them learn how to do interdisciplinary research and work in teams to solve problems that affect the health and well-being of americans dr tracy hammond computer science and engineering professor and dr jennifer horney department head and associate professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics also lead the reu with the guidance of graduate students and faculty members they develop their own research idea find data to support it and then figure out ways to use technology and maps to communicate their findings horney said each student gets one-on-one guidance and research training from faculty mentors i was exposed to so many new ideas and ways of thinking said sterling laboo a 2017 reu participant and public health student at texas a&m the mentors help the students complete an entire research project in just 10 weeks – collaboratively posing executing and evaluating a research project resulting in research advances in cyberhealthgis several students have had their reu research published in academic journals following their summer research experience every student who has come through this program has shown themselves to be capable researchers goldberg said one of our main goals is to introduce these students to different research and different techniques and different fields that theyre not familiar with the most important thing i learned this summer is that interdisciplinary fields are really important said maeve scully a 2017 reu participant and geography major at the ohio state university all of my peers here now have experience in three fields versus just one  scully said that during the reu program she built on her geography knowledge and learned the computer programming language python and how to build a circuit which will make her a more appealing candidate to employers for more information: apply to this reu program  watch more video interviews with reu participants by leslie lee" " texas sea grant awards $5 700 in grants to support undergraduate research projectsfeb 28 2018by cindie powell the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $5 700 in research grants to six undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars undergraduate research program which designates texas sea grant scholars from among those who are selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from texas sea grant to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2017-18 texas sea grant scholars program recipients along with their respective fields of study institutions and projects are listed below: faith kramer environmental studies texas a&m university deep sea corrallium sp in the northwest hawaiian islands basal diameter-colony height curve and colony height-age curve laura leonard marine biology tamug dissolved organic matter cycling following a major flooding event in galveston bay texas naomi mathew marine biology tamug biodiversity of the class scyphozoa in the gulf of mexico thomas page marine biology tamug feeding ecology of sheepshead (archosargus probatocephalus) in the northwest gulf of mexico william prouse offshore and coastal systems tamug vegetative nullification for aerial photogrammetry taylor strope marine biology tamug the effects of hurricane harvey on the biodiversity and abundance of hydromedusae in galveston bay " "by cindie powell the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $5 700 in research grants to six undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars undergraduate research program which designates texas sea grant scholars from among those who are selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from texas sea grant to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2017-18 texas sea grant scholars program recipients along with their respective fields of study institutions and projects are listed below: faith kramer environmental studies texas a&m university deep sea corrallium sp in the northwest hawaiian islands basal diameter-colony height curve and colony height-age curve laura leonard marine biology tamug dissolved organic matter cycling following a major flooding event in galveston bay texas naomi mathew marine biology tamug biodiversity of the class scyphozoa in the gulf of mexico thomas page marine biology tamug feeding ecology of sheepshead (archosargus probatocephalus) in the northwest gulf of mexico william prouse offshore and coastal systems tamug vegetative nullification for aerial photogrammetry taylor strope marine biology tamug the effects of hurricane harvey on the biodiversity and abundance of hydromedusae in galveston bay " " aggies and geospatial tech helped brenham turn dead end into historic sitecamptown cemetery is the oldest predominantly african american cemetery in brenham and texas a&m geosciences students helped identify the locations of its unmarked gravesfeb 28 2018the camptown cemetery in brenham texas (all photos by laura everett)in may of 2013 the camptown cemetery in brenham texas was nothing but a dead-end road sign on a piece of neglected land a year later an official texas historical commission (thc) plaque finally was placed where that sign had been the brenham heritage museum led the restoration of the cemetery which began with removing decades of brush and decay several local biker groups a buffalo soldiers organization and numerous community members and groups also volunteered to help clear and restore the land uncovering more and more forgotten gravestones but there was one problem they needed technical assistance with: unmarked graves in mid-2013 a museum staff member reached out to the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics because the museum wanted to know the location and extent of the cement burials the department knew how to help the history of camptown cemetery officially established in 1868 camptown cemetery is the oldest predominantly african american cemetery in brenham however it is believed that burials date back as far as the 1830s it is historically associated with mt rose missionary baptist church camptown cemetery remains hallowed ground and a precious record of the early history of the community reads the thc marker at least 40 former slaves are known to be buried there according to the church other people laid to rest there include texas revolution soldiers soldiers who were victims of yellow fever outbreaks of 1866-67 and veterans who served in wars a total of 81 headstones dot the land but the community restoration team estimates that around 196 people are buried there along with unmarked bodies many of the headstones had been moved and no longer sat in the correct locationsgrave markers in camptown cemeterytexas a&m students working in camptown cemeteryaggie undergrads used technology to help then undergraduate student tate meehan under the advising of geology and geophysics professor dr mark everett used a noninvasive geophysical survey to detect soil disturbances or magnetic bodies within the subsurface to help identify potential sites of unmarked graves this successfully showed concrete structures below the surface but did not identify bodies that were not in concrete because of the clay rich soils and subtropical climate in this region of texas bodies not in caskets were nearly impossible to identify after meehan graduated the texas a&m university geography society continued his work this time to identify bodies below the surface that were not in concrete to do that they used a total station a traditional surveying technique that includes a laser mounted on a tripod and a reflecting prism to locate the sites of unmarked graves the team identified a 17-meter tract that seemed to have grave-sized depressions in the dirt and then used gpr to analyze the area the students said the information was then processed into an image that showed soil disturbances that could possibly be unmarked graves but disintegration made it impossible for the gpr to completely confirm the graves service learning always a priority for aggies projects like this are important for many reasons everett said   its a real-world problem and its outreach to the community its about cultural history; it is about connecting a community to its past he said theres so many different levels; it is about human dignity burial reversing neglecting and maintaining the past all of those things being in the field to do hands-on work was beneficial for the students as well as the community students learned about the challenges that you have when youre doing a project that is not necessarily a textbook project everett said partnering with the community for projects like this one is extremely important because its about showing them that were not in ivory towers sitting in our offices solving big mathematical equations or developing enormously complicated theories about things everett said we want to be useful we want to do practical things and we want our students to get experience not only with the equipment and that but also working on real problems with real people the research continues this service research project has continued and in the 2017 gis day poster contest now-graduate student hailey duncan senior gis student daniel huseman and now former students jacqueline clay and laura everett submitted a research poster about how the ground penetrating radar data was collected and processed for the cemetery project and what that analysis showed we chose this project because it was an opportunity to increase and apply the skills we were learning in lecture to a real-world situation duncan said more importantly this project had a lot of love and dedication behind ittexas a&m geosciences students conducting work at camptown cemeterythe brenham community is continuing the work of preserving the cemetery and all the stories of the past that it holds you can learn more about camptown cemetery and the lives memorialized there at: the texas historical commission the camptown cemetery blog rose missionary baptist church rose missionary baptist church camptown cemetery photo gallery by taylor fuechec " "in may of 2013 the camptown cemetery in brenham texas was nothing but a dead-end road sign on a piece of neglected land a year later an official texas historical commission (thc) plaque finally was placed where that sign had been the brenham heritage museum led the restoration of the cemetery which began with removing decades of brush and decay several local biker groups a buffalo soldiers organization and numerous community members and groups also volunteered to help clear and restore the land uncovering more and more forgotten gravestones but there was one problem they needed technical assistance with: unmarked graves in mid-2013 a museum staff member reached out to the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics because the museum wanted to know the location and extent of the cement burials the department knew how to help the history of camptown cemetery officially established in 1868 camptown cemetery is the oldest predominantly african american cemetery in brenham however it is believed that burials date back as far as the 1830s it is historically associated with mt rose missionary baptist church camptown cemetery remains hallowed ground and a precious record of the early history of the community reads the thc marker at least 40 former slaves are known to be buried there according to the church other people laid to rest there include texas revolution soldiers soldiers who were victims of yellow fever outbreaks of 1866-67 and veterans who served in wars a total of 81 headstones dot the land but the community restoration team estimates that around 196 people are buried there along with unmarked bodies many of the headstones had been moved and no longer sat in the correct locations" grave markers in camptown cemeterytexas a&m students working in camptown cemetery "aggie undergrads used technology to help then undergraduate student tate meehan under the advising of geology and geophysics professor dr mark everett used a noninvasive geophysical survey to detect soil disturbances or magnetic bodies within the subsurface to help identify potential sites of unmarked graves this successfully showed concrete structures below the surface but did not identify bodies that were not in concrete because of the clay rich soils and subtropical climate in this region of texas bodies not in caskets were nearly impossible to identify after meehan graduated the texas a&m university geography society continued his work this time to identify bodies below the surface that were not in concrete to do that they used a total station a traditional surveying technique that includes a laser mounted on a tripod and a reflecting prism to locate the sites of unmarked graves the team identified a 17-meter tract that seemed to have grave-sized depressions in the dirt and then used gpr to analyze the area the students said the information was then processed into an image that showed soil disturbances that could possibly be unmarked graves but disintegration made it impossible for the gpr to completely confirm the graves service learning always a priority for aggies projects like this are important for many reasons everett said   its a real-world problem and its outreach to the community its about cultural history; it is about connecting a community to its past he said theres so many different levels; it is about human dignity burial reversing neglecting and maintaining the past all of those things being in the field to do hands-on work was beneficial for the students as well as the community students learned about the challenges that you have when youre doing a project that is not necessarily a textbook project everett said partnering with the community for projects like this one is extremely important because its about showing them that were not in ivory towers sitting in our offices solving big mathematical equations or developing enormously complicated theories about things everett said we want to be useful we want to do practical things and we want our students to get experience not only with the equipment and that but also working on real problems with real people the research continues this service research project has continued and in the 2017 gis day poster contest now-graduate student hailey duncan senior gis student daniel huseman and now former students jacqueline clay and laura everett submitted a research poster about how the ground penetrating radar data was collected and processed for the cemetery project and what that analysis showed we chose this project because it was an opportunity to increase and apply the skills we were learning in lecture to a real-world situation duncan said more importantly this project had a lot of love and dedication behind it" "the brenham community is continuing the work of preserving the cemetery and all the stories of the past that it holds you can learn more about camptown cemetery and the lives memorialized there at: the texas historical commission the camptown cemetery blog rose missionary baptist church rose missionary baptist church camptown cemetery photo gallery by taylor fuechec" " two atmospheric science graduate students win seminar competitioncollaborative competition helps equip graduate students to communicate their sciencefeb 23 2018each semester the atmospheric sciences graduate council (asgc) invites graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences to participate in the graduate student seminar semester-long friendly competition the graduate students each volunteer to give a presentation of their research in meetings several times during the semester to hear each participants 15 minute talk each presenter gets valuable feedback from the group and anonymous constructive critiques helping the graduate students improve their research presentation style and question-and-answer abilitiesbrooke adams (left) and chia-pang kuo (right)brooke adams and chia-pang kuo won the fall 2017 and spring 2018 competitions respectively this competition is an extremely helpful tool for students to practice their thesis defense in a relaxed environment and receive feedback from other students some of whom have already defended their own research said sophie mayne president of the asgc the two presenters with the highest feedback scores from their peers win a monetary prize as well as the opportunity to present a seminar to the entire department this is an invaluable opportunity to speak in front of experts in the field with a variety of different interests adams said and it motivated her to think about her research in a broader scope brookes research was titled understanding the impact of internal variability on our estimates of the transient climate response while chia-pang authored climate implications of longwave scattering by clouds by corey howard " "each semester the atmospheric sciences graduate council (asgc) invites graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences to participate in the graduate student seminar semester-long friendly competition the graduate students each volunteer to give a presentation of their research in meetings several times during the semester to hear each participants 15 minute talk each presenter gets valuable feedback from the group and anonymous constructive critiques helping the graduate students improve their research presentation style and question-and-answer abilities" "brooke adams and chia-pang kuo won the fall 2017 and spring 2018 competitions respectively this competition is an extremely helpful tool for students to practice their thesis defense in a relaxed environment and receive feedback from other students some of whom have already defended their own research said sophie mayne president of the asgc the two presenters with the highest feedback scores from their peers win a monetary prize as well as the opportunity to present a seminar to the entire department this is an invaluable opportunity to speak in front of experts in the field with a variety of different interests adams said and it motivated her to think about her research in a broader scope brookes research was titled understanding the impact of internal variability on our estimates of the transient climate response while chia-pang authored climate implications of longwave scattering by clouds by corey howard" " dr juan carlos layadr juan carlos laya joined texas a&ms faculty in 2013 as a research professor and in 2015 as an assistant professorfeb 22 2018dr juan carlos laya was born in san cristobal venezuela and completed his undergraduate degree at the university of the andes at merida venezuela in geological engineering laya attended central university of venezuela for his ms in geological science in caracas venezuela he went to durham university for his phd under the supervision of professor maurice tucker a well-known specialist in the field during his time in durham he was part of the university college where he lived in 12th century castle durham castle (similar to the one in the harry potter films) for three years specializing in carbonate sedimentology upon completing his phd laya returned to the university of the andes in venezuela as a lecturer in 2013 laya joined texas a&m as a research professor and in 2015 he gained a tenure-track position as an assistant professor layas research interests are in the broad field of carbonate sedimentology he has worked in carbonate facies analysis and paleogeography reconstruction of permian times especially in south america recently he is looking into the fundamental problems in carbonate sedimentation and diagenesis using drone technology to construct three-dimensional digital outcrop models in the caribbean and west texas in addition he sailed in the joides resolution with iodp expedition 359 maldives monsoon the expeditions main objective is to understand the effects of indian monsoon in ocean currents and depositional styles on sensitive carbonate platforms in the maldives indian ocean some of those results were published in nature scientific reports in 2016 and the research is still ongoing layas research interests also involve the role of diagenesis in the enhancement of the pore systems and include dolomitization fractures and silicification in different cases of study worldwideabove: dolomite crystal on top of fibrous calcite from maldives (photo credit: dr juan carlos laya)dr laya has published his research in various sedimentological and geological journals as well as geological society of london and aapg special publication book chapters that has been invited to contribute dr laya has three doctoral students who have been working in fundamental problems in sedimentology and diagenesis on miocene carbonate platform specially dolomitization and attempt to link those process to environmental changes such as climate and oceanographic variations he also has two master students working in reservoir characterization and diagenesis of permian rocks in midland basin his students have attended several conferences to present their research including agu meeting 2017 aapg ace 2014 2015 2016 2017 gsa 2016 2017 and ias international conference in 2014 laya has had previous funding through projects in collaboration with industry specifically from statoil as well as dan hughes oil and gas in addition a small grant from us science support-nsf laya is working in a collaboration with the petroleum engineering department at texas a&m university qatar campus where they obtained a substantial grant to work in microporosity evolution in cretaceous reservoirs in the middle east dr laya has been teaching modern carbonate environments processes recently by taking students out on field trips those exciting adventures are helping students to understand geological phenomena in action within areas such as bahamas and bonaire since 2013 he has been teaching very successfully and undergraduate research class which has opened the curiosity to over 100 undergraduate students in geosciences many of them have pursued prestigious graduate programs including colorado school of mines and ut- austin among others in his spare time dr juan carlos laya enjoys spending time playing soccer cycling also enjoying texas life with his wife maria and with his one-year old daughter camilaabove: juan carlos laya and his students at joulters cay ooid carbonate shoal in the bahamas as part of the modern carbonate field trip during spring 2016 (photo by juan carlos laya) " "dr juan carlos laya was born in san cristobal venezuela and completed his undergraduate degree at the university of the andes at merida venezuela in geological engineering laya attended central university of venezuela for his ms in geological science in caracas venezuela he went to durham university for his phd under the supervision of professor maurice tucker a well-known specialist in the field during his time in durham he was part of the university college where he lived in 12th century castle durham castle (similar to the one in the harry potter films) for three years specializing in carbonate sedimentology upon completing his phd laya returned to the university of the andes in venezuela as a lecturer in 2013 laya joined texas a&m as a research professor and in 2015 he gained a tenure-track position as an assistant professor layas research interests are in the broad field of carbonate sedimentology he has worked in carbonate facies analysis and paleogeography reconstruction of permian times especially in south america recently he is looking into the fundamental problems in carbonate sedimentation and diagenesis using drone technology to construct three-dimensional digital outcrop models in the caribbean and west texas in addition he sailed in the joides resolution with iodp expedition 359 maldives monsoon the expeditions main objective is to understand the effects of indian monsoon in ocean currents and depositional styles on sensitive carbonate platforms in the maldives indian ocean some of those results were published in nature scientific reports in 2016 and the research is still ongoing layas research interests also involve the role of diagenesis in the enhancement of the pore systems and include dolomitization fractures and silicification in different cases of study worldwide" above: dolomite crystal on top of fibrous calcite from maldives (photo credit: dr juan carlos laya) "dr laya has published his research in various sedimentological and geological journals as well as geological society of london and aapg special publication book chapters that has been invited to contribute dr laya has three doctoral students who have been working in fundamental problems in sedimentology and diagenesis on miocene carbonate platform specially dolomitization and attempt to link those process to environmental changes such as climate and oceanographic variations he also has two master students working in reservoir characterization and diagenesis of permian rocks in midland basin his students have attended several conferences to present their research including agu meeting 2017 aapg ace 2014 2015 2016 2017 gsa 2016 2017 and ias international conference in 2014 laya has had previous funding through projects in collaboration with industry specifically from statoil as well as dan hughes oil and gas in addition a small grant from us science support-nsf laya is working in a collaboration with the petroleum engineering department at texas a&m university qatar campus where they obtained a substantial grant to work in microporosity evolution in cretaceous reservoirs in the middle east dr laya has been teaching modern carbonate environments processes recently by taking students out on field trips those exciting adventures are helping students to understand geological phenomena in action within areas such as bahamas and bonaire since 2013 he has been teaching very successfully and undergraduate research class which has opened the curiosity to over 100 undergraduate students in geosciences many of them have pursued prestigious graduate programs including colorado school of mines and ut- austin among others in his spare time dr juan carlos laya enjoys spending time playing soccer cycling also enjoying texas life with his wife maria and with his one-year old daughter camila" above: juan carlos laya and his students at joulters cay ooid carbonate shoal in the bahamas as part of the modern carbonate field trip during spring 2016 (photo by juan carlos laya) " these geology and geophysics students learned what it takes to be a chief scientist at seathe national science foundation (nsf) funds a cruise ship operated by the university-national oceanographic laboratory system (unols) that provides early career seismic chief scientist trainingfeb 22 2018the most recent cruise was from september 26 through october 2 on the r/v roger revelle with workshops occurring in newport oregon the training provided early career researchers interested in seismic research the opportunity to plan and execute a successful research expedition as well as learn how to acquire and process marine seismic data of the principal investigators dr masako tominaga from texas a&m university was the chief scientist on the cruise two current texas a&m graduate students estefania ortiz and kittipong somchat both sailed on the cruise and completed the trainingkittipong somchatcurrent phd student in the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics kittipong somchat wrote about his experience saying: now i look at all the seismic data like never before i got the chance to see how scientists engineers and ship crew onboard put the effort to acquire seismic data i appreciate all the people who are involved in all the seismic lines that i work on even more after experiencing how hard is it to be out here on the water collecting data planning the seismic survey running into unexpected problems and having to change our plan (and getting seasick) but to be honest i would love to do this againanytime read more about his time on the ship here: https://googl/5j9bgaestefania ortizestefania ortiz a masters student in the department of geology and geophysics said: two years ago before i became a graduate student i would have never thought i would be at sea on a seismic research expedition since i began my graduate program at texas a&m university i have had the opportunity to be involved in great research projects now im aboard the r/v revelle (my first time at sea) collecting multichannel seismic data along the geologically complex cascadia margin her blog post from the cruise was featured on the american geophysical union (agu) blog read about estefanias work here: https://googl/fb71yk more information is at: http://cswunolsorg/ photos by rebecca fowler agu science writer by cristina figueroa " "the most recent cruise was from september 26 through october 2 on the r/v roger revelle with workshops occurring in newport oregon the training provided early career researchers interested in seismic research the opportunity to plan and execute a successful research expedition as well as learn how to acquire and process marine seismic data of the principal investigators dr masako tominaga from texas a&m university was the chief scientist on the cruise two current texas a&m graduate students estefania ortiz and kittipong somchat both sailed on the cruise and completed the training" "current phd student in the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics kittipong somchat wrote about his experience saying: now i look at all the seismic data like never before i got the chance to see how scientists engineers and ship crew onboard put the effort to acquire seismic data i appreciate all the people who are involved in all the seismic lines that i work on even more after experiencing how hard is it to be out here on the water collecting data planning the seismic survey running into unexpected problems and having to change our plan (and getting seasick) but to be honest i would love to do this againanytime read more about his time on the ship here: https://googl/5j9bga" "estefania ortiz a masters student in the department of geology and geophysics said: two years ago before i became a graduate student i would have never thought i would be at sea on a seismic research expedition since i began my graduate program at texas a&m university i have had the opportunity to be involved in great research projects now im aboard the r/v revelle (my first time at sea) collecting multichannel seismic data along the geologically complex cascadia margin her blog post from the cruise was featured on the american geophysical union (agu) blog read about estefanias work here: https://googl/fb71yk more information is at: http://cswunolsorg/ photos by rebecca fowler agu science writer by cristina figueroa" " monarch mountain researchtwo texas a&m university geophysics professors drs masako tominaga and patrick fulton recently conducted field work on monarch mountain in british columbia canada with the accompaniment of undergraduate noah vento and a science writer rebecca fowlerfeb 22 2018undergraduate student noah vento uses lacoste and romberg gravimeter in british columbia canada field work (photo by patrick fulton)tominaga the projects lead scientist is a marine geophysicist who usually goes on cruises to understand plate tectonics but was able to find oceanic lower crust and mantle exposed on land tominaga aims to create a field-based method that will enable scientists to directly observe and track the naturally occurring process of mantle rock carbonation where one type of rock peridotite is transformed into another fulton primarily oversaw the collection of geophysical data using a magnetometer and gravimeter monarch mountain sits on a geological landform called an ophiolite which is where the earths lower oceanic crust and upper mantle are now exposed at the surface due to tectonic processes ophiolites provide the rare opportunity to verify the geophysical properties of these rocks by collecting measurements where the rocks can be directly sampled and their alteration state identified in contrast with remote sensing techniques where these alteration states can only be inferred geophysically noah vento explained each morning our team would wake up around 7 am eat breakfast take a gravity measurement near our cabin (it was our base station to correct for any errors in gravitational measurements taken throughout the day) and drive to the base of the mountain to start our ~1 hour ascent to the top once in our field area dr fulton and i would take gravity measurements along a specific line (usually one that encompassed the entire ophiolite sequence) while dr tominaga conducted magnetic measurements and rebecca documented the research the texas a&m team with support from the national science foundation and nasa is investigating peridotite (a mantle rock) by gathering geophysical data and rock samples that may yield new insights into the properties and structure of the earths interior theyre hoping that with peridotite rock samples they will be able to determine how peridotite naturally changes into different rocks through geochemical processes the team continues to analyze their data and hopes to identify transitions of alterations between different mantle rocks this research will allow others to understand how rocks get altered with different fluids which has applications for co2 sequestration it also improves our ability to characterize the structure of the oceanic lithosphere using remote sensing geophysical techniques said fulton recording the processes of serpentinization and the carbonation of peridotite using gravity and magnetics data taken at regular intervals the team hopes it will help to fill in the gaps about how mantle rock reacts with carbon dioxide and water undergraduate noah vento said of the experience it was such a rewarding experience and i really have dr tominaga to thank for believing in me and wanting me to assist in her field work i think all students should look to pursue undergraduate research because its eye-opening to what can be accomplished in the geosciences and where academics can take you field work has definitely shaped my undergraduate career click here to see pictures of the field work taken by dr patrick fulton: http://bitly/mfieldwork by cristina figueroa references:https://googl/4fo8gehttps://googl/zdju76 " undergraduate student noah vento uses lacoste and romberg gravimeter in british columbia canada field work (photo by patrick fulton) "tominaga the projects lead scientist is a marine geophysicist who usually goes on cruises to understand plate tectonics but was able to find oceanic lower crust and mantle exposed on land tominaga aims to create a field-based method that will enable scientists to directly observe and track the naturally occurring process of mantle rock carbonation where one type of rock peridotite is transformed into another fulton primarily oversaw the collection of geophysical data using a magnetometer and gravimeter monarch mountain sits on a geological landform called an ophiolite which is where the earths lower oceanic crust and upper mantle are now exposed at the surface due to tectonic processes ophiolites provide the rare opportunity to verify the geophysical properties of these rocks by collecting measurements where the rocks can be directly sampled and their alteration state identified in contrast with remote sensing techniques where these alteration states can only be inferred geophysically noah vento explained each morning our team would wake up around 7 am eat breakfast take a gravity measurement near our cabin (it was our base station to correct for any errors in gravitational measurements taken throughout the day) and drive to the base of the mountain to start our ~1 hour ascent to the top once in our field area dr fulton and i would take gravity measurements along a specific line (usually one that encompassed the entire ophiolite sequence) while dr tominaga conducted magnetic measurements and rebecca documented the research the texas a&m team with support from the national science foundation and nasa is investigating peridotite (a mantle rock) by gathering geophysical data and rock samples that may yield new insights into the properties and structure of the earths interior theyre hoping that with peridotite rock samples they will be able to determine how peridotite naturally changes into different rocks through geochemical processes the team continues to analyze their data and hopes to identify transitions of alterations between different mantle rocks this research will allow others to understand how rocks get altered with different fluids which has applications for co2 sequestration it also improves our ability to characterize the structure of the oceanic lithosphere using remote sensing geophysical techniques said fulton recording the processes of serpentinization and the carbonation of peridotite using gravity and magnetics data taken at regular intervals the team hopes it will help to fill in the gaps about how mantle rock reacts with carbon dioxide and water undergraduate noah vento said of the experience it was such a rewarding experience and i really have dr tominaga to thank for believing in me and wanting me to assist in her field work i think all students should look to pursue undergraduate research because its eye-opening to what can be accomplished in the geosciences and where academics can take you field work has definitely shaped my undergraduate career click here to see pictures of the field work taken by dr patrick fulton: http://bitly/mfieldwork by cristina figueroa references:https://googl/4fo8gehttps://googl/zdju76" " life-long love of weather brought this aggie to texas a&m meteorologysenior tyler fenske is a second-generation aggie who found his perfect fit in texas a&m universitys meteorology program in the department of atmospheric sciences and now he helps high school students find their place toofeb 20 2018fenske's interest in weather started long before his college journey he said ive been interested in weather since i was a little kid; my mom has a video of me doing a pretend weather forecast in front of a blank tv fenske said ive always been fascinated by nature the earth and weather raised in katy texas  he grew up being interested in weather and he also spent his childhood watching texas a&m football games and visiting aggieland his mother danna fenske graduated from texas a&m in 1985 when the time came for him to pick a college to attend it was simple a&m has a strong meteorology program so it was really a natural fit for me fenske saidtyler fenskeduring his time at texas a&m he has been involved in many activities worked as a research technician for the past two years and participated in numerous undergraduate research projects he is involved with the student operated adrad project (soap) and many others the adrad is the radar dish on top of the o&m building he explained we learn how to run it and we learn how to do weather balloon launches and interpret those in addition to all of that we pick a theme each summer and we do various projects on that one year i was a team leader and the theme that year was lightning and lightning detector research we had a homemade lightning detector and we bought four top-of-the-line detectors that are available for people to put on their homes and we compared them all to a professional network fenske helped his peers in soap develop a device to assist storm chasers in the summer of 2017 we made this device where when people are storm chasing it can track their location even when there is no cell coverage and when there is no internet as a research technician fenske works with dr ken bowman a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences working with radar data there are about 140 radars all over the nation and we take each of those since they have a limited range and we combine them all into a national mosaic fenske explained those exist operationally for forecasting but what we are doing is making a model that is more climatological so its more for research studies the first of its kind this national radar mosaic climate model is nearly complete he said and now they are transitioning the research into using the model fenske is researching the effects of pollution-sourced aerosols on precipitation specifically in relation to work-week variations in industrial pollution levels we are going to work on seeing if the pollution and the aerosols which we know vary in the week generate a noticeable effect on clouds and precipitation he said along with undergraduate research fenske is also an officer in the texas a&m chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and is the undergraduate coordinator for texas aggie storm chasers (tasc) he is also the lead student recruiter in the colleges undergraduate recruitment team (urt) we help prospective high school students get a feel for the college and the university and talk to them about our experiences and the majors and the opportunities theyll have he explained the big thing for urt is geox which is a week-long summer program where we invite high school students to spend a week on campus geox participants get to stay in a dorm on campus and experience aggieland for an entire week each day they get to experience and learn about a different major within the college of geosciences i participated in that as a high school student and it really kind of sealed the deal for me to come here and study meteorology so it's my way to carry that on he said after graduating this may fenske plans on attending graduate school to study climate science and then continue his education and get a phd for students looking to follow his footsteps and get a degree in meteorology he encourages them to not be intimidated by the math and science courses that are foundational to the degree you dont have to be good at it but you have to be willing to tolerate it you have to enjoy meteorology and not think of it as just something cool that you are studying by taylor fuechec ‘18 " "fenske's interest in weather started long before his college journey he said ive been interested in weather since i was a little kid; my mom has a video of me doing a pretend weather forecast in front of a blank tv fenske said ive always been fascinated by nature the earth and weather raised in katy texas  he grew up being interested in weather and he also spent his childhood watching texas a&m football games and visiting aggieland his mother danna fenske graduated from texas a&m in 1985 when the time came for him to pick a college to attend it was simple a&m has a strong meteorology program so it was really a natural fit for me fenske said" "during his time at texas a&m he has been involved in many activities worked as a research technician for the past two years and participated in numerous undergraduate research projects he is involved with the student operated adrad project (soap) and many others the adrad is the radar dish on top of the o&m building he explained we learn how to run it and we learn how to do weather balloon launches and interpret those in addition to all of that we pick a theme each summer and we do various projects on that one year i was a team leader and the theme that year was lightning and lightning detector research we had a homemade lightning detector and we bought four top-of-the-line detectors that are available for people to put on their homes and we compared them all to a professional network fenske helped his peers in soap develop a device to assist storm chasers in the summer of 2017 we made this device where when people are storm chasing it can track their location even when there is no cell coverage and when there is no internet as a research technician fenske works with dr ken bowman a professor in the department of atmospheric sciences working with radar data there are about 140 radars all over the nation and we take each of those since they have a limited range and we combine them all into a national mosaic fenske explained those exist operationally for forecasting but what we are doing is making a model that is more climatological so its more for research studies the first of its kind this national radar mosaic climate model is nearly complete he said and now they are transitioning the research into using the model fenske is researching the effects of pollution-sourced aerosols on precipitation specifically in relation to work-week variations in industrial pollution levels we are going to work on seeing if the pollution and the aerosols which we know vary in the week generate a noticeable effect on clouds and precipitation he said along with undergraduate research fenske is also an officer in the texas a&m chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and is the undergraduate coordinator for texas aggie storm chasers (tasc) he is also the lead student recruiter in the colleges undergraduate recruitment team (urt) we help prospective high school students get a feel for the college and the university and talk to them about our experiences and the majors and the opportunities theyll have he explained the big thing for urt is geox which is a week-long summer program where we invite high school students to spend a week on campus geox participants get to stay in a dorm on campus and experience aggieland for an entire week each day they get to experience and learn about a different major within the college of geosciences i participated in that as a high school student and it really kind of sealed the deal for me to come here and study meteorology so it's my way to carry that on he said after graduating this may fenske plans on attending graduate school to study climate science and then continue his education and get a phd for students looking to follow his footsteps and get a degree in meteorology he encourages them to not be intimidated by the math and science courses that are foundational to the degree you dont have to be good at it but you have to be willing to tolerate it you have to enjoy meteorology and not think of it as just something cool that you are studying by taylor fuechec ‘18" " helping equip future ocean scientists aggie oceanographers partner with eagle pass schooljunior high students were eager to learn marine microbiology from texas a&m oceanography expertsfeb 19 2018marine microbiology might sound too complicated for junior high students to explore but thanks to texas a&m oceanographyscientists students in eagle pass texas recently had the opportunity to get hands-on training in it dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and oceanography graduate student shu ying wee traveled to memorial junior high school in eagle pass to work with seventh grade teacher alejandra martinez and her students jan 19-20 sylvan met martinez for the first time on an international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition where she was working as an outreach coordinator when i found out she was an aggie and also a teacher who was dedicated to her students it seemed natural to try to find a way to work with her dr sylvan said funded as part of an national science foundation grant the project was designed by sylvan and two other co-principal investigators drs virginia edgcomb and frieder klein of the woods hole oceanographic institute the main goal was to visit martinezs school to show her students how microbiology works through environmental sampling and taking students on a field trip to see research first-handwee explaining how to make a petri dish to the students (photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan)dr jason sylvan teaching the students at rio grande (photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan)on the second day 17 students together sampled soil and water samples at the rio grande to get their hands wet and use real scientific instrumentation students inoculated additional plates with soil and water samples and took turns using a ysi meter to measure other environmental parameters of the river water such as salinity temperature dissolved oxygen level turbidity and ph the ph of the river was slightly basic which was really surprising to me as well as to the students wee said later students constructed different winogradsky columns with mud from the river bank and water from the river a winogradsky column is a simple laboratory experiment that helps create a microbial ecosystem in a glass tube wee explained when you put mud samples with an additional carbon source as a food like newspaper you can visually observe distinctive layers of certain microbes after one or two months later each layer indicates different microbes living there based on their favorable condition the design of this experiment was for students to see for themselves that microbial ecosystems can have structure to see how different microbes select different substrates (food) sylvan said both sylvan and wee said they greatly enjoyed meeting each and every student at memorial junior high school it was a really wonderful experience! sylvan said it was so much fun getting to see how excited the students were to do science and also to a meet real scientist which students can sometimes think of as just an old white man in a lab coat like in the hollywood movies also for these students who live on the border with mexico we sought for them to be able to see that the rio grande is a natural ecosystem and a scientific playground rather than just a border between two countries i really liked working with the students you can tell that they were so excited so interactive and so curious wee said they were also good at critical thinking i was impressed when one student asked me how the microbial life would be in a colder environment in april sylvan will be leading a field trip with 50 of martinezs students to port aransas texas they will board a research vessel the r/v katy to experience real shipboard science such as seafloor sediment sampling and ctd operation sylvan said he looks forward to continuing this project and meeting students who are passionate about marine microbiology by bumsoo kim " "marine microbiology might sound too complicated for junior high students to explore but thanks to texas a&m oceanographyscientists students in eagle pass texas recently had the opportunity to get hands-on training in it dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and oceanography graduate student shu ying wee traveled to memorial junior high school in eagle pass to work with seventh grade teacher alejandra martinez and her students jan 19-20 sylvan met martinez for the first time on an international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition where she was working as an outreach coordinator when i found out she was an aggie and also a teacher who was dedicated to her students it seemed natural to try to find a way to work with her dr sylvan said funded as part of an national science foundation grant the project was designed by sylvan and two other co-principal investigators drs virginia edgcomb and frieder klein of the woods hole oceanographic institute the main goal was to visit martinezs school to show her students how microbiology works through environmental sampling and taking students on a field trip to see research first-hand" wee explaining how to make a petri dish to the students (photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan)dr jason sylvan teaching the students at rio grande (photo courtesy of dr jason sylvan) "on the second day 17 students together sampled soil and water samples at the rio grande to get their hands wet and use real scientific instrumentation students inoculated additional plates with soil and water samples and took turns using a ysi meter to measure other environmental parameters of the river water such as salinity temperature dissolved oxygen level turbidity and ph the ph of the river was slightly basic which was really surprising to me as well as to the students wee said later students constructed different winogradsky columns with mud from the river bank and water from the river a winogradsky column is a simple laboratory experiment that helps create a microbial ecosystem in a glass tube wee explained when you put mud samples with an additional carbon source as a food like newspaper you can visually observe distinctive layers of certain microbes after one or two months later each layer indicates different microbes living there based on their favorable condition the design of this experiment was for students to see for themselves that microbial ecosystems can have structure to see how different microbes select different substrates (food) sylvan said both sylvan and wee said they greatly enjoyed meeting each and every student at memorial junior high school it was a really wonderful experience! sylvan said it was so much fun getting to see how excited the students were to do science and also to a meet real scientist which students can sometimes think of as just an old white man in a lab coat like in the hollywood movies also for these students who live on the border with mexico we sought for them to be able to see that the rio grande is a natural ecosystem and a scientific playground rather than just a border between two countries i really liked working with the students you can tell that they were so excited so interactive and so curious wee said they were also good at critical thinking i was impressed when one student asked me how the microbial life would be in a colder environment in april sylvan will be leading a field trip with 50 of martinezs students to port aransas texas they will board a research vessel the r/v katy to experience real shipboard science such as seafloor sediment sampling and ctd operation sylvan said he looks forward to continuing this project and meeting students who are passionate about marine microbiology by bumsoo kim" " experts to offer insights on advancing science in todays political landscape at texas a&m feb 22 the college of geosciences is hosting the seminar featuring three science and policy experts feb 16 2018thursday feb 22 the texas a&m university research community is invited to a seminar on advancing science in todays political landscape the event will be held in rudder tower 401 from 8:50 am to 12:00 pm the college of geosciences at texas a&m is hosting the event as part of its early career faculty development program and the seminar is also open to faculty and students from across campus to sustain impactful scientific research in the college and at texas a&m its important to equip our junior faculty members with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively engage with governmental research and funding agencies said dr jack baldauf executive associate dean and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences the seminar speakers include: mark myers a geologist who has been engaged in research resource management and policy for more than three decades myers holds bs ms and phd degrees in geology and has served in senior leadership positions with the state of alaska university of alaska and the us department of interior in 2016 he retired as commissioner of natural resources for the state of alaska where he managed the states natural resources including its land water minerals oil and gas agriculture state parks and forests prior positions have included vice chancellor for research at the university of alaska fairbanks the director of the us geological survey (the nations largest water earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency) state geologist and state director of oil and gas of alaska currently he is the principal of myenergies a consulting business with expertise in research review and evaluation natural resource management climate change and energy and executive vice president for applied science and research strategy for revelant a small technology company brendan p kelly the executive director of the study of environmental arctic change and professor of marine biology at the international arctic research center university of alaska fairbanks kelly also serves as a senior fellow with the center for the blue economy at the middlebury institute of international studies at monterey a marine ecologist with a focus on sea ice environments he has participated in and led collaborative research in the north pacific ocean arctic ocean sea of okhotsk baltic sea and antarctica he has served as deputy director for arctic sciences national science foundation; assistant director for polar science in the white house office of science and technology policy; and as a science adviser to indigenous organizations in alaska currently he serves on the national academy of sciences polar research board and as a member of the positions statement committee of the american geophysical union leslee gilbert a vice president at van scoyoc associates with an extensive background in higher education research technology development and politics gilbert has nearly 15 years of hands-on experience in the washington policy-making process and over 20 years of experience working in and with institutions of higher education at vsa dr gilbert has developed a practice that focuses on research development and competitiveness in fields such as aerospace cybersecurity information technology basic and applied science environmental policy and energy before joining vsa she was majority staff director and counsel of the house of representatives science space and technology committee the primary committee for overseeing research and development in agencies such as nsf nasa nist noaa epa and the departments of energy homeland security and transportation she played a central role in developing and implementing federal science technology and civil space policy including nasa reauthorization bills the energy independence and security act and america competes  event admission is free and organizers recommend arriving early because space is limited " "thursday feb 22 the texas a&m university research community is invited to a seminar on advancing science in todays political landscape the event will be held in rudder tower 401 from 8:50 am to 12:00 pm the college of geosciences at texas a&m is hosting the event as part of its early career faculty development program and the seminar is also open to faculty and students from across campus to sustain impactful scientific research in the college and at texas a&m its important to equip our junior faculty members with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively engage with governmental research and funding agencies said dr jack baldauf executive associate dean and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences the seminar speakers include: mark myers a geologist who has been engaged in research resource management and policy for more than three decades myers holds bs ms and phd degrees in geology and has served in senior leadership positions with the state of alaska university of alaska and the us department of interior in 2016 he retired as commissioner of natural resources for the state of alaska where he managed the states natural resources including its land water minerals oil and gas agriculture state parks and forests prior positions have included vice chancellor for research at the university of alaska fairbanks the director of the us geological survey (the nations largest water earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency) state geologist and state director of oil and gas of alaska currently he is the principal of myenergies a consulting business with expertise in research review and evaluation natural resource management climate change and energy and executive vice president for applied science and research strategy for revelant a small technology company brendan p kelly the executive director of the study of environmental arctic change and professor of marine biology at the international arctic research center university of alaska fairbanks kelly also serves as a senior fellow with the center for the blue economy at the middlebury institute of international studies at monterey a marine ecologist with a focus on sea ice environments he has participated in and led collaborative research in the north pacific ocean arctic ocean sea of okhotsk baltic sea and antarctica he has served as deputy director for arctic sciences national science foundation; assistant director for polar science in the white house office of science and technology policy; and as a science adviser to indigenous organizations in alaska currently he serves on the national academy of sciences polar research board and as a member of the positions statement committee of the american geophysical union leslee gilbert a vice president at van scoyoc associates with an extensive background in higher education research technology development and politics gilbert has nearly 15 years of hands-on experience in the washington policy-making process and over 20 years of experience working in and with institutions of higher education at vsa dr gilbert has developed a practice that focuses on research development and competitiveness in fields such as aerospace cybersecurity information technology basic and applied science environmental policy and energy before joining vsa she was majority staff director and counsel of the house of representatives science space and technology committee the primary committee for overseeing research and development in agencies such as nsf nasa nist noaa epa and the departments of energy homeland security and transportation she played a central role in developing and implementing federal science technology and civil space policy including nasa reauthorization bills the energy independence and security act and america competes  event admission is free and organizers recommend arriving early because space is limited" " texas a&m geographys wendy jepson named aaas leshner fellowthe 15 fellows are leaders in food and water security researchfeb 15 2018dr wendy jepson professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been named a 2018-19 american association for the advancement of science (aaas) alan i leshner leadership institute public engagement fellow aaas selected 15 researchers in the food and water security fields who have demonstrated leadership and excellence in their research careers and an interest in promoting meaningful dialogue between science and society the water security work of the incoming aaas leshner fellows draws from varied disciplines including anthropology civil engineering biological and environmental sciences geography hydrology political science and economics plant genetics and horticulture im thrilled to join a community of like-minded scientists committed not only to water security as a research focus but to the creation of new and better ways to engage in dialogue with the public on one of the grand challenges of the 21st century jepson said jepson who was a 2017 us fulbright fellow at the federal university of ceará brazil leads the texas a&m water security initiative a university-wide program the initiative facilitates interdisciplinary research education service learning and collaboration on a broad spectrum of water security challenges and it is part of the texas a&m institute for sustainable communities her current long-term research projects funded by the national science foundation examine water insecurity in low-income communities in the us and latin america the leshner leadership institute experience will offer training and new ideas necessary to help me improve meaningful dialogue with constituencies interested in local state and global water security challenges jepson said in particular i want to learn how to effectively work with policy makers in the science-policy space and better engage water professionals and practitioners to create strategic and novel pathways of public awareness to translate and extend the reach of research outcomes scientists and scholars no longer can accept that research publication in a pay-wall protected academic journal is the only mechanism to communicate our research we need better and more effective models of communication and engagement and that is what i will learn and bring back to texas a&m the institute for sustainable communities and the college of geosciences jepson also co-leads a global study and an emerging international cross-disciplinary network of scholars who study household water insecurity (hwise network) she received her phd in geography from the university of california los angeles i am truly inspired by dr jepsons leadership in assembling the interdisciplinary team that seeks to address multiple facets of the water security challenge said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m those hit hardest need her scholarship but equally importantly her voice – and the intensive training through the leshner leadership institute will round out dr jepsons skill-set to intensify the impact of her scholarship through high-impact public engagement the result literally will make the world a better place the aaas leshner fellows program now in its third year builds on the long-standing commitment of aaas to science communication and public engagement the aaas leshner fellows will meet in june 2018 at aaas headquarters in washington dc for a week of intensive public engagement and science communication training networking and public engagement plan development throughout the year following the training aaas leshner fellows will develop and implement public engagement activities train other scientists in their communities and work to increase capacity for public engagement at their institutions aaas staff will provide ongoing support and continuing professional development throughout their fellowship year the leshner leadership institute was established in 2015 through philanthropic support the institute is managed by the aaas center for public engagement with science and technology established in 2004 by alan i leshner now chief executive officer emeritus of aaas published in cooperation with aaas " "dr wendy jepson professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been named a 2018-19 american association for the advancement of science (aaas) alan i leshner leadership institute public engagement fellow aaas selected 15 researchers in the food and water security fields who have demonstrated leadership and excellence in their research careers and an interest in promoting meaningful dialogue between science and society the water security work of the incoming aaas leshner fellows draws from varied disciplines including anthropology civil engineering biological and environmental sciences geography hydrology political science and economics plant genetics and horticulture im thrilled to join a community of like-minded scientists committed not only to water security as a research focus but to the creation of new and better ways to engage in dialogue with the public on one of the grand challenges of the 21st century jepson said jepson who was a 2017 us fulbright fellow at the federal university of ceará brazil leads the texas a&m water security initiative a university-wide program the initiative facilitates interdisciplinary research education service learning and collaboration on a broad spectrum of water security challenges and it is part of the texas a&m institute for sustainable communities her current long-term research projects funded by the national science foundation examine water insecurity in low-income communities in the us and latin america the leshner leadership institute experience will offer training and new ideas necessary to help me improve meaningful dialogue with constituencies interested in local state and global water security challenges jepson said in particular i want to learn how to effectively work with policy makers in the science-policy space and better engage water professionals and practitioners to create strategic and novel pathways of public awareness to translate and extend the reach of research outcomes scientists and scholars no longer can accept that research publication in a pay-wall protected academic journal is the only mechanism to communicate our research we need better and more effective models of communication and engagement and that is what i will learn and bring back to texas a&m the institute for sustainable communities and the college of geosciences jepson also co-leads a global study and an emerging international cross-disciplinary network of scholars who study household water insecurity (hwise network) she received her phd in geography from the university of california los angeles i am truly inspired by dr jepsons leadership in assembling the interdisciplinary team that seeks to address multiple facets of the water security challenge said dr debbie thomas interim dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m those hit hardest need her scholarship but equally importantly her voice – and the intensive training through the leshner leadership institute will round out dr jepsons skill-set to intensify the impact of her scholarship through high-impact public engagement the result literally will make the world a better place the aaas leshner fellows program now in its third year builds on the long-standing commitment of aaas to science communication and public engagement the aaas leshner fellows will meet in june 2018 at aaas headquarters in washington dc for a week of intensive public engagement and science communication training networking and public engagement plan development throughout the year following the training aaas leshner fellows will develop and implement public engagement activities train other scientists in their communities and work to increase capacity for public engagement at their institutions aaas staff will provide ongoing support and continuing professional development throughout their fellowship year the leshner leadership institute was established in 2015 through philanthropic support the institute is managed by the aaas center for public engagement with science and technology established in 2004 by alan i leshner now chief executive officer emeritus of aaas published in cooperation with aaas" " texas sea grant awards $17 million in research to support texas coastfeb 14 2018the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is announcing new grants totaling $17 million for seven two-year research projects at universities around the state to support coastal and marine ecosystems communities and economies following a competitive and rigorous peer-review process we have selected the seven best research projects that will advance knowledge integrate research and extension and result in broader impacts that benefit society said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant these research investments will generate substantial social economic and environmental impacts help develop the workforce and contribute to the sustainability of texas natural and built environments awards for the 2018- 2020 period are: the effects of shifting coastal wetland plant communities on the food webs that support coastal living resources dr anna armitage department of marine biology texas a&m university at galveston; influence of floods and droughts on particulate organic matter quality in a subtropical estuary texas dr amber hardison department of marine science  college of natural sciences the university of texas at austin marine science institute; predicting salinity and temperature dynamics in copano bay texas dr robert hetland department of oceanography college of geosciences texas a&m university; resilient adaptation of interdependent built ecological and governance systems to sea-level rise impacts in texas coastal communities dr ali mostafavi department of civil engineering college of engineering  texas a&m university; evaluating the relative habitat value of intertidal and subtidal oyster reefs to improve restoration methods dr jennifer pollack department of life sciences  college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; development of in situ oyster setting for stock enhancement and restoration purposes in texas dr john scarpa department of life sciences  college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; and green infrastructure plans for flood and storm water hazards reduction in the texas coastal region dr shannon van zandt department of landscape architecture and urban planning  college of architecture texas a&m university the overarching goals of texas sea grants research program are to support outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering and to make research investments that will generate substantial positive impacts for the people economy and ecosystems of texas projects must also fit within one of the programs four focus areas: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem (science technology engineering and math) education and workforce development a partnership of the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top scientists the programs coastal extension agents and specialists working in the field translate and communicate research results to stakeholders to meet the real-world needs of texans for more information contact dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director at plotkin@tamuedu or 979-845-3902 by cindie powell " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is announcing new grants totaling $17 million for seven two-year research projects at universities around the state to support coastal and marine ecosystems communities and economies following a competitive and rigorous peer-review process we have selected the seven best research projects that will advance knowledge integrate research and extension and result in broader impacts that benefit society said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant these research investments will generate substantial social economic and environmental impacts help develop the workforce and contribute to the sustainability of texas natural and built environments awards for the 2018- 2020 period are: the effects of shifting coastal wetland plant communities on the food webs that support coastal living resources dr anna armitage department of marine biology texas a&m university at galveston; influence of floods and droughts on particulate organic matter quality in a subtropical estuary texas dr amber hardison department of marine science  college of natural sciences the university of texas at austin marine science institute; predicting salinity and temperature dynamics in copano bay texas dr robert hetland department of oceanography college of geosciences texas a&m university; resilient adaptation of interdependent built ecological and governance systems to sea-level rise impacts in texas coastal communities dr ali mostafavi department of civil engineering college of engineering  texas a&m university; evaluating the relative habitat value of intertidal and subtidal oyster reefs to improve restoration methods dr jennifer pollack department of life sciences  college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; development of in situ oyster setting for stock enhancement and restoration purposes in texas dr john scarpa department of life sciences  college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; and green infrastructure plans for flood and storm water hazards reduction in the texas coastal region dr shannon van zandt department of landscape architecture and urban planning  college of architecture texas a&m university the overarching goals of texas sea grants research program are to support outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering and to make research investments that will generate substantial positive impacts for the people economy and ecosystems of texas projects must also fit within one of the programs four focus areas: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem (science technology engineering and math) education and workforce development a partnership of the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top scientists the programs coastal extension agents and specialists working in the field translate and communicate research results to stakeholders to meet the real-world needs of texans for more information contact dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director at plotkin@tamuedu or 979-845-3902 by cindie powell" " supporting geology and geophysicsas part of the lead by example campaign the department of geology & geophysics is redefining the way the world recognizes the critical career fields and the unique skillsets of our graduates at texas a&m we seek to attract the best and the brightest students to our programs by offering competitive scholarships and graduate fellowships delivering on the promise of a little to no debt education and delivering unparalleled quality training programsfeb 12 2018geology student conducting field workas part of the lead by example campaign the department of geology & geophysics is redefining the way the world recognizes the critical career fields and the unique skillsets of our graduates at texas a&m we seek to attract the best and the brightest students to our programs by offering competitive scholarships and graduate fellowships delivering on the promise of a little to no debt education and delivering unparalleled quality training programs fellowships for graduate students to recruit exceptional candidates the department of geology and geophysics must improve its financial and research opportunities by helping fund or by identifying resources you can ensure that a lasting legacy of teaching through research excellence is sustained in geology and geophysics scholarships for undergraduate students each year rising costs and dwindling state support increase the pressure on students to obtain a college education as well as their parents ability to fund it imperial barrel award the imperial barrel award (iba) program encourages geology and geophysics students to explore a career in the energy industry students receive real-world career-development experience with a presentation judged by industry experts  field excursions/high-impact learning a pivotal point in every geology & geophysics major is participation in high impact learning experiences such as field or research opportunities that go beyond the classroom setting these funds provide transformational educational experiences   we are teaching and training some of the most critical professionals for our collective future whether you make an impact by supporting high impact learning programs create a scholarship or fellowship or leave a lasting legacy through a planned giving strategy your support is critical please go to: txamfoundationcom/give in the first menu select college of geosciences then select geology & geophysicsin the gift accounts menu please select the account description that matches your passion you will have the opportunity to specify your preferences in the gift details section (section 3) if you would like to talk to us about matching our priorities with your gift please contact:mike popedepartment head(979) 845-4376mcpope@tamuedu " "as part of the lead by example campaign the department of geology & geophysics is redefining the way the world recognizes the critical career fields and the unique skillsets of our graduates at texas a&m we seek to attract the best and the brightest students to our programs by offering competitive scholarships and graduate fellowships delivering on the promise of a little to no debt education and delivering unparalleled quality training programs fellowships for graduate students to recruit exceptional candidates the department of geology and geophysics must improve its financial and research opportunities by helping fund or by identifying resources you can ensure that a lasting legacy of teaching through research excellence is sustained in geology and geophysics scholarships for undergraduate students each year rising costs and dwindling state support increase the pressure on students to obtain a college education as well as their parents ability to fund it imperial barrel award the imperial barrel award (iba) program encourages geology and geophysics students to explore a career in the energy industry students receive real-world career-development experience with a presentation judged by industry experts  field excursions/high-impact learning a pivotal point in every geology & geophysics major is participation in high impact learning experiences such as field or research opportunities that go beyond the classroom setting these funds provide transformational educational experiences   we are teaching and training some of the most critical professionals for our collective future whether you make an impact by supporting high impact learning programs create a scholarship or fellowship or leave a lasting legacy through a planned giving strategy your support is critical please go to: txamfoundationcom/give in the first menu select college of geosciences then select geology & geophysicsin the gift accounts menu please select the account description that matches your passion you will have the opportunity to specify your preferences in the gift details section (section 3) if you would like to talk to us about matching our priorities with your gift please contact:mike popedepartment head(979) 845-4376mcpope@tamuedu" " meet suzanne rosserfeb 12 2018suzanne rosser holds the senior academic advisor position in the department of geology and geophysics where she works with undergraduate students in the programsuzanne also meets with prospective and current students schedules classes and runs a freshman and transfer class suzanne has co-authored research papers on the benefits of her freshman/transfer course achieving success and presented at various conferences including agu and gsa in the summer of 2016 suzanne was honored to be named a fishcamp namesake (camp rosser) and in the spring of 2017 she was presented the presidents meritorious service award an award that recognizes texas a&m university staff for their commendable service suzanne is a member of the troops to college committee working with the veterans resource support office and other departments across campus providing advice and support for the development improvement and implementation of services and programs that will facilitate military-affiliated student success from application to vocation suzanne has worked at texas a&m university since september 2006 holding positions in admissions degree audit assistant to the registrar and as an advisor in biochemistry/genetics and biomedical sciences before joining the department of geology & geophysics  in her free time suzanne enjoys sewing travelling with her husband relaxing by the pool and spending time with family especially her two grandsons and soon to be granddaughter joining the family in march   suzanne rosser " " science has no borders: aggies collaborate with mexican researchers studying vulnerable mountain aquifers this international team is working to improve water management and public health in guanajuato mexicofeb 7 2018brian lynch 19 at sunset overlooking guanajuato (all photos courtesy of brian lynch)some undergraduate students might use their holiday break to catch up on tv shows or go on vacation but when texas a&m university junior environmental geosciences major brian lynch ‘19 got an opportunity to use his most recent break from classes to help conduct interdisciplinary international research he jumped at it jan 4-19 lynch accompanied dr peter knappett assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m; dr saugata datta michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and professor of geology at kansas state university; and yibin huang geology and geophysics doctoral student on a research trip to guanajuato mexico along with students and professors from the university of guanajuato they studied the geochemistry and characteristics of groundwater in the independence basindr peter knappett and brian lynch 19 used the technology they had available (a log) to rescue their well depth measuring instrument from down a welli actually had plans to go skiing with my friends in colorado he said but after knappett invited him to join the research trip lynch changed his mind there was no hesitation; i'm an aggie and selfless service is what we do said lynch who is from katy texas and speaks english and spanish i was humbled to have been given the opportunity because i know how rare it is for an undergraduate to be invited on a research trip studying how to protect aquifers in mountain ranges intermontane aquifers are unique said knappett the high relief drives fast erosion rates off the flanks of the mountains and the high energy flowing water carries coarse sediments into the basin forming important alluvial aquifers which may overlay deeper fractured rocks aquifers near mountains or in closed basins surrounded by mountains as commonly seen across the arid us and in mexico may therefore be highly productive aquifers but could also have little protection from pollution from the surface he said the goal of this research project is to evaluate how 1) pumping for agriculture and municipal use 2) the spreading of fertilizers on fields and 3) the release of untreated sewage or urban runoff on land surfaces changes groundwater chemistry in the long term knappett said partners work to turn research into public health impacts the research team aims to analyze the data collected and develop recommendations to help stakeholders in the region to enact new water management policies benefiting public health they are also collaborating with caminos de agua a non-governmental organization in the region on the project this trip gave me new perspectives on the geosciences lynch said part of this trip for me was showing that science has no borders and that my generation is willing to come together to solve the challenges of the 21st century doctoral student yibin huang dr peter knappett brian lynch 19 and university of guanajuatos manuel avilesthis research project is funded by tamu-conacyt a collaborative research grant program that texas a&m and the consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnologia (conacyt) began in 2001 this competitive peer-reviewed program advances inter-institutional cooperation in science technology and scholarly activities through the complementary efforts of scientists and scholars from texas a&m and mexican institutions  by leslie lee '09 " brian lynch 19 at sunset overlooking guanajuato (all photos courtesy of brian lynch) "some undergraduate students might use their holiday break to catch up on tv shows or go on vacation but when texas a&m university junior environmental geosciences major brian lynch ‘19 got an opportunity to use his most recent break from classes to help conduct interdisciplinary international research he jumped at it jan 4-19 lynch accompanied dr peter knappett assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m; dr saugata datta michel t halbouty '30 visiting chair in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and professor of geology at kansas state university; and yibin huang geology and geophysics doctoral student on a research trip to guanajuato mexico along with students and professors from the university of guanajuato they studied the geochemistry and characteristics of groundwater in the independence basin" dr peter knappett and brian lynch 19 used the technology they had available (a log) to rescue their well depth measuring instrument from down a well "i actually had plans to go skiing with my friends in colorado he said but after knappett invited him to join the research trip lynch changed his mind there was no hesitation; i'm an aggie and selfless service is what we do said lynch who is from katy texas and speaks english and spanish i was humbled to have been given the opportunity because i know how rare it is for an undergraduate to be invited on a research trip studying how to protect aquifers in mountain ranges intermontane aquifers are unique said knappett the high relief drives fast erosion rates off the flanks of the mountains and the high energy flowing water carries coarse sediments into the basin forming important alluvial aquifers which may overlay deeper fractured rocks aquifers near mountains or in closed basins surrounded by mountains as commonly seen across the arid us and in mexico may therefore be highly productive aquifers but could also have little protection from pollution from the surface he said the goal of this research project is to evaluate how 1) pumping for agriculture and municipal use 2) the spreading of fertilizers on fields and 3) the release of untreated sewage or urban runoff on land surfaces changes groundwater chemistry in the long term knappett said partners work to turn research into public health impacts the research team aims to analyze the data collected and develop recommendations to help stakeholders in the region to enact new water management policies benefiting public health they are also collaborating with caminos de agua a non-governmental organization in the region on the project this trip gave me new perspectives on the geosciences lynch said part of this trip for me was showing that science has no borders and that my generation is willing to come together to solve the challenges of the 21st century " doctoral student yibin huang dr peter knappett brian lynch 19 and university of guanajuatos manuel aviles "this research project is funded by tamu-conacyt a collaborative research grant program that texas a&m and the consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnologia (conacyt) began in 2001 this competitive peer-reviewed program advances inter-institutional cooperation in science technology and scholarly activities through the complementary efforts of scientists and scholars from texas a&m and mexican institutions  by leslie lee '09" " oceanography reu to include glider research cruiseundergrads can apply by feb 16 to get at-sea training and do graduate-level research with aggie oceanographersfeb 2 2018students from around the country are invited to apply to the observing the ocean research experience for undergraduates (reu) hosted by the texas a&m university department of oceanography and the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group  the program accepts 10 undergraduate students and each receives focused mentoring from faculty faculty assistance in developing a research plan and graduate-level training in sensors data analysis   data management and science writing this summer the programs research focus areas are hypoxia harmful algae oil spills and ocean acidification as a group the students will develop a glider mission and deploy a glider during a research cruise applications must be submitted by feb 16 20182017 reu participant students aboard the r/v pelican for their research cruisethe national science foundation funds the nationwide reu program and the college of geosciences at texas a&m university helps host three reus including this one also visit the observing the ocean reu blog to check out previous participants research and photos " "students from around the country are invited to apply to the observing the ocean research experience for undergraduates (reu) hosted by the texas a&m university department of oceanography and the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group  the program accepts 10 undergraduate students and each receives focused mentoring from faculty faculty assistance in developing a research plan and graduate-level training in sensors data analysis   data management and science writing this summer the programs research focus areas are hypoxia harmful algae oil spills and ocean acidification as a group the students will develop a glider mission and deploy a glider during a research cruise applications must be submitted by feb 16 2018" 2017 reu participant students aboard the r/v pelican for their research cruise "the national science foundation funds the nationwide reu program and the college of geosciences at texas a&m university helps host three reus including this one also visit the observing the ocean reu blog to check out previous participants research and photos" " aspiring geoscientists and families invited to aggieland saturday feb 10all prospective students and families are welcome at campus-wide eventfeb 1 2018saturday feb 10 texas a&m university will host aggieland saturday an annual campus-wide open house for prospective students and their families during this one day prospective students can meet current students tour the dorms visit libraries and labs and see what texas a&m has to offerthe college of geosciences will host a wide variety of events and tours for prospective students and families during aggieland saturday aspiring geoscientists can learn about the colleges majors and programs get information about admissions and get financial aid and scholarship resourcesthe full college of geosciences aggieland saturday schedule is below and available here all of the geosciences events will be held in the oceanography and meteorology building (o&m) and resource tables for each department and program will also be available in o&m from 8:30 am – 1:30 pmactivities: welcome and the colleges vision 9:00 – 9:15 am o&m room 112 with interim dean dr debbie thomas atmospheric science and meteorology open house 10:30 am – noon o&m 110 gala activities on the lawn (student organizations etc) noon – 12:45 pm the green space in front of the o&m building tours: geology and geophysics 3d visualization laboratory 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 110 geographic information science and technology lab/facilities 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 807 ocean observing and education facility 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 602 presentations: financial solutions for all students 9:15 – 9:45 am o&m 112 what are the geosciences what does a geoscientist do 9:45 – 10:15 am o&m 112 introduction to the geology and geophysics (g&g) majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 112 introduction to the geography and geographic information science and technology majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 807 introduction to the environmental programs 10:30 am – noon o&m 103 introduction to the oceanography major 10:30 am – noon o&m 602 " saturday feb 10 texas a&m university will host aggieland saturday an annual campus-wide open house for prospective students and their families during this one day prospective students can meet current students tour the dorms visit libraries and labs and see what texas a&m has to offerthe college of geosciences will host a wide variety of events and tours for prospective students and families during aggieland saturday aspiring geoscientists can learn about the colleges majors and programs get information about admissions and get financial aid and scholarship resourcesthe full college of geosciences aggieland saturday schedule is below and available here all of the geosciences events will be held in the oceanography and meteorology building (o&m) and resource tables for each department and program will also be available in o&m from 8:30 am – 1:30 pm "activities: welcome and the colleges vision 9:00 – 9:15 am o&m room 112 with interim dean dr debbie thomas atmospheric science and meteorology open house 10:30 am – noon o&m 110 gala activities on the lawn (student organizations etc) noon – 12:45 pm the green space in front of the o&m building tours: geology and geophysics 3d visualization laboratory 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 110 geographic information science and technology lab/facilities 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 807 ocean observing and education facility 1:10 – 2:15 pm o&m 602 presentations: financial solutions for all students 9:15 – 9:45 am o&m 112 what are the geosciences what does a geoscientist do 9:45 – 10:15 am o&m 112 introduction to the geology and geophysics (g&g) majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 112 introduction to the geography and geographic information science and technology majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 807 introduction to the environmental programs 10:30 am – noon o&m 103 introduction to the oceanography major 10:30 am – noon o&m 602 " " undergraduates invited to apply to 2018 atmospheric sciences reu programundergraduates invited to apply to 2018 atmospheric sciences reu programjan 26 2018world-class doppler on wheels research experience was a highlight for the 2017 reu cohort for the fifth year texas a&m universitys department of atmospheric sciences will host ten students from across the country in its research experiences for undergraduates (reu) cohort for nine weeks this summer reus around the united states allow students to be immersed in real-world research projects and learn from faculty experts the national science foundation (nsf) funds the nation-wide reu program titled atmospheric science in the gulf coast region the departments reu is organized such that each of the 10 undergraduate students is assigned an individual atmospheric sciences faculty mentor giving the students a uniquely focused mentorship students can apply for the program online and the deadline is feb 15an nsf doppler on wheels was a highlight of the 2017 reuunique opportunities and faculty mentoring what makes an reu work is a faculty member deciding to selflessly mentor usually uncompensated for the summer thats what makes an reu program great said dr don conlee instructional professor of meteorology at texas a&m and co-principal investigator for the reu project dr robert korty professor of atmospheric sciences also serves as a co-pi and mentors one of the undergraduate students our reu is a great way for the department to give back to the scientific community by educating and providing opportunities to very promising young students conlee said for five days mid-summer last year the reu students conlee korty and texas a&m undergraduate students packed up for a field work expedition to galveston in addition to usual weather equipment the entire crew also got to use a unique tool: a doppler on wheels (dow)  the rapid-scan dow is a piece of world-class meteorological technology able to scan the entire nearby atmosphere in seven second as opposed to the typical 4 minutes of standard radars  the radar is primarily sensitive to precipitation both raindrops and frozen such as hail and snow  for summer 2017 we borrowed an nsf asset – a doppler on wheels and we used that in our field experience as well as locally here with our students; so our aggie undergrads and graduate students also got hands-on experience with it conlee said we also brought our weather balloons and weather stations to galveston so that everyone got experience with a lot of equipment while in galveston the team studied how inland showers and thunderstorms develop they used equipment thats designed for larger severe thunderstorms conlee said but used some of those strengths to learn about ordinary convection the data collected will probably feed into further research by dr courtney schumacher he said the usage of the rapid scan dow to study more ordinary precipitation such as coastal showers is relatively novel conlee said we expect to gain some understanding of the basic fundamentals of this kind of convection getting a taste of what field research is really like is very beneficial conlee said the students get to participate in the daily planning of the routine and how to get into the rhythm of a field experiment which is very valuable experience he said following the galveston trip each student worked with their mentors to develop a research poster summarizing their summer of research most reu students go on to present their posters at a professional meeting student conference and some presented their work at the american meteorological society meeting in austin this january students get introduced to research through reu this past summers reu brought students from all over the country – from as far away as new york and minnesota – and for some of them the program was their first time on a major research university campus nsf strategically uses the reu program to introduce research to undergraduates from smaller universities which may have fewer hands-on research opportunities atmospheric sciences reu specifically partners with four universities across the gulf south that have undergraduate-only meteorology programs which helps meet the programmatic goal of providing opportunities to small-school students the students also had the opportunity to visit the national weather services galveston office and stormgeo a private meteorological and ocean forecasting services company and like all good reus we make sure students get some exposure to how to apply to grad school what grad school is like how to present your work and how to participate in a university-wide undergraduate research poster experience conlee said  learn more about the departments reu here and from nsf " "world-class doppler on wheels research experience was a highlight for the 2017 reu cohort for the fifth year texas a&m universitys department of atmospheric sciences will host ten students from across the country in its research experiences for undergraduates (reu) cohort for nine weeks this summer reus around the united states allow students to be immersed in real-world research projects and learn from faculty experts the national science foundation (nsf) funds the nation-wide reu program titled atmospheric science in the gulf coast region the departments reu is organized such that each of the 10 undergraduate students is assigned an individual atmospheric sciences faculty mentor giving the students a uniquely focused mentorship students can apply for the program online and the deadline is feb 15" "unique opportunities and faculty mentoring what makes an reu work is a faculty member deciding to selflessly mentor usually uncompensated for the summer thats what makes an reu program great said dr don conlee instructional professor of meteorology at texas a&m and co-principal investigator for the reu project dr robert korty professor of atmospheric sciences also serves as a co-pi and mentors one of the undergraduate students our reu is a great way for the department to give back to the scientific community by educating and providing opportunities to very promising young students conlee said for five days mid-summer last year the reu students conlee korty and texas a&m undergraduate students packed up for a field work expedition to galveston in addition to usual weather equipment the entire crew also got to use a unique tool: a doppler on wheels (dow)  the rapid-scan dow is a piece of world-class meteorological technology able to scan the entire nearby atmosphere in seven second as opposed to the typical 4 minutes of standard radars  the radar is primarily sensitive to precipitation both raindrops and frozen such as hail and snow  for summer 2017 we borrowed an nsf asset – a doppler on wheels and we used that in our field experience as well as locally here with our students; so our aggie undergrads and graduate students also got hands-on experience with it conlee said we also brought our weather balloons and weather stations to galveston so that everyone got experience with a lot of equipment while in galveston the team studied how inland showers and thunderstorms develop they used equipment thats designed for larger severe thunderstorms conlee said but used some of those strengths to learn about ordinary convection the data collected will probably feed into further research by dr courtney schumacher he said the usage of the rapid scan dow to study more ordinary precipitation such as coastal showers is relatively novel conlee said we expect to gain some understanding of the basic fundamentals of this kind of convection getting a taste of what field research is really like is very beneficial conlee said the students get to participate in the daily planning of the routine and how to get into the rhythm of a field experiment which is very valuable experience he said following the galveston trip each student worked with their mentors to develop a research poster summarizing their summer of research most reu students go on to present their posters at a professional meeting student conference and some presented their work at the american meteorological society meeting in austin this january students get introduced to research through reu this past summers reu brought students from all over the country – from as far away as new york and minnesota – and for some of them the program was their first time on a major research university campus nsf strategically uses the reu program to introduce research to undergraduates from smaller universities which may have fewer hands-on research opportunities atmospheric sciences reu specifically partners with four universities across the gulf south that have undergraduate-only meteorology programs which helps meet the programmatic goal of providing opportunities to small-school students the students also had the opportunity to visit the national weather services galveston office and stormgeo a private meteorological and ocean forecasting services company and like all good reus we make sure students get some exposure to how to apply to grad school what grad school is like how to present your work and how to participate in a university-wide undergraduate research poster experience conlee said  learn more about the departments reu here and from nsf" " deadline approaching for sea grant marine policy fellowshipjan 25 2018the texas sea grant college program is accepting applications through friday february 23 for the 2019 john a knauss marine policy fellowship the knauss fellowship established in 1979 pairs highly qualified graduate students who have an interest in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources with host offices in the legislative and executive branches of government the yearlong paid fellowship is named for one of sea grants founders former noaa administrator john a knauss the knauss fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for students to be involved in substantive issues and have a first-hand look at the development of policy that affects our nations marine resources said mia zwolinski texas sea grants research coordinator past knauss fellows from texas have served with numerous national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) offices and also at the national science foundation the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) and congressional offices texas 2017 knauss fellow matthew dzaugis worked at the us global change research program (usgcrp) which is an interagency program that helps coordinate all of the climate change research done from 13 different government agencies and is mandated by congress to produce the national climate assessment no less than every four years there is always a lot going on at the usgcrp so i have the opportunity to participate in or at least sit in on a huge number of different interagency working groups or other cross-agency programs he says i have mostly been involved with the coordination and production of the national climate assessment as a coordinator i helped to manage and facilitate the writing of some of the chapters by the climate change experts who volunteered to be authors dzaugis served as the lead author of the frequently asked questions chapter not only was i writing the answers to the most prevalent climate change questions but also communicating with a large list of technical experts who helped verify and fact check my answers overall it has been a huge privilege to be involved with this project two texas doctoral students will begin their 2018 knauss fellowships in washington dc on feb 1 emily k cira from texas a&m university-corpus christi will be working with the us environmental protection agency national nutrient criteria program andria kay salas from the university of texas at austin will serve her fellowship at the noaa national marine fisheries service restoration center contact mia zwolinski research coordinator at mzwolinski@tamuedu or 979-458-0449 for additional information   by cindie powell " "the texas sea grant college program is accepting applications through friday february 23 for the 2019 john a knauss marine policy fellowship the knauss fellowship established in 1979 pairs highly qualified graduate students who have an interest in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources with host offices in the legislative and executive branches of government the yearlong paid fellowship is named for one of sea grants founders former noaa administrator john a knauss the knauss fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for students to be involved in substantive issues and have a first-hand look at the development of policy that affects our nations marine resources said mia zwolinski texas sea grants research coordinator past knauss fellows from texas have served with numerous national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) offices and also at the national science foundation the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) and congressional offices texas 2017 knauss fellow matthew dzaugis worked at the us global change research program (usgcrp) which is an interagency program that helps coordinate all of the climate change research done from 13 different government agencies and is mandated by congress to produce the national climate assessment no less than every four years there is always a lot going on at the usgcrp so i have the opportunity to participate in or at least sit in on a huge number of different interagency working groups or other cross-agency programs he says i have mostly been involved with the coordination and production of the national climate assessment as a coordinator i helped to manage and facilitate the writing of some of the chapters by the climate change experts who volunteered to be authors dzaugis served as the lead author of the frequently asked questions chapter not only was i writing the answers to the most prevalent climate change questions but also communicating with a large list of technical experts who helped verify and fact check my answers overall it has been a huge privilege to be involved with this project two texas doctoral students will begin their 2018 knauss fellowships in washington dc on feb 1 emily k cira from texas a&m university-corpus christi will be working with the us environmental protection agency national nutrient criteria program andria kay salas from the university of texas at austin will serve her fellowship at the noaa national marine fisheries service restoration center contact mia zwolinski research coordinator at mzwolinski@tamuedu or 979-458-0449 for additional information   by cindie powell" " tamug doctoral student tagging bull sharks in galveston bayjan 12 2018a doctoral student in the shark biology & fisheries science lab at texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) is studying the movement and habitat patterns of bull sharks in galveston bay with support from texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program thomas tinhan is tagging juvenile bull sharks (carcharhinus leucas) to learn more about their habitat preferences through long- and short-term movement tracking texas estuaries are essential nursery habitats for the sharks but these areas vary greatly in habitat type and regularly experience drastic changes in environmental conditions like temperature and salinity by tagging the sharks and then observing where they go over time tinhan hopes to learn more about how they respond to these changes ive always had an interest in studying the behavior of apex predators he said they typically play very important roles in marine ecosystems by studying one of the top predators in galveston bay tinhan said that more can be learned about the food chain as a whole which can then be used to inform management and fishing practices in texas bays some ecosystems are very tightly linked he said if you adjust the population of one species it could affect several other species or it might not but its important we understand how much influence that might have and the first step of getting at that is understanding the first link in the chain tinhan has long been fascinated by sharks he volunteered at the university of hawaiis shark lab studying tiger sharks and hammerheads while working toward his undergraduate degree in marine biology he has a specific interest in bull sharks because they are infamous for their ability to do something that very few other sharks can do: regularly travel deep into freshwater systems with no apparent ill effects bull sharks are uniquely adept at regulating the salt content in their bodies and their tolerance for varied salinity grows with their size tinhan said that spending time in fresh water may be a trade-off especially for smaller sharks the lower the salinity the more energy it takes them to regulate that he said but because fewer species can inhabit low salinities juveniles can go up into those habitats and remain relatively unthreatened by larger sharks he added that being in fresh water reduces a sharks buoyancy by about eight times making it far more taxing for it to swim when the salinity is low but for small sharks it is thought that all of these extra energy expenditures are preferable to being eaten bull sharks have been found all over the world in rivers and lakes that are connected to oceans but the extent to which they do this in texas isnt well known texas parks and wildlife has a coastal monitoring program thats been going on for about 30 years but they dont sample into freshwater systems tinhan said we know that bull sharks move into low salinity areas near river mouths but we dont know how far theyre actually moving into them he adds that its not rare for bull sharks to be found in fresh bodies of water in texas but how often it happens is hard to quantify fishermen who are attempting to catch other species in rivers will catch bull sharks occasionally but its hard to tell how often it happens because theyre typically not fishing for an animal that large so bite-offs are common tinhan hopes that observing the sharks movement patterns over the course of a year will shed some light on that mystery and provide a clearer picture of why they spend their time where they do he will track the sharks by fixing each animal that is caught with an acoustic transmitter these tags send out a signal every few minutes that can be picked up by the listening stations his team has scattered throughout different habitats in galveston bay tinhan began tagging sharks during summer 2017 in part with the aid of texas sea grants funding but his project was interrupted by hurricane harvey in late august however tagging has since resumed and tinhan said they plan to deploy another 20-30 tags before next summer the team will begin monitoring the sharks movements for a full year after the last tag is deployed texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program is a competitive program that provides small grants to graduate students enrolled at texas a&m university texas a&m university at galveston and texas a&m university-corpus christi whose research projects are both relevant to texas and marine-related the program is designed to promote scientific research by supporting students in their early academic careers for more information about research at the shark biology & fisheries science lab visit http://wwwwellsfisherieslabcom/ " "a doctoral student in the shark biology & fisheries science lab at texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) is studying the movement and habitat patterns of bull sharks in galveston bay with support from texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program thomas tinhan is tagging juvenile bull sharks (carcharhinus leucas) to learn more about their habitat preferences through long- and short-term movement tracking texas estuaries are essential nursery habitats for the sharks but these areas vary greatly in habitat type and regularly experience drastic changes in environmental conditions like temperature and salinity by tagging the sharks and then observing where they go over time tinhan hopes to learn more about how they respond to these changes ive always had an interest in studying the behavior of apex predators he said they typically play very important roles in marine ecosystems by studying one of the top predators in galveston bay tinhan said that more can be learned about the food chain as a whole which can then be used to inform management and fishing practices in texas bays some ecosystems are very tightly linked he said if you adjust the population of one species it could affect several other species or it might not but its important we understand how much influence that might have and the first step of getting at that is understanding the first link in the chain tinhan has long been fascinated by sharks he volunteered at the university of hawaiis shark lab studying tiger sharks and hammerheads while working toward his undergraduate degree in marine biology he has a specific interest in bull sharks because they are infamous for their ability to do something that very few other sharks can do: regularly travel deep into freshwater systems with no apparent ill effects bull sharks are uniquely adept at regulating the salt content in their bodies and their tolerance for varied salinity grows with their size tinhan said that spending time in fresh water may be a trade-off especially for smaller sharks the lower the salinity the more energy it takes them to regulate that he said but because fewer species can inhabit low salinities juveniles can go up into those habitats and remain relatively unthreatened by larger sharks he added that being in fresh water reduces a sharks buoyancy by about eight times making it far more taxing for it to swim when the salinity is low but for small sharks it is thought that all of these extra energy expenditures are preferable to being eaten bull sharks have been found all over the world in rivers and lakes that are connected to oceans but the extent to which they do this in texas isnt well known texas parks and wildlife has a coastal monitoring program thats been going on for about 30 years but they dont sample into freshwater systems tinhan said we know that bull sharks move into low salinity areas near river mouths but we dont know how far theyre actually moving into them he adds that its not rare for bull sharks to be found in fresh bodies of water in texas but how often it happens is hard to quantify fishermen who are attempting to catch other species in rivers will catch bull sharks occasionally but its hard to tell how often it happens because theyre typically not fishing for an animal that large so bite-offs are common tinhan hopes that observing the sharks movement patterns over the course of a year will shed some light on that mystery and provide a clearer picture of why they spend their time where they do he will track the sharks by fixing each animal that is caught with an acoustic transmitter these tags send out a signal every few minutes that can be picked up by the listening stations his team has scattered throughout different habitats in galveston bay tinhan began tagging sharks during summer 2017 in part with the aid of texas sea grants funding but his project was interrupted by hurricane harvey in late august however tagging has since resumed and tinhan said they plan to deploy another 20-30 tags before next summer the team will begin monitoring the sharks movements for a full year after the last tag is deployed texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program is a competitive program that provides small grants to graduate students enrolled at texas a&m university texas a&m university at galveston and texas a&m university-corpus christi whose research projects are both relevant to texas and marine-related the program is designed to promote scientific research by supporting students in their early academic careers for more information about research at the shark biology & fisheries science lab visit http://wwwwellsfisherieslabcom/" " the 2017 agu conferencedec 19 2017on dec 11-15 2017 students and faculty attended the american geophysical union (agu) annual meeting in new orleans louisiana participants from texas a&m presented their work at this conference in poster sessions and talks the 2018 agu meeting is set to take place in washington dc on dec 10-14 2018 interim dean dr debbie thomas working the texas a&m booth at agu " " debra stark retiresformer business associate in the department of geology and geophysics debra stark has announced her retirement from the college of geosciencesdec 19 2017debra starkdebra worked for the college for over 20 years recently ending her career in the department of oceanography after previously working in the department of geology and geophysics " debra worked for the college for over 20 years recently ending her career in the department of oceanography after previously working in the department of geology and geophysics " mark mccann awardedmark mccann senior information technology professional was honored with a 2017 deans achievement award for exemplary staff servicesdec 18 2017mark mccann with department head dr michael popedr bobby reece marks nominator wrote that mark has come through countless times in short order to fix problems critical to a teaching or research mission he is always happy to help and responds selflessly to anything asked of him although mark is truly a brilliant technician and carries knowledge critical to the complex computing support mission he does not shy away from small tasks and fills in to help wherever asked or needed read more about it here " "dr bobby reece marks nominator wrote that mark has come through countless times in short order to fix problems critical to a teaching or research mission he is always happy to help and responds selflessly to anything asked of him although mark is truly a brilliant technician and carries knowledge critical to the complex computing support mission he does not shy away from small tasks and fills in to help wherever asked or needed read more about it here" " dave sparks awardedduring the college of geosciences holiday banquet and awards ceremony the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in service went to dr dave sparks professor of geology and geophysics dec 18 2017dr dave sparks with interim dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomasdepartment head dr mike pope said dave has been the key faculty mover and shaker to get the graduate curriculum modified to something most of us are not only excited about but also wholeheartedly believe will produce better students to do this he had to write innumerable position papers lead two full-day retreats and many other meetings read more about it here  " dr dave sparks with interim dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas "department head dr mike pope said dave has been the key faculty mover and shaker to get the graduate curriculum modified to something most of us are not only excited about but also wholeheartedly believe will produce better students to do this he had to write innumerable position papers lead two full-day retreats and many other meetings read more about it here " " department of geology & geophysics december 2017 graduationcongratulations to all the undergraduate and graduate students who graduated december 15th from the department of geology & geophysics!dec 15 2017special congratulations to the following students who received the following awards: geology and geophysics outstanding senior award melanie bowenanasasia fedotova geology and geophysics outstanding field geologist award connor loftonanastasia fedotovaclinton layne farr college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program gold patricia hernandezcameron elizabeth ramsey silver eduardo andres alvarezmelanie gail bowenabigail vivian dasturdennis abel mmasa bronze hailey miranda byersrogelio deleon joshua cole woosley " "special congratulations to the following students who received the following awards: geology and geophysics outstanding senior award melanie bowenanasasia fedotova geology and geophysics outstanding field geologist award connor loftonanastasia fedotovaclinton layne farr college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars program gold patricia hernandezcameron elizabeth ramsey silver eduardo andres alvarezmelanie gail bowenabigail vivian dasturdennis abel mmasa bronze hailey miranda byersrogelio deleon joshua cole woosley" " dr michael heaney retiresafter over 18 years in the department of geology and geophysics dr michael heaney announced his retirement dec 8 2017enjoy retirement!heaney's retirement cakemichael heaneyheaney's retirement partymichael heaneymichael heaney (left) " " dr rick carlson now emeritusdec 6 2017the department of geology and geophysics awarded dr rick carlson an emeritus professor positiondr carlson retired from the department in spring 2017 after 40 years as a geophysics professor the department of geology and geophysics thanks dr carlson for his many contributions to the department while at texas a&m  read more about dr carlson here dr rick carlson with department head dr mike pope " " geology & geophysics 2017 department holiday partythe department of geology and geophysics celebrated the holidays and the end to 2017 at the annual department holiday party dec 6 2017department head dr mike pope receives thank you hugsfaculty staff graduate students and guests attended the party which included honoring dr rick carlson who earned the title as an emeritus professor mark mccann who was awarded for his work as an it staff member and dr michael heaney who announced his retirement from the department " faculty staff graduate students and guests attended the party which included honoring dr rick carlson who earned the title as an emeritus professor mark mccann who was awarded for his work as an it staff member and dr michael heaney who announced his retirement from the department " the 2017 berg-hughes symposiumstudents from both the department of geology & geophysics and the department of petroleum engineering participated in the eighth annual berg-hughes research symposium this past novembernov 3 2017graduate student april rider presents her poster during the poster sessionthis symposium was presented by the berg-hughes center for petroleum & sedimentary systems with participation from the crisman institute for petroleum research fifty students were participants in the poster session while various talks were presented on ongoing research in both departments the keynote address was presented by john plugge the executive vice president for the exxonmobil development company on energy evolutionthe luncheon address was on managing subsurface fluid budgets to reduce adverse impacts of the us shale oil production by bridget scanlon the senior research scientist at the bureau of economic geology at the university of texas at austin view presentations posters and photos from the 2017 berg-hughes symposium here: https://berg-hughestamuedu/events/indexhtml " graduate student april rider presents her poster during the poster session "this symposium was presented by the berg-hughes center for petroleum & sedimentary systems with participation from the crisman institute for petroleum research fifty students were participants in the poster session while various talks were presented on ongoing research in both departments the keynote address was presented by john plugge the executive vice president for the exxonmobil development company on energy evolutionthe luncheon address was on managing subsurface fluid budgets to reduce adverse impacts of the us shale oil production by bridget scanlon the senior research scientist at the bureau of economic geology at the university of texas at austin view presentations posters and photos from the 2017 berg-hughes symposium here: https://berg-hughestamuedu/events/indexhtml" " students attend 2017 gsa conferenceoct 22-25 2017 students and faculty attended the geological society of america (gsa) 129th annual meeting in seattle washingtonoct 27 2017halbouty building at texas a&m universityoct 22-25 2017 students and faculty attended the geological society of america (gsa) 129th annual meeting in seattle washington attendees from texas a&m presented their work at this conference as well as learned from other scientists the 2018 gsa annual meeting is set to take place in indianapolis indiana nov 4-7 2018 we hope to see you at our booth! " oct 22-25 2017 students and faculty attended the geological society of america (gsa) 129th annual meeting in seattle washington attendees from texas a&m presented their work at this conference as well as learned from other scientists the 2018 gsa annual meeting is set to take place in indianapolis indiana nov 4-7 2018 we hope to see you at our booth! " publication in naturedr franco marcantonio former phd student matthew loveley and former bs student marilyn wisler were published in nature geosciences for their article titled millennial-scale iron fertilization of the eastern equatorial pacific over the past 100 000 yearsoct 23 2017former phd student matthew loveley working in the r ken williams ‘45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratorythese researchers examined equatorial pacific ocean sediment cores and found that between 14 000 and 71 000 years ago iron was delivered to the ocean in the form of dust pulses each of which were connected to abrupt temperature decreases in the northern hemisphere as explained by dr franco marcantonio in an interview with r and d magazine some of the dust dissolved and released iron to the surface waters of the ocean each time the dust and iron were added to the surface ocean we found that there was a corresponding pulse of algae growth some researchers believe that seeding the ocean with iron enables the capture of large amounts of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere he added the timing of the pulses is associated with cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere the connection to carbon dioxide is not clear but we do raise the provocative idea that the last time global carbon dioxide levels were rising in the past adding iron to the equatorial pacific ocean may have acted to lower their levels to some extent former student marilyn wisler said about her research experience i am so thankful for the experience i had working with franco marcantonio and matthew loveley and so many others along the way! this research was funded by a nsf grant and support from the ken williams ‘45 radiogenic isotope facility by cristina figueroareferences: https://googl/ttrgmshttps://googl/q6aqfn " former phd student matthew loveley working in the r ken williams ‘45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory "these researchers examined equatorial pacific ocean sediment cores and found that between 14 000 and 71 000 years ago iron was delivered to the ocean in the form of dust pulses each of which were connected to abrupt temperature decreases in the northern hemisphere as explained by dr franco marcantonio in an interview with r and d magazine some of the dust dissolved and released iron to the surface waters of the ocean each time the dust and iron were added to the surface ocean we found that there was a corresponding pulse of algae growth some researchers believe that seeding the ocean with iron enables the capture of large amounts of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere he added the timing of the pulses is associated with cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere the connection to carbon dioxide is not clear but we do raise the provocative idea that the last time global carbon dioxide levels were rising in the past adding iron to the equatorial pacific ocean may have acted to lower their levels to some extent former student marilyn wisler said about her research experience i am so thankful for the experience i had working with franco marcantonio and matthew loveley and so many others along the way! this research was funded by a nsf grant and support from the ken williams ‘45 radiogenic isotope facility by cristina figueroareferences: https://googl/ttrgmshttps://googl/q6aqfn" " students participate in 2017 seg conferencethis past sept 24-29 2017 students and faculty attended the society of exploration geophysicists (seg) 88th annual meeting in houston texasoct 2 2017students at 2017 seg conferencethis past sept 24-29 2017 students and faculty attended the society of exploration geophysicists (seg) 88th annual meeting in houston texas attendees from texas a&m presented their work at this conference in poster presentations as well as learned from other scientists during a variety of talks " this past sept 24-29 2017 students and faculty attended the society of exploration geophysicists (seg) 88th annual meeting in houston texas attendees from texas a&m presented their work at this conference in poster presentations as well as learned from other scientists during a variety of talks " follow geosciences dean debbie thomas on iodp expedition 378the nsf-funded expedition sails jan 3 - march 4 2020 dec 19 2019dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and the joides resolutiondean of college of geosciences at texas a&m university dr debbie thomas will soon set sail on international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 378 south pacific paleogene climate which will investigate the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography through a drilling transect in the far southern pacific ocean  from jan 3 to march 4 2020 i have the exceptional privilege of serving as one of the co-chiefs for the odyssey of expedition 378 thomas writes i am honored to serve alongside my dear friend impeccable scholar and co-chief dr ursula röhl and our amazing expedition project manager dr laurel childress thomas will service as co-chief scientist for the expedition aboard the joides resolution a drillship operated solely for the scientific research of iodp the joides resolution has circumnavigated the globe many times over and is capable of drilling six miles beneath the ocean surface all while serving as an international hub of unparalleled geoscience research data and collaboration iodp is funded by the national science foundation and is operated and managed by texas a&m through the college of geosciences the two-month expedition sails out of lautoka fiji and finishes in papeete tahiti resources for following along with expedition 378: dr debbie thomas expedition blog scientific summary of expedition 378 the joides resolution facebook page iodp on twitter joides resolution on instagram about iodp and texas a&m university texas a&m has served as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) since 1985 the joides resolution drills into the ocean floor to collect and study core samples and scientists use data from the ships expeditions to better understand climate change geology and earths history one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed in the iodp facility on the texas a&m campus as well as the technical support research and publication staff of the jrso the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications by leslie lee 09 " dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and the joides resolution "dean of college of geosciences at texas a&m university dr debbie thomas will soon set sail on international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 378 south pacific paleogene climate which will investigate the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography through a drilling transect in the far southern pacific ocean  from jan 3 to march 4 2020 i have the exceptional privilege of serving as one of the co-chiefs for the odyssey of expedition 378 thomas writes i am honored to serve alongside my dear friend impeccable scholar and co-chief dr ursula röhl and our amazing expedition project manager dr laurel childress thomas will service as co-chief scientist for the expedition aboard the joides resolution a drillship operated solely for the scientific research of iodp the joides resolution has circumnavigated the globe many times over and is capable of drilling six miles beneath the ocean surface all while serving as an international hub of unparalleled geoscience research data and collaboration iodp is funded by the national science foundation and is operated and managed by texas a&m through the college of geosciences the two-month expedition sails out of lautoka fiji and finishes in papeete tahiti resources for following along with expedition 378: dr debbie thomas expedition blog scientific summary of expedition 378 the joides resolution facebook page iodp on twitter joides resolution on instagram about iodp and texas a&m university texas a&m has served as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) since 1985 the joides resolution drills into the ocean floor to collect and study core samples and scientists use data from the ships expeditions to better understand climate change geology and earths history one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed in the iodp facility on the texas a&m campus as well as the technical support research and publication staff of the jrso the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications by leslie lee 09" " december 2019 graduates recognized with awards and honorsthe college of geosciences graduation celebration was held dec 13dec 19 2019college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - gold medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences)the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its december 2019 graduates commencement ceremonies were held dec 14 in reed arena and prior to that the college of geosciences december 2019 commencement reception and awards ceremony was held dec 13 in the memorial student center graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff gathered to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award kailey m butler audrey n capra mckenzie l erwin luke j gezovich michael r martinez tashara m oliver cassie m oswood miranda r peterson wyatt k scott synclaire truesdale daniel w wanke emily p yoder  college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - silver medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences) college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - bronze medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences) college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars gold kendall byers gabriel ibiassi nambila joseph marble dominique martinez silver ariana castillo haoyan chen meredith faix justin fierova golnoush hosseini siahkal mahalleh courtney nevels hayden smith alondra trevino synclaire truesdale bronze susana aguayo audrey capra danielle dechellis chandler farley cindy figueroa michael martinez miranda peterson chelsea schwartz trevor surface amanda tague daniel wanke  excellence in meteorology award synclaire elizabeth truesdale environmental programs outstanding graduating senior awards cassie oswood - environmental geosciencesmiranda peterson - environmental studies gamma theta upsilon honor society zeta zeta chapter trevor duwain surface geography outstanding student award mary anne paige upjohn gist outstanding senior award daniel wood wanke geology & geophysics outstanding senior award luke j gezovichmichael r martinezwyatt k scott view and download photos from the reception " college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - gold medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences) "the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its december 2019 graduates commencement ceremonies were held dec 14 in reed arena and prior to that the college of geosciences december 2019 commencement reception and awards ceremony was held dec 13 in the memorial student center graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff gathered to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award kailey m butler audrey n capra mckenzie l erwin luke j gezovich michael r martinez tashara m oliver cassie m oswood miranda r peterson wyatt k scott synclaire truesdale daniel w wanke emily p yoder  " "college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - silver medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences) college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars - bronze medallion recipients (photo by stephanie taylor texas a&m geosciences) " "college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars gold kendall byers gabriel ibiassi nambila joseph marble dominique martinez silver ariana castillo haoyan chen meredith faix justin fierova golnoush hosseini siahkal mahalleh courtney nevels hayden smith alondra trevino synclaire truesdale bronze susana aguayo audrey capra danielle dechellis chandler farley cindy figueroa michael martinez miranda peterson chelsea schwartz trevor surface amanda tague daniel wanke  excellence in meteorology award synclaire elizabeth truesdale environmental programs outstanding graduating senior awards cassie oswood - environmental geosciencesmiranda peterson - environmental studies gamma theta upsilon honor society zeta zeta chapter trevor duwain surface geography outstanding student award mary anne paige upjohn gist outstanding senior award daniel wood wanke geology & geophysics outstanding senior award luke j gezovichmichael r martinezwyatt k scott view and download photos from the reception" " six launch undergraduate research scholars designated as texas sea grant scholarstexas sea grant has funded six undergraduate research scholars at texas a&m university and texas a&m university at galveston dec 19 2019the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $5 200 in research grants to six undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars program which designates scholars from among those selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program whose proposal topic from any discipline is related to the marine environment recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from the texas sea grant scholars program to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2019-20 texas sea grant scholars program recipients their respective fields of study and projects are listed below: mikeelee brink marine biology tamug the role of zebrafish (danio rerio) metabolism in influencing physiological fitness under metabolic stress kelci chambers marine biology tamug antibiotic resistant gene analysis post hurricane harvey madlyn crist marine biology tamug synthesizing metallic complexes as catalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions margaret guy wildlife and fisheries sciences texas a&m implications of tourists with handheld lights on sea turtles kristina simons marine biology tamug the effects of oxybenzone on the metabolic physiology of zebrafish marcus wharton marine biology tamug chemical characteristics of sargassum for more information about the texas sea grant scholars program visit txag/txsgscholars by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $5 200 in research grants to six undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars program which designates scholars from among those selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program whose proposal topic from any discipline is related to the marine environment recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from the texas sea grant scholars program to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2019-20 texas sea grant scholars program recipients their respective fields of study and projects are listed below: mikeelee brink marine biology tamug the role of zebrafish (danio rerio) metabolism in influencing physiological fitness under metabolic stress kelci chambers marine biology tamug antibiotic resistant gene analysis post hurricane harvey madlyn crist marine biology tamug synthesizing metallic complexes as catalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions margaret guy wildlife and fisheries sciences texas a&m implications of tourists with handheld lights on sea turtles kristina simons marine biology tamug the effects of oxybenzone on the metabolic physiology of zebrafish marcus wharton marine biology tamug chemical characteristics of sargassum for more information about the texas sea grant scholars program visit txag/txsgscholars by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " oyster fishery first to receive sustainability certification with texas sea grant supportwith the help of texas sea grant prestige oyster's inc became the first private oyster fishery in the america to achieve certification from the marine stewardship councildec 19 2019an oyster vessel (photo credit: prestige oyster's inc)harvesting oystersraz halili vice president of prestige oyster's inc and laura picariello fisheries specialist at texas sea grantas sustainability of fisheries becomes more pressing a milestone has been achieved for gulf of mexico oysters prestige oysters inc a houston-based international oyster company has become the first private oyster fishery in the americas to receive the marine stewardship councils (msc) certification the certification includes oysters harvested off of prestige oysters inc private lease grounds in texas and louisiana  the label is one of the most well-recognized certifications designating a sustainable seafood product those with the certification can use the esteemed blue label to indicate that they have met the expert-developed rigorous standards for msc certification each msc certification is valid for five years with annual audits and its standards assess sustainability of the fishery environmental impact and effective fisheries practices its a testament to our fishery the strides that weve taken over the years and the commitment said raz halili vice president of prestige oysters inc from the fishermen to the office staff and the state agencies working together to create a sustainable viable oyster resource thats something weve shown with the msc certification this is a huge step forward and well-deserved recognition for the oyster industry in the gulf of mexico said laura picariello fisheries specialist at texas sea grant  texas sea grant was a key supporter in helping prestige oysters inc achieve this status picariellos background in the sustainable seafood sector including training in msc assessment and experience with gulf fisheries made her ideal for aiding in the process picariello served as a consultant guiding prestige oysters inc through the rigorous 10-month assessment process providing technical support and gathering the necessary data to determine whether they met the mscs standards with her knowledge and expertise in fisheries she was able to ask the right questions halili said it made everything much more efficient and helped get us where we needed to be  prestige oysters inc has a long-standing history with sustainability placing oyster shell and rock back into the environment to help build reefs that become habitat for oysters fish and wildlife  we need to think about fishing in the future and for future generations not only does this create a good business model but it also plays a part in our ecosystem halili said we love doing our part its going to help out other fisheries as well   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " an oyster vessel (photo credit: prestige oyster's inc)harvesting oystersraz halili vice president of prestige oyster's inc and laura picariello fisheries specialist at texas sea grant "as sustainability of fisheries becomes more pressing a milestone has been achieved for gulf of mexico oysters prestige oysters inc a houston-based international oyster company has become the first private oyster fishery in the americas to receive the marine stewardship councils (msc) certification the certification includes oysters harvested off of prestige oysters inc private lease grounds in texas and louisiana  the label is one of the most well-recognized certifications designating a sustainable seafood product those with the certification can use the esteemed blue label to indicate that they have met the expert-developed rigorous standards for msc certification each msc certification is valid for five years with annual audits and its standards assess sustainability of the fishery environmental impact and effective fisheries practices its a testament to our fishery the strides that weve taken over the years and the commitment said raz halili vice president of prestige oysters inc from the fishermen to the office staff and the state agencies working together to create a sustainable viable oyster resource thats something weve shown with the msc certification this is a huge step forward and well-deserved recognition for the oyster industry in the gulf of mexico said laura picariello fisheries specialist at texas sea grant  texas sea grant was a key supporter in helping prestige oysters inc achieve this status picariellos background in the sustainable seafood sector including training in msc assessment and experience with gulf fisheries made her ideal for aiding in the process picariello served as a consultant guiding prestige oysters inc through the rigorous 10-month assessment process providing technical support and gathering the necessary data to determine whether they met the mscs standards with her knowledge and expertise in fisheries she was able to ask the right questions halili said it made everything much more efficient and helped get us where we needed to be  prestige oysters inc has a long-standing history with sustainability placing oyster shell and rock back into the environment to help build reefs that become habitat for oysters fish and wildlife  we need to think about fishing in the future and for future generations not only does this create a good business model but it also plays a part in our ecosystem halili said we love doing our part its going to help out other fisheries as well   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " geography graduate student wins award in 3-minute thesis competitionafter competing against graduate students from across campus crockett walter won the peoples choice awarddec 19 2019geography graduate student crockett walter presents at the texas a&m 3mt final competition (photo courtesy of texas a&m ogaps)texas a&ms 2019 3mt finalists join dr karen butler-purry (center) associate provost for graduate and professional studies (photo courtesy of texas a&m ogaps)crockett walter graduate student in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently received the people's choice award in the 2019 texas a&m 3-minute thesis competition master's division walter presented ""drone precision agriculture: selecting improved varieties of corn"" at the competition which was held in rudder forum nov 12 texas a&m graduate students competing in the 3mt thesis (3mt®) competition have three minutes and a single display slide to present a compelling summary of their graduate work after besting other competitors during a two-day competition earlier in the fall walter and nine other graduate students were the finalists who earned the opportunity to compete in the final 3mt event the 3mt thesis competition was a great opportunity to share with a broad audience the research we are doing in the department of geography walter said i was excited to share the vision for why i first wanted to come to texas a&m for my graduate research: to develop pioneer methodologies for using drones to improve agriculture with future applications in developing countries preparing for and participating in the competition was a very valuable experience for walter through this competition i gained the confidence and skills to take complex research and share it in a concise way that people from many different backgrounds could easily follow he said i think this will be especially beneficial for myself as i continue to develop new technologies and introduce these concepts to farmers now in its seventh year at texas a&m the competition is sponsored by the office of graduate and professional studies (ogaps) walter is advised by dr anthony filippi associate professor of geography i am thankful for the support dr filippi has given me while working on my thesis research walter said he has given me excellent advice in how to integrate time series analysis and computer learning components into the work i am doing texas a&m doctoral and masters students compete in the annual competition and are judged by a panel of experts from the university and the local community the competing researchers are evaluated based on their communication style audience comprehension and audience engagement students prepare for the competition with coaching and support from ogaps the university writing center and the english language proficiency program at the center for teaching excellence the 3mt® concept was originally developed by the university of queensland in australia and has spread throughout the globe read more about the campus-wide completion at texas a&m today " geography graduate student crockett walter presents at the texas a&m 3mt final competition (photo courtesy of texas a&m ogaps)texas a&ms 2019 3mt finalists join dr karen butler-purry (center) associate provost for graduate and professional studies (photo courtesy of texas a&m ogaps) "crockett walter graduate student in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently received the people's choice award in the 2019 texas a&m 3-minute thesis competition master's division walter presented ""drone precision agriculture: selecting improved varieties of corn"" at the competition which was held in rudder forum nov 12 texas a&m graduate students competing in the 3mt thesis (3mt®) competition have three minutes and a single display slide to present a compelling summary of their graduate work after besting other competitors during a two-day competition earlier in the fall walter and nine other graduate students were the finalists who earned the opportunity to compete in the final 3mt event the 3mt thesis competition was a great opportunity to share with a broad audience the research we are doing in the department of geography walter said i was excited to share the vision for why i first wanted to come to texas a&m for my graduate research: to develop pioneer methodologies for using drones to improve agriculture with future applications in developing countries preparing for and participating in the competition was a very valuable experience for walter through this competition i gained the confidence and skills to take complex research and share it in a concise way that people from many different backgrounds could easily follow he said i think this will be especially beneficial for myself as i continue to develop new technologies and introduce these concepts to farmers now in its seventh year at texas a&m the competition is sponsored by the office of graduate and professional studies (ogaps) walter is advised by dr anthony filippi associate professor of geography i am thankful for the support dr filippi has given me while working on my thesis research walter said he has given me excellent advice in how to integrate time series analysis and computer learning components into the work i am doing texas a&m doctoral and masters students compete in the annual competition and are judged by a panel of experts from the university and the local community the competing researchers are evaluated based on their communication style audience comprehension and audience engagement students prepare for the competition with coaching and support from ogaps the university writing center and the english language proficiency program at the center for teaching excellence the 3mt® concept was originally developed by the university of queensland in australia and has spread throughout the globe read more about the campus-wide completion at texas a&m today" " geology graduate attributes success to faculty and high-impact experienceswhen michael martinez 19 arrived at the texas a&m campus in the fall of 2018 he had no idea that three semesters later he would be graduating with hands-on research experience from both the lab and the field dec 16 2019martinez at field camp in montana summer 2019 (photo courtesy of michael martinez)martinez in dr julia reece's sediment mechanics laboratory with graduate student ryan elmore (photo by ali snell)michael martinez 19 arrived at texas a&m university in the fall of 2018 with thousands of other freshman and transfer students but his path to becoming an aggie was unique a native of pearland texas martinez entered the professional world after earning an associate degree from san jacinto college in houston after working as a drafter for two electrical engineering firms for nearly seven years michael decided to pursue higher education to advance his knowledge and develop technical expertise thats when he learned about the academic fresh start program and began taking classes at lonestar college-kingwood it was during his time at lonestar college that one of his professors took notice of him and his passion and excitement about geology dr cherith letargo professor of geology began mentoring michael and eventually encouraged him to transfer to texas a&m to complete his degree texas a&m university is a big part of my geology life and career letargo said when i teach geology classes at lone star college-kingwood my passion for the earth and my happy memories at texas a&m come out and leave a strong impression on the students while there may not be a formal partnership between texas a&m and lone star college i feel that the aggie bond is always there michael took letargos advice and applied to texas a&m as a transfer student he was accepted as a geology major in the department of geology and geophysics and began in the fall of 2018 now just three semesters later michael will be graduating with his bachelor of science in geology but michael says that his education at texas a&m was more than just courses and lectures research opportunities outside the classroom allowed him to make connections with faculty and gain real-world experience investigating scientific problemsmartinez joined by his father at the college of geosciences graduation celebration december 2019 (photo by stephanie taylor)martinez at field camp in montana summer 2019 (photo courtesy of michael martinez)opportunities for high-impact learning at texas a&m martinez has taken advantage of many of the opportunities the department of geology and geophysics provides while he says his time as an undergraduate at texas a&m went by quickly michael was still able to contribute as an undergraduate researcher take two graduate-level courses that challenged him in new ways and participate in field camp in montana in the summer of 2019 field camp is a great experience for a geologist to finally take things from the books and apply them to real life he said i realized that i was becoming a geologist when i arrived at field camp and actually got to put my hands on rocks and interpret what happened to them martinez says a huge part of his success at texas a&m comes from faculty members in the the department taking the time to build connections with the students one of those professors was dr julia reece assistant professor of of geology and geophysics michael says that without dr reeces dedication to his education he wouldnt have gained the experience he needed to become a competitive geology graduate michael joined my research group in an unusual way reece said commonly students reach out to professors and ask for undergraduate research opportunities but i actually asked michael to join my research group his curiosity positivity and engagement in the classroom stood out to me when i had him in the course sedimentology and stratigraphy in his very first semester here i had no lab experience when i began working with dr reece which made me nervous but she was really patient and supportive of me martinez said dr reece developed my presentation skills by asking me to present my work to the group on a bi-weekly basis practicing and incorporating her feedback helped me improve my presentations to a more professional standard she also required that i read more literature which made me more comfortable with reading and understanding scientific research in reeces lab martinez has spent the past two semesters researching the impact that micro-fossils have on major underwater landslides his task as an undergraduate researcher related to this project has been to process and characterize fine-grained sediments that were collected from cores drilled during international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 311 to cascadia michael has been working as an undergraduate researcher in my sediment mechanics laboratory and has been instrumental in moving this research project forward reece said the dedication to his research and degree is admirable it was a real pleasure to have michael in my research group and im honored that i was a part of his journey at a&mbeyond graduation martinez graduated from texas a&m dec 13 and is excited to use the tools and skills he learned through his hands-on experience and in-depth course work to make a difference in the world he plans to continue his education and focus his research on sedimentary basins sedimentology and stratigraphy – three areas within geology that he really enjoyed learning about while at texas a&m martinez credits the faculty graduate students and peers with creating an environment that allowed him to be successful as an undergraduate student and researcher i never would have predicted i would graduate early with a high gpa or meet half of the people i have during my time as an undergraduate he said i owe everything to the great people that helped me along the way by stephanie taylor '10 " martinez at field camp in montana summer 2019 (photo courtesy of michael martinez)martinez in dr julia reece's sediment mechanics laboratory with graduate student ryan elmore (photo by ali snell) "michael martinez 19 arrived at texas a&m university in the fall of 2018 with thousands of other freshman and transfer students but his path to becoming an aggie was unique a native of pearland texas martinez entered the professional world after earning an associate degree from san jacinto college in houston after working as a drafter for two electrical engineering firms for nearly seven years michael decided to pursue higher education to advance his knowledge and develop technical expertise thats when he learned about the academic fresh start program and began taking classes at lonestar college-kingwood it was during his time at lonestar college that one of his professors took notice of him and his passion and excitement about geology dr cherith letargo professor of geology began mentoring michael and eventually encouraged him to transfer to texas a&m to complete his degree texas a&m university is a big part of my geology life and career letargo said when i teach geology classes at lone star college-kingwood my passion for the earth and my happy memories at texas a&m come out and leave a strong impression on the students while there may not be a formal partnership between texas a&m and lone star college i feel that the aggie bond is always there michael took letargos advice and applied to texas a&m as a transfer student he was accepted as a geology major in the department of geology and geophysics and began in the fall of 2018 now just three semesters later michael will be graduating with his bachelor of science in geology but michael says that his education at texas a&m was more than just courses and lectures research opportunities outside the classroom allowed him to make connections with faculty and gain real-world experience investigating scientific problems" martinez joined by his father at the college of geosciences graduation celebration december 2019 (photo by stephanie taylor)martinez at field camp in montana summer 2019 (photo courtesy of michael martinez) "opportunities for high-impact learning at texas a&m martinez has taken advantage of many of the opportunities the department of geology and geophysics provides while he says his time as an undergraduate at texas a&m went by quickly michael was still able to contribute as an undergraduate researcher take two graduate-level courses that challenged him in new ways and participate in field camp in montana in the summer of 2019 field camp is a great experience for a geologist to finally take things from the books and apply them to real life he said i realized that i was becoming a geologist when i arrived at field camp and actually got to put my hands on rocks and interpret what happened to them martinez says a huge part of his success at texas a&m comes from faculty members in the the department taking the time to build connections with the students one of those professors was dr julia reece assistant professor of of geology and geophysics michael says that without dr reeces dedication to his education he wouldnt have gained the experience he needed to become a competitive geology graduate michael joined my research group in an unusual way reece said commonly students reach out to professors and ask for undergraduate research opportunities but i actually asked michael to join my research group his curiosity positivity and engagement in the classroom stood out to me when i had him in the course sedimentology and stratigraphy in his very first semester here i had no lab experience when i began working with dr reece which made me nervous but she was really patient and supportive of me martinez said dr reece developed my presentation skills by asking me to present my work to the group on a bi-weekly basis practicing and incorporating her feedback helped me improve my presentations to a more professional standard she also required that i read more literature which made me more comfortable with reading and understanding scientific research in reeces lab martinez has spent the past two semesters researching the impact that micro-fossils have on major underwater landslides his task as an undergraduate researcher related to this project has been to process and characterize fine-grained sediments that were collected from cores drilled during international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 311 to cascadia michael has been working as an undergraduate researcher in my sediment mechanics laboratory and has been instrumental in moving this research project forward reece said the dedication to his research and degree is admirable it was a real pleasure to have michael in my research group and im honored that i was a part of his journey at a&m" "beyond graduation martinez graduated from texas a&m dec 13 and is excited to use the tools and skills he learned through his hands-on experience and in-depth course work to make a difference in the world he plans to continue his education and focus his research on sedimentary basins sedimentology and stratigraphy – three areas within geology that he really enjoyed learning about while at texas a&m martinez credits the faculty graduate students and peers with creating an environment that allowed him to be successful as an undergraduate student and researcher i never would have predicted i would graduate early with a high gpa or meet half of the people i have during my time as an undergraduate he said i owe everything to the great people that helped me along the way by stephanie taylor '10" " from airborne research to mapping fires graduating aggie reflects on her nasa summersgraduating meteorology senior ariana castillo 19 worked as a nasa intern for two consecutive summers while completing her degreedec 12 2019castillo in front of a research aircraft at nasas langley research center (photo courtesy of ariana castillo)castillo collecting data in the santa barbara channel california (photo courtesy of ariana castillo)when it comes to aggies working hard toward their dream careers if anyone tells you that you cant do something dont listen says ariana castillo 19 who will graduate dec 13 with a meteorology degree from the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university originally from austin castillo knew as a high school student that she wanted to study meteorology this is cliché but i have loved meteorology since i was a little girl she said when her familys home flooded after a tropical storm made landfall in texas in 2010 castillos interest in the discipline was cemented i had so many questions so i decided to study meteorology to answer them finding my specific passion was not easy i went on a mission trip to east asia and saw all of the air pollution firsthand; i knew that was what i wanted to pursue landing a dream internship in 2015 castillo dove into studying atmospheric sciences in aggieland as a freshman  there have been difficult classes that have made me want to pull my hair out but at the end of the day theyve been so useful she said you reap the rewards of the struggle thats what makes this work for castillo one of the rewards of her determination was a dream internship in 2018 she applied to nasas student airborne research program (sarp) and was accepted theres a common misconception that nasa only focuses on outer space she said noting that she didnt know about the earth science internship opportunities at nasa until a friend told her about them nasas sarp opportunities especially appealed to her because they were interdisciplinary and wide-ranging i think that one thing that set me apart as an applicant was having a lot of passion she said i think that is something nasa is very adamant about her 2018 sarp internship was extremely hands-on including field work to collect atmospheric and oceanographic data i got to fly in nasas dc-8 over california and the san joaquin valley castillo said we took air samples over one of the most polluted places in the country it has a lot of high ozone and methane concentrations and we collected data on that for a dataset that covers the past 10 years later in the summer she participated in a field work campaign on a boat in the santa barbara channel collecting water samples and dataas a sarp intern in 2018 castillo taught 8th-grade girls at a stem camp about the importance of women in stem (photo courtesy of ariana castillo) as a nasa langley intern in 2019 castillo toured the dropsite where a plane had been dropped from over 100 feet in the air for testing (photo courtesy of ariana castillo)that was also really insightful because we wanted to see how wildfires that had occurred earlier that year had affected the water she said that was part of my project that summer and thats what spurred my research idea of studying how ash affects the biology of the ocean so i got to do some interdisciplinary work with atmospheric science and biological oceanography and it was a really beautiful example of interdisciplinary work as a sarp intern castillo also had the opportunity to give a presentation about the importance of women in stem to 8th-grade girls at a stem camp one of my passions is for minority women to get opportunities in stem so this aspect of sarp is something that will stick with me forever she said a summer at langley interest in wildfires continued into castillos summer 2019 internship in which she returned to nasa to serve as a researcher at nasas langley research center she was assigned to the calipso-derived biomass burning plume injection height statistics project under the guidance of dr amber soja calipso is a satellite that is part of a constellation of satellites run by nasa she said and it is equipped with a lidar which provides vertical profile of the atmosphere data showing clouds dust smoke marine pollutants and continental pollutants castillos work on the project included learning how to analyze wildfire burn scars with geographic information science (gis) tools and how to estimate wildfire plume heights in the atmosphere with calipso data this past summer i learned how to use arc-gis and studied wildfire satellite data she said i started comparing data from different datasets from calipso and looking at smoke heights because smoke heights have implications on climate change the higher it goes it can travel over long distances it can fall on to ice sheets and that can make those ice sheets melt faster so its important to know how fires work its a very big deal working in a team led by women during this past summer was especially meaningful for castillo its just really inspiring seeing other women working beside me she said it gives me a lot of encouragement and hope for the future and they often encouraged me to keep going if you set your heart and your mind and your determination to do it you can do it there are a lot of aggies who work for nasa and everybody is there to help each other out i definitely couldnt have done it by myself; ive had a lot of help from my department mentors and peers completing the puzzle castillo said that her texas a&m coursework was essential to her success at nasa i like to see all the coursework for my major as pieces to a puzzle and when you put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and take a step back you get a bigger picture of how it all works she said satellite meteorology was an extremely important course in her growth as an atmospheric scientist she said and it was key to her first summer internship oceanography 251 was also insightful for the work she completed at nasa i think everybody should take that class because its basic knowledge of the ocean that is so important she said  my advice for younger aggies is to never be afraid to ask for help and dont be afraid to ask questions and always keep going even when things seem to be very stormy the storm eventually clears up so keep going after graduating in december castillos goal is to continue on to graduate school studying atmospheric chemistry aerosols and biomass burning smoke plumes at texas a&m atmospheric chemistry and air quality classes plus research - those gave me a firm foundation for my career she said by leslie lee '09 " castillo in front of a research aircraft at nasas langley research center (photo courtesy of ariana castillo)castillo collecting data in the santa barbara channel california (photo courtesy of ariana castillo) "when it comes to aggies working hard toward their dream careers if anyone tells you that you cant do something dont listen says ariana castillo 19 who will graduate dec 13 with a meteorology degree from the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university originally from austin castillo knew as a high school student that she wanted to study meteorology this is cliché but i have loved meteorology since i was a little girl she said when her familys home flooded after a tropical storm made landfall in texas in 2010 castillos interest in the discipline was cemented i had so many questions so i decided to study meteorology to answer them finding my specific passion was not easy i went on a mission trip to east asia and saw all of the air pollution firsthand; i knew that was what i wanted to pursue landing a dream internship in 2015 castillo dove into studying atmospheric sciences in aggieland as a freshman  there have been difficult classes that have made me want to pull my hair out but at the end of the day theyve been so useful she said you reap the rewards of the struggle thats what makes this work for castillo one of the rewards of her determination was a dream internship in 2018 she applied to nasas student airborne research program (sarp) and was accepted theres a common misconception that nasa only focuses on outer space she said noting that she didnt know about the earth science internship opportunities at nasa until a friend told her about them nasas sarp opportunities especially appealed to her because they were interdisciplinary and wide-ranging i think that one thing that set me apart as an applicant was having a lot of passion she said i think that is something nasa is very adamant about her 2018 sarp internship was extremely hands-on including field work to collect atmospheric and oceanographic data i got to fly in nasas dc-8 over california and the san joaquin valley castillo said we took air samples over one of the most polluted places in the country it has a lot of high ozone and methane concentrations and we collected data on that for a dataset that covers the past 10 years later in the summer she participated in a field work campaign on a boat in the santa barbara channel collecting water samples and data" as a sarp intern in 2018 castillo taught 8th-grade girls at a stem camp about the importance of women in stem (photo courtesy of ariana castillo) as a nasa langley intern in 2019 castillo toured the dropsite where a plane had been dropped from over 100 feet in the air for testing (photo courtesy of ariana castillo) "that was also really insightful because we wanted to see how wildfires that had occurred earlier that year had affected the water she said that was part of my project that summer and thats what spurred my research idea of studying how ash affects the biology of the ocean so i got to do some interdisciplinary work with atmospheric science and biological oceanography and it was a really beautiful example of interdisciplinary work as a sarp intern castillo also had the opportunity to give a presentation about the importance of women in stem to 8th-grade girls at a stem camp one of my passions is for minority women to get opportunities in stem so this aspect of sarp is something that will stick with me forever she said a summer at langley interest in wildfires continued into castillos summer 2019 internship in which she returned to nasa to serve as a researcher at nasas langley research center she was assigned to the calipso-derived biomass burning plume injection height statistics project under the guidance of dr amber soja calipso is a satellite that is part of a constellation of satellites run by nasa she said and it is equipped with a lidar which provides vertical profile of the atmosphere data showing clouds dust smoke marine pollutants and continental pollutants castillos work on the project included learning how to analyze wildfire burn scars with geographic information science (gis) tools and how to estimate wildfire plume heights in the atmosphere with calipso data this past summer i learned how to use arc-gis and studied wildfire satellite data she said i started comparing data from different datasets from calipso and looking at smoke heights because smoke heights have implications on climate change the higher it goes it can travel over long distances it can fall on to ice sheets and that can make those ice sheets melt faster so its important to know how fires work its a very big deal working in a team led by women during this past summer was especially meaningful for castillo its just really inspiring seeing other women working beside me she said it gives me a lot of encouragement and hope for the future and they often encouraged me to keep going if you set your heart and your mind and your determination to do it you can do it there are a lot of aggies who work for nasa and everybody is there to help each other out i definitely couldnt have done it by myself; ive had a lot of help from my department mentors and peers completing the puzzle castillo said that her texas a&m coursework was essential to her success at nasa i like to see all the coursework for my major as pieces to a puzzle and when you put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and take a step back you get a bigger picture of how it all works she said satellite meteorology was an extremely important course in her growth as an atmospheric scientist she said and it was key to her first summer internship oceanography 251 was also insightful for the work she completed at nasa i think everybody should take that class because its basic knowledge of the ocean that is so important she said  my advice for younger aggies is to never be afraid to ask for help and dont be afraid to ask questions and always keep going even when things seem to be very stormy the storm eventually clears up so keep going after graduating in december castillos goal is to continue on to graduate school studying atmospheric chemistry aerosols and biomass burning smoke plumes at texas a&m atmospheric chemistry and air quality classes plus research - those gave me a firm foundation for my career she said by leslie lee '09" " applications open for summer 2020 observing the ocean reu programthe application deadline for the 2020 summer research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program is feb 17 2020dec 12 2019the 2019 cohort of observing the ocean reu students aboard r/v pelican (photo courtesy of dr lisa campbell)the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) will again host the observing the ocean research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program which is funded by the national science foundation (nsf) may 25 – aug 1 2020 i encourage students who are rising sophomores and rising juniors to apply − especially students who do not have research opportunities at their home institutions said dr lisa campbell the director of observing the ocean reu and professor at texas a&m oceanography ten reu students will participate in the 10-week summer program focusing on innovative ocean observing technologies to address issues facing the coastal oceans such as hypoxia harmful algal blooms ocean acidification and pollution students will have the opportunity to work with faculty and staff mentors in laboratories and on seagoing projects to acquire the analytical skills for multidisciplinary oceanographic research more than 20 faculty and researchers serve as reu mentors in interdisciplinary research fields such as paleoceanography marine biology and ocean modeling the application deadline is 11:59 pm cst on feb 17 2020 undergraduate students who are us citizens us nationals or us permanent residents can apply for the program graduating seniors are not eligible for the program for more information including application eligibility and procedures a list of reu mentors and potential student research project topics visit the official website if you have any questions about the application process please email at oceanreu@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim " the 2019 cohort of observing the ocean reu students aboard r/v pelican (photo courtesy of dr lisa campbell) "the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) will again host the observing the ocean research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program which is funded by the national science foundation (nsf) may 25 – aug 1 2020 i encourage students who are rising sophomores and rising juniors to apply − especially students who do not have research opportunities at their home institutions said dr lisa campbell the director of observing the ocean reu and professor at texas a&m oceanography ten reu students will participate in the 10-week summer program focusing on innovative ocean observing technologies to address issues facing the coastal oceans such as hypoxia harmful algal blooms ocean acidification and pollution students will have the opportunity to work with faculty and staff mentors in laboratories and on seagoing projects to acquire the analytical skills for multidisciplinary oceanographic research more than 20 faculty and researchers serve as reu mentors in interdisciplinary research fields such as paleoceanography marine biology and ocean modeling the application deadline is 11:59 pm cst on feb 17 2020 undergraduate students who are us citizens us nationals or us permanent residents can apply for the program graduating seniors are not eligible for the program for more information including application eligibility and procedures a list of reu mentors and potential student research project topics visit the official website if you have any questions about the application process please email at oceanreu@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim" " geography graduate student selected for aag-ucgis summer programfunded by nsf andong ma was one of 35 participants selected to attend a week-long summer program focused on the latest advances in cyber gis and geospatial data sciencedec 10 2019texas a&m department of geography doctoral student andong ma attended a week-long gis summer program at the university of illinois at urbana champaign earlier this year the program was jointly organized by the university of illinois at urbana-champaigns cybergis center the american association of geographers (aag) and the university consortium for geographic information science (ucgis) the 2019 aag-ucgis summer school provided graduate students and researchers from around the country with an opportunity to discuss the latest advances in cyber gis and geospatial data science the national science foundation provided full funding for the summer school attendees with each attendee assigned to a group that catered to their respective research interests ma was assigned to work in a group titled geoai: mapping safety features from street view images using deep learning approaches with an extensive background in geospatial artificial intelligence (geoai) ma found the collaborative nature of the project to be incredibly rewarding the most beneficial thing that i learned from this summer school is the importance of collaboration between different people coming from a range of diverse disciplines he saidcurrent geography graduate students andong ma (left) and jinwoo park (right) with former geography graduate student forrest bowlick 16 (center) at the aag-ucgis summer program (photo courtesy of andong ma)presenting at the international cartographic conference following his week in illinois ma traveled directly to the 29th international cartographic conference in tokyo where he had the opportunity to give an oral presentation about his research the title of his talk was a novel spatial recurrent neural network for hyperspectral imagery classification ma was fortunate to receive two travel awards to fund his travel to japan the first award was an nsf grant that was presented to ma by the us national committee (usnc) mas second award came directly from the international cartography conferences local organizing committee which provided him with a travel award this fall ma has continued to work on his doctorate and he is expected to graduate with his phd in 2021 by rhett douris " "texas a&m department of geography doctoral student andong ma attended a week-long gis summer program at the university of illinois at urbana champaign earlier this year the program was jointly organized by the university of illinois at urbana-champaigns cybergis center the american association of geographers (aag) and the university consortium for geographic information science (ucgis) the 2019 aag-ucgis summer school provided graduate students and researchers from around the country with an opportunity to discuss the latest advances in cyber gis and geospatial data science the national science foundation provided full funding for the summer school attendees with each attendee assigned to a group that catered to their respective research interests ma was assigned to work in a group titled geoai: mapping safety features from street view images using deep learning approaches with an extensive background in geospatial artificial intelligence (geoai) ma found the collaborative nature of the project to be incredibly rewarding the most beneficial thing that i learned from this summer school is the importance of collaboration between different people coming from a range of diverse disciplines he said" current geography graduate students andong ma (left) and jinwoo park (right) with former geography graduate student forrest bowlick 16 (center) at the aag-ucgis summer program (photo courtesy of andong ma) "presenting at the international cartographic conference following his week in illinois ma traveled directly to the 29th international cartographic conference in tokyo where he had the opportunity to give an oral presentation about his research the title of his talk was a novel spatial recurrent neural network for hyperspectral imagery classification ma was fortunate to receive two travel awards to fund his travel to japan the first award was an nsf grant that was presented to ma by the us national committee (usnc) mas second award came directly from the international cartography conferences local organizing committee which provided him with a travel award this fall ma has continued to work on his doctorate and he is expected to graduate with his phd in 2021 by rhett douris" " high-school rover drivers: students completed simulated mars mission thanks to texas a&m a rover-driving learning experience for students at houston's waltrip high school was made possible by texas a&m geology and geophysics along with mission control inc nasa and the canadian space agencydec 10 2019waltrip high school teachers and students mission control engineers nasa scientists and texas a&m students and professors stop for a photo opportunity at the end of the mission (photo courtesy of dr ryan ewing)a ‘crater found by the student teams and the rover at the canadian space agency's martian analog terrain facility in saint-hubert canada (photo by mission control)an average day in high school might include driving your own car to school but how about driving a mars rover  thats what 20 waltrip high school students had the opportunity to experience oct 18 thanks to an outreach event supported by the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics along with mission control inc  nasa and the canadian space agency waltrip is a magnet school for technology and research in houston the students worked together four teams and each team completed a pre-planned simulated mars mission remotely from houston the students drove an actual rover around the canadian space agency's martian analog terrain facility in saint-hubert canada dr ryan ewing associate professor of geology and geophysics at texas a&m is leading the scientific operations of the sand-e (semi-autonomous navigation for detrital environments) project a nasa-funded effort to study mars-like volcanic sand environments in iceland in advance of nasas mars 2020 rover mission in partnership with mission control the sand-e project will help nasa prepare for scientific studies of areas on mars that are geologically similar to the field sites in iceland and determine if new exploration strategies including increased rover autonomy would benefit future missions this event was fantastic ewing said the students used state-of-the-art technology to remotely operate an advanced robot thousands of miles away not any one individual could pull off the planning and driving so they had to work as a team to accomplish their mission goals and keep the rover safe engagement with this technology shows them what is out there and readies them for an ever-increasingly technological workforce mission control launched mission control academy this fall providing immersive educational experiences to students at waltrip high school in houston texas and woodroffe high school in ottawa ontario for two weeks prior to the simulation event ewing and mission control scientists and engineers taught the high school students lessons on planetary science engineering and mission operations then on oct 18 students in both ottawa and houston got to remotely operate a rover prototype deployed at the canadian space agency mars analogue terrain replicating the experience of executing a real mission to mars because these students were already focused on geographical information systems gis they were prepared for the type of data they would get he said they used satellite data to plan their rover path and then were provided in real-time locations of the rover on the map and images from the rover cameras to make decisions they also used specialized machine learning software that detects hazards for the rover based on image analysis this is very advanced technology and gave them an opportunity to engage with the technology of automation  watch this video for an inside look at the program  by leslie lee '09 " waltrip high school teachers and students mission control engineers nasa scientists and texas a&m students and professors stop for a photo opportunity at the end of the mission (photo courtesy of dr ryan ewing)a ‘crater found by the student teams and the rover at the canadian space agency's martian analog terrain facility in saint-hubert canada (photo by mission control) "an average day in high school might include driving your own car to school but how about driving a mars rover  thats what 20 waltrip high school students had the opportunity to experience oct 18 thanks to an outreach event supported by the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics along with mission control inc  nasa and the canadian space agency waltrip is a magnet school for technology and research in houston the students worked together four teams and each team completed a pre-planned simulated mars mission remotely from houston the students drove an actual rover around the canadian space agency's martian analog terrain facility in saint-hubert canada dr ryan ewing associate professor of geology and geophysics at texas a&m is leading the scientific operations of the sand-e (semi-autonomous navigation for detrital environments) project a nasa-funded effort to study mars-like volcanic sand environments in iceland in advance of nasas mars 2020 rover mission in partnership with mission control the sand-e project will help nasa prepare for scientific studies of areas on mars that are geologically similar to the field sites in iceland and determine if new exploration strategies including increased rover autonomy would benefit future missions this event was fantastic ewing said the students used state-of-the-art technology to remotely operate an advanced robot thousands of miles away not any one individual could pull off the planning and driving so they had to work as a team to accomplish their mission goals and keep the rover safe engagement with this technology shows them what is out there and readies them for an ever-increasingly technological workforce mission control launched mission control academy this fall providing immersive educational experiences to students at waltrip high school in houston texas and woodroffe high school in ottawa ontario for two weeks prior to the simulation event ewing and mission control scientists and engineers taught the high school students lessons on planetary science engineering and mission operations then on oct 18 students in both ottawa and houston got to remotely operate a rover prototype deployed at the canadian space agency mars analogue terrain replicating the experience of executing a real mission to mars because these students were already focused on geographical information systems gis they were prepared for the type of data they would get he said they used satellite data to plan their rover path and then were provided in real-time locations of the rover on the map and images from the rover cameras to make decisions they also used specialized machine learning software that detects hazards for the rover based on image analysis this is very advanced technology and gave them an opportunity to engage with the technology of automation  watch this video for an inside look at the program  by leslie lee '09" " korty and nsf-funded team studying hurricane risk prediction in a changing climatetexas a&m and texas a&m galveston researchers will be part of a team using historical and long-term reconstructions of hurricane activity in the western north atlantic to ultimately improve hurricane preparedness and resiliencedec 9 2019satellite view of hurricane dorian on aug 29 2019 dorian passed directly over one of the blue hole sites that dr peter van hengstum has studied in the bahamas (photo credit: noaa environmental visualization laboratory)hurricane preparedness is a major priority for coastal communities all along the united states shores a team of interdisciplinary researchers recently began a new project working to ensure that the hurricane risk predictions these communities depend on are as accurate as possible informed by historical data and accounting for climate change-driven effects on hurricanes climatic drivers titled predicting hurricane risk along the united states east coast in a changing climate the teams project was recently funded by the national science foundation (nsf) dr robert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university is part of the research team texas a&m galvestons dr peter van hengstum associate professor in the department of marine sciences who holds a joint appointment in the texas a&m department of oceanography is on the research team as well changes to hurricane activity in the coming century have the potential to substantially impact the entire economic landscape of american coastal regions korty said we know that storms in a warming climate carry increased risks of flooding in a general sense but our ability to predict how quickly these hazards are changing has been hampered by an incomplete understanding of how variability in ocean circulations interacts with the changing climate  led by dr jeffrey donnelly of the woods hole oceanographic institution the team includes leading researchers in hurricanes flooding and coastal geomorphology korty said dr kerry emanuel of the massachusetts institute of technology dr kristopher karnauskas of the university of colorado boulder and dr ning lin of princeton university are the other principal collaborators the project will use innovative long-term geological reconstructions of hurricane activity preserved in the sediments of blue holes in the western north atlantic which extends knowledge of hurricane occurrence back centuries and even millennia this approach allows assessment of how the risks posed by hurricanes along the east coast of the united states has changed blue holes are collapsed caves that create a perfect trap for sediments in the coastal zone van hengstum said hurricane passage deposits a distinct sand layer in the blue hole so the sediments preserved at the bottom of blue holes preserve a library of hurricane events not recorded in any other way""dr robert kortydr peter van hengstumthe researchers will combine these records with experiments using weather and climate models to simulate how hurricane structure intensity and size change in a warming world to provide improved projections of future hurricane risk one of the unique aspects of this project is that it brings together geologists meteorologists and civil engineers to tackle these issues holistically korty said  our role at texas a&m is to simulate storms under future climate scenarios and diagnose the processes that most affect the increased risks from flooding several students will also be a part of the research including: jinjun liu graduate student in atmospheric sciences at texas a&m; richard sullivan and tyler winkler oceanography graduate students at texas a&m; and sean buckelew and lauren mennen marine sciences undergraduate student at texas a&m galveston many of the lessons learned from this work will be used by the broader scientific community and planners and decision-makers to improve hurricane preparedness and resilience according to the scientists the results will inform risk modeling which in turn informs the insurance and re-insurance industries as well as efforts to mitigate tropical cyclone hazards at the city state and federal levels  this research was funded by a four-year grant from nsf's prediction of and resilience against extreme events (preevents) program which supports researchers studying hurricanes floods wildfires earthquakes coastal erosion severe thunderstorms and tornadoes volcanoes space weather disruption of the power grid and other natural hazards ""nsf's support for basic research on natural hazards will help the american people and those around the world better prepare for and respond to disasters "" said justin lawrence lead program director for nsf's 2019 preevents grants ""preevents projects will provide important information that can be used by communities in the united states and elsewhere to further public safety and protect economies learn more from the nsf announcement  by leslie lee ‘09 " satellite view of hurricane dorian on aug 29 2019 dorian passed directly over one of the blue hole sites that dr peter van hengstum has studied in the bahamas (photo credit: noaa environmental visualization laboratory) "hurricane preparedness is a major priority for coastal communities all along the united states shores a team of interdisciplinary researchers recently began a new project working to ensure that the hurricane risk predictions these communities depend on are as accurate as possible informed by historical data and accounting for climate change-driven effects on hurricanes climatic drivers titled predicting hurricane risk along the united states east coast in a changing climate the teams project was recently funded by the national science foundation (nsf) dr robert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university is part of the research team texas a&m galvestons dr peter van hengstum associate professor in the department of marine sciences who holds a joint appointment in the texas a&m department of oceanography is on the research team as well changes to hurricane activity in the coming century have the potential to substantially impact the entire economic landscape of american coastal regions korty said we know that storms in a warming climate carry increased risks of flooding in a general sense but our ability to predict how quickly these hazards are changing has been hampered by an incomplete understanding of how variability in ocean circulations interacts with the changing climate  led by dr jeffrey donnelly of the woods hole oceanographic institution the team includes leading researchers in hurricanes flooding and coastal geomorphology korty said dr kerry emanuel of the massachusetts institute of technology dr kristopher karnauskas of the university of colorado boulder and dr ning lin of princeton university are the other principal collaborators the project will use innovative long-term geological reconstructions of hurricane activity preserved in the sediments of blue holes in the western north atlantic which extends knowledge of hurricane occurrence back centuries and even millennia this approach allows assessment of how the risks posed by hurricanes along the east coast of the united states has changed blue holes are collapsed caves that create a perfect trap for sediments in the coastal zone van hengstum said hurricane passage deposits a distinct sand layer in the blue hole so the sediments preserved at the bottom of blue holes preserve a library of hurricane events not recorded in any other way""" "the researchers will combine these records with experiments using weather and climate models to simulate how hurricane structure intensity and size change in a warming world to provide improved projections of future hurricane risk one of the unique aspects of this project is that it brings together geologists meteorologists and civil engineers to tackle these issues holistically korty said  our role at texas a&m is to simulate storms under future climate scenarios and diagnose the processes that most affect the increased risks from flooding several students will also be a part of the research including: jinjun liu graduate student in atmospheric sciences at texas a&m; richard sullivan and tyler winkler oceanography graduate students at texas a&m; and sean buckelew and lauren mennen marine sciences undergraduate student at texas a&m galveston many of the lessons learned from this work will be used by the broader scientific community and planners and decision-makers to improve hurricane preparedness and resilience according to the scientists the results will inform risk modeling which in turn informs the insurance and re-insurance industries as well as efforts to mitigate tropical cyclone hazards at the city state and federal levels  this research was funded by a four-year grant from nsf's prediction of and resilience against extreme events (preevents) program which supports researchers studying hurricanes floods wildfires earthquakes coastal erosion severe thunderstorms and tornadoes volcanoes space weather disruption of the power grid and other natural hazards ""nsf's support for basic research on natural hazards will help the american people and those around the world better prepare for and respond to disasters "" said justin lawrence lead program director for nsf's 2019 preevents grants ""preevents projects will provide important information that can be used by communities in the united states and elsewhere to further public safety and protect economies learn more from the nsf announcement  by leslie lee ‘09" " 2020 coastal management and digital coast fellowship now openapplications to the 2020 coastal management and digital coast fellowship are due jan 17 2020 the nine fellowship positions start in aug 2020 at various host offices across the united states dec 5 2019the national oceanic and atmospheric administrations (noaa) office for coastal management is now accepting applications for the 2020-2022 coastal management and digital coast fellowship program these fellowships were established to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students it is a two-year opportunity offering a competitive salary medical benefits and relocation and travel expense reimbursement this program matches postgraduate students with state coastal resource agencies and nonprofit organizations to work on projects proposed by the hosts and selected by the noaa office for coastal management the nine fellowship positions start in aug 2020 and are available with the california state coastal conservancy the coastal programs in delaware guam maryland texas and us virgin islands and three of our digital coast partners including the association of state floodplain managers (in partnership with the coastal states organization) the national estuarine research reserve association and the nature conservancy applications are open to any student completing a masters or other advanced degree in natural resource management or environmental-related studies from an accredited us university between january 1 2019 and july 31 2020 students must also be us citizens students from a broad range of environmental programs are encouraged to apply a broad range of degrees are applicable to the fellowship because the projects are varied among the host organizations applications are due jan 17 2020 to texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration mia zwolinski via email at mzwolinski@tamuedu each application must be a single pdf with all required documents as detailed on texas sea grants fellowship webpage for more information on eligibility requirements descriptions of the projects guidance on how to apply selection and placement of fellows see the fellowship announcement texas sea grants fellowship webpage and at coastnoaagov/fellowship " "the national oceanic and atmospheric administrations (noaa) office for coastal management is now accepting applications for the 2020-2022 coastal management and digital coast fellowship program these fellowships were established to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students it is a two-year opportunity offering a competitive salary medical benefits and relocation and travel expense reimbursement this program matches postgraduate students with state coastal resource agencies and nonprofit organizations to work on projects proposed by the hosts and selected by the noaa office for coastal management the nine fellowship positions start in aug 2020 and are available with the california state coastal conservancy the coastal programs in delaware guam maryland texas and us virgin islands and three of our digital coast partners including the association of state floodplain managers (in partnership with the coastal states organization) the national estuarine research reserve association and the nature conservancy applications are open to any student completing a masters or other advanced degree in natural resource management or environmental-related studies from an accredited us university between january 1 2019 and july 31 2020 students must also be us citizens students from a broad range of environmental programs are encouraged to apply a broad range of degrees are applicable to the fellowship because the projects are varied among the host organizations applications are due jan 17 2020 to texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration mia zwolinski via email at mzwolinski@tamuedu each application must be a single pdf with all required documents as detailed on texas sea grants fellowship webpage for more information on eligibility requirements descriptions of the projects guidance on how to apply selection and placement of fellows see the fellowship announcement texas sea grants fellowship webpage and at coastnoaagov/fellowship" " ping yang selected as aaas fellowtexas a&m geosciences interim associate dean for research and atmospheric scientist dr ping yang will receive the 2019 honor from aaas for his extraordinary achievementsnov 26 2019dr ping yang has been selected as a aaas fellowthe american association for the advancement of science (aaas) will induct two faculty-researchers from texas a&m university as 2019 aaas fellows during the associations annual meeting feb 15 in seattle the texas a&m division of research announced today texas a&m college of geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang professor and holder of the david bullock harris chair in the department of atmospheric sciences was recognized as a aaas fellow a lifetime distinction for seminal contributions to light scattering and radiative transfer with applications to remote sensing and radiative property parameterizations in climate models this year aaas named 443 new fellows in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in science the association said in a news release today fellows are elected each year by their peers serving on the council of aaas the organizations member-run governing body dr eyad masad zachry professor in design and construction integration ii zachry department of civil and environmental engineering college of engineering and professor mechanical engineering program texas a&m university at qatar was also honored as a aaas fellow i am pleased that aaas has recognized the tremendous scientific contributions of these exceptional members of the texas a&m faculty said texas a&m vice president for research dr mark a barteau dr yang and dr masad have clearly enhanced and advanced science on a global scale they serve as outstanding examples of our universitys mission to provide innovative and effective solutions to the worlds most challenging problems the addition of yang and masad will bring the current number of aaas fellows on the texas a&m faculty to 57 formed in 1848 aaas is the worlds largest multidisciplinary scientific society with members in more than 91 nations " "the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) will induct two faculty-researchers from texas a&m university as 2019 aaas fellows during the associations annual meeting feb 15 in seattle the texas a&m division of research announced today texas a&m college of geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang professor and holder of the david bullock harris chair in the department of atmospheric sciences was recognized as a aaas fellow a lifetime distinction for seminal contributions to light scattering and radiative transfer with applications to remote sensing and radiative property parameterizations in climate models this year aaas named 443 new fellows in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in science the association said in a news release today fellows are elected each year by their peers serving on the council of aaas the organizations member-run governing body dr eyad masad zachry professor in design and construction integration ii zachry department of civil and environmental engineering college of engineering and professor mechanical engineering program texas a&m university at qatar was also honored as a aaas fellow i am pleased that aaas has recognized the tremendous scientific contributions of these exceptional members of the texas a&m faculty said texas a&m vice president for research dr mark a barteau dr yang and dr masad have clearly enhanced and advanced science on a global scale they serve as outstanding examples of our universitys mission to provide innovative and effective solutions to the worlds most challenging problems the addition of yang and masad will bring the current number of aaas fellows on the texas a&m faculty to 57 formed in 1848 aaas is the worlds largest multidisciplinary scientific society with members in more than 91 nations" " life on ‘mars: ewing leads aggie team in iceland conducting research for nasadr ryan ewing two texas a&m students and one postdoctoral researcher conducted research for three weeks on mars-like terrain in iceland to test rover technology for nasas mars 2020 mission and to study how the planet evolved over timenov 26 2019texas a&m geology and geophysics researchers in iceland: dr ryan ewing professor; emily champion undergraduate student; kashauna mason doctoral student; and dr marion nachon postdoctoral associate (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)most people dont choose to work in extreme environments a lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end – interrupted only by the occasional shrub or trace of a long-dead river – this part of iceland is about as desolate and brutal as nature can get but dr ryan ewing isnt most people to ewing a professor in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university and principal investigator for the aeolian lab rural iceland is one of the best proxies humans have on earth to study mars making it one of the most intriguing and exciting places on earth studying mars could unlock what earth was like when life just began and if life existed elsewhere ewing said for three weeks this summer ewing led a team of scientists engineers and students to this patch of mars-on-earth for a research project funded by a $11 million nasa grant scientifically their task was to study the mars-like terrains in order to learn more about how the red planets sediments change physically and chemically operationally they tested the capability of artificial intelligence and drones for rover science operations and navigation for nasa ahead of its mars 2020 mission it is very exciting to know the data were collecting here will be used by the 2020 team when they land on the surface of mars ewing said by phone in july from his teams base camp in iceland when you perform this operation youre working with complex robotics and science questions in extreme environments so you have be sure the decisions are efficientemily champion kashauna mason and dr ryan ewing (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)dr ryan ewing (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)glacial runoff flows through iceland's volcanic highlands (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)ewings team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)from curiosity to 2020 ewings interest in the intersection of science and operations for missions on mars began with his work on the mars curiosity rover where he studied the planets terrain and provided geological information to nasas engineers who would determine where the rover went during that time he saw the opportunity to use artificial intelligence to inform how robots navigated the terrain there was interest at the time with using ai to understand natural terrains he said we realized the architecture hadnt been fully deployed into a mission but that it would be on the mars 2020 mission the mars 2020 mission plan which calls for a july/august 2020 launch and a february 2021 landing hopes to answer questions about the potential for life on mars including searching for signs of habitable conditions and microbial life in the planets ancient past despite the rusty red color of the surface of mars and the black and dark brown of icelands surface the two geographies share have more in common than some may realize the ancient environment of mars was quite similar to iceland ewing said just as in iceland glaciers existed on the surface of mars in addition to river systems sand dunes and an absence of vegetation the knowledge gained by using iceland as a proxy for mars when testing sensors and cameras on the 2020 rover will be put to work when the rover moves between drilling locations and needs to make navigation decisions based on the terrain for example if a rover senses that mars terrain will become sandy and difficult to drive in it can send that information back to nasas operating team who will be able to adjust the route accordingly while the chassis of the rover accompanying ewing and his crew in iceland isnt quite waist-high the mars 2020 rover will be 10 feet long nine feet wide seven feet tall and weigh 2 314 pounds in order to gather knowledge for nasa on a short timeline ewing and his team had to brave the elements adjust on the fly to mitigate setbacks deal with 24-hour icelandic summer daylight and live and work efficiently as a community in confined living spaces their research was supported under nasas planetary science and technology through analog research (pstar) program the title of their project is sand-e: semi-autonomous navigation for detrital environments living as martians ewings team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford purdue and canadian space firm mission control it also included one texas a&m undergraduate student one doctoral student and a postdoctoral associate each day began at 7:30 am with a 30-minute team briefing to review the previous days activities and plan for the long day of research ahead weather permitting the team departed on an hour-long drive to the research site and spent the next eight to nine hours in the field conducting research on the terrain testing the rover vehicles and sending data back to a tent where scientists would process it the decisions they made which included where to drive the rover and which samples to collect required interactions between engineers and scientists that have potential to be automated removing the human element from some processes could save nasa precious time during its 2020 mission the richness of the collaborative discussion was impressive said texas a&m postdoctoral scholar dr marion nachon that was one of the things we were testing: how much do you want humans involved in this kind of decision making versus having a rover doing automatic tasks after an hours drive back on a four-wheel drive track to camp which ewing described as a small rustic hut the research project consumed the evening hours if people arent cooking or cleaning theyre processing data ewing said it doesnt get dark so its a challenge to make people go to sleep emily champion a junior geology major from carrolton texas worked for ewing her first two years at texas a&m on a project in which she mapped sand dunes on saturns moon titan she said that even though she was preoccupied with processing data or gathering samples she managed to pick up a few things along the way while sharing cramped space with top-tier researchers every conversation i had taught me something new champion said having the privilege to work alongside all of these esteemed scientists who work for nasa and these big universities and have a lot of knowledge about the things they research was the most rewarding kashauna mason a geology doctoral student on the project said the experience was an interesting experiment in how engineers – the team members operating the rover and collecting samples – and the scientists – the team members processing data and collecting information – interact with each other and will help prepare them for when they return to a new location in iceland in july 2020 we got a lot of different types of data from the engineers sometimes we were overwhelmed by the amount of data we were getting from them mason said getting back home i would think of how ‘we could use this a certain way or we could automate this that way we could get the science out in a faster manner and change how we made decisions that is one of the aspects i am interested in: the relationship between engineers and scientists and how we can better use the results we get from each other ewing agreed scientifically we see a lot of opportunity to advance our knowledge about the chemistry and particles of the sandy environments ewing said operationally we expect to understand a lot better how to incorporate drones and ai in particular weve already seen so far from tests that there are advantages to both ewing and his team will stay busy in the coming months planning for their return but the importance of their mission is motivation enough humanity is exploring space faster than ever and the research aggies are doing right here in iceland is making the solar system a smaller neighborhood ewing said by sam peshek  texas a&m university division of marketing and communicationsoriginally published on texas a&m today " texas a&m geology and geophysics researchers in iceland: dr ryan ewing professor; emily champion undergraduate student; kashauna mason doctoral student; and dr marion nachon postdoctoral associate (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications) "most people dont choose to work in extreme environments a lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end – interrupted only by the occasional shrub or trace of a long-dead river – this part of iceland is about as desolate and brutal as nature can get but dr ryan ewing isnt most people to ewing a professor in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university and principal investigator for the aeolian lab rural iceland is one of the best proxies humans have on earth to study mars making it one of the most intriguing and exciting places on earth studying mars could unlock what earth was like when life just began and if life existed elsewhere ewing said for three weeks this summer ewing led a team of scientists engineers and students to this patch of mars-on-earth for a research project funded by a $11 million nasa grant scientifically their task was to study the mars-like terrains in order to learn more about how the red planets sediments change physically and chemically operationally they tested the capability of artificial intelligence and drones for rover science operations and navigation for nasa ahead of its mars 2020 mission it is very exciting to know the data were collecting here will be used by the 2020 team when they land on the surface of mars ewing said by phone in july from his teams base camp in iceland when you perform this operation youre working with complex robotics and science questions in extreme environments so you have be sure the decisions are efficient" emily champion kashauna mason and dr ryan ewing (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)dr ryan ewing (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications) glacial runoff flows through iceland's volcanic highlands (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)ewings team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications) "from curiosity to 2020 ewings interest in the intersection of science and operations for missions on mars began with his work on the mars curiosity rover where he studied the planets terrain and provided geological information to nasas engineers who would determine where the rover went during that time he saw the opportunity to use artificial intelligence to inform how robots navigated the terrain there was interest at the time with using ai to understand natural terrains he said we realized the architecture hadnt been fully deployed into a mission but that it would be on the mars 2020 mission the mars 2020 mission plan which calls for a july/august 2020 launch and a february 2021 landing hopes to answer questions about the potential for life on mars including searching for signs of habitable conditions and microbial life in the planets ancient past despite the rusty red color of the surface of mars and the black and dark brown of icelands surface the two geographies share have more in common than some may realize the ancient environment of mars was quite similar to iceland ewing said just as in iceland glaciers existed on the surface of mars in addition to river systems sand dunes and an absence of vegetation the knowledge gained by using iceland as a proxy for mars when testing sensors and cameras on the 2020 rover will be put to work when the rover moves between drilling locations and needs to make navigation decisions based on the terrain for example if a rover senses that mars terrain will become sandy and difficult to drive in it can send that information back to nasas operating team who will be able to adjust the route accordingly while the chassis of the rover accompanying ewing and his crew in iceland isnt quite waist-high the mars 2020 rover will be 10 feet long nine feet wide seven feet tall and weigh 2 314 pounds in order to gather knowledge for nasa on a short timeline ewing and his team had to brave the elements adjust on the fly to mitigate setbacks deal with 24-hour icelandic summer daylight and live and work efficiently as a community in confined living spaces their research was supported under nasas planetary science and technology through analog research (pstar) program the title of their project is sand-e: semi-autonomous navigation for detrital environments living as martians ewings team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford purdue and canadian space firm mission control it also included one texas a&m undergraduate student one doctoral student and a postdoctoral associate each day began at 7:30 am with a 30-minute team briefing to review the previous days activities and plan for the long day of research ahead weather permitting the team departed on an hour-long drive to the research site and spent the next eight to nine hours in the field conducting research on the terrain testing the rover vehicles and sending data back to a tent where scientists would process it the decisions they made which included where to drive the rover and which samples to collect required interactions between engineers and scientists that have potential to be automated removing the human element from some processes could save nasa precious time during its 2020 mission the richness of the collaborative discussion was impressive said texas a&m postdoctoral scholar dr marion nachon that was one of the things we were testing: how much do you want humans involved in this kind of decision making versus having a rover doing automatic tasks after an hours drive back on a four-wheel drive track to camp which ewing described as a small rustic hut the research project consumed the evening hours if people arent cooking or cleaning theyre processing data ewing said it doesnt get dark so its a challenge to make people go to sleep emily champion a junior geology major from carrolton texas worked for ewing her first two years at texas a&m on a project in which she mapped sand dunes on saturns moon titan she said that even though she was preoccupied with processing data or gathering samples she managed to pick up a few things along the way while sharing cramped space with top-tier researchers every conversation i had taught me something new champion said having the privilege to work alongside all of these esteemed scientists who work for nasa and these big universities and have a lot of knowledge about the things they research was the most rewarding kashauna mason a geology doctoral student on the project said the experience was an interesting experiment in how engineers – the team members operating the rover and collecting samples – and the scientists – the team members processing data and collecting information – interact with each other and will help prepare them for when they return to a new location in iceland in july 2020 we got a lot of different types of data from the engineers sometimes we were overwhelmed by the amount of data we were getting from them mason said getting back home i would think of how ‘we could use this a certain way or we could automate this that way we could get the science out in a faster manner and change how we made decisions that is one of the aspects i am interested in: the relationship between engineers and scientists and how we can better use the results we get from each other ewing agreed scientifically we see a lot of opportunity to advance our knowledge about the chemistry and particles of the sandy environments ewing said operationally we expect to understand a lot better how to incorporate drones and ai in particular weve already seen so far from tests that there are advantages to both ewing and his team will stay busy in the coming months planning for their return but the importance of their mission is motivation enough humanity is exploring space faster than ever and the research aggies are doing right here in iceland is making the solar system a smaller neighborhood ewing said by sam peshek  texas a&m university division of marketing and communicationsoriginally published on texas a&m today " " up up and awaylearn about a familiar annual sight on the texas a&m campus: the geography 213 blimpnov 25 2019the geography 213 blimp in front of the o&m building (photo by the texas a&m foundation)each semester students in geography 213 venture outside the eller oceanography and meteorology (o&m) building to take weather measurements with this tethersonde otherwise known as a blimp entitled planet earth laboratory geography 213 is a one credit-hour course that gives aggies a hands-on introduction to physical geography and concepts like solar radiation the earths seasons weather data and natural disaster case studies the blimp is part of a two-week segment in the class focused on outdoor weather observation explained daniel vecellio 20 a phd candidate in the department of geography and head teaching assistant for the course students take measurements of air temperature surface temperature humidity and wind at various areas around the o&m building and the bonfire memorial"" the blimp has become a class trademark and a familiar sight in the sky on campus which is unsurprising considering that it travels up to 150 feet weather permitting as two students fly it classmates record weather measurements on the ground for many aggies this fun and collaborative learning experience is a highlight of the course by karissa bayliss '12 originally published by the texas a&m foundation " the geography 213 blimp in front of the o&m building (photo by the texas a&m foundation) "each semester students in geography 213 venture outside the eller oceanography and meteorology (o&m) building to take weather measurements with this tethersonde otherwise known as a blimp entitled planet earth laboratory geography 213 is a one credit-hour course that gives aggies a hands-on introduction to physical geography and concepts like solar radiation the earths seasons weather data and natural disaster case studies the blimp is part of a two-week segment in the class focused on outdoor weather observation explained daniel vecellio 20 a phd candidate in the department of geography and head teaching assistant for the course students take measurements of air temperature surface temperature humidity and wind at various areas around the o&m building and the bonfire memorial"" the blimp has become a class trademark and a familiar sight in the sky on campus which is unsurprising considering that it travels up to 150 feet weather permitting as two students fly it classmates record weather measurements on the ground for many aggies this fun and collaborative learning experience is a highlight of the course by karissa bayliss '12 originally published by the texas a&m foundation" " graduate students receive geological society of americas medlin awardmichelle chrpa and samuel neely make department of geology and geophysics history as this is the first time that both antoinette lierman medlin research awards have been awarded to students in the same departmentnov 25 2019department of geology and geophysics phd students michelle chrpa (left) and samuel neely (right) recieved the geological society of americas antoinette lierman medlin research award they are both holding items related to their award winning research michelle is holding a coal ball a concretion of petrified plant debris from the paleozoic encapsulated in coal samuel is holding a cyad a subtropical to tropical extant plant (photo by ali snell)michelle chrpa and samuel h neely phd students in the department of geology and geophysics recently received the antoinette lierman medlin research award from the geological society of america (gsa) division of energy geology chrpa received the award for analytical research and neely for field work  the national gsa foundation awards provide monetary support and recognition to full-time graduate students in energy science and are funded by an endowment to gsa this is the first time that both medlin awards have gone to students in the same department michelle chrpas research focuses on the origin of late pennsylvanian coal balls which are carbonate concretions formed in coal swamps that record ancient communities in stunning detail she will use the award to fund analyses made on the electron microprobe at the texas a&m materials characterization facility samuel h neelys research focuses on modern peat accumulation and decomposition rates in tropical and subtropical mangrove wetlands which are sites of carbon sequestration along tropical coastlines and depositional analogs to ancient carboniferous wetlands dr anne raymond professor of geology and geophysics  serves as the faculty advisor for both students  by ali snell " department of geology and geophysics phd students michelle chrpa (left) and samuel neely (right) recieved the geological society of americas antoinette lierman medlin research award they are both holding items related to their award winning research michelle is holding a coal ball a concretion of petrified plant debris from the paleozoic encapsulated in coal samuel is holding a cyad a subtropical to tropical extant plant (photo by ali snell) "michelle chrpa and samuel h neely phd students in the department of geology and geophysics recently received the antoinette lierman medlin research award from the geological society of america (gsa) division of energy geology chrpa received the award for analytical research and neely for field work  the national gsa foundation awards provide monetary support and recognition to full-time graduate students in energy science and are funded by an endowment to gsa this is the first time that both medlin awards have gone to students in the same department michelle chrpas research focuses on the origin of late pennsylvanian coal balls which are carbonate concretions formed in coal swamps that record ancient communities in stunning detail she will use the award to fund analyses made on the electron microprobe at the texas a&m materials characterization facility samuel h neelys research focuses on modern peat accumulation and decomposition rates in tropical and subtropical mangrove wetlands which are sites of carbon sequestration along tropical coastlines and depositional analogs to ancient carboniferous wetlands dr anne raymond professor of geology and geophysics  serves as the faculty advisor for both students  by ali snell " " berg-hughes center hosts 10th anniversary celebration and research symposiumthe berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems recently celebrated a decade of cutting-edge researchnov 25 2019the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems 10th anniversary celebration and research symposium at the texas a&m hotel and conference center (photo by ali snell)on sept 13 the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems a research center associated with texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics and the college of geosciences celebrated the 10th anniversary of its founding with an anniversary celebration and research symposium at the doug pitcock 49 texas a&m hotel and conference center this year the symposium focused on the future of the oil and gas energy industry the morning consisted of a research symposium highlighting the research achievements of both undergraduates and graduates industry leaders spoke about the ongoing national energy transition  we are proud of our first decade and the progress we have made as an institution in integrating geoscience and engineering disciplines said dr mukul r bhatia executive professor and director of the berg-hughes center we plan to continue to prepare the next generation of geoscientists and petroleum engineers to face the formidable challenges and demands of the oil and gas industry while preserving the nature and the environment we are grateful to our donors alumni and the industry for the support we hope that we will continue to have this support in the future we are committed to personal development and enhancing the skill sets of our  students who have the potential to become the next generation of leaders in the energy sector the berg-hughes center was founded in 2009 named for dr robert berg and the hughes family dan a hughes dudley hughes 51 and dan a hughes jr 80 the goal of the center is to integrate the geosciences engineering and other disciplines to collaborate with the petroleum industry to advance research and education in petroleum studies geology and geophysics graduate students dawid szafranski christine griffith and peace eze (left to right) were awarded second first and third prizes respectively for best research posters at the berg-hughes 10th annual research symposium (photo by ali snell)berg-hughes celebration and symposium attendees enjoying the reception at the texas a&m hotel and conference center (photo by ali snell)dr un young 19 and family enjoying the symposium and celebration young spoke at the celebration dinner about his valuable time as a phd student at texas a&m (photo by ali snell)the research symposium was followed by a reception and dinner with keynote speakers and symposium research awards one of the speakers was recent texas a&m graduate dr un young 19  it was a great honor for me to share my memory about berg-hughes center with the audience at the dinner event celebrating its 10th anniversary; i have received countless support from the center "" young said of the research symposium participants three graduate students were awarded prizes for their symposium posters christine griffith dawid szafranski and peace eze were awarded first second and third prizes respectively for best research posters  ""winning this award 3 weeks into my graduate school journey is so encouraging and lets me know that im on the right path "" eze said ""thanks to the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems for believing in my dreams and taking me on as a student by ali snellgeology and geophysics professor dr mike pope and postdoctoral research associate dr cameron joseph manche discuss the details of a research poster at the berg-hughes 10th annual research symposium (photo by ali snell)geology and geophysics phd student christine griffith discusses her research poster with a symposium participant (photo by ali snell) " the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems 10th anniversary celebration and research symposium at the texas a&m hotel and conference center (photo by ali snell) "on sept 13 the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems a research center associated with texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics and the college of geosciences celebrated the 10th anniversary of its founding with an anniversary celebration and research symposium at the doug pitcock 49 texas a&m hotel and conference center this year the symposium focused on the future of the oil and gas energy industry the morning consisted of a research symposium highlighting the research achievements of both undergraduates and graduates industry leaders spoke about the ongoing national energy transition  we are proud of our first decade and the progress we have made as an institution in integrating geoscience and engineering disciplines said dr mukul r bhatia executive professor and director of the berg-hughes center we plan to continue to prepare the next generation of geoscientists and petroleum engineers to face the formidable challenges and demands of the oil and gas industry while preserving the nature and the environment we are grateful to our donors alumni and the industry for the support we hope that we will continue to have this support in the future we are committed to personal development and enhancing the skill sets of our  students who have the potential to become the next generation of leaders in the energy sector the berg-hughes center was founded in 2009 named for dr robert berg and the hughes family dan a hughes dudley hughes 51 and dan a hughes jr 80 the goal of the center is to integrate the geosciences engineering and other disciplines to collaborate with the petroleum industry to advance research and education in petroleum studies " geology and geophysics graduate students dawid szafranski christine griffith and peace eze (left to right) were awarded second first and third prizes respectively for best research posters at the berg-hughes 10th annual research symposium (photo by ali snell) berg-hughes celebration and symposium attendees enjoying the reception at the texas a&m hotel and conference center (photo by ali snell)dr un young 19 and family enjoying the symposium and celebration young spoke at the celebration dinner about his valuable time as a phd student at texas a&m (photo by ali snell) "the research symposium was followed by a reception and dinner with keynote speakers and symposium research awards one of the speakers was recent texas a&m graduate dr un young 19  it was a great honor for me to share my memory about berg-hughes center with the audience at the dinner event celebrating its 10th anniversary; i have received countless support from the center "" young said of the research symposium participants three graduate students were awarded prizes for their symposium posters christine griffith dawid szafranski and peace eze were awarded first second and third prizes respectively for best research posters  ""winning this award 3 weeks into my graduate school journey is so encouraging and lets me know that im on the right path "" eze said ""thanks to the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems for believing in my dreams and taking me on as a student by ali snell" geology and geophysics professor dr mike pope and postdoctoral research associate dr cameron joseph manche discuss the details of a research poster at the berg-hughes 10th annual research symposium (photo by ali snell)geology and geophysics phd student christine griffith discusses her research poster with a symposium participant (photo by ali snell) " undergraduates gain valuable experience in summer research coursejulia reece provided geology and geophysics undergraduate students valuable hands-on laboratory experience in her summer research class nov 19 2019graduate teaching assitant (ta) tanner mills works with undergraduate students to funnel sediments in an anaerobic chamber (photo courtesy of dr julia reece)undergraduate student putting lab materials under air hood (photo courtesy of dr julia reece)this summer four undergraduate students in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics had the opportunity to work under the guidance of assistant professor dr julia reece in geol 491 they performed two resedimentation tests in an anaerobic chamber one biotic (with bacteria) and one abiotic (without bacteria) to determine whether bacteria affect the hydromechanical and microstructural behavior of fine-grained marine sediments during shallow burial by inducing geochemical reactions and possibly precipitating minerals the students used a marine mudstone acquired through the international ocean discovery program (iodp) and mixed in iron-reducing shewanella oneidensis mr-1 in the biotic experiment they learned many different analytical techniques while integrating concepts from marine geology sediment mechanics geochemistry and microgeobiology  this study is the first one to ever apply the geotechnical technique resedimentation to the field of microgeobiology to study early diagenesis while the results showed only a very slight difference in the hydromechanical behavior between the two experiments under the current conditions these early experiments provided critical components in determining the full experimental design for future experiments by dr julia reecesummer research ta tanner mills and undergraduate student team up to pipet material in preparation for analysis (photo courtesy of dr julia reece)vials of fine-grained marine sediments ready for analysis (photo courtesy of dr julia reece) " graduate teaching assitant (ta) tanner mills works with undergraduate students to funnel sediments in an anaerobic chamber (photo courtesy of dr julia reece)undergraduate student putting lab materials under air hood (photo courtesy of dr julia reece) "this summer four undergraduate students in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics had the opportunity to work under the guidance of assistant professor dr julia reece in geol 491 they performed two resedimentation tests in an anaerobic chamber one biotic (with bacteria) and one abiotic (without bacteria) to determine whether bacteria affect the hydromechanical and microstructural behavior of fine-grained marine sediments during shallow burial by inducing geochemical reactions and possibly precipitating minerals the students used a marine mudstone acquired through the international ocean discovery program (iodp) and mixed in iron-reducing shewanella oneidensis mr-1 in the biotic experiment they learned many different analytical techniques while integrating concepts from marine geology sediment mechanics geochemistry and microgeobiology  this study is the first one to ever apply the geotechnical technique resedimentation to the field of microgeobiology to study early diagenesis while the results showed only a very slight difference in the hydromechanical behavior between the two experiments under the current conditions these early experiments provided critical components in determining the full experimental design for future experiments by dr julia reece" summer research ta tanner mills and undergraduate student team up to pipet material in preparation for analysis (photo courtesy of dr julia reece)vials of fine-grained marine sediments ready for analysis (photo courtesy of dr julia reece) " meteorology undergraduates maintain nasa research instrumentthe nasa disdrometer will be used to investigate rainfall in the region nov 18 2019undergraduate students rachel eldridge leanne blind-doskocil and erin sherman (l to r) assembling the disdrometer (photo courtesy of dr don conlee)undergraduate students lance belobrajdic and rachel eldridge checking the disdrometers control panel (photo courtesy of dr don conlee)in april nasa scientists requested that texas a&m university's department of atmospheric sciences host one of their instruments to measure rainfall in southeast texas  the disdrometer an instrument that can determine the size of raindrops and characterize other types of precipitation can be used to create data sets that will be applicable to research including severe weather and climate change dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences and his undergraduate student research group the observations directed studies group were tasked with installing learning about and maintaining the device to make sure that nasa satellites are accurately characterizing precipitation from space they need to have a diverse set of surface installations in different regimes and different climate locations he said using a laser-based system the disdrometer counts the number of drops based on their size and allows for the scientists to characterize precipitation far more completely than a traditional rain gauge can in conjunction with the data from the radar on top of the eller oceanography and meteorology building (the adrad) the students can look at significant weather events and compare them to events in the pastlearning real-life research skills the students are learning the importance of calibration and validation as they take the instrument and test it to ensure that its seeing the right thing conlee said as for conlee he hopes to continue involving undergrads in research with observational technologies to help them increase their understanding of data and thus their skill set for future endeavors in both academia and the workplace its easy to lose sight of how messy real data are and through this they see how hard it is to keep and maintain a high-quality data set he said rachel eldridge is a junior meteorology major who was a local associate member of dr conlees research experiences for undergraduates (reu) summer 2019 cohort she was tasked with taking the raw data from the disdrometer breaking it apart to look at each parameter and then graphing it to understand whats going on she said conlee explained that for now her research is to continue to learn about what the instrument is capable of refine how to read it in a scientific sense and implement quality control algorithms eldridge is also looking at recent heavy rainfall events to characterize the precipitation and will present her research in boston in january 2020 at the american meteorological society meeting the real-world application of skills learned in the classroom help prepare the students for the science field seeing and working with real data through this field research students gain experience in doing observations maintaining equipment coding and getting communications in and out to see live weather data check out information from the texas a&m research farm and the disdrometer hosted on the nasa site to help create more complete data sets they are hoping to install more observing stations on campus including the texas a&m gardens on west campus and to reinstall the green roof station on the roof of the langford architecture building following roof repairs dr courtney schumacher  professor of atmospheric sciences was instrumental in arranging the nasa collaboration and is also currently using disdrometers for her research by amanda hoth '21 " undergraduate students rachel eldridge leanne blind-doskocil and erin sherman (l to r) assembling the disdrometer (photo courtesy of dr don conlee)undergraduate students lance belobrajdic and rachel eldridge checking the disdrometers control panel (photo courtesy of dr don conlee) "in april nasa scientists requested that texas a&m university's department of atmospheric sciences host one of their instruments to measure rainfall in southeast texas  the disdrometer an instrument that can determine the size of raindrops and characterize other types of precipitation can be used to create data sets that will be applicable to research including severe weather and climate change dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences and his undergraduate student research group the observations directed studies group were tasked with installing learning about and maintaining the device to make sure that nasa satellites are accurately characterizing precipitation from space they need to have a diverse set of surface installations in different regimes and different climate locations he said using a laser-based system the disdrometer counts the number of drops based on their size and allows for the scientists to characterize precipitation far more completely than a traditional rain gauge can in conjunction with the data from the radar on top of the eller oceanography and meteorology building (the adrad) the students can look at significant weather events and compare them to events in the past" "learning real-life research skills the students are learning the importance of calibration and validation as they take the instrument and test it to ensure that its seeing the right thing conlee said as for conlee he hopes to continue involving undergrads in research with observational technologies to help them increase their understanding of data and thus their skill set for future endeavors in both academia and the workplace its easy to lose sight of how messy real data are and through this they see how hard it is to keep and maintain a high-quality data set he said rachel eldridge is a junior meteorology major who was a local associate member of dr conlees research experiences for undergraduates (reu) summer 2019 cohort she was tasked with taking the raw data from the disdrometer breaking it apart to look at each parameter and then graphing it to understand whats going on she said conlee explained that for now her research is to continue to learn about what the instrument is capable of refine how to read it in a scientific sense and implement quality control algorithms eldridge is also looking at recent heavy rainfall events to characterize the precipitation and will present her research in boston in january 2020 at the american meteorological society meeting the real-world application of skills learned in the classroom help prepare the students for the science field seeing and working with real data through this field research students gain experience in doing observations maintaining equipment coding and getting communications in and out to see live weather data check out information from the texas a&m research farm and the disdrometer hosted on the nasa site to help create more complete data sets they are hoping to install more observing stations on campus including the texas a&m gardens on west campus and to reinstall the green roof station on the roof of the langford architecture building following roof repairs dr courtney schumacher  professor of atmospheric sciences was instrumental in arranging the nasa collaboration and is also currently using disdrometers for her research by amanda hoth '21" " college of geosciences at texas a&m establishes trimble technology labofficially opened nov 14 the state-of-the-art trimble technology lab was made possible by a significant gift from trimble to the college of geosciences nov 14 2019the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lab was held nov 14 with jill urban-karr executive director of trimble's land administration solutions group dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences and allyson mcduffie trimble's director of education and outreach (photos by leslie lee college of geosciences)the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has received a gift from trimble to establish the state-of-the-art trimble technology lab officially opened on nov 14 the lab will provide an integrated field and classroom experience that will empower geospatial education in the college through the trimble technology lab students faculty and researchers will gain cutting-edge geospatial training and experience with trimbles laser scanning mobile mapping interior mapping building information models (bim) 3d design and gnss tools with the accompanying comprehensive suite of analysis solutions  the new trimble technology lab at texas a&m university is not only dramatically changing the geospatial learning environment its empowering cutting-edge data acquisition and analysis to address the most pressing challenges in the geosciences and beyond said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences ""i have no doubt that our collaboration with trimble will establish texas a&m university as the most spatially-enabled geosciences college in the us"" students faculty researchers and staff from throughout the college along with trimble partners experienced the technology and celebrated the lab opening at the ribbon-cutting ceremonythe trimble technology lab will benefit students in the college of geosciences which includes aggies in a unique combination of social science and stem disciplines spanning the departments of atmospheric sciences geography geology & geophysics and oceanography as well as the interdisciplinary undergraduate environmental programs and the graduate water management and hydrological sciences programs trimble is very excited to be working with texas a&m said ronald bisio senior vice president trimble geospatial ""we believe the technology lab will be a catalyst to help fuel research and training activities in the geosciences and related fields to advance the universitys mission of transforming students into tomorrows global leaders successful entrepreneurs and industry innovators""urban-karr thomas and mcduffie following the ribbon-cuttingtexas a&m geosciences students listen to demonstrations of the trimble technologytexas a&m geosciences staff try out the trimble technologyfaculty staff students and trimble professionals gathered for the nov 14 grand openinglocated on the 3rd floor of the computing services annex (csa) at texas a&m the lab will include a broad range of trimbles industry-leading hardware and software solutions such as the trimble® gnss survey receivers trimble total stations handheld 3d scanners trimble t10 rugged tablets as well as advanced software such as trimble access trimble field link realworks® scanning software trimble business center with uas master penmap ecognition tekla® structures tekla structural designer tekla tedds trimble connect and the companys popular 3d modeling software sketchup pro dr stacey lyle an instructional assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m is looking forward to incorporating the trimble technology lab and trimble hardware and software into his course curriculum with college of geosciences students in high-demand from the industry he understands the benefits of all geosciences students having hands-on experience with trimble products trimble is a world leader in geospatial innovation lyle said having our students working on projects and research with trimble helps us in the college of geosciences accomplish key experiential learning opportunities now with our partnership with trimble students will be able to be leaders providing their mastery of the use of the latest advanced geospatial technology to solve society problemscollege of geosciences students using trimble products (photos by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)view and download photos from the event " the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lab was held nov 14 with jill urban-karr executive director of trimble's land administration solutions group dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences and allyson mcduffie trimble's director of education and outreach (photos by leslie lee college of geosciences) "the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has received a gift from trimble to establish the state-of-the-art trimble technology lab officially opened on nov 14 the lab will provide an integrated field and classroom experience that will empower geospatial education in the college through the trimble technology lab students faculty and researchers will gain cutting-edge geospatial training and experience with trimbles laser scanning mobile mapping interior mapping building information models (bim) 3d design and gnss tools with the accompanying comprehensive suite of analysis solutions  the new trimble technology lab at texas a&m university is not only dramatically changing the geospatial learning environment its empowering cutting-edge data acquisition and analysis to address the most pressing challenges in the geosciences and beyond said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences ""i have no doubt that our collaboration with trimble will establish texas a&m university as the most spatially-enabled geosciences college in the us"" students faculty researchers and staff from throughout the college along with trimble partners experienced the technology and celebrated the lab opening at the ribbon-cutting ceremony" "the trimble technology lab will benefit students in the college of geosciences which includes aggies in a unique combination of social science and stem disciplines spanning the departments of atmospheric sciences geography geology & geophysics and oceanography as well as the interdisciplinary undergraduate environmental programs and the graduate water management and hydrological sciences programs trimble is very excited to be working with texas a&m said ronald bisio senior vice president trimble geospatial ""we believe the technology lab will be a catalyst to help fuel research and training activities in the geosciences and related fields to advance the universitys mission of transforming students into tomorrows global leaders successful entrepreneurs and industry innovators""" urban-karr thomas and mcduffie following the ribbon-cuttingtexas a&m geosciences students listen to demonstrations of the trimble technology texas a&m geosciences staff try out the trimble technologyfaculty staff students and trimble professionals gathered for the nov 14 grand opening "located on the 3rd floor of the computing services annex (csa) at texas a&m the lab will include a broad range of trimbles industry-leading hardware and software solutions such as the trimble® gnss survey receivers trimble total stations handheld 3d scanners trimble t10 rugged tablets as well as advanced software such as trimble access trimble field link realworks® scanning software trimble business center with uas master penmap ecognition tekla® structures tekla structural designer tekla tedds trimble connect and the companys popular 3d modeling software sketchup pro dr stacey lyle an instructional assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m is looking forward to incorporating the trimble technology lab and trimble hardware and software into his course curriculum with college of geosciences students in high-demand from the industry he understands the benefits of all geosciences students having hands-on experience with trimble products trimble is a world leader in geospatial innovation lyle said having our students working on projects and research with trimble helps us in the college of geosciences accomplish key experiential learning opportunities now with our partnership with trimble students will be able to be leaders providing their mastery of the use of the latest advanced geospatial technology to solve society problems" college of geosciences students using trimble products (photos by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) " now accepting applications to sea grant marine policy fellowship the application is open for the national sea grant college program 2021 john a knauss marine policy fellowship a yearlong paid fellowship in the washington dc areanov 7 2019the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is accepting applications through friday feb 21 by 5 pm cst for the national sea grant college program 2021 john a knauss marine policy fellowship the knauss fellowship established in 1979 pairs highly qualified graduate students interested in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and the related national policy decisions with host offices in the legislative and executive branches of government the yearlong paid fellowship is named for one of sea grants founders former national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) administrator john a knauss the knauss fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for students to be involved and have a firsthand look at the development of policy that affects our nations marine resources some of which these days are critical said mia zwolinski texas sea grants assistant director of research and fiscal administration past knauss fellows from texas have served in legislative offices or at agencies including noaa the national science foundation and nasa the majority have gone on to careers in federal agencies higher education or non-governmental organizations related to coastal or marine resources or policies texas 2018 knauss fellows emily k cira from texas a&m university – corpus christi and andria kay salas from the university of texas at austin worked with the us environmental protection agency national nutrient criteria program and the noaa national marine fisheries service restoration center respectively other previous texas knauss fellows described some of their experiences in the texas knauss fellows blog complete information about this opportunity including a recording of a webinar for tips on developing a competitive application is available at txag/knaussfellowship   by kimber de salvo texas sea grant communications program assistant " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is accepting applications through friday feb 21 by 5 pm cst for the national sea grant college program 2021 john a knauss marine policy fellowship the knauss fellowship established in 1979 pairs highly qualified graduate students interested in ocean coastal and great lakes resources and the related national policy decisions with host offices in the legislative and executive branches of government the yearlong paid fellowship is named for one of sea grants founders former national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) administrator john a knauss the knauss fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for students to be involved and have a firsthand look at the development of policy that affects our nations marine resources some of which these days are critical said mia zwolinski texas sea grants assistant director of research and fiscal administration past knauss fellows from texas have served in legislative offices or at agencies including noaa the national science foundation and nasa the majority have gone on to careers in federal agencies higher education or non-governmental organizations related to coastal or marine resources or policies texas 2018 knauss fellows emily k cira from texas a&m university – corpus christi and andria kay salas from the university of texas at austin worked with the us environmental protection agency national nutrient criteria program and the noaa national marine fisheries service restoration center respectively other previous texas knauss fellows described some of their experiences in the texas knauss fellows blog complete information about this opportunity including a recording of a webinar for tips on developing a competitive application is available at txag/knaussfellowship   by kimber de salvo texas sea grant communications program assistant" " oceanography graduate students attended the international geotraces summer schooloceanography graduate students nathan lanning and janelle steffen attended the week-long international geotraces summer school held in cadiz spainnov 5 2019nathan lanning and janelle steffen graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university recently traveled to cadiz spain to attend the international geotraces summer school program september 23-29 the week-long program led by an internationally renowned team of marine trace metal scientists is designed to give the student participants advanced training in sample collection analysis and interpretation of trace metal datasets from the ocean a total of 40 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from 19 countries including lanning and steffen attended the program this year all participants stayed aboard on the spanish navy vessel a-41 intermares during the entire programgroup photo of the 2019 geotraces international summer school class (photo courtesy of campus del mar)the geotraces summer school is more than an honor it's a fantastic opportunity for an international group of like-minded students to come together to meet some of the leaders of the chemical tracer oceanographic community and learn about our field's most cutting-edge sampling and analytical methods said dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor at texas a&m oceanography who is a chemical oceanographer interested in the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals such as iron manganese and zinc in the ocean it's also a great opportunity for them to form an international cohort within which they can collaborate for their entire careers the summer school was organized by the international geotraces program the university of cádiz (uca) the andalusian institute of marine sciences of the spanish national research council (icman-csic) and the international campus of excellence of the sea (cei·mar); with funding from the scientific committee on oceanic research (scor) geotraces the general csic foundation the international doctorate school of marine studies (eidemar) and cei·mar since janelle and i are heavily involved in the geotraces program through our research and fieldwork we wanted to supplement our trace metal education and network with professionals and students from around the world who are also in the trace metal field said lanning lanning and steffen are both phd students in fitzsimmons lab lanning is interested in iron and other trace elements cycling of the hydrothermal vent system near hawaii steffens research is focused on looking at what species of iron are present in the hydrothermal plume off the southern east pacific rise and soon in the hydrothermal plume of endeavor seamount on the juan de fuca ridge during the geotraeces summer school courses were taught by a team of renowned professors in the field of ocean trace metalsstudents are taught cutting edge trace metal research (photo courtesy of campus del mar)spanish navy vessel a-41 intermares which was home for the entire summer school (photo courtesy of janelle steffen)the best part of the program was networking with chemical oceanographers from across the globe steffen said we had great opportunities to collaborate and learn more about the research from our peers and made connections that will likely last for years to come the students also participated on a shipboard training aboard the a-41 intermares they practiced trace metal clean sampling techniques deployed ctds (scientific instrument for measuring conductivity temperature and depth of the seawater) and trace metal clean water collection systems and participated in extensive data processing training niskin bottles deploying in the gulf of cadiz (photo courtesy of campus del mar)students training on water collection techniques aboard the a-41 intermares (photo courtesy of campus del mar)it was also an amazing opportunity to live aboard the spanish navy ship lanning said we learned about different processes and equipment that are used in europe and this provided a fresh perspective of the tools available in the fieldjanelle steffen presenting her work during the program (photo courtesy of nathan lanning)janelle steffen (left) and nathan lanning (right) enjoying the summer school (photo courtesy of janelle steffen)i had an amazing week collaborating with scientists from all over the world and talking about my research with a large diverse group of students and researchers steffen said participating in this course has greatly expanded my scientific network lanning said learning from international professors about new discoveries in the field of trace metal cycling was an incredible opportunity! they both thanked fitzsimmons for her support and for encouraging them to apply as well as dr robert anderson ewing lamont research professor at lamont-doherty earth observatory at columbia university and us geotraces for the funding to participate in this program for more information about the geotraces program visit the geotraces website by bumsoo kim " "nathan lanning and janelle steffen graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university recently traveled to cadiz spain to attend the international geotraces summer school program september 23-29 the week-long program led by an internationally renowned team of marine trace metal scientists is designed to give the student participants advanced training in sample collection analysis and interpretation of trace metal datasets from the ocean a total of 40 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from 19 countries including lanning and steffen attended the program this year all participants stayed aboard on the spanish navy vessel a-41 intermares during the entire program" group photo of the 2019 geotraces international summer school class (photo courtesy of campus del mar) "the geotraces summer school is more than an honor it's a fantastic opportunity for an international group of like-minded students to come together to meet some of the leaders of the chemical tracer oceanographic community and learn about our field's most cutting-edge sampling and analytical methods said dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor at texas a&m oceanography who is a chemical oceanographer interested in the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals such as iron manganese and zinc in the ocean it's also a great opportunity for them to form an international cohort within which they can collaborate for their entire careers the summer school was organized by the international geotraces program the university of cádiz (uca) the andalusian institute of marine sciences of the spanish national research council (icman-csic) and the international campus of excellence of the sea (cei·mar); with funding from the scientific committee on oceanic research (scor) geotraces the general csic foundation the international doctorate school of marine studies (eidemar) and cei·mar since janelle and i are heavily involved in the geotraces program through our research and fieldwork we wanted to supplement our trace metal education and network with professionals and students from around the world who are also in the trace metal field said lanning lanning and steffen are both phd students in fitzsimmons lab lanning is interested in iron and other trace elements cycling of the hydrothermal vent system near hawaii steffens research is focused on looking at what species of iron are present in the hydrothermal plume off the southern east pacific rise and soon in the hydrothermal plume of endeavor seamount on the juan de fuca ridge during the geotraeces summer school courses were taught by a team of renowned professors in the field of ocean trace metals" students are taught cutting edge trace metal research (photo courtesy of campus del mar)spanish navy vessel a-41 intermares which was home for the entire summer school (photo courtesy of janelle steffen) "the best part of the program was networking with chemical oceanographers from across the globe steffen said we had great opportunities to collaborate and learn more about the research from our peers and made connections that will likely last for years to come the students also participated on a shipboard training aboard the a-41 intermares they practiced trace metal clean sampling techniques deployed ctds (scientific instrument for measuring conductivity temperature and depth of the seawater) and trace metal clean water collection systems and participated in extensive data processing training " niskin bottles deploying in the gulf of cadiz (photo courtesy of campus del mar)students training on water collection techniques aboard the a-41 intermares (photo courtesy of campus del mar) it was also an amazing opportunity to live aboard the spanish navy ship lanning said we learned about different processes and equipment that are used in europe and this provided a fresh perspective of the tools available in the field janelle steffen presenting her work during the program (photo courtesy of nathan lanning)janelle steffen (left) and nathan lanning (right) enjoying the summer school (photo courtesy of janelle steffen) "i had an amazing week collaborating with scientists from all over the world and talking about my research with a large diverse group of students and researchers steffen said participating in this course has greatly expanded my scientific network lanning said learning from international professors about new discoveries in the field of trace metal cycling was an incredible opportunity! they both thanked fitzsimmons for her support and for encouraging them to apply as well as dr robert anderson ewing lamont research professor at lamont-doherty earth observatory at columbia university and us geotraces for the funding to participate in this program for more information about the geotraces program visit the geotraces website by bumsoo kim" " nsf-funded texas a&m study working to reduce flash flood fatalitiestexas a&m geographys lei zou is on the team of scientists analyzing flash flood impactsnov 5 2019a neighborhood under floodwaters near austin texas in 2018 (istock photo)dr lei zou (image courtesy of texas a&m geosciences)more than two-thirds of all flood-related fatalities and injuries are attributed to flash flooding making flash floods one of the most lethal forms of natural hazards in the united states a new texas a&m research project recently funded by the national science foundation (nsf) will study why unsafe conditions exist during flash flood events and how to reduce or eliminate these conditions dr lei zou an assistant professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m is part of this research team to explain why unsafe conditions exist during flash flood events this project will first develop a geographic micro-database of flash floods through web harvesting natural language processing artificial intelligence and gis analysis zou said then we will focus on analyzing the underlying causes of flash flood fatalities and injuries using casual models the results of this research will shed light on strategic plans to reduce unsafe conditions during flash flood events and help improve community preparedness the project will be led by dr nasir gharaibeh associate professor in the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering along with zou co-principal investigators include: dr michelle meyer director of the texas a&m hazard reduction and recovery center; dr francisco olivera associate professor of civil engineering at texas a&m; and dr garett sansom research assistant professor in the school of public health at texas a&m the 3-year $350 000 nsf grant began sept 1 2019map showing the exposure to flash flood in us at a county-level scale (image courtesy of dr lei zou)because of the complex interactions and process leading to disasters it is beyond the capability of any single discipline to capture and model the full array of causes and effects that a disaster presents zou said therefore we're using an interdisciplinary approach with experts in engineering (gharaibeh and olivera) social science (meyer) public health (sansom) and geosciences (myself) i am very excited about this collaboration the new data and model principles created by this project will be used to improve emergency response plans and capital improvement plans ultimately helping protect communities and lives there is currently a data gap in fine-resolution flash flood data zou said such data are needed to understand the complete circumstances leading up to fatalities and injuries and to design effective structural and non-structural risk reduction measures this project will help fill that gap by leslie lee 09 " a neighborhood under floodwaters near austin texas in 2018 (istock photo)dr lei zou (image courtesy of texas a&m geosciences) "more than two-thirds of all flood-related fatalities and injuries are attributed to flash flooding making flash floods one of the most lethal forms of natural hazards in the united states a new texas a&m research project recently funded by the national science foundation (nsf) will study why unsafe conditions exist during flash flood events and how to reduce or eliminate these conditions dr lei zou an assistant professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m is part of this research team to explain why unsafe conditions exist during flash flood events this project will first develop a geographic micro-database of flash floods through web harvesting natural language processing artificial intelligence and gis analysis zou said then we will focus on analyzing the underlying causes of flash flood fatalities and injuries using casual models the results of this research will shed light on strategic plans to reduce unsafe conditions during flash flood events and help improve community preparedness the project will be led by dr nasir gharaibeh associate professor in the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering along with zou co-principal investigators include: dr michelle meyer director of the texas a&m hazard reduction and recovery center; dr francisco olivera associate professor of civil engineering at texas a&m; and dr garett sansom research assistant professor in the school of public health at texas a&m the 3-year $350 000 nsf grant began sept 1 2019" map showing the exposure to flash flood in us at a county-level scale (image courtesy of dr lei zou) "because of the complex interactions and process leading to disasters it is beyond the capability of any single discipline to capture and model the full array of causes and effects that a disaster presents zou said therefore we're using an interdisciplinary approach with experts in engineering (gharaibeh and olivera) social science (meyer) public health (sansom) and geosciences (myself) i am very excited about this collaboration the new data and model principles created by this project will be used to improve emergency response plans and capital improvement plans ultimately helping protect communities and lives there is currently a data gap in fine-resolution flash flood data zou said such data are needed to understand the complete circumstances leading up to fatalities and injuries and to design effective structural and non-structural risk reduction measures this project will help fill that gap by leslie lee 09" " cynthia lyle appointed as texas sea grant senior associate director and extension leaderthe new senior associate director and extension leader is ""eager to build upon the organization's successes"" nov 4 2019texas sea grant welcomes cynthia lyle as its new senior associate director and extension leader in this role she will lead strategic planning federal reporting and extension efforts she plans to use a team culture approach to further texas sea grants mission to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources  ""i am honored to be part of the texas sea grant team "" lyle says ""to build upon the organization's successes to integrate research and extension with community partnerships that serve the economic environmental and societal needs of today's texas gulf coast citizens and our future generations"" lyle brings 15 years of research development experience to the position since 2010 she has worked with research faculty and university leadership at texas a&m university – corpus christi on various projects throughout the gulf of mexico she has served as the director of foundation and corporate relations and she was most recently senior research development officer developing and managing key research initiatives lyle was also ceo of geospatial research innovation & design (grid) a small business specializing in engineering and software development she wrote and served as principal investigator for three nasa-sponsored projects through which the company developed and commercialized a secure geo-authentication air quality and environmental monitoring system for nasa in addition to her research experience lyle has experience in communications and public relations through her work at emory university hospital midtown and the international ocean discovery program on the campus of texas a&m university at emory she also worked as a registered respiratory therapist lyle holds a bachelors of science in journalism from texas a&m university and a bachelors of science in health sciences – respiratory therapy from georgia state university cynthia has exceptional leadership qualities and experience in addition to an exemplary record of service says texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin her outstanding skills and knowledge will help further texas sea grants mission to advance the common good across the state of texas and beyond   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " "texas sea grant welcomes cynthia lyle as its new senior associate director and extension leader in this role she will lead strategic planning federal reporting and extension efforts she plans to use a team culture approach to further texas sea grants mission to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources  ""i am honored to be part of the texas sea grant team "" lyle says ""to build upon the organization's successes to integrate research and extension with community partnerships that serve the economic environmental and societal needs of today's texas gulf coast citizens and our future generations"" lyle brings 15 years of research development experience to the position since 2010 she has worked with research faculty and university leadership at texas a&m university – corpus christi on various projects throughout the gulf of mexico she has served as the director of foundation and corporate relations and she was most recently senior research development officer developing and managing key research initiatives lyle was also ceo of geospatial research innovation & design (grid) a small business specializing in engineering and software development she wrote and served as principal investigator for three nasa-sponsored projects through which the company developed and commercialized a secure geo-authentication air quality and environmental monitoring system for nasa in addition to her research experience lyle has experience in communications and public relations through her work at emory university hospital midtown and the international ocean discovery program on the campus of texas a&m university at emory she also worked as a registered respiratory therapist lyle holds a bachelors of science in journalism from texas a&m university and a bachelors of science in health sciences – respiratory therapy from georgia state university cynthia has exceptional leadership qualities and experience in addition to an exemplary record of service says texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin her outstanding skills and knowledge will help further texas sea grants mission to advance the common good across the state of texas and beyond   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " texas a&m student veteran receives prestigious department of defense fellowshipwith the support of a dod fellowship graduate student luis martinez will supervise a team of undergraduates and graduates from around the university as they develop the technology needed for mapping dangerous subterranean environmentsnov 4 2019texas a&m department of geography doctoral student and us marine corps veteran luis martinez received the national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship through the us department of defense this year the fellowship will fund his dissertation research in subterranean mapping for three years with a monthly stipend and full tuition covered the intent is to map gps-denied environments so that is any kind of environment where there is not a gps signal martinez said specifically caves tunnels and other kinds of subterranean environments for decades the us military has worked to improve its capability to navigate underground tunnels and caves martinez said that inferiorly equipped forces can go underground and use both their knowledge of the subterranean environment and the us militarys lack of knowledge to their advantage with his research luis hopes to support and improve military readiness below-ground the end goal is to have an autonomous robot that can go in to a gps-denied environment map out the environment using lidar and slam technology and then come back out with a picture of the environment so that soldiers arent going in blind martinez said while the technology that will be developed in the project is designed to be used in a military setting martinez emphasized that the technology will not be restricted to military-use only since one of the key aspects of the project is to provide spatial intelligence about an environment that is too dangerous for humans to enter he expects that the technology will also be useful for emergency services first responders such as police firefighters and fema will also be able to utilize the technology he saidluis martinez helping high school students at the college of geosciences 2019 geox camp (photo by the texas a&m foundation)putting together an interdisciplinary research project with a background in gis martinez is well-equipped to develop the gis technology that will be needed to complete this project however as with any large project that has numerous moving parts additional expertise will be necessary for it to come to fruition for example the technology that martinez develops will need to be mounted on an autonomous robot so that it can be physically transported in to the subterranean location that needs to be mapped with comparatively little expertise in robotics luis has reached out to organizations in the college of engineering that can provide the skillsets necessary to build the robot after meeting with the student organization turtle (texas a&m university robotics team and leadership experience) luis expects to bring on members of their team to help construct the autonomous robot i am in the process of selecting students who applied to their organization to help get on this project he said it will be nice having people who do robotics coming to join help out and provide their expertise with his background in the marine corps luis has expressed particular interest in recruiting texas a&m student veterans and members of the corps of cadets to join the project being a veteran having a military background and this being a project essentially for the military i would like to bring those people in whether they have served in the military prior or they are intending to serve he saidfrom usmc to geography doctoral student luis martinezs career in gis started with relatively little knowledge of the subject his first introduction to gis occurred when he joined the us marine corps in 2013 after receiving a high math score on his marine corps entrance exam he was told that he would be assigned to become a geospatial intelligence analyst luis reflected on the time it took him to appreciate the importance of the job he had been assigned to in the marine corps originally i started out with something i didnt want but it was given to me and i took it he said even after graduating as the honor graduate of his intelligence course luis said he still didnt see the purpose of his job it was only when he was assigned to support a reconnaissance team on a training exercise that he began to fully appreciate the work he had been trained to do they said ‘your map kept us from taking certain routes that would have put us in some risky situations thank you luis said hearing someone say that really gave me the opportunity to see the value of geospatial intelligence and that is where my desire to follow this career path really beganluis martinez receiving a promotion to corporal (e-4) (photo courtesy of luis martinez)luis martinez and his wife karina riches at a marine corps ball (photo courtesy of luis martinez)while still in the marine corps luis visited texas a&m for a football game to see an old friend after visiting the campus luis fell in love with aggieland and decided to apply to the online master of geoscience program while he was still active duty once he was admitted into the program luis managed to complete most of his degree requirements while still active duty then with 85% of his coursework completed luis finished his masters degree in-person after he left the marine corps though he did not originally plan to go for a doctoral degree encouragement from department of geography faculty members dr stacey lyle and dr daniel goldberg convinced luis to apply to the phd program in geography dr goldberg supported my desire to do military-based research and dr lyle provided me with the advice that pushed me to apply for the phd he said finally martinez had some advice for those who are thinking about applying for awards or fellowships when i applied i wasnt sure if i would get the fellowship i did end up getting it but if i hadnt overcome the fear and doubt that i wasnt qualified to apply for it i would be sitting here right now without funding he said whether you are nervous or unaware of potential opportunities there are plenty of scholarship or fellowship opportunities if you are willing to put yourself out there by rhett douris " "texas a&m department of geography doctoral student and us marine corps veteran luis martinez received the national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship through the us department of defense this year the fellowship will fund his dissertation research in subterranean mapping for three years with a monthly stipend and full tuition covered the intent is to map gps-denied environments so that is any kind of environment where there is not a gps signal martinez said specifically caves tunnels and other kinds of subterranean environments for decades the us military has worked to improve its capability to navigate underground tunnels and caves martinez said that inferiorly equipped forces can go underground and use both their knowledge of the subterranean environment and the us militarys lack of knowledge to their advantage with his research luis hopes to support and improve military readiness below-ground the end goal is to have an autonomous robot that can go in to a gps-denied environment map out the environment using lidar and slam technology and then come back out with a picture of the environment so that soldiers arent going in blind martinez said while the technology that will be developed in the project is designed to be used in a military setting martinez emphasized that the technology will not be restricted to military-use only since one of the key aspects of the project is to provide spatial intelligence about an environment that is too dangerous for humans to enter he expects that the technology will also be useful for emergency services first responders such as police firefighters and fema will also be able to utilize the technology he said" luis martinez helping high school students at the college of geosciences 2019 geox camp (photo by the texas a&m foundation) "putting together an interdisciplinary research project with a background in gis martinez is well-equipped to develop the gis technology that will be needed to complete this project however as with any large project that has numerous moving parts additional expertise will be necessary for it to come to fruition for example the technology that martinez develops will need to be mounted on an autonomous robot so that it can be physically transported in to the subterranean location that needs to be mapped with comparatively little expertise in robotics luis has reached out to organizations in the college of engineering that can provide the skillsets necessary to build the robot after meeting with the student organization turtle (texas a&m university robotics team and leadership experience) luis expects to bring on members of their team to help construct the autonomous robot i am in the process of selecting students who applied to their organization to help get on this project he said it will be nice having people who do robotics coming to join help out and provide their expertise with his background in the marine corps luis has expressed particular interest in recruiting texas a&m student veterans and members of the corps of cadets to join the project being a veteran having a military background and this being a project essentially for the military i would like to bring those people in whether they have served in the military prior or they are intending to serve he said" "from usmc to geography doctoral student luis martinezs career in gis started with relatively little knowledge of the subject his first introduction to gis occurred when he joined the us marine corps in 2013 after receiving a high math score on his marine corps entrance exam he was told that he would be assigned to become a geospatial intelligence analyst luis reflected on the time it took him to appreciate the importance of the job he had been assigned to in the marine corps originally i started out with something i didnt want but it was given to me and i took it he said even after graduating as the honor graduate of his intelligence course luis said he still didnt see the purpose of his job it was only when he was assigned to support a reconnaissance team on a training exercise that he began to fully appreciate the work he had been trained to do they said ‘your map kept us from taking certain routes that would have put us in some risky situations thank you luis said hearing someone say that really gave me the opportunity to see the value of geospatial intelligence and that is where my desire to follow this career path really began" luis martinez receiving a promotion to corporal (e-4) (photo courtesy of luis martinez)luis martinez and his wife karina riches at a marine corps ball (photo courtesy of luis martinez) "while still in the marine corps luis visited texas a&m for a football game to see an old friend after visiting the campus luis fell in love with aggieland and decided to apply to the online master of geoscience program while he was still active duty once he was admitted into the program luis managed to complete most of his degree requirements while still active duty then with 85% of his coursework completed luis finished his masters degree in-person after he left the marine corps though he did not originally plan to go for a doctoral degree encouragement from department of geography faculty members dr stacey lyle and dr daniel goldberg convinced luis to apply to the phd program in geography dr goldberg supported my desire to do military-based research and dr lyle provided me with the advice that pushed me to apply for the phd he said finally martinez had some advice for those who are thinking about applying for awards or fellowships when i applied i wasnt sure if i would get the fellowship i did end up getting it but if i hadnt overcome the fear and doubt that i wasnt qualified to apply for it i would be sitting here right now without funding he said whether you are nervous or unaware of potential opportunities there are plenty of scholarship or fellowship opportunities if you are willing to put yourself out there by rhett douris" " texas a&m gis day promotes geospatial skills and careers nov 11-13gis day at texas a&m features a career fair industry panel workshops and networking eventsnov 1 2019if youve ever used an app to order lunch delivered to your office called 911 or used gps navigation for driving directions then youve benefited from geographic information science or gis technologies todays world is tied together with gis technology nearly every public and private sector of society including banking health care tech and law enforcement use geospatial tools to make location-based data and services possible job opportunities in gis are growing and an interdisciplinary event at texas a&m university is helping aggies get trained in gis skills and network with leading employers gis day at texas a&m is a 3-day annual event and the largest gis day event in the world according to organizers the local community industry and texas a&m students faculty and staff are invited to attend free gis technology workshops interactive events and lunches a gis career fair industry panel and networking events are also open to students the event features three competitions awarding over $1 000 in prizes and awards to texas a&m students for best poster and research paper presentations along with a volunteered geographic information citizen scientist contest to collect data about the texas a&m campus abstracts for the paper and poster competitions are due by nov 8 attendees are encouraged to register for workshops events and competitions using the texas a&m gis day website all workshops are open to the public; registration is encouraged but not required geographic information science and technology affects nearly every aspect of our lives said dr daniel goldberg the chair of the gis day organizing committee and associate professor in the department of geography and the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m from how we shop to how we work to where we live to how we play mapping and gis approaches provide critical services many of which we do not even realize that allow us to make better decisions and improve our health and happiness workshops include: arcgis online and arccollector video game engines + visualization + gis fme basics and advanced techniques qgis geoai and geospatial data science frontiers and campus data initiatives & operations local governments run on gis brett blankner ‘95 will present the gis day keynote address zen and the art of gis tuesday nov 12 at 4:30 pm in msc 2300b as gis coordinator for the city of college stations enterprise maps & gis division blankner is driving innovation and the use of gis technology and data to advance intelligent decision-making by citizens elected officials and city staff tasked with providing many essential services to the local population this years keynote will highlight the importance of spatial data to running the local governments which impact the lives of nearly all americans said dr stacey lyle a gis day co-chair and geography assistant professor of the practice the city of college station is really leading the way when it comes to leveraging the power of gis to improve the operations of the city and the lives of its community members through bretts leadership college station has become a national success story of how the right ideas the right data and the right team can all come together to create and implement a vision where gis data and technology are a critical component for running cities of all sizes college station gis remains at the forefront of gis innovation through bretts efforts including the citys open data portal its hackathon program and its frequent and numerous research and service learning partnerships with university students faculty and staff gis skills are crucial to many fields the gis job market has been booming for over a decade and continues to this day with over 100 new job postings every day goldberg said even more importantly geospatial knowledge and techniques are becoming desired and even required skills in far reaching industries and job roles aggies from all majors and colleges who need to work with data about people places or things can up their job-getting prospects by knowing how to leverage the power of spatial data and tools to solve hard problems and make better decisions across many industries defense and intelligence energy logistics insurance real estate manufacturing jobs in all of these sectors and more are relying more and more on data and spatial data is the most powerful data gis day gives students from across campus an opportunity to learn geospatial skills for free in small consumable workshops designed to get people excited and ready to learn more texas a&m students in geography landscape architecture and urban planning computer science health science business ecosystem science engineering and many other disciplines are all learning valuable gis skills during tamu gis day and turning them into successful careers in the many research public and private sectors that utilize gis lyle said  gis day is a multidisciplinary campus-wide event hosted and supported by many texas a&m colleges departments and centers including: university libraries college of geosciences college of architecture department of geography department of landscape architecture & urban planning hazard reduction recovery center office of facilities coordination transportation services texas research data center the center for texas beaches and shores the institute of data science and the center for geospatial sciences applications and technology (geosat) the events website and app are developed and maintained by the texas a&m department of geographys geoinnovation service center external industry sponsors of gis day include: conocophillips esri tessellations safe software uav survey llc 40geo cimarex energy and tudor pickering holt & co by leslie lee 09 " "if youve ever used an app to order lunch delivered to your office called 911 or used gps navigation for driving directions then youve benefited from geographic information science or gis technologies todays world is tied together with gis technology nearly every public and private sector of society including banking health care tech and law enforcement use geospatial tools to make location-based data and services possible job opportunities in gis are growing and an interdisciplinary event at texas a&m university is helping aggies get trained in gis skills and network with leading employers gis day at texas a&m is a 3-day annual event and the largest gis day event in the world according to organizers the local community industry and texas a&m students faculty and staff are invited to attend free gis technology workshops interactive events and lunches a gis career fair industry panel and networking events are also open to students the event features three competitions awarding over $1 000 in prizes and awards to texas a&m students for best poster and research paper presentations along with a volunteered geographic information citizen scientist contest to collect data about the texas a&m campus abstracts for the paper and poster competitions are due by nov 8 attendees are encouraged to register for workshops events and competitions using the texas a&m gis day website all workshops are open to the public; registration is encouraged but not required geographic information science and technology affects nearly every aspect of our lives said dr daniel goldberg the chair of the gis day organizing committee and associate professor in the department of geography and the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m from how we shop to how we work to where we live to how we play mapping and gis approaches provide critical services many of which we do not even realize that allow us to make better decisions and improve our health and happiness workshops include: arcgis online and arccollector video game engines + visualization + gis fme basics and advanced techniques qgis geoai and geospatial data science frontiers and campus data initiatives & operations local governments run on gis brett blankner ‘95 will present the gis day keynote address zen and the art of gis tuesday nov 12 at 4:30 pm in msc 2300b as gis coordinator for the city of college stations enterprise maps & gis division blankner is driving innovation and the use of gis technology and data to advance intelligent decision-making by citizens elected officials and city staff tasked with providing many essential services to the local population this years keynote will highlight the importance of spatial data to running the local governments which impact the lives of nearly all americans said dr stacey lyle a gis day co-chair and geography assistant professor of the practice the city of college station is really leading the way when it comes to leveraging the power of gis to improve the operations of the city and the lives of its community members through bretts leadership college station has become a national success story of how the right ideas the right data and the right team can all come together to create and implement a vision where gis data and technology are a critical component for running cities of all sizes college station gis remains at the forefront of gis innovation through bretts efforts including the citys open data portal its hackathon program and its frequent and numerous research and service learning partnerships with university students faculty and staff gis skills are crucial to many fields the gis job market has been booming for over a decade and continues to this day with over 100 new job postings every day goldberg said even more importantly geospatial knowledge and techniques are becoming desired and even required skills in far reaching industries and job roles aggies from all majors and colleges who need to work with data about people places or things can up their job-getting prospects by knowing how to leverage the power of spatial data and tools to solve hard problems and make better decisions across many industries defense and intelligence energy logistics insurance real estate manufacturing jobs in all of these sectors and more are relying more and more on data and spatial data is the most powerful data gis day gives students from across campus an opportunity to learn geospatial skills for free in small consumable workshops designed to get people excited and ready to learn more texas a&m students in geography landscape architecture and urban planning computer science health science business ecosystem science engineering and many other disciplines are all learning valuable gis skills during tamu gis day and turning them into successful careers in the many research public and private sectors that utilize gis lyle said  gis day is a multidisciplinary campus-wide event hosted and supported by many texas a&m colleges departments and centers including: university libraries college of geosciences college of architecture department of geography department of landscape architecture & urban planning hazard reduction recovery center office of facilities coordination transportation services texas research data center the center for texas beaches and shores the institute of data science and the center for geospatial sciences applications and technology (geosat) the events website and app are developed and maintained by the texas a&m department of geographys geoinnovation service center external industry sponsors of gis day include: conocophillips esri tessellations safe software uav survey llc 40geo cimarex energy and tudor pickering holt & co by leslie lee 09 " " graduate student attended urbino summer school in paleoclimatologydanielle schimmenti traveled to italy for the 3-week intensive courseoct 30 2019danielle schimmenti at the bonarelli level a famous sedimentary sequence in furlo italy (photos courtesy of danielle schimmenti)the participants of the 16th urbino summer school in paleoclimatologydanielle schimmenti is a paleoclimatologist paleoceanographer and geochemist and a third-year doctoral student and research assistant in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics this summer she was awarded national science foundation (nsf) support to attend the 16th annual urbino summer school in paleoclimatology the school is a three-week intensive course for graduate students studying paleoclimate held each year in urbino italy this year's program ran from july 10-26 and focused on a wide range of paleoclimate topics from cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology to isotope and organic geochemistry as well as micro and nano-paleontology and paleoclimate modeling she said it was a fantastic experience attending this course schimmenti said it was intense but transformative i learned so much not only from the instructors and their lectures but also from my peers that were in attendance i have never felt more fulfilled and empowered by the science i do than i did during the program surrounded by others in my field she said that she highly recommends the school as a fantastic learning professional development and networking experience to all those studying paleoclimatology or paleoceanography schimmenti is advised by dr franco marcantonio geology and geophysics professor and jane and ken r williams 45 chair in ocean drilling science technology and education her doctoral research focuses on millennial scale variability in the ocean and atmosphere over the eastern equatorial pacific ocean for the past 100-300 kyr danielle will be presenting a poster titled assessing export production on millennial timescales in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean at the 2019 american geophysical union fall meeting in san francisco in december originally published by the climate science lab " danielle schimmenti at the bonarelli level a famous sedimentary sequence in furlo italy (photos courtesy of danielle schimmenti)the participants of the 16th urbino summer school in paleoclimatology "danielle schimmenti is a paleoclimatologist paleoceanographer and geochemist and a third-year doctoral student and research assistant in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics this summer she was awarded national science foundation (nsf) support to attend the 16th annual urbino summer school in paleoclimatology the school is a three-week intensive course for graduate students studying paleoclimate held each year in urbino italy this year's program ran from july 10-26 and focused on a wide range of paleoclimate topics from cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology to isotope and organic geochemistry as well as micro and nano-paleontology and paleoclimate modeling she said it was a fantastic experience attending this course schimmenti said it was intense but transformative i learned so much not only from the instructors and their lectures but also from my peers that were in attendance i have never felt more fulfilled and empowered by the science i do than i did during the program surrounded by others in my field she said that she highly recommends the school as a fantastic learning professional development and networking experience to all those studying paleoclimatology or paleoceanography schimmenti is advised by dr franco marcantonio geology and geophysics professor and jane and ken r williams 45 chair in ocean drilling science technology and education her doctoral research focuses on millennial scale variability in the ocean and atmosphere over the eastern equatorial pacific ocean for the past 100-300 kyr danielle will be presenting a poster titled assessing export production on millennial timescales in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean at the 2019 american geophysical union fall meeting in san francisco in december originally published by the climate science lab" " new honors and new heroes: distinguished geoscientists inspire students at annual awardsfour remarkable geoscientists were recognized oct 11 at the college of geosciences annual awards galaoct 29 2019the toasts had been made the tables cleared the hugs and farewells given but at the front table of the ballroom a half-ring of students still stood listening eagerly around a new-found hero sitting in the middle of these young aggies was dr inda immega a trailblazing geoscientist who graduated from texas a&m in 1971 as the very first woman to ever earn a geology degree from texas a&m at the 2019 texas a&m college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards ceremony and gala oct 11 immega was honored as the recipient of the 2019 michel t halbouty geosciences medal and after an evening of honors memories and comradery she generously stayed into the night to share wisdom stories and encouragement with geosciences studentsthe 2019 geosciences distinguished acheivement awards at the george ballroom (photo by daniela weaver photography)current geosciences students listen to award recipient dr inda immega following the event (photo by fred chester)each of the four recipients imparted their advice and invaluable experience to current students during the gala and during their remarks providing aggies with a unique chance to hear from heroes in their fields every year this event brings together former students honored guests current students faculty staff and friends of the college to honor learn reminisce and look forward  this year the college honored four outstanding geoscientists for their excellence leadership innovation remarkable achievements and significant contributions to both the scientific community and the public good the individuals we honor tonight are the very essence and fulfillment of our mission and our purpose said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas at the gala we honor excellence and we honor the many forms and paths excellence can take what this college has instilled in me is excellence in the forms of discipline passion and courage said rene castillo 20 environmental geosciences senior who delivered an inspiring speech to conclude the evening all of these qualities and lessons can be seen in the character of the recipients of tonights awards their work and their stories thank you for paving the way for those coming up behind you the legacy of excellence you have built is an investment in the future""dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas addressing the event (all photos by daniela weaver photography)marissa rene castillo '20 giving her remarks at the galadr inda immega 71  dr inda immega 71 the first woman to graduate from texas a&m with an undergraduate geology degree was honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after graduating from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geology in 1971 immega earned her masters in 1973 and phd in 1977 both from indiana university   she was then hired by shell and served the energy industry for 25 years prior to retiring from shell e&p international ventures in 1999 by all accounts dr immega was a trailblazer through her educational and professional path and these efforts alone merit the exceptional honor of the halbouty medal said award presenter dr julie newman head of the department of geology and geophysics one of her nominators praised her substantial advancement of the techniques for applying geoscientific knowledge to technological economic and social problems and farsighted and dynamic direction of resource development efforts but immega did not stop there after retiring from shell she began donating countless hours volunteering for the houston geological society and as a docent for the houston museum of natural science leading tours and sharing her passion for geology with thousands of visitors over the years from kindergarteners to heads of state  dr immegas impact on the perpetuation of curiosity academic pursuits and appreciation for the geological sciences makes her one of the most influential recruiters for the geologic professions said one of her nominators through her work as a volunteer and teacher she has ignited the passions for so many future geologists that our schools and universities are full of the very students she influenced she is a self-proclaimed ambassador for the profession and serves society brilliantly in this capacity newman said dr dawn wright 86 (ms) dr dawn wright chief scientist of esri was awarded the geosciences innovator award at esri wright works to strengthen the scientific foundation for esri software and services while also representing the company to the scientific community  nicknamed deepsea dawn wright is an ocean scientist a geographer and a gis thought leader a specialist in marine geology she has authored and contributed to some of the most definitive literature on marine gis she joined esri in 2011 to help formulate and advance the intellectual agenda for the environmental conservation climate and ocean sciences aspect of esris work as a scientist wright brings a background of rigor that will strengthen our alignment with the requirements of the scientific community said esris founder and president jack dangermond  she also maintains an affiliated faculty appointment as a professor in the college of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at oregon state university she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science the geological society of america and stanford universitys leopold leadership program and she holds lifetime achievement awards from the american association of geographers and the geological society of america  wright has traversed numerous expeditions across oceans and she worked as a seagoing marine technician for the international ocean discovery program which is operated and managed by texas a&m geosciences she served on numerous iodp legs aboard the joides resolution from 1986 to 1989: legs 109 113 0115 117 119 121 123 124 126 and 128 wright holds an individual interdisciplinary phd in physical geography and marine geology from uc-santa barbara an ms in oceanography from texas a&m and a bs cum laude in geology from wheaton college  wright was not able to attend the event and pamela kersh esri solution engineer accepted the award on her behalfdr inda immega 71 was honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal; pictured with her husband dr neal immega (left) and dr debbie thomas dr dawn wright was awarded the geosciences innovator award pam kersh (left) accepted on her behalf with dr debbie thomas and guest colonel david e bacot '90 received the geosciences distinguished alumni award; pictured with his wife (left) and dr debbie thomas dr elizabeth satterfield received the 2019 geosciences young alumni award; pictured with dr jerry north and dr debbie thomascolonel david e bacot 90 colonel david e bacot '90 commander of the air force reserve officer training corp detachment 330 at the university of maryland was awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award col bacots career path and the corpus of his accomplishments culminating in his most recent assignment to ready the next generation of air force officers at the university of maryland air force rotc are an inspiration said award presenter dr don conlee instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m he remains a model of what the world knows of those from texas a&m – a noble gentleman and leader for the state and the nation col bacot enlisted in the air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 in kuwait in the early 1990s david supported reconnaissance and fighter aircraft operations delivering highly accurate timely and relevant weather support often in austere environments with limited data and communications capabilities he developed technology that evolved and optimized the calculation of weather impacts in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology today col bacot chairs the department of aerospace studies and directs and administers an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he has sought to ensure that every young person walking through the doors of the armory has an opportunity to become the leader of character that the air force and our nation need wrote one of col bacots nominators he is a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operations dr elizabeth satterfield 10 (phd) dr elizabeth satterfield a meteorologist at the us naval research laboratory (nrl) in monterey california received the 2019 geosciences young alumni award i am so proud to honor someone that is held in such high regard and so early in her career said award presenter dr jerry north atmospheric sciences research professor and university distinguished professor emeritus  satterfield earned her phd in atmospheric sciences from texas a&m in 2010 and then joined the nrl marine meteorology division in july 2010 as a postdoctoral national research council research associate she became a meteorologist at nrl in october 2012 satterfield actively contributes to the us and international meteorology and atmospheric sciences communities through ams editorships ams committees and organizing conferences and symposiums she served as the co-chair of 25th conference on probability and statistics for the 98th ams annual meeting in 2019 and she is now the lead organizer for the 26th conference on probability & statistics to be held at the 2020 ams annual meeting in boston  for the past 18 months dr satterfield has been one of the key scientists to advocate to office of naval research and nrl leadership for a nrl directorate-wide data assimilation initiative  dr satterfields tireless support optimism and thoughtful insight helped bring this effort to an officially supported initiative wrote one of her award nominators elizabeth left a lasting legacy in the department of atmospheric sciences by starting the departmental graduate seminar series north said and she is now in a position to make an impact that will catapult the next generations of atmospheric scientists to the forefront of thought leadership innovation and insight the geosciences awards program began in 1978 with the creation of the michel t halbouty medal the awards program was expanded in 2017 to celebrate the outstanding alumni and friends of texas a&m and the college of geosciences by awarding the michel t halbouty medal the distinguished alumni award the young alumni award and the innovator award for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions  view and download photos from the awards gala: txag/geosawards2019 by leslie lee 09 " "the toasts had been made the tables cleared the hugs and farewells given but at the front table of the ballroom a half-ring of students still stood listening eagerly around a new-found hero sitting in the middle of these young aggies was dr inda immega a trailblazing geoscientist who graduated from texas a&m in 1971 as the very first woman to ever earn a geology degree from texas a&m at the 2019 texas a&m college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards ceremony and gala oct 11 immega was honored as the recipient of the 2019 michel t halbouty geosciences medal and after an evening of honors memories and comradery she generously stayed into the night to share wisdom stories and encouragement with geosciences students" the 2019 geosciences distinguished acheivement awards at the george ballroom (photo by daniela weaver photography)current geosciences students listen to award recipient dr inda immega following the event (photo by fred chester) "each of the four recipients imparted their advice and invaluable experience to current students during the gala and during their remarks providing aggies with a unique chance to hear from heroes in their fields every year this event brings together former students honored guests current students faculty staff and friends of the college to honor learn reminisce and look forward  this year the college honored four outstanding geoscientists for their excellence leadership innovation remarkable achievements and significant contributions to both the scientific community and the public good the individuals we honor tonight are the very essence and fulfillment of our mission and our purpose said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas at the gala we honor excellence and we honor the many forms and paths excellence can take what this college has instilled in me is excellence in the forms of discipline passion and courage said rene castillo 20 environmental geosciences senior who delivered an inspiring speech to conclude the evening all of these qualities and lessons can be seen in the character of the recipients of tonights awards their work and their stories thank you for paving the way for those coming up behind you the legacy of excellence you have built is an investment in the future""" dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas addressing the event (all photos by daniela weaver photography)marissa rene castillo '20 giving her remarks at the gala "dr inda immega 71  dr inda immega 71 the first woman to graduate from texas a&m with an undergraduate geology degree was honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after graduating from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geology in 1971 immega earned her masters in 1973 and phd in 1977 both from indiana university   she was then hired by shell and served the energy industry for 25 years prior to retiring from shell e&p international ventures in 1999 by all accounts dr immega was a trailblazer through her educational and professional path and these efforts alone merit the exceptional honor of the halbouty medal said award presenter dr julie newman head of the department of geology and geophysics one of her nominators praised her substantial advancement of the techniques for applying geoscientific knowledge to technological economic and social problems and farsighted and dynamic direction of resource development efforts but immega did not stop there after retiring from shell she began donating countless hours volunteering for the houston geological society and as a docent for the houston museum of natural science leading tours and sharing her passion for geology with thousands of visitors over the years from kindergarteners to heads of state  dr immegas impact on the perpetuation of curiosity academic pursuits and appreciation for the geological sciences makes her one of the most influential recruiters for the geologic professions said one of her nominators through her work as a volunteer and teacher she has ignited the passions for so many future geologists that our schools and universities are full of the very students she influenced she is a self-proclaimed ambassador for the profession and serves society brilliantly in this capacity newman said dr dawn wright 86 (ms) dr dawn wright chief scientist of esri was awarded the geosciences innovator award at esri wright works to strengthen the scientific foundation for esri software and services while also representing the company to the scientific community  nicknamed deepsea dawn wright is an ocean scientist a geographer and a gis thought leader a specialist in marine geology she has authored and contributed to some of the most definitive literature on marine gis she joined esri in 2011 to help formulate and advance the intellectual agenda for the environmental conservation climate and ocean sciences aspect of esris work as a scientist wright brings a background of rigor that will strengthen our alignment with the requirements of the scientific community said esris founder and president jack dangermond  she also maintains an affiliated faculty appointment as a professor in the college of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at oregon state university she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science the geological society of america and stanford universitys leopold leadership program and she holds lifetime achievement awards from the american association of geographers and the geological society of america  wright has traversed numerous expeditions across oceans and she worked as a seagoing marine technician for the international ocean discovery program which is operated and managed by texas a&m geosciences she served on numerous iodp legs aboard the joides resolution from 1986 to 1989: legs 109 113 0115 117 119 121 123 124 126 and 128 wright holds an individual interdisciplinary phd in physical geography and marine geology from uc-santa barbara an ms in oceanography from texas a&m and a bs cum laude in geology from wheaton college  wright was not able to attend the event and pamela kersh esri solution engineer accepted the award on her behalf" "dr inda immega 71 was honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal; pictured with her husband dr neal immega (left) and dr debbie thomas dr dawn wright was awarded the geosciences innovator award pam kersh (left) accepted on her behalf with dr debbie thomas and guest " " colonel david e bacot '90 received the geosciences distinguished alumni award; pictured with his wife (left) and dr debbie thomas dr elizabeth satterfield received the 2019 geosciences young alumni award; pictured with dr jerry north and dr debbie thomas" "colonel david e bacot 90 colonel david e bacot '90 commander of the air force reserve officer training corp detachment 330 at the university of maryland was awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award col bacots career path and the corpus of his accomplishments culminating in his most recent assignment to ready the next generation of air force officers at the university of maryland air force rotc are an inspiration said award presenter dr don conlee instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m he remains a model of what the world knows of those from texas a&m – a noble gentleman and leader for the state and the nation col bacot enlisted in the air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 in kuwait in the early 1990s david supported reconnaissance and fighter aircraft operations delivering highly accurate timely and relevant weather support often in austere environments with limited data and communications capabilities he developed technology that evolved and optimized the calculation of weather impacts in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology today col bacot chairs the department of aerospace studies and directs and administers an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he has sought to ensure that every young person walking through the doors of the armory has an opportunity to become the leader of character that the air force and our nation need wrote one of col bacots nominators he is a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operations dr elizabeth satterfield 10 (phd) dr elizabeth satterfield a meteorologist at the us naval research laboratory (nrl) in monterey california received the 2019 geosciences young alumni award i am so proud to honor someone that is held in such high regard and so early in her career said award presenter dr jerry north atmospheric sciences research professor and university distinguished professor emeritus  satterfield earned her phd in atmospheric sciences from texas a&m in 2010 and then joined the nrl marine meteorology division in july 2010 as a postdoctoral national research council research associate she became a meteorologist at nrl in october 2012 satterfield actively contributes to the us and international meteorology and atmospheric sciences communities through ams editorships ams committees and organizing conferences and symposiums she served as the co-chair of 25th conference on probability and statistics for the 98th ams annual meeting in 2019 and she is now the lead organizer for the 26th conference on probability & statistics to be held at the 2020 ams annual meeting in boston  for the past 18 months dr satterfield has been one of the key scientists to advocate to office of naval research and nrl leadership for a nrl directorate-wide data assimilation initiative  dr satterfields tireless support optimism and thoughtful insight helped bring this effort to an officially supported initiative wrote one of her award nominators elizabeth left a lasting legacy in the department of atmospheric sciences by starting the departmental graduate seminar series north said and she is now in a position to make an impact that will catapult the next generations of atmospheric scientists to the forefront of thought leadership innovation and insight the geosciences awards program began in 1978 with the creation of the michel t halbouty medal the awards program was expanded in 2017 to celebrate the outstanding alumni and friends of texas a&m and the college of geosciences by awarding the michel t halbouty medal the distinguished alumni award the young alumni award and the innovator award for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions  view and download photos from the awards gala: txag/geosawards2019 by leslie lee 09" " summer field camps continue providing valuable experiential learning experiencesthis summer the department of geology and geophysics travel and stationary field camp courses provided impactful real-world experiences for undergraduates oct 29 2019students overlooking montana field area photo by dr brent millerevery summer the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics faculty and graduate student teaching assistants (tas) guide undergraduate students through a multi-week field experience  the department has both stationary and traveling field courses each led by different faculty members the following are faculty accounts of this summers unique field camp experiences  video of texas a&m summer 2019 field campstationary field camp  the 2019 stationary summer field geology course met for three weeks of mapping in the northern rocky mountains of southwestern montana based out of dillon montana the group of 30 students four tas and one instructor examined rocks ranging in lithology from basalt flows to shale-sandstone-carbonate sequences to plutons and gneisses and ranging in age from eocene to archean  projects included individual mapping exercises of outstanding examples of structures and stratigraphy a group mapping exercise in igneous and metamorphic rocks that are among the oldest known in the world and a six-day mapping project of the renowned sandy hollow fold-thrust system the course was a lot of hard work sometimes in adverse weather conditions including snow on two occasions but always in the beautiful outdoor geology laboratory of big sky countrystudents getting the lay of the land photo by michelle cherpastudents compiling field data in the classroom overseen by ta ryan elmore and dr brent miller photo by michelle cherpabreaking up the work were two days off that gave students a chance to rest and recuperate or to pick from an abundance of outdoor activities adventures on days off included touring yellowstone national park fishing world-famous trout streams like the big hole river visiting excellent geology museums in butte and bozeman and enjoying nearby hiking journeys in the end students came away from summer field camp with a clear picture of the character and complexities of real rocks in the natural environment and with an appreciation for the scale and scope of geology that cannot be replicated in paper exercises or with rocks in a box we hope that every student also came away with many fond memories a sense of deserved earned achievement and even a few new friends by dr brent millerarches map area looking across a salt collapse structure the green morrison formation with plentiful dinosaur bones is visible and if you look closely you can see delicate arch in the distance photo by matt dorseytraveling field camp it was a cold blustery field camp this year and the traveling camp endured the early summer conditions camping in tents in wind rain and sleet from south central utah to southwestern montana photo of traveling field camp group in front of delicate arch in arches national park utah photo by matt dorseya spectacular example of a drag fold with the beds on the left (footwall) being deflected downward into a normal fault at arches map area photo by matt dorseythe students improved their field skills and constructed excellent maps stratigraphic columns cross sections and stereographic projections of field projects that included complex geology overlying salt tectonics east of arches national park igneous intrusions of the henry mountains heavily folded terranes of the laramide and ancient metamorphic terranes of early collisional tectonics  as during every year students found new localities of dinosaur bones in the morrison and recovered the annual ""first dinosaur bone"" prize by dr andreas kronenbergtilted bedding and the principle of horizontality photo by dr andreas kronenbergnewspaper rock in canyonlands national park utah photo by dr andreas kronenbergby ali snell " "every summer the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics faculty and graduate student teaching assistants (tas) guide undergraduate students through a multi-week field experience  the department has both stationary and traveling field courses each led by different faculty members the following are faculty accounts of this summers unique field camp experiences " "stationary field camp  the 2019 stationary summer field geology course met for three weeks of mapping in the northern rocky mountains of southwestern montana based out of dillon montana the group of 30 students four tas and one instructor examined rocks ranging in lithology from basalt flows to shale-sandstone-carbonate sequences to plutons and gneisses and ranging in age from eocene to archean  projects included individual mapping exercises of outstanding examples of structures and stratigraphy a group mapping exercise in igneous and metamorphic rocks that are among the oldest known in the world and a six-day mapping project of the renowned sandy hollow fold-thrust system the course was a lot of hard work sometimes in adverse weather conditions including snow on two occasions but always in the beautiful outdoor geology laboratory of big sky country" students getting the lay of the land photo by michelle cherpastudents compiling field data in the classroom overseen by ta ryan elmore and dr brent miller photo by michelle cherpa "breaking up the work were two days off that gave students a chance to rest and recuperate or to pick from an abundance of outdoor activities adventures on days off included touring yellowstone national park fishing world-famous trout streams like the big hole river visiting excellent geology museums in butte and bozeman and enjoying nearby hiking journeys in the end students came away from summer field camp with a clear picture of the character and complexities of real rocks in the natural environment and with an appreciation for the scale and scope of geology that cannot be replicated in paper exercises or with rocks in a box we hope that every student also came away with many fond memories a sense of deserved earned achievement and even a few new friends by dr brent miller" arches map area looking across a salt collapse structure the green morrison formation with plentiful dinosaur bones is visible and if you look closely you can see delicate arch in the distance photo by matt dorsey "traveling field camp it was a cold blustery field camp this year and the traveling camp endured the early summer conditions camping in tents in wind rain and sleet from south central utah to southwestern montana " photo of traveling field camp group in front of delicate arch in arches national park utah photo by matt dorseya spectacular example of a drag fold with the beds on the left (footwall) being deflected downward into a normal fault at arches map area photo by matt dorsey "the students improved their field skills and constructed excellent maps stratigraphic columns cross sections and stereographic projections of field projects that included complex geology overlying salt tectonics east of arches national park igneous intrusions of the henry mountains heavily folded terranes of the laramide and ancient metamorphic terranes of early collisional tectonics  as during every year students found new localities of dinosaur bones in the morrison and recovered the annual ""first dinosaur bone"" prize by dr andreas kronenberg" tilted bedding and the principle of horizontality photo by dr andreas kronenbergnewspaper rock in canyonlands national park utah photo by dr andreas kronenberg " texas a&m professor collected unique data with mobile lidar during storm chasetim logan sought out aerosol interactions with convective thunderstorms using cace lidaroct 28 2019tim logan with the cace lidar on top of the eller o&m building (photo by chris mouchyn)one of the tornadoes produced by the supercell near mccook nebraska (photo by tim logan)dr tim logan assistant professor of atmospheric sciences and director of the houston lightning mapping array network had the opportunity to take aerosol measurements during a storm chasing trip in the southern great plains over the summer logan used a state-of-the-art micro-pulse lidar which stands for light detection and ranging to take these measurements the lidar instrument is part of the texas a&m center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) an interdisciplinary research center that carries out research for environmental sustainability and air quality the storm chase began in oklahoma shortly after the end of the spring semester in may an ideal time for storm chasing because the transition between spring and summer is the climatologically most active time for severe thunderstorms in the united states with preparation good route planning and a favorable environment seeing supercell development would be likely logan said that this presented a good opportunity to have multiple vantage points to transect a developing supercellthe lidar has mobile capability which allows for the observation of thunderstorms from a variety of vantage points since july 2018 the lidar has been running on the rooftop of the eller o&m building and has been gathering a variety of data but opportunities for transecting passing thunderstorms are limited there have been a couple of times where thunderstorms have passed directly over the o&m building with the lidar running logan said and you can get certain vantages of the anvil stratiform rain and convective core regions but you have to be lucky enough that the storm will pass directly overhead logan believes that while the national weather service and other organizations were also out with monitoring equipment to take observations that day in may he was the only one with a lidar dows or doppler on wheels are mobile radar units that are often taken to observe supercells in developing environments but lidars are not frequently used for this kind of field observation so logans data is unique lidar operate on the same physical principles as radar but can take different sets of observations and so having a lidar present allows for a fuller suite of observational dataand that afternoon logan was able to collect some fascinating datawe intercepted a tvs (tornadic vortex signature) the tvs passed right over the beam logan said we were able to successfully intercept a tornadic supercell: the wall cloud the tvs anvil region stratiform rain region everything im pretty sure what was i was looking at went on to make the mccook tornado in nebraska so we were right there when it was just forming that supercell would go on to produce 2-3 inch diameter hail and four tornadoes including one that was rated as an ef-2 with wind speeds of 120 mph for now the lidar is back on the roof of the o&m building taking steady measurements of the atmospheric column as various particulates flow overhead from aerosols to saharan dust and more since beginning operation in 2018 it has been continually delivering interesting data and since it survived a passing tornadic thunderstorm will continue to do soby david coates " tim logan with the cace lidar on top of the eller o&m building (photo by chris mouchyn)one of the tornadoes produced by the supercell near mccook nebraska (photo by tim logan) dr tim logan assistant professor of atmospheric sciences and director of the houston lightning mapping array network had the opportunity to take aerosol measurements during a storm chasing trip in the southern great plains over the summer logan used a state-of-the-art micro-pulse lidar which stands for light detection and ranging to take these measurements the lidar instrument is part of the texas a&m center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) an interdisciplinary research center that carries out research for environmental sustainability and air quality the storm chase began in oklahoma shortly after the end of the spring semester in may an ideal time for storm chasing because the transition between spring and summer is the climatologically most active time for severe thunderstorms in the united states with preparation good route planning and a favorable environment seeing supercell development would be likely logan said that this presented a good opportunity to have multiple vantage points to transect a developing supercellthe lidar has mobile capability which allows for the observation of thunderstorms from a variety of vantage points since july 2018 the lidar has been running on the rooftop of the eller o&m building and has been gathering a variety of data but opportunities for transecting passing thunderstorms are limited there have been a couple of times where thunderstorms have passed directly over the o&m building with the lidar running logan said and you can get certain vantages of the anvil stratiform rain and convective core regions but you have to be lucky enough that the storm will pass directly overhead logan believes that while the national weather service and other organizations were also out with monitoring equipment to take observations that day in may he was the only one with a lidar dows or doppler on wheels are mobile radar units that are often taken to observe supercells in developing environments but lidars are not frequently used for this kind of field observation so logans data is unique lidar operate on the same physical principles as radar but can take different sets of observations and so having a lidar present allows for a fuller suite of observational dataand that afternoon logan was able to collect some fascinating datawe intercepted a tvs (tornadic vortex signature) the tvs passed right over the beam logan said we were able to successfully intercept a tornadic supercell: the wall cloud the tvs anvil region stratiform rain region everything im pretty sure what was i was looking at went on to make the mccook tornado in nebraska so we were right there when it was just forming that supercell would go on to produce 2-3 inch diameter hail and four tornadoes including one that was rated as an ef-2 with wind speeds of 120 mph for now the lidar is back on the roof of the o&m building taking steady measurements of the atmospheric column as various particulates flow overhead from aerosols to saharan dust and more since beginning operation in 2018 it has been continually delivering interesting data and since it survived a passing tornadic thunderstorm will continue to do soby david coates " new tornado casualty analysis will improve future predictionstexas a&m geographys tyler fricker recently published research providing insights into where tornado casualty rates are highest and how to improve casualty prediction modelsoct 28 2019why are tornado casualty rates higher in some regions than others dr tyler fricker visiting assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently published research in the annals of the association of american geographers that gives insights into tornado casualty rates across the united states and casualty prediction models my interest was in trying to better understand tornado casualty events across the country fricker said we have a pretty good understanding of some broad-scale factors that influence tornado casualties but what we dont have is a great understanding of the community-level or placed-based factors that might influence those casualties the goal of frickers research was to define and identify particularly devastating tornadoes and the communities that were most impacted by those tornados with an analytical model he previously developed fricker combined data from individual tornados with additional socioeconomic demographic and physical variables from the areas surrounding where each individual tornado occurred with this information inputted into the model the model outputs the number of causalities (injuries and fatalities) that would be expected from the tornado the casualty estimate is then compared to the actual number of casualties that occurred during the tornado the comparison provides important information about which areas are more or less vulnerable to tornados than experts expect through these comparisons you can start to understand which tornados cause many more casualties than we expect which tornados cause roughly the same number of causalities we would expect and which tornados did not have as many causalities as we would expect he said those are all different questions frickers research primarily focused on the instances of higher than expected casualty ratesdamage from a tornado in albany ga on january 22 2017 (photo by tyler fricker)dr tyler fricker (photo by chris mouchyn college of geosciences)a nationwide tornado casualty analysis the study was purposefully done at a nationwide scale to discern the regional similarities and differences across the country that might not be evident without a evaluating the entire country you dont want to shut different areas of the country off he said they are each going to have unique variabilities and we are going to need to understand all of them if we are actually going to reduce the number of tornado casualties the results of frickers study suggest that there is a lot more to be learned from the variability in tornado casualty numbers for example regions of the country that are already known to be susceptible to high casualty events (eg southeast) had even higher casualty rates than expected when compared to model predictions since the model already accounts for the factors that tornado casualties are most commonly attributed to such as mobile home ownership and low income it suggests that there are other variables that are not being taken in to account these numbers are unusual even when accounting for how many mobile homes were in the tornados path he said the question becomes: is there something going on there besides the mobile homes and the income level that are driving these high casualty rates fricker hopes to continue his research by expanding the project to include an interview-based approach to find out what factors in the community may be influencing the high rates of tornado vulnerability across the nation dr frickers article was co-authored with dr james elsner from florida state university by rhett douris " "why are tornado casualty rates higher in some regions than others dr tyler fricker visiting assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently published research in the annals of the association of american geographers that gives insights into tornado casualty rates across the united states and casualty prediction models my interest was in trying to better understand tornado casualty events across the country fricker said we have a pretty good understanding of some broad-scale factors that influence tornado casualties but what we dont have is a great understanding of the community-level or placed-based factors that might influence those casualties the goal of frickers research was to define and identify particularly devastating tornadoes and the communities that were most impacted by those tornados with an analytical model he previously developed fricker combined data from individual tornados with additional socioeconomic demographic and physical variables from the areas surrounding where each individual tornado occurred with this information inputted into the model the model outputs the number of causalities (injuries and fatalities) that would be expected from the tornado the casualty estimate is then compared to the actual number of casualties that occurred during the tornado the comparison provides important information about which areas are more or less vulnerable to tornados than experts expect through these comparisons you can start to understand which tornados cause many more casualties than we expect which tornados cause roughly the same number of causalities we would expect and which tornados did not have as many causalities as we would expect he said those are all different questions frickers research primarily focused on the instances of higher than expected casualty rates" damage from a tornado in albany ga on january 22 2017 (photo by tyler fricker)dr tyler fricker (photo by chris mouchyn college of geosciences) "a nationwide tornado casualty analysis the study was purposefully done at a nationwide scale to discern the regional similarities and differences across the country that might not be evident without a evaluating the entire country you dont want to shut different areas of the country off he said they are each going to have unique variabilities and we are going to need to understand all of them if we are actually going to reduce the number of tornado casualties the results of frickers study suggest that there is a lot more to be learned from the variability in tornado casualty numbers for example regions of the country that are already known to be susceptible to high casualty events (eg southeast) had even higher casualty rates than expected when compared to model predictions since the model already accounts for the factors that tornado casualties are most commonly attributed to such as mobile home ownership and low income it suggests that there are other variables that are not being taken in to account these numbers are unusual even when accounting for how many mobile homes were in the tornados path he said the question becomes: is there something going on there besides the mobile homes and the income level that are driving these high casualty rates fricker hopes to continue his research by expanding the project to include an interview-based approach to find out what factors in the community may be influencing the high rates of tornado vulnerability across the nation dr frickers article was co-authored with dr james elsner from florida state university by rhett douris" " texas just experienced its warmest september everjohn nielsen-gammon texas a&m regents professor and texas state climatologist discusses the record-breaking texas temperatures of september 2019oct 25 2019of the 254 texas counties 102 had their warmest september on record in 2019 (getty images photo)new figures from the office of the texas state climatologist at texas a&m university show that the lone star state just concluded its warmest end-of-summer on record according to data from the national centers for environmental information september was the warmest ever on record based on 125 years of data the average temperature in texas was 815 degrees 08 degrees warmer than the previous record set in 1911 of texas 254 counties 102 had their warmest september on record said dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences texas state climatologist and director of the texas center for climate studies three counties in the panhandle (hemphill lipscomb and moore) exceeded the 20th-century average september temperature by 76 degrees this comes on the heels of the second-warmest august on record surpassed only by august 2011 nielsen-gammon said in fact september was warmer than more than one-third of all prior augusts not surprisingly he added august-september combined was the warmest on record and july-september was second warmest the first decent cold front of the season was also late in arriving he said if we call the first day of fall weather the first day after aug 1 in which the minimum temperature is at least as cool as an average september day most of the state had its first fall day later than in any previous year of record-keeping nielsen-gammon added that in lubbock san antonio dallas college station houston brownsville and mcallen fall arrived more than a week later than in any previously recorded year in these locations and many others the first fall day wasnt until the second week of october while temperatures were high everywhere rainfall was unusually erratic even for texas nielsen-gammon said for example in the fort worth area four counties (tarrant hood parker and johnson) received an average of less than one-tenth of rain in september making it their driest september on record meanwhile tropical storm imelda helped jefferson liberty chambers and hardin counties in southeast texas to their wettest september on record each averaging more than 11 inches for the month the combination of hot weather everywhere and dry weather in much of the state led to a substantial worsening of short-term drought conditions he said at the end of july only about 4 percent of the state was in moderate drought conditions now almost half of the state is experiencing at least moderate drought and for almost 9 percent of the state the drought is extreme now that cold fronts have started arriving evaporative losses will decrease and there will be more opportunities for widespread rainfall he said with little sign of el niño developing in the tropical pacific ocean theres not much reason to expect unusual rainfall patterns this winter so drought conditions should improve in most areas nielsen-gammon added at this point texas temperatures have been running about 15 degrees to 2 degrees warmer than their 20th-century average he noted while this doesnt account for most of the unusual heat this past september it was enough to help it break the record by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " of the 254 texas counties 102 had their warmest september on record in 2019 (getty images photo) "new figures from the office of the texas state climatologist at texas a&m university show that the lone star state just concluded its warmest end-of-summer on record according to data from the national centers for environmental information september was the warmest ever on record based on 125 years of data the average temperature in texas was 815 degrees 08 degrees warmer than the previous record set in 1911 of texas 254 counties 102 had their warmest september on record said dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences texas state climatologist and director of the texas center for climate studies three counties in the panhandle (hemphill lipscomb and moore) exceeded the 20th-century average september temperature by 76 degrees this comes on the heels of the second-warmest august on record surpassed only by august 2011 nielsen-gammon said in fact september was warmer than more than one-third of all prior augusts not surprisingly he added august-september combined was the warmest on record and july-september was second warmest the first decent cold front of the season was also late in arriving he said if we call the first day of fall weather the first day after aug 1 in which the minimum temperature is at least as cool as an average september day most of the state had its first fall day later than in any previous year of record-keeping nielsen-gammon added that in lubbock san antonio dallas college station houston brownsville and mcallen fall arrived more than a week later than in any previously recorded year in these locations and many others the first fall day wasnt until the second week of october while temperatures were high everywhere rainfall was unusually erratic even for texas nielsen-gammon said for example in the fort worth area four counties (tarrant hood parker and johnson) received an average of less than one-tenth of rain in september making it their driest september on record meanwhile tropical storm imelda helped jefferson liberty chambers and hardin counties in southeast texas to their wettest september on record each averaging more than 11 inches for the month the combination of hot weather everywhere and dry weather in much of the state led to a substantial worsening of short-term drought conditions he said at the end of july only about 4 percent of the state was in moderate drought conditions now almost half of the state is experiencing at least moderate drought and for almost 9 percent of the state the drought is extreme now that cold fronts have started arriving evaporative losses will decrease and there will be more opportunities for widespread rainfall he said with little sign of el niño developing in the tropical pacific ocean theres not much reason to expect unusual rainfall patterns this winter so drought conditions should improve in most areas nielsen-gammon added at this point texas temperatures have been running about 15 degrees to 2 degrees warmer than their 20th-century average he noted while this doesnt account for most of the unusual heat this past september it was enough to help it break the record by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " learning environmental policy first-hand: aggie grad interned at epameteorology graduate lucero marquez 19 spent the summer working for the us environmental protection agencyoct 23 2019marquez with the epa administrator andrew wheeler (photo courtesy of lucero marquez) after lucero marquez ‘19 graduated from the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university in may of 2019 she headed to washington dc and spent the summer interning with the office of water in the us environmental protection agency (epa) marquez obtained her internship through the texas a&m public policy internship program (ppip) which connects students to domestic and abroad policy-related internships the program allows for students to integrate classroom knowledge with practical application within a professional setting while working at the epa marquez participated in a range of projects for the first project she used the hydrological and water quality system model (hawqs) in an effort to simulate climate changes the second project focused on communication allowing workers within the office to ask questions about science or legislation or allowing them to provide insight for future interns finally she worked with the national water program resiliency work group creating news letters and participating in work group meetings to discuss how to increase water resiliency in the united states while attending texas a&m marquez took a class that focused on the politics of environmental science discussing past and current epa projects and legislative impactmarquez (third student from right) and other interns meeting with epa administrator andrew wheeler (photo courtesy of lucero marquez)marquez in front of the epa headquarters (photo courtesy of lucero marquez) reflecting on her internship experience she advises undergraduates to learn in the classroom and then to also do their best to apply that gained knowledge in the real world  when she began at texas a&m as a meteorology major marquezs goal was  to study weather and improve forecasting but her coursework soon helped her decide on studying climate change and environmental policy  it is a big field that needs people to step up needs people to be on the front line because it is a problem she said things need to be done and im just trying to see now where i can go to help in that cause  currently marquez resides in austin and works as a modeling assessment specialist in the air permitting division of the texas commission on environmental quality  by amanda hoth ‘21 " marquez with the epa administrator andrew wheeler (photo courtesy of lucero marquez) "after lucero marquez ‘19 graduated from the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university in may of 2019 she headed to washington dc and spent the summer interning with the office of water in the us environmental protection agency (epa) marquez obtained her internship through the texas a&m public policy internship program (ppip) which connects students to domestic and abroad policy-related internships the program allows for students to integrate classroom knowledge with practical application within a professional setting while working at the epa marquez participated in a range of projects for the first project she used the hydrological and water quality system model (hawqs) in an effort to simulate climate changes the second project focused on communication allowing workers within the office to ask questions about science or legislation or allowing them to provide insight for future interns finally she worked with the national water program resiliency work group creating news letters and participating in work group meetings to discuss how to increase water resiliency in the united states while attending texas a&m marquez took a class that focused on the politics of environmental science discussing past and current epa projects and legislative impact" marquez (third student from right) and other interns meeting with epa administrator andrew wheeler (photo courtesy of lucero marquez)marquez in front of the epa headquarters (photo courtesy of lucero marquez) "reflecting on her internship experience she advises undergraduates to learn in the classroom and then to also do their best to apply that gained knowledge in the real world  when she began at texas a&m as a meteorology major marquezs goal was  to study weather and improve forecasting but her coursework soon helped her decide on studying climate change and environmental policy  it is a big field that needs people to step up needs people to be on the front line because it is a problem she said things need to be done and im just trying to see now where i can go to help in that cause  currently marquez resides in austin and works as a modeling assessment specialist in the air permitting division of the texas commission on environmental quality  by amanda hoth ‘21" " restaurants partner with texas sea grant texas state aquarium audubon aquarium to promote sustainable seafoodthis new partnership helps promote local and sustainable seafoodoct 22 2019where does that seafood on your plate come from thats the question the texas state aquarium the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university and audubon aquariums gulf united for lasting fisheries (gulf) want consumers to start asking seafood suppliers and restaurants and so today in commemoration of national seafood month these organizations announced a partnership between themselves and several restaurants in texas aimed at raising awareness on why the origin of your next fish or shellfish meal is so important to kick off the texas chapter of the gulf restaurant partnership program three founding restaurants will be recognized for their early and ongoing commitment to supplying sustainable seafood the texas state aquarium pepsi shoreline grill corpus christi yacht club in corpus christi and glow in rockport will be recognized as the first partners of the texas state aquarium audubon aquarium and sea grant on their restaurants messaging signaling to their patrons that they are dining on food that has been responsibly sourced to ensure the long-term health of the oceans fish populations since 2014 gulf has worked with chefs and restaurants in louisiana to enhance the profile of sustainable gulf seafood "" said john fallon director of sustainability & coastal conservation at audubon aquarium ""were thrilled to partner with texas state aquarium and sea grant to bring this important effort to texas restaurants will be allowed to display the organizations logos as a window decal or on their websites in addition gulf restaurant partners will receive in-house staff training to help them communicate with customers about sustainable seafood and a variety of other educational tools resources and networking opportunities the restaurant partnership program provides education and training to restaurants committed to serving local and sustainable seafood said laura picariello texas sea grant fisheries specialist this partnership also supports the coastal economy while enabling chefs to create delicious meals that consumers can feel good about eating organizers of this partnership program say restaurants account for 70 percent of the seafood consumed in the united states making chefs and restaurateurs the frontline of seafood education and getting the word out to consumers is so important because they have the most capacity to make a difference by the choices they make both when dining out and at home overfishing – where fish are harvested faster than they can reproduce - is one of the most serious dangers facing our oceans today conservationists warn that unregulated commercial fishing threatens one-third of the worlds fisheries and if these species disappear there could be enormous and untold consequences on the marine ecosystems overfishing also can affect ocean life thats not even being targeted the delicate balance of ocean environments means that the collapse of one species from overfishing can lead to the extinction of countless others in whats known as bycatch sea life can be accidentally entangled in the nets used by anglers causing the needless death of hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and cetaceans but the damage done by overfishing goes even beyond sea life billions of people the world over rely on fish as their chief source of protein and the industry employs millions of people at its current rate however fishing could soon no longer be a viable source of employment or food while many organizations and governments are taking action to curb the rate of overfishing conservationists say the most immediate and meaningful change will by spurred by consumers which is why sustainable seafood awareness is so critical through this growing restaurant partnership the texas state aquarium audubon aquarium and texas sea grant hope to reach millions of consumers encouraging more and more suppliers and consumers to ensure their seafood is sustainably sourced in the meantime these organizations say its always a good idea to double check where the seafood on your menu or grocery list comes from to combat overfishing and unsustainable harvests we recommend choosing seafoods caught or farmed in the united states – especially the gulf of mexico and gulf states as us fisheries are among the best managed in the world said leslie peart the texas state aquarium vp of education and conservation additionally texas sea grant is running a smart seafoodie pledge at txag/smartseafoodie and providing additional resources on finding local sustainable seafood through a variety of resources to learn more about the restaurant partnership program by the texas state aquarium texas sea grant and audubon aquarium visit texasseagrantorg/programs/gulf-restaurant-partnership/   ### texas state aquarium (tsa) the official aquarium of the state of texas is a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) institution that is fully accredited by the association of zoos and aquariums its mission is to engage people with animals inspire appreciation for our seas and support wildlife conservation tsa provides high quality science education about marine conservation and the habitats and species of the gulf of mexico to families primarily in texas recently it was named the number one cultural attraction in south texas and one of the top 20 aquariums in the nation by travelchannelcom learn more at audubon nature institute operates a family of museums parks and research facilities dedicated to celebrating the wonders of nature in new orleans la through innovative live animal exhibits education programs and scientific discovery audubon makes a meaningful contribution to preserving wildlife for the future audubon nature institute flagships include audubon park audubon zoo audubon aquarium of the americas entergy giant screen theater audubon butterfly garden and insectarium audubon louisiana nature center freeport-mcmoran audubon species survival center  woldenberg riverfront park and audubon wilderness park texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources   by seamus mcafee texas state aquarium " "where does that seafood on your plate come from thats the question the texas state aquarium the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university and audubon aquariums gulf united for lasting fisheries (gulf) want consumers to start asking seafood suppliers and restaurants and so today in commemoration of national seafood month these organizations announced a partnership between themselves and several restaurants in texas aimed at raising awareness on why the origin of your next fish or shellfish meal is so important to kick off the texas chapter of the gulf restaurant partnership program three founding restaurants will be recognized for their early and ongoing commitment to supplying sustainable seafood the texas state aquarium pepsi shoreline grill corpus christi yacht club in corpus christi and glow in rockport will be recognized as the first partners of the texas state aquarium audubon aquarium and sea grant on their restaurants messaging signaling to their patrons that they are dining on food that has been responsibly sourced to ensure the long-term health of the oceans fish populations since 2014 gulf has worked with chefs and restaurants in louisiana to enhance the profile of sustainable gulf seafood "" said john fallon director of sustainability & coastal conservation at audubon aquarium ""were thrilled to partner with texas state aquarium and sea grant to bring this important effort to texas restaurants will be allowed to display the organizations logos as a window decal or on their websites in addition gulf restaurant partners will receive in-house staff training to help them communicate with customers about sustainable seafood and a variety of other educational tools resources and networking opportunities the restaurant partnership program provides education and training to restaurants committed to serving local and sustainable seafood said laura picariello texas sea grant fisheries specialist this partnership also supports the coastal economy while enabling chefs to create delicious meals that consumers can feel good about eating organizers of this partnership program say restaurants account for 70 percent of the seafood consumed in the united states making chefs and restaurateurs the frontline of seafood education and getting the word out to consumers is so important because they have the most capacity to make a difference by the choices they make both when dining out and at home overfishing – where fish are harvested faster than they can reproduce - is one of the most serious dangers facing our oceans today conservationists warn that unregulated commercial fishing threatens one-third of the worlds fisheries and if these species disappear there could be enormous and untold consequences on the marine ecosystems overfishing also can affect ocean life thats not even being targeted the delicate balance of ocean environments means that the collapse of one species from overfishing can lead to the extinction of countless others in whats known as bycatch sea life can be accidentally entangled in the nets used by anglers causing the needless death of hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and cetaceans but the damage done by overfishing goes even beyond sea life billions of people the world over rely on fish as their chief source of protein and the industry employs millions of people at its current rate however fishing could soon no longer be a viable source of employment or food while many organizations and governments are taking action to curb the rate of overfishing conservationists say the most immediate and meaningful change will by spurred by consumers which is why sustainable seafood awareness is so critical through this growing restaurant partnership the texas state aquarium audubon aquarium and texas sea grant hope to reach millions of consumers encouraging more and more suppliers and consumers to ensure their seafood is sustainably sourced in the meantime these organizations say its always a good idea to double check where the seafood on your menu or grocery list comes from to combat overfishing and unsustainable harvests we recommend choosing seafoods caught or farmed in the united states – especially the gulf of mexico and gulf states as us fisheries are among the best managed in the world said leslie peart the texas state aquarium vp of education and conservation additionally texas sea grant is running a smart seafoodie pledge at txag/smartseafoodie and providing additional resources on finding local sustainable seafood through a variety of resources to learn more about the restaurant partnership program by the texas state aquarium texas sea grant and audubon aquarium visit texasseagrantorg/programs/gulf-restaurant-partnership/   ### texas state aquarium (tsa) the official aquarium of the state of texas is a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) institution that is fully accredited by the association of zoos and aquariums its mission is to engage people with animals inspire appreciation for our seas and support wildlife conservation tsa provides high quality science education about marine conservation and the habitats and species of the gulf of mexico to families primarily in texas recently it was named the number one cultural attraction in south texas and one of the top 20 aquariums in the nation by travelchannelcom learn more at audubon nature institute operates a family of museums parks and research facilities dedicated to celebrating the wonders of nature in new orleans la through innovative live animal exhibits education programs and scientific discovery audubon makes a meaningful contribution to preserving wildlife for the future audubon nature institute flagships include audubon park audubon zoo audubon aquarium of the americas entergy giant screen theater audubon butterfly garden and insectarium audubon louisiana nature center freeport-mcmoran audubon species survival center  woldenberg riverfront park and audubon wilderness park texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 33 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources   by seamus mcafee texas state aquarium " " watch: the international laboratory for high-resolution earth system predictionthe ihesp lab seeks to develop a new advanced modeling framework for high-resolution multiscale earth system predictionsoct 18 2019 video produced by the texas a&m division of research as the world comes to terms with extreme weather produced by climate change the scientists at the new international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) are creating an advanced modeling framework to improve long-term forecasting these models will convert detailed weather data into high-resolution multi-scale images at the global and regional scales the lab combines the expertise of three world-class institutions: qingdao pilot national laboratory for marine science and technology texas a&m university and the national center for atmospheric research dr ping chang professor of oceanography and atmospheric sciences and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography in the college of geosciences serves as ihesp director the ihesp lab seeks to develop a new advanced modeling framework for high-resolution multiscale earth system predictions and provide reliable information at both global and regional scales  ihesp will establish texas a&m university as the leader in climate modeling said dr jack baldauf texas a&m senior associate vice president for research the new knowledge generated from this program will allow decision makers policy makers the ability to make informed decisions   written in collaboration with the texas a&m division of research " " video produced by the texas a&m division of research as the world comes to terms with extreme weather produced by climate change the scientists at the new international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) are creating an advanced modeling framework to improve long-term forecasting these models will convert detailed weather data into high-resolution multi-scale images at the global and regional scales the lab combines the expertise of three world-class institutions: qingdao pilot national laboratory for marine science and technology texas a&m university and the national center for atmospheric research dr ping chang professor of oceanography and atmospheric sciences and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography in the college of geosciences serves as ihesp director the ihesp lab seeks to develop a new advanced modeling framework for high-resolution multiscale earth system predictions and provide reliable information at both global and regional scales  ihesp will establish texas a&m university as the leader in climate modeling said dr jack baldauf texas a&m senior associate vice president for research the new knowledge generated from this program will allow decision makers policy makers the ability to make informed decisions   written in collaboration with the texas a&m division of research" " scott gifford awarded society of independent professional earth scientists foundation scholarshipgifford is a graduate student in the department of geology and geophysicsoct 17 2019scott giffordscott gifford a masters degree student in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was awarded $4 000 from the marvolene speed bennett and carleton d speed jr endowed fund by  the society of independent professional earth scientists (sipes) foundation  the sipes foundation selected five outstanding earth science and engineering students to receive scholarship awards this year giffords research is focused on sequence stratigraphy of the eagle ford and woodbine groups in the east texas basin and his faculty advisors are dr mike pope and dr art donovan the society of independent professional earth scientists is a national organization of more than 900 self-employed geologists geophysicists and engineers engaged primarily in domestic energy exploration and development since its founding in 1981 the sipes foundation has awarded scholarships to 254 promising earth science and engineering students the sipes foundation also conducts educational seminars contributes funding to earth science publications and continuing education programs and maintains a library of earth science films by ali snell " "scott gifford a masters degree student in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was awarded $4 000 from the marvolene speed bennett and carleton d speed jr endowed fund by  the society of independent professional earth scientists (sipes) foundation  the sipes foundation selected five outstanding earth science and engineering students to receive scholarship awards this year giffords research is focused on sequence stratigraphy of the eagle ford and woodbine groups in the east texas basin and his faculty advisors are dr mike pope and dr art donovan the society of independent professional earth scientists is a national organization of more than 900 self-employed geologists geophysicists and engineers engaged primarily in domestic energy exploration and development since its founding in 1981 the sipes foundation has awarded scholarships to 254 promising earth science and engineering students the sipes foundation also conducts educational seminars contributes funding to earth science publications and continuing education programs and maintains a library of earth science films by ali snell" " mars once had salt lakes similar to earthmarion nachon geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate co-authored study finding that mars has undergone wet and dry periodsoct 16 2019in this handout image provided by nasa/jpl-caltech/msss a color image from nasas curiosity rovers mast camera shows part of the wall of gale crater the location on mars where the rover landed august 5 2012 on mars (image by nasa via getty images)mars once had salt lakes that are similar to those on earth and has gone through wet and dry periods according to an international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university college of geosciences researcher dr marion nachon a postdoctoral research associate in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and colleagues have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the team examined mars geological terrains from gale crater an immense 95-mile-wide rocky basin that is being explored with the nasa curiosity rover since 2012 as part of the msl (mars science laboratory) mission the results show that the lake that was present in gale crater over 3 billion years ago underwent a drying episode potentially linked to the global drying of mars gale crater formed about 36 billion years ago when a meteor hit mars and created its large impact crater since then its geological terrains have recorded the history of mars and studies have shown gale crater reveals signs that liquid water was present over its history which is a key ingredient of microbial life as we know it nachon said during these drying periods salt ponds eventually formed it is difficult to say exactly how large these ponds were but the lake in gale crater was present for long periods of time – from at least hundreds of years to perhaps tens of thousands of years nachon said so what happened to these salt lakes nachon said that mars probably became dryer over time and the planet lost its planetary magnetic field which left the atmosphere exposed to be stripped by solar wind and radiation over millions of years with an atmosphere becoming thinner the pressure at the surface became lesser and the conditions for liquid water to be stable at the surface were not fulfilled anymore nachon said so liquid water became unsustainable and evaporated the salt ponds on mars are believed to be similar to some found on earth especially those in a region called altiplano which is near the bolivia-peru border nachon said the altiplano is an arid high-altitude plateau where rivers and streams from mountain ranges do not flow to the sea but lead to closed basins similar to what used to happen at gale crater on mars she said this hydrology creates lakes with water levels heavily influenced by climate during the arid periods altiplano lakes become shallow due to evaporation and some even dry up entirely the fact that the atliplano is mostly vegetation free makes the region look even more like mars she said nachon added that the study shows that the ancient lake in gale crater underwent at least one episode of drying before recovering its also possible that the lake was segmented into separate ponds where some of the ponds could have undergone more evaporation because up to now only one location along the rovers path shows such a drying history nachon said it might give clues about how many drying episodes the lake underwent before marss climate became as dry as it is currently it could indicate that marss climate ‘dried out over the long term on a way that still allowed for the cyclical presence of a lake nachon said these results indicate a past mars climate that fluctuated between wetter and drier periods they also tell us about the types of chemical elements (in this case sulphur a key ingredient for life) that were available in the liquid water present at the surface at the time and about the type of environmental fluctuations mars life would have had to cope with if it ever existed by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications " in this handout image provided by nasa/jpl-caltech/msss a color image from nasas curiosity rovers mast camera shows part of the wall of gale crater the location on mars where the rover landed august 5 2012 on mars (image by nasa via getty images) "mars once had salt lakes that are similar to those on earth and has gone through wet and dry periods according to an international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university college of geosciences researcher dr marion nachon a postdoctoral research associate in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and colleagues have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the team examined mars geological terrains from gale crater an immense 95-mile-wide rocky basin that is being explored with the nasa curiosity rover since 2012 as part of the msl (mars science laboratory) mission the results show that the lake that was present in gale crater over 3 billion years ago underwent a drying episode potentially linked to the global drying of mars gale crater formed about 36 billion years ago when a meteor hit mars and created its large impact crater since then its geological terrains have recorded the history of mars and studies have shown gale crater reveals signs that liquid water was present over its history which is a key ingredient of microbial life as we know it nachon said during these drying periods salt ponds eventually formed it is difficult to say exactly how large these ponds were but the lake in gale crater was present for long periods of time – from at least hundreds of years to perhaps tens of thousands of years nachon said so what happened to these salt lakes nachon said that mars probably became dryer over time and the planet lost its planetary magnetic field which left the atmosphere exposed to be stripped by solar wind and radiation over millions of years with an atmosphere becoming thinner the pressure at the surface became lesser and the conditions for liquid water to be stable at the surface were not fulfilled anymore nachon said so liquid water became unsustainable and evaporated the salt ponds on mars are believed to be similar to some found on earth especially those in a region called altiplano which is near the bolivia-peru border nachon said the altiplano is an arid high-altitude plateau where rivers and streams from mountain ranges do not flow to the sea but lead to closed basins similar to what used to happen at gale crater on mars she said this hydrology creates lakes with water levels heavily influenced by climate during the arid periods altiplano lakes become shallow due to evaporation and some even dry up entirely the fact that the atliplano is mostly vegetation free makes the region look even more like mars she said nachon added that the study shows that the ancient lake in gale crater underwent at least one episode of drying before recovering its also possible that the lake was segmented into separate ponds where some of the ponds could have undergone more evaporation because up to now only one location along the rovers path shows such a drying history nachon said it might give clues about how many drying episodes the lake underwent before marss climate became as dry as it is currently it could indicate that marss climate ‘dried out over the long term on a way that still allowed for the cyclical presence of a lake nachon said these results indicate a past mars climate that fluctuated between wetter and drier periods they also tell us about the types of chemical elements (in this case sulphur a key ingredient for life) that were available in the liquid water present at the surface at the time and about the type of environmental fluctuations mars life would have had to cope with if it ever existed by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications" " baldauf named texas a&m associate vp for research yang serving as interim associate dean for researchjack baldauf will serve as senior associate vice president for research at texas a&m and ping yang will serve as the college of geosciences interim associate dean for researchoct 9 2019dr jack baldaufdr ping yangafter serving as executive associate dean and associate dean for research in the texas a&m university college of geosciences for the past nine years dr jack baldauf has been named senior associate vice president for research and is now located in the texas a&m division of research in this role jack will provide leadership for our international programs space and environmental initiatives faculty development and recognition and strategic research planning said dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m before serving in his most recent position as college of geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research baldauf served in several roles including deputy director and manager of science operations for the integrated ocean drilling program and the ocean drilling program (now the international ocean discovery program) dr baldaufs gift for building teams and his talent for establishing interdisciplinary connections has elevated the entire research enterprise of the college and has led to major research initiatives across campus said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences we are exceedingly grateful for his energy vision and follow through and we are exceptionally proud that his talents are broadly recognized by campus leadership and throughout the geosciences community dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences will serve as the college of geosciences interim associate dean for research through april 30 2020 dr yangs superlative record of scholarship combined with his deep experience previously serving the college as department head of atmospheric sciences will be invaluable to us all and we are exceedingly grateful for his leadership thomas said a search advisory committee will conduct an internal search for the next associate dean for research in the spring of 2020  by leslie lee 09 " "after serving as executive associate dean and associate dean for research in the texas a&m university college of geosciences for the past nine years dr jack baldauf has been named senior associate vice president for research and is now located in the texas a&m division of research in this role jack will provide leadership for our international programs space and environmental initiatives faculty development and recognition and strategic research planning said dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m before serving in his most recent position as college of geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research baldauf served in several roles including deputy director and manager of science operations for the integrated ocean drilling program and the ocean drilling program (now the international ocean discovery program) dr baldaufs gift for building teams and his talent for establishing interdisciplinary connections has elevated the entire research enterprise of the college and has led to major research initiatives across campus said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences we are exceedingly grateful for his energy vision and follow through and we are exceptionally proud that his talents are broadly recognized by campus leadership and throughout the geosciences community dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences will serve as the college of geosciences interim associate dean for research through april 30 2020 dr yangs superlative record of scholarship combined with his deep experience previously serving the college as department head of atmospheric sciences will be invaluable to us all and we are exceedingly grateful for his leadership thomas said a search advisory committee will conduct an internal search for the next associate dean for research in the spring of 2020  by leslie lee 09" " aggie professor completes his 18th antarctic expeditiondr andrew klein takes part in an nsf-funded research excursionoct 7 2019dive team taking measurements in the waters off of antarctica photo by andrew kleinresearch in the antarctic is never an easy prospect; considerable preparation and planning are required for an excursion to the farthest reaches of the southern hemisphere for the sake of science though one aggie professor has taken on the challenges of the antarctic numerous times completing his 18th trip to antarctica earlier this year dr andrew klein eog teaching professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university sailed on a national science foundation-funded research excursion to the southern ocean from mid-april to early june the joint expedition to the antarctic was in consortium with dr charles amsler and dr jim mcclintock from the university of alabama at birmingham; dr katrin iken from the university of alaska fairbanks; and dr aaron galloway from the university of oregonresearchers cataloging specimens aboard the research vessel (photo by andrew klein)the focus of the trip was to look at spatial variation in the composition of macroalgal communities along the western antarctic peninsula region from the palmer research station to south of the rothera research station there have been a few prior studies around rothera station and a couple other places in the region but not really any comprehensive investigation of the macroalgal communities along the southwestern antarctic peninsula klein saidone of the primary objectives of the mission was to understand what the controls are on macroalgae along the antarctic peninsula prior to the start of the expedition the hypothesis was that sea ice extent acts as a control on macroalgae off the peninsula since sea ice generally affects subsurface light with so little known about the study region there was also a need to identify what species of algae grow off the western antarctic peninsula and the macro-invertebrates that feed on that algae to study the algae at the different sites the research team performed a series of dives at each site during the dives vertical video transects were taken to identify what species of algae were present at that location in addition to the video transects specimens were collected at each site the hours of video recordings and specimen collection provided researchers with plenty of follow-up research to complete once they returned to the mainland for some of the dive sites it is believed that their team were the first to ever dive at the chosen locations while klein did not personally dive he performed role of dive tender the surface member of the diving team that makes sure to watch over the divers during a divediver getting hosed off after a dive (photo by julie schram)seals swimming with the dive boat (photo by andrew klein)remote sensing in the antarctic with an expertise in remote sensing klein played an integral role in determining potential dive sites that the research team could investigate once out on the expedition we did an initial site selection of about 39 or 40 sites we might want to go to klein said then i got high resolution at ½ meter resolution where we could actually focus in on individual dive sites the team sampled 15 dive sites on the expedition the range of study sites between 64° south and 69° south provided researchers with different light conditions to study the macroalgae and gave a sense for how the different species of algae change with different amounts of light as part of the project klein developed time series datasets that represent sea ice extent in the study region since a central goal of the project was to understand the extent to which sea ice is playing a role in macroalgal communities it was key that they have accurate data showing the sea ice extent over the last ten years one of the problems is that most of the climatologies we have of sea ice are based on passive microwave where it works well in the open ocean but not so well in coastal areas he said im developing some alternate time series for the past ten years because it turns out that macroalgae generally lives ten years or sodr andrew klein in antarcticaa research cruise to remember with 17 trips to the antarctic under his belt kleins 18th trip to the antarctic turned out to be the most exhilarating one yet to be able to dive at sites that in many cases may have never been dived at before klein said within the united states antarctic program most of the work on diving has really been limited to within small boating distances of palmer station very seldom do you have a research vessel where you are driving the agenda while being at sea for two months in the antarctic on a research vessel can be rather arduous work klein said that it is a unique opportunity and privilege to be able to go on a two-month cruise to the antarctic the team had numerous wildlife sightings including with seals penguins and whales while the cruise itself is finished there is still much work to be done many of the specimens gathered on the cruise still need to be analyzed and further work on the sea ice datasets that klein has constructed is still needed by rhett douris " dive team taking measurements in the waters off of antarctica photo by andrew klein "research in the antarctic is never an easy prospect; considerable preparation and planning are required for an excursion to the farthest reaches of the southern hemisphere for the sake of science though one aggie professor has taken on the challenges of the antarctic numerous times completing his 18th trip to antarctica earlier this year dr andrew klein eog teaching professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university sailed on a national science foundation-funded research excursion to the southern ocean from mid-april to early june the joint expedition to the antarctic was in consortium with dr charles amsler and dr jim mcclintock from the university of alabama at birmingham; dr katrin iken from the university of alaska fairbanks; and dr aaron galloway from the university of oregon" researchers cataloging specimens aboard the research vessel (photo by andrew klein) "the focus of the trip was to look at spatial variation in the composition of macroalgal communities along the western antarctic peninsula region from the palmer research station to south of the rothera research station there have been a few prior studies around rothera station and a couple other places in the region but not really any comprehensive investigation of the macroalgal communities along the southwestern antarctic peninsula klein said" "one of the primary objectives of the mission was to understand what the controls are on macroalgae along the antarctic peninsula prior to the start of the expedition the hypothesis was that sea ice extent acts as a control on macroalgae off the peninsula since sea ice generally affects subsurface light with so little known about the study region there was also a need to identify what species of algae grow off the western antarctic peninsula and the macro-invertebrates that feed on that algae to study the algae at the different sites the research team performed a series of dives at each site during the dives vertical video transects were taken to identify what species of algae were present at that location in addition to the video transects specimens were collected at each site the hours of video recordings and specimen collection provided researchers with plenty of follow-up research to complete once they returned to the mainland for some of the dive sites it is believed that their team were the first to ever dive at the chosen locations while klein did not personally dive he performed role of dive tender the surface member of the diving team that makes sure to watch over the divers during a dive" diver getting hosed off after a dive (photo by julie schram)seals swimming with the dive boat (photo by andrew klein) "remote sensing in the antarctic with an expertise in remote sensing klein played an integral role in determining potential dive sites that the research team could investigate once out on the expedition we did an initial site selection of about 39 or 40 sites we might want to go to klein said then i got high resolution at ½ meter resolution where we could actually focus in on individual dive sites the team sampled 15 dive sites on the expedition the range of study sites between 64° south and 69° south provided researchers with different light conditions to study the macroalgae and gave a sense for how the different species of algae change with different amounts of light as part of the project klein developed time series datasets that represent sea ice extent in the study region since a central goal of the project was to understand the extent to which sea ice is playing a role in macroalgal communities it was key that they have accurate data showing the sea ice extent over the last ten years one of the problems is that most of the climatologies we have of sea ice are based on passive microwave where it works well in the open ocean but not so well in coastal areas he said im developing some alternate time series for the past ten years because it turns out that macroalgae generally lives ten years or so" "a research cruise to remember with 17 trips to the antarctic under his belt kleins 18th trip to the antarctic turned out to be the most exhilarating one yet to be able to dive at sites that in many cases may have never been dived at before klein said within the united states antarctic program most of the work on diving has really been limited to within small boating distances of palmer station very seldom do you have a research vessel where you are driving the agenda while being at sea for two months in the antarctic on a research vessel can be rather arduous work klein said that it is a unique opportunity and privilege to be able to go on a two-month cruise to the antarctic the team had numerous wildlife sightings including with seals penguins and whales while the cruise itself is finished there is still much work to be done many of the specimens gathered on the cruise still need to be analyzed and further work on the sea ice datasets that klein has constructed is still needed by rhett douris" " graduate student conducted tropical convection field work in costa rica for two monthsas part of the organization of tropical east pacific convection 2019 field campaign lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha spent two months collecting dataoct 7 2019nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraft (all photos courtesy of lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha)otrec team analyzing the hrc dataset on the nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraftlidia huaman-chuquihuaccha a doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university took part in a field campaign in costa rica from august 5 to sept 30 that aimed to collect a variety of observations that would help determine the form of convection occurring in the tropical east pacific and southwestern caribbean sea the two regions despite their close proximity exhibit quite different atmospheric conditions that give rise to very different forms of convection the tropical disturbances and their interaction with land surface and topography were also studied the organization of tropical east pacific convection (otrec) 2019 field campaign is led by the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) and the national science foundation (nsf) ""otrec is my first field campaign and i have been involved with the aircraft and land-based dataset "" she said ""i flew on the ncar g-v aircraft from liberia airport and launched radiosondes in santa cruz and limon i interacted with professors and graduate students from different universities and i led weather and paper discussions with them""the hcr attached to the ncar g-v aircraft is the large white wing-mounted podsetting up the radiosonde receiver before launching a radiosonde in santa cruz ne costa ricaradiosonde launch in limon sw costa ricapast field campaigns have investigated tropical deep convection in the east pacific (epic2001 and ecac) during active convective phases and the asian regional pacific (tparc/tcs08 and predict) during periods of active tropical cyclone development to gain insight into the atmospheric circulation in the east tropical pacific or how tropical deep convection can develop into tropical cyclones this field campaign made use of the ncar/nsf gulfstream-v aircraft to take measurements of the tropical environment in the southwest caribbean sea and the tropical pacific south and west of panama the aircraft deploys patterns of dropsondes and measures profiles of radar reflectivity and doppler velocity from the hiaper cloud radar (hcr) otrec also includes portable radisonde stations in costa rica and colombia and gps precipitable water instruments that measure the atmospheric moisture content from the analysis of temporal delay with the gps signal rainwater samples are also collected to analyze the oxygen isotope ratio and determine the stratiform and convective precipitation fraction the aircraft and land-based dataset complement each other and will help to increase our understanding of tropical convection in the east pacific and the interaction of tropical easterly waves with land surface and topography the otrec dataset will be used in her phd research huaman-chuquihuaccha said and it will help answer some questions about convection in the east pacific intertropical convergence zone by david coates " nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraft (all photos courtesy of lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha)otrec team analyzing the hrc dataset on the nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraft "lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha a doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university took part in a field campaign in costa rica from august 5 to sept 30 that aimed to collect a variety of observations that would help determine the form of convection occurring in the tropical east pacific and southwestern caribbean sea the two regions despite their close proximity exhibit quite different atmospheric conditions that give rise to very different forms of convection the tropical disturbances and their interaction with land surface and topography were also studied the organization of tropical east pacific convection (otrec) 2019 field campaign is led by the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) and the national science foundation (nsf) ""otrec is my first field campaign and i have been involved with the aircraft and land-based dataset "" she said ""i flew on the ncar g-v aircraft from liberia airport and launched radiosondes in santa cruz and limon i interacted with professors and graduate students from different universities and i led weather and paper discussions with them""" the hcr attached to the ncar g-v aircraft is the large white wing-mounted podsetting up the radiosonde receiver before launching a radiosonde in santa cruz ne costa ricaradiosonde launch in limon sw costa rica "past field campaigns have investigated tropical deep convection in the east pacific (epic2001 and ecac) during active convective phases and the asian regional pacific (tparc/tcs08 and predict) during periods of active tropical cyclone development to gain insight into the atmospheric circulation in the east tropical pacific or how tropical deep convection can develop into tropical cyclones this field campaign made use of the ncar/nsf gulfstream-v aircraft to take measurements of the tropical environment in the southwest caribbean sea and the tropical pacific south and west of panama the aircraft deploys patterns of dropsondes and measures profiles of radar reflectivity and doppler velocity from the hiaper cloud radar (hcr) otrec also includes portable radisonde stations in costa rica and colombia and gps precipitable water instruments that measure the atmospheric moisture content from the analysis of temporal delay with the gps signal rainwater samples are also collected to analyze the oxygen isotope ratio and determine the stratiform and convective precipitation fraction the aircraft and land-based dataset complement each other and will help to increase our understanding of tropical convection in the east pacific and the interaction of tropical easterly waves with land surface and topography the otrec dataset will be used in her phd research huaman-chuquihuaccha said and it will help answer some questions about convection in the east pacific intertropical convergence zone by david coates" " texas a&m student veteran interned in nasa pathways pilot program atmospheric sciences and oceanography student lance belobrajdic ‘21 was one of nine interns selected for the 2019 nasa pathways pilot programoct 7 2019this summer texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 21 was one of nine selected students to join the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) pathways pilot program belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology (most) program belobrajdic is a military veteran and was named a 2018 tillman scholarlance belobrajdic in the hindu kush mountains in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force)lance belobrajdic deploying a river drifter hydrology sensor in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force)the nasa pathways program was designed to hire interns with interdisciplinary academic and career interests to provide opportunities to work and explore careers during their academic year this summer the program expanded a new multi-center track to rotate students around the human space flight centers throughout their internships instead of a traditional internship that was stationary at one nasa center this track allows student to gain hands-on experience in diverse and mission-focused team environments and to explore the three nasa centers: marshall space flight center kennedy space center and johnson space center my interest and journey toward nasa started when i was in the military he said belobrajdic enlisted in the air force in 2006 and served in the special operations weather team (sowt) as an environmental reconnaissance unit we went out places where there was no environmental sensor or data and collected those for aircraft operations said belobrajdic through that training and fieldwork i got tied into atmospheric and environmental data and became interested in the science field after military service belobrajdic became curious in where meteorologists work at nasa and researched career pathways at nasa and found the pathways program belobrajdic started his rotation on may 28 at the kennedy space center (ksc) along with two other internsnasa pathway interns at the kennedy space center: stephen grabowski from purdue university mckynzie perry from university of alabama at huntsville and lance belobrajdic (from left to right) (photo courtesy of stephen mcconnell nasa)lance belobrajdic (2018 awardee) and blaze belobrajdic (2019 awardee) who is belobrajdics brother and currently a texas a&m engineering student at the pat tillman leadership summit (photo courtesy of the pat tillman foundation)during the summer at ksc belobrajdic participated in diverse projects the first project focused on the environmental control and life support system (eclss) which provides the atmosphere of a space capsule including pressure heat control and water the second project was measuring in situ sea surface temperature near the space center to provide better climate forecasts for launching rockets belobrajdic investigated different in situ temperature sensors compared to satellite sensor measurements lastly belobrajdic worked with the tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) to test its efficiency and accuracy on measuring upper atmosphere layer wind speednasa ksc apollo 50th anniversary (photo courtesy of nasa interns)nasa ksc tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) antenna farm (photo courtesy of nasa)it was an awesome experience this summer said belobrajdic i cannot wait for my next internship at the other two space centers next year i want to thank dr don conlee and dr chrissy wiederwohl who are my most advisors at texas a&m university he said also thanks to dr lisa huddleston at nasa who guided me into this career pathway and dr katherine rice and dr kristin smith both meteorologists at ksc who i worked with primarily for more information about the program visit the nasa pathways intern program webpage learn more about the master of ocean science and technology program by bumsoo kim " "this summer texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 21 was one of nine selected students to join the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) pathways pilot program belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology (most) program belobrajdic is a military veteran and was named a 2018 tillman scholar" lance belobrajdic in the hindu kush mountains in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force)lance belobrajdic deploying a river drifter hydrology sensor in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force) "the nasa pathways program was designed to hire interns with interdisciplinary academic and career interests to provide opportunities to work and explore careers during their academic year this summer the program expanded a new multi-center track to rotate students around the human space flight centers throughout their internships instead of a traditional internship that was stationary at one nasa center this track allows student to gain hands-on experience in diverse and mission-focused team environments and to explore the three nasa centers: marshall space flight center kennedy space center and johnson space center my interest and journey toward nasa started when i was in the military he said belobrajdic enlisted in the air force in 2006 and served in the special operations weather team (sowt) as an environmental reconnaissance unit we went out places where there was no environmental sensor or data and collected those for aircraft operations said belobrajdic through that training and fieldwork i got tied into atmospheric and environmental data and became interested in the science field after military service belobrajdic became curious in where meteorologists work at nasa and researched career pathways at nasa and found the pathways program belobrajdic started his rotation on may 28 at the kennedy space center (ksc) along with two other interns" nasa pathway interns at the kennedy space center: stephen grabowski from purdue university mckynzie perry from university of alabama at huntsville and lance belobrajdic (from left to right) (photo courtesy of stephen mcconnell nasa)lance belobrajdic (2018 awardee) and blaze belobrajdic (2019 awardee) who is belobrajdics brother and currently a texas a&m engineering student at the pat tillman leadership summit (photo courtesy of the pat tillman foundation) "during the summer at ksc belobrajdic participated in diverse projects the first project focused on the environmental control and life support system (eclss) which provides the atmosphere of a space capsule including pressure heat control and water the second project was measuring in situ sea surface temperature near the space center to provide better climate forecasts for launching rockets belobrajdic investigated different in situ temperature sensors compared to satellite sensor measurements lastly belobrajdic worked with the tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) to test its efficiency and accuracy on measuring upper atmosphere layer wind speed" nasa ksc apollo 50th anniversary (photo courtesy of nasa interns)nasa ksc tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) antenna farm (photo courtesy of nasa) "it was an awesome experience this summer said belobrajdic i cannot wait for my next internship at the other two space centers next year i want to thank dr don conlee and dr chrissy wiederwohl who are my most advisors at texas a&m university he said also thanks to dr lisa huddleston at nasa who guided me into this career pathway and dr katherine rice and dr kristin smith both meteorologists at ksc who i worked with primarily for more information about the program visit the nasa pathways intern program webpage learn more about the master of ocean science and technology program by bumsoo kim" " new water insecurity scale provides critical datatexas a&m geographys jepson co-authored new research quantifying experiences of household water insecurity in an equivalent way across low- and middle-income countriesoct 4 2019women collecting water from a well in africa (photo courtesy of istock)the world economic forum lists water crises among the top 10 most likely and impactful global risks most water metrics to date have only focused on water quality or water availability at national and regional scales there has been a critical gap though in the ability to identify which households experience issues with reliably accessing safe water in sufficient quantities for all household uses from drinking and cooking to bathing and cleaning until now  dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is part of a multi-disciplinary international team of more than 40 researchers that has developed and published a new tool that can fill this data gap and provide actionable policy-relevant information to address the global water crisis   the 12-item household water insecurity experiences scale (hwise) quantifies experiences of household water insecurity in an equivalent way across low- and middle-income countries based on data from more than 8 000 households in 23 countries the hwise scale measures the multiple components of water insecurity (adequacy reliability accessibility and safety) across disparate cultural and ecological settings in addition it only takes 3 to 5 minutes to ask the 12 simply phrased items the questions prompt respondents to reply never rarely sometimes often or always to experiences with water insecurity in the last four weeks including: how frequently did you or anyone in your household worry you would not have enough water for all of your household needs how frequently did you change what was being eaten because there were problems with water in the last 4 weeks how frequently has your main water source been interrupted or limited (eg water pressure less water than expected river dried up) with these responses a water insecurity score can be generated for each household these data can then be used to better understand the prevalence of water insecurity its causes and consequences and to inform policy development our ability to quantify experiences with food insecurity have been transformative of our understanding of the prevalence and consequences of worry about food said dr sera young lead author of the study and associate professor of anthropology and global health in the weinberg college of arts and sciences at northwestern university we expect this metric to be similarly transformative for water ""our efforts with the hwise scale which we see as a major contribution to support un sustainable development goal 6 (clean safe water for all) assessments demonstrate the capacity of global long-term collaboration and cooperation to achieve significant advances in social science that can translate to real-world problems jepson said but the hwise scale is only the tip of the iceberg our nsf-funded household water insecurity experiences research coordination network (hwise rcn) is advancing social science research frontiers in many areas the hwise rcns work provides a broad comparative context for understanding the role of uncertainty in water insecurity jepson said as it is both a driver and consequence of water insecurity we also examine how water insecurity drives food insecurity; household water insecurity in higher-income countries like the us canada and europe; and the complex ways climate change determines multiple forms of water insecurity and how that influences human mobility and migration dynamics she said  the researchers have found that higher hwise scale scores (ie greater water insecurity) are strongly associated with greater food insecurity and stress lower economic productivity physical injury altered infant feeding practices and adverse health impacts given the power of the hwise scale to benchmark global household water insecurity as well as inform national and regional policy we are partnering with unesco and gallup to raise resources for the inclusion of the tool in the gallup world poll said young we also seek to implement the scale in nationally representative surveys further numerous ngos are currently using the tool to monitor and evaluate ongoing projects and plan to share their findings soon  read the full journal article in in bmj global health: the household water insecurity experiences (hwise) scale: development and validation of a household water insecurity measure for low-income and middle-income countries published in cooperation with northwestern university " "the world economic forum lists water crises among the top 10 most likely and impactful global risks most water metrics to date have only focused on water quality or water availability at national and regional scales there has been a critical gap though in the ability to identify which households experience issues with reliably accessing safe water in sufficient quantities for all household uses from drinking and cooking to bathing and cleaning until now  dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is part of a multi-disciplinary international team of more than 40 researchers that has developed and published a new tool that can fill this data gap and provide actionable policy-relevant information to address the global water crisis   the 12-item household water insecurity experiences scale (hwise) quantifies experiences of household water insecurity in an equivalent way across low- and middle-income countries based on data from more than 8 000 households in 23 countries the hwise scale measures the multiple components of water insecurity (adequacy reliability accessibility and safety) across disparate cultural and ecological settings in addition it only takes 3 to 5 minutes to ask the 12 simply phrased items the questions prompt respondents to reply never rarely sometimes often or always to experiences with water insecurity in the last four weeks including: how frequently did you or anyone in your household worry you would not have enough water for all of your household needs how frequently did you change what was being eaten because there were problems with water in the last 4 weeks how frequently has your main water source been interrupted or limited (eg water pressure less water than expected river dried up) with these responses a water insecurity score can be generated for each household these data can then be used to better understand the prevalence of water insecurity its causes and consequences and to inform policy development our ability to quantify experiences with food insecurity have been transformative of our understanding of the prevalence and consequences of worry about food said dr sera young lead author of the study and associate professor of anthropology and global health in the weinberg college of arts and sciences at northwestern university we expect this metric to be similarly transformative for water ""our efforts with the hwise scale which we see as a major contribution to support un sustainable development goal 6 (clean safe water for all) assessments demonstrate the capacity of global long-term collaboration and cooperation to achieve significant advances in social science that can translate to real-world problems jepson said but the hwise scale is only the tip of the iceberg our nsf-funded household water insecurity experiences research coordination network (hwise rcn) is advancing social science research frontiers in many areas the hwise rcns work provides a broad comparative context for understanding the role of uncertainty in water insecurity jepson said as it is both a driver and consequence of water insecurity we also examine how water insecurity drives food insecurity; household water insecurity in higher-income countries like the us canada and europe; and the complex ways climate change determines multiple forms of water insecurity and how that influences human mobility and migration dynamics she said  the researchers have found that higher hwise scale scores (ie greater water insecurity) are strongly associated with greater food insecurity and stress lower economic productivity physical injury altered infant feeding practices and adverse health impacts given the power of the hwise scale to benchmark global household water insecurity as well as inform national and regional policy we are partnering with unesco and gallup to raise resources for the inclusion of the tool in the gallup world poll said young we also seek to implement the scale in nationally representative surveys further numerous ngos are currently using the tool to monitor and evaluate ongoing projects and plan to share their findings soon  read the full journal article in in bmj global health: the household water insecurity experiences (hwise) scale: development and validation of a household water insecurity measure for low-income and middle-income countries published in cooperation with northwestern university" " president young tours joides resolution during rare iodp stateside port callthe internationally renowned research drill ship is operated by texas a&m for the nsf-funded international ocean discovery programoct 2 2019iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with vice president barteau and president young (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso)the joides resolution is a ship operated like no other a drillship operated solely for the scientific research of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) the joides has circumnavigated the globe many times over and is capable of drilling six miles beneath the ocean surface all while serving as an international hub of unparalleled geoscience research data and collaboration and its operated and managed by texas a&m university through the college of geosciences after more than 10 years without a port call in the united states the busy joides resolution docked in san diego sept 15-22 providing a rare opportunity for non-expedition-members to tour the ship in-person and a delegation from aggieland leapt at the chance to step aboard the delegation included texas a&m president michael k young vice president for research dr mark a barteau vice president for government relations and strategic initiatives michael oquinn assistant vice president for government relations michael j hardy joy monroe manager of development operations in the office of the president dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas chair of the college of geosciences advisory council jill urban-karr iodp director dr brad clement hosted the delegations tour through the vessel sept 17 i want to express my gratitude to the many talented staff members – aboard the ship and here on campus – who work tirelessly to keep the spirit of exploration and discovery alive at texas a&m young said exploration and discovery is always a team effort and i would like to thank the many aggies who warmly welcomed us in san diego the joides resolution drills into the ocean floor to collect and study core samples and scientists use data from the ships expeditions to better understand climate change geology and earths history texas a&m has served as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) since 1985 it was such a thrill to be able to showcase some of the incredible science that only the jr can achieve thomas said it was truly amazing to see the jrso team at work during the san diego port call congratulations to dr brad clement for his exceptional leadership of the entire jrso team earlier this year the national science foundation (nsf) extended funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides as a facility of iodp through sept 30 2024 the new agreement totaled more than $350 million over 5 years and is the largest federal research award currently managed by texas a&m the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd (odl) which has extended the ships charter contract with the texas a&m research foundation through sept 30 2024texas a&m geosciences dean thomas and vice president barteau aboard the joides resolution (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with the texas a&m delegation including geosciences dean thomas and president michael young (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)the joides resolution at sunset at the dock in san diego (photo by: tobias höfig iodp jrso/)the joides resolution crew pulls the lines aboard at the departure from san diego (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)the upcoming expedition to the guaymas basin will advance our understanding of the limits of life in extreme environments to the processes that form ocean basins to the impact of tectonic events on global climate thomas said one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed in the iodp facility on the texas a&m campus as well as the technical support research and publication staff of the jrso the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications beginning in january 2020 thomas will sail on the joides resolution for two months as she serves as co-chief scientist for expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate which will investigate the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography through a drilling transect in the far southern pacific ocean by leslie lee '09 " iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with vice president barteau and president young (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso) "the joides resolution is a ship operated like no other a drillship operated solely for the scientific research of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) the joides has circumnavigated the globe many times over and is capable of drilling six miles beneath the ocean surface all while serving as an international hub of unparalleled geoscience research data and collaboration and its operated and managed by texas a&m university through the college of geosciences after more than 10 years without a port call in the united states the busy joides resolution docked in san diego sept 15-22 providing a rare opportunity for non-expedition-members to tour the ship in-person and a delegation from aggieland leapt at the chance to step aboard the delegation included texas a&m president michael k young vice president for research dr mark a barteau vice president for government relations and strategic initiatives michael oquinn assistant vice president for government relations michael j hardy joy monroe manager of development operations in the office of the president dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas chair of the college of geosciences advisory council jill urban-karr iodp director dr brad clement hosted the delegations tour through the vessel sept 17 i want to express my gratitude to the many talented staff members – aboard the ship and here on campus – who work tirelessly to keep the spirit of exploration and discovery alive at texas a&m young said exploration and discovery is always a team effort and i would like to thank the many aggies who warmly welcomed us in san diego the joides resolution drills into the ocean floor to collect and study core samples and scientists use data from the ships expeditions to better understand climate change geology and earths history texas a&m has served as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) since 1985 it was such a thrill to be able to showcase some of the incredible science that only the jr can achieve thomas said it was truly amazing to see the jrso team at work during the san diego port call congratulations to dr brad clement for his exceptional leadership of the entire jrso team earlier this year the national science foundation (nsf) extended funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides as a facility of iodp through sept 30 2024 the new agreement totaled more than $350 million over 5 years and is the largest federal research award currently managed by texas a&m the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd (odl) which has extended the ships charter contract with the texas a&m research foundation through sept 30 2024" texas a&m geosciences dean thomas and vice president barteau aboard the joides resolution (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with the texas a&m delegation including geosciences dean thomas and president michael young (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso) the joides resolution at sunset at the dock in san diego (photo by: tobias höfig iodp jrso/)the joides resolution crew pulls the lines aboard at the departure from san diego (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso) "the upcoming expedition to the guaymas basin will advance our understanding of the limits of life in extreme environments to the processes that form ocean basins to the impact of tectonic events on global climate thomas said one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed in the iodp facility on the texas a&m campus as well as the technical support research and publication staff of the jrso the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications beginning in january 2020 thomas will sail on the joides resolution for two months as she serves as co-chief scientist for expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate which will investigate the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography through a drilling transect in the far southern pacific ocean by leslie lee '09" " julia reece named montague-center for teaching excellence scholarthe geology and geophysics assistant professor was awarded the prestigious award for impactful teachingoct 1 2019dr julia reecedr julia reece assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was named the 2019 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence (cte)  dr reece has earned her reputation as one of our best classroom instructors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head even for her students in large classes she has developed field trips hands-on activities and demonstrations to help students learn students appreciate how well-prepared and organized she is and that she shows passion for the subjects she teaches equally important students know that dr reece cares about them as individuals and works hard to help them succeed for the past 28 years each texas a&m academic college annually selects one tenure-track assistant professor to receive the prestigious montague-center for teaching excellence (mcte) scholar award the awardee is selected based on their ability commitment and interest in teaching undergraduates each montague-cte scholar receives a $6 500 grant to research and develop innovative teaching techniques the outcomes of these teaching developments continue to benefit the educational community by being made available to other texas a&m faculty through the cte  the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program started in 1991 and is named for the founding donor kenneth montague 37 the mcte program supports the endeavors of the cte to provide leadership and services that contribute to the improvement of teaching at texas a&m the center for teaching excellence exists to support the educational mission of texas a&m university through evidence-based professional development opportunities for both faculty and student success  by ali snell " "dr julia reece assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was named the 2019 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence (cte)  dr reece has earned her reputation as one of our best classroom instructors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head even for her students in large classes she has developed field trips hands-on activities and demonstrations to help students learn students appreciate how well-prepared and organized she is and that she shows passion for the subjects she teaches equally important students know that dr reece cares about them as individuals and works hard to help them succeed for the past 28 years each texas a&m academic college annually selects one tenure-track assistant professor to receive the prestigious montague-center for teaching excellence (mcte) scholar award the awardee is selected based on their ability commitment and interest in teaching undergraduates each montague-cte scholar receives a $6 500 grant to research and develop innovative teaching techniques the outcomes of these teaching developments continue to benefit the educational community by being made available to other texas a&m faculty through the cte  the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program started in 1991 and is named for the founding donor kenneth montague 37 the mcte program supports the endeavors of the cte to provide leadership and services that contribute to the improvement of teaching at texas a&m the center for teaching excellence exists to support the educational mission of texas a&m university through evidence-based professional development opportunities for both faculty and student success  by ali snell" " texas a&m study: humankind never co-existed with a high-carbon-dioxide atmosphere until 1965 texas a&m oceanographys yige zhang co-authored a new study that shows earths carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations averaged 230 parts per million for 25 million years; todays levels are about 410 parts per million sep 25 2019the loess plateau in central china researchers analyzed soil carbonates from the plateau to quantify ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (photo courtesy of jiawei da nanjing university)humans have never before lived with the high carbon-dioxide atmospheric conditions that have become the norm on earth in the last 60 years according to a new research study titled ""low co2 levels of the entire pleistocene epoch and published in nature communications today the study shows that for the entire 25 million years of the pleistocene era carbon dioxide concentrations averaged 230 parts per million todays levels are more than 410 parts per million in 1965 earths carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations exceeded 320 parts per million a high-point never reached in the past 25 million years this study shows according to this research from the first homo erectus which is currently dated to 21–18 million years ago until 1965 we have lived in a low-carbon-dioxide environment concentrations were less than 320 parts per million said dr yige zhang a co-author of the research study and an assistant professor in the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university so this current high-carbon-dioxide environment is not only an experiment for the climate and the environment its also an experiment for us for ourselves he said carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to the warming of earths atmosphere and is considered a driver of global climate change zhang explained its important to study atmospheric co2 (carbon dioxide) concentrations in the geological past because we know that there are already climate consequences and are going to be more climate consequences and one way to learn about those consequences is to look into earths history he said then we can see what kind of co2 levels did we have what did the climate look like and what was the relationship between them mr jiawei da dr xianqiang meng and dr junfeng ji all of nanjing university in china; and dr gen li of the california institute of technology co-authored the research  ancient soil reveals millions of years of data the scientists analyzed soil carbonates from the loess plateau in central china to quantify ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as far back as 25 million years ago climate scientists often use ice cores as the ‘gold standard in physical climate records zhang said but ice cores only cover the past 800 000 years analyzing pedogenic carbonates found in the ancient soil or paleosols from the loess plateau the scientists reconstructed the earths carbon dioxide levelsdr yige zhangthe loess plateau in central china (photo courtesy of jiawei da nanjing university)the loess plateau is an incredible place to look at aeolian or wind accumulation of dust and soil zhang said the earliest identified dust on that plateau is from 22 million years ago so it has extremely long records the layers of loess and paleosol there contain soil carbonates that record atmospheric carbon dioxide if we have very careful eyes to look at them specifically carbonates formed during soil formation generally reach carbon isotopic equilibrium with ambient soil co2 which is a mixture of atmospheric co2 and co2 produced by soil respiration through the application of a two-component mixing model we can reconstruct paleo-co2 levels using carbonates in fossil soils said nanjing universitys jiawei da reconstructing a carbon dioxide history for clues about our future using those materials and the techniques the researchers constructed a carbon dioxide history of the pleistocene our reconstructions show that for the entire pleistocene period carbon dioxide averaged around 230 parts per million which is the same as the last 800 000 years values zhang said our paleosol-based co2 estimates are in line with snapshots of early-pleistocene co2 retrieved from antarctic old blue ice suggesting that the earth system has been operating under low co2 levels throughout the pleistocene said dr junfeng ji of nanjing university we evolved in a low-carbon-dioxide environment zhang said and how humans will evolve and be affected by todays carbon-dioxide levels is yet to be seen by leslie lee '09 " the loess plateau in central china researchers analyzed soil carbonates from the plateau to quantify ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (photo courtesy of jiawei da nanjing university) "humans have never before lived with the high carbon-dioxide atmospheric conditions that have become the norm on earth in the last 60 years according to a new research study titled ""low co2 levels of the entire pleistocene epoch and published in nature communications today the study shows that for the entire 25 million years of the pleistocene era carbon dioxide concentrations averaged 230 parts per million todays levels are more than 410 parts per million in 1965 earths carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations exceeded 320 parts per million a high-point never reached in the past 25 million years this study shows according to this research from the first homo erectus which is currently dated to 21–18 million years ago until 1965 we have lived in a low-carbon-dioxide environment concentrations were less than 320 parts per million said dr yige zhang a co-author of the research study and an assistant professor in the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university so this current high-carbon-dioxide environment is not only an experiment for the climate and the environment its also an experiment for us for ourselves he said carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to the warming of earths atmosphere and is considered a driver of global climate change zhang explained its important to study atmospheric co2 (carbon dioxide) concentrations in the geological past because we know that there are already climate consequences and are going to be more climate consequences and one way to learn about those consequences is to look into earths history he said then we can see what kind of co2 levels did we have what did the climate look like and what was the relationship between them mr jiawei da dr xianqiang meng and dr junfeng ji all of nanjing university in china; and dr gen li of the california institute of technology co-authored the research  ancient soil reveals millions of years of data the scientists analyzed soil carbonates from the loess plateau in central china to quantify ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as far back as 25 million years ago climate scientists often use ice cores as the ‘gold standard in physical climate records zhang said but ice cores only cover the past 800 000 years analyzing pedogenic carbonates found in the ancient soil or paleosols from the loess plateau the scientists reconstructed the earths carbon dioxide levels" dr yige zhangthe loess plateau in central china (photo courtesy of jiawei da nanjing university) "the loess plateau is an incredible place to look at aeolian or wind accumulation of dust and soil zhang said the earliest identified dust on that plateau is from 22 million years ago so it has extremely long records the layers of loess and paleosol there contain soil carbonates that record atmospheric carbon dioxide if we have very careful eyes to look at them specifically carbonates formed during soil formation generally reach carbon isotopic equilibrium with ambient soil co2 which is a mixture of atmospheric co2 and co2 produced by soil respiration through the application of a two-component mixing model we can reconstruct paleo-co2 levels using carbonates in fossil soils said nanjing universitys jiawei da reconstructing a carbon dioxide history for clues about our future using those materials and the techniques the researchers constructed a carbon dioxide history of the pleistocene our reconstructions show that for the entire pleistocene period carbon dioxide averaged around 230 parts per million which is the same as the last 800 000 years values zhang said our paleosol-based co2 estimates are in line with snapshots of early-pleistocene co2 retrieved from antarctic old blue ice suggesting that the earth system has been operating under low co2 levels throughout the pleistocene said dr junfeng ji of nanjing university we evolved in a low-carbon-dioxide environment zhang said and how humans will evolve and be affected by todays carbon-dioxide levels is yet to be seen by leslie lee '09" " texas sea grant welcomes new extension agents for matagorda and calhoun counties nicole pilson and rj shelly are the newest coastal and marine resources extension agents to join texas sea grantsep 24 2019nicole pilsonrj shellytwo new coastal and marine resources extension agents nicole pilson and rj shelly have joined texas sea grant working with the communities in matagorda and calhoun county respectively they are jointly appointed with the texas a&m agrilife extension service before coming on board with texas sea grant pilson worked as a fish and wildlife technician with the coastal fisheries division of the texas parks and wildlife where her field station was charged with sampling and monitoring the fisheries of matagorda bay pilson is excited to work with the communities around matagorda bay and says she hopes to bring awareness to the vital resources of matagorda through various educational programs pilson obtained a bachelor of science in marine biology in 2014 from texas a&m university at galveston and in 2016 she graduated from texas state university with a master of education degree in student affairs in higher education over the past 25 years shelly has worked for the texas department of state health services seafood and aquatic life group where his main responsibilities involved shellfish classification from the san bernard river to mesquite bay he also currently holds a us coast guard captains license and has been a fishing guide in port oconnor since 1996 through texas sea grant he plans to provide training and assistance to recreational fishers and those in the oyster industry shelly is also a texas a&m former student having received his bachelors degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences from texas a&m university in college station in 1990 both pilson and shelly will bring expertise to help these communities with important marine and wildlife conservation efforts as well as help people better understand these vital habitats    by corley-ann parker " "two new coastal and marine resources extension agents nicole pilson and rj shelly have joined texas sea grant working with the communities in matagorda and calhoun county respectively they are jointly appointed with the texas a&m agrilife extension service before coming on board with texas sea grant pilson worked as a fish and wildlife technician with the coastal fisheries division of the texas parks and wildlife where her field station was charged with sampling and monitoring the fisheries of matagorda bay pilson is excited to work with the communities around matagorda bay and says she hopes to bring awareness to the vital resources of matagorda through various educational programs pilson obtained a bachelor of science in marine biology in 2014 from texas a&m university at galveston and in 2016 she graduated from texas state university with a master of education degree in student affairs in higher education over the past 25 years shelly has worked for the texas department of state health services seafood and aquatic life group where his main responsibilities involved shellfish classification from the san bernard river to mesquite bay he also currently holds a us coast guard captains license and has been a fishing guide in port oconnor since 1996 through texas sea grant he plans to provide training and assistance to recreational fishers and those in the oyster industry shelly is also a texas a&m former student having received his bachelors degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences from texas a&m university in college station in 1990 both pilson and shelly will bring expertise to help these communities with important marine and wildlife conservation efforts as well as help people better understand these vital habitats    by corley-ann parker" " casellas connors conducting nsf-funded human-wildlife interaction researchthe recently awarded nsf grant will fund a research team studying white-tailed deer populations and managementsep 18 2019dr john p casellas connorsdeer in a residential neighborhood in ithaca ny (photo by dr casellas connors)as human populations increase and change landscapes how does this change human-wildlife interactions as white-tailed deer roam suburbs across the nation how will their growing numbers affect people and forests how do communities go about making decisions about how to manage and live with these non-human residents  the national science foundations interdisciplinary cnh2 program recently funded a new research project that will examine those questions and more and dr john p casellas connors assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is a co-principal investigator on this research team many species of wildlife take up residence and even flourish alongside humans in urban and suburban environments casellas connors said as some wildlife populations increase in human-dominated landscapes people and animals interact in new and sometimes problematic ways  this interdisciplinary project will explore how communities decide to manage wildlife populations and what factors may affect the outcomes of these management efforts we are interested in how an array of human activities from gardening to hunting affect white-tailed deer populations in suburban landscapes and how myriad strategies may or may not succeed at altering deer populations he said the project will provide new approaches to estimating deer populations in suburban landscapes and offer insights into how communities make decisions about environmental management under great uncertainty  dr anne short gianotti associate professor of earth and environment at boston university will serve as principal investigator for the research team which also includes dr timothy van deelen professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the university of wisconsin-madison and dr randall boone professor of ecosystem science and sustainability at colorado state university by leslie lee 09 " dr john p casellas connorsdeer in a residential neighborhood in ithaca ny (photo by dr casellas connors) "as human populations increase and change landscapes how does this change human-wildlife interactions as white-tailed deer roam suburbs across the nation how will their growing numbers affect people and forests how do communities go about making decisions about how to manage and live with these non-human residents  the national science foundations interdisciplinary cnh2 program recently funded a new research project that will examine those questions and more and dr john p casellas connors assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is a co-principal investigator on this research team many species of wildlife take up residence and even flourish alongside humans in urban and suburban environments casellas connors said as some wildlife populations increase in human-dominated landscapes people and animals interact in new and sometimes problematic ways  this interdisciplinary project will explore how communities decide to manage wildlife populations and what factors may affect the outcomes of these management efforts we are interested in how an array of human activities from gardening to hunting affect white-tailed deer populations in suburban landscapes and how myriad strategies may or may not succeed at altering deer populations he said the project will provide new approaches to estimating deer populations in suburban landscapes and offer insights into how communities make decisions about environmental management under great uncertainty  dr anne short gianotti associate professor of earth and environment at boston university will serve as principal investigator for the research team which also includes dr timothy van deelen professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the university of wisconsin-madison and dr randall boone professor of ecosystem science and sustainability at colorado state university by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m geosciences announces 2019 distinguished achievement awards the awards will be presented to four outstanding geoscientists at the distinguished achievement awards gala oct 11sep 12 2019each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and receive their respective awards oct 11 at the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held at 6:30 pm at the georges statesman ballroom in college stationdr inda immega 71colonel david e bacot '90dr inda immega 71 dr inda immega 71 the first woman to graduate from texas a&m with an undergraduate geology degree is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after graduating from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geology in 1971 immega earned her masters in 1973 and phd in 1977 both from indiana university   a trailblazing mineralogist immega retired from shell e&p international ventures in 1999 after decades of service since then she has donated countless hours volunteering for the houston geological society and as a docent for the houston museum of natural science leading tours and sharing her passion for geology with thousands of visitors over the years from kindergarteners to heads of state  colonel david e bacot 90 colonel david e bacot '90 commander of the air force reserve officer training corp detachment 330 at the university of maryland has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award col bacot enlisted in the air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology today col bacot chairs the department of aerospace studies and directs and administers an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he is a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operationsdr dawn wrightdr elizabeth satterfielddr dawn wright 86 (ms) dr dawn wright chief scientist of esri has been awarded the geosciences innovator award wright aids in strengthening the scientific foundation for esri software and services while also representing esri to the national and international scientific community she also maintains an affiliated faculty appointment as a professor in the college of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at oregon state university wright holds an individual interdisciplinary phd in physical geography and marine geology from uc-santa barbara an ms in oceanography from texas a&m and a bs cum laude in geology from wheaton college a specialist in marine geology wright has authored and contributed to some of the most definitive literature on marine gis she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science the geological society of america and stanford university's leopold leadership program and she holds lifetime achievement awards from the american association of geographers and the geological society of america dr elizabeth satterfield 10 (phd) dr elizabeth satterfield has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award satterfield serves as a meteorologist at the us naval research laboratory (nrl) in monterey california she also serves as editor of the monthly weather review and chair of the american meteorological society (ams) committee on probability and statistics satterfield earned her phd in atmospheric science from texas a&m in 2010 and then joined the nrl marine meteorology division in july 2010 as a postdoctoral national research council research associate she became a meteorologist at nrl in october 2012 satterfield actively contributes to the us and international meteorology and atmospheric sciences communities through ams editorships ams committees and organizing conferences and symposiums for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09 " "each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and receive their respective awards oct 11 at the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held at 6:30 pm at the georges statesman ballroom in college station" "dr inda immega 71 dr inda immega 71 the first woman to graduate from texas a&m with an undergraduate geology degree is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal after graduating from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geology in 1971 immega earned her masters in 1973 and phd in 1977 both from indiana university   a trailblazing mineralogist immega retired from shell e&p international ventures in 1999 after decades of service since then she has donated countless hours volunteering for the houston geological society and as a docent for the houston museum of natural science leading tours and sharing her passion for geology with thousands of visitors over the years from kindergarteners to heads of state  colonel david e bacot 90 colonel david e bacot '90 commander of the air force reserve officer training corp detachment 330 at the university of maryland has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award col bacot enlisted in the air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology today col bacot chairs the department of aerospace studies and directs and administers an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he is a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operations" "dr dawn wright 86 (ms) dr dawn wright chief scientist of esri has been awarded the geosciences innovator award wright aids in strengthening the scientific foundation for esri software and services while also representing esri to the national and international scientific community she also maintains an affiliated faculty appointment as a professor in the college of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at oregon state university wright holds an individual interdisciplinary phd in physical geography and marine geology from uc-santa barbara an ms in oceanography from texas a&m and a bs cum laude in geology from wheaton college a specialist in marine geology wright has authored and contributed to some of the most definitive literature on marine gis she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science the geological society of america and stanford university's leopold leadership program and she holds lifetime achievement awards from the american association of geographers and the geological society of america dr elizabeth satterfield 10 (phd) dr elizabeth satterfield has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award satterfield serves as a meteorologist at the us naval research laboratory (nrl) in monterey california she also serves as editor of the monthly weather review and chair of the american meteorological society (ams) committee on probability and statistics satterfield earned her phd in atmospheric science from texas a&m in 2010 and then joined the nrl marine meteorology division in july 2010 as a postdoctoral national research council research associate she became a meteorologist at nrl in october 2012 satterfield actively contributes to the us and international meteorology and atmospheric sciences communities through ams editorships ams committees and organizing conferences and symposiums for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09" " three geosciences faculty named center directorseach of the centers is conducting critical research and is housed within the college of geosciencessep 12 2019dr sarah brooksdr ping changdr john nielsen-gammonthree faculty members in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university have recently been named directors of research centers department of atmospheric sciences professor dr sarah brooks has been named director of the center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) an interdisciplinary center cace aims to facilitate collaborative laboratory and field research projects with faculty members across campus addressing the roles of atmospheric chemistry in fundamental chemical processes environmental threats resulting from climate change the exploration of new technologies and mitigation strategies to reduce the impacts of climate change as well as chemical aspects of air quality and human health cace also now houses a state-of-the-art micro-pulse lidar that is available to the campus science community for on and off campus field measurements lidar which stands for light detection and ranging uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to generate vertical maps of aerosol and cloud properties  professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography dr ping chang has been named director of the international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) this new laboratory seeks to develop a new advanced modeling framework for high-resolution multiscale earth system predictions and provide reliable information at both global and regional scales taking full advantage of the combined expertise of three world-class institutions: qingdao pilot national laboratory for marine science and technology (qnlm) texas a&m and national center for atmospheric research (ncar) regents professor in atmospheric sciences and texas state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon has been named director of the texas center for climate studies (tccs) the mission of tccs is to initiate encourage and support climate-related programs in research education service and outreach particularly as they relate to improving the quality of life and economic health of residents of the state of texas the center advances understanding of why and how the climate is changing and what those changes will mean for the state of texas it promotes translational research that takes what we learn from climate models and puts it into the hands of those who need it finally tccs takes an active role in communicating information about climate change and its potential impacts to the public by leslie lee 09 " "three faculty members in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university have recently been named directors of research centers department of atmospheric sciences professor dr sarah brooks has been named director of the center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) an interdisciplinary center cace aims to facilitate collaborative laboratory and field research projects with faculty members across campus addressing the roles of atmospheric chemistry in fundamental chemical processes environmental threats resulting from climate change the exploration of new technologies and mitigation strategies to reduce the impacts of climate change as well as chemical aspects of air quality and human health cace also now houses a state-of-the-art micro-pulse lidar that is available to the campus science community for on and off campus field measurements lidar which stands for light detection and ranging uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to generate vertical maps of aerosol and cloud properties  professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography dr ping chang has been named director of the international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) this new laboratory seeks to develop a new advanced modeling framework for high-resolution multiscale earth system predictions and provide reliable information at both global and regional scales taking full advantage of the combined expertise of three world-class institutions: qingdao pilot national laboratory for marine science and technology (qnlm) texas a&m and national center for atmospheric research (ncar) regents professor in atmospheric sciences and texas state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon has been named director of the texas center for climate studies (tccs) the mission of tccs is to initiate encourage and support climate-related programs in research education service and outreach particularly as they relate to improving the quality of life and economic health of residents of the state of texas the center advances understanding of why and how the climate is changing and what those changes will mean for the state of texas it promotes translational research that takes what we learn from climate models and puts it into the hands of those who need it finally tccs takes an active role in communicating information about climate change and its potential impacts to the public by leslie lee 09" " julie newman appointed geology and geophysics department headshe began serving as department head sept 1 2019sep 10 2019dr julie newman professor and head of the department of geology and geophysicsthe college of geosciences at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the appointment of dr julie newman as the new head of the department of geology and geophysics newman brings to this position her comprehensive leadership experience deep knowledge of the department of geology and geophysics and a forward-looking perspective for the department we are so thrilled that dr newman is taking on the critical role of department head said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas she is a trailblazing researcher in structural geology and tectonics a gifted educator and as the first woman ever to lead the department of geology and geophysics we add selfless leader to her growing list of accolades we know the department will continue to thrive and become a top program in the nation under dr newmans leadership newman has been with the college of geosciences for over 20 years an expert in her field newman has spent her career researching the strength and behavior of the earths lithospheric layers and mountain-building processes she has been a principal investigator on numerous national science foundation grants and is highly regarded by her peers in academia newman is also recognized as an exceptional educator in 2010 she was designated as a texas a&m montague - center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences her continued dedication to educating both undergraduate and graduate students ensures the next generation is passionate about geology and geophysics newman succeeds dr michael pope who had served as head of the department since 2015 thomas commended pope for his leadership of the department  selfless service and leading ""an absolutely transformational redesign of the undergraduate curriculum which quickly is gaining national recognition as a model for modern undergraduate training and development"" pope is looking forward to returning to full-time research and teaching by stephanie taylor 10 " dr julie newman professor and head of the department of geology and geophysics "the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is pleased to announce the appointment of dr julie newman as the new head of the department of geology and geophysics newman brings to this position her comprehensive leadership experience deep knowledge of the department of geology and geophysics and a forward-looking perspective for the department we are so thrilled that dr newman is taking on the critical role of department head said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas she is a trailblazing researcher in structural geology and tectonics a gifted educator and as the first woman ever to lead the department of geology and geophysics we add selfless leader to her growing list of accolades we know the department will continue to thrive and become a top program in the nation under dr newmans leadership newman has been with the college of geosciences for over 20 years an expert in her field newman has spent her career researching the strength and behavior of the earths lithospheric layers and mountain-building processes she has been a principal investigator on numerous national science foundation grants and is highly regarded by her peers in academia newman is also recognized as an exceptional educator in 2010 she was designated as a texas a&m montague - center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences her continued dedication to educating both undergraduate and graduate students ensures the next generation is passionate about geology and geophysics newman succeeds dr michael pope who had served as head of the department since 2015 thomas commended pope for his leadership of the department  selfless service and leading ""an absolutely transformational redesign of the undergraduate curriculum which quickly is gaining national recognition as a model for modern undergraduate training and development"" pope is looking forward to returning to full-time research and teaching by stephanie taylor 10" " luckily hurricanes like dorian are very raredr robert korty offers analysis on hurricane dorian and worldwide trends in hurricane intensitiessep 4 2019in this noaa goes-east satellite handout image hurricane dorian tracks towards the florida coast; image taken at 13:20z september 1 2019 in the atlantic ocean (photo courtesy of noaa via getty images) as hurricane dorian stalled over the bahamas sept 1-2 the storm produced wind gusts of over 200 miles per hour for more than a day and caused widespread destruction but dr robert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university says that category 5 hurricanes – the most severe and the status dorian attained – dont happen very often in the atlantic category 5 storms are rare korty said dorian was only the 27th atlantic storm to reach category 5 level in the last 70 years but worldwide there has been growth in the small number that reach extreme intensities according to figures from national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) of the 10 most intense atlantic hurricanes on record 7 of them occurred in the last 20 years or so these include maria (2017) dean (2007) katrina (2005) rita (2005) wilma (2005) mitch (1998) and dorian the others are camille (1969) the labor day hurricane of 1935 and gilbert (1988) dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (gusts over 200 mph) and this puts it in elite company tying it with two others for the second strongest ever measured in the atlantic korty said korty said that in addition to its immense power another aspect that led to the destruction in the bahamas was that the storm stalled and pounded the same land for more than a day resulting in catastrophic damage great abaco and grand bahama islands we have seen the average speeds at which hurricanes move trend slower over the last several decades but we are not completely certain why he said we believe there are connections to larger climate changes but this is a question we need to better understand when storms stall their punishing impacts are compounded harvey and dorian are graphic illustrations of these korty also noted that he doesnt think ideas about storm modification are feasible people sometimes ask if there anything we can do to prevent these strong storms from happening he said in my opinion none of the ideas raised over the last 60 years would be viable effective or wise korty added that advances to weather models and our confidence in them have improved the accuracy of forecasted tracks for storms like dorian it is remarkable to me that a category 5 hurricane sat less than 200 miles east of south florida yet there was sufficient confidence in the forecast to know that hurricane warnings were unnecessary for miami he said that wouldnt have been possible 20 years ago and that is a remarkable achievement for our field by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications " in this noaa goes-east satellite handout image hurricane dorian tracks towards the florida coast; image taken at 13:20z september 1 2019 in the atlantic ocean (photo courtesy of noaa via getty images) " as hurricane dorian stalled over the bahamas sept 1-2 the storm produced wind gusts of over 200 miles per hour for more than a day and caused widespread destruction but dr robert korty associate professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university says that category 5 hurricanes – the most severe and the status dorian attained – dont happen very often in the atlantic category 5 storms are rare korty said dorian was only the 27th atlantic storm to reach category 5 level in the last 70 years but worldwide there has been growth in the small number that reach extreme intensities according to figures from national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) of the 10 most intense atlantic hurricanes on record 7 of them occurred in the last 20 years or so these include maria (2017) dean (2007) katrina (2005) rita (2005) wilma (2005) mitch (1998) and dorian the others are camille (1969) the labor day hurricane of 1935 and gilbert (1988) dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (gusts over 200 mph) and this puts it in elite company tying it with two others for the second strongest ever measured in the atlantic korty said korty said that in addition to its immense power another aspect that led to the destruction in the bahamas was that the storm stalled and pounded the same land for more than a day resulting in catastrophic damage great abaco and grand bahama islands we have seen the average speeds at which hurricanes move trend slower over the last several decades but we are not completely certain why he said we believe there are connections to larger climate changes but this is a question we need to better understand when storms stall their punishing impacts are compounded harvey and dorian are graphic illustrations of these korty also noted that he doesnt think ideas about storm modification are feasible people sometimes ask if there anything we can do to prevent these strong storms from happening he said in my opinion none of the ideas raised over the last 60 years would be viable effective or wise korty added that advances to weather models and our confidence in them have improved the accuracy of forecasted tracks for storms like dorian it is remarkable to me that a category 5 hurricane sat less than 200 miles east of south florida yet there was sufficient confidence in the forecast to know that hurricane warnings were unnecessary for miami he said that wouldnt have been possible 20 years ago and that is a remarkable achievement for our field by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications " " geography researchers analyze the past with cave stalagmitesundergraduate students have helped study calcite in caves to evaluate southern great plains climatologysep 4 2019a years worth of stalagmite calcite growth (photo courtesy of dr christopher maupin)undergraduate students collecting monitoring samples and data in the cave (photo courtesy of dr christopher maupin)dr christopher maupin a research associate in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been travelling since 2015 to williamson county texas where he has been utilizing caves to study climate in the southern great plains region working in collaboration with environmental consulting firms swca and cambrian  environmental which provide surveys and evaluations for the county the texas a&m team was granted access to work on a private land preserve to conduct research in the caves the williamson county conservation foundation supports this work both logistically and financially in hopes that they can find out what has happened in the past to the hydroclimate of their region maupin said a critical data gap to fill after the 2018 national climate assessment report was released and noted that the climate of the southern great plains was very uncertain and research of the region needed to be a higher priority it made people more aware of that need he said its something that the national climate assessment report has asked us as a community to do maupin said were trying to figure out what kind of variability the climate system in the southern great plains is capable of by studying water isotopes in caves the team is able to reconstruct through time the history of the isotopes before the preindustrial era maupin travels two and a half hours to the cave to collect and record data along with undergraduate students from environmental programs in the college of geosciences who help conduct the research dr brendan roark environmental programs director has been proactive and supportive of this project maupin said this work is very conducive to undergraduate research and connects students with projects that align with their academic plans during the teams most recent trip in may of 2019 two students who are currently research assistants in the stable isotope geosciences facility conducted research nearly independently with maupin's supervision i want to at the very earliest possible point in their scientific endeavor instill them with the understanding that they should be free and encouraged to use their creativity to look at scientific problems he said these hands-on research opportunities provide a jump start for that allowing students to do real science with intellectual freedom helping them understand what science really is he said why paleoclimate matters the southern great plains is an important region to study because it is made of a huge population of highly water-stressed individuals and economies maupin said the storms in the southern great plains are among the strongest by latometrics; however their spatial scale is small and the current global climate models do not have small enough grid cells to accurately simulate them and there is a large amount of uncertainty on what these storms will do if we know what isotope values each different storm type can produce then we can really say ‘okay we have a probability here of what kind of storms these were what kind of storms these were that dominated whenever these cave deposits were growing to fix the scale issue maupin said that there are two proposed strategies: making the models finer scale and using paleoclimate to evaluate past climate to pinpoint how much variability the southern great plains climatology is capable of when youre trying to build a house you use many different tools and when youre trying to understand the climate system you use many different tools stalagmites are one of those tools we dont know what the system is capable of doing and were trying to reduce the uncertainties there he said by studying the past they can deduce and evaluate similarities in the past and how the climate might or might not react in the future given similar circumstances its an interdisciplinary effort wrapped around a very tight but important scientific question and that is: how are we going to handle the next 30-100 years what are we going to have to weather can we reduce the uncertainty of that conducting research in cave sites twice a year the team travels to the cave to collect monitoring samples and data the stalagmite they were granted permission to collect in 2016 dates back 400 000 years and theyre hoping that by analyzing it they can have a strong understanding of what happened over the last several glacial interglacial cycles here in the southern great plains since the cave is located on private protected land containing multiple endangered species the texas a&m researchers coordinate with the williamson county conservation foundation and united states fish and wildlife services-permitted contractors cambrian environmental and swca we coordinate with them and were all there at the same time were all there together to make sure theres minimal disturbance and impact maupin said weve had temperature loggers in the cave ever since we started using this data and by measuring the stable isotope concentrations in calcite they can reconstruct the history of the water isotopes as they enter the caves during and following storms so were looking at how the isotopic evolution of texas has changed and been controlled and been tugged on by things like ice ages or orbital forcing or abrupt climate change because of the incredible importance of storms to our livelihoods in the southern great plains on these trips the students are tasked with collecting calcite farmed on glass plates collecting drip water documenting meta data and ensuring the cave is operating as expected maupin hopes that through paleoclimate research they can use the past to understand as much about the present as we can and proactively plan for the future by amanda hoth '21   " a years worth of stalagmite calcite growth (photo courtesy of dr christopher maupin)undergraduate students collecting monitoring samples and data in the cave (photo courtesy of dr christopher maupin) "dr christopher maupin a research associate in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been travelling since 2015 to williamson county texas where he has been utilizing caves to study climate in the southern great plains region working in collaboration with environmental consulting firms swca and cambrian  environmental which provide surveys and evaluations for the county the texas a&m team was granted access to work on a private land preserve to conduct research in the caves the williamson county conservation foundation supports this work both logistically and financially in hopes that they can find out what has happened in the past to the hydroclimate of their region maupin said a critical data gap to fill after the 2018 national climate assessment report was released and noted that the climate of the southern great plains was very uncertain and research of the region needed to be a higher priority it made people more aware of that need he said its something that the national climate assessment report has asked us as a community to do maupin said were trying to figure out what kind of variability the climate system in the southern great plains is capable of by studying water isotopes in caves the team is able to reconstruct through time the history of the isotopes before the preindustrial era maupin travels two and a half hours to the cave to collect and record data along with undergraduate students from environmental programs in the college of geosciences who help conduct the research dr brendan roark environmental programs director has been proactive and supportive of this project maupin said this work is very conducive to undergraduate research and connects students with projects that align with their academic plans during the teams most recent trip in may of 2019 two students who are currently research assistants in the stable isotope geosciences facility conducted research nearly independently with maupin's supervision i want to at the very earliest possible point in their scientific endeavor instill them with the understanding that they should be free and encouraged to use their creativity to look at scientific problems he said these hands-on research opportunities provide a jump start for that allowing students to do real science with intellectual freedom helping them understand what science really is he said why paleoclimate matters the southern great plains is an important region to study because it is made of a huge population of highly water-stressed individuals and economies maupin said the storms in the southern great plains are among the strongest by latometrics; however their spatial scale is small and the current global climate models do not have small enough grid cells to accurately simulate them and there is a large amount of uncertainty on what these storms will do if we know what isotope values each different storm type can produce then we can really say ‘okay we have a probability here of what kind of storms these were what kind of storms these were that dominated whenever these cave deposits were growing to fix the scale issue maupin said that there are two proposed strategies: making the models finer scale and using paleoclimate to evaluate past climate to pinpoint how much variability the southern great plains climatology is capable of when youre trying to build a house you use many different tools and when youre trying to understand the climate system you use many different tools stalagmites are one of those tools we dont know what the system is capable of doing and were trying to reduce the uncertainties there he said by studying the past they can deduce and evaluate similarities in the past and how the climate might or might not react in the future given similar circumstances its an interdisciplinary effort wrapped around a very tight but important scientific question and that is: how are we going to handle the next 30-100 years what are we going to have to weather can we reduce the uncertainty of that conducting research in cave sites twice a year the team travels to the cave to collect monitoring samples and data the stalagmite they were granted permission to collect in 2016 dates back 400 000 years and theyre hoping that by analyzing it they can have a strong understanding of what happened over the last several glacial interglacial cycles here in the southern great plains since the cave is located on private protected land containing multiple endangered species the texas a&m researchers coordinate with the williamson county conservation foundation and united states fish and wildlife services-permitted contractors cambrian environmental and swca we coordinate with them and were all there at the same time were all there together to make sure theres minimal disturbance and impact maupin said weve had temperature loggers in the cave ever since we started using this data and by measuring the stable isotope concentrations in calcite they can reconstruct the history of the water isotopes as they enter the caves during and following storms so were looking at how the isotopic evolution of texas has changed and been controlled and been tugged on by things like ice ages or orbital forcing or abrupt climate change because of the incredible importance of storms to our livelihoods in the southern great plains on these trips the students are tasked with collecting calcite farmed on glass plates collecting drip water documenting meta data and ensuring the cave is operating as expected maupin hopes that through paleoclimate research they can use the past to understand as much about the present as we can and proactively plan for the future by amanda hoth '21  " " jessica fitzsimmons awarded early-career research fellowship by national academies gulf research programthe texas a&m oceanography assistant professor is one of twenty scientists awarded 2019 early-career research fellowships by the national academies gulf research programsep 3 2019dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of oceanography has been named a recipient of a 2019 early-career research fellowship from the gulf research program of the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine now in its fifth year the fellowship program supports the development of emerging scientific leaders who are prepared to work at the intersections of environmental health community health and resilience and offshore energy system safety in the gulf of mexico and other us coastal regions twenty scientists in total received 2019 fellowships dr fitzsimmons is a stellar researcher whose research has an impact on the gulf of mexico and the broader ocean sciences community said dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography department head she conducts high-profile research focusing on the speciation and transformation of trace metals and their isotopes in the ocean and she has shown her ability to be a leader in her field through her extensive work with the international geotraces program and her work on the fate and transport of metals in galveston bay she is also a strong mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students the gulf research programs early-career research fellowship helps early-career researchers during the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers according to the program fellows are provided with a $76 000 financial award along with mentoring support to help them navigate this period with independence flexibility and a built-in support network the support allows them to take risks on research ideas pursue unique collaborations and build a network of colleagues who share their interest in improving offshore energy system safety and the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems the fellowships are awarded to individuals who demonstrate a strong scientific or technical background superior scholarship effective communication skills and an ability to work across disciplines among other attributes nearly 70 early-career fellowships have been awarded since 2015 applications for 2020 early-career fellowships will open in early december the national academies' gulf research program is an independent science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster it seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science practice and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the gulf of mexico region and the nation the program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund studies projects and other activities in the areas of research and development education and training and monitoring and synthesis  the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine are private nonprofit institutions that provide independent objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science technology and medicine the academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the national academy by leslie lee 09 in collaboration with the gulf research program " "dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of oceanography has been named a recipient of a 2019 early-career research fellowship from the gulf research program of the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine now in its fifth year the fellowship program supports the development of emerging scientific leaders who are prepared to work at the intersections of environmental health community health and resilience and offshore energy system safety in the gulf of mexico and other us coastal regions twenty scientists in total received 2019 fellowships dr fitzsimmons is a stellar researcher whose research has an impact on the gulf of mexico and the broader ocean sciences community said dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography department head she conducts high-profile research focusing on the speciation and transformation of trace metals and their isotopes in the ocean and she has shown her ability to be a leader in her field through her extensive work with the international geotraces program and her work on the fate and transport of metals in galveston bay she is also a strong mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students the gulf research programs early-career research fellowship helps early-career researchers during the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers according to the program fellows are provided with a $76 000 financial award along with mentoring support to help them navigate this period with independence flexibility and a built-in support network the support allows them to take risks on research ideas pursue unique collaborations and build a network of colleagues who share their interest in improving offshore energy system safety and the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems the fellowships are awarded to individuals who demonstrate a strong scientific or technical background superior scholarship effective communication skills and an ability to work across disciplines among other attributes nearly 70 early-career fellowships have been awarded since 2015 applications for 2020 early-career fellowships will open in early december the national academies' gulf research program is an independent science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster it seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science practice and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the gulf of mexico region and the nation the program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund studies projects and other activities in the areas of research and development education and training and monitoring and synthesis  the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine are private nonprofit institutions that provide independent objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science technology and medicine the academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the national academy by leslie lee 09 in collaboration with the gulf research program" " national academy of sciences president marcia mcnutt receives honorary degree from texas a&mthe college of geosciences hosted mcnutts visit and aug 9 public presentationsep 3 2019at texas a&ms aug 9 commencement ceremony: dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas nas president dr marcia mcnutt and university president michael k young (photo courtesy of texas a&m)at texas a&ms aug 9 commencement ceremony: dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas nas president dr marcia mcnutt dean of faculties and associate provost dr blanca lupiani and university president michael k young (photo courtesy of texas a&m)national academy of sciences president dr marcia mcnutt received an honorary doctor of letters degree at the texas a&m university aug 9 commencement ceremony for her extraordinary contributions and leadership in the sciences mcnutt received the doctorate during the second of two ceremonies that day in college station with texas a&m awarding nearly 2 200 degrees collectively from college station galveston doha qatar and academic programs at sites across texas  this was an initiative and ultimately this event was literally three years in the making said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas three years ago i penned a nomination for someone who at the time i believed had done more for the advancement of science than practically anyone anywhere and shes only achieved more since!  dr mcnutt is one of the most brilliant scientists and one of the most gifted ambassadors for all of science that this nation has ever known period thomas added but through her accomplishments that have advanced global understandings of critical geophysical processes and through her path into and through critical leadership roles dr mcnutt has advanced the cause of equity and diversity in science and has empowered a generation to pursue careers not just in geosciences but in all the sciences  mcnutt was elected president of the national academy of sciences (nas) the united states governments top science advisory organization in 2016 becoming the first woman to hold the position at nas she has focused on improving ethics in science and promoting women in the field  after a breakfast with students aug 9 the college of geosciences hosted mcnutts public presentation how evidence makes a difference: one hundred and fifty-six years of serving the nation i have had opportunities to visit texas a&m over the years through my involvement with the ocean drilling program mcnutt said during the presentation however this visit to receive an honorary award and participate in commencement gave me the first true insight into the unique and caring culture that binds alums to this institution for the rest of their lives i could not be prouder to be an honorary aggie!nas president dr marcia mcnutt giving a presentation in the historic halbouty building at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee college of geosciences)dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and nas president dr marcia mcnutt (photo by leslie lee college of geosciences)her record of seminal research contributions to marine geophysics and in particular our understanding of continental and oceanic isostasy (the process by which loading on the crust is compensated by the buoyancy of the denser mantle) has had profound implications on our understanding of how the follow of the mantle under different crustal loads affects global changes in sea level and the development of basins at the surface of the earth equally inspiring is her record of accomplishment through scientific leadership: she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (1998) the american geophysical union (agu) (1988) the geological society of america (1998) and the international association of geodesy becoming a renowned leader in science mcnutts academic preparation and early career trajectory laid the foundation for a transformative body of scholarship and transformative leadership within the sciences she earned her ba in physics from colorado college in 1973 followed by her phd in earth sciences from scripps institution of oceanography in 1978 after completing her dissertation work she joined the faculty as a visiting assistant professor at the university of minnesota 1978-1979 she then became a geophysicist at the united states geological survey (usgs) office of earthquake studies 1979-1982 from usgs she joined the faculty at the massachusetts institute of technology (mit) in the department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences as an assistant professor 1982-1986 followed by associate professor 1986-1989 and then professor 1989-1998 and holder of the griswold professor of geophysics  after serving at mit mcnutt became the president/ceo of the monterrey bay aquarium research institute (mbari) from 1997 to 2009 during her tenure at the helm of mbari mcnutt expanded the institutes ability to address the societally compelling high-risk/high-reward and highly interdisciplinary research challenges that traditionally have been difficult to fund through federal agencies dr mcnutt also promoted the mission of mbari as an innovator of technology that could be transferred to the broader oceanographic community  in 2009 president obama appointed mcnutt as the director of usgs where she served from 2009 to 2013 her eventful term at the usgs spanned the challenges of the 2010 deepwater horizon tragedy major earthquakes in haiti and chile the california water crisis and the volcanic eruption in iceland that crippled international air travel in 2013 mcnutt assumed the position of editor in chief of the prestigious journal science and in 2016 she moved into her current appointment as the president of the national academy of sciences  a distinguished career  in addition to her long list of major society fellowships mcnutt also has earned many of the highest honors in geosciences  in 1988 she was awarded the macelwane medal by agu for seminal contributions by an early career scholar and in 2007 she was awarded the ewing medal for significant original contributions to the scientific understanding of the processes in the ocean; for the advancement of oceanographic engineering technology and instrumentation; or outstanding service to marine science  mcnutt holds honorary degrees from the colorado school of mines (2011) monmouth university (2010) the university of minnesota (2004) and colorado college (1988) watch her full presentation here:     by robyn blackmon " at texas a&ms aug 9 commencement ceremony: dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas nas president dr marcia mcnutt and university president michael k young (photo courtesy of texas a&m)at texas a&ms aug 9 commencement ceremony: dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas nas president dr marcia mcnutt dean of faculties and associate provost dr blanca lupiani and university president michael k young (photo courtesy of texas a&m) "national academy of sciences president dr marcia mcnutt received an honorary doctor of letters degree at the texas a&m university aug 9 commencement ceremony for her extraordinary contributions and leadership in the sciences mcnutt received the doctorate during the second of two ceremonies that day in college station with texas a&m awarding nearly 2 200 degrees collectively from college station galveston doha qatar and academic programs at sites across texas  this was an initiative and ultimately this event was literally three years in the making said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas three years ago i penned a nomination for someone who at the time i believed had done more for the advancement of science than practically anyone anywhere and shes only achieved more since!  dr mcnutt is one of the most brilliant scientists and one of the most gifted ambassadors for all of science that this nation has ever known period thomas added but through her accomplishments that have advanced global understandings of critical geophysical processes and through her path into and through critical leadership roles dr mcnutt has advanced the cause of equity and diversity in science and has empowered a generation to pursue careers not just in geosciences but in all the sciences  mcnutt was elected president of the national academy of sciences (nas) the united states governments top science advisory organization in 2016 becoming the first woman to hold the position at nas she has focused on improving ethics in science and promoting women in the field  after a breakfast with students aug 9 the college of geosciences hosted mcnutts public presentation how evidence makes a difference: one hundred and fifty-six years of serving the nation i have had opportunities to visit texas a&m over the years through my involvement with the ocean drilling program mcnutt said during the presentation however this visit to receive an honorary award and participate in commencement gave me the first true insight into the unique and caring culture that binds alums to this institution for the rest of their lives i could not be prouder to be an honorary aggie!" nas president dr marcia mcnutt giving a presentation in the historic halbouty building at texas a&m (photo by leslie lee college of geosciences)dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and nas president dr marcia mcnutt (photo by leslie lee college of geosciences) "her record of seminal research contributions to marine geophysics and in particular our understanding of continental and oceanic isostasy (the process by which loading on the crust is compensated by the buoyancy of the denser mantle) has had profound implications on our understanding of how the follow of the mantle under different crustal loads affects global changes in sea level and the development of basins at the surface of the earth equally inspiring is her record of accomplishment through scientific leadership: she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (1998) the american geophysical union (agu) (1988) the geological society of america (1998) and the international association of geodesy becoming a renowned leader in science mcnutts academic preparation and early career trajectory laid the foundation for a transformative body of scholarship and transformative leadership within the sciences she earned her ba in physics from colorado college in 1973 followed by her phd in earth sciences from scripps institution of oceanography in 1978 after completing her dissertation work she joined the faculty as a visiting assistant professor at the university of minnesota 1978-1979 she then became a geophysicist at the united states geological survey (usgs) office of earthquake studies 1979-1982 from usgs she joined the faculty at the massachusetts institute of technology (mit) in the department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences as an assistant professor 1982-1986 followed by associate professor 1986-1989 and then professor 1989-1998 and holder of the griswold professor of geophysics  after serving at mit mcnutt became the president/ceo of the monterrey bay aquarium research institute (mbari) from 1997 to 2009 during her tenure at the helm of mbari mcnutt expanded the institutes ability to address the societally compelling high-risk/high-reward and highly interdisciplinary research challenges that traditionally have been difficult to fund through federal agencies dr mcnutt also promoted the mission of mbari as an innovator of technology that could be transferred to the broader oceanographic community  in 2009 president obama appointed mcnutt as the director of usgs where she served from 2009 to 2013 her eventful term at the usgs spanned the challenges of the 2010 deepwater horizon tragedy major earthquakes in haiti and chile the california water crisis and the volcanic eruption in iceland that crippled international air travel in 2013 mcnutt assumed the position of editor in chief of the prestigious journal science and in 2016 she moved into her current appointment as the president of the national academy of sciences  a distinguished career  in addition to her long list of major society fellowships mcnutt also has earned many of the highest honors in geosciences  in 1988 she was awarded the macelwane medal by agu for seminal contributions by an early career scholar and in 2007 she was awarded the ewing medal for significant original contributions to the scientific understanding of the processes in the ocean; for the advancement of oceanographic engineering technology and instrumentation; or outstanding service to marine science  mcnutt holds honorary degrees from the colorado school of mines (2011) monmouth university (2010) the university of minnesota (2004) and colorado college (1988) watch her full presentation here:     by robyn blackmon" " texas a&m team finds new ways for coral reef ecosystems to growresearchers examined particulate organic matter and how it affects declining coral reefs in hawaiiaug 30 2019aerial view of kualoa point and chinamans hat at kaneohe bay oahu hawaii (photo from getty images)for the first time a team of scientists that includes three texas a&m university researchers have found that microscopic oceanic organisms are important for coral reef growth and sustaining these vital ecosystems the team which includes texas a&ms dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor and former phd student dr andrea kealoha both from the department of oceanography and dr brendan roark associate professor in the department of geography have had their work published in geophysical research letters  part of the american geophysical union other collaborators are from the university of california irvine woods hole oceanographic institution national oceanic and atmospheric administration and the hawaii institute of marine biology the researchers examined hawaiis kāneʻohe bay barrier reef and microscopic particles called particulate organic matter or pom which includes phytoplankton their results suggest that pom from the open ocean helps provide energy for a coral reef ecosystem to grow an important distinction that we make in this paper is that we are looking at oceanic pom that comes from offshore and is brought onto the reef by currents and waves shamberger said coral reef organisms make a lot of pom that the reef feeds on and it has been known for a long time that feeding on ‘reef pom is important for keeping the reef ecosystem healthy she said more recent studies have shown that coral reefs also feed on ‘oceanic pom and what is new here is that our results show this external food source might be helping the reef grow  we used carbon isotopes to distinguish between oceanic pom and reef pom calcification is the process by which marine organisms make calcium carbonate skeletons and shells calcification (mainly by corals and coralline algae) is what builds the three-dimensional structures of coral reefs that provide the habitat for the entire ecosystem coral reefs are constantly being eroded and broken down by waves currents and reef organisms shamberger said the reef has to calcify fast enough to maintain the reef structure under all of these destructive processes so faster calcification can be beneficial for the ecosystem in many areas of the ocean the calcification of corals and other organisms creates reefs that protect coastal communities produce attractive white sand beaches and create habitats for thousands of species that live on coral reefs coral reefs often serve as an indicator of healthy ocean conditions studies show that even though they cover less than 1 percent of the ocean coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and are home to at least one-fourth of all marine life the leading researcher on the paper andrea kealoha currently of the university of hawaii-maui said that the more oceanic pom that is supplied to the reef the more food the reef has to consume and the more it calcifies a couple studies have hypothesized that this is the case and when we feed corals pom in the lab they calcify more however our work is the first study to show this is happening in the field keahola  said shamberger said that previous studies have shown that climate change is an important factor in the decline of coral reefs the studies show that climate change is already harming coral reefs especially through ocean warming but also from other climate change effects including ocean acidification and storm intensification she said another effect on the ocean is that climate change is making the surface waters in parts of the open ocean less productive fewer nutrients are making it to the surface of the open ocean and this means fewer phytoplankton are able to grow since phytoplankton are the base of the food web in the ocean fewer of them means fewer of everything else from other plankton to fish etc shamberger said shamberger said the study shows that coral reefs may also need phytoplankton from the open ocean (oceanic pom) to calcify and grow fast enough to maintain the reef structure and thus the entire ecosystem she said it proves that climate change causing a decrease in open ocean productivity could also result in slowing coral reef growth adding to the many stressors coral reefs are under alternatively coral reefs that have a plentiful supply of oceanic pom may be able to maintain their growth better under climate change stressors shamberger also noted that the big picture of the study is twofold: first to understand the sensitivity of coral reefs to climate change researchers have to study the nearby open ocean in addition to coral reef waters; and second the results may help coral reef researchers identify reefs that are particularly sensitive or resilient to climate change which could help prioritize the resilient reefs for other types of conservation for example reducing fishing pressure and land-based pollution less oceanic pom means less food supplied to the reef and coral reef growth may decline however our results also suggest that oceanic pom may help reefs continue to calcify and grow even under stressors like ocean acidification kealoha said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " aerial view of kualoa point and chinamans hat at kaneohe bay oahu hawaii (photo from getty images) "for the first time a team of scientists that includes three texas a&m university researchers have found that microscopic oceanic organisms are important for coral reef growth and sustaining these vital ecosystems the team which includes texas a&ms dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor and former phd student dr andrea kealoha both from the department of oceanography and dr brendan roark associate professor in the department of geography have had their work published in geophysical research letters  part of the american geophysical union other collaborators are from the university of california irvine woods hole oceanographic institution national oceanic and atmospheric administration and the hawaii institute of marine biology the researchers examined hawaiis kāneʻohe bay barrier reef and microscopic particles called particulate organic matter or pom which includes phytoplankton their results suggest that pom from the open ocean helps provide energy for a coral reef ecosystem to grow an important distinction that we make in this paper is that we are looking at oceanic pom that comes from offshore and is brought onto the reef by currents and waves shamberger said coral reef organisms make a lot of pom that the reef feeds on and it has been known for a long time that feeding on ‘reef pom is important for keeping the reef ecosystem healthy she said more recent studies have shown that coral reefs also feed on ‘oceanic pom and what is new here is that our results show this external food source might be helping the reef grow  we used carbon isotopes to distinguish between oceanic pom and reef pom calcification is the process by which marine organisms make calcium carbonate skeletons and shells calcification (mainly by corals and coralline algae) is what builds the three-dimensional structures of coral reefs that provide the habitat for the entire ecosystem coral reefs are constantly being eroded and broken down by waves currents and reef organisms shamberger said the reef has to calcify fast enough to maintain the reef structure under all of these destructive processes so faster calcification can be beneficial for the ecosystem in many areas of the ocean the calcification of corals and other organisms creates reefs that protect coastal communities produce attractive white sand beaches and create habitats for thousands of species that live on coral reefs coral reefs often serve as an indicator of healthy ocean conditions studies show that even though they cover less than 1 percent of the ocean coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and are home to at least one-fourth of all marine life the leading researcher on the paper andrea kealoha currently of the university of hawaii-maui said that the more oceanic pom that is supplied to the reef the more food the reef has to consume and the more it calcifies a couple studies have hypothesized that this is the case and when we feed corals pom in the lab they calcify more however our work is the first study to show this is happening in the field keahola  said shamberger said that previous studies have shown that climate change is an important factor in the decline of coral reefs the studies show that climate change is already harming coral reefs especially through ocean warming but also from other climate change effects including ocean acidification and storm intensification she said another effect on the ocean is that climate change is making the surface waters in parts of the open ocean less productive fewer nutrients are making it to the surface of the open ocean and this means fewer phytoplankton are able to grow since phytoplankton are the base of the food web in the ocean fewer of them means fewer of everything else from other plankton to fish etc shamberger said shamberger said the study shows that coral reefs may also need phytoplankton from the open ocean (oceanic pom) to calcify and grow fast enough to maintain the reef structure and thus the entire ecosystem she said it proves that climate change causing a decrease in open ocean productivity could also result in slowing coral reef growth adding to the many stressors coral reefs are under alternatively coral reefs that have a plentiful supply of oceanic pom may be able to maintain their growth better under climate change stressors shamberger also noted that the big picture of the study is twofold: first to understand the sensitivity of coral reefs to climate change researchers have to study the nearby open ocean in addition to coral reef waters; and second the results may help coral reef researchers identify reefs that are particularly sensitive or resilient to climate change which could help prioritize the resilient reefs for other types of conservation for example reducing fishing pressure and land-based pollution less oceanic pom means less food supplied to the reef and coral reef growth may decline however our results also suggest that oceanic pom may help reefs continue to calcify and grow even under stressors like ocean acidification kealoha said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " tailgate with geosciences oct 12dont miss our annual all-college tailgate in aggieland!aug 29 2019texas a&m vs alabama at kyle field in 2017 (photo by texas a&m)this year the annual texas a&m university college of geosciences tailgate is scheduled for one of the biggest aggie football games of 2019: texas a&m vs alabama oct 12 at kyle field former students staff faculty students and families are all welcome to join us for food football and great company there will also be a big tv in the tent to watch the game the tailgate will begin 2 hours prior to kick-off location and time will be announced at a later date this years tailgate will be byob save the date and add this event to your calendar by leslie lee '09 " "this year the annual texas a&m university college of geosciences tailgate is scheduled for one of the biggest aggie football games of 2019: texas a&m vs alabama oct 12 at kyle field former students staff faculty students and families are all welcome to join us for food football and great company there will also be a big tv in the tent to watch the game the tailgate will begin 2 hours prior to kick-off location and time will be announced at a later date this years tailgate will be byob save the date and add this event to your calendar by leslie lee '09" " ams awards honor texas a&m atmospheric sciences and oceanography faculty former studentsthe scientists major contributions to science and public safety were commendedaug 29 2019dr ping changdr courtney schumacherdr ping yangseveral faculty members and former students from the department of atmospheric sciences and department of oceanography at texas a&m university were recently named 2020 award honorees by the american meteorological society (ams) the recipients will be honored at the 100th ams annual meeting in boston massachusetts jan 12-16 2020 dr ping chang professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography was named an ams fellow  dr courtney schumacher professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the e d brockett professorship in geosciences was also named an ams fellow   dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences was awarded the david and lucille atlas remote sensing prize for sustained seminal contributions to developing light-scattering and radiative transfer models and datasets for remote sensing of ice clouds and dust aerosols these distinguished and well-deserved recognitions not only demonstrate the quality of each of these individuals as global thought-leaders but also collectively elevate the impact of the college said dr jack baldauf texas a&m college of geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research several atmospheric sciences former students received awards as well jeff d lindner 04 harris county flood control district meteorologist was honored with the francis w reichelderfer award for lifesaving communication of critical weather and flood information to the residents of the houston area during catastrophic flooding from hurricane harvey a special award was given to the noaa/national weather service houston/galveston for bravery and dedication in providing accurate and timely life-saving services in confronting catastrophic flooding from hurricane harvey despite enduring personal loss and prolonged stress several texas a&m former students were a part of these heroic teams who helped protect hundreds of communities and millions of people the kenneth c spengler award was awarded to the ncar wrf team for enabling and supporting a community of research and operational weather modeling through the advanced research version of the weather research and forecasting model (wrf-arw) kelly warner 11 who received her masters in atmospheric sciences at texas a&m was part of this team read the full ams announcement by leslie lee 09 " "several faculty members and former students from the department of atmospheric sciences and department of oceanography at texas a&m university were recently named 2020 award honorees by the american meteorological society (ams) the recipients will be honored at the 100th ams annual meeting in boston massachusetts jan 12-16 2020 dr ping chang professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography and holder of the louis and elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography was named an ams fellow  dr courtney schumacher professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the e d brockett professorship in geosciences was also named an ams fellow   dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences was awarded the david and lucille atlas remote sensing prize for sustained seminal contributions to developing light-scattering and radiative transfer models and datasets for remote sensing of ice clouds and dust aerosols these distinguished and well-deserved recognitions not only demonstrate the quality of each of these individuals as global thought-leaders but also collectively elevate the impact of the college said dr jack baldauf texas a&m college of geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research several atmospheric sciences former students received awards as well jeff d lindner 04 harris county flood control district meteorologist was honored with the francis w reichelderfer award for lifesaving communication of critical weather and flood information to the residents of the houston area during catastrophic flooding from hurricane harvey a special award was given to the noaa/national weather service houston/galveston for bravery and dedication in providing accurate and timely life-saving services in confronting catastrophic flooding from hurricane harvey despite enduring personal loss and prolonged stress several texas a&m former students were a part of these heroic teams who helped protect hundreds of communities and millions of people the kenneth c spengler award was awarded to the ncar wrf team for enabling and supporting a community of research and operational weather modeling through the advanced research version of the weather research and forecasting model (wrf-arw) kelly warner 11 who received her masters in atmospheric sciences at texas a&m was part of this team read the full ams announcement by leslie lee 09" " $350-million nsf agreement extends texas a&m leadership of iodp ship operationsnsf has awarded management and operations of the research drillship to texas a&m through 2024aug 26 2019the joides resolution (photo by iodp)earlier this year the national science board (nsb) authorized the national science foundation (nsf) to extend funding for texas a&m university to serve as the science operator of the joides resolution as a facility of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) through sept 30 2024 the new agreement totals more than $350 million over 5 years and is the largest federal research award currently managed by texas a&m a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd (odl) which has extended the ships charter contract with the texas a&m research foundation through sept 30 2024 iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor for the past 34 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution on behalf of nsf   the iodp drilling platforms provide the only way for scientists to access the sediments and rocks that lay buried deep beneath the deep seafloor jrso director dr brad clement said these materials provide a rich archive of changes in the oceans and the planets climate as well as insights into how earths structure has evolved through time the joides resolution has been the workhorse of the international drilling programs conducting expeditions in each of the ocean basins the jrso is within the college of geosciences at texas a&m and one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is also housed at texas a&m the nsf renewal means that texas a&m will continue providing the international science community with this important facility and will continue to make important scientific advances in our understanding of our planet he said it is an honor and a privilege to serve as the science operator for the joides resolution and we are thrilled for the opportunity to continue to serve the scientific community through 2024 dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said dr debbie thomas and dr brad clement (photo courtesy of iodp)the joides resolution off the coast of hawaii (photo by courtesy of iodp)the joides resolution docked in st johns (photo courtesy of iodp)the renewal from nsf is truly a testament to the heroic efforts of everyone on the amazing jrso team they perpetually innovate to deliver even higher quality science and higher quality service their accomplishments have set an exceptionally high bar for major research programs and the college of geosciences is so proud to serve them the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications the scientific samples and data are used to study earths past history including plate tectonics ocean currents climate changes evolutionary characteristics and extinctions of marine life and mineral deposits drilling operations are conducted purely for scientific purposes and do not include oil exploration a sediment core being processed on the deck of the joides resolution (image courtesy of iodp)a close-up look at a halved sediment core (image courtesy of iodp)about the joides resolution which is a research vessel 143 meters long: 1) its derrick is 62 meters above the water line; 2) its catwalk is where the cores are sent after drilling; 3) its drill string can reach depths of up to 8 235 meters (image by iodp)an iodp expedition 383 scientist describing core (photo credit: iodp)learn more about iodps remarkable scientific contributions read the full nsb resolution (nsb-2019-3) by leslie lee 09 " "earlier this year the national science board (nsb) authorized the national science foundation (nsf) to extend funding for texas a&m university to serve as the science operator of the joides resolution as a facility of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) through sept 30 2024 the new agreement totals more than $350 million over 5 years and is the largest federal research award currently managed by texas a&m a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd (odl) which has extended the ships charter contract with the texas a&m research foundation through sept 30 2024 iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor for the past 34 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution on behalf of nsf   the iodp drilling platforms provide the only way for scientists to access the sediments and rocks that lay buried deep beneath the deep seafloor jrso director dr brad clement said these materials provide a rich archive of changes in the oceans and the planets climate as well as insights into how earths structure has evolved through time the joides resolution has been the workhorse of the international drilling programs conducting expeditions in each of the ocean basins the jrso is within the college of geosciences at texas a&m and one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is also housed at texas a&m the nsf renewal means that texas a&m will continue providing the international science community with this important facility and will continue to make important scientific advances in our understanding of our planet he said it is an honor and a privilege to serve as the science operator for the joides resolution and we are thrilled for the opportunity to continue to serve the scientific community through 2024 dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said " dr debbie thomas and dr brad clement (photo courtesy of iodp)the joides resolution off the coast of hawaii (photo by courtesy of iodp) "the renewal from nsf is truly a testament to the heroic efforts of everyone on the amazing jrso team they perpetually innovate to deliver even higher quality science and higher quality service their accomplishments have set an exceptionally high bar for major research programs and the college of geosciences is so proud to serve them the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications the scientific samples and data are used to study earths past history including plate tectonics ocean currents climate changes evolutionary characteristics and extinctions of marine life and mineral deposits drilling operations are conducted purely for scientific purposes and do not include oil exploration " a sediment core being processed on the deck of the joides resolution (image courtesy of iodp)a close-up look at a halved sediment core (image courtesy of iodp) about the joides resolution which is a research vessel 143 meters long: 1) its derrick is 62 meters above the water line; 2) its catwalk is where the cores are sent after drilling; 3) its drill string can reach depths of up to 8 235 meters (image by iodp)an iodp expedition 383 scientist describing core (photo credit: iodp) "learn more about iodps remarkable scientific contributions read the full nsb resolution (nsb-2019-3) by leslie lee 09" " andrew dessler named 2019 agu fellowatmospheric sciences professor and climate change expert honored with prestigious recognition aug 19 2019photo by chris mouchyn college of geosciencesdr andrew dessler professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and the holder of the reta a haynes chair in geosciences has been named an american geophysical union (agu) fellow each year agu elects as fellows members ""whose visionary leadership and scientific excellence have fundamentally advanced research in their respective fields"" this year 62 members are in the 2019 class of fellows this is such a truly deserved honor for dr dessler he is one of the brightest minds in climate science and he has leveraged this thought leadership to engage the public and policy-makers in the causes and consequences of contemporary climate change said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are all so grateful for his efforts and thrilled for his recognition! agu will honor the new class of fellows dec 11 at its 2019 fall meeting in san francisco ""the agu is the premier geosciences organization in the world and being named a fellow is an incredible honor dessler said when i look at the rest of the fellow pool i'm humbled to be joining a group who has made such incredible scientific contributions i think i would be remiss however if i didn't acknowledge my colleagues and students without whom i could not have made the scientific contributions that i have"" read the full announcement from agu by leslie lee 09 " "dr andrew dessler professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and the holder of the reta a haynes chair in geosciences has been named an american geophysical union (agu) fellow each year agu elects as fellows members ""whose visionary leadership and scientific excellence have fundamentally advanced research in their respective fields"" this year 62 members are in the 2019 class of fellows this is such a truly deserved honor for dr dessler he is one of the brightest minds in climate science and he has leveraged this thought leadership to engage the public and policy-makers in the causes and consequences of contemporary climate change said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are all so grateful for his efforts and thrilled for his recognition! agu will honor the new class of fellows dec 11 at its 2019 fall meeting in san francisco ""the agu is the premier geosciences organization in the world and being named a fellow is an incredible honor dessler said when i look at the rest of the fellow pool i'm humbled to be joining a group who has made such incredible scientific contributions i think i would be remiss however if i didn't acknowledge my colleagues and students without whom i could not have made the scientific contributions that i have"" read the full announcement from agu by leslie lee 09" " regents approve dudley j hughes 51 microscopy learning laboratory namingaug 8 the texas a&m system board of regents officially approved naming the lab which was funded by a generous gift from mrs robbie w hughesaug 16 2019the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)mrs robbie w hughes in the historic halbouty building at texas a&m (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)today at texas a&m university geology and geophysics undergraduate students learn microscopy skills in a state-of-the-art laboratory thanks to a gift from mrs robbie w hughes the $2-million gift to the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences established the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory which was officially approved for renaming by the texas a&m system board of regents aug 8 located in the historic halbouty building the lab has added significant opportunities for hands-on learning for geology and geophysics students impacting future geoscientists for generations to come forever will we be grateful to mrs hughes for her immense generosity and strategic vision said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas mrs hughes inspires us with her passion for geology and with her desire to support those who seek to follow in her husbands footsteps and this gift celebrates both in the most impactful way imaginable by transforming the professional development of our current and future students the gift also supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 mr jack buchanan dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas  mrs robbie hughes and geology and geophysics department head dr mike pope at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)mrs hughes cuts the ribbon for the opening of the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)a lifetime of leadership and generosity dudley j hughes was a legendary aggie geologist and his family has continued his legacy of excellence and generosity with the establishment of this new teaching laboratory equipped with the latest technology the gift was given in honor of mrs hughes late husbands devotion passion and generosity for texas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics mr hughes was an acclaimed exploration geologist and celebrated philanthropist mr hughes grew up near palestine texas and graduated from texas a&m in 1951 with a bachelors degree in geology robbie received her bachelors degree from texas womans university also in 1951 and she and dudley married later that year he then served as a first lieutenant in the us army in the korean war and was awarded the bronze star medal after returning from the war mr hughes and his twin brother dan hughes started a company hughes & hughes for independent operations in mississippi mr hughes had an accomplished 40-year career in exploration geology dudley and robbie lived in jackson mississippi and also championed numerous philanthropic causes in the arts sciences and church-related organizations he received numerous professional and civic honors including a lifetime achievement recognition from the alabama oil and gas board in 1994 induction into the mississippi business hall of fame in 1996 the american association of petroleum geologists' 2008 outstanding explorer award and the 2010 colonel edwin l drake legendary oilman award honoring a lifetime of achievement with the oil and gas industry in 2010 he was given the distinguished alumni award by texas a&m university the highest honor a former student can receive from the university  mr hughes was also instrumental in the establishment of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems in 2009 the berg-hughes center was named for distinguished professor dr robert berg and for the hughes family dan a hughes '51 and dudley j hughes '51 and dan a hughes jr '80 in recognition of their generous financial support survived by his beloved wife of 64 years his two daughters vikki and cynthia and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren dudley died on april 21 2015 as aggies around the world gathered for aggie muster by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences " the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)mrs robbie w hughes in the historic halbouty building at texas a&m (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "today at texas a&m university geology and geophysics undergraduate students learn microscopy skills in a state-of-the-art laboratory thanks to a gift from mrs robbie w hughes the $2-million gift to the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences established the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory which was officially approved for renaming by the texas a&m system board of regents aug 8 located in the historic halbouty building the lab has added significant opportunities for hands-on learning for geology and geophysics students impacting future geoscientists for generations to come forever will we be grateful to mrs hughes for her immense generosity and strategic vision said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas mrs hughes inspires us with her passion for geology and with her desire to support those who seek to follow in her husbands footsteps and this gift celebrates both in the most impactful way imaginable by transforming the professional development of our current and future students the gift also supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 " mr jack buchanan dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas  mrs robbie hughes and geology and geophysics department head dr mike pope at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)mrs hughes cuts the ribbon for the opening of the dudley j hughes '51 microscopy learning laboratory (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "a lifetime of leadership and generosity dudley j hughes was a legendary aggie geologist and his family has continued his legacy of excellence and generosity with the establishment of this new teaching laboratory equipped with the latest technology the gift was given in honor of mrs hughes late husbands devotion passion and generosity for texas a&m university and the department of geology and geophysics mr hughes was an acclaimed exploration geologist and celebrated philanthropist mr hughes grew up near palestine texas and graduated from texas a&m in 1951 with a bachelors degree in geology robbie received her bachelors degree from texas womans university also in 1951 and she and dudley married later that year he then served as a first lieutenant in the us army in the korean war and was awarded the bronze star medal after returning from the war mr hughes and his twin brother dan hughes started a company hughes & hughes for independent operations in mississippi mr hughes had an accomplished 40-year career in exploration geology dudley and robbie lived in jackson mississippi and also championed numerous philanthropic causes in the arts sciences and church-related organizations he received numerous professional and civic honors including a lifetime achievement recognition from the alabama oil and gas board in 1994 induction into the mississippi business hall of fame in 1996 the american association of petroleum geologists' 2008 outstanding explorer award and the 2010 colonel edwin l drake legendary oilman award honoring a lifetime of achievement with the oil and gas industry in 2010 he was given the distinguished alumni award by texas a&m university the highest honor a former student can receive from the university  mr hughes was also instrumental in the establishment of the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems in 2009 the berg-hughes center was named for distinguished professor dr robert berg and for the hughes family dan a hughes '51 and dudley j hughes '51 and dan a hughes jr '80 in recognition of their generous financial support survived by his beloved wife of 64 years his two daughters vikki and cynthia and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren dudley died on april 21 2015 as aggies around the world gathered for aggie muster by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences" " my geox story: one aggies transformational experiences at geoxmarissa rene castillo 20 shares how geox the college of geosciences week-long summer camp for high school students changed her life gave her a place to belong and helped her find her passionaug 15 2019photo courtesy of marissa castillo 20photo courtesy of marissa castillo 20i never had the typical dream jobs of nurse ballerina or what have you that most children dream of running around with bug-catchers and rocks in my pockets i aspired to be an astronaut or a geologist it was only natural then that as a student i was attracted to science as a high school student i contemplated studying medical or earth sciences in college but as a junior fate connected me with geox i didn't know it then but it was a match made in history and one that would change my life i remember laboring up the steps of the o&m building with my duffel bag pillow and feelings of excitement that fluttered in my stomach i knew that what awaited me on the second floor was a room full of people who opted out of the cliché childhood dreams students and faculty alike who dreamed of being among rocks and wanted the earth as their classroom from day one geox established the college of geosciences at texas a&m university as a seemingly magical place for geoscience buffs spending hours immersed in the geosciences engaged in actual college lectures as well as participating in hands-on activities for an entire week allowed me to not only experience texas a&m and life as a college student but to build relationships with students with common interests and passions from the professors and college student counselors who dedicate a week of their summer to the camp to the community presenters from various geosciences career fields there is an energy surrounding geox campers that fosters learning and interest as a camper my dream came true as i finally was surrounded by students who knew exactly what i was talking about when i gushed about carbonates and minerals the opportunity to delve into various majors and shadow various geoscience career fields hooked my interest the counselors make the difference  what impacted me the most though were the counselors who joined in just as excited as the campers if not more to the conversations and genuinely shared their passions skill sets and knowledge geox revealed how all the studying and hard work you do not only in high school but also in college can lead you to a career geox gives you a small glimpse of what you could end up doing in your life during and after college what this showed me then was that you can take a passion and make it not only a college major but a career by the end of those aggie spirit learning and tradition filled days i knew that i could call texas a&m and the college of geosciences home for the next four years it is because of geox that i have chosen to pursue a major in environmental geosciences with minors in geology and gist i also credit my ability to study abroad in costa rica as a freshman intern for the texas a&m transportation department and conduct research as an undergraduate to my geox experience going into my senior year of high school i was fully content to study geology and live among the rocks for the rest of my life as a mineral hermit before i was exposed to all the possibilities in the realm of the earth sciences during my time at the camp i soon found out there was so much more to both geosciences and geology than i understoodphoto courtesy of marissa castillo 20photo courtesy of marissa castillo 20i realized after getting a taste of meteorology oceanography geography and geophysics that i wanted to do it all in regards to earth science now i hope to graduate earning both a bachelors in environmental geosciences and a masters in geography to become a geospatial intelligence officer in the us air force ultimately the advice and college exposure i received as a geox camper set me up for success as a student because i knew the campus i knew some professors and i had an idea of the level of coursework before i even attended my first day of class as a freshman i knew exactly what interested me and what i didnt care for i even had the chance to meet my academic advisor and establish a communication connection the camp highlighted the admissions process and gave me a sense of confidence that college was most definitely for me i learned science was so much more than just math experiments and textbooks science could change the world because i know that science can change the world i hope to inspire others to pursue it as well investing in the future through geox i now serve as a geox counselor and becoming a counselor for the camp gave me an opportunity to share what i love i know that most if not all of the high schoolers i get to work with will contribute greatly to the world around them solving problems and catalyzing change within the week of geox i try my hardest to answer all of the campers questions and engage each camper because their dreams and ideas of college and geosciences are still being shaped for this reason my level of enthusiasm and knowledge matters  geoxs main purpose to me is to inspire greatness and a passion for knowledge of geosciences in all who attend and are involved in the program as a counselor for geox i have learned that this camp is an investment in the future providing an opportunity for both the high school students and college students to collaborate with the end result of not just interesting students in higher education but changing the world one mind and one geoscience enthusiast at a time by marissa castillo 20 geox 2020 will be held june 21-27 2020 applications are not yet open; please contact our recruiters with any questions about geox " photo courtesy of marissa castillo 20photo courtesy of marissa castillo 20 "i never had the typical dream jobs of nurse ballerina or what have you that most children dream of running around with bug-catchers and rocks in my pockets i aspired to be an astronaut or a geologist it was only natural then that as a student i was attracted to science as a high school student i contemplated studying medical or earth sciences in college but as a junior fate connected me with geox i didn't know it then but it was a match made in history and one that would change my life i remember laboring up the steps of the o&m building with my duffel bag pillow and feelings of excitement that fluttered in my stomach i knew that what awaited me on the second floor was a room full of people who opted out of the cliché childhood dreams students and faculty alike who dreamed of being among rocks and wanted the earth as their classroom from day one geox established the college of geosciences at texas a&m university as a seemingly magical place for geoscience buffs spending hours immersed in the geosciences engaged in actual college lectures as well as participating in hands-on activities for an entire week allowed me to not only experience texas a&m and life as a college student but to build relationships with students with common interests and passions from the professors and college student counselors who dedicate a week of their summer to the camp to the community presenters from various geosciences career fields there is an energy surrounding geox campers that fosters learning and interest as a camper my dream came true as i finally was surrounded by students who knew exactly what i was talking about when i gushed about carbonates and minerals the opportunity to delve into various majors and shadow various geoscience career fields hooked my interest the counselors make the difference  what impacted me the most though were the counselors who joined in just as excited as the campers if not more to the conversations and genuinely shared their passions skill sets and knowledge geox revealed how all the studying and hard work you do not only in high school but also in college can lead you to a career geox gives you a small glimpse of what you could end up doing in your life during and after college what this showed me then was that you can take a passion and make it not only a college major but a career by the end of those aggie spirit learning and tradition filled days i knew that i could call texas a&m and the college of geosciences home for the next four years it is because of geox that i have chosen to pursue a major in environmental geosciences with minors in geology and gist i also credit my ability to study abroad in costa rica as a freshman intern for the texas a&m transportation department and conduct research as an undergraduate to my geox experience going into my senior year of high school i was fully content to study geology and live among the rocks for the rest of my life as a mineral hermit before i was exposed to all the possibilities in the realm of the earth sciences during my time at the camp i soon found out there was so much more to both geosciences and geology than i understood" "i realized after getting a taste of meteorology oceanography geography and geophysics that i wanted to do it all in regards to earth science now i hope to graduate earning both a bachelors in environmental geosciences and a masters in geography to become a geospatial intelligence officer in the us air force ultimately the advice and college exposure i received as a geox camper set me up for success as a student because i knew the campus i knew some professors and i had an idea of the level of coursework before i even attended my first day of class as a freshman i knew exactly what interested me and what i didnt care for i even had the chance to meet my academic advisor and establish a communication connection the camp highlighted the admissions process and gave me a sense of confidence that college was most definitely for me i learned science was so much more than just math experiments and textbooks science could change the world because i know that science can change the world i hope to inspire others to pursue it as well investing in the future through geox i now serve as a geox counselor and becoming a counselor for the camp gave me an opportunity to share what i love i know that most if not all of the high schoolers i get to work with will contribute greatly to the world around them solving problems and catalyzing change within the week of geox i try my hardest to answer all of the campers questions and engage each camper because their dreams and ideas of college and geosciences are still being shaped for this reason my level of enthusiasm and knowledge matters  geoxs main purpose to me is to inspire greatness and a passion for knowledge of geosciences in all who attend and are involved in the program as a counselor for geox i have learned that this camp is an investment in the future providing an opportunity for both the high school students and college students to collaborate with the end result of not just interesting students in higher education but changing the world one mind and one geoscience enthusiast at a time by marissa castillo 20 geox 2020 will be held june 21-27 2020 applications are not yet open; please contact our recruiters with any questions about geox" " texas a&m and fsu researchers find depleted seamounts near hawaii recovering after decades of federal protectiondr brendan roark co-authored game-changing research on the hawaiian-emperor seamount chainaug 13 2019a patch of recovering scleractinian reef on the se hancock seamount at 650m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)lost trawl net from on the nw hancock seamount at a depth of 400m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)for decades overfishing and trawling devastated parts of an underwater mountain range in the pacific ocean near hawaii wrecking deep-sea corals and destroying much of their ecological community but now after years of federally mandated protection scientists see signs that this once ecologically fertile area known as the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain is making a comeback the research team who discovered the evidence of recovery was led by dr brendan roark associate professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university dr amy baco-taylor florida state university (fsu) associate professor of oceanography and fsu doctoral student nicole morgan the research was funded by nsfs division of ocean sciences and involved four research cruises out to the central and north pacific ocean to investigate the ecological communities of the region because of the slow-growing nature of the corals and sponges that live on seamounts its been hypothesized that these areas if theyve been trawled that theres not much hope for them baco-taylor said  so we explored these sites fully expecting to not find any sign of recovery she said but we were surprised to find evidence that some species are starting to come back to these areas the researchers published their findings this week in science advances the overall understanding that a trawled seamount could recover is a game-changer in terms of fishing management this is a high-impact paper that bears directly on fishery management issues in the northwest hawaiian islands and is timely relative to some changes the current administration is thinking about with respect to opening up marine monuments for more fishing roark said scientists and policymakers regularly debate whether protected areas could be reopened for fishing this is a good story of how long-term protection allows for recovery of vulnerable species baco-taylor saida mixed bed of scleractinian and octocorals that appear to be recovering on the koko seamount at a depth of 500m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)a young colony of h laauense amid a bed of other octocorals (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain is a mostly underwater mountain range in the pacific ocean from the 1960s through the 1980s the area was a hotbed for fishing and a practice called trawling where fishermen use heavy nets dragged along the seafloor to capture fish in the process the nets scrape other animals off the seafloor as well the practice of trawling has devastated seamounts around the world and scientists have generally believed that an ecological recovery was unlikely however in the case of the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain there is a glimmer of hope they specifically wanted to examine whether there was any recovery of life on the seamount chain because unlike other submerged mountain chains around the world this one had been federally protected from fishing and trawling for decades in 1977 the united states claimed the region as a part of the us exclusive economic zone (eez) which prevented foreign fleets from trawling the area in 2006 then president george w bush included the area as part of the papahānaumokuākea marine national monument further protecting it from human disturbance people started realizing how vulnerable seamounts were relatively recently so seamounts in other locations have only been protected for 5 to 15 years baco-taylor said establishment of the us eez in this region has provided protection for these sites for close to 40 years providing a unique opportunity to look at recovery on longer time scales the team analyzed 536 000 images in them they could not only see the remnant trawl scars on the seafloor they also saw baby coral springing up in those areas they could also see coral regrowing from fragments on fishing nets that were left on the seafloor we know the stuff growing on the net had to come after this practice stopped in the area morgan said most importantly they found evidence of a few precious areas that were not harmed by the trawling these untouched areas are crucial to further populating the seamounts with a variety of fauna researchers said its too early to say how long it took for the new coral to arrive and whether the area will return to its former glory scientists are still analyzing coral samples to determine the age and diversity of species in the area roark said this study and the ongoing work provides critical knowledge for policymakers examining the effectiveness of protecting these areas  written in collaboration with kathleen haughney florida state university " a patch of recovering scleractinian reef on the se hancock seamount at 650m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)lost trawl net from on the nw hancock seamount at a depth of 400m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer) "for decades overfishing and trawling devastated parts of an underwater mountain range in the pacific ocean near hawaii wrecking deep-sea corals and destroying much of their ecological community but now after years of federally mandated protection scientists see signs that this once ecologically fertile area known as the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain is making a comeback the research team who discovered the evidence of recovery was led by dr brendan roark associate professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university dr amy baco-taylor florida state university (fsu) associate professor of oceanography and fsu doctoral student nicole morgan the research was funded by nsfs division of ocean sciences and involved four research cruises out to the central and north pacific ocean to investigate the ecological communities of the region because of the slow-growing nature of the corals and sponges that live on seamounts its been hypothesized that these areas if theyve been trawled that theres not much hope for them baco-taylor said  so we explored these sites fully expecting to not find any sign of recovery she said but we were surprised to find evidence that some species are starting to come back to these areas the researchers published their findings this week in science advances the overall understanding that a trawled seamount could recover is a game-changer in terms of fishing management this is a high-impact paper that bears directly on fishery management issues in the northwest hawaiian islands and is timely relative to some changes the current administration is thinking about with respect to opening up marine monuments for more fishing roark said scientists and policymakers regularly debate whether protected areas could be reopened for fishing this is a good story of how long-term protection allows for recovery of vulnerable species baco-taylor said" a mixed bed of scleractinian and octocorals that appear to be recovering on the koko seamount at a depth of 500m (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer)a young colony of h laauense amid a bed of other octocorals (photo by a baco-taylor fsu eb roark tamu nsf with hurl pilots t kerby and m cremer) "the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain is a mostly underwater mountain range in the pacific ocean from the 1960s through the 1980s the area was a hotbed for fishing and a practice called trawling where fishermen use heavy nets dragged along the seafloor to capture fish in the process the nets scrape other animals off the seafloor as well the practice of trawling has devastated seamounts around the world and scientists have generally believed that an ecological recovery was unlikely however in the case of the hawaiian-emperor seamount chain there is a glimmer of hope they specifically wanted to examine whether there was any recovery of life on the seamount chain because unlike other submerged mountain chains around the world this one had been federally protected from fishing and trawling for decades in 1977 the united states claimed the region as a part of the us exclusive economic zone (eez) which prevented foreign fleets from trawling the area in 2006 then president george w bush included the area as part of the papahānaumokuākea marine national monument further protecting it from human disturbance people started realizing how vulnerable seamounts were relatively recently so seamounts in other locations have only been protected for 5 to 15 years baco-taylor said establishment of the us eez in this region has provided protection for these sites for close to 40 years providing a unique opportunity to look at recovery on longer time scales the team analyzed 536 000 images in them they could not only see the remnant trawl scars on the seafloor they also saw baby coral springing up in those areas they could also see coral regrowing from fragments on fishing nets that were left on the seafloor we know the stuff growing on the net had to come after this practice stopped in the area morgan said most importantly they found evidence of a few precious areas that were not harmed by the trawling these untouched areas are crucial to further populating the seamounts with a variety of fauna researchers said its too early to say how long it took for the new coral to arrive and whether the area will return to its former glory scientists are still analyzing coral samples to determine the age and diversity of species in the area roark said this study and the ongoing work provides critical knowledge for policymakers examining the effectiveness of protecting these areas  written in collaboration with kathleen haughney florida state university " " howard trough named in honor of late texas a&m oceanography researcher matthew k howardunderwater feature in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary has officially been named after dr matthew k howardaug 6 2019on july 16 an underwater feature located in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary in the gulf of mexico was officially named howard trough after approval by the us board on geographic names howard trough is named in honor of the late dr matthew k howard who was the data management and communications manager for the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) and research scientist in the department of oceanography at texas a&m universitybathymetry of the west flower garden banks black arrow indicates the location of howard trough (figure courtesy of dr chris simoniello as modified from m nutall 2019)the late dr matthew k howard served as the data management and communications manager for gcoos and as a research scientist in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university (photo courtesy of texas a&m oceanography)this is a wonderful tribute to our friend and colleague dr matthew howard said dr shari yvon-lewis professor and the head of texas a&m oceanography dr howard was an aggie oceanographer who dedicated his career to pioneering oceanography research ocean observing systems and data management his life at texas a&m began when he was a graduate student in the department of oceanography and received his phd in oceanography in 1992 later he worked in many collaborative research groups including the geochemical environmental research group (gerg) and gcoos contributing to ocean research for almost 30 years much of his work was focused on the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary located offshore of galveston texas where he worked on projects ranging from water quality and hypoxia to oil spill mitigation sadly dr howard died on feb 8 2018 while attending a business conference in seattle washington dr chris simoniello a research scientist at texas a&m oceanography and outreach and education manager for gcoos led the request process for naming howard trough in his honor matthew was such a force of nature everything he did was for the benefit of people and the environment said simoniello naming a feature after matthew in the place where he exponentially advanced the science seemed like a fitting tribute the discovery of howard trough goes back to 1997 when a team of scientists led by dr jim gardner undertook mapping the bathymetry of the flower garden banks and stetson bank in the gulf of mexico at the time the multibeam sonars technique combined with extremely accurate ship motion sensors and precise navigation enabled unprecedented resolution in mapping the seafloor this shed light on many previously unmapped bathymetric features including pinnacles and troughs howard trough is located at the north end of the main west flower garden bank plateau the trough is about 170 m deep over the years many interesting features have been discovered at the howard trough: a drowned reef at 128 m was described in 1973; a living coral reef habitat was identified in 1980 and the area was described as an old salt dome in 1985 simoniello said one aspect that intrigued matthew was the connection between land and sea – he spent time at sea in flower garden banks to better understand the connection between coastal and nearshore activities and ecosystem health said simoniello in the footprint of west flower garden banks howard trough is part of an important ecological and economic area with so many natural resources various research projects are anticipated to be ongoing as climate change poses new threats potential projects range from mapping habitat and assessing biodiversity to tracking harmful algal blooms and hypoxia when i undertook the application process i went down many dead-end roads before hitting the jackpot with helpful patient bathymetry experts said simoniello simoniello expressed her gratitude to several people who helped with the naming process including jennifer jencks national centers for environmental information of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration; dr jim gardner center for coastal and ocean mapping university of new hampshire who participated in the original mapping studies; and bobby jovanovski national geospatial intelligence agencyphoto of dr matthew k howard with the gcoos data management team from left to right bob currier felimon gayanilo dr matthew k howard marion stoessel and dr shin kobara (photo courtesy of dr chris simoniello)photo of dr matthew k howard during the gcoos 2017 staff retreat at point clear alabama from left to right felimon gayanilo dr chris simoniello marion stoessel laura caldwell dr shin kobara dr matthew k howard jen vreeland dr barb kirkpatrick bob currier grant craig and nadine slimak (photo courtesy of gcoos)the world is a far better place for matthew having been here simoniello said matthew was the most humble and unassuming genius ive ever had the pleasure of knowing i think he would suggest that any time a texas a&m cruise passes over his feature they must raise their glasses in a toast! i am deeply grateful and humbled by the team of experts who helped make howard trough happen to pay a fitting tribute to one who lived so expertly by bumsoo kim " on july 16 an underwater feature located in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary in the gulf of mexico was officially named howard trough after approval by the us board on geographic names howard trough is named in honor of the late dr matthew k howard who was the data management and communications manager for the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) and research scientist in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university bathymetry of the west flower garden banks black arrow indicates the location of howard trough (figure courtesy of dr chris simoniello as modified from m nutall 2019)the late dr matthew k howard served as the data management and communications manager for gcoos and as a research scientist in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university (photo courtesy of texas a&m oceanography) "this is a wonderful tribute to our friend and colleague dr matthew howard said dr shari yvon-lewis professor and the head of texas a&m oceanography dr howard was an aggie oceanographer who dedicated his career to pioneering oceanography research ocean observing systems and data management his life at texas a&m began when he was a graduate student in the department of oceanography and received his phd in oceanography in 1992 later he worked in many collaborative research groups including the geochemical environmental research group (gerg) and gcoos contributing to ocean research for almost 30 years much of his work was focused on the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary located offshore of galveston texas where he worked on projects ranging from water quality and hypoxia to oil spill mitigation sadly dr howard died on feb 8 2018 while attending a business conference in seattle washington dr chris simoniello a research scientist at texas a&m oceanography and outreach and education manager for gcoos led the request process for naming howard trough in his honor matthew was such a force of nature everything he did was for the benefit of people and the environment said simoniello naming a feature after matthew in the place where he exponentially advanced the science seemed like a fitting tribute the discovery of howard trough goes back to 1997 when a team of scientists led by dr jim gardner undertook mapping the bathymetry of the flower garden banks and stetson bank in the gulf of mexico at the time the multibeam sonars technique combined with extremely accurate ship motion sensors and precise navigation enabled unprecedented resolution in mapping the seafloor this shed light on many previously unmapped bathymetric features including pinnacles and troughs howard trough is located at the north end of the main west flower garden bank plateau the trough is about 170 m deep over the years many interesting features have been discovered at the howard trough: a drowned reef at 128 m was described in 1973; a living coral reef habitat was identified in 1980 and the area was described as an old salt dome in 1985 simoniello said one aspect that intrigued matthew was the connection between land and sea – he spent time at sea in flower garden banks to better understand the connection between coastal and nearshore activities and ecosystem health said simoniello in the footprint of west flower garden banks howard trough is part of an important ecological and economic area with so many natural resources various research projects are anticipated to be ongoing as climate change poses new threats potential projects range from mapping habitat and assessing biodiversity to tracking harmful algal blooms and hypoxia when i undertook the application process i went down many dead-end roads before hitting the jackpot with helpful patient bathymetry experts said simoniello simoniello expressed her gratitude to several people who helped with the naming process including jennifer jencks national centers for environmental information of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration; dr jim gardner center for coastal and ocean mapping university of new hampshire who participated in the original mapping studies; and bobby jovanovski national geospatial intelligence agency" photo of dr matthew k howard with the gcoos data management team from left to right bob currier felimon gayanilo dr matthew k howard marion stoessel and dr shin kobara (photo courtesy of dr chris simoniello)photo of dr matthew k howard during the gcoos 2017 staff retreat at point clear alabama from left to right felimon gayanilo dr chris simoniello marion stoessel laura caldwell dr shin kobara dr matthew k howard jen vreeland dr barb kirkpatrick bob currier grant craig and nadine slimak (photo courtesy of gcoos) "the world is a far better place for matthew having been here simoniello said matthew was the most humble and unassuming genius ive ever had the pleasure of knowing i think he would suggest that any time a texas a&m cruise passes over his feature they must raise their glasses in a toast! i am deeply grateful and humbled by the team of experts who helped make howard trough happen to pay a fitting tribute to one who lived so expertly by bumsoo kim" " second ‘under the sea camp helps local children learn ocean sciencestexas a&m oceanography faculty and other researchers hosted the second annual summer campaug 4 2019from making their own sediment core to trying on an authentic at-sea survival suit to learning about the mysteries of the deep ocean brazos valley children received a week of world-class oceanography education this summer thanks to the department of oceanography at texas a&m university during july 8-12 oceanography faculty and other researchers collaborated to host the second annual under the sea camp for local youth held at the childrens museum of the brazos valley students who participated were 4 to 12 years old and each had the opportunity to complete hands-on science experiments and lessons each day many faculty staff members and graduate students helped make the camp happen including: dr chrissy wiederwohl oceanography instructional associate professor and dr jason sylvan oceanography assistant professor; tacey hicks and serena smith oceanography graduate students; drs denise kulhanek laurel childress and emily estes of the international ocean discovery program (iodp); and drew casey and meredith faix from texas sea grant we had a great time working with the childrens museum for the under the sea camp again this year said wiederwohl who also serves as oceanography assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs we saw a lot of familiar faces of campers attending for their second year and we loved all the campers enthusiastic in-depth questions it was really exciting for us to see young kids show such a great interest in learning more about the ocean the vision of the camp started back in 2017 when wiederwohl dropped her daughter off at a science camp at the childrens museum i asked the director of the museum if they would be interested in doing an ocean science camp then met with their director of education and the camp grew from there she said after that the summer camp became one of the outreach programs of the oceanography department during the camp different ocean-related topics were covered each day by experts in the field and children were able to get their hands wet in learning marine sciencedr denise kulhanek helping a student try on the ‘gumby survival suit (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)dr chrissy wiederwohl teaching students how adding salt to water changes density (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley)on the first day iodp staff scientists introduced iodp research with short videos including footage of a research expedition in antarctica they talked about how safety is important when working in polar regions and children had the opportunity to wear a survival suit nick-named the gumby suit that is used in the field students made their own sediment core using sands gravels and shells and also learned how iodp scientists describe sediment cores by identifying different grain sizes on tuesday wiederwohl taught the group about density and students learned how adding salt can change the density of a fluid campers also did an activity demonstrating the difference between ice melting in fresh water versus salt water on the third day of the camp texas sea grant experts talked about plastic pollution in the ocean and discussed how it harms marine organisms such as sea turtles students also did a craft project creating a paper-plate sea turtle on thursday oceanography graduate students discussed ocean acidification and how it affects coral reef health students conducted a small experiment using cabbage juice as a ph (acidity) indicator by blowing bubbles (which added carbon dioxide into the fluid) to see how it changed the ph in addition they talked about small ways of reducing carbon emissions in our daily life to protect the beautiful and important ocean ecosystem on the last day of the camp sylvan introduced how scientists study the deep ocean he showed videos and photos of deep-sea organisms and taught how their living environment is different from the surface ocean using models of fish texas a&m oceanography is planning to bring their expertise back to the under the sea summer program again next year for more detailed information about the camp visit the childrens museum of the brazos valley anyone from the local community interested in having texas a&m oceanography visit their classroom or speak to their group can email ocean-outreach@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim " "from making their own sediment core to trying on an authentic at-sea survival suit to learning about the mysteries of the deep ocean brazos valley children received a week of world-class oceanography education this summer thanks to the department of oceanography at texas a&m university during july 8-12 oceanography faculty and other researchers collaborated to host the second annual under the sea camp for local youth held at the childrens museum of the brazos valley students who participated were 4 to 12 years old and each had the opportunity to complete hands-on science experiments and lessons each day many faculty staff members and graduate students helped make the camp happen including: dr chrissy wiederwohl oceanography instructional associate professor and dr jason sylvan oceanography assistant professor; tacey hicks and serena smith oceanography graduate students; drs denise kulhanek laurel childress and emily estes of the international ocean discovery program (iodp); and drew casey and meredith faix from texas sea grant we had a great time working with the childrens museum for the under the sea camp again this year said wiederwohl who also serves as oceanography assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs we saw a lot of familiar faces of campers attending for their second year and we loved all the campers enthusiastic in-depth questions it was really exciting for us to see young kids show such a great interest in learning more about the ocean the vision of the camp started back in 2017 when wiederwohl dropped her daughter off at a science camp at the childrens museum i asked the director of the museum if they would be interested in doing an ocean science camp then met with their director of education and the camp grew from there she said after that the summer camp became one of the outreach programs of the oceanography department during the camp different ocean-related topics were covered each day by experts in the field and children were able to get their hands wet in learning marine science" dr denise kulhanek helping a student try on the ‘gumby survival suit (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)dr chrissy wiederwohl teaching students how adding salt to water changes density (photo courtesy of the childrens museum of the brazos valley) "on the first day iodp staff scientists introduced iodp research with short videos including footage of a research expedition in antarctica they talked about how safety is important when working in polar regions and children had the opportunity to wear a survival suit nick-named the gumby suit that is used in the field students made their own sediment core using sands gravels and shells and also learned how iodp scientists describe sediment cores by identifying different grain sizes on tuesday wiederwohl taught the group about density and students learned how adding salt can change the density of a fluid campers also did an activity demonstrating the difference between ice melting in fresh water versus salt water on the third day of the camp texas sea grant experts talked about plastic pollution in the ocean and discussed how it harms marine organisms such as sea turtles students also did a craft project creating a paper-plate sea turtle on thursday oceanography graduate students discussed ocean acidification and how it affects coral reef health students conducted a small experiment using cabbage juice as a ph (acidity) indicator by blowing bubbles (which added carbon dioxide into the fluid) to see how it changed the ph in addition they talked about small ways of reducing carbon emissions in our daily life to protect the beautiful and important ocean ecosystem on the last day of the camp sylvan introduced how scientists study the deep ocean he showed videos and photos of deep-sea organisms and taught how their living environment is different from the surface ocean using models of fish texas a&m oceanography is planning to bring their expertise back to the under the sea summer program again next year for more detailed information about the camp visit the childrens museum of the brazos valley anyone from the local community interested in having texas a&m oceanography visit their classroom or speak to their group can email ocean-outreach@geostamuedu by bumsoo kim" " jepson promotes water insecurity education with depth exhibitthe 3-month-long exhibit premiered at the michigan science center in juneaug 2 2019the depth exhibit runs through aug 17 (image by the michigan science center)dr wendy jepsonhousehold water insecurity affects families and communities all over the world dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently helped bring the realities of water insecurity to life in a multimedia exhibit at the michigan science center in detroit michigan the depth exhibit showcases vignettes made of stories images and videos of the everyday realities of water insecurity and its consequences from bolivia kenya uganda brazil and ghana from the perspectives of children women and young adults jepson said it also reflects on the precarity of water supplies in the united states highlighting water issues in arizona texas puerto rico and flint michigan the exhibit is on display through aug 17 and includes photographs contributed by different members of the household water insecurity experiences - research coordination network (hwise-rcn) dr amber pearson michigan state university organized the installation with contributions from jepson dr alex brewis arizona state university dr leila harris university of british colombia dr crystal tremblay university of victoria dr amber wutich arizona state university and dr sera young northwestern university precarity exists when people have little predictability in their day to day living conditions including the water they need to survive and live a quality life reads the exhibit description water insecurity is not simply a lack of water because of drought or climate change but it often reflects a lack of political will or an economic system that does not valorize or prioritize the human right to water jepson said the installation juxtaposes images from developing regions with those in the us to highlight water insecurity as a global challenge and that people live with water precarity across the globe according to the hwise-rcn researchers household water insecurity causes enormous physical emotional psychological and economic burdens our intention is to show systems of power at play with very real consequences for an essential part of life water jepson said the exhibit is funded by the science gallery network learn more about the depth exhibit learn more about hwise-rcn an nsf-funded 5-year initiative dedicated to building a community of practice that fosters key analytics and theoretical advances coupled with the development of research protocols and standardized assessments to document benchmark and understand the causes and outcomes of water insecurity at the household scale  by leslie lee 09 " the depth exhibit runs through aug 17 (image by the michigan science center)dr wendy jepson "household water insecurity affects families and communities all over the world dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently helped bring the realities of water insecurity to life in a multimedia exhibit at the michigan science center in detroit michigan the depth exhibit showcases vignettes made of stories images and videos of the everyday realities of water insecurity and its consequences from bolivia kenya uganda brazil and ghana from the perspectives of children women and young adults jepson said it also reflects on the precarity of water supplies in the united states highlighting water issues in arizona texas puerto rico and flint michigan the exhibit is on display through aug 17 and includes photographs contributed by different members of the household water insecurity experiences - research coordination network (hwise-rcn) dr amber pearson michigan state university organized the installation with contributions from jepson dr alex brewis arizona state university dr leila harris university of british colombia dr crystal tremblay university of victoria dr amber wutich arizona state university and dr sera young northwestern university precarity exists when people have little predictability in their day to day living conditions including the water they need to survive and live a quality life reads the exhibit description water insecurity is not simply a lack of water because of drought or climate change but it often reflects a lack of political will or an economic system that does not valorize or prioritize the human right to water jepson said the installation juxtaposes images from developing regions with those in the us to highlight water insecurity as a global challenge and that people live with water precarity across the globe according to the hwise-rcn researchers household water insecurity causes enormous physical emotional psychological and economic burdens our intention is to show systems of power at play with very real consequences for an essential part of life water jepson said the exhibit is funded by the science gallery network learn more about the depth exhibit learn more about hwise-rcn an nsf-funded 5-year initiative dedicated to building a community of practice that fosters key analytics and theoretical advances coupled with the development of research protocols and standardized assessments to document benchmark and understand the causes and outcomes of water insecurity at the household scale  by leslie lee 09" " new global water map could predict flood eventstexas a&m geographys dr george allen helped develop the merit hydro global map using complex algorithms to determine the shape of millions of earths rivers lakes and canalsjul 30 2019the brazos river dangerously high on june 3 2016 in richmond texas (photo credit: bob levey/getty images)dr george allena texas a&m university geography professor is part of a team that has produced what could be the most accurate global map of freshwater hydrography ever made – so precise that it could be used to predict future flooding events across the world dr george allen an assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m and colleagues have had their work published in water resources research the team created the new global map called merit hydro which used complex computer algorithms to determine the shape of millions of earths rivers lakes and canals merit hydro also provides a hydrologically-consistent map of earths topography the team was led by dr dai yamazaki at the university of tokyo we believe this map is the most accurate representation of earths hydrography to date allen said it is the new state-of-the-art base layer dataset for hydrologic applications as earths climate changes we expect that the intensity of rainfall events will change as well to be able to translate predicted changes in global rainfall intensity to global changes of flood hazard hydrologists need highly accurate maps of earths land elevation and hydrologic features researchers say the new maps are so advanced that they could be used to predict which rivers are most likely to flood during heavy rainfall events hydrologic models use maps of topography to predict how water flows across earths surface allen said these models route rainfall from hillsides into channels and then estimate the volume of water flowing in rivers the key to predicting this downstream flow is our ability to accurately represent the paths that water will take on its way to the ocean merit hydro provides us with a high-fidelity representation of the flow paths of water and so it improves our ability to predict the timing and magnitude of river flow including floods the new map allen added will help researchers  better predict where floods will overtop river channel banks and the extent that floods will inundate surrounding areas allen said it will also be useful for the reinsurance industry which provides insurance for insurance companies and thus are interested in estimating large-scale flood risks allen said that the merit hydro map could also be useful in other ways because it can be used to simulate river flow on a global scale such as understanding several important biogeochemical processes that release significant amounts greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere he noted that scientists including himself are working on estimating the seasonal variations of greenhouse gas emission from inland waters using merit hydro allen said the new global dataset is the next step in advanced mapping techniques while raw digital elevation maps can be used to estimate where water bodies are located satellite imagery of water bodies and crowd-sourced maps contain information about the actual location of rivers lakes and canals he said we can use satellite imagery to correct the maps of elevation for example small errors in a digital elevation model may cause a rivers course to deviate hundreds of kilometers in the wrong direction but satellite imagery will show the actual location of the river merit hydro uses the measured location of the rivers lakes and canals to automatically correct its map of topography by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications originally published at texas a&m today " the brazos river dangerously high on june 3 2016 in richmond texas (photo credit: bob levey/getty images)dr george allen "a texas a&m university geography professor is part of a team that has produced what could be the most accurate global map of freshwater hydrography ever made – so precise that it could be used to predict future flooding events across the world dr george allen an assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m and colleagues have had their work published in water resources research the team created the new global map called merit hydro which used complex computer algorithms to determine the shape of millions of earths rivers lakes and canals merit hydro also provides a hydrologically-consistent map of earths topography the team was led by dr dai yamazaki at the university of tokyo we believe this map is the most accurate representation of earths hydrography to date allen said it is the new state-of-the-art base layer dataset for hydrologic applications as earths climate changes we expect that the intensity of rainfall events will change as well to be able to translate predicted changes in global rainfall intensity to global changes of flood hazard hydrologists need highly accurate maps of earths land elevation and hydrologic features researchers say the new maps are so advanced that they could be used to predict which rivers are most likely to flood during heavy rainfall events hydrologic models use maps of topography to predict how water flows across earths surface allen said these models route rainfall from hillsides into channels and then estimate the volume of water flowing in rivers the key to predicting this downstream flow is our ability to accurately represent the paths that water will take on its way to the ocean merit hydro provides us with a high-fidelity representation of the flow paths of water and so it improves our ability to predict the timing and magnitude of river flow including floods the new map allen added will help researchers  better predict where floods will overtop river channel banks and the extent that floods will inundate surrounding areas allen said it will also be useful for the reinsurance industry which provides insurance for insurance companies and thus are interested in estimating large-scale flood risks allen said that the merit hydro map could also be useful in other ways because it can be used to simulate river flow on a global scale such as understanding several important biogeochemical processes that release significant amounts greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere he noted that scientists including himself are working on estimating the seasonal variations of greenhouse gas emission from inland waters using merit hydro allen said the new global dataset is the next step in advanced mapping techniques while raw digital elevation maps can be used to estimate where water bodies are located satellite imagery of water bodies and crowd-sourced maps contain information about the actual location of rivers lakes and canals he said we can use satellite imagery to correct the maps of elevation for example small errors in a digital elevation model may cause a rivers course to deviate hundreds of kilometers in the wrong direction but satellite imagery will show the actual location of the river merit hydro uses the measured location of the rivers lakes and canals to automatically correct its map of topography by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications originally published at texas a&m today" " texas a&m gerg data fuels storm prediction efforts in the gulfthe tabs off-shore system of buoys run by gerg and funded by the texas general land office provides life-saving data during hurricane season jul 11 2019a tabs buoy in the gulf of mexicothe gulf explorer wave glider sv3 in the gulf of mexicowith the seasons first tropical storm brewing just off the coast an off-shore system of buoys run by texas a&m university scientists and funded by the texas general land office is working to help predict its path and intensity texas and other gulf coast states know all too well that hurricane season is no joke texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp said thankfully scientists from texas a&m are working to get information to the public about storms as they develop and threaten gulf coast states where the potential tropical storm barry lands or if it even becomes a tropical storm at all is being determined with data provided by the texas automated buoy system (tabs) tabs is a real-time oceanographic buoy system that measures winds waves currents salinity and other parameters it is one of the oldest and most successful state funded ocean-observing systems in the country the data-collecting devices constantly record water temperature currents wind speed and other measurements and now that hurricane season is here researchers with texas a&m universitys geochemical environmental research group (gerg) part of the college of geosciences are working to provide vital information about the storms that will enter the gulf of mexico and threaten texas and other states anthony knap director of the gerg and a professor of oceanography at texas a&m said the groups mission is to provide information to the public and public entities such as the national hurricane center specifically the data being collected by knap and his team can help predict how powerful a storm can become in addition to the tabs buoy system knap and his team at gerg are also working to secure funding to deploy other devices such as oceangoing gliders that can fly through the water and an unmanned wave-powered surface vessel to study the gulf the more data gerg can collect the better their predictions will be in the future he said these tools will give us more opportunities to get continuous data knap said another major project of the gerg involves using a system of high-frequency radars in cooperation with tabs knap said the units can collect detailed real-time data on weather water currents and ecosystems the data helps scientists predict how oil spills will disperse; plus the information can help with search and rescue operations when someone is lost at sea the project is partially funded by the texas a&m university systems chancellors research initiative and is in collaboration with tglo noaa nasa the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system the ocean observing initiative and other international partners such as mexico brazil and cuba the system is the most comprehensive of its kind but knap and his group still hope to expand it and connect it with existing networks along the east coast and into international waters the gulf region is among the most important to the interests of the united states and texas with many economic public safety and geopolitical implications sharp added texas a&m has the obligation and the responsibility to provide the expertise leadership and solutions to real-world challenges that affect texans and other people around the world watch a video of chancellor sharp exploring gerg with gerg director anthony knap originally published by the texas a&m university system  " a tabs buoy in the gulf of mexicothe gulf explorer wave glider sv3 in the gulf of mexico "with the seasons first tropical storm brewing just off the coast an off-shore system of buoys run by texas a&m university scientists and funded by the texas general land office is working to help predict its path and intensity texas and other gulf coast states know all too well that hurricane season is no joke texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp said thankfully scientists from texas a&m are working to get information to the public about storms as they develop and threaten gulf coast states where the potential tropical storm barry lands or if it even becomes a tropical storm at all is being determined with data provided by the texas automated buoy system (tabs) tabs is a real-time oceanographic buoy system that measures winds waves currents salinity and other parameters it is one of the oldest and most successful state funded ocean-observing systems in the country the data-collecting devices constantly record water temperature currents wind speed and other measurements and now that hurricane season is here researchers with texas a&m universitys geochemical environmental research group (gerg) part of the college of geosciences are working to provide vital information about the storms that will enter the gulf of mexico and threaten texas and other states anthony knap director of the gerg and a professor of oceanography at texas a&m said the groups mission is to provide information to the public and public entities such as the national hurricane center specifically the data being collected by knap and his team can help predict how powerful a storm can become in addition to the tabs buoy system knap and his team at gerg are also working to secure funding to deploy other devices such as oceangoing gliders that can fly through the water and an unmanned wave-powered surface vessel to study the gulf the more data gerg can collect the better their predictions will be in the future he said these tools will give us more opportunities to get continuous data knap said another major project of the gerg involves using a system of high-frequency radars in cooperation with tabs knap said the units can collect detailed real-time data on weather water currents and ecosystems the data helps scientists predict how oil spills will disperse; plus the information can help with search and rescue operations when someone is lost at sea the project is partially funded by the texas a&m university systems chancellors research initiative and is in collaboration with tglo noaa nasa the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system the ocean observing initiative and other international partners such as mexico brazil and cuba the system is the most comprehensive of its kind but knap and his group still hope to expand it and connect it with existing networks along the east coast and into international waters the gulf region is among the most important to the interests of the united states and texas with many economic public safety and geopolitical implications sharp added texas a&m has the obligation and the responsibility to provide the expertise leadership and solutions to real-world challenges that affect texans and other people around the world watch a video of chancellor sharp exploring gerg with gerg director anthony knap originally published by the texas a&m university system " " geox 2019: a scientific summer to remembergeox the college of geosciences' exploration summer program hosts 60 high school students each summerjul 11 2019geox campers learning from texas a&m geography faculty and graduate students at the triple jjj ranch in somerville (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)geox campers learning research techniques at the triple jjj ranch in somerville (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)its the kind of scene that inspires a hundred coming-of-age movies: amid a typically face-meltingly hot texas summer 60 teenagers pack their bags and head off to spend a week mingling among total strangers at a place most of them have never been except these high school students dont venture into the woods to go canoeing and roast smores instead they check in at the eller oceanography and meteorology building on the texas a&m university campus there they meet aggie student counselors from the college of geosciences who will teach them how to scientifically explore the earth together its the first day of the geox summer camp and by the time these campers go home theyll hopefully know exactly where theyll go to college and what theyll study when they get there not your average summer camp according to judy nunez director of student recruitment for the texas a&m college of geosciences swaying high school students toward a career in the geosciences is relatively easy… once they know what one looks like the word ‘geoscience isnt usually the first thing that anybody clicks on nunez said if they did she explains theyd see the diverse array of majors the college of geosciences has to offer from oceanography and geology to the top-ranked meteorology program in the country the biggest priority for nunez then is to reach out to potential students and let them see what each program has to offer the geosciences exploration summer program or geox camp was created to accomplish just that the brainchild of former associate dean chris houser and former director of recruiting sonia garcia geox was conceived in 2011 as an innovative way to immerse prospective high school students in the geosciences for eight days every summer counselors professors and administrators from the college of geosciences guide two groups of 30 campers along a series of hands-on activities in fields spanning the full breadth of the colleges different degree tracks students who attended the 2019 camp were treated to in-depth presentations by professors at the college some of whom delayed their own research projects just to participate in the program campers toured oil and gas company bps headquarters in houston embarked on an exotic safari at triple jjj ranch in somerville and sailed across galveston bay aboard the r/v trident one of texas a&m-galvestons research vessels between the larger activities students practiced using real-life geoscience skills to take core samples survey land and operate a gpssavannah pruitt a camper from franklin texas originally came to geox with only meteorology in mind but the diverse activities quickly broadened her horizons visiting the bp headquarters got me really interested in the oil and gas field pruitt said and oceanography really intrigued me as well regardless of what major she chooses pruitt has already set her mind to apply to the college and join the corps of cadets to enlist in the us air force after graduation basically shes sold the counselors are the x-factor nunez said most of our current counselors came to this camp as high schoolers so they know what anxieties the campers might have about going away to college trying to fit in and getting lost in a university this size since many of the counselors were once in the campers shoes nunez explained theyre able to mentor campers and form a strong bond with them over the course of the camp session geox counselor and meteorology major quinton lawton 19 described his time attending as a camper in 2015 when i came into this camp i was immediately surrounded by people i connected with because they had the same interests as me lawton said by the end of the first day we were all buddy-buddy the instant connection he made with his fellow campers lasted long past the weeks endmany became his college peers pruitt echoed this sentiment during the 2019 camp session the first night i was really nervous as soon as my parents left so i sat at the very top row and waited for someone to talk to me she said eventually another girl sat down next to me wearing a meteorology shirt so i started talking to her i now have a group of several friends and were super close she said this three-and-a-half days after arriving at the camp a priceless experience of the 58 high school seniors who attended the 2018 geox camp 100 percent of them applied to the college of geosciences and 100 percent were admitted geox has easily become the colleges most reliable recruiting tool and theres some clear reasons why for example the college selects campers based on gpa class rank and strong interest statements to ensure that every camper arrives with a curious mind and a passion for learning perhaps the most important asset to the camps success however is the way in which the college deals with the cost barrier that could discourage potential campers: by removing it completely thanks to generous sponsorships from bp and other corporate and private donors the college completely subsidizes the cost of running the camp students admitted to geox attend free of charge for campers like rebecca reisinger from spring texas that was a decisive selling point it means so much to attend this camp for free and i couldnt have attended otherwise reisinger said theres so much value that all 60 of us are getting out of this it costs about $1 200 to sponsor an individual camper but to college of geosciences dean debbie thomas the impression the camp makes on each student is priceless our campers all arrive with a deep passion for the geosciences thomas said through the immersive experience made possible by our gifted staff and faculty the campers develop a critical connection between their passion and the rewarding career paths that await them the most powerful dimension of that experience however is the aggie experience she continued as campers learn more about the geosciences they also engage in aggie traditions and learn about the all-encompassing spirit that makes this university special most of our campers return home from geox knowing that they are going to be texas a&m aggies students come to geox looking for a place where they can learn and build a career theyre passionate about somewhere along the way they find a place where they can belong by bailey payne '19 originally published by the texas a&m foundation while the geox program is made free by its current sponsors the college of geosciences is requesting a major endowment to ensure the long-term viability of the program and to fund scholarships for students attending the camp to learn more about how you can support geox and/or sponsor a camper visit giveam/geoxexplorationcamp or contact senior director of development gary reynolds 88 at greynolds@txamfoundationcom or (979) 862-4944 " geox campers learning from texas a&m geography faculty and graduate students at the triple jjj ranch in somerville (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)geox campers learning research techniques at the triple jjj ranch in somerville (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation) "its the kind of scene that inspires a hundred coming-of-age movies: amid a typically face-meltingly hot texas summer 60 teenagers pack their bags and head off to spend a week mingling among total strangers at a place most of them have never been except these high school students dont venture into the woods to go canoeing and roast smores instead they check in at the eller oceanography and meteorology building on the texas a&m university campus there they meet aggie student counselors from the college of geosciences who will teach them how to scientifically explore the earth together its the first day of the geox summer camp and by the time these campers go home theyll hopefully know exactly where theyll go to college and what theyll study when they get there not your average summer camp according to judy nunez director of student recruitment for the texas a&m college of geosciences swaying high school students toward a career in the geosciences is relatively easy… once they know what one looks like the word ‘geoscience isnt usually the first thing that anybody clicks on nunez said if they did she explains theyd see the diverse array of majors the college of geosciences has to offer from oceanography and geology to the top-ranked meteorology program in the country the biggest priority for nunez then is to reach out to potential students and let them see what each program has to offer the geosciences exploration summer program or geox camp was created to accomplish just that the brainchild of former associate dean chris houser and former director of recruiting sonia garcia geox was conceived in 2011 as an innovative way to immerse prospective high school students in the geosciences for eight days every summer counselors professors and administrators from the college of geosciences guide two groups of 30 campers along a series of hands-on activities in fields spanning the full breadth of the colleges different degree tracks students who attended the 2019 camp were treated to in-depth presentations by professors at the college some of whom delayed their own research projects just to participate in the program campers toured oil and gas company bps headquarters in houston embarked on an exotic safari at triple jjj ranch in somerville and sailed across galveston bay aboard the r/v trident one of texas a&m-galvestons research vessels between the larger activities students practiced using real-life geoscience skills to take core samples survey land and operate a gps" "savannah pruitt a camper from franklin texas originally came to geox with only meteorology in mind but the diverse activities quickly broadened her horizons visiting the bp headquarters got me really interested in the oil and gas field pruitt said and oceanography really intrigued me as well regardless of what major she chooses pruitt has already set her mind to apply to the college and join the corps of cadets to enlist in the us air force after graduation basically shes sold the counselors are the x-factor nunez said most of our current counselors came to this camp as high schoolers so they know what anxieties the campers might have about going away to college trying to fit in and getting lost in a university this size since many of the counselors were once in the campers shoes nunez explained theyre able to mentor campers and form a strong bond with them over the course of the camp session geox counselor and meteorology major quinton lawton 19 described his time attending as a camper in 2015 when i came into this camp i was immediately surrounded by people i connected with because they had the same interests as me lawton said by the end of the first day we were all buddy-buddy the instant connection he made with his fellow campers lasted long past the weeks endmany became his college peers pruitt echoed this sentiment during the 2019 camp session the first night i was really nervous as soon as my parents left so i sat at the very top row and waited for someone to talk to me she said eventually another girl sat down next to me wearing a meteorology shirt so i started talking to her i now have a group of several friends and were super close she said this three-and-a-half days after arriving at the camp a priceless experience of the 58 high school seniors who attended the 2018 geox camp 100 percent of them applied to the college of geosciences and 100 percent were admitted geox has easily become the colleges most reliable recruiting tool and theres some clear reasons why for example the college selects campers based on gpa class rank and strong interest statements to ensure that every camper arrives with a curious mind and a passion for learning perhaps the most important asset to the camps success however is the way in which the college deals with the cost barrier that could discourage potential campers: by removing it completely thanks to generous sponsorships from bp and other corporate and private donors the college completely subsidizes the cost of running the camp students admitted to geox attend free of charge for campers like rebecca reisinger from spring texas that was a decisive selling point it means so much to attend this camp for free and i couldnt have attended otherwise reisinger said theres so much value that all 60 of us are getting out of this it costs about $1 200 to sponsor an individual camper but to college of geosciences dean debbie thomas the impression the camp makes on each student is priceless our campers all arrive with a deep passion for the geosciences thomas said through the immersive experience made possible by our gifted staff and faculty the campers develop a critical connection between their passion and the rewarding career paths that await them the most powerful dimension of that experience however is the aggie experience she continued as campers learn more about the geosciences they also engage in aggie traditions and learn about the all-encompassing spirit that makes this university special most of our campers return home from geox knowing that they are going to be texas a&m aggies students come to geox looking for a place where they can learn and build a career theyre passionate about somewhere along the way they find a place where they can belong by bailey payne '19 originally published by the texas a&m foundation while the geox program is made free by its current sponsors the college of geosciences is requesting a major endowment to ensure the long-term viability of the program and to fund scholarships for students attending the camp to learn more about how you can support geox and/or sponsor a camper visit giveam/geoxexplorationcamp or contact senior director of development gary reynolds 88 at greynolds@txamfoundationcom or (979) 862-4944" " student success center planned for geosciencesbeginning fall 2019 the college is amplifying its student success efforts by launching several new major initiativesjun 27 2019a rendering of the proposed student success center in the o&m building identification of space for a student success center in the halbouty building is pending (image by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)the geosciences represent a unique and truly interdisciplinary intersection of sciences technology engineering and mathematics (stem) and no other dimension of stem has the proven science training and leadership to elevate the global standard of living  the college of geosciences provides critical workforce development for students in nine undergraduate degree programs and 16 graduate degree programs we know the workforce needs many many more of our graduates and that every one of our graduates needs to be prepared to lead in their chosen career path the moment they graduate  the foundation of such exceptional professional development is what we call student success the prioritization of well-being to ensure that every one of our students develops the skills not only to thrive in aggieland but to thrive and lead for a lifetime student success also elevates accessibility and equity tapping the potential of every aggie regardless of ethnicity socioeconomic status or gender while student success always has been our foundational priority for each and every student in the college of geosciences beginning fall 2019 the college is amplifying these efforts by launching several new major initiatives as well as enhancing existing programming that has been proven to work student success in the college of geosciences develops leaders with intention who will transform the workforce said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas the programs we offer made possible by our incredibly gifted staff and faculty and student peer mentors are strategic and highly effective the next step in achieving our student success aspirations is to create a physical space in both the halbouty and eller buildings that celebrates and supports student success and elevates the visibility of these programs for current future and former students  the vision for the new student success center is to serve as the home for beyond-the-classroom professional development internship coordination and career placement ultimately the college of geosciences will seek a director of student success programs and this highly credentialed individual will reside in the student success center    geox 2019 participants doing field work at the triple jjj ranch (photo by the texas a&m foundation)dr stacey lyle (center) assistant professor of practice geography teaching geox 2019 participants field work techniques at the triple jjj ranch (photo by the texas a&m foundation)success programming starts before college and goes beyond graduation geox is the ultimate pre-college immersion in the geosciences for rising high school students for eight days every summer counselors professors and administrators from the college of geosciences guide two groups of 30 participants along a series of hands-on activities in fields spanning the full breadth of the colleges different degree tracks so far 100% of the students who attended geox have declared a geoscience major the first year experience (fyex) is a two-semester seminar course for all first-year students to develop a sense of community lifelong learning skills and real-world resume-building assets to foster the passion of our students for opportunities in the geosciences peer mentoring is an opportunity for returning students to work with first-year students to help them successfully navigate foundational courses and in turn these aggies gain leadership and team building experience for their future employment geosciences academic preparation (gap) is a highly successful program for 25 days at the top of each semester that features intense preparation for the academic rigor ahead  the experience includes math tutors study skills resource information and much more  the geosciences living learning community (gllc) is a unique residential environment where geosciences students share a dormitory community but also benefit from additional programming and immersive experiences provided by college of geosciences faculty and staff  these new college of geosciences student success programs and space contribute to a university-wide initiative to improve the equity of opportunity retention and success of every aggie thomas said every dimension of our vision provides amazing opportunities for former students to partner with us  an investment in the student success programs will directly impact thousands of students every year and quite literally benefit the entire world these priority initiatives will ensure that every one of our students develops the skills to not only thrive in aggieland but to thrive and lead in their chosen career for a lifetime  to support the student success center or for more information see https://leadbyexampletamuedu/geoscienceshtml by robyn blackmon " a rendering of the proposed student success center in the o&m building identification of space for a student success center in the halbouty building is pending (image by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "the geosciences represent a unique and truly interdisciplinary intersection of sciences technology engineering and mathematics (stem) and no other dimension of stem has the proven science training and leadership to elevate the global standard of living  the college of geosciences provides critical workforce development for students in nine undergraduate degree programs and 16 graduate degree programs we know the workforce needs many many more of our graduates and that every one of our graduates needs to be prepared to lead in their chosen career path the moment they graduate  the foundation of such exceptional professional development is what we call student success the prioritization of well-being to ensure that every one of our students develops the skills not only to thrive in aggieland but to thrive and lead for a lifetime student success also elevates accessibility and equity tapping the potential of every aggie regardless of ethnicity socioeconomic status or gender while student success always has been our foundational priority for each and every student in the college of geosciences beginning fall 2019 the college is amplifying these efforts by launching several new major initiatives as well as enhancing existing programming that has been proven to work student success in the college of geosciences develops leaders with intention who will transform the workforce said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas the programs we offer made possible by our incredibly gifted staff and faculty and student peer mentors are strategic and highly effective the next step in achieving our student success aspirations is to create a physical space in both the halbouty and eller buildings that celebrates and supports student success and elevates the visibility of these programs for current future and former students  the vision for the new student success center is to serve as the home for beyond-the-classroom professional development internship coordination and career placement ultimately the college of geosciences will seek a director of student success programs and this highly credentialed individual will reside in the student success center    " geox 2019 participants doing field work at the triple jjj ranch (photo by the texas a&m foundation)dr stacey lyle (center) assistant professor of practice geography teaching geox 2019 participants field work techniques at the triple jjj ranch (photo by the texas a&m foundation) "success programming starts before college and goes beyond graduation geox is the ultimate pre-college immersion in the geosciences for rising high school students for eight days every summer counselors professors and administrators from the college of geosciences guide two groups of 30 participants along a series of hands-on activities in fields spanning the full breadth of the colleges different degree tracks so far 100% of the students who attended geox have declared a geoscience major the first year experience (fyex) is a two-semester seminar course for all first-year students to develop a sense of community lifelong learning skills and real-world resume-building assets to foster the passion of our students for opportunities in the geosciences peer mentoring is an opportunity for returning students to work with first-year students to help them successfully navigate foundational courses and in turn these aggies gain leadership and team building experience for their future employment geosciences academic preparation (gap) is a highly successful program for 25 days at the top of each semester that features intense preparation for the academic rigor ahead  the experience includes math tutors study skills resource information and much more  the geosciences living learning community (gllc) is a unique residential environment where geosciences students share a dormitory community but also benefit from additional programming and immersive experiences provided by college of geosciences faculty and staff  these new college of geosciences student success programs and space contribute to a university-wide initiative to improve the equity of opportunity retention and success of every aggie thomas said every dimension of our vision provides amazing opportunities for former students to partner with us  an investment in the student success programs will directly impact thousands of students every year and quite literally benefit the entire world these priority initiatives will ensure that every one of our students develops the skills to not only thrive in aggieland but to thrive and lead in their chosen career for a lifetime  to support the student success center or for more information see https://leadbyexampletamuedu/geoscienceshtml by robyn blackmon" " hal schade 67 gift funds 4-day research cruise for oceanography studentsconducting research around the clock aggies experienced being on an at-sea science team jun 26 2019the texas a&m oceanography faculty and students who sailed on the inaugural schade cruise (photo courtesy of dr chrissy wiederwohl)twelve texas a&m university department of oceanography students had the remarkable opportunity to spend four days at sea conducting research in the gulf of mexico may 23-26 aboard the r/v point sur the entire cruise was funded thanks to a generous gift from hal schade 67 given in honor of his parents colonel tom and sue mathews for each student this was their first time sailing on a multi-day research cruise they got to experience working in 12-hour shifts taking water samples and having responsibility for a certain parameter it was a very authentic research experience said texas a&m oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis we are immensely grateful to hal for sponsoring this we would not have been able to bring these students out and provide them with this opportunity without his support  schades $80 000 gift funded all of the ship crew equipment and travel costs involved with the research cruise we wanted students to have this kind of an experience and we didnt have any other funding mechanism to make that happen so i am really grateful to him for having that desire to help these students get that experience yvon-lewis said  the gift supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 this was the inaugural schade cruise and the oceanography students took pride in being the first schade scholarswe love what we are learning because we are passionate about the ocean but being able to put our hands on it makes it so much more real and that much more important to you said oceanography student samantha longridge 20 being able to go out on a research cruise brings the reality and awe back into what we are learning  assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs dr chrissy wiederwohl served as chief scientist for the cruise and yvon-lewis served as co-chief we did a lot of at-sea learning wiederwohl said the students were taking samples and asking questions at the same time ‘why did we take a water sample here not there they were intrigued by the science and did a great jobhal schade (center) funded an entire cruise for texas a&m oceanography students (photo by chris mouchyn)(photo by dr chrissy wiederwohl)research will continue important gulf datasets this research cruises science objective was following up on and continuing work that began around the time of the deepwater horizon oil spill in 2010 some of that research was supported by the gulf integrated spill research program (gisr) theres a grid of sampling stations that we sampled during several gisr cruises to study the transport of the oil in the gulf yvon-lewis said what were doing with this current research is using that footprint as our base to set up the set of measurements that were going to make on these new cruises we will continue that time series and make it a long-term time series to better understand that transport along the slope in the northern gulf of mexico were very excited about it that long-term time series could potentially inform future oil spill responses giving scientists baseline data and a better understanding of how oil or other pollutants move through gulf waters one of the things that had really shown through in the deepwater horizon response was the fact that there was a lack of prior baseline measurements she said and right now there isnt a mechanism to have those baseline measurements set up in the gulf with these cruises this would be one way that we could do that the students onboard were responsible for working in 12-hour shifts during which they collected a full suite of hydrographic and water samples using a ctd rosette and niskin bottles we did full water column profiles which means we have continuous data from the surface all the way down to the bottom of temperature salinity pressure dissolved oxygen and fluorescence wiederwohl said and then we also took bottle samples of oxygen methane and dic which is dissolved inorganic carbon total alkalinity and nutrients and salinity; and we also took underway measurements of sea surface temperature and salinity and currents  every student on board did an excellent job of fulfilling their responsibilities and keeping the sampling running smoothly she said no matter how sea-sick they were they still did their work that was the most amazing part quite the bonding experience i was responsible for assisting the rosette in and out of the water i prepared and reset all of the niskin bottles to collect water properly after sampling was completed and i collected water to be analyzed for dissolved oxygen longridge said i think these research cruises are invaluable for students because they give you something tangible for what you are actually learning in the classroom i show all of this in class but its nothing like being there and doing it for real and seeing how it actually works yvon-lewis said the r/v point sur is owned by the university of southern mississippi and is operated by louisiana universities marine consortium (lumcon) wiederwohl and yvon-lewis praised the ships crew for their willingness to train students on operating the scientific equipment and other skills the crew can make or break the success of completing your science  not only were they extremely helpful and supportive of meeting our goals they were also willing to let the students deploy equipment and run the a frame and they supervised and trained them on it wiederwohl said ive been on numerous different vessels and ive never been on a cruise where they allowed the students to be that hands-on this furthered their full understanding of how oceanographic data collection works from start to finish(photos by dr chrissy wiederwohl)an unforgettable experience  from enduring sea-sickness to working together with a seasoned ship crew these aggie students learned and thrived on their first voyage my favorite part of the cruise was getting the hands-on experience and honestly just being able to be out on a boat and in the ocean longridge said i also really enjoyed getting to know my classmates and my professors on a deeper level one evening we went to the bow of the boat and we were able to see all the stars and the milky way above our heads and the bioluminescence in the waves below us it was truly awesome this was a great group of students yvon-lewis said  during their journey back to port the students got to watch a school of dolphins swimming and jumping alongside the ship(photos by dr chrissy wiederwohl)gift inspires and equips future oceanographers schade graduated from texas a&m in 1967 with a bachelors degree in journalism he then served 12 years of active duty in the us army he retired with 28 years in the army reserves before returning to his journalism roots as the editor of a small paper and later worked at the san antonio express-news in 1985 he joined the public relations department at usaa and retired in 2000  in 2003 schade followed his two passions sailing and photography and spent the next six years in the western caribbean with his boat griffin in 2009 he moved back to college station and renewed his involvement with supporting texas a&m  hal schades passion for the ocean and for stewardship of the ocean inspired his gift yvon-lewis said he wants these young people to be enthused about understanding and protecting this critical resource  by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning experiences in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences " the texas a&m oceanography faculty and students who sailed on the inaugural schade cruise (photo courtesy of dr chrissy wiederwohl) "twelve texas a&m university department of oceanography students had the remarkable opportunity to spend four days at sea conducting research in the gulf of mexico may 23-26 aboard the r/v point sur the entire cruise was funded thanks to a generous gift from hal schade 67 given in honor of his parents colonel tom and sue mathews for each student this was their first time sailing on a multi-day research cruise they got to experience working in 12-hour shifts taking water samples and having responsibility for a certain parameter it was a very authentic research experience said texas a&m oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis we are immensely grateful to hal for sponsoring this we would not have been able to bring these students out and provide them with this opportunity without his support  schades $80 000 gift funded all of the ship crew equipment and travel costs involved with the research cruise we wanted students to have this kind of an experience and we didnt have any other funding mechanism to make that happen so i am really grateful to him for having that desire to help these students get that experience yvon-lewis said  the gift supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 this was the inaugural schade cruise and the oceanography students took pride in being the first schade scholars" "we love what we are learning because we are passionate about the ocean but being able to put our hands on it makes it so much more real and that much more important to you said oceanography student samantha longridge 20 being able to go out on a research cruise brings the reality and awe back into what we are learning  assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs dr chrissy wiederwohl served as chief scientist for the cruise and yvon-lewis served as co-chief we did a lot of at-sea learning wiederwohl said the students were taking samples and asking questions at the same time ‘why did we take a water sample here not there they were intrigued by the science and did a great job" hal schade (center) funded an entire cruise for texas a&m oceanography students (photo by chris mouchyn)(photo by dr chrissy wiederwohl) "research will continue important gulf datasets this research cruises science objective was following up on and continuing work that began around the time of the deepwater horizon oil spill in 2010 some of that research was supported by the gulf integrated spill research program (gisr) theres a grid of sampling stations that we sampled during several gisr cruises to study the transport of the oil in the gulf yvon-lewis said what were doing with this current research is using that footprint as our base to set up the set of measurements that were going to make on these new cruises we will continue that time series and make it a long-term time series to better understand that transport along the slope in the northern gulf of mexico were very excited about it that long-term time series could potentially inform future oil spill responses giving scientists baseline data and a better understanding of how oil or other pollutants move through gulf waters one of the things that had really shown through in the deepwater horizon response was the fact that there was a lack of prior baseline measurements she said and right now there isnt a mechanism to have those baseline measurements set up in the gulf with these cruises this would be one way that we could do that the students onboard were responsible for working in 12-hour shifts during which they collected a full suite of hydrographic and water samples using a ctd rosette and niskin bottles we did full water column profiles which means we have continuous data from the surface all the way down to the bottom of temperature salinity pressure dissolved oxygen and fluorescence wiederwohl said and then we also took bottle samples of oxygen methane and dic which is dissolved inorganic carbon total alkalinity and nutrients and salinity; and we also took underway measurements of sea surface temperature and salinity and currents  every student on board did an excellent job of fulfilling their responsibilities and keeping the sampling running smoothly she said no matter how sea-sick they were they still did their work that was the most amazing part quite the bonding experience i was responsible for assisting the rosette in and out of the water i prepared and reset all of the niskin bottles to collect water properly after sampling was completed and i collected water to be analyzed for dissolved oxygen longridge said i think these research cruises are invaluable for students because they give you something tangible for what you are actually learning in the classroom i show all of this in class but its nothing like being there and doing it for real and seeing how it actually works yvon-lewis said the r/v point sur is owned by the university of southern mississippi and is operated by louisiana universities marine consortium (lumcon) wiederwohl and yvon-lewis praised the ships crew for their willingness to train students on operating the scientific equipment and other skills the crew can make or break the success of completing your science  not only were they extremely helpful and supportive of meeting our goals they were also willing to let the students deploy equipment and run the a frame and they supervised and trained them on it wiederwohl said ive been on numerous different vessels and ive never been on a cruise where they allowed the students to be that hands-on this furthered their full understanding of how oceanographic data collection works from start to finish" "an unforgettable experience  from enduring sea-sickness to working together with a seasoned ship crew these aggie students learned and thrived on their first voyage my favorite part of the cruise was getting the hands-on experience and honestly just being able to be out on a boat and in the ocean longridge said i also really enjoyed getting to know my classmates and my professors on a deeper level one evening we went to the bow of the boat and we were able to see all the stars and the milky way above our heads and the bioluminescence in the waves below us it was truly awesome this was a great group of students yvon-lewis said  during their journey back to port the students got to watch a school of dolphins swimming and jumping alongside the ship" "gift inspires and equips future oceanographers schade graduated from texas a&m in 1967 with a bachelors degree in journalism he then served 12 years of active duty in the us army he retired with 28 years in the army reserves before returning to his journalism roots as the editor of a small paper and later worked at the san antonio express-news in 1985 he joined the public relations department at usaa and retired in 2000  in 2003 schade followed his two passions sailing and photography and spent the next six years in the western caribbean with his boat griffin in 2009 he moved back to college station and renewed his involvement with supporting texas a&m  hal schades passion for the ocean and for stewardship of the ocean inspired his gift yvon-lewis said he wants these young people to be enthused about understanding and protecting this critical resource  by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning experiences in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences" " five weeks at sea: geosciences junior conducts research on pacific expeditionmia self dove 2 500 meters deep in hov alvin during a nsf-funded research cruise led by a texas a&m oceanography professor jun 25 2019self with the hov alvin (photo courtesy of mia self)mia self undergraduate environmental studies student (photo courtesy of mia self)after graduating from macarthur high school in san antonio mia self 21 moved to texas a&m university to pursue a degree in environmental studies within the college of geosciences two and half years later she was walking down a dock in san francisco about to board the r/v atlantis to spend five-weeks of her spring 2019 semester conducting research in the east pacific ocean it felt like i was about to take huge drop on a rollercoaster it was a mix of anticipation excitement nervousness it didnt seem real we talked about this cruise all semester and i couldnt believe it was finally happening she said how did a college sophomore get to sail on such a trip in august 2018 she started working in texas a&m oceanography professor dr jason sylvans lab doing dna extractions in december he presented her with the opportunity to participate on the 5-week research cruise to investigate hydrothermal vents and she leaped at the opportunity she had already made her schedule for the upcoming semester i didnt think it was possible because it was 5 weeks and i didnt think it was possible to miss that much class self saidself aboard the r/v atlantis with hov alvin (photo courtesy of mia self)mia self collecting seawater samples with a ctd aboard the r/v point sur in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of mia self)balancing act dr brendan roark and allison harms were definitely a huge huge help with trying to figure out how to make all of this happen dr roark was the one who initially stated ‘its possible for you to go she explained with the help of roark head of environmental programs in the college of geosciences and sylvans assistance she was able to configure her schedule to accommodate the cruise which sailed march 25 - april 24 i was only in one lecture-based class this semester; the rest of my classes were research-based self said in one of my research classes i was continuing the dna extraction research for a different project in the lab and the other was getting prepared for the actual cruise i would do anywhere from 15 to 20 hours a week in the lab and then my final class was reading a lot of research papers meeting with dr sylvan and i got a crash course in microbial ecology everything during her semester was focused around the cruise and gaining the experience but it wouldnt have been possible without the help and support of her professors and advisors self doing research aboard the r/v atlantis (photo courtesy of mia self)researching hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean the research project led by sylvan hot2cold vents was created to figure out the biological component of hydrothermal vents attempting to answer the question: whenever an alive hydrothermal vent becomes a dead hydrothermal vent when does the biology change i specifically went on the cruise to study enzymes and the biological difference between hot (alive) and cold (dead) hydrothermal vents mia said  after collecting samples on the east pacific rise using alvin a human occupied vehicle (hov) submarine they would put half of the samples in a 65-degree incubator and half inside a 4-degree refrigerator self would then look at the different enzyme activity based upon dead hydrothermal vents and alive hydrothermal vent rocks at the two different temperatures to see what the different enzyme and rate activities were an extremely rare opportunity for an undergraduate student self got to dive in hov alvin deep into the pacific ocean alvin holds three people at a time usually two scientists and one pilot and each dive on this expedition lasted for about 8 hoursmia self oceanography postdoctoral research associate dr amanda achberger and oceanography graduate student charles holmes ii aboard the r/v atlantis during the expedition (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences)dr jason sylvan and mia self aboard the r/v atlantis during the expedition (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences)we used alvin as a means of collecting samples for all of our different projects that we needed and we would go there for 8 hours at a time to collect samples from different hydrothermal vents we were 2 521 meters down and there were things i never would have even imagined were down there after a week we went back and resampled those rocks and theyre going back next year to see how everything has changed after a day a week and a year to see when the cutoff was for when everything changed between an alive and dead hydrothermal vents she explained now a junior she has started to look towards the future and what she hopes to accomplish following the completion of her bachelors degree i definitely know that graduate school is in my future i know that i want to do something with the environment but i dont really have a huge direction for a career yet; but i know with a school as amazing as a&m that i will have many opportunities to figure it out in my next two years while im here by amanda hoth '21 " self with the hov alvin (photo courtesy of mia self)mia self undergraduate environmental studies student (photo courtesy of mia self) "after graduating from macarthur high school in san antonio mia self 21 moved to texas a&m university to pursue a degree in environmental studies within the college of geosciences two and half years later she was walking down a dock in san francisco about to board the r/v atlantis to spend five-weeks of her spring 2019 semester conducting research in the east pacific ocean it felt like i was about to take huge drop on a rollercoaster it was a mix of anticipation excitement nervousness it didnt seem real we talked about this cruise all semester and i couldnt believe it was finally happening she said how did a college sophomore get to sail on such a trip in august 2018 she started working in texas a&m oceanography professor dr jason sylvans lab doing dna extractions in december he presented her with the opportunity to participate on the 5-week research cruise to investigate hydrothermal vents and she leaped at the opportunity she had already made her schedule for the upcoming semester i didnt think it was possible because it was 5 weeks and i didnt think it was possible to miss that much class self said" self aboard the r/v atlantis with hov alvin (photo courtesy of mia self)mia self collecting seawater samples with a ctd aboard the r/v point sur in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of mia self) "balancing act dr brendan roark and allison harms were definitely a huge huge help with trying to figure out how to make all of this happen dr roark was the one who initially stated ‘its possible for you to go she explained with the help of roark head of environmental programs in the college of geosciences and sylvans assistance she was able to configure her schedule to accommodate the cruise which sailed march 25 - april 24 i was only in one lecture-based class this semester; the rest of my classes were research-based self said in one of my research classes i was continuing the dna extraction research for a different project in the lab and the other was getting prepared for the actual cruise i would do anywhere from 15 to 20 hours a week in the lab and then my final class was reading a lot of research papers meeting with dr sylvan and i got a crash course in microbial ecology everything during her semester was focused around the cruise and gaining the experience but it wouldnt have been possible without the help and support of her professors and advisors " self doing research aboard the r/v atlantis (photo courtesy of mia self) "researching hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean the research project led by sylvan hot2cold vents was created to figure out the biological component of hydrothermal vents attempting to answer the question: whenever an alive hydrothermal vent becomes a dead hydrothermal vent when does the biology change i specifically went on the cruise to study enzymes and the biological difference between hot (alive) and cold (dead) hydrothermal vents mia said  after collecting samples on the east pacific rise using alvin a human occupied vehicle (hov) submarine they would put half of the samples in a 65-degree incubator and half inside a 4-degree refrigerator self would then look at the different enzyme activity based upon dead hydrothermal vents and alive hydrothermal vent rocks at the two different temperatures to see what the different enzyme and rate activities were an extremely rare opportunity for an undergraduate student self got to dive in hov alvin deep into the pacific ocean alvin holds three people at a time usually two scientists and one pilot and each dive on this expedition lasted for about 8 hours" mia self oceanography postdoctoral research associate dr amanda achberger and oceanography graduate student charles holmes ii aboard the r/v atlantis during the expedition (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences)dr jason sylvan and mia self aboard the r/v atlantis during the expedition (photo courtesy of robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences) "we used alvin as a means of collecting samples for all of our different projects that we needed and we would go there for 8 hours at a time to collect samples from different hydrothermal vents we were 2 521 meters down and there were things i never would have even imagined were down there after a week we went back and resampled those rocks and theyre going back next year to see how everything has changed after a day a week and a year to see when the cutoff was for when everything changed between an alive and dead hydrothermal vents she explained now a junior she has started to look towards the future and what she hopes to accomplish following the completion of her bachelors degree i definitely know that graduate school is in my future i know that i want to do something with the environment but i dont really have a huge direction for a career yet; but i know with a school as amazing as a&m that i will have many opportunities to figure it out in my next two years while im here by amanda hoth '21" " texas sea grant awards nearly $50 thousand to 20 graduate students for researchgraduate students across the texas a&m university system were awarded funding through the grants-in-aid of graduate research programjun 24 2019the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) awarded $49 804 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions  the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid program is designed to support students in their early careers as they develop their research skills and learn to navigate the grant proposal process said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the 2019-21 grants-in-aid recipients their institutions and projects are listed below mohsen aghashahi pursuing a doctorate in civil engineering-water resources at tamu  application of supervised machine learning techniques to detect leakage in a water distribution testbed using accelerometers hydrophones and pressure transducers elizabeth dibona pursuing a masters degree in biology at tamucc  a holistic approach to assess the impact of microplastic fibers during fish development james fiorendino pursuing a doctorate in biological oceanography at tamu  strength and numbers: does population density influence toxicity of dinophysis janelle goeke pursuing a doctorate in coastal ecology at tamug  bottom-up effects of a shift in wetland foundational species on basal consumers in the gulf of mexico mary hannon pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug  elucidating epitoky in annelids using differential gene expression of the common clam worm  alitta succinea (family: nereididae) tacey hicks pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu does coral reef heterotrophy of external particulate nutrients support ecosystem scale calcification kendall johnson pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc exploring evolutionary links in genes in adaptive radiations of gobies (gobiiformes) by targeted gene capture bumsoo kim pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu  global significance of anaerobic oxidation of organic matter by sulfate reduction: insights from lipid biomarkers trang le pursuing a doctorate in recreation park and tourism sciences at tamu  are we at the same page the perception of local governments and coastal communities concerning the role of green infrastructure contribution to resilience wing man lee pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc comparison of nitrogen (n) sources in baffin bay and san antonio bay under different freshwater inflow regimes using compound specific isotope ratios in amino acids mariah livernois pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug comparing the life histories of coastal and oceanic sharks of texas using natural tracers in vertebrae terry palmer pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc  quantifying the biomagnification of contaminants in epibenthic marine fauna kijin seong pursuing at doctorate in urban and regional science at tamu neighborhood change after floodplain buyouts in harris county serena smith pursuing a masters degree in oceanography at tamu  how does percent coral coverage affect oceanic particulate organic matter uptake and subsequently support coral reef ecosystem calcification dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc  assessing mhc-dependent mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) janelle steffen pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu  iron isotopes in galveston bay and the gulf of mexico anne tamalavage pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamug developing geochemical evidence for hydroclimate variability in the subtropical western north atlantic over the last 45 000 years  jill thompson-grim pursuing a masters degree in marine biology at tamucc  does the configuration of decommissioned oil and gas platforms affect red snapper (lutjanus campechanus) density and total biomass in an artificial reef site tyler winkler pursuing a doctorate in geological oceanography at tamu annually-resolved archive of paleohurricane frequency in the western caribbean over the last 900 years: implications for the us gulf coast hao yu pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc  contribution of sediment methane to the atmosphere from subtropical lagoons of corpus christi texas " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) awarded $49 804 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions  the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid program is designed to support students in their early careers as they develop their research skills and learn to navigate the grant proposal process said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the 2019-21 grants-in-aid recipients their institutions and projects are listed below mohsen aghashahi pursuing a doctorate in civil engineering-water resources at tamu  application of supervised machine learning techniques to detect leakage in a water distribution testbed using accelerometers hydrophones and pressure transducers elizabeth dibona pursuing a masters degree in biology at tamucc  a holistic approach to assess the impact of microplastic fibers during fish development james fiorendino pursuing a doctorate in biological oceanography at tamu  strength and numbers: does population density influence toxicity of dinophysis janelle goeke pursuing a doctorate in coastal ecology at tamug  bottom-up effects of a shift in wetland foundational species on basal consumers in the gulf of mexico mary hannon pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug  elucidating epitoky in annelids using differential gene expression of the common clam worm  alitta succinea (family: nereididae) tacey hicks pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu does coral reef heterotrophy of external particulate nutrients support ecosystem scale calcification kendall johnson pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc exploring evolutionary links in genes in adaptive radiations of gobies (gobiiformes) by targeted gene capture bumsoo kim pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu  global significance of anaerobic oxidation of organic matter by sulfate reduction: insights from lipid biomarkers trang le pursuing a doctorate in recreation park and tourism sciences at tamu  are we at the same page the perception of local governments and coastal communities concerning the role of green infrastructure contribution to resilience wing man lee pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc comparison of nitrogen (n) sources in baffin bay and san antonio bay under different freshwater inflow regimes using compound specific isotope ratios in amino acids mariah livernois pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug comparing the life histories of coastal and oceanic sharks of texas using natural tracers in vertebrae terry palmer pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc  quantifying the biomagnification of contaminants in epibenthic marine fauna kijin seong pursuing at doctorate in urban and regional science at tamu neighborhood change after floodplain buyouts in harris county serena smith pursuing a masters degree in oceanography at tamu  how does percent coral coverage affect oceanic particulate organic matter uptake and subsequently support coral reef ecosystem calcification dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc  assessing mhc-dependent mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) janelle steffen pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu  iron isotopes in galveston bay and the gulf of mexico anne tamalavage pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamug developing geochemical evidence for hydroclimate variability in the subtropical western north atlantic over the last 45 000 years  jill thompson-grim pursuing a masters degree in marine biology at tamucc  does the configuration of decommissioned oil and gas platforms affect red snapper (lutjanus campechanus) density and total biomass in an artificial reef site tyler winkler pursuing a doctorate in geological oceanography at tamu annually-resolved archive of paleohurricane frequency in the western caribbean over the last 900 years: implications for the us gulf coast hao yu pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc  contribution of sediment methane to the atmosphere from subtropical lagoons of corpus christi texas " " ethan grossman named aaas fellowgeology and geophysics professor was officially inducted as an aaas fellowjun 24 2019grossman with aaas chair of the board margaret a hamburg after receiving his aaas fellows certificate and rosette during the fellows breakfastthe american association for the advancement of science (aaas) has named dr ethan l grossman professor and holder of the michel t halbouty chair in the department of geology and geophysics in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences an aaas fellow a total of six texas a&m faculty-researchers were named among aaas fellows for 2018 all 416 new aaas fellows were selected in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in advancing science  said aaas formed in 1848 aaas is the worlds largest multidisciplinary scientific society with members in more than 91 nations the diverse accomplishments of these six researchers represent the enormous range of the texas a&m research enterprise said dr mark a barteau texas a&m vice president for research as a university we thank the aaas for recognizing their tremendous contributions which have advanced the role of science in the world while demonstrating texas a&ms mission to solve societys most challenging problems grossman was honored for distinguished contributions to the field of isotope geochemistry and paleoceanography particularly for leadership in deep-time oxygen isotope stratigraphy and paleothermometry he is a renowned expert in stable isotope geochemistry global change and paleoclimates grossman was officially inducted as an aaas fellow at a ceremony on during its annual meeting feb 16 in washington dc with its six new fellows texas a&m has 51 aaas fellows among its current faculty by leslie lee 09 " grossman with aaas chair of the board margaret a hamburg after receiving his aaas fellows certificate and rosette during the fellows breakfast "the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) has named dr ethan l grossman professor and holder of the michel t halbouty chair in the department of geology and geophysics in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences an aaas fellow a total of six texas a&m faculty-researchers were named among aaas fellows for 2018 all 416 new aaas fellows were selected in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in advancing science  said aaas formed in 1848 aaas is the worlds largest multidisciplinary scientific society with members in more than 91 nations the diverse accomplishments of these six researchers represent the enormous range of the texas a&m research enterprise said dr mark a barteau texas a&m vice president for research as a university we thank the aaas for recognizing their tremendous contributions which have advanced the role of science in the world while demonstrating texas a&ms mission to solve societys most challenging problems grossman was honored for distinguished contributions to the field of isotope geochemistry and paleoceanography particularly for leadership in deep-time oxygen isotope stratigraphy and paleothermometry he is a renowned expert in stable isotope geochemistry global change and paleoclimates grossman was officially inducted as an aaas fellow at a ceremony on during its annual meeting feb 16 in washington dc with its six new fellows texas a&m has 51 aaas fellows among its current faculty by leslie lee 09" " jane and bill thomas give $3 million endow the field camp experiencegenerations of students will benefit from this high-impact learning experience thanks to aggies gift jun 19 2019texas a&m students at field camp in montana in may 2019decades of aggies who graduated from the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics will tell you the same story: field camp was a turning point in their lives field camp was where the foundation of their career began field camp was where they transformed from an inexperienced student into a future geologist in the summer of 1974 bill thomas 75 was a junior geology major beginning his summer field camp experiences excited to spend weeks adventuring through outcrops and hiking along mountain ridges in colorado and far west texas with aggie students and professors  today he is the chief executive officer of eog resources and a leading pioneer of shale oil and gas exploration and he and his wife jane have established the jane e 76 and bill r thomas 75 field experience excellence endowment the $25 million endowment will support of texas a&ms field camp as part of the comprehensive field-based education operated by the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences on-going funding from bill and jane thomas for the next several years will eventually bring the gift to more than $3 million the gift supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 this gift will transform the life and career of every one of our majors im at a loss to express how deeply bill and jane inspire me and i am so grateful for the friendship that we have developed said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas at the heart of their visionary gift is equity of opportunity ensuring that all of our geology majors experience field camp and ensuring that the department is able to offer this experience in perpetuity a life-changing experience i really clearly remember field camp bill thomas said field camp was the biggest learning experience for me and it had the biggest impact on me actually learning geology you could actually see the rocks and see the structure and stratigraphy and then you mapped it im a visual person and that was an incredibly meaningful experience this incredible gift will provide support to geology and geophysics students enrolled in the summer field geology (geol 350) course and its required 3-week field camp experience and the endowment will also support additional multi-day field experiences in several other geology courses every single student in the department therefore will directly benefit from the thomas familys gift field camp was so pivotal in bills life jane thomas said texas a&m provided the opportunities for him to be where he is now  im hoping that this endowment keeps field camp alive and healthy for decades to come bill said the goal of each field camp is for students to solidify their understanding of basic concepts and to utilize field techniques to create geologic interpretations for a variety of geologic locations students spend each day completing various geologic maps stratigraphic columns cross-sections and geologic interpretations all led by faculty mentors and all these years later bill still remembers the impact of that in-field mentoring time at field camp you got to interact with the faculty more and on a one-on-one basis because youre walking around looking at this looking at that and you had more time to talk he said they asked us good thought-provoking questions to make us think currently the department usually operates two summer field camps each year with a total of about 100 students each summer one is held in montana where students stay on the campus of montana western in dillon and the other is a traveling field camp covering sites in new mexico utah and montana this years montana field camp was led by dr brent miller and dr alfonso benavides-iglesias and the traveling field camp was led by dr andreas kronenberg   bill thomas '75 (photo courtesy of eog resources)dr brent miller leading field camp in montana in may 2019 (photo by robyn blackmon)beginning an aggie family legacy for jane thomas her journey to texas a&m started at an aggie football game in the fall of 1973 then jane vanderslice she began her college career attending baylor university but came to visit texas a&m one weekend with a friend after one football game she was hooked on aggieland and the aggie spirit everyone there was down to earth hard-working regular salt of the earth people she said she quickly transferred to texas a&m and was officially an aggie education major by the following spring jane and bill were both involved in the baptist student union (now baptist student ministry)   met that spring and later began dating our bsu girls intramural football team won first place that year his bsu boys team got second she teasingly recalled like many aggies today they stayed busy playing intramural sports volunteering in campus ministries and studying one difference between campus in 1974 and campus today was student access to a certain football field they probably dont let it happen now bill said but i remember going with some of my geology buddies and playing touch football on kyle field! we were ripping up and down throwing the ball and it was just open! i would love to go back and do it all again it was such a great experience   bill and jane thomas (photos courtesy of the thomas family)idyllic campus days gave way to summer and in the summer of 74 bill was headed to geology field camp experiences in colorado and around big bend texas for several weeks he studied all the time and then he went off to field camp and he loved it and it really impacted his life jane said and he looked like robert redford in jeremiah johnson when he came back! i felt like id died and gone to heaven! bill graduated from texas a&m in may 1975 and they got engaged that fall jane graduated in may 1976 and they married in the summer of 1977 four decades of energy exploration bill began his career in west texas as a district engineer for dowell an oil field services company where he gained invaluable field experience the interesting thing is his first job was not doing geology but those two years were when he learned a lot about hydraulic fracturing jane said in 1979 he used that valuable experience and joined an eog predecessor company as a production engineer located in sonora their family grew and jane and bill welcomed three daughters over the years bill held a number of positions with eog including district geologist and senior exploration geologist he was named senior vice president and general manager in 2004 and later executive vice president while based in fort worth in february 2011 bill spearheaded eogs drive to explore horizontal shale potential with the development of eogs barnett shale play he broke the code on the shale industry jane said eog is now widely credited as the company who pioneered the development of unconventional horizontal shale resources bill was named chairman and chief executive officer of eog resources inc in january 2014 and has now been with eog and its predecessor companies for nearly 40 years to this day he would still rather find drilling prospects than eat jane said even though hes the ceo hes still finding prospects were a team and i admire him now more than i ever have he didnt aim to be ceo he just did his very best every day investing in texas a&m students from serving in and supporting their church to financially supporting international orphan-care organizations and state-side ministries the thomas family is an inspiration to many our priorities are our faith and our family and then our work and in each of those areas we have been so blessed bill said weve been blessed with relationships and opportunities and weve always been committed to being life-long givers today the thomas family includes their three daughters and sons-in-law and six grandchildren two of their daughters graduated from texas a&m and in 2018 they started exploring what would be the best way for them to give back to texas a&m field camp was the most impactful learning tool ive ever experienced bill said so if i could do something meaningful to help preserve and enhance it then thats what i wanted to do  i think a&m is a great university and a great investment and jane and i are very proud of our university and very proud to be aggies he credits geosciences dean dr debbie thomas for her inspiring leadership of the college and her focus on high-impact learning im so grateful for dean thomas leadership and her passion for the students learning experiences he said the field experience at field camp is one of the key methods of teaching and inspiring and raising up really solid strong geology students it was also the most meaningful relationship tool for faculty to mentor students and for students to develop friendships i really believe and ive talked to a lot of people about this and they all have the same story – field camp made a huge difference in their lives considering his potential positive impact on current and future aggies bill had this advice for current students: always be thankful and gracious never think too highly of yourself think of others first because ultimately we are here to serve people by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning experiences in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences " "decades of aggies who graduated from the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics will tell you the same story: field camp was a turning point in their lives field camp was where the foundation of their career began field camp was where they transformed from an inexperienced student into a future geologist in the summer of 1974 bill thomas 75 was a junior geology major beginning his summer field camp experiences excited to spend weeks adventuring through outcrops and hiking along mountain ridges in colorado and far west texas with aggie students and professors  today he is the chief executive officer of eog resources and a leading pioneer of shale oil and gas exploration and he and his wife jane have established the jane e 76 and bill r thomas 75 field experience excellence endowment the $25 million endowment will support of texas a&ms field camp as part of the comprehensive field-based education operated by the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences on-going funding from bill and jane thomas for the next several years will eventually bring the gift to more than $3 million the gift supports the universitys lead by example campaign a fundraising effort to raise $4 billion in support of texas a&m students faculty colleges and programs by 2020 this gift will transform the life and career of every one of our majors im at a loss to express how deeply bill and jane inspire me and i am so grateful for the friendship that we have developed said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas at the heart of their visionary gift is equity of opportunity ensuring that all of our geology majors experience field camp and ensuring that the department is able to offer this experience in perpetuity " "a life-changing experience i really clearly remember field camp bill thomas said field camp was the biggest learning experience for me and it had the biggest impact on me actually learning geology you could actually see the rocks and see the structure and stratigraphy and then you mapped it im a visual person and that was an incredibly meaningful experience this incredible gift will provide support to geology and geophysics students enrolled in the summer field geology (geol 350) course and its required 3-week field camp experience and the endowment will also support additional multi-day field experiences in several other geology courses every single student in the department therefore will directly benefit from the thomas familys gift field camp was so pivotal in bills life jane thomas said texas a&m provided the opportunities for him to be where he is now  im hoping that this endowment keeps field camp alive and healthy for decades to come bill said the goal of each field camp is for students to solidify their understanding of basic concepts and to utilize field techniques to create geologic interpretations for a variety of geologic locations students spend each day completing various geologic maps stratigraphic columns cross-sections and geologic interpretations all led by faculty mentors and all these years later bill still remembers the impact of that in-field mentoring time at field camp you got to interact with the faculty more and on a one-on-one basis because youre walking around looking at this looking at that and you had more time to talk he said they asked us good thought-provoking questions to make us think currently the department usually operates two summer field camps each year with a total of about 100 students each summer one is held in montana where students stay on the campus of montana western in dillon and the other is a traveling field camp covering sites in new mexico utah and montana this years montana field camp was led by dr brent miller and dr alfonso benavides-iglesias and the traveling field camp was led by dr andreas kronenberg   " bill thomas '75 (photo courtesy of eog resources)dr brent miller leading field camp in montana in may 2019 (photo by robyn blackmon) "beginning an aggie family legacy for jane thomas her journey to texas a&m started at an aggie football game in the fall of 1973 then jane vanderslice she began her college career attending baylor university but came to visit texas a&m one weekend with a friend after one football game she was hooked on aggieland and the aggie spirit everyone there was down to earth hard-working regular salt of the earth people she said she quickly transferred to texas a&m and was officially an aggie education major by the following spring jane and bill were both involved in the baptist student union (now baptist student ministry)   met that spring and later began dating our bsu girls intramural football team won first place that year his bsu boys team got second she teasingly recalled like many aggies today they stayed busy playing intramural sports volunteering in campus ministries and studying one difference between campus in 1974 and campus today was student access to a certain football field they probably dont let it happen now bill said but i remember going with some of my geology buddies and playing touch football on kyle field! we were ripping up and down throwing the ball and it was just open! i would love to go back and do it all again it was such a great experience   " "idyllic campus days gave way to summer and in the summer of 74 bill was headed to geology field camp experiences in colorado and around big bend texas for several weeks he studied all the time and then he went off to field camp and he loved it and it really impacted his life jane said and he looked like robert redford in jeremiah johnson when he came back! i felt like id died and gone to heaven! bill graduated from texas a&m in may 1975 and they got engaged that fall jane graduated in may 1976 and they married in the summer of 1977 four decades of energy exploration bill began his career in west texas as a district engineer for dowell an oil field services company where he gained invaluable field experience the interesting thing is his first job was not doing geology but those two years were when he learned a lot about hydraulic fracturing jane said in 1979 he used that valuable experience and joined an eog predecessor company as a production engineer located in sonora their family grew and jane and bill welcomed three daughters over the years bill held a number of positions with eog including district geologist and senior exploration geologist he was named senior vice president and general manager in 2004 and later executive vice president while based in fort worth in february 2011 bill spearheaded eogs drive to explore horizontal shale potential with the development of eogs barnett shale play he broke the code on the shale industry jane said eog is now widely credited as the company who pioneered the development of unconventional horizontal shale resources bill was named chairman and chief executive officer of eog resources inc in january 2014 and has now been with eog and its predecessor companies for nearly 40 years to this day he would still rather find drilling prospects than eat jane said even though hes the ceo hes still finding prospects were a team and i admire him now more than i ever have he didnt aim to be ceo he just did his very best every day investing in texas a&m students from serving in and supporting their church to financially supporting international orphan-care organizations and state-side ministries the thomas family is an inspiration to many our priorities are our faith and our family and then our work and in each of those areas we have been so blessed bill said weve been blessed with relationships and opportunities and weve always been committed to being life-long givers today the thomas family includes their three daughters and sons-in-law and six grandchildren two of their daughters graduated from texas a&m and in 2018 they started exploring what would be the best way for them to give back to texas a&m field camp was the most impactful learning tool ive ever experienced bill said so if i could do something meaningful to help preserve and enhance it then thats what i wanted to do  i think a&m is a great university and a great investment and jane and i are very proud of our university and very proud to be aggies he credits geosciences dean dr debbie thomas for her inspiring leadership of the college and her focus on high-impact learning im so grateful for dean thomas leadership and her passion for the students learning experiences he said the field experience at field camp is one of the key methods of teaching and inspiring and raising up really solid strong geology students it was also the most meaningful relationship tool for faculty to mentor students and for students to develop friendships i really believe and ive talked to a lot of people about this and they all have the same story – field camp made a huge difference in their lives considering his potential positive impact on current and future aggies bill had this advice for current students: always be thankful and gracious never think too highly of yourself think of others first because ultimately we are here to serve people by leslie lee 09 to learn more about supporting high-impact learning experiences in the college of geosciences visit leadbyexampletamuedu/geosciences" " launching weather balloons and training future meteorologists: meet montana etten-bohmthe atmospheric sciences graduate student was recently awarded a teaching-as-research fellowship from texas a&mjun 18 2019montana etten-bohm outside of the eller oceanography and meteorology building (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)etten-bohm introduces agsc invited speaker dr andrew gettelman at a department seminar (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)after earning a degree in earth system science in 2016 from the university of alabama in huntsville(uah) montana etten-bohm was looking for a fulfilling graduate school program though she considered several schools etten-bohm ultimately chose texas a&m largely due to her advisor dr courtney schumacher schumachers research aligned with her own interests and etten-bohm also felt that she could get along with her on both a professional level and a personal one  etten-bohm said she first became interested in meteorology after a series of weather events hit close to home hurricane ivan in 2004 and the major tornadic outbreak of april 27 2011 both impacted her and her home as a child she also cites her father as a large part of her inspiration to study meteorology because he had a lot of passion for the subject and would teach (her) whenever given the opportunity now a third-year graduate student in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences etten-bohm has been greatly involved with research and growth within the department in the past year she has been a graduate coordinator for meso18-19 a noaa funded national field campaign as part of the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) that she was also involved in as an undergraduate student while at uahetten-bohm working on the recruitment committee at ams in phoenix az this past january (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)etten-bohm and a peer watch data coming in from balloon launch in near storm environment of franklin tornado (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)she currently serves as the president of the atmospheric sciences graduate council (asgc) the representative body of graduate students and has been active in implementing changes to help students succeed at the graduate level additionally etten-bohm has been an integral part of the departments recruitment efforts helping attract top-tier candidates to its graduate program the primary focus for her masters research that she completed in december of 2018 was how lightning relates to the large-scale environment the research that she is continuing into her phd investigates how we can predict lightning on a global scale in global climate models using parameters factors like cape wind shear and humidity she said in addition to this research her phd will have an educational component seeking to enhance the teaching of fundamental weather and forecasting skills in undergraduate meteorology coursesstudents visiting the american meteorological conference in phoenix arizona in january (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)dr courtney schumachers group at their annual holiday banquet (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)teaching the next generation following graduation etten-bohm hopes to apply her graduate teaching experiences as an instructional professor in the atmospheric sciences while also incorporating research in the classroom she believes that this integrated approach will help foster a well-rounded generation of future meteorologists recently awarded the teaching-as-research (tar) fellowshipthrough the center for the integration of research teaching and learningetten-bohm is already getting a jump start on accomplishing this goal this year-long program allows students pursuing careers in furthering stem education with the ability to implement and advance teaching practices with this fellowship and the advisement of dr don conlee she will investigate the success of active learning techniques in introductory meteorology classes by amanda hoth 21 " montana etten-bohm outside of the eller oceanography and meteorology building (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)etten-bohm introduces agsc invited speaker dr andrew gettelman at a department seminar (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm) "after earning a degree in earth system science in 2016 from the university of alabama in huntsville(uah) montana etten-bohm was looking for a fulfilling graduate school program though she considered several schools etten-bohm ultimately chose texas a&m largely due to her advisor dr courtney schumacher schumachers research aligned with her own interests and etten-bohm also felt that she could get along with her on both a professional level and a personal one  etten-bohm said she first became interested in meteorology after a series of weather events hit close to home hurricane ivan in 2004 and the major tornadic outbreak of april 27 2011 both impacted her and her home as a child she also cites her father as a large part of her inspiration to study meteorology because he had a lot of passion for the subject and would teach (her) whenever given the opportunity now a third-year graduate student in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences etten-bohm has been greatly involved with research and growth within the department in the past year she has been a graduate coordinator for meso18-19 a noaa funded national field campaign as part of the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) that she was also involved in as an undergraduate student while at uah" etten-bohm working on the recruitment committee at ams in phoenix az this past january (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)etten-bohm and a peer watch data coming in from balloon launch in near storm environment of franklin tornado (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm) "she currently serves as the president of the atmospheric sciences graduate council (asgc) the representative body of graduate students and has been active in implementing changes to help students succeed at the graduate level additionally etten-bohm has been an integral part of the departments recruitment efforts helping attract top-tier candidates to its graduate program the primary focus for her masters research that she completed in december of 2018 was how lightning relates to the large-scale environment the research that she is continuing into her phd investigates how we can predict lightning on a global scale in global climate models using parameters factors like cape wind shear and humidity she said in addition to this research her phd will have an educational component seeking to enhance the teaching of fundamental weather and forecasting skills in undergraduate meteorology courses" students visiting the american meteorological conference in phoenix arizona in january (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm)dr courtney schumachers group at their annual holiday banquet (photo courtesy of montana etten-bohm) "teaching the next generation following graduation etten-bohm hopes to apply her graduate teaching experiences as an instructional professor in the atmospheric sciences while also incorporating research in the classroom she believes that this integrated approach will help foster a well-rounded generation of future meteorologists recently awarded the teaching-as-research (tar) fellowshipthrough the center for the integration of research teaching and learningetten-bohm is already getting a jump start on accomplishing this goal this year-long program allows students pursuing careers in furthering stem education with the ability to implement and advance teaching practices with this fellowship and the advisement of dr don conlee she will investigate the success of active learning techniques in introductory meteorology classes by amanda hoth 21" " nick perez receives nsf career awardwith prestigious award perez will research mountain building and provide students with international high-impact learning experiencesjun 18 2019dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization  perezs project is titled merging geoscience research and education to investigate convergent margin deformation and improve spatio-temporal problem solving in stem education despite their societal and environmental impact the development of mountain ranges remains enigmatic wrote perez in the project proposal this project is focused on reconstructing the age location and amount of deformation that formed the southern peruvian andes this location is representative of other mountain ranges that form between converging oceanic and continental tectonic plates allowing this work to advance the global understanding of mountain building perez research will use field mapping cross-section construction geochronology bedrock and detrital thermochronology kinematic reconstruction and virtual outcrop models to constrain the timing position and magnitude of crustal shortening accumulated across the southern peruvian andes since the cretaceous period the highly prestigious nsf career award is a beautiful testament to dr perez vision and creativity as an early-career thought leader said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are thrilled that the potential impact of dr perezs proposed science and education work has gained the recognition of his discipline with the resulting new dataset on the temporal and spatial patterns of deformation and mountain building perez plans to assess how the upper plate responds to changes in subduction zone processes the discrepancies between measurements of crustal strain at geologic and modern time frames and how crustal deformation thickening and surface uplift are linked in time and space  a stratigraphic section in southern peru (photo credit: dr nick perez)a new global tectonics course for texas a&m undergraduate and graduate students will be developed as a result of this project and it will include an international field research experience in the research area in southern peru this high-impact learning experience will link tectonics resources hazards and human impacts helping students understand issues with global dimensions the research project will also produce new open-access geoscience course modules for high school undergraduate and graduate students learn more about perez by leslie lee 09 " "dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization  perezs project is titled merging geoscience research and education to investigate convergent margin deformation and improve spatio-temporal problem solving in stem education despite their societal and environmental impact the development of mountain ranges remains enigmatic wrote perez in the project proposal this project is focused on reconstructing the age location and amount of deformation that formed the southern peruvian andes this location is representative of other mountain ranges that form between converging oceanic and continental tectonic plates allowing this work to advance the global understanding of mountain building perez research will use field mapping cross-section construction geochronology bedrock and detrital thermochronology kinematic reconstruction and virtual outcrop models to constrain the timing position and magnitude of crustal shortening accumulated across the southern peruvian andes since the cretaceous period the highly prestigious nsf career award is a beautiful testament to dr perez vision and creativity as an early-career thought leader said dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are thrilled that the potential impact of dr perezs proposed science and education work has gained the recognition of his discipline with the resulting new dataset on the temporal and spatial patterns of deformation and mountain building perez plans to assess how the upper plate responds to changes in subduction zone processes the discrepancies between measurements of crustal strain at geologic and modern time frames and how crustal deformation thickening and surface uplift are linked in time and space  " "a new global tectonics course for texas a&m undergraduate and graduate students will be developed as a result of this project and it will include an international field research experience in the research area in southern peru this high-impact learning experience will link tectonics resources hazards and human impacts helping students understand issues with global dimensions the research project will also produce new open-access geoscience course modules for high school undergraduate and graduate students learn more about perez by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m meteorology student captures unique campus photosice cream photo by stephen thomas 22 caught the o&m building at a rare anglejun 17 2019moon behind the tamu aggie doppler radar (tamu-adrad) (photo courtesy of stephen thomas)stephen thomas 22 spent his freshman year at texas a&m university pursuing two passions: science and photography when he wasn't studying for coursework in the texas a&m college of geosciences  he was shooting unique photos on campus and across texas thomas is minoring in meteorology in the department of atmospheric sciences and majoring in recreation park and tourism sciences  in april he captured a unique image of the moon behind the o&m buildings tamu aggie doppler radar (tamu-adrad) like a fish drawn to texas a&m growing up thomas always had a passion for the ocean he said he was fascinated by its depth and mystery i would visit my grandparents on the coast and loved to stay out on the water he said while applying to schools across texas he noticed there was only one school with an oceanography undergraduate program and that was texas a&m i realized that texas a&m as the only college in texas that offered oceanography as a major and that was perfect because a&m had always been my dream school along with being the only school with a major in oceanography thomas was interested in texas a&m because the college offered a multitude of clubs for geosciences majors some highlights of my freshman year have included joining clubs like tamu ocean and tamscams (texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorology society) which have given me opportunities to meet new people within my major and exploring around the bryan-college station area at nightentry to campus looking at the administration building at texas a&m (photo courtesy of stephen thomas)david g eller oceanography and meteorology building (photo courtesy of stephen thomas)capturing the perfect picture like a true aggie thomas enjoys the history of texas a&ms campus its really cool to see pictures of aggieland from decades ago and to see how things change because campus is constantly changing he said i really like photographing the o&m building because its the tallest building on campus and i think its unique trying to capture the true beauty of the campus at night can prove to be a challenge some campus lights need to remain turned on for safety reasons this can make night photography more difficult if you are looking to do astrophotography taking photos of the stars galaxies and nebulae then it is very challenging because of all the light pollution from campus and bcs thats all in the fun of it if it were easy then it wouldnt be as adventurous he said ""i taught myself night photography junior year of high school he said after school i would go home and spend hours online looking up papers and videos on how to do astrophotography and long exposure thomas loves photography because it allows him to escape from the stresses of school it gives me time to think and clear my mind because unlike most daytime photography you don't get the image back in a second; each picture can take from 10 seconds to 5 minutes to process he said view more of thomas photography work by rachel swindell 19 " moon behind the tamu aggie doppler radar (tamu-adrad) (photo courtesy of stephen thomas) "stephen thomas 22 spent his freshman year at texas a&m university pursuing two passions: science and photography when he wasn't studying for coursework in the texas a&m college of geosciences  he was shooting unique photos on campus and across texas thomas is minoring in meteorology in the department of atmospheric sciences and majoring in recreation park and tourism sciences  in april he captured a unique image of the moon behind the o&m buildings tamu aggie doppler radar (tamu-adrad) like a fish drawn to texas a&m growing up thomas always had a passion for the ocean he said he was fascinated by its depth and mystery i would visit my grandparents on the coast and loved to stay out on the water he said while applying to schools across texas he noticed there was only one school with an oceanography undergraduate program and that was texas a&m i realized that texas a&m as the only college in texas that offered oceanography as a major and that was perfect because a&m had always been my dream school along with being the only school with a major in oceanography thomas was interested in texas a&m because the college offered a multitude of clubs for geosciences majors some highlights of my freshman year have included joining clubs like tamu ocean and tamscams (texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorology society) which have given me opportunities to meet new people within my major and exploring around the bryan-college station area at night" entry to campus looking at the administration building at texas a&m (photo courtesy of stephen thomas)david g eller oceanography and meteorology building (photo courtesy of stephen thomas) "capturing the perfect picture like a true aggie thomas enjoys the history of texas a&ms campus its really cool to see pictures of aggieland from decades ago and to see how things change because campus is constantly changing he said i really like photographing the o&m building because its the tallest building on campus and i think its unique trying to capture the true beauty of the campus at night can prove to be a challenge some campus lights need to remain turned on for safety reasons this can make night photography more difficult if you are looking to do astrophotography taking photos of the stars galaxies and nebulae then it is very challenging because of all the light pollution from campus and bcs thats all in the fun of it if it were easy then it wouldnt be as adventurous he said ""i taught myself night photography junior year of high school he said after school i would go home and spend hours online looking up papers and videos on how to do astrophotography and long exposure thomas loves photography because it allows him to escape from the stresses of school it gives me time to think and clear my mind because unlike most daytime photography you don't get the image back in a second; each picture can take from 10 seconds to 5 minutes to process he said view more of thomas photography work by rachel swindell 19" " texas a&m scientists develop crucial multiscale oil spill modelsupported by the bp-funded gulf of mexico research initiative new computer model covers scales from droplets to oceans to predict how future oil spills would travel in the gulf jun 13 2019scientists recover remotely operated vehicle rov hercules at the greens canyon underwater oil seep (photo by susan poulton)scott sofolofsky (background) and gisr pi chip breier (foreground) work in the rov control room on the e/v nautilusthe deepwater horizon oil spill on april 20 2010 was the largest marine oil spill in united states history the first deep subsurface spill it pumped about 700 000 tons of crude oil plus about 250 000 tons of methane into the gulf of mexico before it was capped and tragically led to 11 deaths and 16 injuries to people on the rig during the spill available oil spill computer models operated at different scales but did not interact and they also did not include many of the shallow bays along the northern gulf that are of great importance to local fisheries this spill created a need for an integrated multiscale comprehensive computer model suite that showed the behavior of the petroleum fluids on a 3d scale rather than a 2d and operated from the molecular level to the scale of the gulf texas a&m university scientists have now created such a model suite a description of the model suite was published in a recent paper by dr piers chapman research professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography; dr steve dimarco oceanography professor and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) at texas a&m; dr robert hetland oceanography professor; and dr scott socolofsky professor in the zachry department of civil engineering their integrated multiscale set of models can help explain ocean dynamics and assist in making predictions for future oil spills chapman said the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) was set up with funding provided by bp to improve the science for responding to future spills under gomri the gulf integrated spill research (gisr) consortium was established to increase the understanding of how petroleum fluids in the ocean behave and improve the ability to predict what happens after a spill this research was funded by gomri at the most basic level the model suite used information about the natural rates of mixing dissolution evaporation and degradation once oil and gas are released into the environment the group used data from field and laboratory experiments to test how well the different physical models of oil movement operated  the scales used were graduated the largest scale was a model of the whole atlantic and then the gulf of mexico on the next scale down then a shelf model of the coast and then a bay model being the final bit chapman said with todays large amount of offshore drilling it is important to understand the changes in coastal currents to be able to forecast where the oil in a potential spill would go chapman said its a forecasting methodology to show how the oil any future oil spill will likely impact the coast he said cruises provided field data and student experiences while developing the model consortium members conducted field experiments to study how the oil would travel within the water column and how it spread from the source of the spill these included direct observations of natural underwater oil seeps using an autonomous underwater vehicle (auv) as well as mimicking a spill at depth to see how a real subsurface spill might behave the team conducted nine cruises ranging from a week to a month in length it was an opportunity for many students to get experience with 13 doctoral 14 masters and nine undergraduate students sailing on one or more cruises many of these students were able to use these seagoing days to also get data for their own dissertations and theses chapman said on one research cruise the scientists were using the auv to observe and take pictures of natural oil seeps when a young sperm whale decided to check things out dr chapman described this as probably the most exciting thing that happened during (the) field work and it was a unique experience for the scientists who captured the whole encounter on video this research impacts the local ecology and economics of communities along the coast chapman said because if we can forecast where this oils going to go it means that you can get the citizens who are likely affected in the know as soon as possible you can determine where best to apply cleanup efforts and where theyre most likely to be neededstudents assist in preparing equipment for sampling on the r/v brooks mccall during an experiment mimicking a deep spilla tabs buoy in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of gerg)monitoring the gulf 24/7 texas a&m gerg part of the college of geosciences has a series of moorings and buoys along the texas coast that has been operational for 20 years and provides crucial data to agencies and communities in texas this technology helps largely in providing information on winds waves and currents that can be used specifically for oil spill tracking chapman said these moorings and buoys help scientists and everyday citizens track where water is flowing from and where it is expected to go data collected from gerg-operated moorings and buoys contributed to the new model from this research we now know a lot more about the circulation in the gulf of mexico and the ecology of the gulf than we did beforehand chapman said and since theyre circulation models they are improving our knowledge of how the gulf works physically and chemically  by amanda hoth 21 " scientists recover remotely operated vehicle rov hercules at the greens canyon underwater oil seep (photo by susan poulton)scott sofolofsky (background) and gisr pi chip breier (foreground) work in the rov control room on the e/v nautilus "the deepwater horizon oil spill on april 20 2010 was the largest marine oil spill in united states history the first deep subsurface spill it pumped about 700 000 tons of crude oil plus about 250 000 tons of methane into the gulf of mexico before it was capped and tragically led to 11 deaths and 16 injuries to people on the rig during the spill available oil spill computer models operated at different scales but did not interact and they also did not include many of the shallow bays along the northern gulf that are of great importance to local fisheries this spill created a need for an integrated multiscale comprehensive computer model suite that showed the behavior of the petroleum fluids on a 3d scale rather than a 2d and operated from the molecular level to the scale of the gulf texas a&m university scientists have now created such a model suite a description of the model suite was published in a recent paper by dr piers chapman research professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography; dr steve dimarco oceanography professor and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) at texas a&m; dr robert hetland oceanography professor; and dr scott socolofsky professor in the zachry department of civil engineering their integrated multiscale set of models can help explain ocean dynamics and assist in making predictions for future oil spills chapman said the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) was set up with funding provided by bp to improve the science for responding to future spills under gomri the gulf integrated spill research (gisr) consortium was established to increase the understanding of how petroleum fluids in the ocean behave and improve the ability to predict what happens after a spill this research was funded by gomri at the most basic level the model suite used information about the natural rates of mixing dissolution evaporation and degradation once oil and gas are released into the environment the group used data from field and laboratory experiments to test how well the different physical models of oil movement operated  the scales used were graduated the largest scale was a model of the whole atlantic and then the gulf of mexico on the next scale down then a shelf model of the coast and then a bay model being the final bit chapman said with todays large amount of offshore drilling it is important to understand the changes in coastal currents to be able to forecast where the oil in a potential spill would go chapman said its a forecasting methodology to show how the oil any future oil spill will likely impact the coast he said cruises provided field data and student experiences while developing the model consortium members conducted field experiments to study how the oil would travel within the water column and how it spread from the source of the spill these included direct observations of natural underwater oil seeps using an autonomous underwater vehicle (auv) as well as mimicking a spill at depth to see how a real subsurface spill might behave the team conducted nine cruises ranging from a week to a month in length it was an opportunity for many students to get experience with 13 doctoral 14 masters and nine undergraduate students sailing on one or more cruises many of these students were able to use these seagoing days to also get data for their own dissertations and theses chapman said on one research cruise the scientists were using the auv to observe and take pictures of natural oil seeps when a young sperm whale decided to check things out dr chapman described this as probably the most exciting thing that happened during (the) field work and it was a unique experience for the scientists who captured the whole encounter on video this research impacts the local ecology and economics of communities along the coast chapman said because if we can forecast where this oils going to go it means that you can get the citizens who are likely affected in the know as soon as possible you can determine where best to apply cleanup efforts and where theyre most likely to be needed" students assist in preparing equipment for sampling on the r/v brooks mccall during an experiment mimicking a deep spilla tabs buoy in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of gerg) "monitoring the gulf 24/7 texas a&m gerg part of the college of geosciences has a series of moorings and buoys along the texas coast that has been operational for 20 years and provides crucial data to agencies and communities in texas this technology helps largely in providing information on winds waves and currents that can be used specifically for oil spill tracking chapman said these moorings and buoys help scientists and everyday citizens track where water is flowing from and where it is expected to go data collected from gerg-operated moorings and buoys contributed to the new model from this research we now know a lot more about the circulation in the gulf of mexico and the ecology of the gulf than we did beforehand chapman said and since theyre circulation models they are improving our knowledge of how the gulf works physically and chemically  by amanda hoth 21" " geosciences 2019 hurricane experts guidetexas a&m geoscientists are available to offer scientific analysis and expertise to media during the 2019 hurricane seasonjun 11 2019hurricane season began june 1 and the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in severe storms the formation of storms and lightning and the damage caused by severe storms and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: (979) 845-5522 or cschu@tamuedu dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an expert in physical oceanography including tropical cyclones ocean observing hurricane formation and heat exchange in hurricanes and typhoons contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures christine hale: texas sea grant oil spill science extension specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi hale has expertise in the offshore oil industry regulations and practices impacts of oil spills on the coastal and marine environment methods to contain and clean-up spills and emergency response contact: (361)825-6215 or chrishale@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and department head in the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director ofthe geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu walter peacock planning specialist texas sea grant peacock is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (979) 450-2183 wmpeacock@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards mining social media for improved understanding of disaster resilience engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: (979) 458-1803 or lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 825-3460 or lpicariello@seagranttamuedu andrew ropicki assistant professor and texas sea grant marine economics extension specialist  ropicki can comment on assessments of storm impacts on fishing infrastructure (vessels docks processing equipment etc) and on sessile fisheries (oysters) contact: (361) 825-6210 or ropicki@agtamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences director of marketing and communications (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences communications coordinator (979) 845-0910 or leslielee@tamuedu   " "hurricane season began june 1 and the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in severe storms the formation of storms and lightning and the damage caused by severe storms and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences texas a&m university college of geosciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: (979) 845-5522 or cschu@tamuedu dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an expert in physical oceanography including tropical cyclones ocean observing hurricane formation and heat exchange in hurricanes and typhoons contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures christine hale: texas sea grant oil spill science extension specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi hale has expertise in the offshore oil industry regulations and practices impacts of oil spills on the coastal and marine environment methods to contain and clean-up spills and emergency response contact: (361)825-6215 or chrishale@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and department head in the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director ofthe geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu walter peacock planning specialist texas sea grant peacock is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (979) 450-2183 wmpeacock@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards mining social media for improved understanding of disaster resilience engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: (979) 458-1803 or lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 825-3460 or lpicariello@seagranttamuedu andrew ropicki assistant professor and texas sea grant marine economics extension specialist  ropicki can comment on assessments of storm impacts on fishing infrastructure (vessels docks processing equipment etc) and on sessile fisheries (oysters) contact: (361) 825-6210 or ropicki@agtamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences director of marketing and communications (979) 845-6324 or robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences communications coordinator (979) 845-0910 or leslielee@tamuedu  " " study: severe air pollution can cause birth defects deathsresearch co-authored by dr renyi zhang shows that breathing polluted air can result in numerous problems for pregnant womenmay 28 2019getty imagesin a comprehensive study researchers from texas a&m university have determined that harmful particulate matter in the atmosphere can produce birth defects and even fatalities during pregnancy using the animal model the team of researchers from the department of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m college of geosciences texas a&ms college of agriculture and life sciences the texas a&m health science center and colleagues from the university of california-san diego has had their findings published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) using female rats the team examined the adverse health effects of exposure to fine particulate matter consisting of ammonium sulfate commonly found in many locations around the world large fractions of this substance were detected not only in asia but also in houston (51 percent) and los angeles (31 percent) during winter months in china and india where severe haze events frequently occur fine particulate matter levels were especially high at several hundred micrograms per cubic meter the team concluded air pollution is a century-old problem for much of the world according to the world health organization 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe air containing high level of pollutants and 1 of every 9 global deaths can be attributed to exposure to air pollution totaling over 7 million premature deaths a year even in the united states about one third of the population still live under poor air quality conditions according to a report released by the u s environmental protection agency in 2018 people typically believe that ammonium sulfate may not be terribly toxic but our results show large impacts on female pregnant rats said texas a&m distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in geosciences dr renyi zhang one of the leading authors it is unclear yet what is causing these profound effects but we speculate that the size of nanoparticles or even the acidity may be the culprit zhang said sulfate is mainly produced from coal burning which is a major energy source for much of the world in both developed and developing countries  ammonium is derived from ammonia which is produced from agricultural automobile and animal emissions so this certainly represents a major problem worldwide zhang said however our results show that prenatal exposure to air pollution may not dispose offspring to obesity in adulthood said guoyao wu texas a&m university distinguished professor and another of the lead authors of the study nutrition and lifestyle are likely major factors contributing to the current obesity epidemic worldwide numerous previous studies have shown that air pollution is a serious public health threat throughout the world with millions of people breathing air that is far less than standards set by the world health organization in addition previous studies have shown such pollution to impair metabolic and immune systems in animal offspring but the teams study shows definitive proof of decreased fetal survival rates and also shortened gestation rates that can result in smaller body weight in addition to damage to brains hearts and other organs in the adult rat models the findings present obvious concerns and challenges on a multi-scale level the team concludes while epidemiological studies have been widely adopted to assess the health effects of air pollution these tend to yield little insight into adverse outcomes and long-term effects zhang said furthermore there is an absence of clinical recommendations for prevention and treatment of air pollution-related health issues our study has demonstrated that well-controlled exposure experiments using animal models offer major advantages for future air pollution control and are promising in the development of therapeutic intervention and treatment procedures the study was funded by grants from the tier one program (top) at texas a&m the robert a welch foundation and the national institute of environmental health sciences by keith randall originally published on texas a&m today " "in a comprehensive study researchers from texas a&m university have determined that harmful particulate matter in the atmosphere can produce birth defects and even fatalities during pregnancy using the animal model the team of researchers from the department of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m college of geosciences texas a&ms college of agriculture and life sciences the texas a&m health science center and colleagues from the university of california-san diego has had their findings published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) using female rats the team examined the adverse health effects of exposure to fine particulate matter consisting of ammonium sulfate commonly found in many locations around the world large fractions of this substance were detected not only in asia but also in houston (51 percent) and los angeles (31 percent) during winter months in china and india where severe haze events frequently occur fine particulate matter levels were especially high at several hundred micrograms per cubic meter the team concluded air pollution is a century-old problem for much of the world according to the world health organization 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe air containing high level of pollutants and 1 of every 9 global deaths can be attributed to exposure to air pollution totaling over 7 million premature deaths a year even in the united states about one third of the population still live under poor air quality conditions according to a report released by the u s environmental protection agency in 2018 people typically believe that ammonium sulfate may not be terribly toxic but our results show large impacts on female pregnant rats said texas a&m distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in geosciences dr renyi zhang one of the leading authors it is unclear yet what is causing these profound effects but we speculate that the size of nanoparticles or even the acidity may be the culprit zhang said sulfate is mainly produced from coal burning which is a major energy source for much of the world in both developed and developing countries  ammonium is derived from ammonia which is produced from agricultural automobile and animal emissions so this certainly represents a major problem worldwide zhang said however our results show that prenatal exposure to air pollution may not dispose offspring to obesity in adulthood said guoyao wu texas a&m university distinguished professor and another of the lead authors of the study nutrition and lifestyle are likely major factors contributing to the current obesity epidemic worldwide numerous previous studies have shown that air pollution is a serious public health threat throughout the world with millions of people breathing air that is far less than standards set by the world health organization in addition previous studies have shown such pollution to impair metabolic and immune systems in animal offspring but the teams study shows definitive proof of decreased fetal survival rates and also shortened gestation rates that can result in smaller body weight in addition to damage to brains hearts and other organs in the adult rat models the findings present obvious concerns and challenges on a multi-scale level the team concludes while epidemiological studies have been widely adopted to assess the health effects of air pollution these tend to yield little insight into adverse outcomes and long-term effects zhang said furthermore there is an absence of clinical recommendations for prevention and treatment of air pollution-related health issues our study has demonstrated that well-controlled exposure experiments using animal models offer major advantages for future air pollution control and are promising in the development of therapeutic intervention and treatment procedures the study was funded by grants from the tier one program (top) at texas a&m the robert a welch foundation and the national institute of environmental health sciences by keith randall originally published on texas a&m today" " klein conducting antarctic research aboard nsf shipdiving in never-before dived sites scientists are investigating declining macroalgae communitiesmay 17 2019researchers on the expedition diving and looking up at a penguin (photo courtesy of dr aaron galloway)a researcher on the expedition diving and collecting samples (photo courtesy of dr aaron galloway)in early april researchers departed for antarctica from punta arenas chile for a two-month research cruise aboard the r/v laurence m gould a national science foundation (nsf) vessel dr andrew klein professor in the department of geography and eog teaching professor in geosciences is on board and serving as a co-pi of the project funded by a $880 000 nsf grant the project is investigating brown macroalgae in the northern portion of the western antarctic peninsula (wap) region brown macroalgae form extensive undersea forests in the northern part of the wap and provide both physical structure and energy sources in shallow water communities reduced ice coverage caused by climate change in the southern wap over the past 30 to 50 years have affected macroalgal communities according to the researchers to assess these impacts the research team is documenting the macroalgal communities and testing hypotheses about the cause and consequences of the alterations to them  many of the sites that the team has dived along the antarctic peninsula have never been diving sites before it has been an adventure "" said klein who is no stranger to the antarctic - having completed 17 previous research trips to the continent you can read updates on kleins island to ice facebook page for his perspectives during the cruise and follow along with the team's national geographic blog for a behind-the-scenes look at their dives research and experiences the team is led by university of alabama-birminghams dr charles amsler and dr jim mcclintock along with co-pis klein dr katrin iken university of alaska fairbanks and dr aaron galloway university of oregon by leslie lee 09     " researchers on the expedition diving and looking up at a penguin (photo courtesy of dr aaron galloway)a researcher on the expedition diving and collecting samples (photo courtesy of dr aaron galloway) "in early april researchers departed for antarctica from punta arenas chile for a two-month research cruise aboard the r/v laurence m gould a national science foundation (nsf) vessel dr andrew klein professor in the department of geography and eog teaching professor in geosciences is on board and serving as a co-pi of the project funded by a $880 000 nsf grant the project is investigating brown macroalgae in the northern portion of the western antarctic peninsula (wap) region brown macroalgae form extensive undersea forests in the northern part of the wap and provide both physical structure and energy sources in shallow water communities reduced ice coverage caused by climate change in the southern wap over the past 30 to 50 years have affected macroalgal communities according to the researchers to assess these impacts the research team is documenting the macroalgal communities and testing hypotheses about the cause and consequences of the alterations to them  many of the sites that the team has dived along the antarctic peninsula have never been diving sites before it has been an adventure "" said klein who is no stranger to the antarctic - having completed 17 previous research trips to the continent you can read updates on kleins island to ice facebook page for his perspectives during the cruise and follow along with the team's national geographic blog for a behind-the-scenes look at their dives research and experiences the team is led by university of alabama-birminghams dr charles amsler and dr jim mcclintock along with co-pis klein dr katrin iken university of alaska fairbanks and dr aaron galloway university of oregon by leslie lee 09    " " from the southern ocean: tales from orsi-led antarctic expeditiontexas a&m oceanographys dr alejandro orsi has been leading a 40-day nsf-funded research expedition in the southern oceanmay 16 2019photo courtesy of dr isabella rossophoto courtesy of dr isabella rossothis week texas a&m oceanography professor dr alejandro orsi is completing a 40-day national science foundation (nsf)-funded antarctic research expedition in the southern ocean orsi has led the 4oceanography expedition to antarctica as the chief scientist of the i6s global ocean ship-based hydrographic investigation program (go-ship) cruise sailing on the r/v thomas g thompson  the crew and science team have weathered waves of more than 66 feet and wind gusts of 70 knots orsi said read the research teams remarkable updates on the cruises blog and site including: the majestic power of the southern ocean conducting research among ‘pancake ice and furious seas what do you eat while at sea for weeks the overall science goal of the i6s go-ship cruise is to learn how the southwestern portion of the indian ocean has changed over the past decades orsi said specifically go-ship long-term measurements seek to characterize how the deep ocean has warmed and freshened to determine if the regional budgets of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide have changed and to estimate rates of nutrients depletion and ocean acidification  dr isabella rosso postdoctoral scholar at scripps institution oceanography university of california san diego is the cruises co-chief scientist read more about the expedition here by leslie lee 09 " photo courtesy of dr isabella rossophoto courtesy of dr isabella rosso "this week texas a&m oceanography professor dr alejandro orsi is completing a 40-day national science foundation (nsf)-funded antarctic research expedition in the southern ocean orsi has led the 4oceanography expedition to antarctica as the chief scientist of the i6s global ocean ship-based hydrographic investigation program (go-ship) cruise sailing on the r/v thomas g thompson  the crew and science team have weathered waves of more than 66 feet and wind gusts of 70 knots orsi said read the research teams remarkable updates on the cruises blog and site including: the majestic power of the southern ocean conducting research among ‘pancake ice and furious seas what do you eat while at sea for weeks the overall science goal of the i6s go-ship cruise is to learn how the southwestern portion of the indian ocean has changed over the past decades orsi said specifically go-ship long-term measurements seek to characterize how the deep ocean has warmed and freshened to determine if the regional budgets of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide have changed and to estimate rates of nutrients depletion and ocean acidification  dr isabella rosso postdoctoral scholar at scripps institution oceanography university of california san diego is the cruises co-chief scientist read more about the expedition here by leslie lee 09" " finding bigger shrimp to fry: massive asian tiger shrimp caughtthis asian tiger shrimp was caught in the gulf of mexico and measures at over a foot long!may 13 2019this asian tiger shrimp measures 125 feet long when thawed (photo by tony reisinger)from the legendary kraken to homers scylla what lies beneath the surface of the ocean has long fascinated humanity but finding a great beast is not simply the stuff of folklore while trawling for white shrimp brownsville shrimp boat captain seth sanders found something of mythological proportions   in mid-march about three and a half fathoms off the louisiana coast west of the atchafalaya channel sanders found the largest asian tiger shrimp he had ever seen tiger shrimp are the largest members of the penaeidae family but this particular shrimp measured 125 inches long the species has been known to reach around 13 inches but it is a rare find  sanders said when i caught this shrimp i knew i had to show texas sea grant! the asian tiger shrimp is an invasive species that first arrived in the western atlantic and then spread to the southeast us coast gulf of mexico and caribbean however experts are not sure exactly how the species were introduced and agencies like national oceanic and atmospheric administration and the us geological survey are investigating its origins  asian tiger shrimp were once the most popular aquaculture species worldwide recently surpassed by the whitelegged shrimp but the species is not farmed in the united states  we were worried the population would displace our natives in the same scientific family penaeidae and so far it has not happened said tony reisinger extension agent at texas sea grant we are slowly seeing a few more as extremely small bycatch in our texas fleets fishing off texas and louisiana although asian tiger shrimp have not displaced native shrimp populations the full extent of the effects of this non-native species are unknown invasive species such as asian carp and lionfish have captured public attention because of their ability to proliferate and affect their new environments  one method of controlling invasive species such as the asian tiger shrimp is to eat them seth has eaten quite a few asian tiger shrimp and says they are delicious reisinger said we've peeled and split them open stuffed them with jalapeño and cream cheese and then wrapped them in bacon for grilling for shrimp and other seafood recipes check out texas sea grants hooked on seafood cookbook for more information contact:tony reisinger texas sea grant coastal and marine resources agent cameron countycell: 956-493-8129tonyreisinger@agtamuedu by sara carney '13 " this asian tiger shrimp measures 125 feet long when thawed (photo by tony reisinger) "from the legendary kraken to homers scylla what lies beneath the surface of the ocean has long fascinated humanity but finding a great beast is not simply the stuff of folklore while trawling for white shrimp brownsville shrimp boat captain seth sanders found something of mythological proportions   in mid-march about three and a half fathoms off the louisiana coast west of the atchafalaya channel sanders found the largest asian tiger shrimp he had ever seen tiger shrimp are the largest members of the penaeidae family but this particular shrimp measured 125 inches long the species has been known to reach around 13 inches but it is a rare find  sanders said when i caught this shrimp i knew i had to show texas sea grant! the asian tiger shrimp is an invasive species that first arrived in the western atlantic and then spread to the southeast us coast gulf of mexico and caribbean however experts are not sure exactly how the species were introduced and agencies like national oceanic and atmospheric administration and the us geological survey are investigating its origins  asian tiger shrimp were once the most popular aquaculture species worldwide recently surpassed by the whitelegged shrimp but the species is not farmed in the united states  we were worried the population would displace our natives in the same scientific family penaeidae and so far it has not happened said tony reisinger extension agent at texas sea grant we are slowly seeing a few more as extremely small bycatch in our texas fleets fishing off texas and louisiana although asian tiger shrimp have not displaced native shrimp populations the full extent of the effects of this non-native species are unknown invasive species such as asian carp and lionfish have captured public attention because of their ability to proliferate and affect their new environments  one method of controlling invasive species such as the asian tiger shrimp is to eat them seth has eaten quite a few asian tiger shrimp and says they are delicious reisinger said we've peeled and split them open stuffed them with jalapeño and cream cheese and then wrapped them in bacon for grilling for shrimp and other seafood recipes check out texas sea grants hooked on seafood cookbook for more information contact:tony reisinger texas sea grant coastal and marine resources agent cameron countycell: 956-493-8129tonyreisinger@agtamuedu by sara carney '13" " giardino named a piper professor of 2019the prestigious honor recognizes outstanding educators in texas universitiesmay 13 2019texas a&m associate dean of faculties dr heather wilkinson geology and geophysics professor dr rick giardino and dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)dr rick giardino professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences has been named a piper professor of 2019 texas a&m associate dean of faculties dr heather wilkinson and dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas presented the honor to giardino may 9 dr giardino is a genuinely gifted innovative and ingenious classroom instructor thomas said he is an impeccably generous mentor for each and every student who crosses his path as well as every faculty and staff member furthermore dr giardino has leveraged his critical high-level leadership positions to influence the educational mission of the entire university  the minnie stevens piper foundation awards ten piper professorships annually to texas professors for superior teaching at the college level we stand in humility and gratitude in viewing the dedicated teaching talent in texas higher education reads the foundations 2019 award announcement each year universities throughout the state nominate outstanding and dedicated educators giardinos remarkable career and leadership has impacted countless students and educators he has previously served in leadership as department head and dean of graduate studies in addition to teaching geology and geomorphology since 1972 giardino has conducted research around the world he is also a fellow of the geological society of america and the british royal geographical society dr giardino is a true leader and all that he has done to improve stem education for all texans and his perpetual and continual efforts to do more and inspire more distinguish dr giardino from our other gifted educators thomas said and we can quantify his impact on the quality of education and life for the state of texas – dr giardinos collective efforts quite literally have benefitted hundreds of thousands of k-16+ students – and counting!  giardino has been involved with teacher education for many years and developed and establish g-camp a 20-day field camp for 5th - 12th grade science teachers g-camp has hosted more than 300 teachers over the last decade impacting more than 100 000 students each summers itinerary gives attendees an unforgettable experience including adventures everywhere from the slopes of volcanoes to the footwalls of faults in the depths of glacial valleys on the toes of landslides and in pristine streams and ancient marine deposits – experiences that then infuse the teachers lesson plans and teaching with invaluable first-hand knowledge  dr giardino is one of the true heroes of higher education in texas and generations of texans have benefited and continue to benefit from his insight creativity leadership and generous mentorship thomas said award recipients receive a $5 000 stipend and a life-time designation as a piper professor begun in 1958 the roster of piper professors includes outstanding professors from two and four-year colleges and universities public and private by leslie lee 09 " texas a&m associate dean of faculties dr heather wilkinson geology and geophysics professor dr rick giardino and dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "dr rick giardino professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences has been named a piper professor of 2019 texas a&m associate dean of faculties dr heather wilkinson and dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas presented the honor to giardino may 9 dr giardino is a genuinely gifted innovative and ingenious classroom instructor thomas said he is an impeccably generous mentor for each and every student who crosses his path as well as every faculty and staff member furthermore dr giardino has leveraged his critical high-level leadership positions to influence the educational mission of the entire university  the minnie stevens piper foundation awards ten piper professorships annually to texas professors for superior teaching at the college level we stand in humility and gratitude in viewing the dedicated teaching talent in texas higher education reads the foundations 2019 award announcement each year universities throughout the state nominate outstanding and dedicated educators giardinos remarkable career and leadership has impacted countless students and educators he has previously served in leadership as department head and dean of graduate studies in addition to teaching geology and geomorphology since 1972 giardino has conducted research around the world he is also a fellow of the geological society of america and the british royal geographical society dr giardino is a true leader and all that he has done to improve stem education for all texans and his perpetual and continual efforts to do more and inspire more distinguish dr giardino from our other gifted educators thomas said and we can quantify his impact on the quality of education and life for the state of texas – dr giardinos collective efforts quite literally have benefitted hundreds of thousands of k-16+ students – and counting!  giardino has been involved with teacher education for many years and developed and establish g-camp a 20-day field camp for 5th - 12th grade science teachers g-camp has hosted more than 300 teachers over the last decade impacting more than 100 000 students each summers itinerary gives attendees an unforgettable experience including adventures everywhere from the slopes of volcanoes to the footwalls of faults in the depths of glacial valleys on the toes of landslides and in pristine streams and ancient marine deposits – experiences that then infuse the teachers lesson plans and teaching with invaluable first-hand knowledge  dr giardino is one of the true heroes of higher education in texas and generations of texans have benefited and continue to benefit from his insight creativity leadership and generous mentorship thomas said award recipients receive a $5 000 stipend and a life-time designation as a piper professor begun in 1958 the roster of piper professors includes outstanding professors from two and four-year colleges and universities public and private by leslie lee 09" " nasa-funded research led by bowman using er-2 featured in sciencenasas er-2 high-altitude research aircraft will be used to investigate the summertime stratosphere during the dynamics and chemistry of the summer stratosphere projectmay 12 2019nasa's er-2 jetdr kenneth bowman professor in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences was featured in a recent article in science magazine the article discusses the use of the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) er-2 aircraft which is a modified version of the air force u-2 reconnaissance plane to investigate the impact of deep convection on the ozone layer during the dynamics and chemistry of the summer stratosphere (dcotss) project  dr bowman is the principle investigator of dcotts which will be a collaborative effort between multiple universities and federal agencies the er-2 has the ideal combination of payload altitude and range to make the measurements required to analyze the impact of strong convection on the composition of the summer-time stratosphere said bowman read more about this research here by kevin smalley " "dr kenneth bowman professor in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences was featured in a recent article in science magazine the article discusses the use of the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) er-2 aircraft which is a modified version of the air force u-2 reconnaissance plane to investigate the impact of deep convection on the ozone layer during the dynamics and chemistry of the summer stratosphere (dcotss) project  dr bowman is the principle investigator of dcotts which will be a collaborative effort between multiple universities and federal agencies the er-2 has the ideal combination of payload altitude and range to make the measurements required to analyze the impact of strong convection on the composition of the summer-time stratosphere said bowman read more about this research here by kevin smalley" " aggies weather radio show helped local community be weather-aware graduating senior joseph trujillo 19 recorded daily weather forecasts for a local spanish radio station while earning a double degree in meteorology and spanishmay 10 2019joseph trujillo is graduating with degrees in meteorology and spanish this may (all photos courtesy of joseph trujillo)trujillo at kvue austin during his internship there in summer 2018when joseph trujillo 19 was a sophomore at texas a&m university he realized that the bryan-college station community did not have a spanish-language media station that aired a weather broadcast in spanish  eager to help fill that crucial information-gap the meteorology student contacted 1011 fm radio alegría through a recommendation from spanish professor dr eduardo espina and interviewed that week in april 2016 he began a volunteer internship there recording two-minute weather forecasts every single day i had experience from a tv internship the year before but i didnt have radio experience or a degree but i said just give me a two-minute slot and i can do it he said three years later trujillo is about to graduate with a meteorology degree from the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences and his el cazador de tormentas or the storm chaser weather segments have proved so needed in the local community that over 2 000 listeners follow its facebook page its a weekday weather segment i made it interactive and i taught meteorological concepts in an accessible way every week i couldnt just say ‘theres a warm front coming through; i had to explain what a warm front was because this community hadnt had a meteorologist before while also earning a second degree in spanish trujillo planned and managed the radio show on top of a heavy course-work load service involvements research projects and an on-campus job i realized during college that i loved serving my community and helping them he said and i decided that if that meant taking all of these difficult dynamics classes then you know what i wouldtrujillo recording his daily weather segmenttrujillo receiving a 2019 buck weirus award  this year so much of trujillos hard work has paid off in march the association of former students presented him with a 2019 buck weirus award a prestigious accolade only awarded to 55 current students every year and this week he will walk across the stage at texas a&m and receive the degrees hes earned over four years of hard work joseph or ‘broseph as we call him to distinguish from the multiple josephs that arrived four years ago has been a joy to teach and mentor said dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences his intellect is more than matched by his passion which is just infectious improving weather communication for all trujillos next journey is taking him about 350 miles north to the university of oklahomas masters in communication program i will be both a teaching assistant for the department of communication and a research assistant at noaas national severe storms laboratory trujillo said ""fusing my love for meteorology and communications i will immerse myself in social science research focusing my time on the probabilistic hazard information project along with several bilingual science communication projects joseph is an incredible communicator in both languages conlee said i will never forget when he gave a special spanish segment daily forecast at the national meeting of the american meteorological society trujillo feels passionately that with todays technologies science can be accessible for everyone to understand with my work i hope to open more opportunities for underrepresented communities to become involved in the scientific conversation he said  another experience that ignited trujillos passion for weather communication came during his freshman year internship at kxtx telemundo 39 and nbc 5 in dallas  that internship really bolstered my love for meteorology because i got to see it presented both in english and in spanish he said the defining moment for me there was a tornado outbreak that happened the day after christmas one of the meteorologists was away so they called me in to help get information out via social media the outbreak lasted for about 8 hours and we were broadcasting the whole time afterwards people were thanking the meteorologists saying that they wouldnt have known if it werent for us that right there was a defining moment for me i realized i wanted to serve my community and do this for people he said its awesome to know the science but at the same time translating all of that jargon to the public is so critical incredible learning experiences at texas a&m faculty mentors in the college of geosciences have connected trujillo to amazing research opportunities and high-impact learning experiences theyve given me plenty of opportunities especially in research he said during his first two years at texas a&m trujillo conducted research with dr timothy logan assistant professor of atmospheric sciences on aerosols and for the past two years he has researched on science/risk communication with dr charles conrad professor in the texas a&m department of communication trujillo has also presented his undergraduate research at major conferences at the american meteorological society meeting in austin in january 2019 his oral presentation on ""rhetoric and climate science: organizational influence on public policy related to hurricane harvey"" earned honorable mention at the 14th symposium on societal applications the project became a thesis and was later published in the oaktrust digital repository through the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&mtrujillo presenting his research poster at amstrujillo speaking in washington dc in january 2018balancing academics and service  in addition to studying and conducting undergraduate research trujillo has served and volunteered in aggieland in numerous ways he has been involved in the texas a&m chapter of the league of united latin american citizens (lulac) fish camp the campus community emergency response team and the texas a&m latinx community and advocacy association he was named president of texas a&m lulac in 2018 lulac is the oldest civil rights organization for latinos in the united states so it was such an honor to step into that role because ive always had a passion for our latinx community especially since i am an immigrant said trujillo who was born in lima peru in january 2018 he even had the opportunity to travel with lulac to washington dc speaking at a televised press conference on capitol hill about immigration policy the whole experience was life changing - to be able to speak to a national audience like that he said when i stepped up to that podium time froze there were so many people and cameras still trujillos determined voice rang out over the capitol: i came to the united states when i was five years old from lima peru and ive overcome so much to be standing here today … i can promise you we will make you proud by leslie lee '09 " joseph trujillo is graduating with degrees in meteorology and spanish this may (all photos courtesy of joseph trujillo)trujillo at kvue austin during his internship there in summer 2018 "when joseph trujillo 19 was a sophomore at texas a&m university he realized that the bryan-college station community did not have a spanish-language media station that aired a weather broadcast in spanish  eager to help fill that crucial information-gap the meteorology student contacted 1011 fm radio alegría through a recommendation from spanish professor dr eduardo espina and interviewed that week in april 2016 he began a volunteer internship there recording two-minute weather forecasts every single day i had experience from a tv internship the year before but i didnt have radio experience or a degree but i said just give me a two-minute slot and i can do it he said three years later trujillo is about to graduate with a meteorology degree from the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences and his el cazador de tormentas or the storm chaser weather segments have proved so needed in the local community that over 2 000 listeners follow its facebook page its a weekday weather segment i made it interactive and i taught meteorological concepts in an accessible way every week i couldnt just say ‘theres a warm front coming through; i had to explain what a warm front was because this community hadnt had a meteorologist before while also earning a second degree in spanish trujillo planned and managed the radio show on top of a heavy course-work load service involvements research projects and an on-campus job i realized during college that i loved serving my community and helping them he said and i decided that if that meant taking all of these difficult dynamics classes then you know what i would" trujillo recording his daily weather segmenttrujillo receiving a 2019 buck weirus award "  this year so much of trujillos hard work has paid off in march the association of former students presented him with a 2019 buck weirus award a prestigious accolade only awarded to 55 current students every year and this week he will walk across the stage at texas a&m and receive the degrees hes earned over four years of hard work joseph or ‘broseph as we call him to distinguish from the multiple josephs that arrived four years ago has been a joy to teach and mentor said dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences his intellect is more than matched by his passion which is just infectious improving weather communication for all trujillos next journey is taking him about 350 miles north to the university of oklahomas masters in communication program i will be both a teaching assistant for the department of communication and a research assistant at noaas national severe storms laboratory trujillo said ""fusing my love for meteorology and communications i will immerse myself in social science research focusing my time on the probabilistic hazard information project along with several bilingual science communication projects joseph is an incredible communicator in both languages conlee said i will never forget when he gave a special spanish segment daily forecast at the national meeting of the american meteorological society trujillo feels passionately that with todays technologies science can be accessible for everyone to understand with my work i hope to open more opportunities for underrepresented communities to become involved in the scientific conversation he said  another experience that ignited trujillos passion for weather communication came during his freshman year internship at kxtx telemundo 39 and nbc 5 in dallas  that internship really bolstered my love for meteorology because i got to see it presented both in english and in spanish he said the defining moment for me there was a tornado outbreak that happened the day after christmas one of the meteorologists was away so they called me in to help get information out via social media the outbreak lasted for about 8 hours and we were broadcasting the whole time afterwards people were thanking the meteorologists saying that they wouldnt have known if it werent for us that right there was a defining moment for me i realized i wanted to serve my community and do this for people he said its awesome to know the science but at the same time translating all of that jargon to the public is so critical incredible learning experiences at texas a&m faculty mentors in the college of geosciences have connected trujillo to amazing research opportunities and high-impact learning experiences theyve given me plenty of opportunities especially in research he said during his first two years at texas a&m trujillo conducted research with dr timothy logan assistant professor of atmospheric sciences on aerosols and for the past two years he has researched on science/risk communication with dr charles conrad professor in the texas a&m department of communication trujillo has also presented his undergraduate research at major conferences at the american meteorological society meeting in austin in january 2019 his oral presentation on ""rhetoric and climate science: organizational influence on public policy related to hurricane harvey"" earned honorable mention at the 14th symposium on societal applications the project became a thesis and was later published in the oaktrust digital repository through the undergraduate research scholars program at texas a&m" trujillo presenting his research poster at amstrujillo speaking in washington dc in january 2018 "balancing academics and service  in addition to studying and conducting undergraduate research trujillo has served and volunteered in aggieland in numerous ways he has been involved in the texas a&m chapter of the league of united latin american citizens (lulac) fish camp the campus community emergency response team and the texas a&m latinx community and advocacy association he was named president of texas a&m lulac in 2018 lulac is the oldest civil rights organization for latinos in the united states so it was such an honor to step into that role because ive always had a passion for our latinx community especially since i am an immigrant said trujillo who was born in lima peru in january 2018 he even had the opportunity to travel with lulac to washington dc speaking at a televised press conference on capitol hill about immigration policy the whole experience was life changing - to be able to speak to a national audience like that he said when i stepped up to that podium time froze there were so many people and cameras still trujillos determined voice rang out over the capitol: i came to the united states when i was five years old from lima peru and ive overcome so much to be standing here today … i can promise you we will make you proud by leslie lee '09" " trailblazing oceanography grad will be ocean educator in florida keysthis may victoria scriven 19 will be one of the first two aggies to graduate with an undergraduate degree in oceanographymay 10 2019victoria scriven speaking at the 2019 geosciences scholarship appreciation banquet (photo credit: daniela weaver photography)victoria scriven during a study abroad in the peru andes (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven ‘19 is a trailblazer as the very first texas a&m university undergraduate student to ever major in oceanography she has helped lead the way for younger aggies pursuing ocean science the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences established the oceanography undergraduate program two years ago in the fall of 2017 and scriven jumped at the chance to change her major to oceanography scriven knew in high school that she wanted to study the relationship between the ocean and environmental problems when she first applied to texas a&m she chose the closest thing she could get to an ocean science degree: environmental science with a minor in oceanography it was during her junior year while taking a marine pollution class that scriven began hearing whispers throughout the college of geosciences about the possibility of an oceanography major becoming reality during the course of the semester the class dove deep into marine pollution scriven says marine pollution opened her eyes to the impact she wanted to make in the world she knew having a degree in oceanography would help her get there marine pollution is what sucked me in scriven said it was a good mixture of what was happening in the world around us but also that chemical oceanography side so it was very relevant and everyday it was something new and something kind of concerning soon oceanography was approved as a major at texas a&m and she transferred immediately getting at-sea experience over the next two years scriven had incredible hands-on ocean experiences she knew only the department of oceanography at texas a&m could provide to her from weekly cruises after hurricane harvey studying the coastal impact and observing the ocean to a study abroad program trekking in the andes of peru to traveling to naples italy to participate in the high-impact learning research program seawater scriven and the other oceanography majors were frequently given opportunities to learn from and research with world-class faculty there have been so many things ive gotten to be a part of because of this department she said what scriven didnt know at the time of transferring majors was just how much the faculty would be fighting for her education scriven believes their dedication to the undergraduate oceanography majors is like nowhere else in the world ""they push you right up to the edge and say 'if you fall we've got you but why don't you go ahead and jump' that's just our department and i think that's a unique thing to us""victoria scriven receiving the first excellence in oceanography award pictured with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geoscience)victoria scriven and fellow oceanography student at a tamu ocean outreach event with the franklin isd school science fair (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)establishing an oceanography peer mentor program it was because of the encouragement from her professors that scriven began saying yes to every research project and study abroad opportunity that was presented to her and her classmates one of the opportunities she ended up saying yes to was becoming a mentor for the summer research experience for undergraduates (reu) the ocean reu is a national science foundation-funded research program built to give college students from around the country a glimpse into the ocean sciences providing the students opportunities to work with faculty and mentors in laboratories and at sea learning the analytical skills needed for multidisciplinary oceanographic research while serving as a reu program mentor scriven saw what it meant to have a support system directly benefiting the reu students it was during that summer that she had the idea to build a mentorship program right here for texas a&m oceanography students during that time i got to really know the rest of the department instead of one or two professors that id personally had scriven said as i was sitting in one of the friday reu talks i was listening to the students ask a million questions and stand up and get excited about the topic i decided that we needed to do this but for our undergrads scriven gathered enthusiastic support from the oceanography faculty her idea for forming a student organization supporting ocean students quickly came together and tamu ocean was born tamu ocean is the student organization that runs alongside the oceanography major and minor and was created to give oceanography undergraduate students access to mentors and networking opportunities bringing like-minded classmates together to help them build their educational experiencevictoria scriven and a fellow oceanography student doing field work on a cruise (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)moving on to sea camp with graduation looming around the corner scriven knows tamu ocean is in good hands i am excited to see my fellow classmates and the incoming tamu ocean officers continue to build our community and to see our first class of freshmen become the new leaders of our program scrivens time mentoring younger students is far from over thats because scriven will continue her call to mentorship after graduating in june scriven will head to the florida keys where she will be serving as a marine sciences instructor at sea camp sea camp is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating awareness of the marine world and educating children and adolescents in marine science the job however wasnt something she discovered on her own it was a class project that opened her eyes to the possibilities of becoming a marine sciences instructor after completing a project in one of her classes to prepare for a mock interview for a real job listing scriven decided to submit her application in real life after doing all that for the project i was thinking ‘i kind of like this and i had already done all the work so i decided to send it in she said a month later i got the job as a marine sciences instructor scriven will be educating and mentoring high school students as they discover their own passion for the ocean sciences along with leading her students in courses like exploration of the seas and marine ecology she will also be using her expertise to guide her students as they discover the possibilities of a future in ocean and marine sciences without the support of the texas a&m oceanography faculty staff and students she wouldnt have found this incredible opportunity or had the same life-changing experience during college scriven said the oceanography undergraduate program continues to grow thanks to trailblazers like scriven and her classmates as scriven dons her cap and gown to graduate with the class of 2019 her advice to the current oceanography majors incoming freshmen and major-changers is simple: be open to new experiences and get involved in what you love by stephanie taylor '10 " victoria scriven speaking at the 2019 geosciences scholarship appreciation banquet (photo credit: daniela weaver photography)victoria scriven during a study abroad in the peru andes (photo courtesy of victoria scriven) "victoria scriven ‘19 is a trailblazer as the very first texas a&m university undergraduate student to ever major in oceanography she has helped lead the way for younger aggies pursuing ocean science the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences established the oceanography undergraduate program two years ago in the fall of 2017 and scriven jumped at the chance to change her major to oceanography scriven knew in high school that she wanted to study the relationship between the ocean and environmental problems when she first applied to texas a&m she chose the closest thing she could get to an ocean science degree: environmental science with a minor in oceanography it was during her junior year while taking a marine pollution class that scriven began hearing whispers throughout the college of geosciences about the possibility of an oceanography major becoming reality during the course of the semester the class dove deep into marine pollution scriven says marine pollution opened her eyes to the impact she wanted to make in the world she knew having a degree in oceanography would help her get there marine pollution is what sucked me in scriven said it was a good mixture of what was happening in the world around us but also that chemical oceanography side so it was very relevant and everyday it was something new and something kind of concerning soon oceanography was approved as a major at texas a&m and she transferred immediately getting at-sea experience over the next two years scriven had incredible hands-on ocean experiences she knew only the department of oceanography at texas a&m could provide to her from weekly cruises after hurricane harvey studying the coastal impact and observing the ocean to a study abroad program trekking in the andes of peru to traveling to naples italy to participate in the high-impact learning research program seawater scriven and the other oceanography majors were frequently given opportunities to learn from and research with world-class faculty there have been so many things ive gotten to be a part of because of this department she said what scriven didnt know at the time of transferring majors was just how much the faculty would be fighting for her education scriven believes their dedication to the undergraduate oceanography majors is like nowhere else in the world ""they push you right up to the edge and say 'if you fall we've got you but why don't you go ahead and jump' that's just our department and i think that's a unique thing to us""" victoria scriven receiving the first excellence in oceanography award pictured with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geoscience)victoria scriven and fellow oceanography student at a tamu ocean outreach event with the franklin isd school science fair (photo courtesy of victoria scriven) "establishing an oceanography peer mentor program it was because of the encouragement from her professors that scriven began saying yes to every research project and study abroad opportunity that was presented to her and her classmates one of the opportunities she ended up saying yes to was becoming a mentor for the summer research experience for undergraduates (reu) the ocean reu is a national science foundation-funded research program built to give college students from around the country a glimpse into the ocean sciences providing the students opportunities to work with faculty and mentors in laboratories and at sea learning the analytical skills needed for multidisciplinary oceanographic research while serving as a reu program mentor scriven saw what it meant to have a support system directly benefiting the reu students it was during that summer that she had the idea to build a mentorship program right here for texas a&m oceanography students during that time i got to really know the rest of the department instead of one or two professors that id personally had scriven said as i was sitting in one of the friday reu talks i was listening to the students ask a million questions and stand up and get excited about the topic i decided that we needed to do this but for our undergrads scriven gathered enthusiastic support from the oceanography faculty her idea for forming a student organization supporting ocean students quickly came together and tamu ocean was born tamu ocean is the student organization that runs alongside the oceanography major and minor and was created to give oceanography undergraduate students access to mentors and networking opportunities bringing like-minded classmates together to help them build their educational experience" victoria scriven and a fellow oceanography student doing field work on a cruise (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "moving on to sea camp with graduation looming around the corner scriven knows tamu ocean is in good hands i am excited to see my fellow classmates and the incoming tamu ocean officers continue to build our community and to see our first class of freshmen become the new leaders of our program scrivens time mentoring younger students is far from over thats because scriven will continue her call to mentorship after graduating in june scriven will head to the florida keys where she will be serving as a marine sciences instructor at sea camp sea camp is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating awareness of the marine world and educating children and adolescents in marine science the job however wasnt something she discovered on her own it was a class project that opened her eyes to the possibilities of becoming a marine sciences instructor after completing a project in one of her classes to prepare for a mock interview for a real job listing scriven decided to submit her application in real life after doing all that for the project i was thinking ‘i kind of like this and i had already done all the work so i decided to send it in she said a month later i got the job as a marine sciences instructor scriven will be educating and mentoring high school students as they discover their own passion for the ocean sciences along with leading her students in courses like exploration of the seas and marine ecology she will also be using her expertise to guide her students as they discover the possibilities of a future in ocean and marine sciences without the support of the texas a&m oceanography faculty staff and students she wouldnt have found this incredible opportunity or had the same life-changing experience during college scriven said the oceanography undergraduate program continues to grow thanks to trailblazers like scriven and her classmates as scriven dons her cap and gown to graduate with the class of 2019 her advice to the current oceanography majors incoming freshmen and major-changers is simple: be open to new experiences and get involved in what you love by stephanie taylor '10" " texas a&m oceanography honors dr david brooks upon his retirement after more than 41 years in the department of oceanography dr david brooks announced his retirementmay 9 2019dr david brooks (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard)dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography showing the retirement gift to dr brooks (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard)dr david brooks holding his retirement gift (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard)on may 1 the department of oceanography held a retirement reception honoring dr david brooks professor at texas a&m oceanography brook served for over 41 years in the college of geosciences my nearly 41 years in the oceanography department at texas a&m has been like a long cruise with inspirational faculty researchers staff and students along the way i have come to understand what former dean earl cook meant by a talk he once gave entitled ‘marooned in aggieland its like hotel california: you can check out but you can never leave said brooks brooks earned a bs in electrical engineering from the university of maine in orono after working three years for general electric he returned to graduate school at the university of miami where he earned a ms in ocean engineering (acoustics) and in 1975 completed a phd in physical oceanography before joining the texas a&m faculty as an assistant professor in 1978 he held a research and graduate faculty position at north carolina state university where he and colleagues developed a field program in the gulf stream while at texas a&m dr brooks served as department head of oceanography for three years and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences for four years he was editor of the oceanography report for the american geophysical union and later was the founding editor and publisher of oceanography magazine for the oceanography society in 2011 he was awarded the college-level distinguished teaching award by the association of former students his research interests and field activities have focused on observations and modeling of ocean currents and tides with recent emphasis on shelf and coastal ecosystems at the reception the department gave brooks a framed nautical chart titled gulf of maine 1883 currents boston cape cod issued by us coast survey 1883 washington dc as a retirement gift so will i miss it yes i will especially the interaction with students said brooks but i am really pleased to see our growing crop of dynamic sea-going young faculty and their enthusiastic graduate students the future of the department of oceanography has never seemed brighter thanks for this great aggie experience i wish you all fair winds and following seas he said by bumsoo kim " dr david brooks (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard)dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography showing the retirement gift to dr brooks (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard)dr david brooks holding his retirement gift (photo courtesy of kelsey dillard) "on may 1 the department of oceanography held a retirement reception honoring dr david brooks professor at texas a&m oceanography brook served for over 41 years in the college of geosciences my nearly 41 years in the oceanography department at texas a&m has been like a long cruise with inspirational faculty researchers staff and students along the way i have come to understand what former dean earl cook meant by a talk he once gave entitled ‘marooned in aggieland its like hotel california: you can check out but you can never leave said brooks brooks earned a bs in electrical engineering from the university of maine in orono after working three years for general electric he returned to graduate school at the university of miami where he earned a ms in ocean engineering (acoustics) and in 1975 completed a phd in physical oceanography before joining the texas a&m faculty as an assistant professor in 1978 he held a research and graduate faculty position at north carolina state university where he and colleagues developed a field program in the gulf stream while at texas a&m dr brooks served as department head of oceanography for three years and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences for four years he was editor of the oceanography report for the american geophysical union and later was the founding editor and publisher of oceanography magazine for the oceanography society in 2011 he was awarded the college-level distinguished teaching award by the association of former students his research interests and field activities have focused on observations and modeling of ocean currents and tides with recent emphasis on shelf and coastal ecosystems at the reception the department gave brooks a framed nautical chart titled gulf of maine 1883 currents boston cape cod issued by us coast survey 1883 washington dc as a retirement gift so will i miss it yes i will especially the interaction with students said brooks but i am really pleased to see our growing crop of dynamic sea-going young faculty and their enthusiastic graduate students the future of the department of oceanography has never seemed brighter thanks for this great aggie experience i wish you all fair winds and following seas he said by bumsoo kim" " leaf fossils what can you tell us from the pastoceanographys dryige zhang and daianne höfig are studying co2 variations 15 million years ago based on leaf fossils from clarkia lake in northwest idahomay 7 2019texas a&m and bryant university collaborative project assessing the past co2 variation during the middle miocene dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and doctoral student daianne höfig are participating in a joint project to examine the co2 variation during the middle miocene around 15 million years ago (15 ma) the project is a collaborative effort from texas a&m university and bryant university funded by the national science foundation in the scope of the paleo perspectives on climate changedr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanographydaianne höfig graduate student in the department of oceanography (photo courtesy of chris mouchyn)the co-project investigators are dr hong yang and dr qin leng from bryant university who are senior scientists with decades of experience of paleontological studies in an ancient lake clarkia deposit located in northwest idaho and lead the fossil morphological and anatomical part of the project; and dr zhang from texas a&m oceanography who spearheads the biomarker and isotopic researches for the clarkia lake deposit the project aims to unravel the elapsed time necessary to return to the background levels of carbon dioxide after massive volcanic episode known as the columbia river volcanism we want to know how long does it take for natural processes to neutralize a co2 spike released into the atmosphere returning back to its background levels zhang said the rock deposit originated from an aquatic system of approximately 15 million years old may hold the key to predict the fate of anthropogenic carbon dioxide release in the future""   carbon dioxide (co2) in the atmosphere and climate since the industrial revolution massive amounts of carbon dioxide (co2) have been released into the atmosphere the atmospheric co2 concentration level (in unit of parts per million) drastically increased and reached nearly 412 ppm in 2019 (the pre-industrial co2 level was approximately 280 ppm) such elevated co2 level have significantly affected the human society and global climate environment and the ecosystem by causing global warming sea-level rise and ocean acidification according to researchers carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which plays a major role in controlling the global climate scientists are studying how the earths climate system will respond to massive pulse of anthropogenic carbon to understand the interplay of enhanced atmospheric co2 levels and the modern climatic variations paleoclimate researchers look back into the earths long history of co2 variation various climate proxies have suggested that earths past climate was even hotter than today during the eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) for example fossils of crocodilians were found in polar regions   how do we know the co2 variation during the pastsedimentary block containing fossil leaves from the clarkia lake (photo courtesy of dr yige zhang)fossil leaves are important archives of co2 history in paleoclimate studies the critical connection between the fossil leaves and the records of co2 variation is the photosynthetic process plants uptake atmospheric co2 during photosynthesis through the ‘leaf stomata stomata is the epidermis of leaves that facilitate gas exchange the density of leaf stomata is known to correlate with partial pressure of ambient co2 (pco2) based on this empirical correlation past co2 levels can be reconstructed by examining the stomata preserved in fossil leaves and its density in addition leaf preserves different carbon isotopic signals reflecting changes in the paleoenvironmental conditions during the photosynthesis ‘isotope is variant of elements that has same number of protons but different number of neutrons in their nuclei for example carbon has two stable isotopes carbon-12 (12c; 6 protons and 6 neutrons) and carbon-13 (13c; 6 protons and 7 neutrons) previous studies in plant growth chamber experiments have shown that the leaf carbon isotope fractionation in order words preferential uptake of 12c or 13c during photosynthesis strongly responses to plant taxonomy precipitation and co2 level of the atmosphere this suggest that carbon isotope signature of bulk leaf and biomarkers with a plant origin so-called molecular fossils can be used as paleo-co2 proxy and tracking the past environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity   where can we find fossil leaves in nature oxygen is a major oxidant for degrading organic matter and microorganisms are often involved in this degradation process however fossil leaves can be well-preserved in some special settings in certain stratified lakes the bottom water does not exchange with surface oxygen-rich water and once the oxygen are completely consumed by decomposing the sinking organic matters in the water column the bottom of the lake becomes an oxygen-depleted so-called ‘anoxic condition this low-oxygen condition prevents organic matter degradation and with the help of euxinia which means the presence of toxic hydrogen sulfide contributing to the exceptional preservation of the leaves and other plant fossils that had deposit into lake sedimentoutcrop of the clarkia lake deposit (photo courtesy of dr qin leng)in northwest idaho ‘clarkia lake is an ancient lake formed after massive basalt eruption during the columbia river volcanism that dammed a local drainage the lake is located in a property that belongs to the family of kienbaum who allowed research in their area since the 1970s remarkably well-preserved fossil leaves which still retain the original color of the leaves have been found in the clarkia lake which may hold the key to examine the history of co2 variation during the past for this purpose an interdisciplinary study consisting of biomarker identification and quantification stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis x-ray fluorescence microscopic petrography u-pb zircon dating and paleobotanic approaches including stomatal analysis are being conducted on samples collected from the clarkia lake   fieldwork at clarkia lake and paleoclimate studiesgraduate student daianne höfig in front of the clarkia lake deposit (photo courtesy of daianne höfig)laminations of the clarkia lake sediments presumably respond to the seasonal changes of precipitation and runoff (photo courtesy of dr yige zhang)from march 9 to 14 graduate student daianne höfig visited clarkia lake to collect leaf fossils the field trip was a remarkable experience! höfig said it was my very first time in the northwest united states and i was impressed by the vast fields covered in snow despite the cold temperatures one day we collected samples at 25 °f (nearly –3 °c) during the field trip höfigs dug frozen rocks on the outcrop of the lake and collected sedimentary blocks which contained leaf fossils i have never seen such incredible preserved fossils before she said once the broken rock exposes the fossil leaf its colors are very intense: from red typical of fall season to green ones as fresh as todays leaves it is hard to believe that they are 15 million years old! after some minutes in contact with the air these leaves oxidize changing to black color it was a magical feeling to witness such pellicular phenomenon! in the lab the researchers are conducing several experiments to gather data about not only the fossil leaves but the clarkia lake deposit itself their inorganic studies are focusing on determining the sedimentation rates and processes of the deposit while their organic research aims to understand the climate sensitivity of the middle miocene sedimentary sequences were also analyzed using x-ray fluorescence scanning facilities at the international ocean discovery program the resulting elemental ratios clearly distinguish fossil-rich from barren fossil layers the research team has planned further petrographic studies to understand the depositional process within the sedimentary sequence in addition volcanic ash layers synchronic to the clarkia deposit were processed for zircon u-pb dating which will yield absolute age control for the paleolake   höfig is working on collecting and identifying the fossils leaves from the collected rock samples in addition the team will extract lipid biomarkers and conduct compound-specific carbon isotope analysis i want to first acknowledge my advisor dr yige zhang for letting me participate in this great project höfig said as a young scientist it is inspiring to be part of a research that covers so many different aspects within the geosciences this is a striking project because it couples the information from extraordinary fossils of 15 million years old with climate change one of the most pressing issues of todays society she said it is equally important to understand how small organic molecules keep secrets about the climate of bygone geological time by bumsoo kim " "texas a&m and bryant university collaborative project assessing the past co2 variation during the middle miocene dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and doctoral student daianne höfig are participating in a joint project to examine the co2 variation during the middle miocene around 15 million years ago (15 ma) the project is a collaborative effort from texas a&m university and bryant university funded by the national science foundation in the scope of the paleo perspectives on climate change" dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanographydaianne höfig graduate student in the department of oceanography (photo courtesy of chris mouchyn) "the co-project investigators are dr hong yang and dr qin leng from bryant university who are senior scientists with decades of experience of paleontological studies in an ancient lake clarkia deposit located in northwest idaho and lead the fossil morphological and anatomical part of the project; and dr zhang from texas a&m oceanography who spearheads the biomarker and isotopic researches for the clarkia lake deposit the project aims to unravel the elapsed time necessary to return to the background levels of carbon dioxide after massive volcanic episode known as the columbia river volcanism we want to know how long does it take for natural processes to neutralize a co2 spike released into the atmosphere returning back to its background levels zhang said the rock deposit originated from an aquatic system of approximately 15 million years old may hold the key to predict the fate of anthropogenic carbon dioxide release in the future""   carbon dioxide (co2) in the atmosphere and climate since the industrial revolution massive amounts of carbon dioxide (co2) have been released into the atmosphere the atmospheric co2 concentration level (in unit of parts per million) drastically increased and reached nearly 412 ppm in 2019 (the pre-industrial co2 level was approximately 280 ppm) such elevated co2 level have significantly affected the human society and global climate environment and the ecosystem by causing global warming sea-level rise and ocean acidification according to researchers carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which plays a major role in controlling the global climate scientists are studying how the earths climate system will respond to massive pulse of anthropogenic carbon to understand the interplay of enhanced atmospheric co2 levels and the modern climatic variations paleoclimate researchers look back into the earths long history of co2 variation various climate proxies have suggested that earths past climate was even hotter than today during the eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) for example fossils of crocodilians were found in polar regions   how do we know the co2 variation during the past" sedimentary block containing fossil leaves from the clarkia lake (photo courtesy of dr yige zhang) "fossil leaves are important archives of co2 history in paleoclimate studies the critical connection between the fossil leaves and the records of co2 variation is the photosynthetic process plants uptake atmospheric co2 during photosynthesis through the ‘leaf stomata stomata is the epidermis of leaves that facilitate gas exchange the density of leaf stomata is known to correlate with partial pressure of ambient co2 (pco2) based on this empirical correlation past co2 levels can be reconstructed by examining the stomata preserved in fossil leaves and its density in addition leaf preserves different carbon isotopic signals reflecting changes in the paleoenvironmental conditions during the photosynthesis ‘isotope is variant of elements that has same number of protons but different number of neutrons in their nuclei for example carbon has two stable isotopes carbon-12 (12c; 6 protons and 6 neutrons) and carbon-13 (13c; 6 protons and 7 neutrons) previous studies in plant growth chamber experiments have shown that the leaf carbon isotope fractionation in order words preferential uptake of 12c or 13c during photosynthesis strongly responses to plant taxonomy precipitation and co2 level of the atmosphere this suggest that carbon isotope signature of bulk leaf and biomarkers with a plant origin so-called molecular fossils can be used as paleo-co2 proxy and tracking the past environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity   where can we find fossil leaves in nature oxygen is a major oxidant for degrading organic matter and microorganisms are often involved in this degradation process however fossil leaves can be well-preserved in some special settings in certain stratified lakes the bottom water does not exchange with surface oxygen-rich water and once the oxygen are completely consumed by decomposing the sinking organic matters in the water column the bottom of the lake becomes an oxygen-depleted so-called ‘anoxic condition this low-oxygen condition prevents organic matter degradation and with the help of euxinia which means the presence of toxic hydrogen sulfide contributing to the exceptional preservation of the leaves and other plant fossils that had deposit into lake sediment" "in northwest idaho ‘clarkia lake is an ancient lake formed after massive basalt eruption during the columbia river volcanism that dammed a local drainage the lake is located in a property that belongs to the family of kienbaum who allowed research in their area since the 1970s remarkably well-preserved fossil leaves which still retain the original color of the leaves have been found in the clarkia lake which may hold the key to examine the history of co2 variation during the past for this purpose an interdisciplinary study consisting of biomarker identification and quantification stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis x-ray fluorescence microscopic petrography u-pb zircon dating and paleobotanic approaches including stomatal analysis are being conducted on samples collected from the clarkia lake   fieldwork at clarkia lake and paleoclimate studies" graduate student daianne höfig in front of the clarkia lake deposit (photo courtesy of daianne höfig)laminations of the clarkia lake sediments presumably respond to the seasonal changes of precipitation and runoff (photo courtesy of dr yige zhang) "from march 9 to 14 graduate student daianne höfig visited clarkia lake to collect leaf fossils the field trip was a remarkable experience! höfig said it was my very first time in the northwest united states and i was impressed by the vast fields covered in snow despite the cold temperatures one day we collected samples at 25 °f (nearly –3 °c) during the field trip höfigs dug frozen rocks on the outcrop of the lake and collected sedimentary blocks which contained leaf fossils i have never seen such incredible preserved fossils before she said once the broken rock exposes the fossil leaf its colors are very intense: from red typical of fall season to green ones as fresh as todays leaves it is hard to believe that they are 15 million years old! after some minutes in contact with the air these leaves oxidize changing to black color it was a magical feeling to witness such pellicular phenomenon! in the lab the researchers are conducing several experiments to gather data about not only the fossil leaves but the clarkia lake deposit itself their inorganic studies are focusing on determining the sedimentation rates and processes of the deposit while their organic research aims to understand the climate sensitivity of the middle miocene sedimentary sequences were also analyzed using x-ray fluorescence scanning facilities at the international ocean discovery program the resulting elemental ratios clearly distinguish fossil-rich from barren fossil layers the research team has planned further petrographic studies to understand the depositional process within the sedimentary sequence in addition volcanic ash layers synchronic to the clarkia deposit were processed for zircon u-pb dating which will yield absolute age control for the paleolake   höfig is working on collecting and identifying the fossils leaves from the collected rock samples in addition the team will extract lipid biomarkers and conduct compound-specific carbon isotope analysis i want to first acknowledge my advisor dr yige zhang for letting me participate in this great project höfig said as a young scientist it is inspiring to be part of a research that covers so many different aspects within the geosciences this is a striking project because it couples the information from extraordinary fossils of 15 million years old with climate change one of the most pressing issues of todays society she said it is equally important to understand how small organic molecules keep secrets about the climate of bygone geological time by bumsoo kim" " graduating aggie conquers adversity: from high school dropout to deputy corps commanderveteran ennis rios hard work earned him a coveted leadership position and a geography degreemay 6 2019ennis rios '19 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m corps of cadets)ennis rios '19 (r) discussing field work with dr stacey lyle (l) geography assistant professor of practice (photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)texas a&m was it for me that is where i wanted to be and that was the ultimate goal these are the aspirational words of ennis rios ‘19 the 2018-19 deputy corps commander of the texas a&m corps of cadets and a geographic information sciences and technology (gist) senior in the department of geography in the college of geosciences  while the path that led rios to texas a&m was not always an easy one he has persevered in the face of adversity and will graduate this month although he did not know it at the time his road to texas a&m started when rios dropped out of high school i didnt really know what my cap on success would be rios said looking back i had set the bar for myself fairly low uncertain of where his life was headed rios decided to join the united states navy rios joined the navy as a radioman in 1999 and spent 15 years working in a range of fields from network security management to naval special warfare his last position in naval special warfare landed him in stuttgart germany where he met his future wife ambyr a 2008 aggie graduate i didnt know anything about texas a&m or texas in general so when i saw her aggie ring i asked her about it he said after that first introduction to aggieland rios set his sights on texas a&m when it came time to transition out of the military i knew i wanted to go to college and i had my hopes set on texas a&m overcoming adversity as a non-traditional student after completing his time in the navy rios faced significant challenges in applying to texas a&m i dropped out of high school i had no sat scores and i had no college credits from my time in the military he said i wanted to go to a&m but i did not have the credentials twenty-seven days after leaving the military rios started at del mar community college in corpus christi with the help of the texas a&m veteran resource and support center (vrsc) rios was able to focus his energy on the courses that would help him transfer into a program he would be interested in a year and a half out there was no guarantee that i was going to continue school or make it to a&m but the vrsc was persistent in its support of my goal to get here someday eventually after taking all the classes that he could transfer rios decided it was time to apply to texas a&m my wife and i decided that next semester it was not worth using my veterans benefits to take classes that wouldnt transfer so it was time to start submitting applications with texas a&m at the top of his list rios submitted the application to texas a&m first in almost no time rios hard work had paid off the steady march through community college after more than a decade without school had led to this moment before i had the chance to start on the applications to other schools i received my acceptance to a&m rios started at texas a&m in the spring of 2017 veteran support at texas a&m made all the difference rios experience as a radioman and an information systems technician in the navy led him to major in gist the major provided him with the opportunity to combine the skills he learned in the military with a field that he is now passionate about i love this stuff rios said i can be a part of producing quality products that others can useennis rios '19 with fellow gist senior mariam moeen '19 photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesin addition to focusing on his studies rios has been a member of the corps of cadets while at texas a&m and served as the 2018-19 deputy corps commander he has also been a member of the prestigious ross volunteer company he began his time at texas a&m as a member of delta company an outfit in the corps specifically organized for combat veterans the corps has been really rewarding and i have met a lot of great people through my position in the corps rios said when i look at what i got to do while ive been here the bonds i have been able to make through the corps the ross volunteers and the deputy corps commander position it has been really rewarding rios credits his success as a student veteran to his experiences in delta company the group provides support for individuals from different backgrounds but with shared life experiences since veterans often have lower graduation rates compared to other students delta company provides combat veterans with a community that understands the challenges they face one of the things that came out of the quick research i did was that what does make veterans successful in college is finding a team similar to what they had in the military he said getting here i tried to surround myself with a good team of people so that we could move through the mission of school together looking back over the years since he left the military there are a few things that rios wishes he could pass on to the people who are in a similar position to the one he was in in 2015 as i approach graduation i have thought a lot about how i wish i could tell my friends that are still in the military or just got out ‘hey i know you talked about going to college or mentioned it in chats here and there but man you can do it i am about to graduate looking to the future rios has been accepted into the masters program in the texas a&m department of geography he hopes to focus his graduate studies at the confluence between hydrology and human-environment interactions by rhett douris " ennis rios '19 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m corps of cadets)ennis rios '19 (r) discussing field work with dr stacey lyle (l) geography assistant professor of practice (photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences) "texas a&m was it for me that is where i wanted to be and that was the ultimate goal these are the aspirational words of ennis rios ‘19 the 2018-19 deputy corps commander of the texas a&m corps of cadets and a geographic information sciences and technology (gist) senior in the department of geography in the college of geosciences  while the path that led rios to texas a&m was not always an easy one he has persevered in the face of adversity and will graduate this month although he did not know it at the time his road to texas a&m started when rios dropped out of high school i didnt really know what my cap on success would be rios said looking back i had set the bar for myself fairly low uncertain of where his life was headed rios decided to join the united states navy rios joined the navy as a radioman in 1999 and spent 15 years working in a range of fields from network security management to naval special warfare his last position in naval special warfare landed him in stuttgart germany where he met his future wife ambyr a 2008 aggie graduate i didnt know anything about texas a&m or texas in general so when i saw her aggie ring i asked her about it he said after that first introduction to aggieland rios set his sights on texas a&m when it came time to transition out of the military i knew i wanted to go to college and i had my hopes set on texas a&m overcoming adversity as a non-traditional student after completing his time in the navy rios faced significant challenges in applying to texas a&m i dropped out of high school i had no sat scores and i had no college credits from my time in the military he said i wanted to go to a&m but i did not have the credentials twenty-seven days after leaving the military rios started at del mar community college in corpus christi with the help of the texas a&m veteran resource and support center (vrsc) rios was able to focus his energy on the courses that would help him transfer into a program he would be interested in a year and a half out there was no guarantee that i was going to continue school or make it to a&m but the vrsc was persistent in its support of my goal to get here someday eventually after taking all the classes that he could transfer rios decided it was time to apply to texas a&m my wife and i decided that next semester it was not worth using my veterans benefits to take classes that wouldnt transfer so it was time to start submitting applications with texas a&m at the top of his list rios submitted the application to texas a&m first in almost no time rios hard work had paid off the steady march through community college after more than a decade without school had led to this moment before i had the chance to start on the applications to other schools i received my acceptance to a&m rios started at texas a&m in the spring of 2017 veteran support at texas a&m made all the difference rios experience as a radioman and an information systems technician in the navy led him to major in gist the major provided him with the opportunity to combine the skills he learned in the military with a field that he is now passionate about i love this stuff rios said i can be a part of producing quality products that others can use" ennis rios '19 with fellow gist senior mariam moeen '19 photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences "in addition to focusing on his studies rios has been a member of the corps of cadets while at texas a&m and served as the 2018-19 deputy corps commander he has also been a member of the prestigious ross volunteer company he began his time at texas a&m as a member of delta company an outfit in the corps specifically organized for combat veterans the corps has been really rewarding and i have met a lot of great people through my position in the corps rios said when i look at what i got to do while ive been here the bonds i have been able to make through the corps the ross volunteers and the deputy corps commander position it has been really rewarding rios credits his success as a student veteran to his experiences in delta company the group provides support for individuals from different backgrounds but with shared life experiences since veterans often have lower graduation rates compared to other students delta company provides combat veterans with a community that understands the challenges they face one of the things that came out of the quick research i did was that what does make veterans successful in college is finding a team similar to what they had in the military he said getting here i tried to surround myself with a good team of people so that we could move through the mission of school together looking back over the years since he left the military there are a few things that rios wishes he could pass on to the people who are in a similar position to the one he was in in 2015 as i approach graduation i have thought a lot about how i wish i could tell my friends that are still in the military or just got out ‘hey i know you talked about going to college or mentioned it in chats here and there but man you can do it i am about to graduate looking to the future rios has been accepted into the masters program in the texas a&m department of geography he hopes to focus his graduate studies at the confluence between hydrology and human-environment interactions by rhett douris" " from faults to fossils geology undergraduates journey on unforgettable tripgeology students participated in a multi-state field trip obtaining invaluable research skills over spring break may 3 2019teaching assistant david szafranski instructs students on how to properly measure carbonate stratigraphy in new mexico (all photos courtesy of dr nick perez)dr mike pope points out characteristic features of mississippian mud mounds in the cliff face across the valleyover spring break undergraduate students in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics field methods course (geol 250) journeyed on an unforgettable 9-day field trip to west texas and new mexico led by professor and department head dr mike pope and assistant professor dr nick perez the students worked on enhancing their field skills by participating in hands-on activities such as measuring stratigraphic sections conducting geologic mapping in a range of lithologies and constructing geologic cross sections during the trip the students camped in state parks had to cook their own food and resupplied materials along the way students in the geosciences have unique opportunities to participate in high-impact learning experiences such as this which are unparalleled in their ability to create well-rounded and capable geoscientists perez said beginning in el paso texas the students explored the franklin mountains looking at early paleozoic and siliciclastic deposits perez said they then observed different lithologies from the precambrian basement such as granite volcanic tufts extrusive volcanic rocks and more following this the group then travelled to a camp outside of alamogordo new mexico where they participated in geologic mapping of mid-paleozoic era carbonate and siliciclastic rocksstudents participate in mapping basement lithologies in the franklin mountainsdr mike pope lectures to students about carbonate stratigraphy in el paso they got to see unique mississippian mud mounds faults and fossils there perez said the students then had the opportunity to journey to white sands national park where they observed first-hand modern aeolian sediment transport and also experience dune field work on a windy day having to brave the elements and still conduct proper research travelling next to the guadalupe mountains the group had the opportunity to climb the permian reef trail and see a variety of ancient reef environments dating back to the permian era upon travelling through the chihuahuan desert in new mexico the students got to stop at the carlsbad caverns and see ancient sea ledges comprised of stalactites and stalagmites their adventure concluded in mason texas where the students were tasked with mapping the contact between proterozoic basement and cretaceous carbonates on the final sunday of spring break the group returned to college station tired but ready to return to classes again the following day by amanda hoth '21 " teaching assistant david szafranski instructs students on how to properly measure carbonate stratigraphy in new mexico (all photos courtesy of dr nick perez)dr mike pope points out characteristic features of mississippian mud mounds in the cliff face across the valley "over spring break undergraduate students in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics field methods course (geol 250) journeyed on an unforgettable 9-day field trip to west texas and new mexico led by professor and department head dr mike pope and assistant professor dr nick perez the students worked on enhancing their field skills by participating in hands-on activities such as measuring stratigraphic sections conducting geologic mapping in a range of lithologies and constructing geologic cross sections during the trip the students camped in state parks had to cook their own food and resupplied materials along the way students in the geosciences have unique opportunities to participate in high-impact learning experiences such as this which are unparalleled in their ability to create well-rounded and capable geoscientists perez said beginning in el paso texas the students explored the franklin mountains looking at early paleozoic and siliciclastic deposits perez said they then observed different lithologies from the precambrian basement such as granite volcanic tufts extrusive volcanic rocks and more following this the group then travelled to a camp outside of alamogordo new mexico where they participated in geologic mapping of mid-paleozoic era carbonate and siliciclastic rocks" "students participate in mapping basement lithologies in the franklin mountainsdr mike pope lectures to students about carbonate stratigraphy in el paso " "they got to see unique mississippian mud mounds faults and fossils there perez said the students then had the opportunity to journey to white sands national park where they observed first-hand modern aeolian sediment transport and also experience dune field work on a windy day having to brave the elements and still conduct proper research travelling next to the guadalupe mountains the group had the opportunity to climb the permian reef trail and see a variety of ancient reef environments dating back to the permian era upon travelling through the chihuahuan desert in new mexico the students got to stop at the carlsbad caverns and see ancient sea ledges comprised of stalactites and stalagmites their adventure concluded in mason texas where the students were tasked with mapping the contact between proterozoic basement and cretaceous carbonates on the final sunday of spring break the group returned to college station tired but ready to return to classes again the following day by amanda hoth '21" " wendy jepson awarded inaugural university professorshipgeography professor is one of five texas a&m faculty members to receive this honor may 1 2019dr wendy jepson professor in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences has been awarded an inaugural university professorship texas a&m and the office of provost and executive vice president carol a fierke announced the award this week and will recognize the five recipients as holders of university professorships may 8 at a celebration of distinguished faculty the new designation recognizes faculty who have demonstrated significant and sustained accomplishments in their discipline earning them national and international recognition according to the provost the award also highlights the recipients commitment to inclusivity accountability climate and equity in their department college and throughout their service at texas a&m i am absolutely thrilled that our own dr jepson was one of only five superstars named to the inaugural cohort of university professors said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas in addition to jepson the 2019 university professorship recipients are: dr ivan rusyn veterinary integrative sciences college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences; dr vladislav yakovlev biomedical engineering college of engineering; dr bhimanagouda patil horticultural sciences college of agriculture and life sciences; and dr deborah bell-pederson biology college of science according to the provost recipients will receive an annual stipend for three years and as faculty members in good standing they retain the title of university professorship throughout their career at the university nominations for the distinction were submitted by department heads or deans and the finalists were selected by a university committee and approved by the provost these awards join with endeavors like the presidents excellence fund and other faculty reinvestment programs to empower and advance the careers of faculty at every level by leslie lee 09  " "dr wendy jepson professor in the texas a&m university department of geography in the college of geosciences has been awarded an inaugural university professorship texas a&m and the office of provost and executive vice president carol a fierke announced the award this week and will recognize the five recipients as holders of university professorships may 8 at a celebration of distinguished faculty the new designation recognizes faculty who have demonstrated significant and sustained accomplishments in their discipline earning them national and international recognition according to the provost the award also highlights the recipients commitment to inclusivity accountability climate and equity in their department college and throughout their service at texas a&m i am absolutely thrilled that our own dr jepson was one of only five superstars named to the inaugural cohort of university professors said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas in addition to jepson the 2019 university professorship recipients are: dr ivan rusyn veterinary integrative sciences college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences; dr vladislav yakovlev biomedical engineering college of engineering; dr bhimanagouda patil horticultural sciences college of agriculture and life sciences; and dr deborah bell-pederson biology college of science according to the provost recipients will receive an annual stipend for three years and as faculty members in good standing they retain the title of university professorship throughout their career at the university nominations for the distinction were submitted by department heads or deans and the finalists were selected by a university committee and approved by the provost these awards join with endeavors like the presidents excellence fund and other faculty reinvestment programs to empower and advance the careers of faculty at every level by leslie lee 09 " " brian balta honored with aggies celebrate teaching awardsenior student nominated balta for his transformational teaching in the department of geology and geophysics may 1 2019dr j brian balta visiting professor of petrology in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences was honored with a 2019 aggies celebrate teaching (act) award from the texas a&m center for teaching excellence earlier this semester the award recognizes outstanding texas a&m instructors and faculty members who have made significant impacts on their students through their dedication and transformational teaching a total of six texas a&m faculty members were honored this year two of which were from the college of geosciences dr kristen thyng assistant research professor in the department of oceanography also received an act award michael r martinez a senior geology student nominated balta for the award  texas a&m is a fun place to be balta said the students are excited engaged work hard have good resources to work with and are going to do great thingsmichael r martinez and dr brian baltadr brian balta receives an act awardits pretty common for my time actually teaching class to be the best part of my day; even when im the one whos tired getting to work with the students always energizes me im particularly excited when i get to see a student showing real promise; every so often on a homework assignment or lab ill explain how to do a problem to one student and get to stand back and watch that student teach an entire group what they just learned  im not sure theres anything more fun than that transformational teaching is a teaching that encourages students to question assumptions and challenge beliefs… such that they emerge from the experience a changed perspective influencing interactions and contributions to a modern world said dr debra fowler the director of the center for teaching excellence at texas a&m university balta said his teaching philosophy prioritizes effectively teaching the concepts while also making courses enjoyable i cover some of the core geology classes with difficult to understand subjects like crystallography and phase equilibria but i also work to make those subjects interesting and relevant by showing how some minerals affect our daily lives (your teeth are even minerals!) or how an understanding of mantle chemistry is important for figuring out what drove mass extinctions balta said he works hard to make his classes both relevant and interesting to as many students as he can im in geology because i think many of the things we cover are really neat it can be work to figure out why theyre so neat but even difficult concepts in geochemistry or geophysics can tell amazing things about our planet this award for me serves as a recognition that at some level im meeting these goals; the students may not remember everything we covered in these classes a few years from now but while theyre in my room they understand that what theyre covering is important interesting and relevant to their lives by leslie lee 09 " "dr j brian balta visiting professor of petrology in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences was honored with a 2019 aggies celebrate teaching (act) award from the texas a&m center for teaching excellence earlier this semester the award recognizes outstanding texas a&m instructors and faculty members who have made significant impacts on their students through their dedication and transformational teaching a total of six texas a&m faculty members were honored this year two of which were from the college of geosciences dr kristen thyng assistant research professor in the department of oceanography also received an act award michael r martinez a senior geology student nominated balta for the award  texas a&m is a fun place to be balta said the students are excited engaged work hard have good resources to work with and are going to do great things" michael r martinez and dr brian baltadr brian balta receives an act award "its pretty common for my time actually teaching class to be the best part of my day; even when im the one whos tired getting to work with the students always energizes me im particularly excited when i get to see a student showing real promise; every so often on a homework assignment or lab ill explain how to do a problem to one student and get to stand back and watch that student teach an entire group what they just learned  im not sure theres anything more fun than that transformational teaching is a teaching that encourages students to question assumptions and challenge beliefs… such that they emerge from the experience a changed perspective influencing interactions and contributions to a modern world said dr debra fowler the director of the center for teaching excellence at texas a&m university balta said his teaching philosophy prioritizes effectively teaching the concepts while also making courses enjoyable i cover some of the core geology classes with difficult to understand subjects like crystallography and phase equilibria but i also work to make those subjects interesting and relevant by showing how some minerals affect our daily lives (your teeth are even minerals!) or how an understanding of mantle chemistry is important for figuring out what drove mass extinctions balta said he works hard to make his classes both relevant and interesting to as many students as he can im in geology because i think many of the things we cover are really neat it can be work to figure out why theyre so neat but even difficult concepts in geochemistry or geophysics can tell amazing things about our planet this award for me serves as a recognition that at some level im meeting these goals; the students may not remember everything we covered in these classes a few years from now but while theyre in my room they understand that what theyre covering is important interesting and relevant to their lives by leslie lee 09" " saito develops new methodology for retrieving microphysical cloud propertiesdr masanori saitos work was recently featured in earth and space science newsapr 30 2019figure 11a from saito et al (2019)dr masanori saito postdoctoral research associate in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences recently published an article titled ‘an efficient method for microphysical property retrievals in vertically inhomogeneous marine water clouds using modis‐cloudsat measurements  in the journal of geophysical research: atmospheres remote sensing of cloud properties has always been challenging even though numerous efforts relying on either a passive or active sensor alone have been conducted said saito we developed an efficient algorithm for warm cloud property retrievals using combined  spaceborne passive-active measurements which reduces retrieval biases due to the vertical inhomogeneity of warm clouds this study may help improve the knowledge in the climatology of warm cloud properties and exploration of warm cloud microphysical processes saitos work that was highlighted in the prestigious earth and space science news by kevin smalley " "dr masanori saito postdoctoral research associate in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences recently published an article titled ‘an efficient method for microphysical property retrievals in vertically inhomogeneous marine water clouds using modis‐cloudsat measurements  in the journal of geophysical research: atmospheres remote sensing of cloud properties has always been challenging even though numerous efforts relying on either a passive or active sensor alone have been conducted said saito we developed an efficient algorithm for warm cloud property retrievals using combined  spaceborne passive-active measurements which reduces retrieval biases due to the vertical inhomogeneity of warm clouds this study may help improve the knowledge in the climatology of warm cloud properties and exploration of warm cloud microphysical processes saitos work that was highlighted in the prestigious earth and space science news by kevin smalley" " meet samantha thorpe new oceanography and atmospheric sciences academic advisor texas a&m geosciences welcomes new advisor to the collegeapr 29 2019thorpe was born in a small town near detroit michigan and attended central michigan university earning her bachelors degree in 2010 and masters degree in 2012 after completing her graduate degree in educational leadership thorpe moved to wisconsin to pursue a career in residence life for five years after that she embarked on a complete hike of the appalachian trail she completed her adventure in five months and six days and then began looking for her next career adventuresamantha thorpesamantha thorpe hiking along the appalachian trail (photo courtesy of samantha thorpe)thorpe soon found her place at texas a&m and started her career path in academic advising in march 2018 in the department of sociology in her new role in the college of geosciences thorpe is looking forward to new opportunities to help students the opportunity to work with a smaller number of majors and take on working with graduate students appealed to me she said her goal is to help every student succeed and accomplish their goal throughout their academic career based on student-centered approach she said i see myself as a crucial link between students and their success and well-being thorpe said my job is to listen thoroughly to each and every student without judgement and to show them they and their college experience matter to me and to the university thorpes office is located in eller o&m building room 114 for questions regarding academic information contact advising-ocng@geostamuedu or advising-atmo@goestamuedu by bumsoo kim " "thorpe was born in a small town near detroit michigan and attended central michigan university earning her bachelors degree in 2010 and masters degree in 2012 after completing her graduate degree in educational leadership thorpe moved to wisconsin to pursue a career in residence life for five years after that she embarked on a complete hike of the appalachian trail she completed her adventure in five months and six days and then began looking for her next career adventure" samantha thorpesamantha thorpe hiking along the appalachian trail (photo courtesy of samantha thorpe) "thorpe soon found her place at texas a&m and started her career path in academic advising in march 2018 in the department of sociology in her new role in the college of geosciences thorpe is looking forward to new opportunities to help students the opportunity to work with a smaller number of majors and take on working with graduate students appealed to me she said her goal is to help every student succeed and accomplish their goal throughout their academic career based on student-centered approach she said i see myself as a crucial link between students and their success and well-being thorpe said my job is to listen thoroughly to each and every student without judgement and to show them they and their college experience matter to me and to the university thorpes office is located in eller o&m building room 114 for questions regarding academic information contact advising-ocng@geostamuedu or advising-atmo@goestamuedu by bumsoo kim" " hiroko kitajima receives nsf career awardwith prestigious career award kitmajima will conduct subduction zone research and continue helping students get hands-on research experiencesapr 17 2019dr hiroko kitajima assistant professor in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization kitajima will be studying rock mechanics in the subduction zones near locations of previous earthquakes in japan and providing high-impact learning experiences for students  dr kitajima is eminently deserving of one of the coveted nsf career awards and this recognition is a beautiful testament to her accomplishments to-date as an early-career thought leader as well as the potential impact of the science and education work that she proposed said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are so thrilled that her efforts and accomplishments have earned this recognition! kitajimas research investigating deformation and slip behaviors of subduction megathrust rocks will take place in the john w handin laboratory and involve replicating the temperature and pressure conditions present in japans subduction zones using samples from the international ocean discovery program through this research the scientific community will gain understanding of rock deformation to better predict earthquakes for mitigation purposes she said it is important to understand deformation behavior and the pressure conditions in the past 10-15 years kitajima said not many studies investigate how the population can affect and control the pressure  the career grant isnt only about research kitajima said but it also has an educational component i proposed a capstone project in rock deformation experience in the lab for four credit hours with hands-on experiments she said she is also interested in hosting weekly workshops for students from other universities who do not have access to similar facilities i want to expand this to outside people; our lab is one of the largest rock mechanics lab in the us but not all universities have these facilities lastly kitajima plans to take a group of undergraduate students to study abroad in japan it is not only science of course we will go to an outcrop but we will also go to the tsunami tower and go to museums to show how the japanese have mitigated she said i am also trying to take them to the area where tohoku (japanese tsunami in 2011) hit kitajima believes that having knowledge of these phenomenon is beneficial for everyone in texas we never experience earthquakes so i usually teach and try to explain how bad they are but if you havent experienced it you dont know how bad it can be"" by rachel swindell 19 " "dr hiroko kitajima assistant professor in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization kitajima will be studying rock mechanics in the subduction zones near locations of previous earthquakes in japan and providing high-impact learning experiences for students  dr kitajima is eminently deserving of one of the coveted nsf career awards and this recognition is a beautiful testament to her accomplishments to-date as an early-career thought leader as well as the potential impact of the science and education work that she proposed said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are so thrilled that her efforts and accomplishments have earned this recognition! kitajimas research investigating deformation and slip behaviors of subduction megathrust rocks will take place in the john w handin laboratory and involve replicating the temperature and pressure conditions present in japans subduction zones using samples from the international ocean discovery program through this research the scientific community will gain understanding of rock deformation to better predict earthquakes for mitigation purposes she said it is important to understand deformation behavior and the pressure conditions in the past 10-15 years kitajima said not many studies investigate how the population can affect and control the pressure  the career grant isnt only about research kitajima said but it also has an educational component i proposed a capstone project in rock deformation experience in the lab for four credit hours with hands-on experiments she said she is also interested in hosting weekly workshops for students from other universities who do not have access to similar facilities i want to expand this to outside people; our lab is one of the largest rock mechanics lab in the us but not all universities have these facilities lastly kitajima plans to take a group of undergraduate students to study abroad in japan it is not only science of course we will go to an outcrop but we will also go to the tsunami tower and go to museums to show how the japanese have mitigated she said i am also trying to take them to the area where tohoku (japanese tsunami in 2011) hit kitajima believes that having knowledge of these phenomenon is beneficial for everyone in texas we never experience earthquakes so i usually teach and try to explain how bad they are but if you havent experienced it you dont know how bad it can be"" by rachel swindell 19" " oceanography graduate students honored with 2019 awardsprajvala kurtakoti won the ‘john wormuth memorial award for excellence in undergraduate teaching and laramie jensen won the 'chapman award for graduate researchapr 8 2019prajvala kurtakoti (left) and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (right) (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)dr shari yvon-lewis head of the texas a&m department of oceanography proudly presented annual department awards for outstanding teaching and research to two graduate students on march 25 prajvala kurtakoti a doctoral student working with dr achim stössel won the ‘john wormuth memorial award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in recognition of exceptional teaching in undergraduate courses including oceanography laboratory class kurtakoti is interested in studying large scale ocean circulation and open ocean convection in high-resolution numerical models as they are an important mechanism of heat and momentum transfer her research is on the preconditioning formation and impact of maud rise and weddell sea polynyas in a high-resolution earth system model   i would like to thank the department of oceanography college of geosciences and texas a&m university for the award and for the financial support during my phd i would also like to thank my collaborators at los alamos national laboratory for funding my research and my advisor dr achim stössel for encouraging me to pursue academic research experience working at a national laboratory said kurtakoti  the teaching experience i have gained at texas a&m university has helped me balance my academic life made me a better researcher and educator my teaching philosophy has always been about providing a safe learning environment listening to every student and figuring out their needs i adapt my teaching style to fit their needs because thats the best way to make sure every student makes the most of my knowledgelaramie jensen (left) and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (right) (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)laramie jensen a doctoral student working with dr jessica fitzsimmons won the ‘chapman award for graduate research in recognition of exceptional oceanographic research contributed by a graduate student jensens research is mainly focused on dissolved and colloidal trace metals such as iron and zinc in the artic ocean as a part of the international collaboration program called geotraces recently jensen published her first-author article in ‘global biogeochemical cycles examining the biogeochemical cycling of dissolved zinc an important micronutrient for photosynthesizing phytoplankton in the arctic ocean i would like to acknowledge my advisor dr jessica fitzsimmons for her support in completing each stage of this work and my lab mates and friends who have always encouraged me jensen said i have also received financial support from the department of oceanography college of geosciences and texas a&m university that has made my degree possible this geotraces collaboration is funded by the national science foundation through the ocean sciences division by bumsoo kim " prajvala kurtakoti (left) and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (right) (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim) "dr shari yvon-lewis head of the texas a&m department of oceanography proudly presented annual department awards for outstanding teaching and research to two graduate students on march 25 prajvala kurtakoti a doctoral student working with dr achim stössel won the ‘john wormuth memorial award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in recognition of exceptional teaching in undergraduate courses including oceanography laboratory class kurtakoti is interested in studying large scale ocean circulation and open ocean convection in high-resolution numerical models as they are an important mechanism of heat and momentum transfer her research is on the preconditioning formation and impact of maud rise and weddell sea polynyas in a high-resolution earth system model   i would like to thank the department of oceanography college of geosciences and texas a&m university for the award and for the financial support during my phd i would also like to thank my collaborators at los alamos national laboratory for funding my research and my advisor dr achim stössel for encouraging me to pursue academic research experience working at a national laboratory said kurtakoti  the teaching experience i have gained at texas a&m university has helped me balance my academic life made me a better researcher and educator my teaching philosophy has always been about providing a safe learning environment listening to every student and figuring out their needs i adapt my teaching style to fit their needs because thats the best way to make sure every student makes the most of my knowledge" laramie jensen (left) and dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography (right) (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim) "laramie jensen a doctoral student working with dr jessica fitzsimmons won the ‘chapman award for graduate research in recognition of exceptional oceanographic research contributed by a graduate student jensens research is mainly focused on dissolved and colloidal trace metals such as iron and zinc in the artic ocean as a part of the international collaboration program called geotraces recently jensen published her first-author article in ‘global biogeochemical cycles examining the biogeochemical cycling of dissolved zinc an important micronutrient for photosynthesizing phytoplankton in the arctic ocean i would like to acknowledge my advisor dr jessica fitzsimmons for her support in completing each stage of this work and my lab mates and friends who have always encouraged me jensen said i have also received financial support from the department of oceanography college of geosciences and texas a&m university that has made my degree possible this geotraces collaboration is funded by the national science foundation through the ocean sciences division by bumsoo kim" " kristen thyng receives aggies celebrate teaching awardthe aggies celebrate teaching award honors thyng for her excellent and transformational teachingapr 8 2019transformational teaching is a teaching that encourages students to question assumptions and challenge beliefs… such that they emerge from the experience a changed perspective influencing interactions and contributions to a modern world said dr debra fowler the director of the center for teaching excellence at texas a&m university on march 21 dr kristen thyng assistant research professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university was awarded a 2019 aggies celebrate teaching award during the third annual aggies celebrate teaching! – recognizing transformational learning reception hosted by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence this award recognizes outstanding texas a&m instructors and faculty members who have made significant impacts on their students through their dedication of transformational teaching a total of six texas a&m faculty members were chosen for their excellent transformational teaching including two from the college of geosciences dr brian balta visiting professor in the department of geology and geophsyics also received an aggies celebrate teaching awarddr kristen thyng assistant research professor at texas a&m oceanographyfrom left to right dr debra folwer (director of the center for teaching excellence) joshua farrar (graduate student in nautical archaeology) sherri macwillie (project manager of the center for teaching excellence) and dr kristen thyng (assistant research professor at texas a&m oceanography) at the aggies celebrate teaching! – recognizing transformational learning reception (photo provided by the center for teaching excellence)thyng received the teaching award for her python for geoscientists class i really enjoy figuring out how to solve problems using python programming that problem solving makes me feel like a wizard! she said in class i get to share that with students from august 2018 to february 2019 the texas a&m center of teaching excellence asked students to nominate a professor they felt exemplified transformational learning through their teaching students wrote essays giving evidence of and reflecting upon their professors impact on their lives including challenging students to think in new ways and inspiring students to learn more deeply thyng was nominated by joshua farrar a graduate student in nautical archaeology i try to put myself in the place of the student to start them learning the material especially for those who are new to computer programming thyng said then i try to pique and then sustain student interest through learning together how to create nice visualizations and analyzing data in interesting ways during the class her transformational teaching was to spend time in class working on homework problems so that class time is spent both on learning new material through lecturing with the students using the interactive materials and on working on in-class exercises and homework problems with classmates and with the ability to ask me questions as they work she said i am very honored to receive the act award i put a lot of effort into preparing material for class and i am happy to know that my students were able to work on their own problem solving through programming because of my class by bumsoo kim " "transformational teaching is a teaching that encourages students to question assumptions and challenge beliefs… such that they emerge from the experience a changed perspective influencing interactions and contributions to a modern world said dr debra fowler the director of the center for teaching excellence at texas a&m university on march 21 dr kristen thyng assistant research professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university was awarded a 2019 aggies celebrate teaching award during the third annual aggies celebrate teaching! – recognizing transformational learning reception hosted by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence this award recognizes outstanding texas a&m instructors and faculty members who have made significant impacts on their students through their dedication of transformational teaching a total of six texas a&m faculty members were chosen for their excellent transformational teaching including two from the college of geosciences dr brian balta visiting professor in the department of geology and geophsyics also received an aggies celebrate teaching award" dr kristen thyng assistant research professor at texas a&m oceanographyfrom left to right dr debra folwer (director of the center for teaching excellence) joshua farrar (graduate student in nautical archaeology) sherri macwillie (project manager of the center for teaching excellence) and dr kristen thyng (assistant research professor at texas a&m oceanography) at the aggies celebrate teaching! – recognizing transformational learning reception (photo provided by the center for teaching excellence) "thyng received the teaching award for her python for geoscientists class i really enjoy figuring out how to solve problems using python programming that problem solving makes me feel like a wizard! she said in class i get to share that with students from august 2018 to february 2019 the texas a&m center of teaching excellence asked students to nominate a professor they felt exemplified transformational learning through their teaching students wrote essays giving evidence of and reflecting upon their professors impact on their lives including challenging students to think in new ways and inspiring students to learn more deeply thyng was nominated by joshua farrar a graduate student in nautical archaeology i try to put myself in the place of the student to start them learning the material especially for those who are new to computer programming thyng said then i try to pique and then sustain student interest through learning together how to create nice visualizations and analyzing data in interesting ways during the class her transformational teaching was to spend time in class working on homework problems so that class time is spent both on learning new material through lecturing with the students using the interactive materials and on working on in-class exercises and homework problems with classmates and with the ability to ask me questions as they work she said i am very honored to receive the act award i put a lot of effort into preparing material for class and i am happy to know that my students were able to work on their own problem solving through programming because of my class by bumsoo kim" " geosciences students study abroad in costa ricadr oliver frauenfeld led a study abroad field trip in march 2019 to the texas a&m soltis center as part of a capstone courseapr 5 2019dr oliver frauenfeld led a study abroad field trip in march 2019 to the texas a&m  soltis center as part of a capstone course in the verdant rainforests of central costa rica the texas a&m soltis center for research and education recently served as an incredible setting for geos 405 students to complete the research component of their environmental geosciences capstone course dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor of geography and kourtney lewis geography doctoral student organized a nine-day spring study abroad trip to san isidro costa rica march 2 to march 10 a group of 12 environmental geosciences and environmental studies majors had the opportunity to get hands-on research and fieldwork experience at the soltis center an a&m facility dedicated to research education and outreach in costa ricadr frauenfeld and kourtney lewis with their geos 405 students on a hike to a nearby waterfallhands-on research in costa rica frauenfeld is the director of undergraduate programs for the texas a&m department of geography and has past experience leading study abroad and research trips to costa rica the students spend the first part of the semester familiarizing themselves with environmental challenges in the tropics and are then tasked with applying all of the experience and skills from their undergraduate environmental geosciences careers to address some of these problems he said the students developed capstone projects to investigate invasive plant species in local pastures and carbon farms soil carbon content across different forest types and water quality in the streams in and around the soltis center property the students are currently analyzing the data they collected while in costa rica and will have the opportunity to present their findings in poster presentations may 1 in addition to their research activities in and around the soltis center the group also visited arenal volcano national park for hiking and zip-lining and had the opportunity to experience the incredible biological diversity that is present in the rain and cloud forests of costa ricathe stream group measuring temperature dissolved oxygen and phthe soil carbon group in the field gathering a soil corethe invasive species group quantifying the physical and chemical soil properties around the native vegetationa sloth with its baby climbing in a tree near the arenal volcano (photo credit: zonghui li)soltis center visits for years to come with plans to return in future years frauenfeld will continue the partnership between the college of geosciences and the soltis center so that future geos 405 students will also get the chance to do their research projects in the rainforests of costa rica we have been coming to the soltis center since its beginning ten years ago said dr frauenfeld because its such an amazing and ideal setting for high-impact learning and research opportunities in the geosciences by rhett douris " "dr oliver frauenfeld led a study abroad field trip in march 2019 to the texas a&m  soltis center as part of a capstone course in the verdant rainforests of central costa rica the texas a&m soltis center for research and education recently served as an incredible setting for geos 405 students to complete the research component of their environmental geosciences capstone course dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor of geography and kourtney lewis geography doctoral student organized a nine-day spring study abroad trip to san isidro costa rica march 2 to march 10 a group of 12 environmental geosciences and environmental studies majors had the opportunity to get hands-on research and fieldwork experience at the soltis center an a&m facility dedicated to research education and outreach in costa rica" dr frauenfeld and kourtney lewis with their geos 405 students on a hike to a nearby waterfall "hands-on research in costa rica frauenfeld is the director of undergraduate programs for the texas a&m department of geography and has past experience leading study abroad and research trips to costa rica the students spend the first part of the semester familiarizing themselves with environmental challenges in the tropics and are then tasked with applying all of the experience and skills from their undergraduate environmental geosciences careers to address some of these problems he said the students developed capstone projects to investigate invasive plant species in local pastures and carbon farms soil carbon content across different forest types and water quality in the streams in and around the soltis center property the students are currently analyzing the data they collected while in costa rica and will have the opportunity to present their findings in poster presentations may 1 in addition to their research activities in and around the soltis center the group also visited arenal volcano national park for hiking and zip-lining and had the opportunity to experience the incredible biological diversity that is present in the rain and cloud forests of costa rica" the invasive species group quantifying the physical and chemical soil properties around the native vegetation a sloth with its baby climbing in a tree near the arenal volcano (photo credit: zonghui li) "soltis center visits for years to come with plans to return in future years frauenfeld will continue the partnership between the college of geosciences and the soltis center so that future geos 405 students will also get the chance to do their research projects in the rainforests of costa rica we have been coming to the soltis center since its beginning ten years ago said dr frauenfeld because its such an amazing and ideal setting for high-impact learning and research opportunities in the geosciences by rhett douris" " symposium to highlight coastal and ocean sciencethe inaugural texas sea grant research symposium ""coastal & ocean science at work for texans"" showcases current research all are invited to attendapr 2 2019what: the 2019 texas sea grant research symposium coastal & ocean science at work for texans will showcase research and extension efforts supported by texas sea grant it is open to the public and will feature an awards ceremony at 6:30 pm a cash bar and heavy hors doeuvres are included who: researchers funded by texas sea grant will present posters awards will be presented by dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m university there will also be an appearance from reveille the first lady of aggieland from 4 to 4:30 pm where: texas a&m hotel and conference center century ballroom iii and iv when: tuesday april 9 from 4 to 7 pm all media interested in covering the event must contact the texas sea grant communications manager sara carney to rsvp photo video and interview opportunities available media contact: sara carney texas sea grant college program 979-458-8442  scarney@tamuedu  by sara carney '13 " "what: the 2019 texas sea grant research symposium coastal & ocean science at work for texans will showcase research and extension efforts supported by texas sea grant it is open to the public and will feature an awards ceremony at 6:30 pm a cash bar and heavy hors doeuvres are included who: researchers funded by texas sea grant will present posters awards will be presented by dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m university there will also be an appearance from reveille the first lady of aggieland from 4 to 4:30 pm where: texas a&m hotel and conference center century ballroom iii and iv when: tuesday april 9 from 4 to 7 pm all media interested in covering the event must contact the texas sea grant communications manager sara carney to rsvp photo video and interview opportunities available media contact: sara carney texas sea grant college program 979-458-8442  scarney@tamuedu  by sara carney '13" " is the itc incident affecting galveston bay texas a&m scientists analyze initial samplesduring regularly-scheduled sampling march 23 at several sites in galveston bay texas a&m oceanography researchers observed abnormal water conditions; toxicity data from water samples will be available after april 8mar 28 2019(left) the researchers sampling stations (yellow) relative to the itc facility in deer park and texas a&m galveston (magenta) (right) this map shows how water flows down buffalo bayou past itc through the houston shipping channel and out to galveston bay and the gulf of mexico station 20 was the scientists closest possible water sampling location to itc given the us coast guard closure of the houston shipping channel at that time (yellow dotted line) stations 20-22 h1 and 13 showed qualitative evidence of influence from runoff likely from itc including slippery or soapy water texture by touch a shiny surface sheen and/or the presence of foam in surface waters (map courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)texas a&m university department of oceanography researchers observed abnormal water quality conditions in multiple locations in the houston ship channel and northern galveston bay during a regularly-scheduled research cruise march 23 however they will not know whether toxic compounds were in the water until sample analyses are completed in about two weeks this research team has been collecting water and air quality samples quarterly in galveston bay since june 2017 the pre-scheduled march 23 2019 sampling cruise happened to occur after an incident on march 17 at the intercontinental terminals company (itc) deer park facility in which a storage tank caught fire resulting in a large smoke plume the situation developed into further fires with organic compounds breaching containment barriers and flowing as runoff into waters near itc that flow into the houston shipping channel at our station 13 [just south of atkinson island in galveston bay] when our sampling crew retrieved water samples the water left a waxy residue on their hands which indicates the presence of some kind of organic compounds in the water likely derived from the itc runoff said department of oceanography assistant professor dr jessica fitzsimmons who led the cruise as chief scientist since this is our eighth time sampling here in two years we know that the water in galveston bay doesnt usually leave a waxy residue organic compounds are chemicals containing carbon; some organics are toxic while many like soap are non-toxic soap gasoline and petrochemical products are examples of organic compounds the itc storage facility houses organic compounds in large storage tanks particularly petrochemical products she said we dont know exactly what compounds were in the water but we know from the waters texture that organics were present and from their location that these organics had traveled down the houston shipping channel likely from itc all the way to galveston bay beyond the area closed by the us coast guard fitzsimmons said we did not observe any water colored black from oil but we did observe clear compounds appearing as shiny slicks on the surface waters of the bay those are the organic compounds according to an itc press release since march 19 more than 1 100 federal state and local first responders agencies and environmental cleanup contractors have been on the scene and actively assessing booming and continuing to remove product from affected areas initial media reports focused on the air quality concerns from the itc fires but when we saw video of the itc runoff into buffalo bayou while preparing for this sampling trip we knew that water quality concerns needed to be considered as well fitzsimmons saidthe faculty staff and students from texas a&m who attended the march 23 2019 cruise to galveston bay to sample the water sediment and air quality (photo courtesy of jake cox)bucket sampling of foam and a (shiny) surface slick of water in the houston shipping channel near alexander island (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)the texas a&m researchers led by fitzsimmons and including oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis and professor dr gerardo gold bouchot collected air and water quality samples aboard the r/v trident a texas a&m galveston-owned ship this ongoing research project is funded by a t3-triad grant from texas a&m as well as a grant from the texas a&m university system chancellors research initiative which funded the ship time thirteen graduate students and seven undergraduate students were on board collecting samples some of whom were at sea for the first time this is invaluable research experience for these students and everyone did an incredible job on saturday constantly staying aware of our surroundings following safety protocols on the frontlines of potential environmental hazards and keeping a watchful eye out for anything unusual in the bay fitzsimmons said the research team processing the air and water quality includes students and staff from the laboratories of drs fitzsimmons yvon-lewis gold-bouchot kathryn shamberger daniel thornton yina liu and terry wade from texas a&m oceanography; dr kung-hui (bella) chu from the zachry department of civil engineering; and drs antonietta quigg jamie steichen and david hala from texas a&m galveston marine biology the research team intends to measure in the coming weeks: n-alkanes pahs pcbs pfas methane ethane halogenated carbon compounds heavy metals including lead isotopes antibiotic resistant genes cytotoxicity phytoplankton response dissolved organic matter ph and carbonate saturation; and a suite of water quality parameters including nutrients oxygen salinity temperature and water clarity by leslie lee '09 " (left) the researchers sampling stations (yellow) relative to the itc facility in deer park and texas a&m galveston (magenta) (right) this map shows how water flows down buffalo bayou past itc through the houston shipping channel and out to galveston bay and the gulf of mexico station 20 was the scientists closest possible water sampling location to itc given the us coast guard closure of the houston shipping channel at that time (yellow dotted line) stations 20-22 h1 and 13 showed qualitative evidence of influence from runoff likely from itc including slippery or soapy water texture by touch a shiny surface sheen and/or the presence of foam in surface waters (map courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons) "texas a&m university department of oceanography researchers observed abnormal water quality conditions in multiple locations in the houston ship channel and northern galveston bay during a regularly-scheduled research cruise march 23 however they will not know whether toxic compounds were in the water until sample analyses are completed in about two weeks this research team has been collecting water and air quality samples quarterly in galveston bay since june 2017 the pre-scheduled march 23 2019 sampling cruise happened to occur after an incident on march 17 at the intercontinental terminals company (itc) deer park facility in which a storage tank caught fire resulting in a large smoke plume the situation developed into further fires with organic compounds breaching containment barriers and flowing as runoff into waters near itc that flow into the houston shipping channel at our station 13 [just south of atkinson island in galveston bay] when our sampling crew retrieved water samples the water left a waxy residue on their hands which indicates the presence of some kind of organic compounds in the water likely derived from the itc runoff said department of oceanography assistant professor dr jessica fitzsimmons who led the cruise as chief scientist since this is our eighth time sampling here in two years we know that the water in galveston bay doesnt usually leave a waxy residue organic compounds are chemicals containing carbon; some organics are toxic while many like soap are non-toxic soap gasoline and petrochemical products are examples of organic compounds the itc storage facility houses organic compounds in large storage tanks particularly petrochemical products she said we dont know exactly what compounds were in the water but we know from the waters texture that organics were present and from their location that these organics had traveled down the houston shipping channel likely from itc all the way to galveston bay beyond the area closed by the us coast guard fitzsimmons said we did not observe any water colored black from oil but we did observe clear compounds appearing as shiny slicks on the surface waters of the bay those are the organic compounds according to an itc press release since march 19 more than 1 100 federal state and local first responders agencies and environmental cleanup contractors have been on the scene and actively assessing booming and continuing to remove product from affected areas initial media reports focused on the air quality concerns from the itc fires but when we saw video of the itc runoff into buffalo bayou while preparing for this sampling trip we knew that water quality concerns needed to be considered as well fitzsimmons said" the faculty staff and students from texas a&m who attended the march 23 2019 cruise to galveston bay to sample the water sediment and air quality (photo courtesy of jake cox)bucket sampling of foam and a (shiny) surface slick of water in the houston shipping channel near alexander island (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons) "the texas a&m researchers led by fitzsimmons and including oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis and professor dr gerardo gold bouchot collected air and water quality samples aboard the r/v trident a texas a&m galveston-owned ship this ongoing research project is funded by a t3-triad grant from texas a&m as well as a grant from the texas a&m university system chancellors research initiative which funded the ship time thirteen graduate students and seven undergraduate students were on board collecting samples some of whom were at sea for the first time this is invaluable research experience for these students and everyone did an incredible job on saturday constantly staying aware of our surroundings following safety protocols on the frontlines of potential environmental hazards and keeping a watchful eye out for anything unusual in the bay fitzsimmons said the research team processing the air and water quality includes students and staff from the laboratories of drs fitzsimmons yvon-lewis gold-bouchot kathryn shamberger daniel thornton yina liu and terry wade from texas a&m oceanography; dr kung-hui (bella) chu from the zachry department of civil engineering; and drs antonietta quigg jamie steichen and david hala from texas a&m galveston marine biology the research team intends to measure in the coming weeks: n-alkanes pahs pcbs pfas methane ethane halogenated carbon compounds heavy metals including lead isotopes antibiotic resistant genes cytotoxicity phytoplankton response dissolved organic matter ph and carbonate saturation; and a suite of water quality parameters including nutrients oxygen salinity temperature and water clarity by leslie lee '09" " texas a&m oceanographers on 30-day pacific expedition will be featured on bbc blue planet live march 27-28dr jason b sylvan is serving as chief scientist for the nsf-funded research cruise studying east pacific rise hydrothermal vent ecosystems with three texas a&m aggies also aboardmar 28 2019submersible hov alvin during its 2014 science verification cruise in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of chris linders)dr jason b sylvan assistant professor in the texas a&m department of oceanographyvisually magnificent and biologically significant ocean-floor hydrothermal vents were completely unknown to scientists until 1977 today oceanographers are still working to understand the ecosystems around live and inactive vents and the implications for deep-ocean science and ocean exploration policy to get those answers an expedition funded by the national science foundation (nsf) is sailing next week led by cruise chief scientist dr jason b sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the expedition aboard the r/v atlantis leaves san francisco march 25 with a group of 16 scientists and returns to san diego april 24 the science team will study vents on the east pacific rise using alvin a three-person human occupied vehicle (hov) submarine bbc-one will also be on board and broadcasting live from the first leg of the expedition bbc-ones blue planet live program will air footage from the r/v atlantis on march 27 and march 28 and that footage will be available online we call this research project hot2cold vents and it is an interdisciplinary effort to understand the microbial communities that make up hydrothermal vent ecosystems with a focus on what happens after active vents cease venting sylvan said theres so much we still dont know about hydrothermal vents which have only been studied for about 40 years dr margaret k tivey vice president for academic programs and dean of administration at woods hole oceanographic institution (whoi) and dr brandy toner associate professor in the department of soil water and climate at the university of minnesota are co-leaders of the expedition in recent years scientists have been studying hydrothermal vents that become inactive after venting ceases these vents are potentially important ecosystems in the deep sea because although hydrothermal fluids no longer flow out of such vents they can last for tens of thousands of years and therefore may contribute to deep-sea chemistry and biology he said in addition these inactive vents are potential targets for deep-sea mining for precious metals sylvan said therefore it is important to gain a deep understanding of their ecology so that informed decisions can be made if seafloor mining does become a reality aggies getting research experience in the pacific three texas a&m aggies will also be on board the ship as part of the science team oceanography postdoctoral research associate amanda achberger will be conducting radiotracer assays or radioactive bioassays on the expedition to determine microbial rates of primary production and heterotrophic production that data tells us how much carbon is made and how much is eaten up in an environment sylvan said oceanography graduate student charles holmes ii will be conducting sulfide microbiology research and processing rock samples for later analysis at texas a&m and sophomore environmental geosciences major mia self will be responsible for analyzing microbial exoenzymes scientists have found that the microbes living on inactive vents are very different from microbes dwelling near active vents but they dont yet know if that transition occurs quickly or over many years sylvan said this research project will examine how microbial communities and geological conditions change when a vent changes from active to inactive understanding these processes will add to scientists knowledge of hydrothermal vents and the biology and chemistry of the deep ocean hov alvin is brought back aboard the rv atlantis following a dive (video courtesy of woods hole oceanographic institution)   getting face-to-face with hydrothermal vents sylvan will be in alvin for some of the 16 dives that the submersible will make during the 30-day expedition the hovs amazing mobility and capabilities allow scientists to see the deep ocean up-close and personal sylvan said its amazing what you can miss when youre looking at the ocean floor remotely from a camera but in the alvin we get almost an 180-degree view and we can see sites we might otherwise miss he said alvin is owned by the us navy and maintained by whoi and it enables in-situ data collection and observation by two scientists to depths reaching 4 500 meters during dives lasting up to ten hours according to whoi alvins equipment can also collect samples of rocks sediment fluids and sea life this research cruise is the first expedition of the project and the second expedition will sail in the spring of 2020 returning to the same locations to study the same vents again using alvin or potentially a remotely operated vehicle sylvan said learn more about this research at dive into our research at bitly/hot2coldvents to follow the expedition on social media follow #hot2coldvents and @tamugeosciences by leslie le ‘09 " submersible hov alvin during its 2014 science verification cruise in the gulf of mexico (photo courtesy of chris linders)dr jason b sylvan assistant professor in the texas a&m department of oceanography "visually magnificent and biologically significant ocean-floor hydrothermal vents were completely unknown to scientists until 1977 today oceanographers are still working to understand the ecosystems around live and inactive vents and the implications for deep-ocean science and ocean exploration policy to get those answers an expedition funded by the national science foundation (nsf) is sailing next week led by cruise chief scientist dr jason b sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the expedition aboard the r/v atlantis leaves san francisco march 25 with a group of 16 scientists and returns to san diego april 24 the science team will study vents on the east pacific rise using alvin a three-person human occupied vehicle (hov) submarine bbc-one will also be on board and broadcasting live from the first leg of the expedition bbc-ones blue planet live program will air footage from the r/v atlantis on march 27 and march 28 and that footage will be available online we call this research project hot2cold vents and it is an interdisciplinary effort to understand the microbial communities that make up hydrothermal vent ecosystems with a focus on what happens after active vents cease venting sylvan said theres so much we still dont know about hydrothermal vents which have only been studied for about 40 years dr margaret k tivey vice president for academic programs and dean of administration at woods hole oceanographic institution (whoi) and dr brandy toner associate professor in the department of soil water and climate at the university of minnesota are co-leaders of the expedition in recent years scientists have been studying hydrothermal vents that become inactive after venting ceases these vents are potentially important ecosystems in the deep sea because although hydrothermal fluids no longer flow out of such vents they can last for tens of thousands of years and therefore may contribute to deep-sea chemistry and biology he said in addition these inactive vents are potential targets for deep-sea mining for precious metals sylvan said therefore it is important to gain a deep understanding of their ecology so that informed decisions can be made if seafloor mining does become a reality aggies getting research experience in the pacific three texas a&m aggies will also be on board the ship as part of the science team oceanography postdoctoral research associate amanda achberger will be conducting radiotracer assays or radioactive bioassays on the expedition to determine microbial rates of primary production and heterotrophic production that data tells us how much carbon is made and how much is eaten up in an environment sylvan said oceanography graduate student charles holmes ii will be conducting sulfide microbiology research and processing rock samples for later analysis at texas a&m and sophomore environmental geosciences major mia self will be responsible for analyzing microbial exoenzymes scientists have found that the microbes living on inactive vents are very different from microbes dwelling near active vents but they dont yet know if that transition occurs quickly or over many years sylvan said this research project will examine how microbial communities and geological conditions change when a vent changes from active to inactive understanding these processes will add to scientists knowledge of hydrothermal vents and the biology and chemistry of the deep ocean hov alvin is brought back aboard the rv atlantis following a dive (video courtesy of woods hole oceanographic institution)   getting face-to-face with hydrothermal vents sylvan will be in alvin for some of the 16 dives that the submersible will make during the 30-day expedition the hovs amazing mobility and capabilities allow scientists to see the deep ocean up-close and personal sylvan said its amazing what you can miss when youre looking at the ocean floor remotely from a camera but in the alvin we get almost an 180-degree view and we can see sites we might otherwise miss he said alvin is owned by the us navy and maintained by whoi and it enables in-situ data collection and observation by two scientists to depths reaching 4 500 meters during dives lasting up to ten hours according to whoi alvins equipment can also collect samples of rocks sediment fluids and sea life this research cruise is the first expedition of the project and the second expedition will sail in the spring of 2020 returning to the same locations to study the same vents again using alvin or potentially a remotely operated vehicle sylvan said learn more about this research at dive into our research at bitly/hot2coldvents to follow the expedition on social media follow #hot2coldvents and @tamugeosciences by leslie le ‘09" " talk slated to discuss oyster aquaculture in texas on march 30mar 22 2019south padre island texas oyster aquaculture produces 96 percent of oysters consumed by humans worldwide however texas remains the only us coastal state that has no regulatory policy for commercial oyster aquaculture using oyster aquaculture could mean increased oyster production and environmental benefits but issues such as interference with boating traffic have caused public concern potential solutions to oyster aquaculture concerns will be addressed in an upcoming talk featuring dr john scarpa associate professor at texas a&m university corpus christi and texas sea grantfunded researcher  the talk sponsored by the port isabel / south padre island shell club will be held on march 30 at 10 am at the university of texas rio grande valley coastal studies laboratory and will be followed by a public discussion the event will also be broadcast live online at https://utrgvzoomus/j/160677994  scarpa has been involved in aquaculture research teaching and training for over three decades he assisted the $15-million hard clam culture industry in florida during his 20 years at harbor branch oceanographic institute he is currently president-elect of the national shellfisheries association and is leading efforts to establish oyster aquaculture in texas the university of texas rio grande valley coastal studies laboratory is located at 100 marine lab drive in isla blanca park on south padre island for more information contact tony reisinger texas sea grants cameron county coastal and marine resources agent at tonyreisinger@agtamuedu or 956-361-8236 " "south padre island texas oyster aquaculture produces 96 percent of oysters consumed by humans worldwide however texas remains the only us coastal state that has no regulatory policy for commercial oyster aquaculture using oyster aquaculture could mean increased oyster production and environmental benefits but issues such as interference with boating traffic have caused public concern potential solutions to oyster aquaculture concerns will be addressed in an upcoming talk featuring dr john scarpa associate professor at texas a&m university corpus christi and texas sea grantfunded researcher  the talk sponsored by the port isabel / south padre island shell club will be held on march 30 at 10 am at the university of texas rio grande valley coastal studies laboratory and will be followed by a public discussion the event will also be broadcast live online at https://utrgvzoomus/j/160677994  scarpa has been involved in aquaculture research teaching and training for over three decades he assisted the $15-million hard clam culture industry in florida during his 20 years at harbor branch oceanographic institute he is currently president-elect of the national shellfisheries association and is leading efforts to establish oyster aquaculture in texas the university of texas rio grande valley coastal studies laboratory is located at 100 marine lab drive in isla blanca park on south padre island for more information contact tony reisinger texas sea grants cameron county coastal and marine resources agent at tonyreisinger@agtamuedu or 956-361-8236" " xu awarded sprint grantthe atmospheric sciences faculty was awarded a texas a&m sprint grant to conduct a pilot international research projectmar 12 2019dr yangyang xu  assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciencesdr yangyang xu assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences received a são paulo researchers in international collaboration (sprint) grant from the division of research at texas a&m and the são paulo research foundation (fapesp) fapesp and texas a&m established the sprint grant program in 2017 to provide funding for collaborative projects in scientific research and technological development under this program texas a&m faculty can receive $10 000 to conduct scientific research in coordination with a researcher in university of são paulo for 2019 xu was one of five texas a&m faculty members to receive funding xu received funding to investigate the natural and human contributions to urban air pollution using state-of-art computational models he said we will conduct a pilot project for sao paulo he said the transportation and wildfire related emissions are also major problems for other major cities such as houston and mexico city therefore the analytical framework we will build is also broadly applicable globally student exchange activities and visits will be planned for the next year read about the other texas a&m sprint grant recipients by kevin smalley " dr yangyang xu  assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences "dr yangyang xu assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of atmospheric sciences received a são paulo researchers in international collaboration (sprint) grant from the division of research at texas a&m and the são paulo research foundation (fapesp) fapesp and texas a&m established the sprint grant program in 2017 to provide funding for collaborative projects in scientific research and technological development under this program texas a&m faculty can receive $10 000 to conduct scientific research in coordination with a researcher in university of são paulo for 2019 xu was one of five texas a&m faculty members to receive funding xu received funding to investigate the natural and human contributions to urban air pollution using state-of-art computational models he said we will conduct a pilot project for sao paulo he said the transportation and wildfire related emissions are also major problems for other major cities such as houston and mexico city therefore the analytical framework we will build is also broadly applicable globally student exchange activities and visits will be planned for the next year read about the other texas a&m sprint grant recipients by kevin smalley" " orsi to serve as chief scientist on 40-day go-ship antarctic expeditionfrom april 3 to may 12 dr alejandro orsi will lead an international team of scientists aboard the r/v thomas g thompson to re-occupy the i6s line of the global ocean ship-based hydrographic investigation program (go-ship) from south africa to antarcticamar 8 2019r/v thomas g thompson (photo courtesy of the university of washington)dark rough seas and busy days filled with collecting samples from icy waters – thats a typical day in the southern ocean says dr alejandro orsi professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university from april 3 to may 12 orsi will lead a 40-day oceanography expedition to antarctica as the chief scientist of the global ocean ship-based hydrographic investigation program (go-ship)   the overall science goal of the i6s go-ship cruise is to learn how the southwestern portion of the indian ocean has changed over the past decades said orsi specifically go-ship long-term measurements seek to characterize how the deep ocean has warmed and freshened to determine if the regional budgets of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide have changed and to estimate rates of nutrients depletion and ocean acidification dr isabella rosso postdoctoral scholar at scripps institution oceanography university of california san diego is the cruises co-chief scientist  dr alejandro orsi at the top of observation hill antarctica in 2011 (photo courtesy of orsi)the us go-ship 2019 i6s cruise logo (courtesy of dr alejandro orsi)a total of 27 researchers will be aboard the r/v thomas g thompson including six students actively working on the cruise two of the students are from texas a&m university: loicka baille undergraduate student in the department of ocean engineering and garrett walsh graduate student in the department of oceanography baille will focus on measuring physical parameters such as operating the ctd (conductivity-temperature-depth) instrument; while walsh will focus on ocean-atmosphere interactions by measuring gaseous tracers in seawater such as chloroflurocarbon (cfc) and sulfur hexafluoride (sf6) since the 1970s numerous ship-based hydrographic surveys such as geochemical ocean section programs (geosecs) and world ocean circulation experiment (woce) have been conducted to observe and document the global ocean however the lack of formal global organizations and international agreements have progressively diminished the perceived important of repeat transoceanic hydrographic lines to observe the evolution of ocean property budgets in a changing climate to sustain a global hydrographic program through data sharing go-ship was established in 2007 by coordinating a network of repeat hydrographic lines across all ocean basins go-ship brings together scientists with interest in large-scale interdisciplinary climate studies go-ship is part of the global climate observing system (gcos) and global ocean observing system (goos) and it is a major contributor to the climate variability and predictability experiment (clivar) of the world climate research program (wcrp) and the international ocean carbon coordination project (ioccp) for more details on the go-ship program including upcoming cruises and links to data directory visit http://wwwgo-shiporg/  i6s section along 30°e from south africa to antarctica red dots indicate the location of the 91 planned hydrographic stations where profiling and seawater sampling will be conducted (figure courtesy of dr alejandro oris)r/v thomas g thompson (photo courtesy of go-ship)the meridional i6s go-ship hydrographic section that orsi will lead spans the indian-atlantic gateway between africa and antarctica (see figure) during this cruise aboard the r/v thomas g thompson it will take about eight full days of sailing after leaving cape town south africa on april 3 to reach near the antarctic shelf break from there full water column ctd profiling and seawater sampling will start at stations separated about 30 nautical miles (a unit maritime distance approximately equal to 1 852 m) and continue all the way north along 30°e until arriving back to cape town on may 12 i6s 2019 will be the third occupation of the line since the french original in 1996 and the us repeat in 2008 once the i6s cruise departures from capet town texas a&m oceanography will receive and share exciting narratives and photos from the scientists aboard the r/v thomas g thompson with the public stay tuned for updates! by bumsoo kim " "dark rough seas and busy days filled with collecting samples from icy waters – thats a typical day in the southern ocean says dr alejandro orsi professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university from april 3 to may 12 orsi will lead a 40-day oceanography expedition to antarctica as the chief scientist of the global ocean ship-based hydrographic investigation program (go-ship)   the overall science goal of the i6s go-ship cruise is to learn how the southwestern portion of the indian ocean has changed over the past decades said orsi specifically go-ship long-term measurements seek to characterize how the deep ocean has warmed and freshened to determine if the regional budgets of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide have changed and to estimate rates of nutrients depletion and ocean acidification dr isabella rosso postdoctoral scholar at scripps institution oceanography university of california san diego is the cruises co-chief scientist  " dr alejandro orsi at the top of observation hill antarctica in 2011 (photo courtesy of orsi)the us go-ship 2019 i6s cruise logo (courtesy of dr alejandro orsi) "a total of 27 researchers will be aboard the r/v thomas g thompson including six students actively working on the cruise two of the students are from texas a&m university: loicka baille undergraduate student in the department of ocean engineering and garrett walsh graduate student in the department of oceanography baille will focus on measuring physical parameters such as operating the ctd (conductivity-temperature-depth) instrument; while walsh will focus on ocean-atmosphere interactions by measuring gaseous tracers in seawater such as chloroflurocarbon (cfc) and sulfur hexafluoride (sf6) since the 1970s numerous ship-based hydrographic surveys such as geochemical ocean section programs (geosecs) and world ocean circulation experiment (woce) have been conducted to observe and document the global ocean however the lack of formal global organizations and international agreements have progressively diminished the perceived important of repeat transoceanic hydrographic lines to observe the evolution of ocean property budgets in a changing climate to sustain a global hydrographic program through data sharing go-ship was established in 2007 by coordinating a network of repeat hydrographic lines across all ocean basins go-ship brings together scientists with interest in large-scale interdisciplinary climate studies go-ship is part of the global climate observing system (gcos) and global ocean observing system (goos) and it is a major contributor to the climate variability and predictability experiment (clivar) of the world climate research program (wcrp) and the international ocean carbon coordination project (ioccp) for more details on the go-ship program including upcoming cruises and links to data directory visit http://wwwgo-shiporg/  " i6s section along 30°e from south africa to antarctica red dots indicate the location of the 91 planned hydrographic stations where profiling and seawater sampling will be conducted (figure courtesy of dr alejandro oris)r/v thomas g thompson (photo courtesy of go-ship) "the meridional i6s go-ship hydrographic section that orsi will lead spans the indian-atlantic gateway between africa and antarctica (see figure) during this cruise aboard the r/v thomas g thompson it will take about eight full days of sailing after leaving cape town south africa on april 3 to reach near the antarctic shelf break from there full water column ctd profiling and seawater sampling will start at stations separated about 30 nautical miles (a unit maritime distance approximately equal to 1 852 m) and continue all the way north along 30°e until arriving back to cape town on may 12 i6s 2019 will be the third occupation of the line since the french original in 1996 and the us repeat in 2008 once the i6s cruise departures from capet town texas a&m oceanography will receive and share exciting narratives and photos from the scientists aboard the r/v thomas g thompson with the public stay tuned for updates! by bumsoo kim" " atmospheric sciences graduate students win awards for best graduate student presentationshedanqui bai and matthew brown won awards for the best graduate student presentations for the 2018 spring and fall semester graduate student seminar seriesmar 7 2019hedanqui bai and matthew brown after presenting at the department of atmospheric sciences seminar held february 13two graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences recently won departmental awards for the best presentations in the 2018 spring and fall semester graduate student seminar series and presented their research at the department of atmospheric sciences department seminar held feb 13 for the spring 2018 semester hedanqiu bai a doctoral working with dr courtney schumacher won the award for best presentation matthew brown a doctoral student working with dr christopher nowotarski won the award for best presentation for the fall 2018 semester   each spring and fall the graduate students hold a seminar series that gives students the opportunity to present their research this provides a venue where graduate students can present their research and are evaluated by the other students in a non-stressful environment finally at the end of each semester the evaluations of each presenter are compared and the best presenter receives in addition to a cash prize the opportunity to give a talk in front of the department at the beginning of the next calendar year bai presented on the intricacies of producing accurate diurnal processes over the amazon in cesm she said   delivering good scientific talks [takes] practice she said its fine to give imperfect talks at the beginning i didnt expect that id win especially as a non-native speaker winning the seminar to some extent not only gives me confidence about my research but also my english expression in fact i feel much more comfortable giving talks in front of people in english browns  research focused on the effect of low-level moisture on outflow and rotation in simulated supercells he said graduate student seminar is a valuable opportunity for students to share their work in a low-stakes environment hone their presentation skills and receive meaningful feedback from their peers he said oftentimes students might feel nervous about bringing preliminary or unfinished research to their advisors so graduate seminar serves as a good ‘checkpoint to ensure that they are on the right track also graduate seminar gives students the opportunity to share work that they might not otherwise get to present at conferences (ie reu experiences undergrad research side projects etc) for those who win the chance to give an invited talk is great exposure for them and their research plus it is a solid resume-builder! we had a number of extremely strong presenters in both the spring and fall graduate seminar series with fascinating talks spanning dynamics climate radiation and several other aspects of our field brown said the scope and quality of these talks really speaks to the strength of our atmospheric sciences department here at texas a&m by kevin smalley " hedanqui bai and matthew brown after presenting at the department of atmospheric sciences seminar held february 13 "two graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences recently won departmental awards for the best presentations in the 2018 spring and fall semester graduate student seminar series and presented their research at the department of atmospheric sciences department seminar held feb 13 for the spring 2018 semester hedanqiu bai a doctoral working with dr courtney schumacher won the award for best presentation matthew brown a doctoral student working with dr christopher nowotarski won the award for best presentation for the fall 2018 semester   each spring and fall the graduate students hold a seminar series that gives students the opportunity to present their research this provides a venue where graduate students can present their research and are evaluated by the other students in a non-stressful environment finally at the end of each semester the evaluations of each presenter are compared and the best presenter receives in addition to a cash prize the opportunity to give a talk in front of the department at the beginning of the next calendar year bai presented on the intricacies of producing accurate diurnal processes over the amazon in cesm she said   delivering good scientific talks [takes] practice she said its fine to give imperfect talks at the beginning i didnt expect that id win especially as a non-native speaker winning the seminar to some extent not only gives me confidence about my research but also my english expression in fact i feel much more comfortable giving talks in front of people in english browns  research focused on the effect of low-level moisture on outflow and rotation in simulated supercells he said graduate student seminar is a valuable opportunity for students to share their work in a low-stakes environment hone their presentation skills and receive meaningful feedback from their peers he said oftentimes students might feel nervous about bringing preliminary or unfinished research to their advisors so graduate seminar serves as a good ‘checkpoint to ensure that they are on the right track also graduate seminar gives students the opportunity to share work that they might not otherwise get to present at conferences (ie reu experiences undergrad research side projects etc) for those who win the chance to give an invited talk is great exposure for them and their research plus it is a solid resume-builder! we had a number of extremely strong presenters in both the spring and fall graduate seminar series with fascinating talks spanning dynamics climate radiation and several other aspects of our field brown said the scope and quality of these talks really speaks to the strength of our atmospheric sciences department here at texas a&m by kevin smalley" " texas sea grant seeks public comment for site reviewmar 6 2019texas sea grant will undergo a program review on april 9-11 2019 by a team convened by the national sea grant program the review will be conducted at texas a&m university and will consider all aspects of texas sea grants programs including management and organization performance stakeholder engagement and collaborative activities including those with various offices of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration sea grant programs are reviewed every four years this notice invites you to participate in our review please submit comments by tuesday april 2 2019 to the national sea grant office  for more information about the review contact texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin " texas sea grant will undergo a program review on april 9-11 2019 by a team convened by the national sea grant program the review will be conducted at texas a&m university and will consider all aspects of texas sea grants programs including management and organization performance stakeholder engagement and collaborative activities including those with various offices of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration sea grant programs are reviewed every four years this notice invites you to participate in our review please submit comments by tuesday april 2 2019 to the national sea grant office  for more information about the review contact texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin " atmospheric sciences graduate student wins poster awardchris siu won a poster award at the american meteorological society 20th annual middle atmosphere conferencemar 1 2019chris siu stands in front of his posterchris siu a doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences won an outstanding student poster award at the american meteorological society 20th middle atmosphere conference held jan 6-10 in phoenix our goal is to investigate the forcing mechanisms of the north american monsoon anticyclone (nama) using a simplified dry general circulation model (gcm) siu said his research results show that the primary forcing of the nama is precipitation in the longitude sector between 60° and 120°w with the largest contribution coming from the subtropical latitudes within that sector siu said ""chris's research is an elegant computer experiment that explains the origin of an important feature of the large-scale atmospheric circulation namely the high-altitude anticyclone that covers north america during the summer said sius advisor dr kenneth bowmanhe had demonstrated that the anticyclone or high pressure system is driven by summertime convective storms over mexico and the united states his results have eliminated several other hypotheses that had been proposed to explain the existence of the anticyclone and he has advanced our understanding of the connection between small scale storms and the global atmospheric circulation"" by kevin smalley " "chris siu a doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences won an outstanding student poster award at the american meteorological society 20th middle atmosphere conference held jan 6-10 in phoenix our goal is to investigate the forcing mechanisms of the north american monsoon anticyclone (nama) using a simplified dry general circulation model (gcm) siu said his research results show that the primary forcing of the nama is precipitation in the longitude sector between 60° and 120°w with the largest contribution coming from the subtropical latitudes within that sector siu said ""chris's research is an elegant computer experiment that explains the origin of an important feature of the large-scale atmospheric circulation namely the high-altitude anticyclone that covers north america during the summer said sius advisor dr kenneth bowmanhe had demonstrated that the anticyclone or high pressure system is driven by summertime convective storms over mexico and the united states his results have eliminated several other hypotheses that had been proposed to explain the existence of the anticyclone and he has advanced our understanding of the connection between small scale storms and the global atmospheric circulation"" by kevin smalley" " helping aggies jump-start careers: mike and debbie dishberger endow scholarshipsformer students $1 million gift is helping students for generations to comefeb 26 2019left: mike and debbie dishberger then debbie mclean at boot dance at texas a&m in 1978 right: debbie and mike dishberger in 2019 debbie's advice to aggies: get a degree and try to get some internships or some good job experience along the way and once you get out just be flexible look at what opportunities you have and be ready for some surprises (photos courtesy of the dishbergers)making the transition from an undergraduate to a successful graduate student requires funding support and academic rigor and two texas a&m university former students are determined to help with that during her three decades of working in the oil industry debbie dishberger 79 experienced how beneficial graduate degrees were to employees long-term success i wanted to encourage more students to think about advanced degrees and i am just hoping to make it easier for someone else to make that leap debbie said texas a&ms always been near and dear to our hearts so we wanted to help other students get a good start to their career established in 2017 the michael and debra dishberger graduate fellowship endowment provides fellowships to graduate students in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences the couple also endowed a scholarship in the college of science that supports undergraduate students who are corps of cadets members together the endowments total $1 million a match made in aggieland they both arrived on campus in the fall of 1975 debbie mclean was majoring in geophysics and mike dishberger was studying chemistry my favorite memory of texas a&m is of course meeting my husband debbie said we actually met the first night i got to a&m mike said she had been there a few days i think i had just gotten there we met at a dance outside; they used to have a street dance outside of the msc they continued to date for the next four years in aggieland and married in 1980  another one of my favorite memories is my geophysics classmates debbie said we were a small class there were 9 or 10 of us so we got to know each other really well the small cohort worked hard studying together and supported each other and of course played 42 together wed be up ‘til 3 am working on this lab or that lab and truth be told we had started on the studying part late because there may have been a dominoes game first debbie completed her bachelors degree in geophysics in 1979 from texas a&m and michael earned his bachelors in chemistry also in 1979  embracing surprising career journeys debbies first job after graduation was working as an exploration geophysicist out of houston after they married the couple moved to fort lewis washington as mike was completing his 4-year commitment to the us army following his rotc scholarship to texas a&m up there i wound up studying computer science at evergreen state debbie said after she finished her second bachelors degree and graduated from evergreen and upon completing mikes time with the army they moved back to houston where debbies computer science degree led her to a position at western geophysical i was doing software development for seismic exploration and that was great because i got to use both degrees she said her career with western geophysical spanned three decades including the companys acquisition by schlumberger in 2000 and then in 2015 i got caught in the oil downturn and was one of the 40 000 or so that schlumberger let go debbie said that transition into other industry sectors has proved fortuitous and debbie now serves as a financial analysis software developer at jp morgan chase im having a great time at jp morgan she said pursuing an advanced degree and staying flexible are strategies that she recommends to aggies preparing for their careers get a degree and try to get some internships or some good job experience along the way she said and once you get out just be flexible look at what opportunities you have and be ready for some surprises mike also embraced surprising career opportunities when they came his way after returning to houston mike used his experience as an army captain to begin working as a manager in the home building industry in the late 90s i started my own company went off on my own he said ive owned and operated sandcastle homes here in houston ever since he advises students in stem majors to also acquire some business knowledge if youre going to get a science degree consider taking a few courses in business mike said even though you are in the sciences you are still likely going to be doing business and the people you work for will care about making money and managing people thanks to their generosity to texas a&m students for decades to come will have a jump-start on successful careers we just love the idea debbie said of helping someone get off to a good start with their education by leslie lee 09 learn more about the exciting ways you can help support the college of geosciences " left: mike and debbie dishberger then debbie mclean at boot dance at texas a&m in 1978 right: debbie and mike dishberger in 2019 debbie's advice to aggies: get a degree and try to get some internships or some good job experience along the way and once you get out just be flexible look at what opportunities you have and be ready for some surprises (photos courtesy of the dishbergers) "making the transition from an undergraduate to a successful graduate student requires funding support and academic rigor and two texas a&m university former students are determined to help with that during her three decades of working in the oil industry debbie dishberger 79 experienced how beneficial graduate degrees were to employees long-term success i wanted to encourage more students to think about advanced degrees and i am just hoping to make it easier for someone else to make that leap debbie said texas a&ms always been near and dear to our hearts so we wanted to help other students get a good start to their career established in 2017 the michael and debra dishberger graduate fellowship endowment provides fellowships to graduate students in the department of geology and geophysics in the college of geosciences the couple also endowed a scholarship in the college of science that supports undergraduate students who are corps of cadets members together the endowments total $1 million a match made in aggieland they both arrived on campus in the fall of 1975 debbie mclean was majoring in geophysics and mike dishberger was studying chemistry my favorite memory of texas a&m is of course meeting my husband debbie said we actually met the first night i got to a&m mike said she had been there a few days i think i had just gotten there we met at a dance outside; they used to have a street dance outside of the msc they continued to date for the next four years in aggieland and married in 1980  another one of my favorite memories is my geophysics classmates debbie said we were a small class there were 9 or 10 of us so we got to know each other really well the small cohort worked hard studying together and supported each other and of course played 42 together wed be up ‘til 3 am working on this lab or that lab and truth be told we had started on the studying part late because there may have been a dominoes game first debbie completed her bachelors degree in geophysics in 1979 from texas a&m and michael earned his bachelors in chemistry also in 1979  embracing surprising career journeys debbies first job after graduation was working as an exploration geophysicist out of houston after they married the couple moved to fort lewis washington as mike was completing his 4-year commitment to the us army following his rotc scholarship to texas a&m up there i wound up studying computer science at evergreen state debbie said after she finished her second bachelors degree and graduated from evergreen and upon completing mikes time with the army they moved back to houston where debbies computer science degree led her to a position at western geophysical i was doing software development for seismic exploration and that was great because i got to use both degrees she said her career with western geophysical spanned three decades including the companys acquisition by schlumberger in 2000 and then in 2015 i got caught in the oil downturn and was one of the 40 000 or so that schlumberger let go debbie said that transition into other industry sectors has proved fortuitous and debbie now serves as a financial analysis software developer at jp morgan chase im having a great time at jp morgan she said pursuing an advanced degree and staying flexible are strategies that she recommends to aggies preparing for their careers get a degree and try to get some internships or some good job experience along the way she said and once you get out just be flexible look at what opportunities you have and be ready for some surprises mike also embraced surprising career opportunities when they came his way after returning to houston mike used his experience as an army captain to begin working as a manager in the home building industry in the late 90s i started my own company went off on my own he said ive owned and operated sandcastle homes here in houston ever since he advises students in stem majors to also acquire some business knowledge if youre going to get a science degree consider taking a few courses in business mike said even though you are in the sciences you are still likely going to be doing business and the people you work for will care about making money and managing people thanks to their generosity to texas a&m students for decades to come will have a jump-start on successful careers we just love the idea debbie said of helping someone get off to a good start with their education by leslie lee 09 learn more about the exciting ways you can help support the college of geosciences" " jpl and texas a&m sign memorandum of understandingthe college of geosciences is part of the agreement which calls for research collaboration to support goals for nasa and the us in space science and explorationfeb 25 2019texas a&m university recently signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the jet propulsion laboratory (jpl) a federally funded research and development center managed by the california institute of technology to promote and encourage collaboration between the institutions texas a&m and jpl will cooperate under the laboratorys strategic university research partnerships program which reflects jpls commitment to work with the academic community to accomplish the nations space exploration goals jpl serves as an important resource for the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) in support of deep space systems especially for development of planetary science missions and supporting technology texas a&m and jpl will develop specific plans for collaborative activities with joint reviews held periodically to assess the progress and effectiveness of collaborative efforts this agreement recognizes texas a&m as a leader in education and research in science technology and engineering said vice president for research dr mark a barteau this collaboration will have a special focus on research collaborations as well as graduate and undergraduate student involvement in science and engineering fields of mutual interest we look forward to working closely with jpl and its researchers to advance space science and explorationmark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m university shakes hands with michael m watkins director of the jet propulsion laboratory after signing a three-year strategic partnership between the institutions standing are representatives from the laboratory and faculty members from texas a&ms colleges of engineering science and geosciences (image: college of engineering)this agreement provides members of the college of geosciences opportunities to partner with jpl and other texas a&m colleges to advance the understanding of our planet as well as our solar system said dr jack baldauf geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research these opportunities include calibrating satellite measurements with earth surface-based observing systems developing new sensor technology and collaborating with jpl and others on future satellite programs under the memorandum of understanding jpl and texas a&m intend to: exchange personnel for seminars workshops research exchanges and advisory or review boards enable texas a&m undergraduates graduate students and post-doctoral scholars to participate in research at jpl and jpl researchers to take part in texas a&m research identify research areas of mutual interest promote joint collaboration and enhance research opportunities in space missions as well as the definition and design of related instruments   originally published at texas a&m today " "texas a&m university recently signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the jet propulsion laboratory (jpl) a federally funded research and development center managed by the california institute of technology to promote and encourage collaboration between the institutions texas a&m and jpl will cooperate under the laboratorys strategic university research partnerships program which reflects jpls commitment to work with the academic community to accomplish the nations space exploration goals jpl serves as an important resource for the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) in support of deep space systems especially for development of planetary science missions and supporting technology texas a&m and jpl will develop specific plans for collaborative activities with joint reviews held periodically to assess the progress and effectiveness of collaborative efforts this agreement recognizes texas a&m as a leader in education and research in science technology and engineering said vice president for research dr mark a barteau this collaboration will have a special focus on research collaborations as well as graduate and undergraduate student involvement in science and engineering fields of mutual interest we look forward to working closely with jpl and its researchers to advance space science and exploration" mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m university shakes hands with michael m watkins director of the jet propulsion laboratory after signing a three-year strategic partnership between the institutions standing are representatives from the laboratory and faculty members from texas a&ms colleges of engineering science and geosciences (image: college of engineering) "this agreement provides members of the college of geosciences opportunities to partner with jpl and other texas a&m colleges to advance the understanding of our planet as well as our solar system said dr jack baldauf geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research these opportunities include calibrating satellite measurements with earth surface-based observing systems developing new sensor technology and collaborating with jpl and others on future satellite programs under the memorandum of understanding jpl and texas a&m intend to: exchange personnel for seminars workshops research exchanges and advisory or review boards enable texas a&m undergraduates graduate students and post-doctoral scholars to participate in research at jpl and jpl researchers to take part in texas a&m research identify research areas of mutual interest promote joint collaboration and enhance research opportunities in space missions as well as the definition and design of related instruments   originally published at texas a&m today" " oceanography graduate makes waves in colloid research and now at texas sea grantkimber de salvos iron colloid research is at the cutting edge of trace metal oceanography today feb 22 2019kimber de salvos masters of oceanography graduation photo (photo courtesy of sarah hall)kimber de salvo in the field in the damariscotta river estuary maine driving to go collect water samples (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo)after completing a bachelors degree in environmental studies at the university of san diego kimber de salvo set out to find a masters degree program that would be able to compliment her passions for both marine science and geology it was not until after meeting with an assistant professor fromtexas a&m universitys department of oceanography dr jessica fitzsimmons that de salvo realized texas a&m was a great fit for her interests and was where she wanted to continue her education she credits this decision to fitzsimmons passion for research along with the innovative project that fitzsimmons pitched to her studying iron colloids in high salinity areas which coincided with her own interests i found jess and fell in love with her enthusiasm for science; she is one of the most passionate scientists i have ever met said de salvo i was also captivated by this project because it would pioneer a new analytical method in oceanography this new approach had never been done before and i knew it could contribute to the scientific community field research at the darling marine center during her time in the oceanography masters program de salvo had the opportunity to conduct field research at the university of mainedarling marine center there she was able to collect precious samples for her research which was not an easy job while doing field research collecting water samples in maine de salvo and colleagues weathered a wind storm that knocked out the centers power leaving them with only one generator for the entire facility all of her samples were destroyed at the darling marine center there was a storm with up to 60 mph wind gusts she said trees had fallen power outages lasted for 10 days and when you have precious samples thats terrifying especially if they have to be kept frozen without a generator to keep her samples frozen they thawed causing de salvo to have to stay another three weeks to re-do her field research and re-take samples she persevered and was able to finish the work shed started she battled weeks-long power outages freezing temperatures and just about every technical difficulty that her instruments could provide fitzsimmons said yet she still produced beautiful data and graduated on time with a fantastic new analytical method mastering new methods de salvos masters research focused primarily on iron colloids in the ocean iron colloids a subset of dissolved iron may contribute a significant source of bioavailable iron to phytoplankton the main primary producers of the ocean in order for phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis and produce more than half of the worlds oxygen they need iron with large areas of the ocean being iron-limited it is imperative to understand the sources of bioavailable iron de salvos background in geology and marine science made it an easy decision to jump on-board with colloidal iron research these iron colloids are a not-fully-dissolved chunky material that does not sink in the water column she said thus iron colloids could be readily available and crucial source of iron for phytoplankton which live near the surface of the ocean her research generated interesting results i found out that iron colloids are actually dynamic and there are seven different class sizes with varying chemical characteristics that were found throughout all of my samples in different locations de salvo said closer to land we found similar trends as far offshore which was really interesting scientists have thought of colloidal iron being bound to organics as a tight-knit relationship; and we found out that relationship may not be as close knit as previously thought this is the first study to evaluate this chemical composition as a function of colloidal size in the ocean along with these results de salvo fitzsimmons and their collaborator dr mark wells from the university of maine invented and refined a method of revealing the chemical composition of iron colloids as a function of size using combined filtration and chemical sensor technologies it was crazy because the standard operating procedures for these methods had not been achieved in the ocean before and we had to figure out how to develop the method de salvo said kimber's new method can for the first time reveal the chemical composition of iron as a function of size in high-salt seawater solutions fitzsimmons said her new method is at the cutting-edge of trace metal oceanography today  kimber de salvo working with her samples in darling maine centers clean lab (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo)kimber de salvo post-wind storm and power outage finding a lobster-pot buoy that had washed ashore from the storm (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo)moving on to texas sea grant upon graduating with her masters from texas a&m texas sea grantoffered de salvo a position on its communications team texas sea grant works in alliance with national oceanic and atmospheric administration to issue grants to scientists and students around texas to gain knowledge of the oceanic environment and relay information from that research to stakeholders and texas legislators helping inform  science-based decisions for local and statewide communities i had been so intrigued by texas sea grant as a graduate student de salvo said theyre the intersection between funding science and making that science functional for texans to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources from masters student to science communicator texas sea grants mission excites de salvo and she has taken to her new role naturally she said i have a huge passion for taking complicated science and digesting it down to help anybody understand and i absolutely love it de salvos position mainly involves creating social media campaigns for the program as it spreads awareness to a larger audience social media is an area texas sea grant wants to expand upon just because you can reach so many people and it fits in with our mission to educate de salvo said her masters research advisor fitzsimmons believes the experience in her masters program not only benefitted de salvo as a scientist but also improved her communication skills giving her the ability to succeed at texas sea grant this project challenged kimber to learn how to talk about detailed technical sciences to a broad and general audience and make them understand its importance fitzsimmons said she took this task very seriously and she is gifted at simplifying complex sciences clearly and persuasively communicating science to the public benefits the community as a whole de salvo has learned some people are not exposed to science she said communicating science is so important because it can inform decision making by rachel swindell 19   " kimber de salvos masters of oceanography graduation photo (photo courtesy of sarah hall)kimber de salvo in the field in the damariscotta river estuary maine driving to go collect water samples (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo) "after completing a bachelors degree in environmental studies at the university of san diego kimber de salvo set out to find a masters degree program that would be able to compliment her passions for both marine science and geology it was not until after meeting with an assistant professor fromtexas a&m universitys department of oceanography dr jessica fitzsimmons that de salvo realized texas a&m was a great fit for her interests and was where she wanted to continue her education she credits this decision to fitzsimmons passion for research along with the innovative project that fitzsimmons pitched to her studying iron colloids in high salinity areas which coincided with her own interests i found jess and fell in love with her enthusiasm for science; she is one of the most passionate scientists i have ever met said de salvo i was also captivated by this project because it would pioneer a new analytical method in oceanography this new approach had never been done before and i knew it could contribute to the scientific community field research at the darling marine center during her time in the oceanography masters program de salvo had the opportunity to conduct field research at the university of mainedarling marine center there she was able to collect precious samples for her research which was not an easy job while doing field research collecting water samples in maine de salvo and colleagues weathered a wind storm that knocked out the centers power leaving them with only one generator for the entire facility all of her samples were destroyed at the darling marine center there was a storm with up to 60 mph wind gusts she said trees had fallen power outages lasted for 10 days and when you have precious samples thats terrifying especially if they have to be kept frozen without a generator to keep her samples frozen they thawed causing de salvo to have to stay another three weeks to re-do her field research and re-take samples she persevered and was able to finish the work shed started she battled weeks-long power outages freezing temperatures and just about every technical difficulty that her instruments could provide fitzsimmons said yet she still produced beautiful data and graduated on time with a fantastic new analytical method mastering new methods de salvos masters research focused primarily on iron colloids in the ocean iron colloids a subset of dissolved iron may contribute a significant source of bioavailable iron to phytoplankton the main primary producers of the ocean in order for phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis and produce more than half of the worlds oxygen they need iron with large areas of the ocean being iron-limited it is imperative to understand the sources of bioavailable iron de salvos background in geology and marine science made it an easy decision to jump on-board with colloidal iron research these iron colloids are a not-fully-dissolved chunky material that does not sink in the water column she said thus iron colloids could be readily available and crucial source of iron for phytoplankton which live near the surface of the ocean her research generated interesting results i found out that iron colloids are actually dynamic and there are seven different class sizes with varying chemical characteristics that were found throughout all of my samples in different locations de salvo said closer to land we found similar trends as far offshore which was really interesting scientists have thought of colloidal iron being bound to organics as a tight-knit relationship; and we found out that relationship may not be as close knit as previously thought this is the first study to evaluate this chemical composition as a function of colloidal size in the ocean along with these results de salvo fitzsimmons and their collaborator dr mark wells from the university of maine invented and refined a method of revealing the chemical composition of iron colloids as a function of size using combined filtration and chemical sensor technologies it was crazy because the standard operating procedures for these methods had not been achieved in the ocean before and we had to figure out how to develop the method de salvo said kimber's new method can for the first time reveal the chemical composition of iron as a function of size in high-salt seawater solutions fitzsimmons said her new method is at the cutting-edge of trace metal oceanography today  " kimber de salvo working with her samples in darling maine centers clean lab (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo)kimber de salvo post-wind storm and power outage finding a lobster-pot buoy that had washed ashore from the storm (photo courtesy of kimber de salvo) "moving on to texas sea grant upon graduating with her masters from texas a&m texas sea grantoffered de salvo a position on its communications team texas sea grant works in alliance with national oceanic and atmospheric administration to issue grants to scientists and students around texas to gain knowledge of the oceanic environment and relay information from that research to stakeholders and texas legislators helping inform  science-based decisions for local and statewide communities i had been so intrigued by texas sea grant as a graduate student de salvo said theyre the intersection between funding science and making that science functional for texans to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources from masters student to science communicator texas sea grants mission excites de salvo and she has taken to her new role naturally she said i have a huge passion for taking complicated science and digesting it down to help anybody understand and i absolutely love it de salvos position mainly involves creating social media campaigns for the program as it spreads awareness to a larger audience social media is an area texas sea grant wants to expand upon just because you can reach so many people and it fits in with our mission to educate de salvo said her masters research advisor fitzsimmons believes the experience in her masters program not only benefitted de salvo as a scientist but also improved her communication skills giving her the ability to succeed at texas sea grant this project challenged kimber to learn how to talk about detailed technical sciences to a broad and general audience and make them understand its importance fitzsimmons said she took this task very seriously and she is gifted at simplifying complex sciences clearly and persuasively communicating science to the public benefits the community as a whole de salvo has learned some people are not exposed to science she said communicating science is so important because it can inform decision making by rachel swindell 19  " " two geography faculty awarded texas a&m research grantsdr george allen and dr inci güneralp will lead pesca-supported research projects feb 20 2019dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography dr inci güneralp associate professor in the department of geography two college of geosciences faculty members were presented with research project funding from the the division of research at texas a&m universitys program to enhance scholarly and creative activities (pesca) a total of thirteen faculty members from across texas a&m received pesca grants totaling $250 595 the division of research funds the pesca grant program to support significant research and scholarly projects that have the potential to lead to the awarding of external funding by major agencies and endowments pesca funds can support travel for research and to collections and libraries access to data resources graduate student support and seed funding to support application for federal and other national-level grants the 2019 grants which range in amounts from $9 898 to $25 000 will provide seed funding for research projects in disciplines as diverse as computer science public health architecture pharmaceutical science geography veterinary medicine sociology law engineering human medicine and agriculture congratulations to our faculty members who received pesca funding this year vice president for research dr mark a barteau said many of their projects represent multidisciplinary collaborations that tackle significant challenges for global society and demonstrate potential to attract additional funding from sources outside texas a&m we look forward to their results dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography received a $25 000 grant for his project developing a method for the rapid detection of freshwater plastic pollution co-principal investigators dr anthony filippi and dr inci güneralp both associate professors in the department of geography will join allen on the project dr inci güneralp received a $24 897 grant for her project tracing the signature of human-induced deforestation on lowland tropical river landscapes using simulation modeling and deep learning filippi will also serve as co-pi on this project along with dr georgianne moore an associate professor in the department of ecosystem science and management in the college of agriculture and life sciences and dr zhangyang atlas wang assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering in the college of engineering read about all 13 grant recipients " "dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography dr inci güneralp associate professor in the department of geography " "two college of geosciences faculty members were presented with research project funding from the the division of research at texas a&m universitys program to enhance scholarly and creative activities (pesca) a total of thirteen faculty members from across texas a&m received pesca grants totaling $250 595 the division of research funds the pesca grant program to support significant research and scholarly projects that have the potential to lead to the awarding of external funding by major agencies and endowments pesca funds can support travel for research and to collections and libraries access to data resources graduate student support and seed funding to support application for federal and other national-level grants the 2019 grants which range in amounts from $9 898 to $25 000 will provide seed funding for research projects in disciplines as diverse as computer science public health architecture pharmaceutical science geography veterinary medicine sociology law engineering human medicine and agriculture congratulations to our faculty members who received pesca funding this year vice president for research dr mark a barteau said many of their projects represent multidisciplinary collaborations that tackle significant challenges for global society and demonstrate potential to attract additional funding from sources outside texas a&m we look forward to their results dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography received a $25 000 grant for his project developing a method for the rapid detection of freshwater plastic pollution co-principal investigators dr anthony filippi and dr inci güneralp both associate professors in the department of geography will join allen on the project dr inci güneralp received a $24 897 grant for her project tracing the signature of human-induced deforestation on lowland tropical river landscapes using simulation modeling and deep learning filippi will also serve as co-pi on this project along with dr georgianne moore an associate professor in the department of ecosystem science and management in the college of agriculture and life sciences and dr zhangyang atlas wang assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering in the college of engineering read about all 13 grant recipients" " meteorology and oceanography students awarded 1000 year scholarshipthe inaugural scholarships were a fantastic way to support education in the metocean community feb 13 2019jan van smirren presents a scholarship to kendall byers (photos by chris mouchyn)jan van smirren presents a scholarship to sakib mahmudtwo texas a&m university college of geosciences students were recently awarded 1 000 year scholarships inaugural scholarships co-sponsored by the society for underwater technology (sut) and the loop current eddy alliance funded by attendees of the annual 1 000 year party the $1 500 scholarships were awarded to kendall byers a senior meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences and sakib mahmud a graduate student in the department of oceanography jan van smirren sut fellow and honorable secretary presented the scholarships at texas a&m and invited the students to network with industry experts at the upcoming 1 000 year gathering every year for about the last three decades all the industrial meteorologists and oceanographers have met for an informal party in houston on the tuesday of otc week van smirren said otc is the annual offshore technology conference  it used to be called the 100 year party because we typically have to produce extreme estimates to the engineers out to 100 years and those inform their designs of off-shore structures he said engineers now expect estimations up to 1 000 years out so we changed the name of the party last year the professionals made it a party with a purpose van smirren said and together collected funds for two student scholarships sut agreed to administer the scholarship program and the loop current eddy alliance co-sponsored it we got a really diverse great group of applicants but these two really stood out van smirren said of byers and mahmud what a fantastic way to support education in the metocean community said dr don conlee atmospheric sciences instructional professor we are also delighted and thankful that our colleague jan could come and present these in person to make it even more specialkendall byers jan van smirren and sakib mahmud (photos by chris mouchyn)dr ishara casellas connors dr shari yvon-lewis sakib mahmud jan van smirren kendall byers and dr don conleeby leslie lee 09    " jan van smirren presents a scholarship to kendall byers (photos by chris mouchyn)jan van smirren presents a scholarship to sakib mahmud "two texas a&m university college of geosciences students were recently awarded 1 000 year scholarships inaugural scholarships co-sponsored by the society for underwater technology (sut) and the loop current eddy alliance funded by attendees of the annual 1 000 year party the $1 500 scholarships were awarded to kendall byers a senior meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences and sakib mahmud a graduate student in the department of oceanography jan van smirren sut fellow and honorable secretary presented the scholarships at texas a&m and invited the students to network with industry experts at the upcoming 1 000 year gathering every year for about the last three decades all the industrial meteorologists and oceanographers have met for an informal party in houston on the tuesday of otc week van smirren said otc is the annual offshore technology conference  it used to be called the 100 year party because we typically have to produce extreme estimates to the engineers out to 100 years and those inform their designs of off-shore structures he said engineers now expect estimations up to 1 000 years out so we changed the name of the party last year the professionals made it a party with a purpose van smirren said and together collected funds for two student scholarships sut agreed to administer the scholarship program and the loop current eddy alliance co-sponsored it we got a really diverse great group of applicants but these two really stood out van smirren said of byers and mahmud what a fantastic way to support education in the metocean community said dr don conlee atmospheric sciences instructional professor we are also delighted and thankful that our colleague jan could come and present these in person to make it even more special" kendall byers jan van smirren and sakib mahmud (photos by chris mouchyn)dr ishara casellas connors dr shari yvon-lewis sakib mahmud jan van smirren kendall byers and dr don conlee " atmospheric sciences students win poster awardsmatthew brown and montana etten-bohm recently won poster awards at two conferencesfeb 8 2019matthew brownmontana etten-bohmtwo graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university in the college of geosciences brought home poster awards from conferences in recent months matthew brown a third-year graduate student working with dr christopher nowotarski on supercell dynamics recently attended the 29th american meteorological society (ams) severe local storms conference in stowe vermont brown was one of five students to win a best poster award his presented work focuses on the impact of the lifting condensation level (lcl) on low-level outflow and rotation in simulated thunderstorms as matthew stated high lcls are actually more favorable for the development of intense rotation due to more direct alignment of near-surface circulation and the mesocyclone aloft brown said this is not to say that our observational findings are wrong but that the impact of lcl is not as simple as ‘low lcls are always good rather the combination of lcl and other low-level features (shear moisture instability) combine to form an environment that can support tornadogenesis he noted that some conference attendees were skeptical of the project initially as in dont we already know the answer to this but then after i walked them through the findings there was this moment of 'huh thats really interesting maybe weve been looking at the impact of lcl from the wrong perspective also a third-year graduate student montana etten-bohm is working with dr courtney schumacher on lightning research she recently attended the workshop on point process models organized by the department of statistics here at texas a&m university the award-winning research poster focuses on using large-scale environmental variables in lightning parameterization and evaluating their link with lightning she said for this conference montana focused on using statistical models to create lightning parameterizations people should care because for the generalized linear model (glm) we were able to evaluate this in a global climate model (gcm) and the parameterization performed pretty well etten-bohm said this shows implications for the future and how lightning parameterizations can perform well in predicting lightning on a global scale by kevin smalley " "two graduate students in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university in the college of geosciences brought home poster awards from conferences in recent months matthew brown a third-year graduate student working with dr christopher nowotarski on supercell dynamics recently attended the 29th american meteorological society (ams) severe local storms conference in stowe vermont brown was one of five students to win a best poster award his presented work focuses on the impact of the lifting condensation level (lcl) on low-level outflow and rotation in simulated thunderstorms as matthew stated high lcls are actually more favorable for the development of intense rotation due to more direct alignment of near-surface circulation and the mesocyclone aloft brown said this is not to say that our observational findings are wrong but that the impact of lcl is not as simple as ‘low lcls are always good rather the combination of lcl and other low-level features (shear moisture instability) combine to form an environment that can support tornadogenesis he noted that some conference attendees were skeptical of the project initially as in dont we already know the answer to this but then after i walked them through the findings there was this moment of 'huh thats really interesting maybe weve been looking at the impact of lcl from the wrong perspective also a third-year graduate student montana etten-bohm is working with dr courtney schumacher on lightning research she recently attended the workshop on point process models organized by the department of statistics here at texas a&m university the award-winning research poster focuses on using large-scale environmental variables in lightning parameterization and evaluating their link with lightning she said for this conference montana focused on using statistical models to create lightning parameterizations people should care because for the generalized linear model (glm) we were able to evaluate this in a global climate model (gcm) and the parameterization performed pretty well etten-bohm said this shows implications for the future and how lightning parameterizations can perform well in predicting lightning on a global scale by kevin smalley" " a letter from the deanread about dr debbie thomas vision for the future of the college of geosciencesfeb 7 2019dear college of geosciences family it has been an honor to serve texas a&m university as faculty member department head and interim dean of geosciences i am humbled to have earned the honor of serving as the dean of geosciences the role of the dean is to enhance the impact of the college both externally and internally while at the same time working with the other deans to enhance the impact of the entire university in my view an exceptional dean creates a culture of team and empowers all team members to achieve their potential an exceptional dean provides positive collaborative transparent and selfless leadership an exceptional dean is entrepreneurial and visionary providing the motivation and resources for the team to nucleate and lead transformative research and educational programs an exceptional dean identifies new resources and strategically reallocates resources in the face of opportunity and challenge an exceptional dean finds ways to network the team in unique ways and to connect our current and future students with our former students suffice it to say that i strive every day to be that exceptional dean   the geosciences represent a unique and truly interdisciplinary intersection of sciences technology and society with the unparalleled capacity to improve lives and create even more opportunities through education and innovation this spring we will launch the first completely integrated college-wide strategic planning process that will engage every single member of the college of geosciences family including many former students and stakeholders the foundation of this process will be a series of college-wide summits to apply appreciative inquiry in the creation of our collective vision and mission then we will systematically explore our strengths opportunities aspirations and how to measure and achieve the results needed to fulfill our mission  in the meantime we have several immediate opportunities to enrich our educational and professional development programs the most immediate opportunity is to improve student success and retention for all of our learners those who begin their aggie experience as freshman those who find their way into texas a&m and the geosciences through transfer pathways those who seek graduate degrees at the masters and doctorate levels and those students who pursue their graduate degrees digitally the foundation for success in all of these efforts lies in the family-like culture of our college our size gives us a unique personal impact on our former current and future students and as our former students can attest our programs literally change lives  we already are leveraging our size to have a colossal impact on student success and position our college to lead the university under a new initiative that will incentivize student retention and time to degree while student retention and time to degree may sound like bean counting metrics behind these terms lies very quantifiable virtue and compassion decades of data indicate the myriad benefits of a college degree and one of texas a&ms highest priorities is to provide students with the opportunity to earn an exceedingly valuable degree at exceptional value students who begin college but are not able to earn their degree potentially incur crippling debt and students who require additional semesters to complete their degrees also incur higher expenses thus innovating strategies to promote student success absolutely will improve lives our first set of student success initiatives addresses holistic student wellness and active advising predicting and identifying warning signs in students and intervening compassionately before challenges become insurmountable we also seek to establish a peer mentoring program in order to apply a proven strategy for success in the early foundational coursework another major near-term goal is to establish the college of geosciences student success center actively linking advising and mentoring to internship and career placement team members within the student success center will deliver professional development programming and coordinate leadership symposia such as the popular pizza with a pro program how can you help us change lives our small size is a mixed blessing and in order to effectively and compassionately implement our student success programs we need to hire additional team members with very specific skill sets your contribution to a student success excellence fund will help permanently fund our new student success coordinator your contribution to the peer mentoring excellence fund will help permanently fund the peer mentoring program we also have a grand vision for renovated space to serve as the student success center  if you have interest in these important initiatives or our other programs please reach out to us – one of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the chance to meet with our former students and chat about how we can leverage your philanthropic investment to change lives!   thank you for all you do and i look forward to working with you all to achieve our mission!  dr debbie thomas " "dear college of geosciences family it has been an honor to serve texas a&m university as faculty member department head and interim dean of geosciences i am humbled to have earned the honor of serving as the dean of geosciences the role of the dean is to enhance the impact of the college both externally and internally while at the same time working with the other deans to enhance the impact of the entire university in my view an exceptional dean creates a culture of team and empowers all team members to achieve their potential an exceptional dean provides positive collaborative transparent and selfless leadership an exceptional dean is entrepreneurial and visionary providing the motivation and resources for the team to nucleate and lead transformative research and educational programs an exceptional dean identifies new resources and strategically reallocates resources in the face of opportunity and challenge an exceptional dean finds ways to network the team in unique ways and to connect our current and future students with our former students suffice it to say that i strive every day to be that exceptional dean   the geosciences represent a unique and truly interdisciplinary intersection of sciences technology and society with the unparalleled capacity to improve lives and create even more opportunities through education and innovation this spring we will launch the first completely integrated college-wide strategic planning process that will engage every single member of the college of geosciences family including many former students and stakeholders the foundation of this process will be a series of college-wide summits to apply appreciative inquiry in the creation of our collective vision and mission then we will systematically explore our strengths opportunities aspirations and how to measure and achieve the results needed to fulfill our mission  in the meantime we have several immediate opportunities to enrich our educational and professional development programs the most immediate opportunity is to improve student success and retention for all of our learners those who begin their aggie experience as freshman those who find their way into texas a&m and the geosciences through transfer pathways those who seek graduate degrees at the masters and doctorate levels and those students who pursue their graduate degrees digitally the foundation for success in all of these efforts lies in the family-like culture of our college our size gives us a unique personal impact on our former current and future students and as our former students can attest our programs literally change lives  we already are leveraging our size to have a colossal impact on student success and position our college to lead the university under a new initiative that will incentivize student retention and time to degree while student retention and time to degree may sound like bean counting metrics behind these terms lies very quantifiable virtue and compassion decades of data indicate the myriad benefits of a college degree and one of texas a&ms highest priorities is to provide students with the opportunity to earn an exceedingly valuable degree at exceptional value students who begin college but are not able to earn their degree potentially incur crippling debt and students who require additional semesters to complete their degrees also incur higher expenses thus innovating strategies to promote student success absolutely will improve lives our first set of student success initiatives addresses holistic student wellness and active advising predicting and identifying warning signs in students and intervening compassionately before challenges become insurmountable we also seek to establish a peer mentoring program in order to apply a proven strategy for success in the early foundational coursework another major near-term goal is to establish the college of geosciences student success center actively linking advising and mentoring to internship and career placement team members within the student success center will deliver professional development programming and coordinate leadership symposia such as the popular pizza with a pro program how can you help us change lives our small size is a mixed blessing and in order to effectively and compassionately implement our student success programs we need to hire additional team members with very specific skill sets your contribution to a student success excellence fund will help permanently fund our new student success coordinator your contribution to the peer mentoring excellence fund will help permanently fund the peer mentoring program we also have a grand vision for renovated space to serve as the student success center  if you have interest in these important initiatives or our other programs please reach out to us – one of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the chance to meet with our former students and chat about how we can leverage your philanthropic investment to change lives!   thank you for all you do and i look forward to working with you all to achieve our mission!  dr debbie thomas" " meet gary reynolds 88 geosciences senior director of development the college of geosciences is proud to have reynolds on its teamfeb 6 2019hes got a super bowl ring three decades of nfl and aggie football operations experience and a passion for aggieland and now gary reynolds 88 is making waves in texas a&m geosciences helping grow our impact for generations of aggie geoscientists to come and engaging former students and friends to get involved in that future reynolds joined the texas a&m college of geosciences in august of 2018 as senior director of development leading giving and development efforts for the college and departments he serves as an ambassador of the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m university to our donors and former students to further the mission of the college the college of geosciences is truly great reynolds said aggies can be proud of the students faculty and former students for their amazing work! working with development coordinator rachel rodriguez reynolds helps geosciences donors and former students match their passions with the needs and exciting opportunities in the college  we are beyond thrilled to have gary on the college of geosciences team! said geosciences dean dr debbie thomas he is passionate about our opportunities and goals and is gifted with the ability to share these with our former students and stakeholders after receiving his bachelors degree in industrial distribution from texas a&m in 1988 and his masters in educational administration in 1992 reynolds went into athletics administration where he applied his skills in relationship-building and recruiting in various capacities  he served in operations for two nfl teams: the green bay packers from 1993-1999 where he earned his super bowl xxxi champions ring and the seattle seahawks from 2003-2008 reynolds then served in texas a&m athletics as director of football operations from 2008-2016 and associate athletics director for football from 2016-2018 learn about the exciting ways you could support the college by leslie lee 09 " "hes got a super bowl ring three decades of nfl and aggie football operations experience and a passion for aggieland and now gary reynolds 88 is making waves in texas a&m geosciences helping grow our impact for generations of aggie geoscientists to come and engaging former students and friends to get involved in that future reynolds joined the texas a&m college of geosciences in august of 2018 as senior director of development leading giving and development efforts for the college and departments he serves as an ambassador of the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m university to our donors and former students to further the mission of the college the college of geosciences is truly great reynolds said aggies can be proud of the students faculty and former students for their amazing work! working with development coordinator rachel rodriguez reynolds helps geosciences donors and former students match their passions with the needs and exciting opportunities in the college  we are beyond thrilled to have gary on the college of geosciences team! said geosciences dean dr debbie thomas he is passionate about our opportunities and goals and is gifted with the ability to share these with our former students and stakeholders after receiving his bachelors degree in industrial distribution from texas a&m in 1988 and his masters in educational administration in 1992 reynolds went into athletics administration where he applied his skills in relationship-building and recruiting in various capacities  he served in operations for two nfl teams: the green bay packers from 1993-1999 where he earned his super bowl xxxi champions ring and the seattle seahawks from 2003-2008 reynolds then served in texas a&m athletics as director of football operations from 2008-2016 and associate athletics director for football from 2016-2018 learn about the exciting ways you could support the college by leslie lee 09" " college of geosciences invites aspiring students and families to aggieland saturday feb 9all prospective students and families are welcome at this campus-wide eventfeb 1 2019aggieland saturday 2019 is feb 9saturday feb 9 texas a&m university will host aggieland saturday an annual campus-wide open house for prospective students and their families during this one day prospective students can meet current students tour the dorms visit libraries and labs and see what texas a&m has to offer the college of geosciences will host a wide variety of events and tours for prospective students and families during aggieland saturday aspiring geoscientists can learn about the colleges majors and programs get information about admissions and get financial aid and scholarship resources the full college of geosciences aggieland saturday schedule is below all of the geosciences events will be held in the oceanography and meteorology building (o&m) and resource tables for each department and program will also be available in o&m from 8:30 am – 1:30 pm activities: welcome and the colleges vision 9:00 – 9:15 am o&m room 112 with dean dr debbie thomas gala activities on the lawn (student organizations etc) noon – 12:45 pm green space in front of the o&m building tours: geology and geophysics 3d visualization laboratory 1:10 – 2:15 pm begins in o&m 110 and continues to the halbouty building for laboratory tour atmospheric science and meteorology tour of the weather & radar centers 10:30 am – noon o&m 110 presentations: financial solutions for high school seniors 9:15 – 9:45 am o&m 112 what are the geosciences what does a geoscientist do 9:45 – 10:15 am o&m 112 introduction to the geology and geophysics (g&g) majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 112 introduction to the geography and geographic information science and technology majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 807 introduction to the environmental programs 10:30 am – noon o&m 103 introduction to the oceanography major 10:30 am – noon o&m 602 " "saturday feb 9 texas a&m university will host aggieland saturday an annual campus-wide open house for prospective students and their families during this one day prospective students can meet current students tour the dorms visit libraries and labs and see what texas a&m has to offer the college of geosciences will host a wide variety of events and tours for prospective students and families during aggieland saturday aspiring geoscientists can learn about the colleges majors and programs get information about admissions and get financial aid and scholarship resources the full college of geosciences aggieland saturday schedule is below all of the geosciences events will be held in the oceanography and meteorology building (o&m) and resource tables for each department and program will also be available in o&m from 8:30 am – 1:30 pm activities: welcome and the colleges vision 9:00 – 9:15 am o&m room 112 with dean dr debbie thomas gala activities on the lawn (student organizations etc) noon – 12:45 pm green space in front of the o&m building tours: geology and geophysics 3d visualization laboratory 1:10 – 2:15 pm begins in o&m 110 and continues to the halbouty building for laboratory tour atmospheric science and meteorology tour of the weather & radar centers 10:30 am – noon o&m 110 presentations: financial solutions for high school seniors 9:15 – 9:45 am o&m 112 what are the geosciences what does a geoscientist do 9:45 – 10:15 am o&m 112 introduction to the geology and geophysics (g&g) majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 112 introduction to the geography and geographic information science and technology majors 10:30 am – noon o&m 807 introduction to the environmental programs 10:30 am – noon o&m 103 introduction to the oceanography major 10:30 am – noon o&m 602 " " aggies plastic-reducing idea is taking him to super bowl 53 thanks to pepsicohayden smiths innovative idea to reduce plastic waste was chosen in a nationwide competition jan 31 2019photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesthe idea just came to me while walking my dog thats how texas a&m university student hayden smith 19 thought of the innovative idea thats now taking him all the way to the super bowl as a winner of pepsicos 2019 game-changers competition a double-major in economics in the college of liberal arts and environmental geoscience in the college of geosciences smith used his knowledge of business and the environment to develop a plastic-reduction concept to pitch to pepsico now named one of five winners of the competition smith is excited not only to enjoy an all-expenses-paid 4-day trip to super bowl weekend in atlanta but also to see his award-winning idea possibly become a reality it intermixes a lot of what ive learned in environmental geosciences sustainability and the reductions of plastic and the economics of cost savings by reducing inputs he said those concepts are centered around digital technology which acts as a connecting point with you and the brand because in-effect of buying this brand you are now participating in a global sustainability initiative its a big system how it comes together smith is a serial ideator because you never know the power of ideas he said the plastic-reduction idea came to him about six months ago one day when he was walking his dog about a month later he heard about the pepsico competition made the video pitch for his idea and entered it i didnt tell a soul about it until i heard back in december he said now smith is headed to atlanta for super bowl 53 and his sustainability-minded idea could potentially be implemented by pepsico (he could not disclose the specifics of the idea; pepsico owns the intellectual property of every submission to the competition) he and the other four pepsico game-changers competition winners will participate in promotional filming watch the half-time show rehearsal be in a nasdaq stock exchange bell closing take a market tour attend the super bowl take photos with the vince lombardi trophy meet nfl players and more thinking like an entrepreneur since age eight smith has a passion for both sustainable policy development and sustainability-focused businesses and his entrepreneurial instincts have driven him for a long time i remember the day i made my first dollar when i was about 8 years old it kind of just lit me on fire he said since then ive always had little side jobs and am always coming up with new ideas from 2017 to 2018 smith and two friends a texas a&m geosciences graduate student and a university of houston graduate student formed a startup company to develop a holistic student services software application their team completed ycombinators startup school a program of one of the major startup accelerators in silicon valley and they also participated in texas a&m mays business schools mcferrin center for entrepreneurship startup aggieland business incubator programphoto by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesthe most influential thing for entrepreneurship for me has been to get around people who have a similar mindset and to keep a close-knit group with those people he said i highly recommend the incubator program here and the many events of startup aggieland; those are amazing places to meet like-minded people building a startup was an invaluable experience for him starting an official texas llc and working with other people who were hungry to develop a useful software for others really opened my eyes in a lot of ways and now i would like to own my own business one day he said i think entrepreneurship is a huge part of solving so many of the problems society faces aggie professors helped instill a passion for sustainable solutions smiths affection for aggieland has also been with him for most of his life he said i grew up in allen texas and id been coming to college station since i was in diapers smith said both of my grandfathers are professors emeritus in the texas a&m system dr norman guinasso research professor emeritus of oceanography at texas a&m and dr donald e harper jr professor emeritus of marine biology at texas a&m galveston theyve both been the most amazing mentors i was just drawn to texas a&m i was admitted and its been a dream ever since at texas a&m professors in both of his majors have helped him understand the most critical problems facing earth today and how sustainable solutions could be developed my favorite economics class has been with dr adel varghese instructional associate professor of economics who teaches development economics smith said thats been most influential for me because you can really see the change that can occur by shaping policy; and likewise you can see the negative impacts of not thinking through policy holistically smith also credits the teaching of dr vatche tchakerian professor of geography for opening my eyes to not just the problems we face but looking at the grand solutions of actually moving in a better direction for our planet and people and geography professor dr wendy jepsons resources class also gave me a much more well-rounded view of policy he said texas a&m has made a huge impact on his life the deep intrinsic sense of community is what ill miss the most he said it really is a family-type experience after graduating in december 2019 he would like to attend law school and focus on a jd in environmental law and also pursue a joint masters degree in development or resource economics and hopes to eventually work in public service or policy-making i want to make an impact in any way that i can whether its through changing the marketing and production of companies or advocating sustainable policy im all about it by leslie lee '09 media contacts: leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-0910 leslielee@tamuedu robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu " "the idea just came to me while walking my dog thats how texas a&m university student hayden smith 19 thought of the innovative idea thats now taking him all the way to the super bowl as a winner of pepsicos 2019 game-changers competition a double-major in economics in the college of liberal arts and environmental geoscience in the college of geosciences smith used his knowledge of business and the environment to develop a plastic-reduction concept to pitch to pepsico now named one of five winners of the competition smith is excited not only to enjoy an all-expenses-paid 4-day trip to super bowl weekend in atlanta but also to see his award-winning idea possibly become a reality it intermixes a lot of what ive learned in environmental geosciences sustainability and the reductions of plastic and the economics of cost savings by reducing inputs he said those concepts are centered around digital technology which acts as a connecting point with you and the brand because in-effect of buying this brand you are now participating in a global sustainability initiative its a big system how it comes together smith is a serial ideator because you never know the power of ideas he said the plastic-reduction idea came to him about six months ago one day when he was walking his dog about a month later he heard about the pepsico competition made the video pitch for his idea and entered it i didnt tell a soul about it until i heard back in december he said now smith is headed to atlanta for super bowl 53 and his sustainability-minded idea could potentially be implemented by pepsico (he could not disclose the specifics of the idea; pepsico owns the intellectual property of every submission to the competition) he and the other four pepsico game-changers competition winners will participate in promotional filming watch the half-time show rehearsal be in a nasdaq stock exchange bell closing take a market tour attend the super bowl take photos with the vince lombardi trophy meet nfl players and more thinking like an entrepreneur since age eight smith has a passion for both sustainable policy development and sustainability-focused businesses and his entrepreneurial instincts have driven him for a long time i remember the day i made my first dollar when i was about 8 years old it kind of just lit me on fire he said since then ive always had little side jobs and am always coming up with new ideas from 2017 to 2018 smith and two friends a texas a&m geosciences graduate student and a university of houston graduate student formed a startup company to develop a holistic student services software application their team completed ycombinators startup school a program of one of the major startup accelerators in silicon valley and they also participated in texas a&m mays business schools mcferrin center for entrepreneurship startup aggieland business incubator program" "the most influential thing for entrepreneurship for me has been to get around people who have a similar mindset and to keep a close-knit group with those people he said i highly recommend the incubator program here and the many events of startup aggieland; those are amazing places to meet like-minded people building a startup was an invaluable experience for him starting an official texas llc and working with other people who were hungry to develop a useful software for others really opened my eyes in a lot of ways and now i would like to own my own business one day he said i think entrepreneurship is a huge part of solving so many of the problems society faces aggie professors helped instill a passion for sustainable solutions smiths affection for aggieland has also been with him for most of his life he said i grew up in allen texas and id been coming to college station since i was in diapers smith said both of my grandfathers are professors emeritus in the texas a&m system dr norman guinasso research professor emeritus of oceanography at texas a&m and dr donald e harper jr professor emeritus of marine biology at texas a&m galveston theyve both been the most amazing mentors i was just drawn to texas a&m i was admitted and its been a dream ever since at texas a&m professors in both of his majors have helped him understand the most critical problems facing earth today and how sustainable solutions could be developed my favorite economics class has been with dr adel varghese instructional associate professor of economics who teaches development economics smith said thats been most influential for me because you can really see the change that can occur by shaping policy; and likewise you can see the negative impacts of not thinking through policy holistically smith also credits the teaching of dr vatche tchakerian professor of geography for opening my eyes to not just the problems we face but looking at the grand solutions of actually moving in a better direction for our planet and people and geography professor dr wendy jepsons resources class also gave me a much more well-rounded view of policy he said texas a&m has made a huge impact on his life the deep intrinsic sense of community is what ill miss the most he said it really is a family-type experience after graduating in december 2019 he would like to attend law school and focus on a jd in environmental law and also pursue a joint masters degree in development or resource economics and hopes to eventually work in public service or policy-making i want to make an impact in any way that i can whether its through changing the marketing and production of companies or advocating sustainable policy im all about it by leslie lee '09 media contacts: leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-0910 leslielee@tamuedu robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences 979-845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu " " geology & geophysics department holiday party january 2019the department of geology and geophysics celebrated the holidays and the beginning of 2019 at the annual department holiday party jan 30 2019 faculty staff graduate students and guests attended the party which included honoring dr peter knappett on his tenure   view more photos at: txag/dpsibey photos by mariana figueroa 19 " " faculty staff graduate students and guests attended the party which included honoring dr peter knappett on his tenure   view more photos at: txag/dpsibey photos by mariana figueroa 19 " " faculty staff graduate students and guests attended the party which included honoring dr peter knappett on his tenure   view more photos at: txag/dpsibey " " undergraduates invited to apply for 2019 research experience undergraduate (reu) program for ocean researchthe application deadline for the 2019 research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program is feb 19 jan 24 2019group photo of 2018 reu students aboard r/v pleican (photo from reu blog)this summer the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) and will again host the observing the ocean the research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program which is funded by the national science foundation (nsf)[subject to approval of the federal budget] ten reu students will participate in a 10-week summer program focusing on innovative ocean observing technologies to address issues facing the coastal oceans such as hypoxia harmful algal blooms ocean acidification and pollution students will have the opportunity to work with faculty and staff mentors in laboratories and on seagoing projects to acquire the analytical skills for multidisciplinary oceanographic research more than 20 faculty and researchers from gerg and the oceanography department serve as reu mentors in interdisciplinary research fields such as paleoceanography marine biology and ocean modeling the application deadline for the 2019 reu is feb 19 undergraduate students who are us citizens us nationals or us permanent residents can apply for the program graduating seniors are not eligible for the program i highly encourage undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing research and advanced degrees in oceanography said dr lisa campbell oceanography professor and reu program director for more information including application eligibility and procedure list of reu mentors and potential student research project topics visit the official website visit the reus blog for more photos of past reu projects and participants by bumsoo kim " group photo of 2018 reu students aboard r/v pleican (photo from reu blog) "this summer the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) and will again host the observing the ocean the research experiences for undergraduates (reu) program which is funded by the national science foundation (nsf)[subject to approval of the federal budget] ten reu students will participate in a 10-week summer program focusing on innovative ocean observing technologies to address issues facing the coastal oceans such as hypoxia harmful algal blooms ocean acidification and pollution students will have the opportunity to work with faculty and staff mentors in laboratories and on seagoing projects to acquire the analytical skills for multidisciplinary oceanographic research more than 20 faculty and researchers from gerg and the oceanography department serve as reu mentors in interdisciplinary research fields such as paleoceanography marine biology and ocean modeling the application deadline for the 2019 reu is feb 19 undergraduate students who are us citizens us nationals or us permanent residents can apply for the program graduating seniors are not eligible for the program i highly encourage undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing research and advanced degrees in oceanography said dr lisa campbell oceanography professor and reu program director for more information including application eligibility and procedure list of reu mentors and potential student research project topics visit the official website visit the reus blog for more photos of past reu projects and participants by bumsoo kim" " debbie thomas appointed dean of the college of geosciencesher scholarship is recognized globally in areas of particular strength and importance for texas a&m says provostjan 15 2019dr debbie thomas  dean of the texas a&m college of geosciencestexas a&m university president dr michael k young and texas a&m provost and executive vice president dr carol a fierke have announced that dr debbie thomas has been appointed as the dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences her appointment has been confirmed by the texas a&m university system and became effective jan 14 2019 debbie has been an outstanding leader at the department college and university level fierke said her scholarship is recognized globally in areas of particular strength and importance for the future advancement of geosciences at texas a&m university thomas received her masters degree in marine sciences and her doctoral degree in geological sciences from the university of north carolina her undergraduate degree is in geological sciences from brown university she joined texas a&m university in 2004 as an assistant professor and currently holds the rank of professor in the department of oceanography it has been an honor to serve texas a&m university as faculty member department head and interim dean of geosciences thomas said i am humbled to have earned the honor of serving as the dean of geosciences an international leader in research thomas specializes in the field of paleoceanography and was instrumental in establishing the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory she studies the chemical composition of marine sediments to reconstruct past climate with a particular interest in the climate dynamics of globally warm periods of time in earths history her work relies on sea floor samples collected through the international ocean discovery program (iodp) she has led international research teams through the iodp and successfully proposed iodp expedition 378 which will recover cores from portions of the south pacific not yet explored through scientific ocean drilling dr thomas was named co-chief of the expedition now scheduled to sail in early 2020 texas a&m university and the college of geosciences serve as the operator of the joides resolution drill ship in service of iodp and this award represents the single largest continuous grant to texas a&m university from national science foundation totaling more than $2 billion in competitive grant awards since 1983 thomas honors include being named a montague center for teaching excellence scholar and receiving the college-level distinguished achievement award for teaching from the texas a&m association of former students she was the keynote speaker for the shell science seminar at the national science teachers associations national conference and delivered the keynote address at a texas a&m university freshman convocation she has also been named a distinguished lecturer for the consortium for ocean leadership thomas has served as interim dean of the college of geosciences since 2016 and was previously head of the department of oceanography (2013 – 2016) please join us in congratulating dr debbie thomas on her appointment as dean of the college of geosciences " "texas a&m university president dr michael k young and texas a&m provost and executive vice president dr carol a fierke have announced that dr debbie thomas has been appointed as the dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences her appointment has been confirmed by the texas a&m university system and became effective jan 14 2019 debbie has been an outstanding leader at the department college and university level fierke said her scholarship is recognized globally in areas of particular strength and importance for the future advancement of geosciences at texas a&m university thomas received her masters degree in marine sciences and her doctoral degree in geological sciences from the university of north carolina her undergraduate degree is in geological sciences from brown university she joined texas a&m university in 2004 as an assistant professor and currently holds the rank of professor in the department of oceanography it has been an honor to serve texas a&m university as faculty member department head and interim dean of geosciences thomas said i am humbled to have earned the honor of serving as the dean of geosciences an international leader in research thomas specializes in the field of paleoceanography and was instrumental in establishing the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory she studies the chemical composition of marine sediments to reconstruct past climate with a particular interest in the climate dynamics of globally warm periods of time in earths history her work relies on sea floor samples collected through the international ocean discovery program (iodp) she has led international research teams through the iodp and successfully proposed iodp expedition 378 which will recover cores from portions of the south pacific not yet explored through scientific ocean drilling dr thomas was named co-chief of the expedition now scheduled to sail in early 2020 texas a&m university and the college of geosciences serve as the operator of the joides resolution drill ship in service of iodp and this award represents the single largest continuous grant to texas a&m university from national science foundation totaling more than $2 billion in competitive grant awards since 1983 thomas honors include being named a montague center for teaching excellence scholar and receiving the college-level distinguished achievement award for teaching from the texas a&m association of former students she was the keynote speaker for the shell science seminar at the national science teachers associations national conference and delivered the keynote address at a texas a&m university freshman convocation she has also been named a distinguished lecturer for the consortium for ocean leadership thomas has served as interim dean of the college of geosciences since 2016 and was previously head of the department of oceanography (2013 – 2016) please join us in congratulating dr debbie thomas on her appointment as dean of the college of geosciences" " texas sea grant welcomes new extension agentjointly appointed with texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension nikki fitzgerald is chambers and jefferson counties new coastal and marine resources extension agentjun 19 2018photo from nikki fitgeraldphoto by chris mouchynnikki fitzgerald joined texas sea grant in may 2019 as the programs chambers and jefferson counties coastal and marine resources extension agent jointly with texas a&m agrilife extension with texas sea grant fitzgerald plans to start a recycling program in jefferson and chambers counties she also will educate youth in conjunction with the jefferson county camp seaport and collaborate in the jason project at lamar university an effort to get elementary and middle school students interested in and excited about science additionally fitzgerald plans to enhance recreational fishing and eco-tourism opportunities through educating landowners in pond management fitzgerald explains i look forward to working with camp seaport in port arthur teaching kids about different jobs in the maritime industry and pushing for more women in the industry fitzgerald brings an expertise in natural resource restoration to texas sea grant for many years she worked with students to restore shoreline through transplanting marsh cordgrass in estuaries with galveston bay foundations get hip to habitat program she also educated youth in oyster reef restoration and the ecosystem benefits oysters bring to bay systems fitzgerald also led many adopt-a-beach clean-ups i really would love to keep working with students and teaching them how to protect their shorelines fitzgerald states and i look forward to working with our local shrimpers and fishermen in 2007 fitzgerald graduated from texas a&m university with a bachelor of science in animal science and then obtained her masters from lamar university in education administration she has an extensive background in youth science education teaching biology aquatic science and environmental science during her 12-year teaching career fitzgerald was awarded teacher of the year and soil conservation science teacher of the year when it comes to education fitzgerald says the best way to learn is to live through life experiences and keep evolving she plans to bring this hands-on approach to her work in chambers and jefferson counties   " "nikki fitzgerald joined texas sea grant in may 2019 as the programs chambers and jefferson counties coastal and marine resources extension agent jointly with texas a&m agrilife extension with texas sea grant fitzgerald plans to start a recycling program in jefferson and chambers counties she also will educate youth in conjunction with the jefferson county camp seaport and collaborate in the jason project at lamar university an effort to get elementary and middle school students interested in and excited about science additionally fitzgerald plans to enhance recreational fishing and eco-tourism opportunities through educating landowners in pond management fitzgerald explains i look forward to working with camp seaport in port arthur teaching kids about different jobs in the maritime industry and pushing for more women in the industry fitzgerald brings an expertise in natural resource restoration to texas sea grant for many years she worked with students to restore shoreline through transplanting marsh cordgrass in estuaries with galveston bay foundations get hip to habitat program she also educated youth in oyster reef restoration and the ecosystem benefits oysters bring to bay systems fitzgerald also led many adopt-a-beach clean-ups i really would love to keep working with students and teaching them how to protect their shorelines fitzgerald states and i look forward to working with our local shrimpers and fishermen in 2007 fitzgerald graduated from texas a&m university with a bachelor of science in animal science and then obtained her masters from lamar university in education administration she has an extensive background in youth science education teaching biology aquatic science and environmental science during her 12-year teaching career fitzgerald was awarded teacher of the year and soil conservation science teacher of the year when it comes to education fitzgerald says the best way to learn is to live through life experiences and keep evolving she plans to bring this hands-on approach to her work in chambers and jefferson counties  " " texas sea grant welcomes new planning research associatematt malecha will work with the community resilience collaborative and evaluate how plan documents and policies work together to help improve resilience jun 5 2018matt malecha (photo by chris mouchyn)matthew malecha (standing) answers a question asked by community stakeholders during a plan integration for resilience scorecard workshop session (photo by siyu yu)matthew malecha a texas a&m university phd student in urban and regional sciences joined texas sea grant as the programs research associate for resiliency planning malecha worked for several years as a graduate research assistant at the institute for sustainable communities a collaborative member with texas sea grant in the community resilience collaborative there malechas research focused on how plans and polices affect community resilience to natural hazards and how communities can effectively adapt to growing risks and changing conditions at texas a&m universitys institute for sustainable communities malecha helped develop the plan integration for resilience scorecard (pirs) method and pirs guidebook the pirs tool is used to evaluate how plan documents and policies work together with respect to land use and flood vulnerability malecha brings his expertise with pirs to implement and build a pirs training program at texas sea grant this effort will assist texas sea grants focus on building resilience in texas coastal communities through improved plan integration i'm excited to be part of the texas sea grant team and to contribute to the important work of strengthening community resilience to natural hazards by connecting science and practice i look forward to working with my new colleagues to implement the plan integration for resilience scorecard (pirs) in vulnerable texas communities malecha says malecha has an extensive background in planning before moving to texas malecha worked as a senior policy planner for the minnesota department of transportation he received a masters degree in urban and regional planning from the university of minnesota and a bachelor of arts degree in geography and history from macalester college in st paul minnesota   " matt malecha (photo by chris mouchyn)matthew malecha (standing) answers a question asked by community stakeholders during a plan integration for resilience scorecard workshop session (photo by siyu yu) "matthew malecha a texas a&m university phd student in urban and regional sciences joined texas sea grant as the programs research associate for resiliency planning malecha worked for several years as a graduate research assistant at the institute for sustainable communities a collaborative member with texas sea grant in the community resilience collaborative there malechas research focused on how plans and polices affect community resilience to natural hazards and how communities can effectively adapt to growing risks and changing conditions at texas a&m universitys institute for sustainable communities malecha helped develop the plan integration for resilience scorecard (pirs) method and pirs guidebook the pirs tool is used to evaluate how plan documents and policies work together with respect to land use and flood vulnerability malecha brings his expertise with pirs to implement and build a pirs training program at texas sea grant this effort will assist texas sea grants focus on building resilience in texas coastal communities through improved plan integration i'm excited to be part of the texas sea grant team and to contribute to the important work of strengthening community resilience to natural hazards by connecting science and practice i look forward to working with my new colleagues to implement the plan integration for resilience scorecard (pirs) in vulnerable texas communities malecha says malecha has an extensive background in planning before moving to texas malecha worked as a senior policy planner for the minnesota department of transportation he received a masters degree in urban and regional planning from the university of minnesota and a bachelor of arts degree in geography and history from macalester college in st paul minnesota  " " college of geosciences new years resolutionsdean dr debbie thomas discusses two of the colleges ambitions for 2021dec 18 2020aggieland in the snow in dec 2017 and geosciences dean dr debbie thomasas a former division i athlete my new years resolutions always focused on training harder and smarter to achieve my potential on the court and in the classroom as dean i resolve to work harder and smarter to make the texas a&m university college of geosciences a household name because we improve individual lives while at the same time improving the quality of life for billions of lives   so for 2021 i resolve to increase the number of students who seek and receive a degree from the texas a&m university college of geosciences by improving access to higher education through awareness and financial support in summer 2021 we plan to offer our geox camp for high schoolers both in-person and remotely vastly enhancing the numbers of students who will be inspired to attend the texas a&m university college of geosciences to ensure that the best and brightest students are able to attend the texas a&m college of geosciences we seek to create 21 new scholarships in 2021 just like athletes academic leaders require support to achieve their new years resolutions please help us become the household name and consider contributing to endowments in support of geox and our 21 in 21 goal!   if you'd like to support these critical initiatives contact geosciences senior director of development david bacot thank you and gig em!dean dr debbie thomas " aggieland in the snow in dec 2017 and geosciences dean dr debbie thomas "as a former division i athlete my new years resolutions always focused on training harder and smarter to achieve my potential on the court and in the classroom as dean i resolve to work harder and smarter to make the texas a&m university college of geosciences a household name because we improve individual lives while at the same time improving the quality of life for billions of lives   so for 2021 i resolve to increase the number of students who seek and receive a degree from the texas a&m university college of geosciences by improving access to higher education through awareness and financial support in summer 2021 we plan to offer our geox camp for high schoolers both in-person and remotely vastly enhancing the numbers of students who will be inspired to attend the texas a&m university college of geosciences to ensure that the best and brightest students are able to attend the texas a&m college of geosciences we seek to create 21 new scholarships in 2021 just like athletes academic leaders require support to achieve their new years resolutions please help us become the household name and consider contributing to endowments in support of geox and our 21 in 21 goal!   if you'd like to support these critical initiatives contact geosciences senior director of development david bacot thank you and gig em!dean dr debbie thomas" " geosciences honors faculty and staff with 2020 awardsthe recipients will be formally recognized at an online event jan 15 2021 dec 17 2020aerial of texas a&m university campus credit: texas a&m university division of marketing & communicationsthe college of geosciences has announced the 2020 dean's distinguished achievement award honorees all of whom will be recognized at the annual ceremony which will be held virtually jan 15 2021 carria collins a business administrator in the department of geography received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service luz romero a technical laboratory coordinator in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service dr mark everett professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in service dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in teaching dr franco marcantonio professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in research and this year the texas a&m association of former students recognized two college of geosciences faculty members with college-level teaching awards for their talent expertise and devotion to conveying knowledge to students: dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor in the department of geography and dr benjamin giese professor emeritus in the department of oceanography " aerial of texas a&m university campus credit: texas a&m university division of marketing & communications "the college of geosciences has announced the 2020 dean's distinguished achievement award honorees all of whom will be recognized at the annual ceremony which will be held virtually jan 15 2021 carria collins a business administrator in the department of geography received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service luz romero a technical laboratory coordinator in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service dr mark everett professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in service dr nick perez assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in teaching dr franco marcantonio professor in the department of geology and geophysics received the deans distinguished achievement award for faculty excellence in research and this year the texas a&m association of former students recognized two college of geosciences faculty members with college-level teaching awards for their talent expertise and devotion to conveying knowledge to students: dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor in the department of geography and dr benjamin giese professor emeritus in the department of oceanography" " december 2020 graduates recognized with awards and honorsthe college of geosciences graduation celebration was held dec 9dec 17 2020the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its december 2020 graduates commencement ceremonies were held dec 10 in reed arena and prior to that the college of geosciences december 2019 commencement reception and awards ceremony was held virtually dec 9 graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff gathered online to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments the following students were honored with awards during the event outstanding student award cierra george emily mills roberto reyna nicholas pontikes kaylee umberhocker sam norris ana ramos college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars gold tarik brown william lyle silver petra garza madison gordon cassidy hyslop bavani kathir  bronze jillannie lowenfield emily mills nicolas pfeifer nicholas pontikes ana ramos christopher ruiz hollie schaper learn more about the medallion scholars program environmental programs outstanding graduating senior awards heather roberts - environmental geosciences cierra george and emily mills - environmental studies gamma theta upsilon honor society zeta zeta chapter michael matticola ryan earl department of geography outstanding student awards william lyle - outstanding geography student award sam norris - outstanding gist student award department of geology and geophysics outstanding graduating senior awards nicholas pontikes kaylee umberhocker charles babendrer " "the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its december 2020 graduates commencement ceremonies were held dec 10 in reed arena and prior to that the college of geosciences december 2019 commencement reception and awards ceremony was held virtually dec 9 graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff gathered online to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments the following students were honored with awards during the event outstanding student award cierra george emily mills roberto reyna nicholas pontikes kaylee umberhocker sam norris ana ramos college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars gold tarik brown william lyle silver petra garza madison gordon cassidy hyslop bavani kathir  bronze jillannie lowenfield emily mills nicolas pfeifer nicholas pontikes ana ramos christopher ruiz hollie schaper learn more about the medallion scholars program environmental programs outstanding graduating senior awards heather roberts - environmental geosciences cierra george and emily mills - environmental studies gamma theta upsilon honor society zeta zeta chapter michael matticola ryan earl department of geography outstanding student awards william lyle - outstanding geography student award sam norris - outstanding gist student award department of geology and geophysics outstanding graduating senior awards nicholas pontikes kaylee umberhocker charles babendrer " " geology and geophysics student awarded houston geological society top scholarshipgeology and geophysics fast track degree student rachel schroeder recently received the top undergraduate scholarship awarded by the houston geological society dec 17 2020texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics fast track degree student rachel schroeder was recently awarded the maby scholarship from the houston geological society the maby scholarship is awarded to the highest overall ranked student applicant  schroeder was nominated for the award by dr anne raymond professor of geology and geophysics at texas a&m  winning this scholarship really feels like the culmination of a lot of hard work during my entire undergrad schroeder said balancing my schoolwork research organizations an on-campus job and my own mental health has been tough and this summer was one of the craziest times for me  the fast track program is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelor of science degree and a thesis option master of science in geology  i had a full-time internship was a co-chair for fish camp (during the transition to a fully virtual experience) continued to give tours on campus and started my graduate research all at once winning this scholarship makes me feel like all of my hard work over the last three years has really paid off and it refueled my passion for my schoolwork going into the spring semester a much-needed boost of confidence that the hard work was being noticed by others and makes me feel like i can continue to succeedschroeder and ale briseno 20 at the top of the permian reef trail guadalupe mountains national park texas this picture was taken while on the geology 250 geological field methods courses spring break field trip (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder pictured enjoying the view in the blue mountains australia (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder is working with dr nick perez on the peruvian andes as part of perezs national science foundation career award  rachel joined my group as part of our first class of fast track students and has been a joy to work with perez said despite the existing challenges of continuing to work a job and finish her undergraduate curriculum she has taken on graduate coursework and is a graduate teaching assistant all while continuing to excel in what she does  schroeders research has implications for reconstructing the style of mountain building during the cenozoic including testing how known phases of shallow subduction may have impacted deformation of the south american continent her unique dataset will help assess how the rates of erosion and depositional processes are linked to plate margin processes it already feels as if she is a true early career scientist – she is reading papers asking the right questions works well independently and as a team member perez said ""she has taken the lead on contacting collaborating labs for sample analyses and is very quickly learning new techniques including detrital zircon double dating with u-pb and u-th/he as part of her research goals this project really feels like the right fit for me in graduate school and it was a driving factor for me applying to the fast track program schroeder said so far i have done grain picking and packing in dr perezs lab but i am most looking forward to my trip to connecticut and the chance to travel to peru and do field work! i also enjoy that this project focuses on large-scale tectonics and understanding the complexities of subduction zonesfield work on the fylde coast england from schroeders study abroad trip in fall 2019 (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder hiking and enjoying local geology in austin texas (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder first became interested in the fast track program after it was announced earlier this year she knew she wanted to go to graduate school but with the uncertainty of covid-19 she was unsure about securing a spot in a graduate program at another university  i had been working with dr perez since summer 2019 and felt that he would be a great advisor for my masters and would benefit from doing grad school with him and his team schroeder said it really just felt like the right decision at the time with all of the benefits of working with an advisor i knew on a really interesting project and i would get the same degree as going to another school in a year less the cards just all fell into place and looking back it was a great decision! for students interested in applying to the geology and geophysics fast track program schroeder recommends students get involved in research as early as possible  research at texas a&m ignited my passion for geology and has given me hands-on experience in different fields schroeder said undergrad research gave me the chance to learn how to read papers work with a team and do independent study all of which are core pieces of my graduate school experience thus far"" because the program is accelerated she said already having an advisor who you work well with and having the beginnings of a project discussed helps start your fast track program off on the right foot  studying abroad was also a great chance to see how geology was taught at other universities and learn from other advisors and i would recommend that to any student she said upon graduation schroeder is considering pursuing a phd in geology with the possibility of becoming a professor or joining the workforce before eventually returning to graduate school for a phd  i have seen the positive impact that professors can have on students lives and i know how valuable it would be to teach the next generation of geoscientists schroeder said i want to thank the department for the nomination and all of the professors here who have helped believe in me and push me to be the best geoscientist that i can be! the houston geological society (hgs) is a professional society for petroleum energy and environmental geoscientists the hgs provides opportunities for continuing education networking outreach scholarships and professional development the houston geological society foundation was established in 1984 with the intent of providing scholarships to geoscience undergraduates  by ali snell  " "texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics fast track degree student rachel schroeder was recently awarded the maby scholarship from the houston geological society the maby scholarship is awarded to the highest overall ranked student applicant  schroeder was nominated for the award by dr anne raymond professor of geology and geophysics at texas a&m  winning this scholarship really feels like the culmination of a lot of hard work during my entire undergrad schroeder said balancing my schoolwork research organizations an on-campus job and my own mental health has been tough and this summer was one of the craziest times for me  the fast track program is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelor of science degree and a thesis option master of science in geology  i had a full-time internship was a co-chair for fish camp (during the transition to a fully virtual experience) continued to give tours on campus and started my graduate research all at once winning this scholarship makes me feel like all of my hard work over the last three years has really paid off and it refueled my passion for my schoolwork going into the spring semester a much-needed boost of confidence that the hard work was being noticed by others and makes me feel like i can continue to succeed" schroeder and ale briseno 20 at the top of the permian reef trail guadalupe mountains national park texas this picture was taken while on the geology 250 geological field methods courses spring break field trip (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder pictured enjoying the view in the blue mountains australia (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder) "schroeder is working with dr nick perez on the peruvian andes as part of perezs national science foundation career award  rachel joined my group as part of our first class of fast track students and has been a joy to work with perez said despite the existing challenges of continuing to work a job and finish her undergraduate curriculum she has taken on graduate coursework and is a graduate teaching assistant all while continuing to excel in what she does  schroeders research has implications for reconstructing the style of mountain building during the cenozoic including testing how known phases of shallow subduction may have impacted deformation of the south american continent her unique dataset will help assess how the rates of erosion and depositional processes are linked to plate margin processes it already feels as if she is a true early career scientist – she is reading papers asking the right questions works well independently and as a team member perez said ""she has taken the lead on contacting collaborating labs for sample analyses and is very quickly learning new techniques including detrital zircon double dating with u-pb and u-th/he as part of her research goals this project really feels like the right fit for me in graduate school and it was a driving factor for me applying to the fast track program schroeder said so far i have done grain picking and packing in dr perezs lab but i am most looking forward to my trip to connecticut and the chance to travel to peru and do field work! i also enjoy that this project focuses on large-scale tectonics and understanding the complexities of subduction zones" field work on the fylde coast england from schroeders study abroad trip in fall 2019 (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder)schroeder hiking and enjoying local geology in austin texas (photo courtesy of rachel schroeder) "schroeder first became interested in the fast track program after it was announced earlier this year she knew she wanted to go to graduate school but with the uncertainty of covid-19 she was unsure about securing a spot in a graduate program at another university  i had been working with dr perez since summer 2019 and felt that he would be a great advisor for my masters and would benefit from doing grad school with him and his team schroeder said it really just felt like the right decision at the time with all of the benefits of working with an advisor i knew on a really interesting project and i would get the same degree as going to another school in a year less the cards just all fell into place and looking back it was a great decision! for students interested in applying to the geology and geophysics fast track program schroeder recommends students get involved in research as early as possible  research at texas a&m ignited my passion for geology and has given me hands-on experience in different fields schroeder said undergrad research gave me the chance to learn how to read papers work with a team and do independent study all of which are core pieces of my graduate school experience thus far"" because the program is accelerated she said already having an advisor who you work well with and having the beginnings of a project discussed helps start your fast track program off on the right foot  studying abroad was also a great chance to see how geology was taught at other universities and learn from other advisors and i would recommend that to any student she said upon graduation schroeder is considering pursuing a phd in geology with the possibility of becoming a professor or joining the workforce before eventually returning to graduate school for a phd  i have seen the positive impact that professors can have on students lives and i know how valuable it would be to teach the next generation of geoscientists schroeder said i want to thank the department for the nomination and all of the professors here who have helped believe in me and push me to be the best geoscientist that i can be! the houston geological society (hgs) is a professional society for petroleum energy and environmental geoscientists the hgs provides opportunities for continuing education networking outreach scholarships and professional development the houston geological society foundation was established in 1984 with the intent of providing scholarships to geoscience undergraduates  by ali snell " " atmospheric sciences doctoral candidate wins prestigious nasa fellowshipadam bell was chosen as the quarterly winner of the npp awarddec 17 2020adam bell a phd candidate in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently selected as a fellow in the prestigious nasa postdoctoral program (npp) a quarterly award that only four fellows receive each year the program seeks to give highly qualified early-career scientists and some senior scientists the opportunity to work with nasa on high-level research projects in a broad range of topics typically over the course of one to three years bells current research is centered on the remote sensing of ice clouds from satellites primarily using microwaves with wavelengths below 1 mm cloud ice particles in particular are stronger scatterers of microwaves at these wavelengths and the amount of light scattered is proportional to the mass of ice in clouds bells research is aimed at quantifying the sensitivities of the various microwave bands below 1 mm and then leveraging that information to develop a method for determining the mass of ice in a given cloud and the ice particle size this research is intended to expand our understanding of the interaction of sub-mm radiation and ice particles in advance of two upcoming satellite launch missions the european organization for the exploitation of meteorological satellites (eumetsat) ice cloud imager (ici) mission and nasas compact submm-wave and lwir polarimeters for cirrus ice cloud properties (swirp) mission which both use sub-mm radiometers the npp fellowship will involve performing and/or analyzing aerosol retrievals either from airborne and satellite polarimeters such as the parasol mission satelliteor from lidarsuch as nasas hsrl or calipso lidars as part of nasas aerosol cloud meteorology interactions over the western atlantic experiment (activate) two of the goals of this project are improving our understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions and improving satellite retrieval algorithms so bells current work leans into the goals of this project well many of the tools and methods ive learned through my current work such as the general process of inferring physical atmospheric and cloud properties from spaceborne measurements can be adapted to help accomplish my research goals as a nasa postdoctoral fellow bell says bell defended his dissertation this semester and will begin work on the npp research projects after graduationby david coates " "adam bell a phd candidate in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently selected as a fellow in the prestigious nasa postdoctoral program (npp) a quarterly award that only four fellows receive each year the program seeks to give highly qualified early-career scientists and some senior scientists the opportunity to work with nasa on high-level research projects in a broad range of topics typically over the course of one to three years bells current research is centered on the remote sensing of ice clouds from satellites primarily using microwaves with wavelengths below 1 mm cloud ice particles in particular are stronger scatterers of microwaves at these wavelengths and the amount of light scattered is proportional to the mass of ice in clouds bells research is aimed at quantifying the sensitivities of the various microwave bands below 1 mm and then leveraging that information to develop a method for determining the mass of ice in a given cloud and the ice particle size this research is intended to expand our understanding of the interaction of sub-mm radiation and ice particles in advance of two upcoming satellite launch missions the european organization for the exploitation of meteorological satellites (eumetsat) ice cloud imager (ici) mission and nasas compact submm-wave and lwir polarimeters for cirrus ice cloud properties (swirp) mission which both use sub-mm radiometers the npp fellowship will involve performing and/or analyzing aerosol retrievals either from airborne and satellite polarimeters such as the parasol mission satelliteor from lidarsuch as nasas hsrl or calipso lidars as part of nasas aerosol cloud meteorology interactions over the western atlantic experiment (activate) two of the goals of this project are improving our understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions and improving satellite retrieval algorithms so bells current work leans into the goals of this project well many of the tools and methods ive learned through my current work such as the general process of inferring physical atmospheric and cloud properties from spaceborne measurements can be adapted to help accomplish my research goals as a nasa postdoctoral fellow bell says bell defended his dissertation this semester and will begin work on the npp research projects after graduationby david coates" " geology and geophysics students honored with department awardsthe department of geology and geophysics recently presented awards for teaching research and best research paper dec 16 2020texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics graduate student awards for undergraduate teaching research and best research paper were announced ondec 8 during the department end-of-semester virtual gathering matt dorsey received the teaching award and james teoh received the research award cuiting qi was awarded the award for best research paper award for her paper titled influence of time-dependent ground surface flux on aquifer recharge with a vadose zone injection well in the journal of hydrology may 2020  qis research focuses on the theme of vadose zone well (vzw) injection a promising technique to implement managed aquifer recharge in semiarid and arid regions her study includes a time-dependent ground surface flux (gsf) generated by surface infiltration or evapotranspiration in the analytical model of a vzw to establish an innovative mathematical model the obtained solutions are utilized to assess the influences of time-dependent gsf generated by infiltration or evapotranspiration the proposed semi-analytical solutions can serve as guidance for vzw design and management and provide a solid contribution in the subsurface hydrology i would like to thank the department of geology and geophysics college of geosciences and texas a&m university for the award; it represents great recognition and encouragement for my work qi said i would also like to thank my advisor dr hongbin zhan for his guidance and support in completing the paper teohs research revolves around examining the mineralogical controls on dolomitization and how dolomitization can affect fluid flow in carbonate deposits more specifically he studies how the starting material for dolomitization can affect the reaction rate texture and stoichiometry of the dolomite produced these findings are then translated to an outcrop model to run flow simulations on to understand how dolomitization affects fluid flow this research has potential implications on the observation of selective dolomitization in nature and on the optimization of petroleum production from dolomitized reservoirs winning this award was a pleasant surprise and a strong reassurance that my research is meaningful and deserving of merit teoh said  ""when a student answers their own question shortly after stating it this ultimately means they have learned something they didnt even realize they had learned dorsey said i take pride in sparking these types of student experiences and strive to facilitate a learning environment where all students can gain the confidence to make data-driven interpretations and decisions of their own the department is justifiably proud that all our graduate students as notably exemplified by the award recipients have shown tremendous perseverance and resilience in their research efforts and execution of their teaching duties this past year "" said associate department head for graduate affairs dr mark everett  by ali snell " "texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics graduate student awards for undergraduate teaching research and best research paper were announced ondec 8 during the department end-of-semester virtual gathering matt dorsey received the teaching award and james teoh received the research award cuiting qi was awarded the award for best research paper award for her paper titled influence of time-dependent ground surface flux on aquifer recharge with a vadose zone injection well in the journal of hydrology may 2020  qis research focuses on the theme of vadose zone well (vzw) injection a promising technique to implement managed aquifer recharge in semiarid and arid regions her study includes a time-dependent ground surface flux (gsf) generated by surface infiltration or evapotranspiration in the analytical model of a vzw to establish an innovative mathematical model the obtained solutions are utilized to assess the influences of time-dependent gsf generated by infiltration or evapotranspiration the proposed semi-analytical solutions can serve as guidance for vzw design and management and provide a solid contribution in the subsurface hydrology i would like to thank the department of geology and geophysics college of geosciences and texas a&m university for the award; it represents great recognition and encouragement for my work qi said i would also like to thank my advisor dr hongbin zhan for his guidance and support in completing the paper teohs research revolves around examining the mineralogical controls on dolomitization and how dolomitization can affect fluid flow in carbonate deposits more specifically he studies how the starting material for dolomitization can affect the reaction rate texture and stoichiometry of the dolomite produced these findings are then translated to an outcrop model to run flow simulations on to understand how dolomitization affects fluid flow this research has potential implications on the observation of selective dolomitization in nature and on the optimization of petroleum production from dolomitized reservoirs winning this award was a pleasant surprise and a strong reassurance that my research is meaningful and deserving of merit teoh said  ""when a student answers their own question shortly after stating it this ultimately means they have learned something they didnt even realize they had learned dorsey said i take pride in sparking these types of student experiences and strive to facilitate a learning environment where all students can gain the confidence to make data-driven interpretations and decisions of their own the department is justifiably proud that all our graduate students as notably exemplified by the award recipients have shown tremendous perseverance and resilience in their research efforts and execution of their teaching duties this past year "" said associate department head for graduate affairs dr mark everett  by ali snell" " steve dimarco named marine technology society fellowdr steve dimarco was recently awarded the prestigious title of marine technology society fellow for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of ocean science and innovationdec 16 2020on oct 8 the marine technology society (mts) presented their annual awards at the virtual global oceans 2020: singapore – us gulf coast conference among this years recipients was dr steve dimarco professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and ocean observing team lead at the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) dimarco was honored with the distinguished title of mts fellow alongside four other professionals in the field of marine science and technology the society incorporated in 1963 didnt start awarding the title until 1975 mts bestows the title on select members in recognition of their contributions to the advancement of society objectives and distinguished achievements in their field a very small percentage of membership gets this award so for me its a very prestigious award dimarco says its very humbling to receive it and to be nominated this award is well-deserved says dr shari yvon-lewis head of texas a&ms department of oceanography dimarco specializes in creating and operating real-time ocean observation systems and he emphasizes the need for more technically trained professionals in the field to that end he makes every effort to create connections for his students in industry and government in addition to academia thats really where the ocean observing system focus in our department and college comes from the training of the next generation of professionals that maybe dont need a phd but know how to operate equipment process data and have knowledge of how the ocean functions dimarco says i place a lot of my students within industry and government dimarco also points out his departments commitment to hiring veterans for their unique skillsets work ethic and character gerg operates the texas automated buoy system (tabs) in the gulf of mexico and employs several veterans as technicians they are my heroes dimarco says nothing exemplified that more than when hurricane harvey hit those guys were out on the boat servicing one of the buoys off of south padre island dr dimarco has always put students first he is an advocate for students gaining real-world experience and skills yvon-lewis says he has been instrumental in the development (and continued improvement of) of our master of ocean science and technology (most) degree program which focusses on teaching students these important and marketable ‘met ocean and ‘ocean data analysis skills by justin agan '18 " "on oct 8 the marine technology society (mts) presented their annual awards at the virtual global oceans 2020: singapore – us gulf coast conference among this years recipients was dr steve dimarco professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and ocean observing team lead at the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) dimarco was honored with the distinguished title of mts fellow alongside four other professionals in the field of marine science and technology the society incorporated in 1963 didnt start awarding the title until 1975 mts bestows the title on select members in recognition of their contributions to the advancement of society objectives and distinguished achievements in their field a very small percentage of membership gets this award so for me its a very prestigious award dimarco says its very humbling to receive it and to be nominated this award is well-deserved says dr shari yvon-lewis head of texas a&ms department of oceanography dimarco specializes in creating and operating real-time ocean observation systems and he emphasizes the need for more technically trained professionals in the field to that end he makes every effort to create connections for his students in industry and government in addition to academia thats really where the ocean observing system focus in our department and college comes from the training of the next generation of professionals that maybe dont need a phd but know how to operate equipment process data and have knowledge of how the ocean functions dimarco says i place a lot of my students within industry and government dimarco also points out his departments commitment to hiring veterans for their unique skillsets work ethic and character gerg operates the texas automated buoy system (tabs) in the gulf of mexico and employs several veterans as technicians they are my heroes dimarco says nothing exemplified that more than when hurricane harvey hit those guys were out on the boat servicing one of the buoys off of south padre island dr dimarco has always put students first he is an advocate for students gaining real-world experience and skills yvon-lewis says he has been instrumental in the development (and continued improvement of) of our master of ocean science and technology (most) degree program which focusses on teaching students these important and marketable ‘met ocean and ‘ocean data analysis skills by justin agan '18" " playground designs can help protect children as climate warms experts saytexas a&m geography doctoral student daniel vecellio is part of a team of experts providing the standards council of canada (scc) with data to help keep playgrounds comfortable and safedec 14 2020how can safe practices be implemented in playgrounds as climate change accelerates and causes temperatures to significantly rise over time earlier this year a team of scientists that included daniel vecellio a doctoral candidate in the department of geography at texas a&m university published research on thermal safety for playgrounds funded by the standards council of canada (scc) national program for playground safety (npps) the thermal comfortable playgrounds: a review of literature and survey of experts"" report emphasized how important outdoor areas are for the growth and development of children but also examined what changes can be implemented in playgrounds to make them safer more thermally accommodating areas without exposing children to environmental risks the purpose of this report was to highlight the importance of thermal safety and comfort in playgrounds and the need to consider it in concert with already established playground safety standards such as surface impact attenuation accessibility and structural integrity of equipment among other factors vecellio said this report was part literature review and part survey including those who work in academics childrens health landscape and urban planning playground design equipment manufacturing and installing etc followed by recommendations and guidelines for future playground design taking into account thermal comfort and safety vecellio added vecellio studies land-atmosphere interactions in cold regions biometeorology and how weather and climate affect human health this project was led in part by his masters advisor dr jennifer vanos an assistant professor in the school of sustainability at arizona state university playgrounds may be in compliance with these standards but lack things such as adequate shading green space and water features which could expose children to physiological harm through overheating or other hazards such as sunburns due to more sensitive skin and thermal burns due to prolonged sun exposure of playground equipment he said since the study region for this report was in canada there are other environmental factors that also hinder safety in playgrounds additionally in canada with its prolonged cold seasons thermal comfort in the winter must also be taken into consideration by blocking bitter cold winds and allowing low wintertime sunlight into the play space to ensure year-round comfortable play vecellio noted i was invited by dr vanos to collaborate with drs heather olsen and eric kennedy of the national program for playground safety on this project he added i was excited at the prospect of working on it because it truly encompassed my interest in climate and health and would have a direct impact on creating safer healthier and more inclusive spaces for children and families to get active vecellios main role in the research was contributing to the literature review which helped to provide the motivation for the project and survey the analysis of the expert survey responses and the recommendations for thermal comfort considerations and future advocacy efforts to improve the thermal safety of playgrounds additionally he has and will continue to author peer-reviewed research stemming from the results of the expert thermal comfort surveyexample of playground with two distinct environments shown in the visible spectrum a) sun-exposed artificial turf which increases the overall long and shortwave radiation felt by a child; b) shaded sandbox under large tree which decreases the short and longwave radiation and lowers average surface temperature (credit: dr jennifer vanos)example of playground with two distinct environments shown in the infrared spectrum a) sun-exposed artificial turf which increases the overall long and shortwave radiation felt by a child; b) shaded sandbox under large tree which decreases the short and longwave radiation and lowers average surface temperature (credit: dr jennifer vanos)playgrounds provide spaces for outdoor physical activity for children which has been shown to help with not only their physical health but also their mental health and cognitive development vecellio said they have become even more important spaces in a covid-19 world as activities especially this past summer shifted outdoors as it was easier to socially distance what is thermal comfort incorporating thermal comfort into playground designs is a key consideration vecellio said thermal comfort is defined as a persons satisfaction with their thermal environment which is based on both physiological and psychological properties and results when an individual has no preference to be warmer or cooler he stated it is affected by six variables: four environmental (ambient air temperature humidity radiative load and wind flow) and two behavioural (clothing insulation and metabolic rate) on playground-level scales design decisions largely can only significantly affect radiative load (ie sun exposure) and wind flow for comfort so these should be the focus of design consideration vecellio added some design considerations can make small-scale changes to air temperature and humidity but are not as effective as the previous two vecellio emphasized the importance of creating a thermally comfortable environment to ensure that children remain safe from harm while they spend time in playgrounds users of playgrounds need to be comfortable and healthy within them or else play will be cut short and the healthy benefits of being active will not be realized he said this will only continue to be more important as the effects of climate change become more and more apparent in the future simple and effective solutions to improve playground designs vecellio shared that there are simple improvements to playgrounds that once implemented could make a large immediate difference in safety and thermal comfort in playgrounds the great thing about creating thermally comfortable playgrounds is that simple design decisions can have great individual and synergetic benefits in improving the health of its users he said designers can make use of nearby buildings or trees and orient high-use play areas to be in their shadows essentially cooling these areas and cutting down on sun exposure for free there are also multi-purpose natural additions such as trees which can bring a multitude of benefits to playgrounds something as simple as the use and placement of deciduous trees can have numerous benefits vecellio said during the summer these trees can be installed in areas to provide as much shade as possible to keep users cool concurrently a wind study of the area should also be done to ensure that they are also placed in a spot that blocks cold season winds and because these trees lose their leaves during winter they will be able to let sunlight shine through to help provide additional warmth during the cold season adding green spaces in proximity to playgrounds will provide added benefits and an overall improvement in the level of thermal comfort for visitors across seasons the addition of green spaces within playspaces are not only an aesthetic feature but allow for increased microclimatic cooling of the area through evapotranspiration and lower surface temperatures when compared to concrete or asphalt he said moving forward after discovering simple measures that can be implemented to ensure thermal comfort is present in playgrounds vecellio hopes playground designers can implement the discussed solutions by marrying the environmental setup of the site with subsequent design of the built playground environment standards of physical safety and thermal comfort can be upheld in tandem he said in creating the safest play environments possible we have the ability to ensure that childrens health and well-being is given high priority while also providing a fun experience these findings are now part of new informational annex in the csa z614:20 children's playground equipment and surfacing which was released this year   by mariam moeen19   " "how can safe practices be implemented in playgrounds as climate change accelerates and causes temperatures to significantly rise over time earlier this year a team of scientists that included daniel vecellio a doctoral candidate in the department of geography at texas a&m university published research on thermal safety for playgrounds funded by the standards council of canada (scc) national program for playground safety (npps) the thermal comfortable playgrounds: a review of literature and survey of experts"" report emphasized how important outdoor areas are for the growth and development of children but also examined what changes can be implemented in playgrounds to make them safer more thermally accommodating areas without exposing children to environmental risks the purpose of this report was to highlight the importance of thermal safety and comfort in playgrounds and the need to consider it in concert with already established playground safety standards such as surface impact attenuation accessibility and structural integrity of equipment among other factors vecellio said this report was part literature review and part survey including those who work in academics childrens health landscape and urban planning playground design equipment manufacturing and installing etc followed by recommendations and guidelines for future playground design taking into account thermal comfort and safety vecellio added vecellio studies land-atmosphere interactions in cold regions biometeorology and how weather and climate affect human health this project was led in part by his masters advisor dr jennifer vanos an assistant professor in the school of sustainability at arizona state university playgrounds may be in compliance with these standards but lack things such as adequate shading green space and water features which could expose children to physiological harm through overheating or other hazards such as sunburns due to more sensitive skin and thermal burns due to prolonged sun exposure of playground equipment he said since the study region for this report was in canada there are other environmental factors that also hinder safety in playgrounds additionally in canada with its prolonged cold seasons thermal comfort in the winter must also be taken into consideration by blocking bitter cold winds and allowing low wintertime sunlight into the play space to ensure year-round comfortable play vecellio noted i was invited by dr vanos to collaborate with drs heather olsen and eric kennedy of the national program for playground safety on this project he added i was excited at the prospect of working on it because it truly encompassed my interest in climate and health and would have a direct impact on creating safer healthier and more inclusive spaces for children and families to get active vecellios main role in the research was contributing to the literature review which helped to provide the motivation for the project and survey the analysis of the expert survey responses and the recommendations for thermal comfort considerations and future advocacy efforts to improve the thermal safety of playgrounds additionally he has and will continue to author peer-reviewed research stemming from the results of the expert thermal comfort survey" example of playground with two distinct environments shown in the visible spectrum a) sun-exposed artificial turf which increases the overall long and shortwave radiation felt by a child; b) shaded sandbox under large tree which decreases the short and longwave radiation and lowers average surface temperature (credit: dr jennifer vanos)example of playground with two distinct environments shown in the infrared spectrum a) sun-exposed artificial turf which increases the overall long and shortwave radiation felt by a child; b) shaded sandbox under large tree which decreases the short and longwave radiation and lowers average surface temperature (credit: dr jennifer vanos) "playgrounds provide spaces for outdoor physical activity for children which has been shown to help with not only their physical health but also their mental health and cognitive development vecellio said they have become even more important spaces in a covid-19 world as activities especially this past summer shifted outdoors as it was easier to socially distance what is thermal comfort incorporating thermal comfort into playground designs is a key consideration vecellio said thermal comfort is defined as a persons satisfaction with their thermal environment which is based on both physiological and psychological properties and results when an individual has no preference to be warmer or cooler he stated it is affected by six variables: four environmental (ambient air temperature humidity radiative load and wind flow) and two behavioural (clothing insulation and metabolic rate) on playground-level scales design decisions largely can only significantly affect radiative load (ie sun exposure) and wind flow for comfort so these should be the focus of design consideration vecellio added some design considerations can make small-scale changes to air temperature and humidity but are not as effective as the previous two vecellio emphasized the importance of creating a thermally comfortable environment to ensure that children remain safe from harm while they spend time in playgrounds users of playgrounds need to be comfortable and healthy within them or else play will be cut short and the healthy benefits of being active will not be realized he said this will only continue to be more important as the effects of climate change become more and more apparent in the future simple and effective solutions to improve playground designs vecellio shared that there are simple improvements to playgrounds that once implemented could make a large immediate difference in safety and thermal comfort in playgrounds the great thing about creating thermally comfortable playgrounds is that simple design decisions can have great individual and synergetic benefits in improving the health of its users he said designers can make use of nearby buildings or trees and orient high-use play areas to be in their shadows essentially cooling these areas and cutting down on sun exposure for free there are also multi-purpose natural additions such as trees which can bring a multitude of benefits to playgrounds something as simple as the use and placement of deciduous trees can have numerous benefits vecellio said during the summer these trees can be installed in areas to provide as much shade as possible to keep users cool concurrently a wind study of the area should also be done to ensure that they are also placed in a spot that blocks cold season winds and because these trees lose their leaves during winter they will be able to let sunlight shine through to help provide additional warmth during the cold season adding green spaces in proximity to playgrounds will provide added benefits and an overall improvement in the level of thermal comfort for visitors across seasons the addition of green spaces within playspaces are not only an aesthetic feature but allow for increased microclimatic cooling of the area through evapotranspiration and lower surface temperatures when compared to concrete or asphalt he said moving forward after discovering simple measures that can be implemented to ensure thermal comfort is present in playgrounds vecellio hopes playground designers can implement the discussed solutions by marrying the environmental setup of the site with subsequent design of the built playground environment standards of physical safety and thermal comfort can be upheld in tandem he said in creating the safest play environments possible we have the ability to ensure that childrens health and well-being is given high priority while also providing a fun experience these findings are now part of new informational annex in the csa z614:20 children's playground equipment and surfacing which was released this year   by mariam moeen19  " " texas sea grant releases request for proposals for 2022-2024 research competitionnow seeking pre-proposals due jan 15 dec 14 2020texas sea grant has released a request for proposals for its 2022-2024 biennial research competition and pre-proposals are due jan 15 2021 through partnerships with the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top researchers texas sea grant is seeking proposals from investigators at all texas universities and colleges others eligible include: nonprofit non-academic institutions; for-profit organizations; state local and indian tribal governments; and unaffiliated persons awards will support outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering; will improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources; and will generate substantial social economic and environmental impacts in texas texas sea grant encourages research that will respond to one or more of the research priorities as stated in the request for research proposals fy2022-2024 will achieve one or more of the focus area goals identified in the texas sea grant strategic plan 2018-2023 and which has an end user identified funded projects are selected using a competitive and rigorous peer-review process that considers the projects potential to produce substantial and beneficial impacts to society and its ability to integrate research and extension efforts the award period is feb 1 2022 – jan 31 2024 texas sea grant will host two pre-proposal webinars via zoom on dec 15 2020 and dec 18 2020 10:00 am – 12:00 pm no registration is required and a recording will be posted when available attendees may join these webinars online at txag/txsgpreproposalwebinar (passcode: 171030) visit txag/txsgrfp to learn more about the competition including important deadlines faqs and requirements   media contact: for questions about proposal development submission and review or the eseagrant system contact mia zwolinski texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration mzwolinski@tamuedu 979-458-0449 for questions about funding priorities contact dr pamela plotkin texas sea grant director plotkin@tamuedu 979-845-3902     " "texas sea grant has released a request for proposals for its 2022-2024 biennial research competition and pre-proposals are due jan 15 2021 through partnerships with the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top researchers texas sea grant is seeking proposals from investigators at all texas universities and colleges others eligible include: nonprofit non-academic institutions; for-profit organizations; state local and indian tribal governments; and unaffiliated persons awards will support outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering; will improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources; and will generate substantial social economic and environmental impacts in texas texas sea grant encourages research that will respond to one or more of the research priorities as stated in the request for research proposals fy2022-2024 will achieve one or more of the focus area goals identified in the texas sea grant strategic plan 2018-2023 and which has an end user identified funded projects are selected using a competitive and rigorous peer-review process that considers the projects potential to produce substantial and beneficial impacts to society and its ability to integrate research and extension efforts the award period is feb 1 2022 – jan 31 2024 texas sea grant will host two pre-proposal webinars via zoom on dec 15 2020 and dec 18 2020 10:00 am – 12:00 pm no registration is required and a recording will be posted when available attendees may join these webinars online at txag/txsgpreproposalwebinar (passcode: 171030) visit txag/txsgrfp to learn more about the competition including important deadlines faqs and requirements   media contact: for questions about proposal development submission and review or the eseagrant system contact mia zwolinski texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration mzwolinski@tamuedu 979-458-0449 for questions about funding priorities contact dr pamela plotkin texas sea grant director plotkin@tamuedu 979-845-3902    " " texas a&m oceanographer joins deep-sea mining environmental impact assessmentdr jessica fitzsimmons will join researchers from the university of hawaii school of ocean and earth science and technology and the japan agency for marine-earth science and technology to assess the potential impacts of deep-sea mining in one of the largest studies of its kind to datedec 10 2020dr jessica fitzsimmons photo courtesy of dr fitzsimmons map of the clarion-clipperton zone credit: international seabed authoritya new international research effort is setting out to complete one of the largest environmental assessments both in scope and scale ever conducted in the ocean dr jessica fitzsimmons associate professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography is part of the international team of researchers which is working to establish a baseline understanding of environmental and ecological processes throughout the water column from the sea floor to the ocean surface the environmental impact assessment is funded by deepgreen metals inc and is one of the biggest obstacles to gaining a mining license for polymetallic nodule mining in international waters from the united nations international seabed authority the company has interests in extracting metals such as copper cobalt zinc and manganese from polymetallic nodules on the seafloor and has invested over $3 million in the water column assessment to date more than $300 000 of which has been granted to fitzsimmons at texas a&m university the environmental assessment will be a collaboration led by researchers from the school of ocean and earth science and technology (soest) at the university of hawai'i at manoa with contributions from researchers at the japan agency for marine-earth science and technology (jamstec) and fitzsimmons and her team at texas a&m i'm a chemical oceanographer who studies trace metals in the open ocean; as you might expect mining for these metals in the bottom of the ocean is likely to change metal inventories in seawater fitzsimmons says im on the chemical oceanography team looking at metals nutrients contaminants carbonate chemistry and organics that might be released through resuspension of seafloor sediments into the overlying water column the company has been granted exploration rights by the international seabed authority for certain tracts of ocean in an area of the pacific ocean near hawaii called the clarion-clipperton zone (ccz) numerous other companies have also been given exploration rights in this area  polymetallic nodule credit: dr jessica fitzsimmonswhat the sea floor holds the metals of interest are found in deposits sitting on the seafloor in formations known as polymetallic nodules which are roughly tennis ball shape and size the research team will collect nodules from the seafloor using a large underwater harvester connected to a ship on the surface about 4 300 meters above by riser pipes and a tether on the ship the ore is then separated from seawater and sediment and the altered seawater and sediment is then discharged back into the ocean at intermediate depths yet to be determined a critical understanding of the biological geological and chemical processes taking place from beneath the seafloor all the way up to the surface is essential to assess the potential impacts of this kind of operation fitzsimmons role in the research will be assessing the potential chemical effects of the redeposited discharge plume of sediment and seawater on the water column another potential concern is the resuspended sediment that is kicked up in the wake of the harvester on the seafloor there is a strong debate in the international community of what depth to release the separated sediment and water after harvesting the nodules fitzsimmons says if released at the surface it could affect organisms that live at the surface and if released on the bottom it could heat-shock any remaining organisms living there this heat-shock would occur because the water is warmed during processing while the ocean bottom waters where it would be released are near-freezing determining the optimal depth for redepositing the plume will be just one of multiple parts of fitzsimmonss research she will also investigate nutrients toxins and ph effects in the water column their first baseline (pre-mining) research expedition to the ccz is planned to launch in february 2021 with follow-up expeditions in october 2021 to assess seasonal variability in the region under normal conditions investigations into the impacts from mining operations could begin in 2022 foundations for future research and development one of fitzsimmonss colleagues at texas a&m dr jason sylvan explains that the recent increased interest in deep sea mining for these rare earth metals is due to the shortage of such resources on land rare earth metals are regularly used in electronics like computers cell phones and more recently electric vehicle (ev) batteries most funding agencies are not going to fund this type of project that is connected to industry sylvan says they are essentially studying a very normal environment which i think is valuable for getting that baseline data deepgreen metals inc has created an opportunity for scientists to study large areas of open ocean that have not been well studied in the past the potential for these resources to be used in the production of green technologies like ev and green energy batteries is also a point of emphasis for the company its exciting for texas a&m because fitzsimmons and the department by association is doing work that is interesting scientifically but also socially and economically sylvan says its important work and im glad shes doing it the transparency and independence of this research is important to fitzsimmons and her colleagues fitzsimmons also expresses appreciation for the opportunity to conduct science that can have impacts on policy decisions that can directly affect society other researchers also involved in this project are dr jeffrey drazen (lead investigator) dr glenn carter dr sara ferrón dr erica goetze dr christopher measures dr brian popp and dr angelicque white from university of hawaii mānoa (soest); dr mariko hatta and dr dhugal lindsay from jamstec for more on the planned impacts assessments read the announcements from deepgreen  soest at the university of hawaii at manoa  florida state university and heriot-watt university by justin agan ‘18 " dr jessica fitzsimmons photo courtesy of dr fitzsimmons map of the clarion-clipperton zone credit: international seabed authority "a new international research effort is setting out to complete one of the largest environmental assessments both in scope and scale ever conducted in the ocean dr jessica fitzsimmons associate professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography is part of the international team of researchers which is working to establish a baseline understanding of environmental and ecological processes throughout the water column from the sea floor to the ocean surface the environmental impact assessment is funded by deepgreen metals inc and is one of the biggest obstacles to gaining a mining license for polymetallic nodule mining in international waters from the united nations international seabed authority the company has interests in extracting metals such as copper cobalt zinc and manganese from polymetallic nodules on the seafloor and has invested over $3 million in the water column assessment to date more than $300 000 of which has been granted to fitzsimmons at texas a&m university the environmental assessment will be a collaboration led by researchers from the school of ocean and earth science and technology (soest) at the university of hawai'i at manoa with contributions from researchers at the japan agency for marine-earth science and technology (jamstec) and fitzsimmons and her team at texas a&m i'm a chemical oceanographer who studies trace metals in the open ocean; as you might expect mining for these metals in the bottom of the ocean is likely to change metal inventories in seawater fitzsimmons says im on the chemical oceanography team looking at metals nutrients contaminants carbonate chemistry and organics that might be released through resuspension of seafloor sediments into the overlying water column the company has been granted exploration rights by the international seabed authority for certain tracts of ocean in an area of the pacific ocean near hawaii called the clarion-clipperton zone (ccz) numerous other companies have also been given exploration rights in this area  " "what the sea floor holds the metals of interest are found in deposits sitting on the seafloor in formations known as polymetallic nodules which are roughly tennis ball shape and size the research team will collect nodules from the seafloor using a large underwater harvester connected to a ship on the surface about 4 300 meters above by riser pipes and a tether on the ship the ore is then separated from seawater and sediment and the altered seawater and sediment is then discharged back into the ocean at intermediate depths yet to be determined a critical understanding of the biological geological and chemical processes taking place from beneath the seafloor all the way up to the surface is essential to assess the potential impacts of this kind of operation fitzsimmons role in the research will be assessing the potential chemical effects of the redeposited discharge plume of sediment and seawater on the water column another potential concern is the resuspended sediment that is kicked up in the wake of the harvester on the seafloor there is a strong debate in the international community of what depth to release the separated sediment and water after harvesting the nodules fitzsimmons says if released at the surface it could affect organisms that live at the surface and if released on the bottom it could heat-shock any remaining organisms living there this heat-shock would occur because the water is warmed during processing while the ocean bottom waters where it would be released are near-freezing determining the optimal depth for redepositing the plume will be just one of multiple parts of fitzsimmonss research she will also investigate nutrients toxins and ph effects in the water column their first baseline (pre-mining) research expedition to the ccz is planned to launch in february 2021 with follow-up expeditions in october 2021 to assess seasonal variability in the region under normal conditions investigations into the impacts from mining operations could begin in 2022 foundations for future research and development one of fitzsimmonss colleagues at texas a&m dr jason sylvan explains that the recent increased interest in deep sea mining for these rare earth metals is due to the shortage of such resources on land rare earth metals are regularly used in electronics like computers cell phones and more recently electric vehicle (ev) batteries most funding agencies are not going to fund this type of project that is connected to industry sylvan says they are essentially studying a very normal environment which i think is valuable for getting that baseline data deepgreen metals inc has created an opportunity for scientists to study large areas of open ocean that have not been well studied in the past the potential for these resources to be used in the production of green technologies like ev and green energy batteries is also a point of emphasis for the company its exciting for texas a&m because fitzsimmons and the department by association is doing work that is interesting scientifically but also socially and economically sylvan says its important work and im glad shes doing it the transparency and independence of this research is important to fitzsimmons and her colleagues fitzsimmons also expresses appreciation for the opportunity to conduct science that can have impacts on policy decisions that can directly affect society other researchers also involved in this project are dr jeffrey drazen (lead investigator) dr glenn carter dr sara ferrón dr erica goetze dr christopher measures dr brian popp and dr angelicque white from university of hawaii mānoa (soest); dr mariko hatta and dr dhugal lindsay from jamstec for more on the planned impacts assessments read the announcements from deepgreen  soest at the university of hawaii at manoa  florida state university and heriot-watt university by justin agan ‘18" " carbon-loaded peatlands cant be ignored texas a&m scientist saysled by texas a&ms dr julie loisel and the university of exeter scientists from over 50 institutions agree: peatland carbon stocks are more vulnerable than previously thought and preserving peatlands is essential to limiting climate warmingdec 7 2020peatlands in tierra del fuego (photo by patrick campbell)texas a&m students and peatlands in tierra del fuego (photo by patrick campbell)peatlands occupy 3% of the global land area but contain about 25% of the global soil carbon stock equivalent to twice the amount in the worlds forests and experts say that huge amount of carbon is not as secure as scientists once thought this is cause for major concern says dr julie loisel assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m today she and a multidisciplinary team of 69 scientists from around the globe published a paper with a clear message: peatlands hold an enormous amount of carbon are not as stable as previously thought and must be fully accounted for in earth system models in fact the scientists predict that the carbon balance of peatlands will shift from a sink to a source this century that means that instead of absorbing carbon from the atmosphere peatlands will instead release carbon and exacerbate climate warming in a positive feedback loop said loisel  the study warns that more than 100 billion tons of carbon could be released from peatlands by 2100 primarily because of anthropogenic impacts in tropical peatlands that said the authors stress this estimate is highly uncertain ranging from a carbon gain of 103 billion tons and a loss of 360 billion tons but it highlights the need for improved peatland management and peatland integration in models which would also help constrain estimates in the future titled expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink and published in nature climate change today the paper combines existing research with survey estimates from 44 leading peatland experts the authors also agreed that peatland science is a critical research area that needs further support to fully understand the peatland-carbon-climate nexus what are peatlands and why should we preserve them peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale loisel said this large and dense carbon store is the result of the slow process of belowground peat accumulation under saturated conditions that has occurred over millennia the carbon is preserved in peat because its cold and/or wet she said the last thing we want is for this carbon to be quickly released back to the atmosphere or go up in smoke recent large peat wildfires in indonesia and russia to only name a couple have made the news over the past few years because they can release as much carbon in a few months as total human carbon dioxide emissions in a year peat blocks cut up and drying on racks in tierra del fuego (photo by loisel)dr julie loiselin addition to wildfires climate change impacts such as permafrost degradation rising temperature drought and sea level rise are causing many peatlands to emit carbon and peatland destruction caused by land-use change also poses a critical threat thats where we can collectively make a difference loisel said we have a responsibility to stop the destruction of peatlands and find sustainable practices lessons must be learned from places like indonesia where most peatlands have been destroyed and converted to palm oil plantations according to the researchers achieving a balance between wise peatland use and economic needs has shown difficult but they hope that their study highlights the need to protect the worlds peatlands with effective policies we must avoid making the same mistakes in the amazon and the congo basins where large peatlands were recently discovered she said improving earth system models atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions associated with degraded peatlands account for 5-10% of the global annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions despite their small geographic footprint the researchers said yet peatland ecosystems have not been integrated into the main earth system models used for future climate change projections and they are not considered in integrated assessment models used in impact and mitigation studies according to the researchers including peatlands into assessment models that project future socio-economic change and carbon emission pathways could help develop incentives such as peatland carbon pricing and sustainable practices and change the way these ecosystems are valued and managed loisel said as for their inclusion in earth system models the team believes they have been neglected thus far because they are not perceived as large players in the carbon cycle on a year-to-year basis and also because they are not particularly dynamic when undisturbed but this is changing now with the increase in wildfires permafrost thaw drought sea level rise and rapid conversion to agricultural land she explained to address this systemic problem a group of 20 peatland scientists from around the world gathered at texas a&m in 2018 for a 3-day workshop which eventually resulted in this study this is where the idea of surveying our colleagues about the role of each agent of change on the future of peatland carbon came to be loisel said the researchers concluded that the inclusion of peatland process understanding in models and particularly better attribution of the role of each agent of change on peatland carbon dynamics would help emphasize which processes are most important thereby increasing confidence in carbon flux predictions our research group is called c-peat and is composed of over 200 peatland scientists a subset of us meets annually virtually or in person to discuss the most pressing research questions that our community faces we have members from everywhere on the planet loisel has served as the co-lead of c-peat since 2018 alongside dr angela gallego-sala of the university of exeter    by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " peatlands in tierra del fuego (photo by patrick campbell)texas a&m students and peatlands in tierra del fuego (photo by patrick campbell) "peatlands occupy 3% of the global land area but contain about 25% of the global soil carbon stock equivalent to twice the amount in the worlds forests and experts say that huge amount of carbon is not as secure as scientists once thought this is cause for major concern says dr julie loisel assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m today she and a multidisciplinary team of 69 scientists from around the globe published a paper with a clear message: peatlands hold an enormous amount of carbon are not as stable as previously thought and must be fully accounted for in earth system models in fact the scientists predict that the carbon balance of peatlands will shift from a sink to a source this century that means that instead of absorbing carbon from the atmosphere peatlands will instead release carbon and exacerbate climate warming in a positive feedback loop said loisel  the study warns that more than 100 billion tons of carbon could be released from peatlands by 2100 primarily because of anthropogenic impacts in tropical peatlands that said the authors stress this estimate is highly uncertain ranging from a carbon gain of 103 billion tons and a loss of 360 billion tons but it highlights the need for improved peatland management and peatland integration in models which would also help constrain estimates in the future titled expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink and published in nature climate change today the paper combines existing research with survey estimates from 44 leading peatland experts the authors also agreed that peatland science is a critical research area that needs further support to fully understand the peatland-carbon-climate nexus what are peatlands and why should we preserve them peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale loisel said this large and dense carbon store is the result of the slow process of belowground peat accumulation under saturated conditions that has occurred over millennia the carbon is preserved in peat because its cold and/or wet she said the last thing we want is for this carbon to be quickly released back to the atmosphere or go up in smoke recent large peat wildfires in indonesia and russia to only name a couple have made the news over the past few years because they can release as much carbon in a few months as total human carbon dioxide emissions in a year " peat blocks cut up and drying on racks in tierra del fuego (photo by loisel)dr julie loisel "in addition to wildfires climate change impacts such as permafrost degradation rising temperature drought and sea level rise are causing many peatlands to emit carbon and peatland destruction caused by land-use change also poses a critical threat thats where we can collectively make a difference loisel said we have a responsibility to stop the destruction of peatlands and find sustainable practices lessons must be learned from places like indonesia where most peatlands have been destroyed and converted to palm oil plantations according to the researchers achieving a balance between wise peatland use and economic needs has shown difficult but they hope that their study highlights the need to protect the worlds peatlands with effective policies we must avoid making the same mistakes in the amazon and the congo basins where large peatlands were recently discovered she said improving earth system models atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions associated with degraded peatlands account for 5-10% of the global annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions despite their small geographic footprint the researchers said yet peatland ecosystems have not been integrated into the main earth system models used for future climate change projections and they are not considered in integrated assessment models used in impact and mitigation studies according to the researchers including peatlands into assessment models that project future socio-economic change and carbon emission pathways could help develop incentives such as peatland carbon pricing and sustainable practices and change the way these ecosystems are valued and managed loisel said as for their inclusion in earth system models the team believes they have been neglected thus far because they are not perceived as large players in the carbon cycle on a year-to-year basis and also because they are not particularly dynamic when undisturbed but this is changing now with the increase in wildfires permafrost thaw drought sea level rise and rapid conversion to agricultural land she explained to address this systemic problem a group of 20 peatland scientists from around the world gathered at texas a&m in 2018 for a 3-day workshop which eventually resulted in this study this is where the idea of surveying our colleagues about the role of each agent of change on the future of peatland carbon came to be loisel said the researchers concluded that the inclusion of peatland process understanding in models and particularly better attribution of the role of each agent of change on peatland carbon dynamics would help emphasize which processes are most important thereby increasing confidence in carbon flux predictions our research group is called c-peat and is composed of over 200 peatland scientists a subset of us meets annually virtually or in person to discuss the most pressing research questions that our community faces we have members from everywhere on the planet loisel has served as the co-lead of c-peat since 2018 alongside dr angela gallego-sala of the university of exeter    by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " seven launch undergraduate research scholars designated as texas sea grant scholarstexas sea grant has funded seven undergraduate research scholars at texas a&m university and texas a&m university at galvestondec 1 2020the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $7 000 in research grants to seven undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars program which designates scholars from among those selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program whose proposal topic from any discipline is related to the marine environment recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from the texas sea grant scholars program to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2020-21 texas sea grant scholars program recipients their respective fields of study university and projects are listed below: leah bogan marine biology tamug comparative analysis of fin whale tag data through machine-based learning santiago canel soria environmental geoscience texas a&m screening for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) in sea turtles blood and tissue samples timothy chomiak marine sciences tamug cavity ring-down spectroscopy as a method for studying dissolved inorganic carbon (dic) cycling in aquatic systems edsel santoni delgado marine biology tamug melanophore response and behavior of the marine isopod sphaeroma quadridentatum in the presence of a common estuarine predator species james scolley marine biology tamug zooxanthellae counts in bleached coral madeleine thompson marine biology tamug viral activity and its role on prokaryotic communities within anoxic ecosystems brianne wharton university studies (oceans and one health concentration) tamug constraining dissolved organic matter fluxes from the houston/galveston watershed to the gulf of mexico for more information about the texas sea grant scholars program visit txag/txsgscholars by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded $7 000 in research grants to seven undergraduate students at the main campus in college station and texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) the students are funded as part of the texas sea grant scholars program which designates scholars from among those selected for the launch: undergraduate research scholars program whose proposal topic from any discipline is related to the marine environment recipients receive up to an additional $1 000 from the texas sea grant scholars program to supplement their research budgets the goal of the program is to encourage motivated undergraduate students to participate in research and to give them the opportunity to communicate their findings as principal authors to the universitys scholarly community the 2020-21 texas sea grant scholars program recipients their respective fields of study university and projects are listed below: leah bogan marine biology tamug comparative analysis of fin whale tag data through machine-based learning santiago canel soria environmental geoscience texas a&m screening for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) in sea turtles blood and tissue samples timothy chomiak marine sciences tamug cavity ring-down spectroscopy as a method for studying dissolved inorganic carbon (dic) cycling in aquatic systems edsel santoni delgado marine biology tamug melanophore response and behavior of the marine isopod sphaeroma quadridentatum in the presence of a common estuarine predator species james scolley marine biology tamug zooxanthellae counts in bleached coral madeleine thompson marine biology tamug viral activity and its role on prokaryotic communities within anoxic ecosystems brianne wharton university studies (oceans and one health concentration) tamug constraining dissolved organic matter fluxes from the houston/galveston watershed to the gulf of mexico for more information about the texas sea grant scholars program visit txag/txsgscholars by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " new fisheries specialist joins texas sea grant texas sea grant has hired alexis sabine as the programs new fisheries specialistnov 24 2020(photo credit: alexis sabine)sabine working in the field (photo credit: alexis sabine)texas sea grant has hired alexis sabine as the programs new fisheries specialist she joins the extensive texas sea grant extension team which provides practical and science-based support to the texas coast sabine will contribute to a variety of local and gulf-wide fisheries programs with a particular focus on the texas recreational fishing industry one of sabines first major projects will involve facilitating knowledge and technology transfer to fishing guides private anglers fishing tournaments and other related industry participants she will also be supporting research efforts on locally important species and fishing practices such as on greater amberjack and on bycatch reduction techniques around the gulf of mexico  i am so excited to join the sustainable fisheries and aquaculture team and to help advance texas sea grants important extension work by serving as a link between researchers local stakeholders and fishing communities sabine said my goals and interests include building and maintaining connections with the recreational fishing industry promoting sustainable fishing practices and conducting fisheries research in collaboration with fishermen sabine comes to texas sea grant with extensive experience as a fisheries biologist with the division of fish and wildlife in the us virgin islands during this time she managed several projects ranging from artificial reef planning to collection and analysis of commercial fishing data texas sea grant has a long and proud history of serving commercial and recreational fisheries throughout texas and alexis is a perfect addition to the ongoing legacy "" said texas sea grant senior associate director and extension program leader cindy lyle ""her expertise will help us expand our service to texas fishermen as well as the state as a whole sabine received a masters in marine and environmental sciences from the university of the virgin islands in st thomas usvi and earned a bs in environmental geology and chemistry from northeastern university in boston massachusetts   by emma stogsdill communications intern texas sea grant " (photo credit: alexis sabine)sabine working in the field (photo credit: alexis sabine) "texas sea grant has hired alexis sabine as the programs new fisheries specialist she joins the extensive texas sea grant extension team which provides practical and science-based support to the texas coast sabine will contribute to a variety of local and gulf-wide fisheries programs with a particular focus on the texas recreational fishing industry one of sabines first major projects will involve facilitating knowledge and technology transfer to fishing guides private anglers fishing tournaments and other related industry participants she will also be supporting research efforts on locally important species and fishing practices such as on greater amberjack and on bycatch reduction techniques around the gulf of mexico  i am so excited to join the sustainable fisheries and aquaculture team and to help advance texas sea grants important extension work by serving as a link between researchers local stakeholders and fishing communities sabine said my goals and interests include building and maintaining connections with the recreational fishing industry promoting sustainable fishing practices and conducting fisheries research in collaboration with fishermen sabine comes to texas sea grant with extensive experience as a fisheries biologist with the division of fish and wildlife in the us virgin islands during this time she managed several projects ranging from artificial reef planning to collection and analysis of commercial fishing data texas sea grant has a long and proud history of serving commercial and recreational fisheries throughout texas and alexis is a perfect addition to the ongoing legacy "" said texas sea grant senior associate director and extension program leader cindy lyle ""her expertise will help us expand our service to texas fishermen as well as the state as a whole sabine received a masters in marine and environmental sciences from the university of the virgin islands in st thomas usvi and earned a bs in environmental geology and chemistry from northeastern university in boston massachusetts   by emma stogsdill communications intern texas sea grant" " david cairns named aaas fellowthe honor recognizes distinguished leaders in science for their extraordinary achievements nov 24 2020dr david cairns professor and department head in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been named a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) election as a aaas fellow is an honor bestowed upon aaas members by their peers as part of the geology and geography aaas section cairns was elected as an aaas fellow for distinguished contributions to the understanding of tree-line dynamics and cold-climate ecotones along with fostering interdisciplinary arctic science and academic administration  i am so deeply proud and thrilled that dr cairns excellence and contributions have earned such a prestigious honor said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m but this honor is even more special because dr cairns has achieved and sustained a world-class level of scientific impact while also serving the department of geography the college of geosciences and texas a&m selflessly and impactfully as an administrative leader we should all be grateful for dr cairns efforts and inspired by his example  this year 489 members have been awarded this honor by aaas because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications a virtual fellows forum – an induction ceremony for the new fellows – will be held feb 13  2021 the tradition of aaas fellows began in 1874 and today aaas fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements across disciplines from research teaching and technology to administration in academia industry and government to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public aaas is the worlds largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal science as well as science translational medicine; science signaling; a digital open-access journal science advances; science immunology; and science robotics aaas was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals the nonprofit aaas is open to all and fulfills its mission to advance science and serve society through initiatives in science policy international programs science education public engagement and more  by leslie lee 09 " "dr david cairns professor and department head in the department of geography at texas a&m university has been named a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) election as a aaas fellow is an honor bestowed upon aaas members by their peers as part of the geology and geography aaas section cairns was elected as an aaas fellow for distinguished contributions to the understanding of tree-line dynamics and cold-climate ecotones along with fostering interdisciplinary arctic science and academic administration  i am so deeply proud and thrilled that dr cairns excellence and contributions have earned such a prestigious honor said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m but this honor is even more special because dr cairns has achieved and sustained a world-class level of scientific impact while also serving the department of geography the college of geosciences and texas a&m selflessly and impactfully as an administrative leader we should all be grateful for dr cairns efforts and inspired by his example  this year 489 members have been awarded this honor by aaas because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications a virtual fellows forum – an induction ceremony for the new fellows – will be held feb 13  2021 the tradition of aaas fellows began in 1874 and today aaas fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements across disciplines from research teaching and technology to administration in academia industry and government to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public aaas is the worlds largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal science as well as science translational medicine; science signaling; a digital open-access journal science advances; science immunology; and science robotics aaas was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals the nonprofit aaas is open to all and fulfills its mission to advance science and serve society through initiatives in science policy international programs science education public engagement and more  by leslie lee 09" " construction update: traci 11 and curtis samford ‘83 geosciences career centerlocated in the o&m building the centers renovation has made major progress this fallnov 24 2020earlier this year a generous gift from traci 11 and curtis samford 83 officially established the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the center will be located in newly renovated space on the first floor of the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center    room 109 in the o&m building is being transformed into a highly collaborative facility dedicated to all dimensions of beyond-the-classroom professional development including internship and career placement major progress has been made on the renovation project this semester said brian wiederwohl geosciences facilities manager structural renovations are nearly complete and the center is on track to be completed by the spring semester watching the progress on the exterior space has been so uplifting said dean dr debbie thomas while many of the colleges faculty staff and students work and study off-campus this semester thomas has shared updates on the centers renovation during her weekly impact brief videos to the college community ive tried to capture this excitement in the weekly impact briefs so that everyone studying and working remotely can experience the excitementsept 24: the renovation beginsoct 2: sections of travertine were removed to form windows into the centeroct 17: renovation progress continued on the samford career centernov 11: the renovation began to near completionnov 19: the nearly completed space on the first floor of the o&m buildingnov 19: once completed the new career center will help connect geosciences students to impactful and rewarding careersthe center will also serve as the base of operations for the geosciences associate director of career services who will lead operations of the center the center will open once the new associate director joins the college thomas said the samford geosciences career center is also mission-critical to the colleges goal of leading the nation in broadening and deepening participation in the geosciences thomas said and it will help recruit students by connecting them to intentional pathways to impactful and rewarding careers this partnership with the texas a&m career center is a game-changing resource for aggie geoscientists and could not have arisen at a more opportune time for our students and their families learn more about the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center by leslie lee 09 " "earlier this year a generous gift from traci 11 and curtis samford 83 officially established the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the center will be located in newly renovated space on the first floor of the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center    room 109 in the o&m building is being transformed into a highly collaborative facility dedicated to all dimensions of beyond-the-classroom professional development including internship and career placement major progress has been made on the renovation project this semester said brian wiederwohl geosciences facilities manager structural renovations are nearly complete and the center is on track to be completed by the spring semester watching the progress on the exterior space has been so uplifting said dean dr debbie thomas while many of the colleges faculty staff and students work and study off-campus this semester thomas has shared updates on the centers renovation during her weekly impact brief videos to the college community ive tried to capture this excitement in the weekly impact briefs so that everyone studying and working remotely can experience the excitement" sept 24: the renovation beginsoct 2: sections of travertine were removed to form windows into the center oct 17: renovation progress continued on the samford career centernov 11: the renovation began to near completion nov 19: the nearly completed space on the first floor of the o&m buildingnov 19: once completed the new career center will help connect geosciences students to impactful and rewarding careers "the center will also serve as the base of operations for the geosciences associate director of career services who will lead operations of the center the center will open once the new associate director joins the college thomas said the samford geosciences career center is also mission-critical to the colleges goal of leading the nation in broadening and deepening participation in the geosciences thomas said and it will help recruit students by connecting them to intentional pathways to impactful and rewarding careers this partnership with the texas a&m career center is a game-changing resource for aggie geoscientists and could not have arisen at a more opportune time for our students and their families learn more about the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center by leslie lee 09" " colonel david bacot 90 named geosciences senior director of developmentbacot served a distinguished career in the us air forcenov 24 2020col david bacot earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m university in 1990 (photo courtesy of bacot)col bacot and his wife bianca at the 2019 college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala (photo by daniela weaver photography)colonel david bacot 90 has been named the senior director of development for the college of geosciences at texas a&m university effective dec 1 col bacot will lead giving and development efforts for the college and departments and serve as an ambassador of the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m university to our donors and former students to further the mission of the college we are absolutely thrilled to welcome col bacot back to aggieland and to the college of geosciences said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas david brings such an exceptional breadth and depth of skills and knowledge to the role and of course his service to our nation is beyond inspiring col bacot enlisted in the us air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 he went on to serve a distinguished career in the air force serving as a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operations in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology he most recently served as chair of the department of aerospace studies directing and administering an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he is going to be a phenomenal ambassador for our programs to our former students and stakeholders and he is going to be a phenomenal resource for our current and future students thomas said it is going to be such a privilege to work with and learn from one of our truly distinguished former students by leslie lee 09 " col david bacot earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m university in 1990 (photo courtesy of bacot)col bacot and his wife bianca at the 2019 college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala (photo by daniela weaver photography) "colonel david bacot 90 has been named the senior director of development for the college of geosciences at texas a&m university effective dec 1 col bacot will lead giving and development efforts for the college and departments and serve as an ambassador of the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m university to our donors and former students to further the mission of the college we are absolutely thrilled to welcome col bacot back to aggieland and to the college of geosciences said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas david brings such an exceptional breadth and depth of skills and knowledge to the role and of course his service to our nation is beyond inspiring col bacot enlisted in the us air force in 1984 graduated from the air force rotc program at texas a&m university in 1990 and earned his bs in meteorology from texas a&m in 1990 he went on to serve a distinguished career in the air force serving as a command meteorologist with diverse assignments supporting defense strategic space policy fighter and bomber operations tactical and operational command and control centers us army aviation and maneuver and global weather operations in 1999 he earned a masters in meteorology from the air force institute of technology he most recently served as chair of the department of aerospace studies directing and administering an officer training program to provide the united states air force with high-quality officers and leaders of character he is going to be a phenomenal ambassador for our programs to our former students and stakeholders and he is going to be a phenomenal resource for our current and future students thomas said it is going to be such a privilege to work with and learn from one of our truly distinguished former students by leslie lee 09" " gerald north honored with 2020 agu ambassador awardtexas a&m university distinguished professor emeritus dr gerald north was honored for his tremendous contributions to sciencenov 23 2020dr gerald (jerry) north university distinguished professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences and oceanography at texas a&m university has received a 2020 ambassador award from the american geophysical union (agu) north is one of only five scientists in the us who were chosen for the honor  agu will formally recognize this years recipients in december at an online celebration during fall meeting 2020  we all owe dr north a great deal of gratitude for tirelessly leveraging his scientific expertise and accomplishments to advance trust in and understanding of climate science said dr debbie thomas dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr norths heroic contributions continue to elevate our science and provide hope for a sustainable future these honorees scientists leaders educators journalists and communicators have made outstanding achievements and contributions to the earth and space sciences community said agu president dr robin bell in a news release these individuals embody our shared vision of a thriving sustainable and equitable future for all powered by discovery innovation and action these honorees have built their work with integrity respect diversity and collaboration together with deep engagement in education and outreach""  the ambassador award is given annually to one to five honorees in recognition of their outstanding contributions to one or more of the following areas: societal impact service to the earth and space community scientific leadership and promotion of talent/career pool the ambassador award honors individuals whose achievements extend beyond those recognized by traditional scientific discipline awards norths memoir the rise of climate science was recently published by the texas a&m press and details his four-decade career leading the modern field of climate science  by leslie lee 09 " "dr gerald (jerry) north university distinguished professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences and oceanography at texas a&m university has received a 2020 ambassador award from the american geophysical union (agu) north is one of only five scientists in the us who were chosen for the honor  agu will formally recognize this years recipients in december at an online celebration during fall meeting 2020  we all owe dr north a great deal of gratitude for tirelessly leveraging his scientific expertise and accomplishments to advance trust in and understanding of climate science said dr debbie thomas dean of the texas a&m college of geosciences dr norths heroic contributions continue to elevate our science and provide hope for a sustainable future these honorees scientists leaders educators journalists and communicators have made outstanding achievements and contributions to the earth and space sciences community said agu president dr robin bell in a news release these individuals embody our shared vision of a thriving sustainable and equitable future for all powered by discovery innovation and action these honorees have built their work with integrity respect diversity and collaboration together with deep engagement in education and outreach""  the ambassador award is given annually to one to five honorees in recognition of their outstanding contributions to one or more of the following areas: societal impact service to the earth and space community scientific leadership and promotion of talent/career pool the ambassador award honors individuals whose achievements extend beyond those recognized by traditional scientific discipline awards norths memoir the rise of climate science was recently published by the texas a&m press and details his four-decade career leading the modern field of climate science  by leslie lee 09" " memorial gifts honor gary reynoldsformer students colleagues and friends honor gary reynolds 88 92 and continue his legacy of serving othersnov 23 2020gary reynolds (image courtesy of aggie athletics)gary reynolds 88 92 former texas a&m university college of geosciences senior director of development passed away aug 20 earlier this year the texas a&m foundation honored reynolds with a fish camp scholarship endowment as he battled cancer since then numerous colleagues former students of texas a&m and friends have honored his life by giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship which now totals more than $39 000 the scholarship will support aggies who are unable to afford the cost of attending fish camp and recognizes the tremendous contributions reynolds made to the texas a&m university community reynolds began serving as senior director of development for the texas a&m foundation and the college of geosciences in august of 2018 after serving in texas a&m athletics football operations leadership for a decade he is survived by his wife jessica and his two daughters read remembrances of reynolds from texas a&m geosciences in the eagle from the texas a&m foundation  and from texas a&m football learn more about giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship by leslie lee 09 " "gary reynolds 88 92 former texas a&m university college of geosciences senior director of development passed away aug 20 earlier this year the texas a&m foundation honored reynolds with a fish camp scholarship endowment as he battled cancer since then numerous colleagues former students of texas a&m and friends have honored his life by giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship which now totals more than $39 000 the scholarship will support aggies who are unable to afford the cost of attending fish camp and recognizes the tremendous contributions reynolds made to the texas a&m university community reynolds began serving as senior director of development for the texas a&m foundation and the college of geosciences in august of 2018 after serving in texas a&m athletics football operations leadership for a decade he is survived by his wife jessica and his two daughters read remembrances of reynolds from texas a&m geosciences in the eagle from the texas a&m foundation  and from texas a&m football learn more about giving to the jessica 88 and gary reynolds 88 fish camp scholarship by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m expert: drought has returned to texasstate climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon says drier and warmer conditions over much of the state could last until springnov 20 2020a drought-stricken wheat field bakes in the sun july 27 2011 near hermleigh texas a drought over much of texas could last until spring 2021 photo courtesy scott olson/getty imagesoctober is usually one of the wettest months in texas but many parts of the state received little or no rain during the period the situation is especially bad in west texas: in the past six months in midland only 145 inches of rain have been recorded breaking a 69-year-old record by an inch according to figures from the state climatologists office at texas a&m universityin short drought has returned to texas more than three quarters of the state is now in drought for the first time in over six yearsdr john nielsen-gammon regents professor at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist said that la niña conditions began developing in the pacific ocean a few months ago and are the reason to expect continued dry conditions a la niña occurs when there is cooler than normal water temperatures in the pacific ocean and it can influence weather patterns over much of the united statesnielsen-gammon said ocean temperatures in a key region of the tropical pacific are running more than a degree cooler than normal which would qualify as a moderate la niña if it persistsaccording to the climate prediction center la niña conditions are likely to persist through this coming spring he said the resulting weather patterns tend to leave most of the southern united states including texas dry from november through march according to the us drought monitor over 10% of the state is in exceptional drought for the first time since 2014 and the seasonal forecast released this morning by the climate prediction center suggests drought is likely to get worse before it gets betteralso la niña winters also tend to be warmer than normal in texas and climate change adds to the likelihood of a mild winter it probably wont be mild the whole time though because the cold air in canada will sweep down to texas a few times and bring a temporary chillnielsen-gammon said as a general rule the stronger the la niña the greater the likelihood of below normal rainfall the last moderate la niña was 2011-2012 contrary to expectations that turned out to be a rather wet winter but the year before was a strong la niña and it set the stage for the worst one-year drought on recordnielsen-gammon said current drought conditions are not unique to texassevere drought extends as far north as montana and as far west as the pacific coast with the four corners region being particularly hard-hit he said the combination of high summertime temperatures and a lack of typical summertime rainfall have left little moisture in the soilfor most of texas the dry conditions started in september nielsen-gammon saidover the past two months most of the state has received less than half of its normal rainfall he said october produced one widespread precipitation event and november looks similar with the best chances for rain early in thanksgiving week the next storm event around the beginning of thanksgiving week may be limited mainly to the panhandlefarmers are holding off on planting winter wheat and ranchers are doing the same for cold-season forage without decent rain soon its going to be a difficult winter in many areas   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " a drought-stricken wheat field bakes in the sun july 27 2011 near hermleigh texas a drought over much of texas could last until spring 2021 photo courtesy scott olson/getty images "october is usually one of the wettest months in texas but many parts of the state received little or no rain during the period the situation is especially bad in west texas: in the past six months in midland only 145 inches of rain have been recorded breaking a 69-year-old record by an inch according to figures from the state climatologists office at texas a&m universityin short drought has returned to texas more than three quarters of the state is now in drought for the first time in over six yearsdr john nielsen-gammon regents professor at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist said that la niña conditions began developing in the pacific ocean a few months ago and are the reason to expect continued dry conditions a la niña occurs when there is cooler than normal water temperatures in the pacific ocean and it can influence weather patterns over much of the united statesnielsen-gammon said ocean temperatures in a key region of the tropical pacific are running more than a degree cooler than normal which would qualify as a moderate la niña if it persistsaccording to the climate prediction center la niña conditions are likely to persist through this coming spring he said the resulting weather patterns tend to leave most of the southern united states including texas dry from november through march according to the us drought monitor over 10% of the state is in exceptional drought for the first time since 2014 and the seasonal forecast released this morning by the climate prediction center suggests drought is likely to get worse before it gets betteralso la niña winters also tend to be warmer than normal in texas and climate change adds to the likelihood of a mild winter it probably wont be mild the whole time though because the cold air in canada will sweep down to texas a few times and bring a temporary chillnielsen-gammon said as a general rule the stronger the la niña the greater the likelihood of below normal rainfall the last moderate la niña was 2011-2012 contrary to expectations that turned out to be a rather wet winter but the year before was a strong la niña and it set the stage for the worst one-year drought on recordnielsen-gammon said current drought conditions are not unique to texassevere drought extends as far north as montana and as far west as the pacific coast with the four corners region being particularly hard-hit he said the combination of high summertime temperatures and a lack of typical summertime rainfall have left little moisture in the soilfor most of texas the dry conditions started in september nielsen-gammon saidover the past two months most of the state has received less than half of its normal rainfall he said october produced one widespread precipitation event and november looks similar with the best chances for rain early in thanksgiving week the next storm event around the beginning of thanksgiving week may be limited mainly to the panhandlefarmers are holding off on planting winter wheat and ranchers are doing the same for cold-season forage without decent rain soon its going to be a difficult winter in many areas   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " texas a&m students produce ""our earth rising"" podcast in the college of geosciencesgaining hands-on science communication experience texas a&m students led by dr lindsay sansom have released the first episode of an educational podcast this fallnov 16 2020this year dr lindsay sansom a research assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is collaborating with a diverse group of students at texas a&m to create a podcast that focuses on discussing environmental change at a broad scale this unique hands-on research experience and exercise in science communication involves a variety of undergraduate students from different majors at texas a&m sansom works with the aggie research program to recruit students for this research experience for undergraduates (reu) i recruited an amazing team of students from diverse backgrounds to help me develop the podcast she said i also was fortunate to win the center for teaching excellence (cte) presidential transformational teaching grant which i have used for purchasing podcasting equipment and supporting students geography classes led to podcast project i teach a large enrollment course for first/ second-year undergraduates called geog 205: environmental change she said in this course i have students from every college at texas a&m and from a wide variety of majors the course is also a cultural discourse credit which means that students learn how to discuss complicated and often controversial topics in the course sansom works to make environmental change topics relevant and relatable for students from all walks of life additionally i wanted to challenge students to think outside of their bubble and to practice perspective-taking from a diverse set of stakeholder perspectives in the course i have students get into groups and create their own podcast to practice perspective-taking while developing course material sansom had the idea to start a podcast with students from texas a&m however as i was trying to find good examples of podcasts for students to listen to for inspiration i realized that there was an opportunity texas a&m university is a tier 1 research institution and we have some of the best researchers right here on campus she set out to help students create a podcast that interviewed experts on campus who may be able to shed light on challenging environmental change topics from a diverse set of problem-solving perspectives in order to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary solutions for instance if the topic was on urban flooding we interview researchers not only from the college of geosciences but also from the college of architecture mays business school and engineering to get a more robust picture of the complexities involved in these problems she said topics range from the physical challenges of controlling flood all the way to the business components of flood insurance this is a great way to model perspective taking on complex issues and to make topics relevant and relatable to a broader and more diverse audience it also has the added bonus of showcasing the talent we have here on campus! how students can get involved students can gain research credit hours through registering for either geos 491 or geog 491 and should visit the aggie research program website for additional information on how to get engaged she added sansom clarified that students taking part in this podcast arent limited to geography majors in fact the students involved are from multiple different colleges in texas a&m students currently involved in the podcast: bianca zamora industrial and systems engineering  class of 2023 kendall sitzmann environmental geosciences class of 2021  alexia hassan computer science class of 2024 alyssa mccain  environmental geosciences: hydrology  class of 2021 kristina samuel  biology  class of 2023  veronica lynch-taylor geography class of 2020 austin begin meteorology class of 2023 bethany miles journalism class of 2022 faiza hasan environmental geosciences class of 2022 laura gunn english class of 2022 madison saenz environmental geosciences  class of 2022 lauryn perez environmental geosciences class of 2021 kirk niekamp public heath sansom is currently recruiting more students to join her group in working on the podcast through the aggie research program for interested undergraduates duties for involved students sansom said that building a successful podcast is very intensive and requires the efforts of many individuals creating a podcast is very involved she said the team has worked primarily to build a strong foundation students developed a communication and marketing plan drafted planned episode lists created logos and put together podcast trailers due to covid-19 students were not able to obtain any in-person interviews in the spring but we worked diligently over the summer and fall to produce the first couple of full-length episodes she added listen to the podcasts first episode here you can also follow the ""our earth rising podcast on social media: twitter  facebook and instagram research experience sansom said that this podcast will bring an invaluable experience to students and will help disseminate information regarding environmental change to a much broader audience students gain several skills through this experience she said in terms of research students are tasked with identifying topics researching those topics thoroughly identifying appropriate faculty or researchers on campus drafting interview questions and obtaining interviews as well as all of the technical editing components in addition to gaining research experience students also gain technical skills communication skills and project management skills while working on the podcast students must learn about copyright issues with music or old audio from news clips she added students must also know enough about the topic and the research that has been completed by the faculty in order to ask intelligent questions project management is probably the most valuable skill that students gain the whole process really is a team effort so students are also getting an important lesson in collaboration and what it takes to work together as a strong team moving forward the our earth rising podcast team is recruiting several new members to join the group this spring students will continuously remain engaged in the podcast with various sketched-out episodes and potential podcast ideas the team will continue to record podcast episodes and spread the word sansom shares that this nascent endeavor is just at the beginning the team is looking forward to building a following not just through the students in dr sansom's courses but also through students across campus we are currently living through history sansom said college students in todays world must possess a different set of skills than in the past it is more important than ever that students learn how to look at a problem as part of an interdisciplinary team sansom emphasized that diverse perspectives and ideas need to be embraced for society to advance and the overarching goal of her podcast is to challenge pre-existing perceptions and biases we dont live in a world where everything is black and white she added we live in a world that is many shades of grey our earth rising is a podcast for examining complex problems through the lens of multiple perspectives and is meant to challenge students to think outside the box to propose and discuss targeted interventions to solve global issues by mariam moeen '19 " "this year dr lindsay sansom a research assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is collaborating with a diverse group of students at texas a&m to create a podcast that focuses on discussing environmental change at a broad scale this unique hands-on research experience and exercise in science communication involves a variety of undergraduate students from different majors at texas a&m sansom works with the aggie research program to recruit students for this research experience for undergraduates (reu) i recruited an amazing team of students from diverse backgrounds to help me develop the podcast she said i also was fortunate to win the center for teaching excellence (cte) presidential transformational teaching grant which i have used for purchasing podcasting equipment and supporting students geography classes led to podcast project i teach a large enrollment course for first/ second-year undergraduates called geog 205: environmental change she said in this course i have students from every college at texas a&m and from a wide variety of majors the course is also a cultural discourse credit which means that students learn how to discuss complicated and often controversial topics in the course sansom works to make environmental change topics relevant and relatable for students from all walks of life additionally i wanted to challenge students to think outside of their bubble and to practice perspective-taking from a diverse set of stakeholder perspectives in the course i have students get into groups and create their own podcast to practice perspective-taking while developing course material sansom had the idea to start a podcast with students from texas a&m however as i was trying to find good examples of podcasts for students to listen to for inspiration i realized that there was an opportunity texas a&m university is a tier 1 research institution and we have some of the best researchers right here on campus she set out to help students create a podcast that interviewed experts on campus who may be able to shed light on challenging environmental change topics from a diverse set of problem-solving perspectives in order to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary solutions for instance if the topic was on urban flooding we interview researchers not only from the college of geosciences but also from the college of architecture mays business school and engineering to get a more robust picture of the complexities involved in these problems she said topics range from the physical challenges of controlling flood all the way to the business components of flood insurance this is a great way to model perspective taking on complex issues and to make topics relevant and relatable to a broader and more diverse audience it also has the added bonus of showcasing the talent we have here on campus! how students can get involved students can gain research credit hours through registering for either geos 491 or geog 491 and should visit the aggie research program website for additional information on how to get engaged she added sansom clarified that students taking part in this podcast arent limited to geography majors in fact the students involved are from multiple different colleges in texas a&m students currently involved in the podcast: bianca zamora industrial and systems engineering  class of 2023 kendall sitzmann environmental geosciences class of 2021  alexia hassan computer science class of 2024 alyssa mccain  environmental geosciences: hydrology  class of 2021 kristina samuel  biology  class of 2023  veronica lynch-taylor geography class of 2020 austin begin meteorology class of 2023 bethany miles journalism class of 2022 faiza hasan environmental geosciences class of 2022 laura gunn english class of 2022 madison saenz environmental geosciences  class of 2022 lauryn perez environmental geosciences class of 2021 kirk niekamp public heath sansom is currently recruiting more students to join her group in working on the podcast through the aggie research program for interested undergraduates duties for involved students sansom said that building a successful podcast is very intensive and requires the efforts of many individuals creating a podcast is very involved she said the team has worked primarily to build a strong foundation students developed a communication and marketing plan drafted planned episode lists created logos and put together podcast trailers due to covid-19 students were not able to obtain any in-person interviews in the spring but we worked diligently over the summer and fall to produce the first couple of full-length episodes she added listen to the podcasts first episode here you can also follow the ""our earth rising podcast on social media: twitter  facebook and instagram research experience sansom said that this podcast will bring an invaluable experience to students and will help disseminate information regarding environmental change to a much broader audience students gain several skills through this experience she said in terms of research students are tasked with identifying topics researching those topics thoroughly identifying appropriate faculty or researchers on campus drafting interview questions and obtaining interviews as well as all of the technical editing components in addition to gaining research experience students also gain technical skills communication skills and project management skills while working on the podcast students must learn about copyright issues with music or old audio from news clips she added students must also know enough about the topic and the research that has been completed by the faculty in order to ask intelligent questions project management is probably the most valuable skill that students gain the whole process really is a team effort so students are also getting an important lesson in collaboration and what it takes to work together as a strong team moving forward the our earth rising podcast team is recruiting several new members to join the group this spring students will continuously remain engaged in the podcast with various sketched-out episodes and potential podcast ideas the team will continue to record podcast episodes and spread the word sansom shares that this nascent endeavor is just at the beginning the team is looking forward to building a following not just through the students in dr sansom's courses but also through students across campus we are currently living through history sansom said college students in todays world must possess a different set of skills than in the past it is more important than ever that students learn how to look at a problem as part of an interdisciplinary team sansom emphasized that diverse perspectives and ideas need to be embraced for society to advance and the overarching goal of her podcast is to challenge pre-existing perceptions and biases we dont live in a world where everything is black and white she added we live in a world that is many shades of grey our earth rising is a podcast for examining complex problems through the lens of multiple perspectives and is meant to challenge students to think outside the box to propose and discuss targeted interventions to solve global issues by mariam moeen '19" " meet alexa wood new geography postdoctoral research associatedr alexa wood is one of the first holders of the geosciences future faculty (gff) postdoctoral fellowshipnov 14 2020dr alexa wood (photo by leslie lee)wood visiting the banks of the black volta river along the ghana-burkina faso border (photo courtesy of wood)through the recently established geosciences future faculty fellow program dr alexa wood is a new postdoctoral research associate in texas a&m universitys department of geography wood has a research background in studying human dimensions of climate change environmental feminism environmental justice and food systems working with dr john casellas connors woods research will focus on exploring the systematic drivers of land loss among black americans early passion for meteorology wood said that she developed a passion for meteorology at very young age ive always been a scholarly type wood said i could trace where i am today to back when i was in preschool i was always super interested in weather i would take the weather page to my mom each day and we'd read it together and then when i was a little older my sister and i would fight over who got to watch the weather channel versus sesame street wood said that interest led me to pursuing meteorology as an undergrad at florida state university while pursuing meteorology at florida state wood simultaneously grew interested in the human aspects of her field i started developing more of an interest in the human dimension side which led me to double major in meteorology and environmental studies after graduating wood moved to north carolina (nc) state university to pursue her masters degree in higher education administration the masters was a pretty big shift she said i was a resident advisor as an undergrad i loved that so much and wanted to explore the opportunities present with that path it was the coursework for my higher-ed degree that really got me into to doing research i had an opportunity to participate in a research project that explored pluralistic belief systems among groups of students she added it was a qualitative study and i really enjoyed it research is so much cooler when you get to do this at the graduate level rather than what i considered to be research earlier on in my academic career she said research journey i ended up writing a thesis as a masters student and i was interested in exploring how home schooled students adjusted to the college world she said wood worked full-time in residence life at university of north carolina (unc) at chapel hill but still felt a pull towards the environmental side of things especially looking at the human dimensions of the environment and specifically climate change once her time at unc came to an end she decided to go back to nc state and pursue a degree in climate change and society she said this allowed her to do a brief research project exploring climate resilience amongst native american communities throughout the united states but with a focus on the southeast that project really cemented an interest in doing work with a more social/environmental justice lens looking at ways that we can better support the communities that have been historically marginalized and finding ways to pursue avenues for justice to repair and restore these communities and their power she was able to meet her dissertation advisor through that degree program while attending environmental justice rallies this experience directed her interest in doing work that was oriented towards justice and equity for communities that have had their power taken from them wood aimed to do so with an eye towards climate change since she views it as a major driver in more contemporary environmental problems overcoming first-generation college student challenges being a first-generation college student who was also home-schooled growing up wood said that it was challenging navigating through the unknown territory of higher education i simply didnt have a lot of people in my life who showed me what success could look like she said i really didnt have mentors growing up who had attended college my parents are very supportive but they still had limitations on how supportive they could be because they didnt have exposure to the traditional college experience as both an undergraduate and graduate student learning about the nuances and norms present in higher education was difficult however wood shares that completing a masters degree in higher education administration really guided her through university both as a student and an administrator having experienced some of those challenges which in a lot of ways felt marginalizing have made me want to do what i can to make marginalized students and communities feel supported she stated so they dont have to experience those same challenges of not belonging or simply just not understanding the culture that is present in higher education becoming a post-doctoral fellow at texas a&m wood shared that becoming a post-doc was one of her primary goals knowing how unique my background is i really wanted the opportunity to develop my knowledge base and craft a narrative of how all of my experiences as an academic have shaped me into the academic i am now she said geography has always been an interest of mine she added after completing three degrees from nc state i was excited to develop new skills and gain new experiences in the department of geography at texas a&m the path forward in geography hosts more opportunities for me to continue building my skills as an environmental social scientist she said im really excited to be a part of the gff program and am one of the first people to experience it wood is looking forward to having the opportunity to advance interdisciplinary research build future leaders and increase diversity within geosciences wood at the weekly market in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood)a farm during dry season in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood)research scope woods dissertation research focused on gender food security and decision making and understanding how it relates to climate change in west africa she focused on subsistence farmers in ghana and mali and studied how gender and age influences decision-making she discovered that women especially younger women are at a disadvantage when it comes to decision making due to the male dominant communities the social structure inhibits women from adapting to climate change on their own their own terms after beginning her post-doc research in the department of geography wood expects to shift her research focus to something broader than what she was involved in before after working with a non-profit in south carolina im developing a domestic research agenda which specifically focuses on processes that lead to dispossession of land among black land owners she said i want to explore the systemic drivers that are causing black families to lose their land at higher rates than other families and discover if there is a climate change component to that as well my supervisor dr john casellas connors and i are working to develop collaborations with faculty with a similar research focus she said by creating interdisciplinary opportunities we hope to explore my research question and find ways to support scholarship that is already well established here at texas a&m moving forward my hope is to become a faculty member i really hope to be a positive and productive member of a faculty she said i really enjoy being able to develop partnerships and collaborate it is more difficult to connect with people nowadays because of covid-19 and it's challenging to do so through zoom wood aims to take all that she has learned in her life and do what she can to improve the lives of those that have been marginalized not only inside academia but outside of it as well i like to think about ways i can support students development especially students who are underrepresented in environmental social sciences what are ways that i can help boost engagement among groups of students who might not look at environmental fields as their top pick id like to find ways to address some of the systemic inequalities both inside and outside of the academy by mariam moeen ‘19 " dr alexa wood (photo by leslie lee)wood visiting the banks of the black volta river along the ghana-burkina faso border (photo courtesy of wood) "through the recently established geosciences future faculty fellow program dr alexa wood is a new postdoctoral research associate in texas a&m universitys department of geography wood has a research background in studying human dimensions of climate change environmental feminism environmental justice and food systems working with dr john casellas connors woods research will focus on exploring the systematic drivers of land loss among black americans early passion for meteorology wood said that she developed a passion for meteorology at very young age ive always been a scholarly type wood said i could trace where i am today to back when i was in preschool i was always super interested in weather i would take the weather page to my mom each day and we'd read it together and then when i was a little older my sister and i would fight over who got to watch the weather channel versus sesame street wood said that interest led me to pursuing meteorology as an undergrad at florida state university while pursuing meteorology at florida state wood simultaneously grew interested in the human aspects of her field i started developing more of an interest in the human dimension side which led me to double major in meteorology and environmental studies after graduating wood moved to north carolina (nc) state university to pursue her masters degree in higher education administration the masters was a pretty big shift she said i was a resident advisor as an undergrad i loved that so much and wanted to explore the opportunities present with that path it was the coursework for my higher-ed degree that really got me into to doing research i had an opportunity to participate in a research project that explored pluralistic belief systems among groups of students she added it was a qualitative study and i really enjoyed it research is so much cooler when you get to do this at the graduate level rather than what i considered to be research earlier on in my academic career she said research journey i ended up writing a thesis as a masters student and i was interested in exploring how home schooled students adjusted to the college world she said wood worked full-time in residence life at university of north carolina (unc) at chapel hill but still felt a pull towards the environmental side of things especially looking at the human dimensions of the environment and specifically climate change once her time at unc came to an end she decided to go back to nc state and pursue a degree in climate change and society she said this allowed her to do a brief research project exploring climate resilience amongst native american communities throughout the united states but with a focus on the southeast that project really cemented an interest in doing work with a more social/environmental justice lens looking at ways that we can better support the communities that have been historically marginalized and finding ways to pursue avenues for justice to repair and restore these communities and their power she was able to meet her dissertation advisor through that degree program while attending environmental justice rallies this experience directed her interest in doing work that was oriented towards justice and equity for communities that have had their power taken from them wood aimed to do so with an eye towards climate change since she views it as a major driver in more contemporary environmental problems overcoming first-generation college student challenges being a first-generation college student who was also home-schooled growing up wood said that it was challenging navigating through the unknown territory of higher education i simply didnt have a lot of people in my life who showed me what success could look like she said i really didnt have mentors growing up who had attended college my parents are very supportive but they still had limitations on how supportive they could be because they didnt have exposure to the traditional college experience as both an undergraduate and graduate student learning about the nuances and norms present in higher education was difficult however wood shares that completing a masters degree in higher education administration really guided her through university both as a student and an administrator having experienced some of those challenges which in a lot of ways felt marginalizing have made me want to do what i can to make marginalized students and communities feel supported she stated so they dont have to experience those same challenges of not belonging or simply just not understanding the culture that is present in higher education becoming a post-doctoral fellow at texas a&m wood shared that becoming a post-doc was one of her primary goals knowing how unique my background is i really wanted the opportunity to develop my knowledge base and craft a narrative of how all of my experiences as an academic have shaped me into the academic i am now she said geography has always been an interest of mine she added after completing three degrees from nc state i was excited to develop new skills and gain new experiences in the department of geography at texas a&m the path forward in geography hosts more opportunities for me to continue building my skills as an environmental social scientist she said im really excited to be a part of the gff program and am one of the first people to experience it wood is looking forward to having the opportunity to advance interdisciplinary research build future leaders and increase diversity within geosciences " wood at the weekly market in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood)a farm during dry season in lawra ghana (photo courtesy of wood) "research scope woods dissertation research focused on gender food security and decision making and understanding how it relates to climate change in west africa she focused on subsistence farmers in ghana and mali and studied how gender and age influences decision-making she discovered that women especially younger women are at a disadvantage when it comes to decision making due to the male dominant communities the social structure inhibits women from adapting to climate change on their own their own terms after beginning her post-doc research in the department of geography wood expects to shift her research focus to something broader than what she was involved in before after working with a non-profit in south carolina im developing a domestic research agenda which specifically focuses on processes that lead to dispossession of land among black land owners she said i want to explore the systemic drivers that are causing black families to lose their land at higher rates than other families and discover if there is a climate change component to that as well my supervisor dr john casellas connors and i are working to develop collaborations with faculty with a similar research focus she said by creating interdisciplinary opportunities we hope to explore my research question and find ways to support scholarship that is already well established here at texas a&m moving forward my hope is to become a faculty member i really hope to be a positive and productive member of a faculty she said i really enjoy being able to develop partnerships and collaborate it is more difficult to connect with people nowadays because of covid-19 and it's challenging to do so through zoom wood aims to take all that she has learned in her life and do what she can to improve the lives of those that have been marginalized not only inside academia but outside of it as well i like to think about ways i can support students development especially students who are underrepresented in environmental social sciences what are ways that i can help boost engagement among groups of students who might not look at environmental fields as their top pick id like to find ways to address some of the systemic inequalities both inside and outside of the academy by mariam moeen ‘19" " luis martinez named 2020 pat tillman scholarthe geography phd student is one of 60 veterans to receive the honor nation-wide this yearnov 9 2020luis martinez 18 a phd student in texas a&m universitys department of geography was named a 2020 pat tillman scholar earlier this year martinez joined the us marine corps in 2013 trained and served in geospatial intelligence (geoint) i want to take the knowledge i acquired from my service to educate and mentor the future of geoint and improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community martinez said  our newest tillman scholars join a community committed to leadership through action in these turbulent times values-based leadership is needed more than ever said dan futrell ceo of the pat tillman foundation these 60 men and women exhibited that leadership throughout their military service and show incredible potential pat tillman scholars receive scholarship funding professional development and networking support from the foundation being selected as a tillman scholar is both an honor and a privilege martinez said i aim to carry on pats legacy of being dedicated to something bigger than myself moving forward my goals are to improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community while educating and mentoring the future of geoint service and scholarship growing up in a military family martinez said he always knew he wanted to serve in may 2013 he enlisted in the us marine corps upon completing recruit training and marine combat training he reported to marine corps detachment ft belvoir to begin the basic geospatial intelligence specialist (bgis) course he graduated in may 2014 with the highest overall gpa as well as earning the title of bgis honor graduate upon graduation martinez reported to 1st intelligence battalion at camp pendleton california where he would spend the remainder of his servicemartinez and his father (photo courtesy of luis martinez)luis martinez receiving a promotion to corporal (e-4) (photo courtesy of luis martinez)martinez was selected as a tactical intelligence instructor for weapons and tactics instructor course (wti) at marine aviation weapons and tactics squadron one (mawts-1) he later was selected to support alpha company 1st reconnaissance battalion where he discovered his passion for geospatial intelligence (geoint) and noticed critical gaps in military geospatial capabilities he also earned a masters degree in information technology and homeland security management from the university of maryland university college in 2017  while still in the marine corps martinez visited texas a&m for a football game to see an old friend after visiting the campus he fell in love with aggieland and decided to apply to the online master of geoscience program once he was admitted into the program martinez completed most of his degree requirements while still active duty after completing his service in the marine corps luis finished earning his master's of geoscience degree in geographic information science and technology (gist) from texas a&m in 2018 subterranean mapping research today martinez is combining his marine corps-trained skillset with knowledge from his texas a&m graduate studies to conduct research in mapping dangerous subterranean environments the goal of my phd research is to map gps-denied environments to improve situational awareness in military operations he said specifically caves tunnels and other types of underground networks for decades the us military has worked to improve its capability to navigate underground tunnels and caves martinez said that inferiorly equipped forces can go underground and use both their knowledge of the subterranean environment and the us militarys lack of knowledge to their advantage in 2019 martinez received the national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship through the us department of defense which provides funding support for his research in subterranean mapping about the pat tillman foundation this year 60 us service members veterans and military spouses were chosen as tillman scholars in recognition of their service and leadership potential the newly selected class will receive scholarship funding to pursue higher education and continue their service in the fields of healthcare business law public service stem education and the humanities  founded in 2008 the tillman scholars program supports us active duty service members veterans and military spouses by investing in education and professional development the pat tillman foundation provides academic scholarships a national network and professional development opportunities to all recipients to date ptf has invested more than $20 million in scholar support and named nearly 700 tillman scholars at more than 100 academic institutions nationwide  by leslie lee 09 " "luis martinez 18 a phd student in texas a&m universitys department of geography was named a 2020 pat tillman scholar earlier this year martinez joined the us marine corps in 2013 trained and served in geospatial intelligence (geoint) i want to take the knowledge i acquired from my service to educate and mentor the future of geoint and improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community martinez said  our newest tillman scholars join a community committed to leadership through action in these turbulent times values-based leadership is needed more than ever said dan futrell ceo of the pat tillman foundation these 60 men and women exhibited that leadership throughout their military service and show incredible potential pat tillman scholars receive scholarship funding professional development and networking support from the foundation being selected as a tillman scholar is both an honor and a privilege martinez said i aim to carry on pats legacy of being dedicated to something bigger than myself moving forward my goals are to improve geospatial capabilities for the us military and intelligence community while educating and mentoring the future of geoint service and scholarship growing up in a military family martinez said he always knew he wanted to serve in may 2013 he enlisted in the us marine corps upon completing recruit training and marine combat training he reported to marine corps detachment ft belvoir to begin the basic geospatial intelligence specialist (bgis) course he graduated in may 2014 with the highest overall gpa as well as earning the title of bgis honor graduate upon graduation martinez reported to 1st intelligence battalion at camp pendleton california where he would spend the remainder of his service" martinez and his father (photo courtesy of luis martinez)luis martinez receiving a promotion to corporal (e-4) (photo courtesy of luis martinez) "martinez was selected as a tactical intelligence instructor for weapons and tactics instructor course (wti) at marine aviation weapons and tactics squadron one (mawts-1) he later was selected to support alpha company 1st reconnaissance battalion where he discovered his passion for geospatial intelligence (geoint) and noticed critical gaps in military geospatial capabilities he also earned a masters degree in information technology and homeland security management from the university of maryland university college in 2017  while still in the marine corps martinez visited texas a&m for a football game to see an old friend after visiting the campus he fell in love with aggieland and decided to apply to the online master of geoscience program once he was admitted into the program martinez completed most of his degree requirements while still active duty after completing his service in the marine corps luis finished earning his master's of geoscience degree in geographic information science and technology (gist) from texas a&m in 2018 subterranean mapping research today martinez is combining his marine corps-trained skillset with knowledge from his texas a&m graduate studies to conduct research in mapping dangerous subterranean environments the goal of my phd research is to map gps-denied environments to improve situational awareness in military operations he said specifically caves tunnels and other types of underground networks for decades the us military has worked to improve its capability to navigate underground tunnels and caves martinez said that inferiorly equipped forces can go underground and use both their knowledge of the subterranean environment and the us militarys lack of knowledge to their advantage in 2019 martinez received the national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship through the us department of defense which provides funding support for his research in subterranean mapping about the pat tillman foundation this year 60 us service members veterans and military spouses were chosen as tillman scholars in recognition of their service and leadership potential the newly selected class will receive scholarship funding to pursue higher education and continue their service in the fields of healthcare business law public service stem education and the humanities  founded in 2008 the tillman scholars program supports us active duty service members veterans and military spouses by investing in education and professional development the pat tillman foundation provides academic scholarships a national network and professional development opportunities to all recipients to date ptf has invested more than $20 million in scholar support and named nearly 700 tillman scholars at more than 100 academic institutions nationwide  by leslie lee 09" " study: how we look at our climate records needs to changean international team including a texas a&m researcher concluded that to predict future climate trends more attention is needed regarding historical records from millions of years agonov 9 2020past climate models may help predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheetsan international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university researcher has conducted a study showing that models used to predict climate change may be not be accurate because they do not include sufficient data from past climates in their findings dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography and fellow researchers have had their work published in the current issue of science magazine the team found that past climate information – called paleoclimate – is not included in current studies and should be used to ensure accurate future climate predictions we urge the climate model developer community to pay attention to the past and actively involve it in predicting the future said lead researcher dr jessica tierney of the university of arizona if your model can simulate past climates accurately it will likely do a much better job of getting future scenarios right zhang said that historical weather data only goes back a few hundred years but we need millions of years in time to search for potential ‘analogs of our current day climate change for decades climate scientists have relied on weather records to compile their climate forecasts using water temperatures wind speeds cloud formations and other methods including weather satellites but zhang and the team found that while these methods work well with some historical climates they do not present a clear picture from earths long-ago geological past including past climate models may help us predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets zhang said paleoclimate is what has already happened and we do not expect future climates to follow patterns exactly he said but paleoclimate studies can show us the important principles of how the earths climate system operates which would be very insightful to predict future climate change the study also found that greenhouse gasses – especially carbon dioxide – are especially important in measuring past climate studies the researchers discovered that while earths atmosphere has experienced carbon dioxide levels much higher than todays level of about 400 parts per million there is no time in recorded history that matches the current speed at which humans are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions the earth has a rich history and in particularly climate history zhang said there are 45 billion years for our disposal our study shows that the climate models that incorporate the knowledge obtained from paleoclimate will be better positioned to predict future climate change the study was funded by nasa and the heising-simons foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " past climate models may help predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets "an international team of scientists that includes a texas a&m university researcher has conducted a study showing that models used to predict climate change may be not be accurate because they do not include sufficient data from past climates in their findings dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography and fellow researchers have had their work published in the current issue of science magazine the team found that past climate information – called paleoclimate – is not included in current studies and should be used to ensure accurate future climate predictions we urge the climate model developer community to pay attention to the past and actively involve it in predicting the future said lead researcher dr jessica tierney of the university of arizona if your model can simulate past climates accurately it will likely do a much better job of getting future scenarios right zhang said that historical weather data only goes back a few hundred years but we need millions of years in time to search for potential ‘analogs of our current day climate change for decades climate scientists have relied on weather records to compile their climate forecasts using water temperatures wind speeds cloud formations and other methods including weather satellites but zhang and the team found that while these methods work well with some historical climates they do not present a clear picture from earths long-ago geological past including past climate models may help us predict future events such as prolonged rainfall or loss of ice sheets zhang said paleoclimate is what has already happened and we do not expect future climates to follow patterns exactly he said but paleoclimate studies can show us the important principles of how the earths climate system operates which would be very insightful to predict future climate change the study also found that greenhouse gasses – especially carbon dioxide – are especially important in measuring past climate studies the researchers discovered that while earths atmosphere has experienced carbon dioxide levels much higher than todays level of about 400 parts per million there is no time in recorded history that matches the current speed at which humans are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions the earth has a rich history and in particularly climate history zhang said there are 45 billion years for our disposal our study shows that the climate models that incorporate the knowledge obtained from paleoclimate will be better positioned to predict future climate change the study was funded by nasa and the heising-simons foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " " meet elizabeth kenderes new geology and geophysics instructional assistant professordr kenderes joined the department of geology and geophysics this past summeroct 30 2020dr kenderes poses next to an outcrop of spherulites in the nez perce creek lava flow a key stop while teaching field camp students about the geology of yellowstone national park wyoming (photo courtesy of kenderes)this summer dr elizabeth kenderes joined texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics as an instructional assistant professor  we are incredibly lucky to have dr kenderes join our department said department head dr julie newman dr kenderes brings us her interest and experience in engaged online learning project-based learning and flipped classrooms photo taken from dr kenderess graduate research field site the white-inyo range in central-eastern california looking north-west over owen's valley at the eastern sierra nevada mountain range (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes pictured while serving as a graduate teaching assistant on a field trip to northern spain photograph taken at cap de creus in girona spain after a field lecture covering pseudo-boudins pegmatites and sheath folds in the central pyrenees mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes)journey to teaching and research kenderes originally hails from the chicago illinois suburban area she is a first generation college student and earned a bachelor's of science in earth science from northeastern illinois university (niu)   niu is a hispanic serving institution with a project-based curriculum that kenderes credits with influencing her teaching philosophy during her senior undergraduate year a faculty mentor encouraged her to consider going to graduate school  with that encouragement kenderes earned a masters and then a phd from the university of missouri columbia while working with dr peter nabelek her doctorate research focused on mesozoic granitoid plutons in the white-inyo range in eastern california and its implications for changes in lithospheric structure while in graduate school dr kenderes served as a teaching assistant for a course that included an 18-day field course covering the geology of northern spain this picture was taken in the parque natural somiedo in asturias spain which is in the central cantabrian mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes)inclusive teaching at texas a&m  newman said that moving forward kenderes will not only engage students in active learning but she will serve as a resource for our department as we promote student centered and inclusive teaching practices kenderes is very well-versed in canvas and is helping department faculty and graduate student teaching assistants make the transition to canvas through workshops and meetings moving forward she has other ideas to help classes leverage the canvas teaching tools  im really excited to be here kenderes said im really impressed with everything im seeing so far beyond the classroom kenderes is continuing to work on publishing data surrounding her graduate research on the white-inyo range while also conducting research on formative assessment and how it is used in the classroomdr kenderes pictured teaching an igneous petrology class at knob lick missouri knob lick is part of the rim of a precambrian age caldera in south-eastern missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes working on the microprobe at washington university in st louis missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes)moving forward in teaching and outreach kenderess goal in teaching is to engage students in the standard geology courses as well as create new courses that non-majors can take and see how geology is important to everyone she said  currently kenderes is teaching two online sections of the geol 101 principles of geology course one synchronous and one asynchronous  my goal for students from this class is when they see posts on social media or in the news that this class gives them the tools to think critically and further investigate anything they see before accepting and believing it kenderes said  [after taking my classes] they not only have an understanding of how they interact with the world they live in but [also they have] experience with using the scientific method in everyday life   in the future she plans on also teaching disasters in society and is currently developing a course with the working title great mysteries of the earth that will look at folklore throughout different societies and how they relate to known geologic principles  in addition kenderes was one of a select number of faculty chosen for the center for teaching excellence led program developed by the national association of system heads in partnership with the association of college and university educators (nash-acue)  nash-acue is a rigorous faculty development program that helps facilitate engagement in high-impact evidence-based practices and develop tools to help students integrate key learning experiences within the classroom and beyond goals of the course include improving student achievement and closing-equity gaps  i have a lot of teaching philosophies about project-based learning and inclusion but there is never enough time to properly implement them kenderes said this program will be useful in helping me implement these ideas without reducing content in a way that's destructive to learning im also looking forward to sharing my training [with the] the departments faculty and graduate teaching assistants to help the department as a whole  dr kenderes is also the faculty advisor for the newly formed department chapter of the national association of black geoscientists  by ali snell " dr kenderes poses next to an outcrop of spherulites in the nez perce creek lava flow a key stop while teaching field camp students about the geology of yellowstone national park wyoming (photo courtesy of kenderes) "this summer dr elizabeth kenderes joined texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics as an instructional assistant professor  we are incredibly lucky to have dr kenderes join our department said department head dr julie newman dr kenderes brings us her interest and experience in engaged online learning project-based learning and flipped classrooms " photo taken from dr kenderess graduate research field site the white-inyo range in central-eastern california looking north-west over owen's valley at the eastern sierra nevada mountain range (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes pictured while serving as a graduate teaching assistant on a field trip to northern spain photograph taken at cap de creus in girona spain after a field lecture covering pseudo-boudins pegmatites and sheath folds in the central pyrenees mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes) "journey to teaching and research kenderes originally hails from the chicago illinois suburban area she is a first generation college student and earned a bachelor's of science in earth science from northeastern illinois university (niu)   niu is a hispanic serving institution with a project-based curriculum that kenderes credits with influencing her teaching philosophy during her senior undergraduate year a faculty mentor encouraged her to consider going to graduate school  with that encouragement kenderes earned a masters and then a phd from the university of missouri columbia while working with dr peter nabelek her doctorate research focused on mesozoic granitoid plutons in the white-inyo range in eastern california and its implications for changes in lithospheric structure " while in graduate school dr kenderes served as a teaching assistant for a course that included an 18-day field course covering the geology of northern spain this picture was taken in the parque natural somiedo in asturias spain which is in the central cantabrian mountains (photo courtesy of kenderes) "inclusive teaching at texas a&m  newman said that moving forward kenderes will not only engage students in active learning but she will serve as a resource for our department as we promote student centered and inclusive teaching practices kenderes is very well-versed in canvas and is helping department faculty and graduate student teaching assistants make the transition to canvas through workshops and meetings moving forward she has other ideas to help classes leverage the canvas teaching tools  im really excited to be here kenderes said im really impressed with everything im seeing so far beyond the classroom kenderes is continuing to work on publishing data surrounding her graduate research on the white-inyo range while also conducting research on formative assessment and how it is used in the classroom" dr kenderes pictured teaching an igneous petrology class at knob lick missouri knob lick is part of the rim of a precambrian age caldera in south-eastern missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes)dr kenderes working on the microprobe at washington university in st louis missouri (photo courtesy of kenderes) "moving forward in teaching and outreach kenderess goal in teaching is to engage students in the standard geology courses as well as create new courses that non-majors can take and see how geology is important to everyone she said  currently kenderes is teaching two online sections of the geol 101 principles of geology course one synchronous and one asynchronous  my goal for students from this class is when they see posts on social media or in the news that this class gives them the tools to think critically and further investigate anything they see before accepting and believing it kenderes said  [after taking my classes] they not only have an understanding of how they interact with the world they live in but [also they have] experience with using the scientific method in everyday life   in the future she plans on also teaching disasters in society and is currently developing a course with the working title great mysteries of the earth that will look at folklore throughout different societies and how they relate to known geologic principles  in addition kenderes was one of a select number of faculty chosen for the center for teaching excellence led program developed by the national association of system heads in partnership with the association of college and university educators (nash-acue)  nash-acue is a rigorous faculty development program that helps facilitate engagement in high-impact evidence-based practices and develop tools to help students integrate key learning experiences within the classroom and beyond goals of the course include improving student achievement and closing-equity gaps  i have a lot of teaching philosophies about project-based learning and inclusion but there is never enough time to properly implement them kenderes said this program will be useful in helping me implement these ideas without reducing content in a way that's destructive to learning im also looking forward to sharing my training [with the] the departments faculty and graduate teaching assistants to help the department as a whole  dr kenderes is also the faculty advisor for the newly formed department chapter of the national association of black geoscientists  by ali snell " " donald hood wins award at texas a&m postdoctoral research symposiumthe department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate received 2nd place in the flash-talk presentation competition at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposiumoct 30 2020dr hood pictued in front of a saturn v rocket at the nasa marshall space flight center huntsville al his team collaborated with nasa to develop the code he presented on at the postdoctoral research symposium (photo courtesy of hood)dr donald hood department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate won second place in the outstanding flash-talk presentation category at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposium  the symposium was held virtually on sept 23 with over 40 postdoctoral participants presenting their research to an audience of 162 fellow postdocs faculty members and staff from 17 institutions six postdoctoral researchers received awards in the two categories outstanding flash-talk presentation and outstanding poster presentation hood presented his research on the martian boulder automatic recognition system (mbars) a toolset he developed to detect and measure boulders on the martian surface  the ability to quickly and consistently measure boulders on planetary surfaces not just mars is very powerful for a number of applications he said by knowing the location and size of boulders we can better understand the geologic processes that create them (ie meteor impacts) as well as the erosive processes that break them down in addition boulders are a major hazard for landing and rover operations and landing sites are thoroughly inspected for potential hazards before missions are launched hood said automating this process has numerous benefits one of which is that this analysis can now be done faster even as the craft is landing allowing the craft to pick the safest landing site i participated in the symposium as a way to encourage myself to keep moving forward with the research among other priorities hood said this has been a great reminder that you never know which opportunity you take is going to turn into something bigger so keep your eyes open! the symposium was organized by the texas a&m postdoctoral association the health science center postdoctoral association and the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences postdoctoral association    by ali snell " dr hood pictued in front of a saturn v rocket at the nasa marshall space flight center huntsville al his team collaborated with nasa to develop the code he presented on at the postdoctoral research symposium (photo courtesy of hood) "dr donald hood department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate won second place in the outstanding flash-talk presentation category at texas a&m universitys fourth annual postdoctoral research symposium  the symposium was held virtually on sept 23 with over 40 postdoctoral participants presenting their research to an audience of 162 fellow postdocs faculty members and staff from 17 institutions six postdoctoral researchers received awards in the two categories outstanding flash-talk presentation and outstanding poster presentation hood presented his research on the martian boulder automatic recognition system (mbars) a toolset he developed to detect and measure boulders on the martian surface  the ability to quickly and consistently measure boulders on planetary surfaces not just mars is very powerful for a number of applications he said by knowing the location and size of boulders we can better understand the geologic processes that create them (ie meteor impacts) as well as the erosive processes that break them down in addition boulders are a major hazard for landing and rover operations and landing sites are thoroughly inspected for potential hazards before missions are launched hood said automating this process has numerous benefits one of which is that this analysis can now be done faster even as the craft is landing allowing the craft to pick the safest landing site i participated in the symposium as a way to encourage myself to keep moving forward with the research among other priorities hood said this has been a great reminder that you never know which opportunity you take is going to turn into something bigger so keep your eyes open! the symposium was organized by the texas a&m postdoctoral association the health science center postdoctoral association and the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences postdoctoral association    by ali snell" " texas a&m geosciences announces 2020 distinguished achievement awardsfour outstanding geoscientists will receive the awards during the virtual distinguished achievement awards gala nov 6oct 26 2020bill read 71 76 dr paula bontempi 95 each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences virtual distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held online nov 6 at 5:30 pm bill read 71 76 bill read 71 76 is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal read received his bs and ms in meteorology from texas a&m in 1971 and 1976 respectively his decades of experience serving in the meteorology field include flying into and forecasting tropical cyclones and other severe weather events for the us navy and the national weather service (nws) working as a senior forecaster in the nws fort worth office and serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the nws houston-galveston office for 15 years he rose through the ranks of the nws and was named director of the national hurricane center (nhc) in 2008 serving through 2012 read has since worked as a hurricane consultant to major television networks and shared his advice and expertise with countless students and texas a&m classes paula bontempi 95 dr paula bontempi dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award after earning a ms in oceanography from texas a&m in 1995 she obtained her phd from the university of rhode island in 2001 and then served as an assistant professor of oceanography in the university of southern mississippis department of marine sciences from 2003 to 2019 bontempi worked at nasa as a program scientist focusing on ocean biology and biogeochemsitry in the earth science division at nasa headquarters she rose in leadership within nasas earth science division serving as acting deputy director of the earth science division in 2019 managing the agencys entire earth science portfolio in august 2020 she began serving as the dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island(logo courtesy of agilent)michael gutierrez 13agilent agilent has been awarded the geosciences innovator award a leading company in advancing geosciences research and education agilents contributions to analytical instruments empower advances in critical environmental and earth system research agilent technology continuously advances the state-of-the-art in precision particularly for compounds found in very low abundances in complex marine atmospheric and earth system sample matrices agilents mass spectrometers deliver ultra-high sensitivity and enable accurate quantification of trace levels of natural and anthropogenic compounds in the atmosphere ocean and terrestrial ecosystems said dr yina liu assistant professor of oceanography agilents advanced data analysis pipeline has significantly advanced untargeted workflow permitting geoscientists to look into unknown compounds in the earth system  michael gutierrez 13  michael gutierrez 13 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award  gutierrez earned his bs in geology from texas a&m in 2013 after an internship with bays exploration he earned his first full-time position with exxonmobil development company in january 2014 he later joined the exxonmobil exploration companys gulf of mexico group and in april 2019 he joined the newly formed exxonmobil upstream business development company  gutierrez led in the creation of the exxonmobil aggies geosciences scholarship endowment which provides scholarship support for exceptional students in any texas a&m geosciences degree program he is also one of the youngest professionals to every serve on the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory committee (geodac) for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09 " "each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science four exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences virtual distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held online nov 6 at 5:30 pm bill read 71 76 bill read 71 76 is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal read received his bs and ms in meteorology from texas a&m in 1971 and 1976 respectively his decades of experience serving in the meteorology field include flying into and forecasting tropical cyclones and other severe weather events for the us navy and the national weather service (nws) working as a senior forecaster in the nws fort worth office and serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the nws houston-galveston office for 15 years he rose through the ranks of the nws and was named director of the national hurricane center (nhc) in 2008 serving through 2012 read has since worked as a hurricane consultant to major television networks and shared his advice and expertise with countless students and texas a&m classes paula bontempi 95 dr paula bontempi dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award after earning a ms in oceanography from texas a&m in 1995 she obtained her phd from the university of rhode island in 2001 and then served as an assistant professor of oceanography in the university of southern mississippis department of marine sciences from 2003 to 2019 bontempi worked at nasa as a program scientist focusing on ocean biology and biogeochemsitry in the earth science division at nasa headquarters she rose in leadership within nasas earth science division serving as acting deputy director of the earth science division in 2019 managing the agencys entire earth science portfolio in august 2020 she began serving as the dean of the graduate school of oceanography at the university of rhode island" "agilent agilent has been awarded the geosciences innovator award a leading company in advancing geosciences research and education agilents contributions to analytical instruments empower advances in critical environmental and earth system research agilent technology continuously advances the state-of-the-art in precision particularly for compounds found in very low abundances in complex marine atmospheric and earth system sample matrices agilents mass spectrometers deliver ultra-high sensitivity and enable accurate quantification of trace levels of natural and anthropogenic compounds in the atmosphere ocean and terrestrial ecosystems said dr yina liu assistant professor of oceanography agilents advanced data analysis pipeline has significantly advanced untargeted workflow permitting geoscientists to look into unknown compounds in the earth system  michael gutierrez 13  michael gutierrez 13 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award  gutierrez earned his bs in geology from texas a&m in 2013 after an internship with bays exploration he earned his first full-time position with exxonmobil development company in january 2014 he later joined the exxonmobil exploration companys gulf of mexico group and in april 2019 he joined the newly formed exxonmobil upstream business development company  gutierrez led in the creation of the exxonmobil aggies geosciences scholarship endowment which provides scholarship support for exceptional students in any texas a&m geosciences degree program he is also one of the youngest professionals to every serve on the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory committee (geodac) for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee 09" " free film screening and discussions of picture a scientist open to texas a&m communitythe film will be screened for free oct 27 and geosciences dean dr debbie thomas will co-lead a panel discussion of the film oct 28 followed by a fieldwork panel discussion oct 29 co-organized by the international ocean discovery programoct 21 2020images courtesy of picture a scientistfrom small laboratories to spectacular field stations the film picture a scientist chronicles women scientists leading the way for new generations of researchers picture a scientist was an official selection of the 2020 tribeca film festival and chronicles researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists  a virtual screening of the film ""picture a scientist"" will be held for the texas a&m university community oct 27 when the film will be available for viewing online for free anytime from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm registration is required for the free event sponsored by texas a&m advance the film features biologist dr nancy hopkins chemist dr raychelle burks and geologist dr jane willenbring who lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences along the way viewers encounter scientific luminaries including social scientists neuroscientists and psychologists who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse equitable and open to all following the film screening there will be two virtual panel discussions over the next two days:  oct 28 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm texas a&m advance will host a panel discussion with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m; dr mary e bryk associate dean for academic affairs for the college of agriculture and life sciences at texas a&m; and dr marcetta darensbourg distinguished professor in the department of chemistry registration is required for this event oct 29 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm the international ocean discovery program (iodp) at texas a&m will host a panel discussion focused on fieldwork gender and diversity in the earth sciences this panel will include: dr jen biddle associate professor university of delaware; dr hiroko kitajima associate professor texas a&m university; dr jennifer middleton postdoctoral research scientist lamont-doherty earth observatory; dr suzanne oconnell professor wesleyan university; and dr dawn wright chief scientist esri a scientist on iodp expedition 369 (photo by iodp jrso) iodp expedition 378 leadership: ursula röhl co-chief scientist; lisa crowder laboratory officer; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief scientist aboard the joides resolution (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso) after sailing on and leading iodp expedition 378 the first science party to sail on the joides resolution in which the three primary leadership roles as well as the lab officer all were filled by women and the majority of the entire science party was female many scientists in the texas a&m and iodp communities have sought to continue diversity and inclusion efforts together one of the resulting projects was partnering with texas a&m advance and colleagues to help organize the picture a scientist field work discussion these events are open to all texas a&m university faculty staff and students as well as members of the bryan-college station community the screening and panel discussions are part of the yearlong 10th anniversary celebration of advance at texas a&m university  by leslie lee 09 " "from small laboratories to spectacular field stations the film picture a scientist chronicles women scientists leading the way for new generations of researchers picture a scientist was an official selection of the 2020 tribeca film festival and chronicles researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists  a virtual screening of the film ""picture a scientist"" will be held for the texas a&m university community oct 27 when the film will be available for viewing online for free anytime from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm registration is required for the free event sponsored by texas a&m advance the film features biologist dr nancy hopkins chemist dr raychelle burks and geologist dr jane willenbring who lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences along the way viewers encounter scientific luminaries including social scientists neuroscientists and psychologists who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse equitable and open to all following the film screening there will be two virtual panel discussions over the next two days:  oct 28 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm texas a&m advance will host a panel discussion with dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m; dr mary e bryk associate dean for academic affairs for the college of agriculture and life sciences at texas a&m; and dr marcetta darensbourg distinguished professor in the department of chemistry registration is required for this event oct 29 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm the international ocean discovery program (iodp) at texas a&m will host a panel discussion focused on fieldwork gender and diversity in the earth sciences this panel will include: dr jen biddle associate professor university of delaware; dr hiroko kitajima associate professor texas a&m university; dr jennifer middleton postdoctoral research scientist lamont-doherty earth observatory; dr suzanne oconnell professor wesleyan university; and dr dawn wright chief scientist esri " a scientist on iodp expedition 369 (photo by iodp jrso) iodp expedition 378 leadership: ursula röhl co-chief scientist; lisa crowder laboratory officer; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief scientist aboard the joides resolution (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso)  "after sailing on and leading iodp expedition 378 the first science party to sail on the joides resolution in which the three primary leadership roles as well as the lab officer all were filled by women and the majority of the entire science party was female many scientists in the texas a&m and iodp communities have sought to continue diversity and inclusion efforts together one of the resulting projects was partnering with texas a&m advance and colleagues to help organize the picture a scientist field work discussion these events are open to all texas a&m university faculty staff and students as well as members of the bryan-college station community the screening and panel discussions are part of the yearlong 10th anniversary celebration of advance at texas a&m university  by leslie lee 09" " drilling into the pastresearchers share an inside look at the impact of the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratoryoct 21 2020alyssa schultz '17 geography phd student in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation)jane and the late ken williams '45 excitedly stand in the laboratory during its construction phaseits not an exaggeration to say that alyssa schultzs life was changed by her experiences in the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory it all began with fish teeth schultz 17 was majoring in wildlife and fisheries sciences at texas a&m university she knew she wanted to pursue an advanced degree when she completed her bachelors though her area of academic interest was hazy no matter what scientific specialty she chose lab experience would be essential so she went to work as a research assistant in the williams lab her job was to sort through samples of deep-sea sediment searching for the tiny dagger-like teeth of fish from the cretaceous period squinting through a microscope schultz painstakingly isolated the teeth with a miniscule static-charged brush theres a lot of isotopic information in teeth and other marine materials schultz explained using a mass spectrometer and other equipment in the williams lab these sediments could be analyzed to reconstruct a picture of ancient ocean conditions including acidity temperature and the movement of currents from different time periods the samples may have looked like an unremarkable tube of ashy powder to the untrained eye but to schultz stepping into the lab and leaning over the microscope was like gazing through the veil of time to a period when massive reptiles ruled the land and seas like a fish she was hooked life under water schultz added an oceanography minor to her degree before applying to the phd program in the college of geosciences today she is studying paleoceanography and paleoclimatology examining ocean life of the past to gain a clearer picture of what the future holds her current research looks at information contained within 4 000-year-old deep-sea corals these incredibly long-lived organisms are under threat from increasing temperatures and acidification of the oceans their skeletons are literally dissolving schultz said schultz explores the isotopes of boron from core samples of the corals which live more than 50 meters below the surface in the dark and cold regions of the ocean boron acts like a fingerprint for ph over time so we can use that data to reconstruct ocean acidity over the lifespan of the coral she explained we look at how the ocean has responded to different climatic events in the past and use that information to better understand what our ocean might do in regard to current climatic change those findings can better inform policy conservation efforts and ocean managementkimber de salvo '18 working in the lab (photo by chris mouchyn)alyssa schultz '17 in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation)schultz noted that polar ice caps are melting sea levels are rising and corals that have been alive for millennia are being destroyed while some might find this type of research alarming she is undaunted i am motivated to do this work because i see its impact she said i want to help i would feel discouraged if i wasn't doing something a climatic contribution climate science like schultzs research would not happen at texas a&m without the williams lab  since it opened in 2008 the lab has been the site of hundreds of interdisciplinary studies on topics from biomedical research to plate tectonics the work conducted there has wide-ranging health impacts for humans animals and the planet  ken williams emphasized geological expertise in oilfield exploration during his career in the petroleum industry long before it was fashionable he once drilled the ground for oil today his legacy is that others can drill it for insights utilizing tools in the lab that bears his name those doing the drilling include dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences she recently led an expedition off the coast of new zealand to collect seafloor samples that are now being mined for information in the williams lab her husband dr brent miller is also on the faculty in the college of geosciences this lab has made our careers possible said thomas who noted that several top faculty members have joined the college in part because of the potential for research available through the williams lab including dr franco marcantonio who currently holds the ken williams chair in ocean drilling  thomas and miller were instrumental in the process of making the lab a reality 12 years ago and thomas is very proud of the work accomplished in the lab since this lab places us in the league of the best programs in the country she said it has put texas a&m university on the map for geosciences and climate science it has definitely lived up to its promise beyond mere reputation enhancement the lab has enormous practical value the research that has been done here has transformed our understanding of a lot of geologic history thomas added the colleges work has never been more urgent the scientific community recognizes that in order to understand the global warming scenarios into which were headed we really have to study the geologic past at intervals of time known to have been as warm or warmer than what is predicted for the next century said thomas whose latest research looks at such a period 50 million years ago in the lab the sediments thomas collected off the coast of new zealand from that time period will be dissolved in acid and analyzed to determine how much of certain elements are present everything must be done in an exceptionally sterile environment to achieve accurate results thomas explained researchers must wear protective suits head covers special shoes and gloves its similar to the preparation necessary for extraterrestrial missions she said the isotopes they are seeking occur in such minute abundances in the samples that even the trace amount of lead in the dust in ones hair could throw off the experiment the air in the lab is filtered through fume hoods to create an ultra-clean environment the facility also features separate rooms for wet sample preparation rock crushing and mineral separation the lab space is designed for several researchers to be working at once a good thing too as it is a high-use facility constantly in demand by graduate students as well as faculty from across campus the gift that made this research facility possible was a $2 million commitment from the late ken williams and his wife of more than 50 years jane an initial cash gift enabled the construction of the lab and was followed a few years later by an estate gift that provides ongoing support this was a truly unique and transformational gift because it was the first gift in the college that not only established a state-of-the-art laboratory but that also provided the excellence funds that are absolutely critical for maintaining it thomas shared the excellence fund allows the lab to thrive in perpetuity thomas recalled meeting with the williamses when they visited campus during construction of the lab the whole family was so excited about what the gift enabled us to do she recalled mr williams was such a kind generous genuinely-engaged aggie he wanted to help us do even more excellent work thanks to his gift that important work will continue for many years to come with texas a&ms college of geosciences leading the way by chrystal houston texas a&m foundation " alyssa schultz '17 geography phd student in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation)jane and the late ken williams '45 excitedly stand in the laboratory during its construction phase "its not an exaggeration to say that alyssa schultzs life was changed by her experiences in the r ken williams 45 radiogenic isotope geosciences laboratory it all began with fish teeth schultz 17 was majoring in wildlife and fisheries sciences at texas a&m university she knew she wanted to pursue an advanced degree when she completed her bachelors though her area of academic interest was hazy no matter what scientific specialty she chose lab experience would be essential so she went to work as a research assistant in the williams lab her job was to sort through samples of deep-sea sediment searching for the tiny dagger-like teeth of fish from the cretaceous period squinting through a microscope schultz painstakingly isolated the teeth with a miniscule static-charged brush theres a lot of isotopic information in teeth and other marine materials schultz explained using a mass spectrometer and other equipment in the williams lab these sediments could be analyzed to reconstruct a picture of ancient ocean conditions including acidity temperature and the movement of currents from different time periods the samples may have looked like an unremarkable tube of ashy powder to the untrained eye but to schultz stepping into the lab and leaning over the microscope was like gazing through the veil of time to a period when massive reptiles ruled the land and seas like a fish she was hooked life under water schultz added an oceanography minor to her degree before applying to the phd program in the college of geosciences today she is studying paleoceanography and paleoclimatology examining ocean life of the past to gain a clearer picture of what the future holds her current research looks at information contained within 4 000-year-old deep-sea corals these incredibly long-lived organisms are under threat from increasing temperatures and acidification of the oceans their skeletons are literally dissolving schultz said schultz explores the isotopes of boron from core samples of the corals which live more than 50 meters below the surface in the dark and cold regions of the ocean boron acts like a fingerprint for ph over time so we can use that data to reconstruct ocean acidity over the lifespan of the coral she explained we look at how the ocean has responded to different climatic events in the past and use that information to better understand what our ocean might do in regard to current climatic change those findings can better inform policy conservation efforts and ocean management" kimber de salvo '18 working in the lab (photo by chris mouchyn)alyssa schultz '17 in the lab (photo by the texas a&m foundation) "schultz noted that polar ice caps are melting sea levels are rising and corals that have been alive for millennia are being destroyed while some might find this type of research alarming she is undaunted i am motivated to do this work because i see its impact she said i want to help i would feel discouraged if i wasn't doing something a climatic contribution climate science like schultzs research would not happen at texas a&m without the williams lab  since it opened in 2008 the lab has been the site of hundreds of interdisciplinary studies on topics from biomedical research to plate tectonics the work conducted there has wide-ranging health impacts for humans animals and the planet  ken williams emphasized geological expertise in oilfield exploration during his career in the petroleum industry long before it was fashionable he once drilled the ground for oil today his legacy is that others can drill it for insights utilizing tools in the lab that bears his name those doing the drilling include dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences she recently led an expedition off the coast of new zealand to collect seafloor samples that are now being mined for information in the williams lab her husband dr brent miller is also on the faculty in the college of geosciences this lab has made our careers possible said thomas who noted that several top faculty members have joined the college in part because of the potential for research available through the williams lab including dr franco marcantonio who currently holds the ken williams chair in ocean drilling  thomas and miller were instrumental in the process of making the lab a reality 12 years ago and thomas is very proud of the work accomplished in the lab since this lab places us in the league of the best programs in the country she said it has put texas a&m university on the map for geosciences and climate science it has definitely lived up to its promise beyond mere reputation enhancement the lab has enormous practical value the research that has been done here has transformed our understanding of a lot of geologic history thomas added the colleges work has never been more urgent the scientific community recognizes that in order to understand the global warming scenarios into which were headed we really have to study the geologic past at intervals of time known to have been as warm or warmer than what is predicted for the next century said thomas whose latest research looks at such a period 50 million years ago in the lab the sediments thomas collected off the coast of new zealand from that time period will be dissolved in acid and analyzed to determine how much of certain elements are present everything must be done in an exceptionally sterile environment to achieve accurate results thomas explained researchers must wear protective suits head covers special shoes and gloves its similar to the preparation necessary for extraterrestrial missions she said the isotopes they are seeking occur in such minute abundances in the samples that even the trace amount of lead in the dust in ones hair could throw off the experiment the air in the lab is filtered through fume hoods to create an ultra-clean environment the facility also features separate rooms for wet sample preparation rock crushing and mineral separation the lab space is designed for several researchers to be working at once a good thing too as it is a high-use facility constantly in demand by graduate students as well as faculty from across campus the gift that made this research facility possible was a $2 million commitment from the late ken williams and his wife of more than 50 years jane an initial cash gift enabled the construction of the lab and was followed a few years later by an estate gift that provides ongoing support this was a truly unique and transformational gift because it was the first gift in the college that not only established a state-of-the-art laboratory but that also provided the excellence funds that are absolutely critical for maintaining it thomas shared the excellence fund allows the lab to thrive in perpetuity thomas recalled meeting with the williamses when they visited campus during construction of the lab the whole family was so excited about what the gift enabled us to do she recalled mr williams was such a kind generous genuinely-engaged aggie he wanted to help us do even more excellent work thanks to his gift that important work will continue for many years to come with texas a&ms college of geosciences leading the way by chrystal houston texas a&m foundation" " texas a&m oceanographer co-leading noaa research task forceawarded nearly $800 000 in research funding texas a&ms dr colleen petrik will co-lead a noaa task force studying global fish populations in changing ocean environmentsoct 21 2020dr colleen petrik (photo credit: nereus program)(image: getty images)texas a&m universitys dr colleen petrik assistant research professor in the department of oceanography recently began leading three new research projects supported by nearly $800 000 in funding from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) this work is part of a much larger program that includes multiple studies conducted across several institutions to make up the modeling analysis predictions and projections (mapp) marine ecosystems task force noaa's mapp task forces are projects conducted by 30-40 researchers aiming to create a synergistic web of similarly themed research that can help improve noaa services the research projects will span the next three years petrik has been chosen as one of the new mapp marine ecosystems task force leaders petrik and her team will use earth system modeling to predict how short- and long-term changes in climate and oceanic conditions affect fisheries to predict the weather we use sophisticated models of the atmosphere that that are based on physics petrik says we use very similar models now to simulate the entire earth system these models allow scientists to know how the atmosphere oceans ice etc all interact and how they affect each other moving forward in time and across locations she explained one of the research projects proposes to extend currently available earth system models to include fish in order to predict fish distributions food web structure and potential fisheries catches the other two studies will examine the predictions made by simulations on seasonal to decadal time scales of physical and biological properties not currently under investigation these properties include subsurface variables (eg oxygen concentration sinking organic matter seafloor temperature) and the prey of juvenile fish (zooplankton) this project is aimed at studying those new earth system model predictions and seeing how well they predict the physical and biological properties of the ocean that affect fish petrik says that might be things like temperature that affects all living things; and how well they predict plankton the base of the food web for higher things on the food chain like fish  summary schematic of petriks 3 mapp projects (image provided by petrik with design services by accdon llc)later petrik will work with her co-leads and other researchers in the task force to bring the results of all the different projects together they hope to collate their work into a review that encompasses the task forces findings and assesses to what extent the projects have moved marine ecosystem science forward another co-leader of the task force dr michael jacox a research scientist with noaas southwest fisheries science center and a member of the previous mapp marine predictions task force will be heading one of the other research projects were going to be using climate forecasts produced by us and international climate modeling centers to see when they do a good job of predicting ocean conditions off the west coast and relate that back to conditions in the tropics jacox says these predictions could then be used to understand what fish do and where they go in response to different conditions jacox says the marine ecosystems task force is adding to and building off the findings of the marine predictions task force the end goal is to get information about the climate incorporated into decision-making to improve both the economics and environmental impacts of fisheries he says petrik says this work with noaa not only has a direct line to management decisions currently but can also shape the direction of noaas research in the next few years by justin agan " "texas a&m universitys dr colleen petrik assistant research professor in the department of oceanography recently began leading three new research projects supported by nearly $800 000 in funding from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) this work is part of a much larger program that includes multiple studies conducted across several institutions to make up the modeling analysis predictions and projections (mapp) marine ecosystems task force noaa's mapp task forces are projects conducted by 30-40 researchers aiming to create a synergistic web of similarly themed research that can help improve noaa services the research projects will span the next three years petrik has been chosen as one of the new mapp marine ecosystems task force leaders petrik and her team will use earth system modeling to predict how short- and long-term changes in climate and oceanic conditions affect fisheries to predict the weather we use sophisticated models of the atmosphere that that are based on physics petrik says we use very similar models now to simulate the entire earth system these models allow scientists to know how the atmosphere oceans ice etc all interact and how they affect each other moving forward in time and across locations she explained one of the research projects proposes to extend currently available earth system models to include fish in order to predict fish distributions food web structure and potential fisheries catches the other two studies will examine the predictions made by simulations on seasonal to decadal time scales of physical and biological properties not currently under investigation these properties include subsurface variables (eg oxygen concentration sinking organic matter seafloor temperature) and the prey of juvenile fish (zooplankton) this project is aimed at studying those new earth system model predictions and seeing how well they predict the physical and biological properties of the ocean that affect fish petrik says that might be things like temperature that affects all living things; and how well they predict plankton the base of the food web for higher things on the food chain like fish  " summary schematic of petriks 3 mapp projects (image provided by petrik with design services by accdon llc) "later petrik will work with her co-leads and other researchers in the task force to bring the results of all the different projects together they hope to collate their work into a review that encompasses the task forces findings and assesses to what extent the projects have moved marine ecosystem science forward another co-leader of the task force dr michael jacox a research scientist with noaas southwest fisheries science center and a member of the previous mapp marine predictions task force will be heading one of the other research projects were going to be using climate forecasts produced by us and international climate modeling centers to see when they do a good job of predicting ocean conditions off the west coast and relate that back to conditions in the tropics jacox says these predictions could then be used to understand what fish do and where they go in response to different conditions jacox says the marine ecosystems task force is adding to and building off the findings of the marine predictions task force the end goal is to get information about the climate incorporated into decision-making to improve both the economics and environmental impacts of fisheries he says petrik says this work with noaa not only has a direct line to management decisions currently but can also shape the direction of noaas research in the next few years by justin agan" " geography phd student selected for national academies science policy fellowshipjohn schiff is one of nine recipients from throughout the country who received this prestigious fellowshipoct 20 2020john schiff currently a doctoral student in the department of geography at texas a&m university knew early on that he wanted to explore how applying science policy through research can improve society and make a difference in the environment ive been very interested in science policy since the second year of my phd he said schiff has been awarded a science policy fellowship at the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine (nasem) he will be working in the gulf research program (grp) which is dedicated to enhancing offshore energy safety environmental protection and human health and community resilience schiff said that this year-long fellowship is geared towards providing a high-impact experience to its chosen fellows and does so by connecting each fellowship recipient to a host office within the gulf that most closely matches their interests during the fellowship schiff will get the opportunity to explore the intersection of science and policy as he spends his time in the staff of federal state local or non-governmental environmental natural resource oil  and gas and public health agencies in the gulf of mexico region additionally he will receive a $5 000 budget which will support professional development activities conferences and networking his interest in science policy developed through his dissertation project which involves studying the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on deep-sea corals and field work in the northwestern hawaiian islands researching deep-sea corals from a fisheries management perspective i realized that academia was not for me schiff said i was more interested in how i can use the knowledge and experience that ive acquired during my phd to help out in the policy realm during a difficult time such as this when the world is experiencing the covid-19 pandemic schiff shares that the host offices in the grp program have made significant efforts to ensure the well-being of their fellows the host offices and the program have been very supportive in ensuring our safety during our fellowships he said i think all of us are working remotely with the support of our host offices and the same offices are working hard to follow proper precautions it is much appreciated and has helped with morale during this time we have also been doing socials over zoom schiffs fellowship position is within the bureau of ocean energy management (boem) host office an agency focused on ensuring responsible extraction and utilization of natural resources within the ocean recognizing that severe harm can result from irresponsible extraction of natural resources boem focuses on recruiting a diverse group of fellows for each of their host offices that bring unique backgrounds and perspectives to discover solutions that can make a lasting difference in the environment you dont have to have experience in public policy [to apply for the program] but need to have a genuine interest in making a difference through science policy he stated its not just about the research you do but the kinds of skills you develop while conducting research in a masters or phd that will be relevant after completing the fellowship schiff hopes to pursue a career path that allows him to work for the federal government or for an ngo and continue making a difference through science and public policy ""a real benefit to this policy fellowship is that it opens the door to career possibilities that are not limited to academia schiff said the pressure to continue on with academia can be very high in graduate school it is an opportunity where you can take what you have learned and the skills you have developed and apply them in a way meant to benefit the society you live in"" by mariam moeen 19 " "john schiff currently a doctoral student in the department of geography at texas a&m university knew early on that he wanted to explore how applying science policy through research can improve society and make a difference in the environment ive been very interested in science policy since the second year of my phd he said schiff has been awarded a science policy fellowship at the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine (nasem) he will be working in the gulf research program (grp) which is dedicated to enhancing offshore energy safety environmental protection and human health and community resilience schiff said that this year-long fellowship is geared towards providing a high-impact experience to its chosen fellows and does so by connecting each fellowship recipient to a host office within the gulf that most closely matches their interests during the fellowship schiff will get the opportunity to explore the intersection of science and policy as he spends his time in the staff of federal state local or non-governmental environmental natural resource oil  and gas and public health agencies in the gulf of mexico region additionally he will receive a $5 000 budget which will support professional development activities conferences and networking his interest in science policy developed through his dissertation project which involves studying the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on deep-sea corals and field work in the northwestern hawaiian islands researching deep-sea corals from a fisheries management perspective i realized that academia was not for me schiff said i was more interested in how i can use the knowledge and experience that ive acquired during my phd to help out in the policy realm during a difficult time such as this when the world is experiencing the covid-19 pandemic schiff shares that the host offices in the grp program have made significant efforts to ensure the well-being of their fellows the host offices and the program have been very supportive in ensuring our safety during our fellowships he said i think all of us are working remotely with the support of our host offices and the same offices are working hard to follow proper precautions it is much appreciated and has helped with morale during this time we have also been doing socials over zoom schiffs fellowship position is within the bureau of ocean energy management (boem) host office an agency focused on ensuring responsible extraction and utilization of natural resources within the ocean recognizing that severe harm can result from irresponsible extraction of natural resources boem focuses on recruiting a diverse group of fellows for each of their host offices that bring unique backgrounds and perspectives to discover solutions that can make a lasting difference in the environment you dont have to have experience in public policy [to apply for the program] but need to have a genuine interest in making a difference through science policy he stated its not just about the research you do but the kinds of skills you develop while conducting research in a masters or phd that will be relevant after completing the fellowship schiff hopes to pursue a career path that allows him to work for the federal government or for an ngo and continue making a difference through science and public policy ""a real benefit to this policy fellowship is that it opens the door to career possibilities that are not limited to academia schiff said the pressure to continue on with academia can be very high in graduate school it is an opportunity where you can take what you have learned and the skills you have developed and apply them in a way meant to benefit the society you live in"" by mariam moeen 19" " q&a: how field camp adapted to summer 2020dr brent miller discusses how this summers department of geology and geophysics field camp course adapted to covid-19 safety precautions and transformed the field experience by going totally online oct 20 2020google earth image of mapping and structural interpretation of goosegg dome wyoming (photo courtesy of dr miller)dr brent miller professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently discussed the experiences challenges and lessons of the 2020 summer field camp course how did field camp instructors adjust plans to follow safety precautions in the midst of a pandemic with only a few weeks notice the department of geology and geophysicss 2020 summer field camp transformed dramatically from the traditional hiking mapping in-the-field learning practicum to an online geological experience that mimicked as closely as possible the most important goals of the course  dr brian balta and i working in conjunction with a massive nationally coordinated effort developed a series of online virtual exercises intended to provide students with a synthesis of the undergraduate curriculum and to give students practice in the large-scale interpretation of geological processes  we put an enormous concentrated effort into developing meaningful online activities and i think for the most part we were successful will online field camp be available to students in the future yes the lessons learned from the push to develop an online alternative will not go to waste we intend to continue to develop these online field activities as an alternative for students who for any of a host of reasons are not able to attend the traditional camp in the end the sudden shock of the 2020 field camp transition will increase the diversity and inclusiveness of student participation in field-related activities what were some of the highlights of this summers field camp the highlight of 2020 summer field geology in retrospect was the opportunity it provided to view geology field teaching in a completely new way we will undoubtedly do some things differently going forward but we now have a solid foundation for an alternative virtual field experience  for me personally however it is always such a pleasure to work with field camp students and to get to know them in a way that is usually not possible in regular classes its this interaction with our students that excites me about teaching field camp every year   by ali snell " google earth image of mapping and structural interpretation of goosegg dome wyoming (photo courtesy of dr miller) "dr brent miller professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently discussed the experiences challenges and lessons of the 2020 summer field camp course how did field camp instructors adjust plans to follow safety precautions in the midst of a pandemic with only a few weeks notice the department of geology and geophysicss 2020 summer field camp transformed dramatically from the traditional hiking mapping in-the-field learning practicum to an online geological experience that mimicked as closely as possible the most important goals of the course  dr brian balta and i working in conjunction with a massive nationally coordinated effort developed a series of online virtual exercises intended to provide students with a synthesis of the undergraduate curriculum and to give students practice in the large-scale interpretation of geological processes  we put an enormous concentrated effort into developing meaningful online activities and i think for the most part we were successful will online field camp be available to students in the future yes the lessons learned from the push to develop an online alternative will not go to waste we intend to continue to develop these online field activities as an alternative for students who for any of a host of reasons are not able to attend the traditional camp in the end the sudden shock of the 2020 field camp transition will increase the diversity and inclusiveness of student participation in field-related activities what were some of the highlights of this summers field camp the highlight of 2020 summer field geology in retrospect was the opportunity it provided to view geology field teaching in a completely new way we will undoubtedly do some things differently going forward but we now have a solid foundation for an alternative virtual field experience  for me personally however it is always such a pleasure to work with field camp students and to get to know them in a way that is usually not possible in regular classes its this interaction with our students that excites me about teaching field camp every year   by ali snell" " berg-hughes center awarded more than $1 million for multidisciplinary researchfaculty in the colleges of geosciences agriculture and life sciences engineering and science will contribute to the two large research projects both managed by the berg-hughes centeroct 12 2020director of the berg-hughes center dr mukul bhatiathe michel t halbouty building home of the berg-hughes centerthis year the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has begun two major new multidisciplinary research projects totaling more than $1 million in recent research funding the center integrates geosciences engineering and other disciplines to collaborate with industry and others to advance research and education in petroleum studies working alongside faculty from texas a&ms college of geosciences agriculture and life sciences engineering and science the center has embarked on the two new major projects in 2020 we need to look holistic integrated and life-cycle projects as industrys needs and problems change over time our students get the best perspective of understanding the various facets and complexity of industry and society while working in multi-disciplinary teams in industry-sponsored projects said berg-hughes center director dr mukul r bhatia the berg-hughes center provides full and partial financial support to some 21 graduate students within texas a&m an executive professor in the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics bhatia has led the center since 2017 and holds the dan a hughes '51 chair in the college of geosciences bhatia is leading a multidisciplinary project titled forecasting oil and gas production volumes in the unconventional reservoirs funded by a $300 000 per-year grant from shell ypf and vista oil and gas companies of argentina the consortium will examine methods of predicting the oil and gas rates and volume in the permian basin of west texas and vaca muerta of argentina the study will support graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and it will include harold vance department of petroleum engineering faculty dr john lee dr tom blasingame and dr akkutlu as well as dr alan yu and dr cameron manche from the department of geology and geophysics  this project will develop reliable forecasts based on geological and fluid history flow regimes characteristic declines and fracture geometry between parent and child wells bhatia explained bhatia is also leading the permian water management and value creation research project a three-year effort funded by university lands with a $771 500 grant university lands manages the surface and mineral interests of 21 million acres in west texas for the benefit of the state of texas permanent university fund an endowment which benefits both the texas a&m university system and the university of texas system the objective of this project is to deliver to university lands a comprehensive and integrated plan of water management which addresses the current problem of supplying appropriate quality of water for field development both from surface supply and subsurface aquifer resources he said it will also look at the cutting-edge technology needed to convert produced water into useable water for hydraulic fracturing and to assess the environmental and economic implications associated with various options  this multi-disciplinary project will include dr peter knappett department of geology and geophysics; dr berna hascakir and dr david schechter department of petroleum engineering; dr sarbajit banerjee department of chemistry; and dr bruce mccarl department of agriculture economics   by leslie lee 09 " director of the berg-hughes center dr mukul bhatiathe michel t halbouty building home of the berg-hughes center "this year the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has begun two major new multidisciplinary research projects totaling more than $1 million in recent research funding the center integrates geosciences engineering and other disciplines to collaborate with industry and others to advance research and education in petroleum studies working alongside faculty from texas a&ms college of geosciences agriculture and life sciences engineering and science the center has embarked on the two new major projects in 2020 we need to look holistic integrated and life-cycle projects as industrys needs and problems change over time our students get the best perspective of understanding the various facets and complexity of industry and society while working in multi-disciplinary teams in industry-sponsored projects said berg-hughes center director dr mukul r bhatia the berg-hughes center provides full and partial financial support to some 21 graduate students within texas a&m an executive professor in the texas a&m department of geology and geophysics bhatia has led the center since 2017 and holds the dan a hughes '51 chair in the college of geosciences bhatia is leading a multidisciplinary project titled forecasting oil and gas production volumes in the unconventional reservoirs funded by a $300 000 per-year grant from shell ypf and vista oil and gas companies of argentina the consortium will examine methods of predicting the oil and gas rates and volume in the permian basin of west texas and vaca muerta of argentina the study will support graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and it will include harold vance department of petroleum engineering faculty dr john lee dr tom blasingame and dr akkutlu as well as dr alan yu and dr cameron manche from the department of geology and geophysics  this project will develop reliable forecasts based on geological and fluid history flow regimes characteristic declines and fracture geometry between parent and child wells bhatia explained bhatia is also leading the permian water management and value creation research project a three-year effort funded by university lands with a $771 500 grant university lands manages the surface and mineral interests of 21 million acres in west texas for the benefit of the state of texas permanent university fund an endowment which benefits both the texas a&m university system and the university of texas system the objective of this project is to deliver to university lands a comprehensive and integrated plan of water management which addresses the current problem of supplying appropriate quality of water for field development both from surface supply and subsurface aquifer resources he said it will also look at the cutting-edge technology needed to convert produced water into useable water for hydraulic fracturing and to assess the environmental and economic implications associated with various options  this multi-disciplinary project will include dr peter knappett department of geology and geophysics; dr berna hascakir and dr david schechter department of petroleum engineering; dr sarbajit banerjee department of chemistry; and dr bruce mccarl department of agriculture economics   by leslie lee 09" " feed the fleet event gives back to fishermen affected by recent stormstexas sea grant joined other texas and louisiana groups to provide supplies and food to fishermen of cameron parish louisiana at the feed the fleet eventoct 9 2020laura picariello and a cameron parish fishermanleft to right: laura picariello doreen badeaux and father sinclair oubrewater was donated by giglio distribution coin 2020 it seems like every week a new storm is on its way to wreak havoc on the gulf coast the storms have been particularly hard on fishermen whose supplies and livelihoods have been devastated in the aftermath of hurricane laura texas sea grant joined other texas and louisiana groups to provide supplies and food to fishermen of cameron parish in louisiana at the oct 5 feed the fleet event cameron parish near the texas border is where many fishermen call home and make a living when hurricane laura hit on aug 27 the fishermen lost supplies vessels and income some fishermen even lost their homes and are now living off their boats with their families one of the most pressing needs for these fishermen is fuel cameron parish is expected to be without electricity until next january at least so many are relying on generators to power their living areas and to keep their businesses running local business tommys seafood has reported spending $400 per day to run a generator to keep their business operating the devastation was personal for nikki fitzgerald texas sea grant agent for jefferson and chambers counties who jumped into action i know what it is like to come back after a hurricane and the only thing that is left is the front door steps she said i watched our family farm be destroyed in few hours when hurricane ike did the same to our area not so many years ago read more on storiestexasseagrantorg   by sara carney '13 communications manager texas sea grant photos by: david oates doreen badeaux and father sinclair oubre " laura picariello and a cameron parish fishermanleft to right: laura picariello doreen badeaux and father sinclair oubrewater was donated by giglio distribution co "in 2020 it seems like every week a new storm is on its way to wreak havoc on the gulf coast the storms have been particularly hard on fishermen whose supplies and livelihoods have been devastated in the aftermath of hurricane laura texas sea grant joined other texas and louisiana groups to provide supplies and food to fishermen of cameron parish in louisiana at the oct 5 feed the fleet event cameron parish near the texas border is where many fishermen call home and make a living when hurricane laura hit on aug 27 the fishermen lost supplies vessels and income some fishermen even lost their homes and are now living off their boats with their families one of the most pressing needs for these fishermen is fuel cameron parish is expected to be without electricity until next january at least so many are relying on generators to power their living areas and to keep their businesses running local business tommys seafood has reported spending $400 per day to run a generator to keep their business operating the devastation was personal for nikki fitzgerald texas sea grant agent for jefferson and chambers counties who jumped into action i know what it is like to come back after a hurricane and the only thing that is left is the front door steps she said i watched our family farm be destroyed in few hours when hurricane ike did the same to our area not so many years ago read more on storiestexasseagrantorg   by sara carney '13 communications manager texas sea grant photos by: david oates doreen badeaux and father sinclair oubre" " raquel bryant to lead geological society of america pardee symposiumdr raquel bryant geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate will lead the geological society of america pardee symposium titled the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusionoct 2 2020dr bryant examining a piston core from the shelf area off the coast of southern california while serving as a gradaute mentor with the program stem seas in the summer of 2016 stem seas sailed from san diego california to honolulu hawaii with 10 undergraduate students from various institutions and majors all of whom were interested in ocean science they sampled the core to make smear slides and washed and sieved samples for foraminiferal analysis (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr raquel bryant department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate is co-leading the geological society of america (gsa) 2020 online connects pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion  this year the geological society of america annual meeting will be held completely online the pardee symposium will take place oct 27 from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm est and is organized into three parts: 1) a series of invited talks 2) an interactive workshop conducted through breakout rooms and 3) a live feedback panel and q&a session this symposium will provide a collaborative space where participants can work together to develop solutions that address justice equity diversity and inclusion (jedi) challenges specific to their geoscience community the goal is to empower participants to organize and lead initiatives by equipping them with a network of support an action plan and tools and strategies for overcoming obstacles the next generation of geoscience leaders pardee symposium is designed for participants to leave with a range of outcomes: 1) a community of geoscientists who are committed to broadening participation work 2) action plans to tackle a diversity/inclusion/justice/equity challenge in your geoscience community and 3) strategies for overcoming anticipated obstacles the two important concepts i hope people take away is that leadership is key to solving our field's particular challenges with broadening participation and inclusivity and that all of us have the capacity to be leaders in the different geoscience spaces we occupy bryant saidofficial poster for the pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity & inclusion the fist graphic on the flyer was designed by artist ella halpine (@pompoustrash) in 2017bryant and dr benjamin keisling from the lamont-doherty earth observatory were inspired to organize this pardee symposium after their 2019 american geophysical union (agu) session the next generation of geoscience leaders: contributions from graduate students and early-career scientists it was the first iteration on the theme ""the next generation of geoscience leaders""  the agu session highlighted the incredible contributions that early career scientists and students are making in an effort to improve equity and inclusivity in their geoscience communities they also used the session to build community and bring together students and researchers who may otherwise feel isolated  with the upcoming pardee symposium at gsa bryant and keisling hope to build on the agu session but instead of increasing visibility and building community they are focused on cultivating resilience and developing leadership skills they identified these areas as critical professional development gaps that are not only essential for pursuing efforts to broaden participation bryant said but are also often important for retaining students with underrepresented identity markers dr bryant with dr keisling at agu 2019 in san francisco where they led the first iteration of the next generation of geoscience leaders (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant hard at work on the microscope she used to analyze her graduate school research samples (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant tagging along on a field trip with her graduate advisor mark leckie for his history of the earth class they are investigating paleozoic shales in canajoharie new york (photo courtesy of dr bryant)i am most looking forward to working with the brilliant invited speakers and the inspiring student facilitators! she said in my experience the most successful teams are made up of folks from all walks of life that are unified under shared values as one of the co-conveners one of my biggest tasks is to empower the speakers and student facilitators and ensure that this experience is also giving them a rich professional development opportunity and this is also the most rewarding part!  as awesome as it will be to have lots and lots of participants for the symposium i am equally looking forward to seeing how this experience inspires and shapes the next steps of our passionate student leaders and invited speakers bryant said  three geology and geophysics phd students jessica mckay danielle schimmenti and ali snell are serving as student facilitators during the pardee symposium participating as a student facilitator for the pardee symposium has been extremely validating and inspiring as a graduate student who wants to see progress on justice equity diversity and inclusion at my own academic institution schimmenti said i am very relieved to be a part of this team and to have this community of next gen geoscience leaders im really looking forward to the pardee symposium and im so glad i decided to volunteer as a student facilitator im really inspired by raquel and benjamin and grateful to them for being leaders of our community  you can sign up to receive updates and more information about the pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders the early bird registration deadline for the gsa 2020 annual meeting is september 21 registration is free for students who are gsa members regardless of the early bird deadline  all pardee symposium sessions are named in honor of gsa fellow and benefactor joseph thomas pardee (1871–1960) via a bequest from mary pardee kelly pardee is perhaps best known for his work on the glacial lake missoula  by ali snell " dr bryant examining a piston core from the shelf area off the coast of southern california while serving as a gradaute mentor with the program stem seas in the summer of 2016 stem seas sailed from san diego california to honolulu hawaii with 10 undergraduate students from various institutions and majors all of whom were interested in ocean science they sampled the core to make smear slides and washed and sieved samples for foraminiferal analysis (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "dr raquel bryant department of geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associate is co-leading the geological society of america (gsa) 2020 online connects pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion  this year the geological society of america annual meeting will be held completely online the pardee symposium will take place oct 27 from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm est and is organized into three parts: 1) a series of invited talks 2) an interactive workshop conducted through breakout rooms and 3) a live feedback panel and q&a session this symposium will provide a collaborative space where participants can work together to develop solutions that address justice equity diversity and inclusion (jedi) challenges specific to their geoscience community the goal is to empower participants to organize and lead initiatives by equipping them with a network of support an action plan and tools and strategies for overcoming obstacles the next generation of geoscience leaders pardee symposium is designed for participants to leave with a range of outcomes: 1) a community of geoscientists who are committed to broadening participation work 2) action plans to tackle a diversity/inclusion/justice/equity challenge in your geoscience community and 3) strategies for overcoming anticipated obstacles the two important concepts i hope people take away is that leadership is key to solving our field's particular challenges with broadening participation and inclusivity and that all of us have the capacity to be leaders in the different geoscience spaces we occupy bryant said" official poster for the pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity & inclusion the fist graphic on the flyer was designed by artist ella halpine (@pompoustrash) in 2017 "bryant and dr benjamin keisling from the lamont-doherty earth observatory were inspired to organize this pardee symposium after their 2019 american geophysical union (agu) session the next generation of geoscience leaders: contributions from graduate students and early-career scientists it was the first iteration on the theme ""the next generation of geoscience leaders""  the agu session highlighted the incredible contributions that early career scientists and students are making in an effort to improve equity and inclusivity in their geoscience communities they also used the session to build community and bring together students and researchers who may otherwise feel isolated  with the upcoming pardee symposium at gsa bryant and keisling hope to build on the agu session but instead of increasing visibility and building community they are focused on cultivating resilience and developing leadership skills they identified these areas as critical professional development gaps that are not only essential for pursuing efforts to broaden participation bryant said but are also often important for retaining students with underrepresented identity markers " dr bryant with dr keisling at agu 2019 in san francisco where they led the first iteration of the next generation of geoscience leaders (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant hard at work on the microscope she used to analyze her graduate school research samples (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant tagging along on a field trip with her graduate advisor mark leckie for his history of the earth class they are investigating paleozoic shales in canajoharie new york (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "i am most looking forward to working with the brilliant invited speakers and the inspiring student facilitators! she said in my experience the most successful teams are made up of folks from all walks of life that are unified under shared values as one of the co-conveners one of my biggest tasks is to empower the speakers and student facilitators and ensure that this experience is also giving them a rich professional development opportunity and this is also the most rewarding part!  as awesome as it will be to have lots and lots of participants for the symposium i am equally looking forward to seeing how this experience inspires and shapes the next steps of our passionate student leaders and invited speakers bryant said  three geology and geophysics phd students jessica mckay danielle schimmenti and ali snell are serving as student facilitators during the pardee symposium participating as a student facilitator for the pardee symposium has been extremely validating and inspiring as a graduate student who wants to see progress on justice equity diversity and inclusion at my own academic institution schimmenti said i am very relieved to be a part of this team and to have this community of next gen geoscience leaders im really looking forward to the pardee symposium and im so glad i decided to volunteer as a student facilitator im really inspired by raquel and benjamin and grateful to them for being leaders of our community  you can sign up to receive updates and more information about the pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders the early bird registration deadline for the gsa 2020 annual meeting is september 21 registration is free for students who are gsa members regardless of the early bird deadline  all pardee symposium sessions are named in honor of gsa fellow and benefactor joseph thomas pardee (1871–1960) via a bequest from mary pardee kelly pardee is perhaps best known for his work on the glacial lake missoula  by ali snell" " texas a&m expert: la niña in pacific may affect texas weather cooler ocean waters tend to make drier and warmer conditions throughout the southwest sep 25 2020the formation of a la niña in the pacific ocean could mean warmer and drier weather for texas in the upcoming months if history is any guide says a texas a&m university expertdr john nielsen-gammon texas state climatologist and texas a&m university regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences said the climate prediction center (cpc) issued a la niña advisory this month which means la niña conditions are in place a la niña forms when waters in the tropical pacific ocean are much cooler than normal which can affect weather patterns all over the world including the southern us it typically means warmer and drier weather that can last for months over much of the countryif those conditions last through the end of the year it will be an official la niña event said nielsen-gammon right now the chances of that happening are about three in four according to the official forecastone of the strongest ever la niña events occurred in 2011 which resulted record highs in much of texas and one of the states worst droughtsnielsen-gammon said the latest climate prediction center forecast has the chances of substantially drier than normal conditions for the next several months at around 50 percent with the chances of substantially wetter than normal conditions closer to 15 percentso dryness is not guaranteed but its a good bet he saidone wild card in the prediction: it appears that this la niña is a fairly weak one meaning it could end by springat this point it doesnt look like a super-strong la niña like we had in 2010-2011 the temperatures in the ocean are not all that much cooler than normal even down below the surface nielsen-gammon said so the consensus is for a weak to moderate la niña event la niña displaces the jet stream farther north than usual during the wintertime and this means that texas tends to see fewer storms and fewer cold fronts making it likely that the period november through march will be warm and dry he said that in addition to the historical tendencies for la niña important forecasting tools are global models that simultaneously simulate the evolution of the atmosphere and ocean just about every such model is predicting dry and warm conditions for texas over the next few months he noted and it is rare to find that much consistency among the long-range modelsthe climate prediction center gives far west texas almost no chance of being much cooler than normal he saidtexas has been through a drought roller-coaster over the past year were leaving the summer with drought firmly entrenched in parts of west texas while most of the rest of the state has decent amounts of moisture even before tropical storm betas rainbands arrived nielsen-gammon said for the dry parts of west texas though it means that the soil moisture deficit is unlikely to be remedied for at least several months this could make for a very hard winter and spring for farmers and ranchers around lubbock midland and the big bend areahe said its too early to say when la niña conditions will end but most la niñas have little effect on late spring and summer rainfall in texas and a few good thunderstorms can end a drought fairly quickly   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " "the formation of a la niña in the pacific ocean could mean warmer and drier weather for texas in the upcoming months if history is any guide says a texas a&m university expertdr john nielsen-gammon texas state climatologist and texas a&m university regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences said the climate prediction center (cpc) issued a la niña advisory this month which means la niña conditions are in place a la niña forms when waters in the tropical pacific ocean are much cooler than normal which can affect weather patterns all over the world including the southern us it typically means warmer and drier weather that can last for months over much of the countryif those conditions last through the end of the year it will be an official la niña event said nielsen-gammon right now the chances of that happening are about three in four according to the official forecastone of the strongest ever la niña events occurred in 2011 which resulted record highs in much of texas and one of the states worst droughtsnielsen-gammon said the latest climate prediction center forecast has the chances of substantially drier than normal conditions for the next several months at around 50 percent with the chances of substantially wetter than normal conditions closer to 15 percentso dryness is not guaranteed but its a good bet he saidone wild card in the prediction: it appears that this la niña is a fairly weak one meaning it could end by springat this point it doesnt look like a super-strong la niña like we had in 2010-2011 the temperatures in the ocean are not all that much cooler than normal even down below the surface nielsen-gammon said so the consensus is for a weak to moderate la niña event la niña displaces the jet stream farther north than usual during the wintertime and this means that texas tends to see fewer storms and fewer cold fronts making it likely that the period november through march will be warm and dry he said that in addition to the historical tendencies for la niña important forecasting tools are global models that simultaneously simulate the evolution of the atmosphere and ocean just about every such model is predicting dry and warm conditions for texas over the next few months he noted and it is rare to find that much consistency among the long-range modelsthe climate prediction center gives far west texas almost no chance of being much cooler than normal he saidtexas has been through a drought roller-coaster over the past year were leaving the summer with drought firmly entrenched in parts of west texas while most of the rest of the state has decent amounts of moisture even before tropical storm betas rainbands arrived nielsen-gammon said for the dry parts of west texas though it means that the soil moisture deficit is unlikely to be remedied for at least several months this could make for a very hard winter and spring for farmers and ranchers around lubbock midland and the big bend areahe said its too early to say when la niña conditions will end but most la niñas have little effect on late spring and summer rainfall in texas and a few good thunderstorms can end a drought fairly quickly   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " new research quantifies mississippi river floodwaters diverted into lake pontchartrainresearch by texas a&m oceanography graduate student robert iles tracks diverted mississippi floodwaters throughout lake pontchartrain with satellite imagerysep 25 2020robert iles collecting data during a research cruise (photo by robert iles)multiple times a year new orleans and many surrounding cities risk flooding the most infamous floods stem from hurricanes but the more common cause is rains that raise the water levels of the mississippi river causing it to overflow its banks to combat this threat a series of spillways were built to relieve that pressure by diverting massive amounts of freshwater out of the mississippi river to adjacent bodies of water while this protects human populations down-river it can also majorly impact the bodies of water receiving the diverted mississippi flow in research recently published in the journal estuaries and coasts robert iles a graduate student in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and his colleagues use satellite imagery to quantify those impacts the study concentrates on the effects of diverted water flow from the mississippi river through the bonnet carré spillway into lake pontchartrain which is just north of new orleans during an opening event in early 2016  satelite images of sediment moving through lake pontchartrain (photo by robert iles)tracking floodwaters we used 20 satellite images collected water samples and measured the suspended sediment concentration within those samples and then compared that to satellite reflectance iles said we were able to come up with a predictive algorithm that estimated surface suspended sediment concentration in lake pontchartrain by taking these measurements and images during and after the opening of the spillway iles and his team were able to use the suspended sediment concentration as a tracer to see where the mississippi freshwater moved throughout lake pontchartrain over 15% of the mississippi river flow passed through the spillway during the event in 2016 overwhelming an estuary this large amount of freshwater influx into lake pontchartrain is important because lake pontchartrain is an estuary where saltwater from the gulf of mexico mixes with freshwater this makes the lake a unique environment with plants and animals that are adapted to living in the brackish waters the introduction of so much freshwater changes the salinity of the lake and can have major impacts on that wildlife the amount of suspended sediment can also affect how much sunlight penetrates the water thus affecting photosynthesis by plants the increase in nutrients from the mississippi has also been known to produce algal blooms in the past which can sometimes be harmful to wildlife and humans the researchers also included wind direction and speed with their data to see if there were any correlations with how the suspended sediment progressed through the lake wind speed didnt correspond to any increase in sediment concentration in the lake as a whole but the wind direction did iles said that was one of the things that was interesting to me and it underscores the fact of how variable an estuarine environment is growing up in this region of louisiana iles has a personal connection to the lake pontchartrain area and hopes this study can add to the knowledge available to managers of these types of spillways and diversions along the mississippi river he would also like to see further studies examine how the additional freshwater impacts the estuarys plant and animal life read the full journal article here by justin agan ‘18 " robert iles collecting data during a research cruise (photo by robert iles) "multiple times a year new orleans and many surrounding cities risk flooding the most infamous floods stem from hurricanes but the more common cause is rains that raise the water levels of the mississippi river causing it to overflow its banks to combat this threat a series of spillways were built to relieve that pressure by diverting massive amounts of freshwater out of the mississippi river to adjacent bodies of water while this protects human populations down-river it can also majorly impact the bodies of water receiving the diverted mississippi flow in research recently published in the journal estuaries and coasts robert iles a graduate student in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography and his colleagues use satellite imagery to quantify those impacts the study concentrates on the effects of diverted water flow from the mississippi river through the bonnet carré spillway into lake pontchartrain which is just north of new orleans during an opening event in early 2016  " satelite images of sediment moving through lake pontchartrain (photo by robert iles) "tracking floodwaters we used 20 satellite images collected water samples and measured the suspended sediment concentration within those samples and then compared that to satellite reflectance iles said we were able to come up with a predictive algorithm that estimated surface suspended sediment concentration in lake pontchartrain by taking these measurements and images during and after the opening of the spillway iles and his team were able to use the suspended sediment concentration as a tracer to see where the mississippi freshwater moved throughout lake pontchartrain over 15% of the mississippi river flow passed through the spillway during the event in 2016 overwhelming an estuary this large amount of freshwater influx into lake pontchartrain is important because lake pontchartrain is an estuary where saltwater from the gulf of mexico mixes with freshwater this makes the lake a unique environment with plants and animals that are adapted to living in the brackish waters the introduction of so much freshwater changes the salinity of the lake and can have major impacts on that wildlife the amount of suspended sediment can also affect how much sunlight penetrates the water thus affecting photosynthesis by plants the increase in nutrients from the mississippi has also been known to produce algal blooms in the past which can sometimes be harmful to wildlife and humans the researchers also included wind direction and speed with their data to see if there were any correlations with how the suspended sediment progressed through the lake wind speed didnt correspond to any increase in sediment concentration in the lake as a whole but the wind direction did iles said that was one of the things that was interesting to me and it underscores the fact of how variable an estuarine environment is growing up in this region of louisiana iles has a personal connection to the lake pontchartrain area and hopes this study can add to the knowledge available to managers of these types of spillways and diversions along the mississippi river he would also like to see further studies examine how the additional freshwater impacts the estuarys plant and animal life read the full journal article here by justin agan ‘18" " graduate students awarded sipes and houston geological society scholarshipsfive geology and geophysics graduate students recently received scholarships from the houston geological society and the society of independent professional earth scientists foundationsep 21 2020sidney dangtran leah evans and eric peavey received the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological societyfive texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics graduate students sidney dangtran nick dusak leah evans molly mccreary and eric peavey were recently awarded the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological society the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship fund was started in 1974 with a donation from the calvert family and awarded its first scholarship in 1978 the stated purpose of the fund is to assist worthy and needy geological students to pursue graduate studies in some branch of economic geology leading to a masters or doctors degree at any accredited university of his choice the awards give the students great pride in that it signifies that they are doing research that others besides themselves think is significant said dr art donovan the funds are greatly appreciated in allowing the students to focus on their research and allowing them to get finished with their graduate work in a timely manner graduate students molly mccreary and nick dusak also received the 2020 earth science scholarship awards from the society of independent professional earth scientists (sipes) foundation the sipes foundation selected six outstanding earth science and engineering students to receive scholarship awards this year molly mccreary received the stephen e collins memorial scholarship nick dusak received a scholarship from the sipes fort worth texas chapter to be the recipient of a scholarship is a tremendous honor im beyond grateful that the scholarship committees of the sipes and hgs scholarships believed in my work but im also thankful to my advisors and professors who set me up for success mccreary saidmolly mccreary and nick dusak received the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological society and 2020 earth science scholarship awards from the sipes foundationthe society of independent professional earth scientists is a national organization of more than 900 self-employed geologists geophysicists and engineers engaged primarily in domestic energy exploration and development since its founding in 1981 the sipes foundation has awarded scholarships to 254 promising earth science and engineering students the sipes foundation also conducts educational seminars contributes funding to earth science publications and continuing education programs and maintains a library of earth science films by ali snell " sidney dangtran leah evans and eric peavey received the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological society "five texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics graduate students sidney dangtran nick dusak leah evans molly mccreary and eric peavey were recently awarded the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological society the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship fund was started in 1974 with a donation from the calvert family and awarded its first scholarship in 1978 the stated purpose of the fund is to assist worthy and needy geological students to pursue graduate studies in some branch of economic geology leading to a masters or doctors degree at any accredited university of his choice the awards give the students great pride in that it signifies that they are doing research that others besides themselves think is significant said dr art donovan the funds are greatly appreciated in allowing the students to focus on their research and allowing them to get finished with their graduate work in a timely manner graduate students molly mccreary and nick dusak also received the 2020 earth science scholarship awards from the society of independent professional earth scientists (sipes) foundation the sipes foundation selected six outstanding earth science and engineering students to receive scholarship awards this year molly mccreary received the stephen e collins memorial scholarship nick dusak received a scholarship from the sipes fort worth texas chapter to be the recipient of a scholarship is a tremendous honor im beyond grateful that the scholarship committees of the sipes and hgs scholarships believed in my work but im also thankful to my advisors and professors who set me up for success mccreary said" molly mccreary and nick dusak received the warren l and florence w calvert memorial scholarship from the houston geological society and 2020 earth science scholarship awards from the sipes foundation "the society of independent professional earth scientists is a national organization of more than 900 self-employed geologists geophysicists and engineers engaged primarily in domestic energy exploration and development since its founding in 1981 the sipes foundation has awarded scholarships to 254 promising earth science and engineering students the sipes foundation also conducts educational seminars contributes funding to earth science publications and continuing education programs and maintains a library of earth science films by ali snell" " sea grant program event celebrates a decade of investment in oil spill science researchthe event hosted by sea grants oil spill science outreach program will showcase the accomplishments of the gulf of mexico research initiative in texassep 21 2020background: a decade has passed since the deepwater horizon oil spill following the spill the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) granted researchers in texas and around the world $500 million to investigate the impacts of the oil dispersed oil and dispersant on the ecosystems of the gulf of mexico in addition to supporting the work of scientists and students across the state gomri partnered with the gulf of mexico sea grant programs (texas louisiana mississippi-alabama and florida) to translate the science of oil spills to the public what: the sea grant oil spill science outreach team will showcase the many accomplishments of gomri in texas at the virtual event gomri and texas: celebration of a 10-year partnership read more on the oil spill science outreach website where: online via zoom register at https://gulfseagrantorg/texas-gomri-showcase/ when: friday september 25 at 10:00 am-12:30 pm cdt speakers and panelsts: rita colwell chair of the gomri research board laura bowie executive director gulf of mexico alliance chuck wilson gomri chief scientific officer raymond l orbach gomri research board member from the state of texas the university of texas at austin larry mckinney senior executive director of harte research institute texas a&m university – corpus christi antonietta quigg senior associate vice president for research and graduate studies texas a&m university at galveston james gibeaut harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies (griidc) texas a&m university – corpus christi tony wood director of the national spill control school corpus christi steve buschang director of research and development/ scientific support coordinator texas general land office pamela plotkin director texas sea grant   media contacts: dani bailey texas sea grant oil spill science specialist 361-825-6215  bailey@exchangetamuedu tara skelton oil spill science outreach team communicator 228-818-8825 taraskelton@usmedu " "background: a decade has passed since the deepwater horizon oil spill following the spill the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) granted researchers in texas and around the world $500 million to investigate the impacts of the oil dispersed oil and dispersant on the ecosystems of the gulf of mexico in addition to supporting the work of scientists and students across the state gomri partnered with the gulf of mexico sea grant programs (texas louisiana mississippi-alabama and florida) to translate the science of oil spills to the public what: the sea grant oil spill science outreach team will showcase the many accomplishments of gomri in texas at the virtual event gomri and texas: celebration of a 10-year partnership read more on the oil spill science outreach website where: online via zoom register at https://gulfseagrantorg/texas-gomri-showcase/ when: friday september 25 at 10:00 am-12:30 pm cdt speakers and panelsts: rita colwell chair of the gomri research board laura bowie executive director gulf of mexico alliance chuck wilson gomri chief scientific officer raymond l orbach gomri research board member from the state of texas the university of texas at austin larry mckinney senior executive director of harte research institute texas a&m university – corpus christi antonietta quigg senior associate vice president for research and graduate studies texas a&m university at galveston james gibeaut harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies (griidc) texas a&m university – corpus christi tony wood director of the national spill control school corpus christi steve buschang director of research and development/ scientific support coordinator texas general land office pamela plotkin director texas sea grant   media contacts: dani bailey texas sea grant oil spill science specialist 361-825-6215  bailey@exchangetamuedu tara skelton oil spill science outreach team communicator 228-818-8825 taraskelton@usmedu " " two texas students begin noaa ocean acidification graduate research fellowshipthe fellowship program was created to develop ocean acidification researchers in the gulf of mexico a region expected to experience increased ocean acidification in the futuresep 14 2020richard rosaslarissa dias  larissa dias and richard rosas both nominated by texas sea grant are beginning their ocean acidification graduate research fellowships a joint effort between texas sea grant louisiana sea grant and the noaa ocean acidification program (oap) they are among five students selected for the fellowship which began in sept 2020 the fellowship program was created to develop ocean acidification researchers in the gulf of mexico a region expected to experience increased ocean acidification in the future fellows will address issues relevant to coastal ecosystems and communities related to ocean coastal and estuarine acidification the goal is to improve the understanding of the potential ecological consequences of increasing carbon dioxide concentration which causes ocean acidification in regional ocean coastal and estuarine waters the program provides professional development opportunities in science communication management application outreach and other sea grant and oap activities and mission priorities ocean acidification is a global problem said dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director this new partnership with noaa oap will encourage gulf of mexico acidification research by providing support to early career scientists in texas  dias is a phd student at texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) studying coastal and marine systems science she holds a master of science in biology from tamucc and a bachelor of science in biology from the university of texas her research focuses on long-term and yet-to-be-explained shifts in ph and alkalinity in the northwestern gulf of mexico dias examines the role of freshwater in these shifts data from sediment cores and texas rivers will be used to model estuarine alkalinity dynamics the results of this research will ultimately help managers mitigate acidification this fellowship will allow me to focus on improving quality of results from my research and communicating my passion for my research with the general public and other stakeholders which may inspire others to protect the vulnerable texas coast dias said my goal is that my research will have meaningful real-world applications in mitigation of ocean or coastal acidification rosas is a phd student at texas a&m university studying oceanography he received his bachelor of science in marine science from the university of delaware he studies the potential impacts of ocean acidification resulting from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on the coral reefs of the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary by examining how corals calcium carbonate skeletal structure have changed over time additionally his research examines the environmental processes that control ph and ocean water chemistry my passion for oceanography crystallized 2 500 meters below the sea surface studying hydrothermal vents in the deep submergence vehicle alvin this inspired me to further push the boundaries of science rosas said this fellowship will provide me with essential teaching and outreach skills that will assist in propelling my career forward and allowing me to serve as an excellent educator and researcher     media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442 " "  larissa dias and richard rosas both nominated by texas sea grant are beginning their ocean acidification graduate research fellowships a joint effort between texas sea grant louisiana sea grant and the noaa ocean acidification program (oap) they are among five students selected for the fellowship which began in sept 2020 the fellowship program was created to develop ocean acidification researchers in the gulf of mexico a region expected to experience increased ocean acidification in the future fellows will address issues relevant to coastal ecosystems and communities related to ocean coastal and estuarine acidification the goal is to improve the understanding of the potential ecological consequences of increasing carbon dioxide concentration which causes ocean acidification in regional ocean coastal and estuarine waters the program provides professional development opportunities in science communication management application outreach and other sea grant and oap activities and mission priorities ocean acidification is a global problem said dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director this new partnership with noaa oap will encourage gulf of mexico acidification research by providing support to early career scientists in texas  dias is a phd student at texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) studying coastal and marine systems science she holds a master of science in biology from tamucc and a bachelor of science in biology from the university of texas her research focuses on long-term and yet-to-be-explained shifts in ph and alkalinity in the northwestern gulf of mexico dias examines the role of freshwater in these shifts data from sediment cores and texas rivers will be used to model estuarine alkalinity dynamics the results of this research will ultimately help managers mitigate acidification this fellowship will allow me to focus on improving quality of results from my research and communicating my passion for my research with the general public and other stakeholders which may inspire others to protect the vulnerable texas coast dias said my goal is that my research will have meaningful real-world applications in mitigation of ocean or coastal acidification rosas is a phd student at texas a&m university studying oceanography he received his bachelor of science in marine science from the university of delaware he studies the potential impacts of ocean acidification resulting from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on the coral reefs of the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary by examining how corals calcium carbonate skeletal structure have changed over time additionally his research examines the environmental processes that control ph and ocean water chemistry my passion for oceanography crystallized 2 500 meters below the sea surface studying hydrothermal vents in the deep submergence vehicle alvin this inspired me to further push the boundaries of science rosas said this fellowship will provide me with essential teaching and outreach skills that will assist in propelling my career forward and allowing me to serve as an excellent educator and researcher     media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442" " texas sea grant aquaculture specialist can assist in oyster farming permitting processmario marquez is ready to help oyster farmers build their businesses aug 26 2020  according to noaa fisheries oyster mariculture – or farming ­– generates $186 million annually in the us and now texans can take part in this emerging industry in another step forward for the texas oyster mariculture industry the texas parks and wildlife department has announced the launch of online permit applications the application allows aspiring oyster farmers to begin the process of starting up their oyster farm although oysters are a longstanding culinary tradition in texas oyster mariculture was only recently legalized with the passing of hb 1300 in 2019 this new and sustainable industry will bring premium half-shell oysters to the market texas-style along with the new industry comes new processes new ideas and new questions to help those interested in oyster mariculture texas sea grants aquaculture specialist mario marquez is here to help located at the oyster resource and recovery center in palacios he is available to assist aspiring oyster farmers through all processes from permitting to building farms to support the success of this industry marquez has extensive experience in aquaculture and oyster fisheries he is currently obtaining his phd in environmental sciences focusing on the ecosystem benefits of oyster aquaculture in oyster bay fl he was also a founder and ceo of the oyster company llc an oyster farm in northern florida  im ready to help anyone that asks for my assistance when it comes to growing oysters and help them succeed marquez said learn more about the legalization of oyster mariculture in the latest issue of texas shores magazine    media contact: mario marquez mmarquez42@tamuedu (850) 583-6801 sara carney communications manager scarney@tamuedu (713) 435-9585   " "  according to noaa fisheries oyster mariculture – or farming ­– generates $186 million annually in the us and now texans can take part in this emerging industry in another step forward for the texas oyster mariculture industry the texas parks and wildlife department has announced the launch of online permit applications the application allows aspiring oyster farmers to begin the process of starting up their oyster farm although oysters are a longstanding culinary tradition in texas oyster mariculture was only recently legalized with the passing of hb 1300 in 2019 this new and sustainable industry will bring premium half-shell oysters to the market texas-style along with the new industry comes new processes new ideas and new questions to help those interested in oyster mariculture texas sea grants aquaculture specialist mario marquez is here to help located at the oyster resource and recovery center in palacios he is available to assist aspiring oyster farmers through all processes from permitting to building farms to support the success of this industry marquez has extensive experience in aquaculture and oyster fisheries he is currently obtaining his phd in environmental sciences focusing on the ecosystem benefits of oyster aquaculture in oyster bay fl he was also a founder and ceo of the oyster company llc an oyster farm in northern florida  im ready to help anyone that asks for my assistance when it comes to growing oysters and help them succeed marquez said learn more about the legalization of oyster mariculture in the latest issue of texas shores magazine    media contact: mario marquez mmarquez42@tamuedu (850) 583-6801 sara carney communications manager scarney@tamuedu (713) 435-9585  " " a letter from dean debbie thomas""sustainability requires a society that trusts science and embraces the talent of each and every member of our society "" writes dr debbie thomasaug 26 2020dear aggie geosciences family like you i have been reflecting deeply on the heartbreaking challenges and tragedies of 2020 and how to channel grief and anger into action action that leverages the role of geoscientists in shaping a sustainable future sustainability in the most holistic sense is the ability to ensure peace and wellbeing for all of the planets inhabitants now and forever this year has brought to a head two of the most critical battles confronting true sustainability the fight for racial justice and the fight for science-based decision making aggie geoscientists must step forward and lead these fights after all sustainability is selfless service conquering racial injustice and the movement to discredit science requires our humanity and our unfailing commitment to equity our commitment to each other racial justice requires environmental justice racial justice requires pathways into and through higher education that are free from barriers for those from minoritized groups geoscientists must lead in ensuring equitable and affordable access to stem education that provides the opportunity to kindle passion and achieve goals we must lead in empowering everyone to know that our disciplines lead to the very career paths required for sustainability we are taking action and the college of geosciences is heading to the frontlines in the fight to dismantle racism from our disciplines and from higher education we have spent the summer working with all stakeholders current students former students staff and faculty to craft a plan for eliminating barriers to the success of minoritized groups and building structures in their place to create a college that attracts talent from all populations and deploys their talents in rewarding careers we formally will launch this plan and the new website in september grief and anger will lead to hope and positive sustainable change but never complacency  the vision and support of our former students is paramount to these efforts and we are so deeply grateful for your investment in our efforts to develop the next geoscience leaders the scholarships you endow the internships and workshops you provide your guidance on career panels and as mentors the out-of-the classroom experiences that you make possible the learning spaces that you have transformed all are mission-critical to our ability to deliver on the promise of higher education thank you i invite you to read about the latest transformational gift from two truly devoted aggies traci and curtis i simply lack the words to thank you for making possible our new partnership with the texas a&m university career center the traci 11 and curtis samford 83 geosciences career center delivers on the promise that our disciplines lead to the most rewarding and critical career paths  to all of our dear aggies former current and future please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe by following the best practices and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society you are the foundation of sustainability and sustainability requires a society that trusts science and embraces the talent of each and every member of our society lead us there aggie geoscientists dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences " "dear aggie geosciences family like you i have been reflecting deeply on the heartbreaking challenges and tragedies of 2020 and how to channel grief and anger into action action that leverages the role of geoscientists in shaping a sustainable future sustainability in the most holistic sense is the ability to ensure peace and wellbeing for all of the planets inhabitants now and forever this year has brought to a head two of the most critical battles confronting true sustainability the fight for racial justice and the fight for science-based decision making aggie geoscientists must step forward and lead these fights after all sustainability is selfless service conquering racial injustice and the movement to discredit science requires our humanity and our unfailing commitment to equity our commitment to each other racial justice requires environmental justice racial justice requires pathways into and through higher education that are free from barriers for those from minoritized groups geoscientists must lead in ensuring equitable and affordable access to stem education that provides the opportunity to kindle passion and achieve goals we must lead in empowering everyone to know that our disciplines lead to the very career paths required for sustainability we are taking action and the college of geosciences is heading to the frontlines in the fight to dismantle racism from our disciplines and from higher education we have spent the summer working with all stakeholders current students former students staff and faculty to craft a plan for eliminating barriers to the success of minoritized groups and building structures in their place to create a college that attracts talent from all populations and deploys their talents in rewarding careers we formally will launch this plan and the new website in september grief and anger will lead to hope and positive sustainable change but never complacency  the vision and support of our former students is paramount to these efforts and we are so deeply grateful for your investment in our efforts to develop the next geoscience leaders the scholarships you endow the internships and workshops you provide your guidance on career panels and as mentors the out-of-the classroom experiences that you make possible the learning spaces that you have transformed all are mission-critical to our ability to deliver on the promise of higher education thank you i invite you to read about the latest transformational gift from two truly devoted aggies traci and curtis i simply lack the words to thank you for making possible our new partnership with the texas a&m university career center the traci 11 and curtis samford 83 geosciences career center delivers on the promise that our disciplines lead to the most rewarding and critical career paths  to all of our dear aggies former current and future please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe by following the best practices and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society you are the foundation of sustainability and sustainability requires a society that trusts science and embraces the talent of each and every member of our society lead us there aggie geoscientists dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences" " new major gift from traci and curtis samford establishes geosciences career centerturning dreams into reality for texas a&m geosciences a gift from traci 11 and curtis samford 83 will impact generations of geosciences studentsaug 26 2020traci 11 and curtis samford 83 at kyle field (photo courtesy of the samfords)the samford family celebrating at a texas a&m aggie ring day (photo courtesy of the samfords)making the leap from college graduate to successful professional can be full of challenges from navigating interviews to landing a job to learning a companys culture and transitioning to life after college generations of texas a&m university college of geosciences former students have taken on world-changing careers with unique difficulties and opportunities and now thanks to a major gift from two former students todays aggies will have access to expansive and accessible career preparation services and support a generous recent gift from traci 11 and curtis samford 83 has officially established the traci ‘11 and curtis samford ‘83 geosciences career center which will be a newly renovated physical space in the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center    we are excited for this opportunity to give back to texas a&m curtis samford said this opportunity to help students find a way to the next level in their life after college to take that next step that was very meaningful to us to help contribute to students success  the center will be located on the first floor of the o&m building and construction will begin later this year it will also serve as the base of operations for the geosciences associate director of career services who will lead operations of the center i am just grateful beyond words for the vision and generosity of traci and curtis samford said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas their gift is an investment in the future careers of our students and could not have come at a more critical time  a vision for the future geosciences leadership envisioned the center as a powerful way to leverage its strength as a small college providing students with the unparalleled resources to immediately connect the skills and knowledge they gain in geosciences degree programs to their future careers its very clear to me that dean thomas and the colleges faculty and staff care very much about their students and their success samford said as a member of the college advisory council ive been able to see how much the faculty really care not only that but the colleges focus on excellence in education is also inspiringrenderings of the traci ‘11 and curtis samford ‘83 geosciences career centerthe new center will be on the first floor of the o&m buildingroom 109 in the o&m building will be transformed into a highly collaborative facility dedicated to all dimensions of beyond-the-classroom professional development including internship and career placement when planning the new space the college utilized the architectural rendering software sketch up part of the new trimble technologies lab to envision the center's design and concept this partnership with the texas a&m career center paves the way for the college of geosciences to have a dedicated facility and a dedicated associate director within our own space dean thomas explained we are also deeply grateful for the support of provost fierke joe pettibon and the career center executive director samantha wilson for their support of our strategic vision the geosciences career center is also mission-critical to the colleges goal of leading the nation in broadening and deepening participation in the geosciences she said and it will help recruit students by connecting them to intentional pathways to impactful and rewarding careers this partnership with the tamu career center is a game-changing resource for aggie geoscientists and could not have arisen at a more opportune time for our students and their families helping graduates become successful professionals  as they partnered with college leadership on the vision for the career center the samfords drew from their experience of helping their sons transition from texas a&m students to successful professionals in new careers as well as their experiences in recruiting college graduates to their companies as seniors are considering their first career move and looking at opportunities its key to look at the culture of a company: will it be a good fit for you curtis said a lot of students after school focus on prestigious companies or the highest-paying positions and they dont spend enough time looking at the culture of the company and is it the right fit for them curtis samford graduated from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geophysics in 1984 and he now serves as the president and chief executive officer for afg holdings a private equity backed oem serving the oil and gas industry as well as providing products and services to the broader aerospace/defense and industrial markets traci samford graduated from texas a&m in 2011 with a bachelors degree in accounting and was an accountant for anadarko petroleum corporation for several years before retiring their two sons graduated from texas a&m in 2011 and 2013 even once you get hired its important to remember that you still have a lot to learn traci said your degree gets you in the door the connections you make at texas a&m get you in the door all of that prepares you for the job but youre not done learning – you still have to learn how to apply everything you learned at school and make it work in your job dean thomas said that the new career center will be a visible testament to the samfords investment and the colleges commitment to the power of a texas a&m geosciences degree she also credited former geosciences director of development gary reynolds with partnering with the college and the samfords to make this dream a reality for geosciences students aggie geoscientists will forever associate the samfords with the promise that their hard work and passion will connect them directly to an intensely rewarding career by leslie lee 09 " traci 11 and curtis samford 83 at kyle field (photo courtesy of the samfords)the samford family celebrating at a texas a&m aggie ring day (photo courtesy of the samfords) "making the leap from college graduate to successful professional can be full of challenges from navigating interviews to landing a job to learning a companys culture and transitioning to life after college generations of texas a&m university college of geosciences former students have taken on world-changing careers with unique difficulties and opportunities and now thanks to a major gift from two former students todays aggies will have access to expansive and accessible career preparation services and support a generous recent gift from traci 11 and curtis samford 83 has officially established the traci ‘11 and curtis samford ‘83 geosciences career center which will be a newly renovated physical space in the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center    we are excited for this opportunity to give back to texas a&m curtis samford said this opportunity to help students find a way to the next level in their life after college to take that next step that was very meaningful to us to help contribute to students success  the center will be located on the first floor of the o&m building and construction will begin later this year it will also serve as the base of operations for the geosciences associate director of career services who will lead operations of the center i am just grateful beyond words for the vision and generosity of traci and curtis samford said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas their gift is an investment in the future careers of our students and could not have come at a more critical time  a vision for the future geosciences leadership envisioned the center as a powerful way to leverage its strength as a small college providing students with the unparalleled resources to immediately connect the skills and knowledge they gain in geosciences degree programs to their future careers its very clear to me that dean thomas and the colleges faculty and staff care very much about their students and their success samford said as a member of the college advisory council ive been able to see how much the faculty really care not only that but the colleges focus on excellence in education is also inspiring" renderings of the traci ‘11 and curtis samford ‘83 geosciences career centerthe new center will be on the first floor of the o&m building "room 109 in the o&m building will be transformed into a highly collaborative facility dedicated to all dimensions of beyond-the-classroom professional development including internship and career placement when planning the new space the college utilized the architectural rendering software sketch up part of the new trimble technologies lab to envision the center's design and concept this partnership with the texas a&m career center paves the way for the college of geosciences to have a dedicated facility and a dedicated associate director within our own space dean thomas explained we are also deeply grateful for the support of provost fierke joe pettibon and the career center executive director samantha wilson for their support of our strategic vision the geosciences career center is also mission-critical to the colleges goal of leading the nation in broadening and deepening participation in the geosciences she said and it will help recruit students by connecting them to intentional pathways to impactful and rewarding careers this partnership with the tamu career center is a game-changing resource for aggie geoscientists and could not have arisen at a more opportune time for our students and their families helping graduates become successful professionals  as they partnered with college leadership on the vision for the career center the samfords drew from their experience of helping their sons transition from texas a&m students to successful professionals in new careers as well as their experiences in recruiting college graduates to their companies as seniors are considering their first career move and looking at opportunities its key to look at the culture of a company: will it be a good fit for you curtis said a lot of students after school focus on prestigious companies or the highest-paying positions and they dont spend enough time looking at the culture of the company and is it the right fit for them curtis samford graduated from texas a&m with a bachelors degree in geophysics in 1984 and he now serves as the president and chief executive officer for afg holdings a private equity backed oem serving the oil and gas industry as well as providing products and services to the broader aerospace/defense and industrial markets traci samford graduated from texas a&m in 2011 with a bachelors degree in accounting and was an accountant for anadarko petroleum corporation for several years before retiring their two sons graduated from texas a&m in 2011 and 2013 even once you get hired its important to remember that you still have a lot to learn traci said your degree gets you in the door the connections you make at texas a&m get you in the door all of that prepares you for the job but youre not done learning – you still have to learn how to apply everything you learned at school and make it work in your job dean thomas said that the new career center will be a visible testament to the samfords investment and the colleges commitment to the power of a texas a&m geosciences degree she also credited former geosciences director of development gary reynolds with partnering with the college and the samfords to make this dream a reality for geosciences students aggie geoscientists will forever associate the samfords with the promise that their hard work and passion will connect them directly to an intensely rewarding career by leslie lee 09" " remembering gary reynolds '88 '92our thoughts are with his beloved family as we cherish his memory "" said geosciences dean dr debbie thomasaug 26 2020gary reynolds and geosciences former student and texas a&m football athlete cullen gillaspia '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)jessica '88 and gary reynolds '88 '92 (image courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)reynolds served as a football operations director at texas a&m for many years (image courtesy of aggie athletics)gary reynolds 88 92 former texas a&m university college of geosciences senior director of development passed away aug 20 ""with great sorrow we share the news that our dear friend and colleague gary reynolds lost his courageous battle with cancer said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences gary was so much more than our development officer; he was our friend and champion a visionary with the curiosity and passion of a geoscientist at heart garys heart and passion inspired us to do better and he forever will shape our college for the better our thoughts are with his beloved family as we cherish his memory"" after earning his bachelors degree in industrial distribution from texas a&m in 1988 and his masters in educational administration in 1992 reynolds held various recruiting coaching and athletic director positions for the university of tennessee the green bay packers and the seattle seahawks before returning to aggieland for an 8-year career as texas a&ms director of football operations prior to moving into the role of associate athletics director he began serving as senior director of development for the texas a&m foundation and the college of geosciences in august of 2018 and was instrumental in recent major gifts to the college he is survived by his wife jessica and his two daughters read remembrances of reynolds in the eagle and from the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m football by leslie lee 09 " gary reynolds and geosciences former student and texas a&m football athlete cullen gillaspia '18 (photo by chris mouchyn)jessica '88 and gary reynolds '88 '92 (image courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)reynolds served as a football operations director at texas a&m for many years (image courtesy of aggie athletics) "gary reynolds 88 92 former texas a&m university college of geosciences senior director of development passed away aug 20 ""with great sorrow we share the news that our dear friend and colleague gary reynolds lost his courageous battle with cancer said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences gary was so much more than our development officer; he was our friend and champion a visionary with the curiosity and passion of a geoscientist at heart garys heart and passion inspired us to do better and he forever will shape our college for the better our thoughts are with his beloved family as we cherish his memory"" after earning his bachelors degree in industrial distribution from texas a&m in 1988 and his masters in educational administration in 1992 reynolds held various recruiting coaching and athletic director positions for the university of tennessee the green bay packers and the seattle seahawks before returning to aggieland for an 8-year career as texas a&ms director of football operations prior to moving into the role of associate athletics director he began serving as senior director of development for the texas a&m foundation and the college of geosciences in august of 2018 and was instrumental in recent major gifts to the college he is survived by his wife jessica and his two daughters read remembrances of reynolds in the eagle and from the texas a&m foundation and texas a&m football by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m storm expert says texas at peak of hurricane seasonsome experts believe storms are forming later in the season as the earth continues to get hotteraug 26 2020satellite image of hurricane laura strengthening over the gulf of mexico courtesy of noaatwo storms at once in the gulf of mexico is a rare event and presents unique problems says a texas a&m university storm expert robert korty associate professor in atmospheric sciences said that tropical storm marco and hurricane laura arriving within days of each in the gulf has not happened since sept 5 1933 when a hurricane hit brownsville texas and another hit florida both making landfall around midnight two storms in the same week divide attention and resources in responding to them korty said and if the storms affect the same part of the coast the threat from flooding is exacerbated marco has weakened but laura is now a hurricane while two storms at the same time is rare their formation this time of year is not hurricane season peaks between august and october but there may be growing evidence that the storm season is lengthening hurricane activity in the atlantic basin crests from mid-august to mid-october so we have entered the heart of the hurricane season korty said although the season formally runs from june 1 to nov 30 august september and october are by far the most active in the atlantic some experts believe that as climate change has warmed the earth considerably in the past 100 years more storms tend to form later in the season especially since water temperatures remain warmer in the fall months as the planet has warmed the length of the season may stretch a bit longer – both starting earlier and ending later korty said the early and late season storms are less likely to be intense as conditions that support their existence are often marginal hurricanes gordon (1914) kate (1985) and noel (2007) formed in november while unnamed storms formed in the same month in 1912 and 1932 and another in december in 1925 this year we had an early start with 13 named storms already several of them were short lived and weak but that is a record-breaking launch into the heart of the season korty said texas situation may be a bit different korty said texas is usually most vulnerable during the first half of the season – from june to september he said by later in the autumn upper level winds are more likely to be out of the west which tends to steer any tropical storms east of us by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " satellite image of hurricane laura strengthening over the gulf of mexico courtesy of noaa "two storms at once in the gulf of mexico is a rare event and presents unique problems says a texas a&m university storm expert robert korty associate professor in atmospheric sciences said that tropical storm marco and hurricane laura arriving within days of each in the gulf has not happened since sept 5 1933 when a hurricane hit brownsville texas and another hit florida both making landfall around midnight two storms in the same week divide attention and resources in responding to them korty said and if the storms affect the same part of the coast the threat from flooding is exacerbated marco has weakened but laura is now a hurricane while two storms at the same time is rare their formation this time of year is not hurricane season peaks between august and october but there may be growing evidence that the storm season is lengthening hurricane activity in the atlantic basin crests from mid-august to mid-october so we have entered the heart of the hurricane season korty said although the season formally runs from june 1 to nov 30 august september and october are by far the most active in the atlantic some experts believe that as climate change has warmed the earth considerably in the past 100 years more storms tend to form later in the season especially since water temperatures remain warmer in the fall months as the planet has warmed the length of the season may stretch a bit longer – both starting earlier and ending later korty said the early and late season storms are less likely to be intense as conditions that support their existence are often marginal hurricanes gordon (1914) kate (1985) and noel (2007) formed in november while unnamed storms formed in the same month in 1912 and 1932 and another in december in 1925 this year we had an early start with 13 named storms already several of them were short lived and weak but that is a record-breaking launch into the heart of the season korty said texas situation may be a bit different korty said texas is usually most vulnerable during the first half of the season – from june to september he said by later in the autumn upper level winds are more likely to be out of the west which tends to steer any tropical storms east of us by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " under the radarget an in-depth look at the history and future of the aggie doppler radaraug 24 2020the aggie doppler radar (adrad) is located on the roof of the david g eller oceanography & meteorology building or o&m buildingperched on the roof of the david g eller oceanography and meteorology building or o&m building the aggie doppler radar (adrad) sits at the highest point on campus its giant dish measuring 16 feet in diameter can be seen far and wide though many passersby strolling through central campus have seen the radar its deep history and value to texas a&m university and the atmospheric science community remain a mystery to most dr don conlee 94 an instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m college of geosciences wants to shed light on adrads utility as an unparalleled educational tool and proud piece of aggie history dedicated to weather education a mississippi native conlee earned his bachelors degree in meteorology from the university of louisiana-monroe and enlisted in the us navy as an oceanographer and meteorologist while still on active duty he enrolled at texas a&m in 1991 to pursue a doctorate in meteorology crediting his decision to the universitys excellent reputation with service members and veterans despite having no previous ties to texas a&m he quickly came to call the university home during the three years he spent in college station like everybody who comes here i fell in love with the place conlee said after eventually retiring from service and spending time working in the private sector conlee eagerly accepted an offer to return to aggieland as a faculty member in 2009 initially brought on as an instructional professor specializing in operational meteorology conlee has deeply involved himself in adrads operation and educational programming in his 11 years as an aggie faculty member he has gained a reputation for encouraging students enthusiasm and curiosity as well as instilling solid habits for conducting scientific weather research a reputation for innovation the adrad is the only s-band doppler-capable weather radar in the country located directly on a college campus the radar on top of the o&m building today was technically built in 1962 but has been continually updated modified and refurbished to keep up with new advances in technology it was moved to its current home overlooking campus in 1973 and given doppler capability along with its current name in 1992 the origins of weather radar research at texas a&m go back to the 1950s when aggies conducted foundational research on tracking weather using radar technology researchers here did seminal work determining what wavelengths could be used for weather radar conlee saiddr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciencesthe adrad is the only s-band doppler-capable weather radar in the country located directly on a college campus on april 4 1956 aggies collecting data from a storm reported readings of a hook echo a radar pattern associated with tornado-producing conditions north of bryan texas they communicated their data to the us weather bureau forecast center in kansas city missouri which issued a tornado forecast for the area this event has been credited as the first radar-based tornado warning in history though conlee is skeptical of the historical claim (aggies like to tell tall tales he said) the event speaks to the innovative prowess of aggie meteorologists throughout history  a teaching tool unlike any other conlee is deeply involved in adrad and its educational programs but he is quick to credit dr courtney schumacher as the key driving force in updating the radar to its current capabilities she not only revitalized adrad but she also started a program to allow undergraduates to interface with it that program is the student operational adrad project (soap) which allows undergraduate and graduate meteorology students the opportunity to operate the fully-functional weather radar firsthanda unique learning opportunity that sets adrad and texas a&ms meteorology department apart from similar research radars and programs  students here are trained to run and monitor the radar in severe or interesting weather situations conlee said thats just an irreplaceable experience that most students around the countryeven those at institutions specializing in radardont get to do theres no substitute for that admittedly adrads technical capabilities do not represent the cutting edge of radar technology its current specifications are closer to what national researchers used to predict the weather in the 1990s however conlee considers it the most capable weather radar dedicated to education in the country the unfriendly skies adrad is first and foremost an instrument for education and research not for pinpoint weather forecasting the radars location however gives it the potential to do much more than teach students with the influence and help of dr chris nowotarski we have made data from the radar much more usable not only for the public but also the national weather service (nws) and local media conlee said especially toward the northeast we provide the best coverage in the area as a result of adrads prime real estate the nws has routinely called upon its data to track and assess severe weather across texas when a deadly tornado tore through the east texas town of onalaska on april 23 2020 adrad was in the best position to record the tornados formation and help the nws deliver timely warnings to the community  while adrads technological and logistical limitations prevent it from being run continuously it has continuously proven its value not only in helping teach aggie students to study weather but also as a living monument connecting those students to the history of radar research at texas a&m it takes a significant amount of maintenance and upkeep to run adrad conlee said but aggies and texans definitely benefit from this resource the college of geoscience seeks a $2 million endowment to provide for the continued maintenance of adrad as a unique educational tool forecasting aid and historical icon of the texas a&m atmospheric sciences program to learn more about this special giving opportunity contact jay roberts '05 assistant vice president for development by bailey payne '19 texas a&m foundation " the aggie doppler radar (adrad) is located on the roof of the david g eller oceanography & meteorology building or o&m building "perched on the roof of the david g eller oceanography and meteorology building or o&m building the aggie doppler radar (adrad) sits at the highest point on campus its giant dish measuring 16 feet in diameter can be seen far and wide though many passersby strolling through central campus have seen the radar its deep history and value to texas a&m university and the atmospheric science community remain a mystery to most dr don conlee 94 an instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the texas a&m college of geosciences wants to shed light on adrads utility as an unparalleled educational tool and proud piece of aggie history dedicated to weather education a mississippi native conlee earned his bachelors degree in meteorology from the university of louisiana-monroe and enlisted in the us navy as an oceanographer and meteorologist while still on active duty he enrolled at texas a&m in 1991 to pursue a doctorate in meteorology crediting his decision to the universitys excellent reputation with service members and veterans despite having no previous ties to texas a&m he quickly came to call the university home during the three years he spent in college station like everybody who comes here i fell in love with the place conlee said after eventually retiring from service and spending time working in the private sector conlee eagerly accepted an offer to return to aggieland as a faculty member in 2009 initially brought on as an instructional professor specializing in operational meteorology conlee has deeply involved himself in adrads operation and educational programming in his 11 years as an aggie faculty member he has gained a reputation for encouraging students enthusiasm and curiosity as well as instilling solid habits for conducting scientific weather research a reputation for innovation the adrad is the only s-band doppler-capable weather radar in the country located directly on a college campus the radar on top of the o&m building today was technically built in 1962 but has been continually updated modified and refurbished to keep up with new advances in technology it was moved to its current home overlooking campus in 1973 and given doppler capability along with its current name in 1992 the origins of weather radar research at texas a&m go back to the 1950s when aggies conducted foundational research on tracking weather using radar technology researchers here did seminal work determining what wavelengths could be used for weather radar conlee said" dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciencesthe adrad is the only s-band doppler-capable weather radar in the country located directly on a college campus  "on april 4 1956 aggies collecting data from a storm reported readings of a hook echo a radar pattern associated with tornado-producing conditions north of bryan texas they communicated their data to the us weather bureau forecast center in kansas city missouri which issued a tornado forecast for the area this event has been credited as the first radar-based tornado warning in history though conlee is skeptical of the historical claim (aggies like to tell tall tales he said) the event speaks to the innovative prowess of aggie meteorologists throughout history  a teaching tool unlike any other conlee is deeply involved in adrad and its educational programs but he is quick to credit dr courtney schumacher as the key driving force in updating the radar to its current capabilities she not only revitalized adrad but she also started a program to allow undergraduates to interface with it that program is the student operational adrad project (soap) which allows undergraduate and graduate meteorology students the opportunity to operate the fully-functional weather radar firsthanda unique learning opportunity that sets adrad and texas a&ms meteorology department apart from similar research radars and programs  students here are trained to run and monitor the radar in severe or interesting weather situations conlee said thats just an irreplaceable experience that most students around the countryeven those at institutions specializing in radardont get to do theres no substitute for that admittedly adrads technical capabilities do not represent the cutting edge of radar technology its current specifications are closer to what national researchers used to predict the weather in the 1990s however conlee considers it the most capable weather radar dedicated to education in the country the unfriendly skies adrad is first and foremost an instrument for education and research not for pinpoint weather forecasting the radars location however gives it the potential to do much more than teach students with the influence and help of dr chris nowotarski we have made data from the radar much more usable not only for the public but also the national weather service (nws) and local media conlee said especially toward the northeast we provide the best coverage in the area as a result of adrads prime real estate the nws has routinely called upon its data to track and assess severe weather across texas when a deadly tornado tore through the east texas town of onalaska on april 23 2020 adrad was in the best position to record the tornados formation and help the nws deliver timely warnings to the community  while adrads technological and logistical limitations prevent it from being run continuously it has continuously proven its value not only in helping teach aggie students to study weather but also as a living monument connecting those students to the history of radar research at texas a&m it takes a significant amount of maintenance and upkeep to run adrad conlee said but aggies and texans definitely benefit from this resource the college of geoscience seeks a $2 million endowment to provide for the continued maintenance of adrad as a unique educational tool forecasting aid and historical icon of the texas a&m atmospheric sciences program to learn more about this special giving opportunity contact jay roberts '05 assistant vice president for development by bailey payne '19 texas a&m foundation" " kathryn shamberger named montague-center for teaching excellence scholarthe prestigious honor was awarded to the oceanography assistant professor for her innovative teachingaug 19 2020the texas a&m university center for teaching excellence (cte) recently named dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor in texas a&ms department of oceanography as the 2020 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences nominated for the honor by her colleagues shamberger has earned the respect of professors and students alike through her efforts to bring her knowledge and experience into the classroom dr shamberger has a passion for teaching and is able to truly engage her students says dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography professor and department head this award is well-deserveddrs kathryn shamberger (left) and chrissy stover wiederwohl (right)  on the texas floating classroom's (tfc) r/v archimedes dr wiederwohl nominated dr shamberger for the montague-center for teaching excellence scholar award (photo by dr kathryn shamberger)started in 1991 the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program honors a tenure-track developing faculty member from each academic college annually with a $6 500 grant shamberger hopes to use the grant to bring vibrant 360° imagery of the worlds coral reefs into the classroom id love to get some underwater coral reef videos shamberger says i proposed for this award to make a bunch of google 360 videos and incorporate them into a new coral reefs course she also explains that she wants to share the material and technologies with the other departments in the college of geosciences and the rest of the university by justin agan " "the texas a&m university center for teaching excellence (cte) recently named dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor in texas a&ms department of oceanography as the 2020 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences nominated for the honor by her colleagues shamberger has earned the respect of professors and students alike through her efforts to bring her knowledge and experience into the classroom dr shamberger has a passion for teaching and is able to truly engage her students says dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography professor and department head this award is well-deserved" drs kathryn shamberger (left) and chrissy stover wiederwohl (right)  on the texas floating classroom's (tfc) r/v archimedes dr wiederwohl nominated dr shamberger for the montague-center for teaching excellence scholar award (photo by dr kathryn shamberger) "started in 1991 the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program honors a tenure-track developing faculty member from each academic college annually with a $6 500 grant shamberger hopes to use the grant to bring vibrant 360° imagery of the worlds coral reefs into the classroom id love to get some underwater coral reef videos shamberger says i proposed for this award to make a bunch of google 360 videos and incorporate them into a new coral reefs course she also explains that she wants to share the material and technologies with the other departments in the college of geosciences and the rest of the university by justin agan" " oceanography graduate students receive awardsthe department of oceanography recently presented awards for teaching and researchaug 19 2020ruby schaufler with the certificate for the john wormuth memorial award for undergraduate teaching (photo by ruby schaufler)anne tamalavage with the certificate for the chapman award for graduate research (photo by anne tamalavage)graduate student awards for undergraduate teaching and research were awarded on july 14 by dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography at texas a&m university to two graduate students: anne tamalavage and ruby schaufler schaufler earned the john wormuth memorial award for undergraduate teaching for her efforts in teaching the introduction to oceanography lab to undergraduate students ive been a ta (teaching assistant) every semester since i started graduate school so it was nice to earn an award for that because i didnt come in with any prerogative of being a teacher or working in academia schaufler says i would like to thank my advisor dr niall slowey and my students who have always been accommodating and attentive schaufler says dr wiederwohl our instructor of record does a great job of leading the tas so expectations for the course and the tas are clear she deserves a big thank you in her research schaufler uses alkenone and foraminiferal biomarker geochemical isotope analysis as a tool to quantify and examine variations in sea surface temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide she wants to create paleorecords of sea surface temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide from the late pleistocene through the present and compare them with existing records from other climatological proxies tamalavage earned the chapman award for graduate research for her work using sedimentological and geochemical proxies in paleoclimatic reconstructions using geochemical proxies (including organic matter preserved in the sediment) from cores retrieved from the bottom of sinkholes and blue holes in the caribbean she works to reconstruct past climates from 3 000 to 50 000-years-ago so our group normally works to produce paleoclimate reconstructions from the holocene the most recent geologic epoch however we recently recovered a core that dates to about 50 000 years ago during the last glacial period coupling of ocean and atmospheric changes were really dynamic during this time and we can map those changes through time using these sediment records tamalavage says i would like to acknowledge the department of oceanography and dr piers chapman for whom the award is named and former head of oceanography for recognizing graduate student research success tamalavage says id also like to thank my mentors dr patrick louchouarn and dr pete van hengstum and my collaborators most importantly my current lab mates: shawna little (of texas a&m university galveston) tyler winkler and richard sullivan tamalavage also spends some of her time volunteering on the publications committee for the american geophysical union where she hopes to be a voice for diversity initiatives and early career scientists like herself by justin agan " ruby schaufler with the certificate for the john wormuth memorial award for undergraduate teaching (photo by ruby schaufler)anne tamalavage with the certificate for the chapman award for graduate research (photo by anne tamalavage) "graduate student awards for undergraduate teaching and research were awarded on july 14 by dr shari yvon-lewis head of the department of oceanography at texas a&m university to two graduate students: anne tamalavage and ruby schaufler schaufler earned the john wormuth memorial award for undergraduate teaching for her efforts in teaching the introduction to oceanography lab to undergraduate students ive been a ta (teaching assistant) every semester since i started graduate school so it was nice to earn an award for that because i didnt come in with any prerogative of being a teacher or working in academia schaufler says i would like to thank my advisor dr niall slowey and my students who have always been accommodating and attentive schaufler says dr wiederwohl our instructor of record does a great job of leading the tas so expectations for the course and the tas are clear she deserves a big thank you in her research schaufler uses alkenone and foraminiferal biomarker geochemical isotope analysis as a tool to quantify and examine variations in sea surface temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide she wants to create paleorecords of sea surface temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide from the late pleistocene through the present and compare them with existing records from other climatological proxies tamalavage earned the chapman award for graduate research for her work using sedimentological and geochemical proxies in paleoclimatic reconstructions using geochemical proxies (including organic matter preserved in the sediment) from cores retrieved from the bottom of sinkholes and blue holes in the caribbean she works to reconstruct past climates from 3 000 to 50 000-years-ago so our group normally works to produce paleoclimate reconstructions from the holocene the most recent geologic epoch however we recently recovered a core that dates to about 50 000 years ago during the last glacial period coupling of ocean and atmospheric changes were really dynamic during this time and we can map those changes through time using these sediment records tamalavage says i would like to acknowledge the department of oceanography and dr piers chapman for whom the award is named and former head of oceanography for recognizing graduate student research success tamalavage says id also like to thank my mentors dr patrick louchouarn and dr pete van hengstum and my collaborators most importantly my current lab mates: shawna little (of texas a&m university galveston) tyler winkler and richard sullivan tamalavage also spends some of her time volunteering on the publications committee for the american geophysical union where she hopes to be a voice for diversity initiatives and early career scientists like herself by justin agan" " new 5-year degree available from geology and geophysics departmentfast track programs allow texas a&m students to graduate with both a bachelors and masters degree in just 5 yearsaug 7 2020the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university launched a new fast track program in spring of 2020  the fast track program in geology and fast track program in geophysics is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelor of science (bs) in either geology or geophysics and a thesis option master of science (ms) in geology  the department is definitely excited about the new fast track program that will get underway in the fall 2020 semester said associate department head for graduate affairs dr mark everett  we feel this new program offering will provide our highly qualified juniors with an exciting new graduate-study option that will enable them to dive into a significant research project with faculty leading to a thesis and moreover to become equipped with essential skills and experience in preparedness for both industry opportunities and direct entry into leading doctoral programs "" he said this program is designed to quickly prepare exceptional students who would like to either enter into the job market with an advanced degree or apply to phd programs because the masters degree requires a thesis it is highly recommended that interested students become involved in a research project early in their undergraduate career the department also offers two other 5-year programs: the bachelor of arts in geology and masters of ocean science and technology 5-year program) and the bachelor of science in geology and master of ocean science and technology 5-year program  these fast track programs offer motivated and exceptional students the opportunity to achieve aspirations in an efficient program at texas a&m  students may apply for entrance to the graduate program when they reach 90 hours applied to their degree program normally in the spring of their junior year prospective students can apply for the program here  students not accepted into the fast track program will still complete the standard departments 120 hour bachelors degree within the standard 4-year curriculum these students may still apply to the traditional geology and geophysics graduate program by ali snell " "the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university launched a new fast track program in spring of 2020  the fast track program in geology and fast track program in geophysics is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelor of science (bs) in either geology or geophysics and a thesis option master of science (ms) in geology  the department is definitely excited about the new fast track program that will get underway in the fall 2020 semester said associate department head for graduate affairs dr mark everett  we feel this new program offering will provide our highly qualified juniors with an exciting new graduate-study option that will enable them to dive into a significant research project with faculty leading to a thesis and moreover to become equipped with essential skills and experience in preparedness for both industry opportunities and direct entry into leading doctoral programs "" he said this program is designed to quickly prepare exceptional students who would like to either enter into the job market with an advanced degree or apply to phd programs because the masters degree requires a thesis it is highly recommended that interested students become involved in a research project early in their undergraduate career the department also offers two other 5-year programs: the bachelor of arts in geology and masters of ocean science and technology 5-year program) and the bachelor of science in geology and master of ocean science and technology 5-year program  these fast track programs offer motivated and exceptional students the opportunity to achieve aspirations in an efficient program at texas a&m  students may apply for entrance to the graduate program when they reach 90 hours applied to their degree program normally in the spring of their junior year prospective students can apply for the program here  students not accepted into the fast track program will still complete the standard departments 120 hour bachelors degree within the standard 4-year curriculum these students may still apply to the traditional geology and geophysics graduate program by ali snell" " anne raymond named geological society of america fellowdr anne raymond has been named a geological society of america fellowaug 7 2020anne raymond named geological society of america fellow dr anne raymond professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m has been named a geological society of america (gsa) fellow  anne raymond exemplifies the balance between service to students university and professional societies; and in refereed publications said raymonds nominator james clyde hower university of kentucky she brings out the best in her colleagues not just in research contributions but also in her critical questions and comments focusing their attention on critical but otherwise overlooked aspects of the problem the gsa fellowship is an honor bestowed on the best of the geology profession by election during the spring gsa council meeting gsa members are nominated by existing gsa fellows in recognition of a sustained record of distinguished contributions to the geosciences and the geological society of america through such avenues as publications applied research teaching administration of geological programs contributing to the public awareness of geology leadership of professional organizations and taking on editorial bibliographic and library responsibilities one of the most inspiring aspects of the gsa fellow honor is that it recognizes the true depth of ones impact on the discipline and dr raymonds impact is beyond measure said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas   by ali snell " "dr anne raymond professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m has been named a geological society of america (gsa) fellow  anne raymond exemplifies the balance between service to students university and professional societies; and in refereed publications said raymonds nominator james clyde hower university of kentucky she brings out the best in her colleagues not just in research contributions but also in her critical questions and comments focusing their attention on critical but otherwise overlooked aspects of the problem the gsa fellowship is an honor bestowed on the best of the geology profession by election during the spring gsa council meeting gsa members are nominated by existing gsa fellows in recognition of a sustained record of distinguished contributions to the geosciences and the geological society of america through such avenues as publications applied research teaching administration of geological programs contributing to the public awareness of geology leadership of professional organizations and taking on editorial bibliographic and library responsibilities one of the most inspiring aspects of the gsa fellow honor is that it recognizes the true depth of ones impact on the discipline and dr raymonds impact is beyond measure said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas   by ali snell" " hurricane experts guide: geosciences faculty and researchers available to mediatexas a&m geoscientists are available to offer scientific analysis and expertise to media during the 2020 hurricane seasonjul 30 2020the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in lightning behavior in severe storms and hurricanes and is also an expert in pollution smoke and mineral dust impacts on clouds severe weather lightning and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: cschu@tamuedu dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an expert in physical oceanography including tropical cyclones ocean observing hurricane formation and heat exchange in hurricanes and typhoons contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures dani bailey: texas sea grant oil spill outreach specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi bailey is an expert in oil spill recovery and mitigation planning contact: (361) 825-6215 or daniellebailey@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and head of the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu walter peacock planning specialist texas sea grant peacock is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (979) 450-2183 wmpeacock@tamuedu ashley bennis planning specialist texas sea grant bennis is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (361) 825-3225 ashmarie@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards mining social media for improved understanding of disaster resilience engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 825-3460 or lpicariello@seagranttamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu " "the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in lightning behavior in severe storms and hurricanes and is also an expert in pollution smoke and mineral dust impacts on clouds severe weather lightning and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology large mesoscale convective systems radar meteorology and mesoscale-climate interactions contact: cschu@tamuedu dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an expert in physical oceanography including tropical cyclones ocean observing hurricane formation and heat exchange in hurricanes and typhoons contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu structural damage water damage off-shore structures dani bailey: texas sea grant oil spill outreach specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi bailey is an expert in oil spill recovery and mitigation planning contact: (361) 825-6215 or daniellebailey@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and head of the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography assistant professor fitzsimmons is an expert in chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan assistant professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu walter peacock planning specialist texas sea grant peacock is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (979) 450-2183 wmpeacock@tamuedu ashley bennis planning specialist texas sea grant bennis is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (361) 825-3225 ashmarie@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards mining social media for improved understanding of disaster resilience engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: extension fisheries specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 825-3460 or lpicariello@seagranttamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu" " nick weber to be awarded nmfs-sea grant joint fellowshipfellows selected are trained to be ‘the fisheries scientists of the futurejul 29 2020nick weber a first-year phd student in the marine genomics laboratory at texas a&m university-corpus christi was selected to receive a prestigious joint fellowship through the national marine fisheries service (nmfs) and the national sea grant college program he is the first person nominated by texas sea grant to be selected for the fellowship since 1990 nmfs and sea grant have partnered on this fellowship to support phd students in two main areas: population and ecosystem dynamics and marine resource economics population and ecosystem dynamics involves the study of fish populations and marine ecosystems to better evaluate and manage fishery stock conditions marine resource economics is the study of economics related to natural resources used in the marine environment the joint fellowship program trains students to become the fisheries scientists of the future part of this training includes mentorship through both the students university and nmfs fellows are also given the opportunity to attend an annual research symposium where they can exchange ideas and advance their research the fellowship provides over $107 thousand in funding over the course of three years under the guidance of his advisor dr david portnoy weber plans to use the fellowship to continue his genetics research aimed at informing fisheries management genetic data can help him better understand fishery population structure and how to keep fish populations healthy genetic data are critical to fisheries management weber said having an understanding of how many potential populations exist for a given species can help to avoid over-exploitation and we can use genetic data to enhance this understanding  through this fellowship weber can also take his interest in protecting exploited fish populations to the next level in collaboration with his nmfs mentor beverly barnett he hopes to explore and potentially identify a new method for aging exploited fishes using dna studying the age dynamics of exploited fish populations is important because it can help researchers and fisheries managers better understand how to maintain healthy fish populations  i was really excited when i learned that i was selected to receive the fellowship weber said this is the first national fellowship that ive received  webers goal is to graduate in the spring of 2024 after graduation he is looking forward to continuing his research in fisheries management in academia or a state or federal agency weber will begin his fellowship in august 2020   by callie rainosek 17 19 media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu (979) 458-8442 " "nick weber a first-year phd student in the marine genomics laboratory at texas a&m university-corpus christi was selected to receive a prestigious joint fellowship through the national marine fisheries service (nmfs) and the national sea grant college program he is the first person nominated by texas sea grant to be selected for the fellowship since 1990 nmfs and sea grant have partnered on this fellowship to support phd students in two main areas: population and ecosystem dynamics and marine resource economics population and ecosystem dynamics involves the study of fish populations and marine ecosystems to better evaluate and manage fishery stock conditions marine resource economics is the study of economics related to natural resources used in the marine environment the joint fellowship program trains students to become the fisheries scientists of the future part of this training includes mentorship through both the students university and nmfs fellows are also given the opportunity to attend an annual research symposium where they can exchange ideas and advance their research the fellowship provides over $107 thousand in funding over the course of three years under the guidance of his advisor dr david portnoy weber plans to use the fellowship to continue his genetics research aimed at informing fisheries management genetic data can help him better understand fishery population structure and how to keep fish populations healthy genetic data are critical to fisheries management weber said having an understanding of how many potential populations exist for a given species can help to avoid over-exploitation and we can use genetic data to enhance this understanding  through this fellowship weber can also take his interest in protecting exploited fish populations to the next level in collaboration with his nmfs mentor beverly barnett he hopes to explore and potentially identify a new method for aging exploited fishes using dna studying the age dynamics of exploited fish populations is important because it can help researchers and fisheries managers better understand how to maintain healthy fish populations  i was really excited when i learned that i was selected to receive the fellowship weber said this is the first national fellowship that ive received  webers goal is to graduate in the spring of 2024 after graduation he is looking forward to continuing his research in fisheries management in academia or a state or federal agency weber will begin his fellowship in august 2020   by callie rainosek 17 19 media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu (979) 458-8442" " oceanography study says carbon dioxide levels rising in gulf of mexicotexas a&m oceanography team finds gulf waters becoming harmful to marine life commercial fishing could be threatenedjul 28 2020the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 40 percent since the industrial revolution (1760 to 1840) because of human activities the ocean including the gulf of mexico has absorbed at least 25 percent of this carbon dioxide which will almost certainly continue to increase resulting in harmful conditions to marine life according to a study co-authored by a team of texas a&m university department of oceanography professors texas a&m oceanographers dr katie shamberger dr steven dimarco dr niall slowey dr robert hetland dr kristen thyng; former texas a&m phd student and lead author of the study dr andrea kealoha now at the university of hawaii-maui college; and colleagues from noaa have had their work published in the current issue of  scientific reports carbon dioxide is increasing in the open ocean gulf the study showed at rates similar to what has been measured in the open ocean atlantic and pacific due to human carbon dioxide emissions the data used in the study are publicly available from the surface ocean co2 atlas (socat) database much of which were provided by the noaa atlantic oceanographic and meteorological laboratory (aoml) ocean carbon group the team also found that carbon dioxide is increasing faster in coastal (on the continental shelf) gulf of mexico waters compared to open ocean waters which is consistent with other studies showing enhanced acidification in coastal waters compared to the open ocean this is very concerning because several economically important coastal ecosystems including coral reefs shellfish and others are sensitive to acidification  which again is occurring faster in coastal waters than open ocean waters in the gulf shamberger said carbon dioxide levels are increasing in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels for energy and from deforestation the ocean absorbs some of this human-produced also called anthropogenic carbon dioxide when carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater it leads to a process called ocean acidification ocean acidification is harmful to many marine organisms  from phytoplankton to fish and makes it more difficult for shellfish and corals to make the shells and skeletons they need to survive the continued acidification could be especially concerning to commercial fishing in the gulf which is approaching the $1 billion mark shamberger said carbon dioxide levels were fairly stable and did not increase in the central gulf of mexico both in coastal and open ocean surface waters where excess nutrients are delivered by the mississippi and atchafalaya rivers this could be because this area of the gulf of mexico is highly variable as a result of constantly changing river inputs or because the effects of increasing nutrients potentially mask any increase in carbon dioxide the study said shamberger added that the the overall big picture here is that surface water carbon dioxide levels are indeed increasing in the gulf of mexico (except in the central gulf) and human activities are contributing to this acidification also coastal acidification is occurring faster than open ocean acidification which is especially troubling for coastal coral reef and shellfish ecosystems that support many important fisheries species it is likely that coastal and ocean acidification in the gulf of mexico will only worsen as human carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase shamberger said a serious challenge in studying ocean acidification in the gulf of mexico is that there is no long-term time series station where carbon dioxide levels and seawater chemistry have been measured repeatedly over decades in the same location she said this has led to uncertainty about whether ocean acidification is important for gulf of mexico ecosystems our work shows that ocean acidification and especially coastal acidification are serious concerns for the gulf of mexico this is the first study to provide a gulf-wide long-term assessment of surface water carbon dioxide trends in the region and it will be important to update this analysis in order to monitor the health of gulf of mexico coastal and open ocean ecosystems kealoha said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " "the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 40 percent since the industrial revolution (1760 to 1840) because of human activities the ocean including the gulf of mexico has absorbed at least 25 percent of this carbon dioxide which will almost certainly continue to increase resulting in harmful conditions to marine life according to a study co-authored by a team of texas a&m university department of oceanography professors texas a&m oceanographers dr katie shamberger dr steven dimarco dr niall slowey dr robert hetland dr kristen thyng; former texas a&m phd student and lead author of the study dr andrea kealoha now at the university of hawaii-maui college; and colleagues from noaa have had their work published in the current issue of  scientific reports carbon dioxide is increasing in the open ocean gulf the study showed at rates similar to what has been measured in the open ocean atlantic and pacific due to human carbon dioxide emissions the data used in the study are publicly available from the surface ocean co2 atlas (socat) database much of which were provided by the noaa atlantic oceanographic and meteorological laboratory (aoml) ocean carbon group the team also found that carbon dioxide is increasing faster in coastal (on the continental shelf) gulf of mexico waters compared to open ocean waters which is consistent with other studies showing enhanced acidification in coastal waters compared to the open ocean this is very concerning because several economically important coastal ecosystems including coral reefs shellfish and others are sensitive to acidification  which again is occurring faster in coastal waters than open ocean waters in the gulf shamberger said carbon dioxide levels are increasing in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels for energy and from deforestation the ocean absorbs some of this human-produced also called anthropogenic carbon dioxide when carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater it leads to a process called ocean acidification ocean acidification is harmful to many marine organisms  from phytoplankton to fish and makes it more difficult for shellfish and corals to make the shells and skeletons they need to survive the continued acidification could be especially concerning to commercial fishing in the gulf which is approaching the $1 billion mark shamberger said carbon dioxide levels were fairly stable and did not increase in the central gulf of mexico both in coastal and open ocean surface waters where excess nutrients are delivered by the mississippi and atchafalaya rivers this could be because this area of the gulf of mexico is highly variable as a result of constantly changing river inputs or because the effects of increasing nutrients potentially mask any increase in carbon dioxide the study said shamberger added that the the overall big picture here is that surface water carbon dioxide levels are indeed increasing in the gulf of mexico (except in the central gulf) and human activities are contributing to this acidification also coastal acidification is occurring faster than open ocean acidification which is especially troubling for coastal coral reef and shellfish ecosystems that support many important fisheries species it is likely that coastal and ocean acidification in the gulf of mexico will only worsen as human carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase shamberger said a serious challenge in studying ocean acidification in the gulf of mexico is that there is no long-term time series station where carbon dioxide levels and seawater chemistry have been measured repeatedly over decades in the same location she said this has led to uncertainty about whether ocean acidification is important for gulf of mexico ecosystems our work shows that ocean acidification and especially coastal acidification are serious concerns for the gulf of mexico this is the first study to provide a gulf-wide long-term assessment of surface water carbon dioxide trends in the region and it will be important to update this analysis in order to monitor the health of gulf of mexico coastal and open ocean ecosystems kealoha said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " david sparks awarded university professorship in undergraduate teaching excellencesparks was awarded the thaman professorship in undergraduate teaching excellence jul 23 2020david sparks awarded university professorship in undergraduate teaching excellence professorship dr david sparks professor and associate department head for undergraduate affairs for the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m has been honored with a university professorship in undergraduate teaching excellence (upute)  the professorships are conferred upon only the university's most distinguished teachers of undergraduates andonly faculty who have exhibited uncommon excellence and devotion to the education of undergraduate students at texas a&m are considered sparks was named the holder of the thaman professorship we have known for a long time that dave is an outstanding and distinguished teacher and that his creativity ingenuity and passion are foundational to our strong undergraduate program said department head dr julie newman it is immensely gratifying that dave's teaching excellence has been recognized by the texas a&m university community sparks teaches a variety of challenging and engaging courses including but not limited to planetary geology geological communication and earth science modeling most recently dave developed a class with a novel game-like approach to teaching not only the related course content but also developing quantitative skills by solving real-world experiences  additionally he has helped develop the departments freshmen and transfer seminars dave has presented his seminar development strategies with the college of geosciences the university and the greater geoscience community and the seminars have become a model for other geology departments across the country  beyond the classroom sparks led the way with the department curriculum redesign   undergraduate mentorship and research he is part of a research group that is assessing the effectiveness of the redesigned curricula and department climate on undergraduate student learning with the goal of creating a more inclusive and accessible undergraduate educational environment  the success of the g&g undergraduate program and the individual successes of each of the students in it have always been important to me he said i'm honored to be recognized for contributions to those successes previously sparks has been recognized with a montague fellowship and the college of geoscience deans distinguished awards for faculty excellence in both teaching and service  by ali snell " david sparks awarded university professorship in undergraduate teaching excellence professorship  "dr david sparks professor and associate department head for undergraduate affairs for the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m has been honored with a university professorship in undergraduate teaching excellence (upute)  the professorships are conferred upon only the university's most distinguished teachers of undergraduates andonly faculty who have exhibited uncommon excellence and devotion to the education of undergraduate students at texas a&m are considered sparks was named the holder of the thaman professorship we have known for a long time that dave is an outstanding and distinguished teacher and that his creativity ingenuity and passion are foundational to our strong undergraduate program said department head dr julie newman it is immensely gratifying that dave's teaching excellence has been recognized by the texas a&m university community sparks teaches a variety of challenging and engaging courses including but not limited to planetary geology geological communication and earth science modeling most recently dave developed a class with a novel game-like approach to teaching not only the related course content but also developing quantitative skills by solving real-world experiences  additionally he has helped develop the departments freshmen and transfer seminars dave has presented his seminar development strategies with the college of geosciences the university and the greater geoscience community and the seminars have become a model for other geology departments across the country  beyond the classroom sparks led the way with the department curriculum redesign   undergraduate mentorship and research he is part of a research group that is assessing the effectiveness of the redesigned curricula and department climate on undergraduate student learning with the goal of creating a more inclusive and accessible undergraduate educational environment  the success of the g&g undergraduate program and the individual successes of each of the students in it have always been important to me he said i'm honored to be recognized for contributions to those successes previously sparks has been recognized with a montague fellowship and the college of geoscience deans distinguished awards for faculty excellence in both teaching and service  by ali snell" " geology and geophysics honors graduate students with awardsduring its may 2020 online graduation celebration may 7 the department honored award winners and graduating studentsjul 22 2020geology and geophysics may 2020 graduation participantsgeology and geophysics may 2020 graduation participantsthe geology and geophysics department at texas a&m university recently honored its may graduates and five outstanding graduate students recognized with awards graduating seniors graduating graduate students families and friends faculty and staff joined together for the departments online graduation celebration may 7 following the college of geosciences celebration  the ceremony was led by department head dr julie newman associate department head dr david sparks and undergraduate and graduate advisor suzanner rosser   it was wonderful to be together even if virtually and to share memories of classes research field trips and more newman said  we are very proud of the class of 2020 and look forward to welcoming these graduates back to our hallways as former students and to hearing about all of their future adventures  during the ceremony the 2020 recipients of the texas a&m geology and geophysics graduate student awards were announced  best paper award: justin estep for his paper titled ""seismic layer 2a: evolution and thickness from 0- to 70-ma crust in the slow-intermediate spreading south atlantic"" published in jgr solid earth 31 july 2019 https://doiorg/101029/2019jb017302 research award: raquel granados-aquilar teaching award: james teoh service awards: ali snell and matthew dorsey our virtual graduation ceremony was the best-attended graduation event we have ever had and i think everyone enjoyed it david sparks said  watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so by ali snell " geology and geophysics may 2020 graduation participantsgeology and geophysics may 2020 graduation participants "the geology and geophysics department at texas a&m university recently honored its may graduates and five outstanding graduate students recognized with awards graduating seniors graduating graduate students families and friends faculty and staff joined together for the departments online graduation celebration may 7 following the college of geosciences celebration  the ceremony was led by department head dr julie newman associate department head dr david sparks and undergraduate and graduate advisor suzanner rosser   it was wonderful to be together even if virtually and to share memories of classes research field trips and more newman said  we are very proud of the class of 2020 and look forward to welcoming these graduates back to our hallways as former students and to hearing about all of their future adventures  during the ceremony the 2020 recipients of the texas a&m geology and geophysics graduate student awards were announced  best paper award: justin estep for his paper titled ""seismic layer 2a: evolution and thickness from 0- to 70-ma crust in the slow-intermediate spreading south atlantic"" published in jgr solid earth 31 july 2019 https://doiorg/101029/2019jb017302 research award: raquel granados-aquilar teaching award: james teoh service awards: ali snell and matthew dorsey our virtual graduation ceremony was the best-attended graduation event we have ever had and i think everyone enjoyed it david sparks said  watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so by ali snell" " 151 high schoolers experienced the geosciences for free this summer thanks to virtual geoxthe 10th anniversary edition of geox was led by judy nuñez and made possible by faculty presenters and texas a&m student volunteersjul 14 2020geox campers and counselors from the 2020 geox programfor the past 10 summers the texas a&m college of geosciences has hosted high school students from across the country on the texas a&m campus providing them with an in-depth look into the geosciences as part of the geosciences exploration summer program or geox geox is a summer program designed for high school students interested in science and the world around them students are given the unique opportunity to interact with faculty experts from the college and get a foundational understanding of the variety of ways someone can make a difference with a degree in those fields judy nuñez the director of recruitment for the college of geosciences leads the team that coordinates geox each summer with concerns of health and safety due to the covid-19 pandemic they took the program online and accepted a record 151 students for the two-week event even though there was no minimum amount of required work for campers during geox the majority of them joined in every morning and stayed through the entire days interactive presentations the interesting part about having an online geox was that the campers could define their own success with the virtual camp nuñez said you could see they wanted to be engaged by asking questions and commenting on what they already knew about topics they really connected with the information they were learning and it kept bringing them back each day when initially creating the schedule for the virtual geox it became clear that an online format could open up even more opportunities for the students attending she said with location no longer being a factor faculty current students former students advisory council members and many others jumped at the opportunity to present one of the first geox sessions hosted by dr nick perez an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics took the campers on a virtual tour of his research experiences in peru perez spoke about the formation of volcanoes techniques researchers use to study those volcanoes and how that data is used to make decisions about the past and the future i wanted to share why i have enjoyed being a geoscientist perez said i also wanted students to know that studying geoscience will allow them to find their passion which can be any mixture of disciplines hydrology and water policy human rights and mining earth history and earths future with climate change these and so much more are where we need students to focus my hope was to instill a level of curiosity and wide ranging interest so that students will realize that the geosciences is the place for them dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor in the department of oceanography has served as a faculty presenter to geox for several years and shared her expertise with students again this year i look forward to participating in geox every summer because of the campers and counselors she said the campers' level of engagement is through the roof every single year and this year was no different even using an online platform i hope my participation does two things: promote awareness and understanding about oceanographic issues and give campers a glimpse of what being an oceanographer entailsgeox campers participating in a virtual yell practice with the aggie yell leadersmore than 25 faculty members representing all four departments in the college of geosciences presented on a vast array of topics from their fields of research through these presentations campers travelled virtually from the arctic to the antarctic down into the trenches of the pacific even to learning about rovers on mars they had the opportunity to virtually launch a weather balloon talk to a paleontologist and do several hands-on activities right from their homes geox also gave the campers an opportunity to hear from doc hendley the founder of wine to water a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to provide clean water to people around the world after learning about water insecurity from dr wendy jepson earlier in geox the campers were able to hear first-hand from hendley about the effects water insecurity can have on a community he challenged each camper to focus on finding something they are passionate about and use their tools talents and education to make a difference in the world while in-person field trips were unavailable this year that didnt stop campers from taking two virtual tours of facilities early during the second week campers were taken on a virtual tour of bps houston headquarters and learn about the ways careers in the geosciences are making a difference in the world the final day of geox was spent at the texas a&m soltis center for research and education in costa rica this experience included a tour and an activity the campers could participate in from their homes this was the first time geox was able to offer a live international tour of a facility to wrap up the last day the campers got to have one more glimpse into life as an aggie geoscientist with all the campers donning their maroon geox shirts the aggie yell leaders led everyone in a virtual fightin texas aggie yell practice marking the completion of the 10th geox program nuñez is proud that the virtual experience was deemed a great success and plans to explore holding both a residential and a virtual camp next year and though geox could evolve in the years to come its mission of educating future leaders on the importance of the geosciences will remain by stephanie taylor 10 " "for the past 10 summers the texas a&m college of geosciences has hosted high school students from across the country on the texas a&m campus providing them with an in-depth look into the geosciences as part of the geosciences exploration summer program or geox geox is a summer program designed for high school students interested in science and the world around them students are given the unique opportunity to interact with faculty experts from the college and get a foundational understanding of the variety of ways someone can make a difference with a degree in those fields judy nuñez the director of recruitment for the college of geosciences leads the team that coordinates geox each summer with concerns of health and safety due to the covid-19 pandemic they took the program online and accepted a record 151 students for the two-week event even though there was no minimum amount of required work for campers during geox the majority of them joined in every morning and stayed through the entire days interactive presentations the interesting part about having an online geox was that the campers could define their own success with the virtual camp nuñez said you could see they wanted to be engaged by asking questions and commenting on what they already knew about topics they really connected with the information they were learning and it kept bringing them back each day when initially creating the schedule for the virtual geox it became clear that an online format could open up even more opportunities for the students attending she said with location no longer being a factor faculty current students former students advisory council members and many others jumped at the opportunity to present one of the first geox sessions hosted by dr nick perez an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics took the campers on a virtual tour of his research experiences in peru perez spoke about the formation of volcanoes techniques researchers use to study those volcanoes and how that data is used to make decisions about the past and the future i wanted to share why i have enjoyed being a geoscientist perez said i also wanted students to know that studying geoscience will allow them to find their passion which can be any mixture of disciplines hydrology and water policy human rights and mining earth history and earths future with climate change these and so much more are where we need students to focus my hope was to instill a level of curiosity and wide ranging interest so that students will realize that the geosciences is the place for them dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor in the department of oceanography has served as a faculty presenter to geox for several years and shared her expertise with students again this year i look forward to participating in geox every summer because of the campers and counselors she said the campers' level of engagement is through the roof every single year and this year was no different even using an online platform i hope my participation does two things: promote awareness and understanding about oceanographic issues and give campers a glimpse of what being an oceanographer entails" geox campers participating in a virtual yell practice with the aggie yell leaders "more than 25 faculty members representing all four departments in the college of geosciences presented on a vast array of topics from their fields of research through these presentations campers travelled virtually from the arctic to the antarctic down into the trenches of the pacific even to learning about rovers on mars they had the opportunity to virtually launch a weather balloon talk to a paleontologist and do several hands-on activities right from their homes geox also gave the campers an opportunity to hear from doc hendley the founder of wine to water a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to provide clean water to people around the world after learning about water insecurity from dr wendy jepson earlier in geox the campers were able to hear first-hand from hendley about the effects water insecurity can have on a community he challenged each camper to focus on finding something they are passionate about and use their tools talents and education to make a difference in the world while in-person field trips were unavailable this year that didnt stop campers from taking two virtual tours of facilities early during the second week campers were taken on a virtual tour of bps houston headquarters and learn about the ways careers in the geosciences are making a difference in the world the final day of geox was spent at the texas a&m soltis center for research and education in costa rica this experience included a tour and an activity the campers could participate in from their homes this was the first time geox was able to offer a live international tour of a facility to wrap up the last day the campers got to have one more glimpse into life as an aggie geoscientist with all the campers donning their maroon geox shirts the aggie yell leaders led everyone in a virtual fightin texas aggie yell practice marking the completion of the 10th geox program nuñez is proud that the virtual experience was deemed a great success and plans to explore holding both a residential and a virtual camp next year and though geox could evolve in the years to come its mission of educating future leaders on the importance of the geosciences will remain by stephanie taylor 10" " meet yina liu new oceanography assistant professorliu will also lead a research team at the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research groupjul 13 2020dr yina liu 13 assistant professor of oceanography (photos couresy of liu)dr yina liu 13 assistant professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography recently returned to aggieland after receiving her phd here in 2013 lius research focuses on organic biogeochemistry with particular interest in how organic compounds both natural and anthropogenic cycling affect biological and ecological processes and vice versa she will also serve as the analytical chemistry research and development team lead at the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) finding a passion for oceanography before becoming a college professor lius journey could have taken her in a very different direction   after growing up in the southern region of china liu attended the university of california irvine as expected she initially majored in economics to put herself on track to becoming a successful addition to her familys business i grew up in a business family so science was not even my dream liu recalled it was just an interest; i was not thinking that one day i may become a scientist or anything like that that train would soon change tracks due to the smallest of detours during a break in between classes on an otherwise normal day in college liu went looking for an open restroom because the one in her building was closed that led her to the building next door the earth system science building known as croul hall was covered with poster after poster of research projects and presentations adorning the walls and classrooms she discovered that each one told a story about professors and students conducting research all over the world so this is a cool gig that people can do science by traveling to the arctic and different places liu remembered thinking i want that kind of lifestyle she would later find out that the amount of travel was extremely small compared to the amount of time spent in the lab or writing but that did not deter her from her new goal one bit liu would soon follow her interests and the advice of an advisor to change her major to environmental and earth system sciences her family was even more surprised when she told them she wanted to go to graduate school to study oceanography and ozone-depleting chemistry her family asked are you lost in your life liu recalled after telling them about graduate school but she had found her passion and career i went to antarctica my first semester of grad school so that was fun liu says then later time working in the lab and writing was totally not what i signed up for but the thing is i love it the journey back to texas a&m after earning her ph d from texas a&m in 2013 liu went to work as a post-doctoral researcher under dr elizabeth kujawinski a senior scientist at woods hole oceanographic institution (whoi) initially she had an idea for a postdoc (project) which actually has been a nice idea that she has carried through and will now be working on as a faculty member kujawinski recalled unable to take her on initially kujawinski eventually gained funding for a different project that she was then able to bring liu on board for it would not have been her first choice at the time but she did a beautiful job with it kujawinski says liu worked at whoi from 2013 to 2015 conducting broad analyses of organic geochemistry compounds in the oceans this untargeted analysis allowed the researchers to not only see known molecules but also find previously unknown compounds the analyses were made possible with an ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometer a machine that can identify compounds and parts of compounds down to the molecular level while learning to use these tools at kujawinskis lab liu studied the effects of weathering and biodegradation on oil in the ocean her work helped to further understand what parts of oil dissolve in water what concentrations of dispersants were found in tar balls – large lumps of solidified crude oil and what parts of oil were degraded by which organisms in the ocean what she was really good for in my lab was her ability to really dive into a data set and just keep pushing and pushing until she found the core nuggets in it kujawinski says the parts that really tell you something about the fundamental processes going on lius work ethic and growing expertise would lead her to a second post-doctoral position at the pacific northwest national laboratory (pnnl) in richland washington she would spend the next two years there working with a new software called formularity that would help researchers analyze and understand the vast amounts of data that were gained from high-resolution mass spectrometry at pnnl liu got the chance to add more data science experience to her repertoire and combine that expertise with her other interests she was specifically interested in halogenated organic compounds both man-made and naturally occurring found in diverse ecosystems such as at the terrestrial-aquatic interface halogenated organic compounds are organic molecules with any halogen group such as fluorine chlorine bromine etc attached to them  lius first grant at pnnl was to develop an algorithm to hunt these halogenated organic compounds in the high-resolution mass spectrometry data returning to familiar ground eventually liu would bring her new knowledge and expertise back to texas a&m she returned to texas a&m shortly after her second postdoctoral position concluded she intends to make the best of this opportunity marine organic biogeochemistry has not been taught in a while liu said i would love to offer that class again she has a passion for making difficult subjects more accessible to people so they can better relate to the concepts and understand how those concepts relate to their everyday lives she also wants to have very diverse research come from her lab at texas a&m lius lab is focused on multiple aspects of atmospheric and ocean biogeochemistry they use advanced methods including ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and lius data pipeline to identify and characterize complex organic mixtures found in the environment they use these methods to answer questions like how halogens that attach to natural organic matter can affect the carbon cycle and ozone chemistry or how microbes can breakdown crude oil components after an oil spill in the ocean dr michael shields 11 an assistant research scientist in lius lab studies the carbon cycle using biomarkers which are compounds indicative of a carbon source or biogeochemical process that become deposited in the sediment of rivers and the ocean for example by measuring amounts of lignin (a structural component of vascular plants) in the sediment he can see how vascular plant carbon contributes to the carbon cycle in a region i like to remind myself theyre like molecular fossils shields said you cant see the plant there anymore but still find its trace shields looks for known compounds in the sediment but has always wondered what else might be there that he is missing that is part of what brought him back to texas a&m to work for liu and learn from her dr liu is very strategic and very deliberate in how she plans her projects and executes them and that makes it very easy to work with her as a researcher; you know exactly what your role is and what your tasks are shields said when liu came to college station years ago her mission was to start a career path in oceanography much different from her original plan since childhood now liu returned to aggieland with a new mission: to serve the students and the scientific community by providing exciting education and research opportunities to the next generation oceanographers liu hopes to show her students and anyone with an interest in science that even the toughest subjects can be accessible and help answer questions that relate to everyday life she plans for her lab to have ample opportunity to conduct diverse and important science in a field of study where so many disciplines intersect oceanography atmospheric science biology geology and chemistry learn more about dr yina lius lab and her most recent publications by justin agan 18 " dr yina liu 13 assistant professor of oceanography (photos couresy of liu) "dr yina liu 13 assistant professor in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography recently returned to aggieland after receiving her phd here in 2013 lius research focuses on organic biogeochemistry with particular interest in how organic compounds both natural and anthropogenic cycling affect biological and ecological processes and vice versa she will also serve as the analytical chemistry research and development team lead at the texas a&m geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) finding a passion for oceanography before becoming a college professor lius journey could have taken her in a very different direction   after growing up in the southern region of china liu attended the university of california irvine as expected she initially majored in economics to put herself on track to becoming a successful addition to her familys business i grew up in a business family so science was not even my dream liu recalled it was just an interest; i was not thinking that one day i may become a scientist or anything like that that train would soon change tracks due to the smallest of detours during a break in between classes on an otherwise normal day in college liu went looking for an open restroom because the one in her building was closed that led her to the building next door the earth system science building known as croul hall was covered with poster after poster of research projects and presentations adorning the walls and classrooms she discovered that each one told a story about professors and students conducting research all over the world so this is a cool gig that people can do science by traveling to the arctic and different places liu remembered thinking i want that kind of lifestyle she would later find out that the amount of travel was extremely small compared to the amount of time spent in the lab or writing but that did not deter her from her new goal one bit liu would soon follow her interests and the advice of an advisor to change her major to environmental and earth system sciences her family was even more surprised when she told them she wanted to go to graduate school to study oceanography and ozone-depleting chemistry her family asked are you lost in your life liu recalled after telling them about graduate school but she had found her passion and career i went to antarctica my first semester of grad school so that was fun liu says then later time working in the lab and writing was totally not what i signed up for but the thing is i love it the journey back to texas a&m after earning her ph d from texas a&m in 2013 liu went to work as a post-doctoral researcher under dr elizabeth kujawinski a senior scientist at woods hole oceanographic institution (whoi) initially she had an idea for a postdoc (project) which actually has been a nice idea that she has carried through and will now be working on as a faculty member kujawinski recalled unable to take her on initially kujawinski eventually gained funding for a different project that she was then able to bring liu on board for it would not have been her first choice at the time but she did a beautiful job with it kujawinski says liu worked at whoi from 2013 to 2015 conducting broad analyses of organic geochemistry compounds in the oceans this untargeted analysis allowed the researchers to not only see known molecules but also find previously unknown compounds the analyses were made possible with an ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometer a machine that can identify compounds and parts of compounds down to the molecular level while learning to use these tools at kujawinskis lab liu studied the effects of weathering and biodegradation on oil in the ocean her work helped to further understand what parts of oil dissolve in water what concentrations of dispersants were found in tar balls – large lumps of solidified crude oil and what parts of oil were degraded by which organisms in the ocean what she was really good for in my lab was her ability to really dive into a data set and just keep pushing and pushing until she found the core nuggets in it kujawinski says the parts that really tell you something about the fundamental processes going on lius work ethic and growing expertise would lead her to a second post-doctoral position at the pacific northwest national laboratory (pnnl) in richland washington she would spend the next two years there working with a new software called formularity that would help researchers analyze and understand the vast amounts of data that were gained from high-resolution mass spectrometry at pnnl liu got the chance to add more data science experience to her repertoire and combine that expertise with her other interests she was specifically interested in halogenated organic compounds both man-made and naturally occurring found in diverse ecosystems such as at the terrestrial-aquatic interface halogenated organic compounds are organic molecules with any halogen group such as fluorine chlorine bromine etc attached to them  lius first grant at pnnl was to develop an algorithm to hunt these halogenated organic compounds in the high-resolution mass spectrometry data returning to familiar ground eventually liu would bring her new knowledge and expertise back to texas a&m she returned to texas a&m shortly after her second postdoctoral position concluded she intends to make the best of this opportunity marine organic biogeochemistry has not been taught in a while liu said i would love to offer that class again she has a passion for making difficult subjects more accessible to people so they can better relate to the concepts and understand how those concepts relate to their everyday lives she also wants to have very diverse research come from her lab at texas a&m lius lab is focused on multiple aspects of atmospheric and ocean biogeochemistry they use advanced methods including ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and lius data pipeline to identify and characterize complex organic mixtures found in the environment they use these methods to answer questions like how halogens that attach to natural organic matter can affect the carbon cycle and ozone chemistry or how microbes can breakdown crude oil components after an oil spill in the ocean dr michael shields 11 an assistant research scientist in lius lab studies the carbon cycle using biomarkers which are compounds indicative of a carbon source or biogeochemical process that become deposited in the sediment of rivers and the ocean for example by measuring amounts of lignin (a structural component of vascular plants) in the sediment he can see how vascular plant carbon contributes to the carbon cycle in a region i like to remind myself theyre like molecular fossils shields said you cant see the plant there anymore but still find its trace shields looks for known compounds in the sediment but has always wondered what else might be there that he is missing that is part of what brought him back to texas a&m to work for liu and learn from her dr liu is very strategic and very deliberate in how she plans her projects and executes them and that makes it very easy to work with her as a researcher; you know exactly what your role is and what your tasks are shields said when liu came to college station years ago her mission was to start a career path in oceanography much different from her original plan since childhood now liu returned to aggieland with a new mission: to serve the students and the scientific community by providing exciting education and research opportunities to the next generation oceanographers liu hopes to show her students and anyone with an interest in science that even the toughest subjects can be accessible and help answer questions that relate to everyday life she plans for her lab to have ample opportunity to conduct diverse and important science in a field of study where so many disciplines intersect oceanography atmospheric science biology geology and chemistry learn more about dr yina lius lab and her most recent publications by justin agan 18" " geographys george allen to lead new x-grant projecttexas a&ms x-grant program funds interdisciplinary researchjul 13 2020dr george allen assistant professor of geography and an aerial photo of the sacramento river (photo: istock)texas a&m university recently announced that eight interdisciplinary research projects will share $7 million in funding from round 3 of its x-grants program an initiative of the 10-year $100 million presidents excellence fund dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m will lead one of the funded projects titled developing a smallsat mission to track global movement of water carbon and sediment across landscapes the study will focus on cotemporal satellite observations of changing water quality and water quantity new satellite technology is allowing us to track the flow of water in rivers and lakes like never before allen said we will be designing a satellite mission to be submitted to nasa that leverages this new technology to track the movement of important biogeochemical materials in earths rivers and lakes this information is valuable for managing earths surface water and ecosystem resources and understanding how the water carbon and sediment cycles are responding to changes in climate and land use allen will lead the project along with collaborators dr huilin gao associate professor of civil engineering dr daniel selva valero assistant professor of aerospace engineering and dr helen l reed regents professor of aerospace engineering the round 3 funded projects include 80 faculty members and other researchers from eight colleges the texas a&m health science center and the qatar and galveston campuses these interdisciplinary projects have the potential for significant advances in areas such as cancer and covid-19 therapies natural disaster response and mitigation novel space management mental health migration behaviors water quality and improvements to the efficiency of current technologies said vice president for research dr mark a barteau there were 142 one-page proposals submitted to the program 43 of which were chosen for preliminary proposals twenty-two were selected to submit final proposals after oral presentations and reviews by three reviewers each a panel met and chose the eight proposals for funding read more about the eight funded projects " dr george allen assistant professor of geography and an aerial photo of the sacramento river (photo: istock) "texas a&m university recently announced that eight interdisciplinary research projects will share $7 million in funding from round 3 of its x-grants program an initiative of the 10-year $100 million presidents excellence fund dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m will lead one of the funded projects titled developing a smallsat mission to track global movement of water carbon and sediment across landscapes the study will focus on cotemporal satellite observations of changing water quality and water quantity new satellite technology is allowing us to track the flow of water in rivers and lakes like never before allen said we will be designing a satellite mission to be submitted to nasa that leverages this new technology to track the movement of important biogeochemical materials in earths rivers and lakes this information is valuable for managing earths surface water and ecosystem resources and understanding how the water carbon and sediment cycles are responding to changes in climate and land use allen will lead the project along with collaborators dr huilin gao associate professor of civil engineering dr daniel selva valero assistant professor of aerospace engineering and dr helen l reed regents professor of aerospace engineering the round 3 funded projects include 80 faculty members and other researchers from eight colleges the texas a&m health science center and the qatar and galveston campuses these interdisciplinary projects have the potential for significant advances in areas such as cancer and covid-19 therapies natural disaster response and mitigation novel space management mental health migration behaviors water quality and improvements to the efficiency of current technologies said vice president for research dr mark a barteau there were 142 one-page proposals submitted to the program 43 of which were chosen for preliminary proposals twenty-two were selected to submit final proposals after oral presentations and reviews by three reviewers each a panel met and chose the eight proposals for funding read more about the eight funded projects" " atmospheric sciences graduate students receive nasa finesst project fundingli-wei vivian chao and nancy okeudo have both been awarded research project fundingjul 10 2020li-wei vivian chao  atmospheric sciences phd studentnancy okeudo atmospheric sciences phd studentli-wei vivian chao and nancy okeudo both phd students in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university have received funding from the future investigators in nasa earth and space science and technology (finesst) program chaos research proposal aimed to leverage clouds and the earths radiant energy system (ceres) satellite measurements to develop an improved energy balance framework and constrain climate sensitivity by combining estimates of how the controlling factors for each component change as the climate warms how much warming the world is going to experience in the future has always been an essential question chao said the traditional way scientists have approached the problem has several known issues that result in the uncertainty of future temperature changes the goal of my research is to revisit the concept of planetary energy balance by analyzing satellite measurements of the radiative flux from clouds and the non-cloud components of the atmosphere the result of the research will hopefully improve the ability to predict future climate the project is titled developing an improved energy balance framework using ceres planetary energy balance observations and dr andrew dessler professor of atmospheric sciences is chaos advisor and will service as principal investigator of the project climate change is basically an energy balance problem dessler said you have energy coming in from the sun balanced by heat radiated back to space as we add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere it throws these terms out of balance leading to climate change i think vivians research will help us understand some of the fine points of this process and hopefully resolve some long-standing problems okeudos research centers on light scattering by dust aerosol particles and relevant downstream applications to satellite remote sensing my research focus is on improving the physical geometric optics method (pgom) an approximate method that calculates the single-scattering properties of moderate to large-sized particles okeudo said the problem is that pgom is inaccurate in calculating the single-scattering properties of moderate-sized particles because there are some effects (edge effect surface wave interactions) that are not included in pgom as a result my goal in my research project is to add the edge effect corrections to pgom  improving pgom will improve our understanding in the role aerosol particles have in the earths radiation budget she said the funded project is titled a study of the optical properties of non-spherical particles with the physical geometric optics method and okeudos advisor dr ping yang atmospheric sciences professor and geosciences associate dean for research will serve as principal investigator i am very proud of nancys achievements yang said her finesst project is directed towards elevating our knowledge about the optical properties of dust aerosols in particular the proposed comparisons between theoretical simulations and satellite observations will aim at defining an optimal dust optical property model therefore successful completion of the proposed work would lead to realistic optical properties of dust particles which would benefit ground-based and spaceborne remote sensing of dust aerosol properties the finesst program reviewed a total of 789 proposals with nasas earth science division receiving 341 of those and selecting 62 for award of which okeudo's and chaos were two by leslie lee 09 " li-wei vivian chao  atmospheric sciences phd studentnancy okeudo atmospheric sciences phd student "li-wei vivian chao and nancy okeudo both phd students in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university have received funding from the future investigators in nasa earth and space science and technology (finesst) program chaos research proposal aimed to leverage clouds and the earths radiant energy system (ceres) satellite measurements to develop an improved energy balance framework and constrain climate sensitivity by combining estimates of how the controlling factors for each component change as the climate warms how much warming the world is going to experience in the future has always been an essential question chao said the traditional way scientists have approached the problem has several known issues that result in the uncertainty of future temperature changes the goal of my research is to revisit the concept of planetary energy balance by analyzing satellite measurements of the radiative flux from clouds and the non-cloud components of the atmosphere the result of the research will hopefully improve the ability to predict future climate the project is titled developing an improved energy balance framework using ceres planetary energy balance observations and dr andrew dessler professor of atmospheric sciences is chaos advisor and will service as principal investigator of the project climate change is basically an energy balance problem dessler said you have energy coming in from the sun balanced by heat radiated back to space as we add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere it throws these terms out of balance leading to climate change i think vivians research will help us understand some of the fine points of this process and hopefully resolve some long-standing problems okeudos research centers on light scattering by dust aerosol particles and relevant downstream applications to satellite remote sensing my research focus is on improving the physical geometric optics method (pgom) an approximate method that calculates the single-scattering properties of moderate to large-sized particles okeudo said the problem is that pgom is inaccurate in calculating the single-scattering properties of moderate-sized particles because there are some effects (edge effect surface wave interactions) that are not included in pgom as a result my goal in my research project is to add the edge effect corrections to pgom  improving pgom will improve our understanding in the role aerosol particles have in the earths radiation budget she said the funded project is titled a study of the optical properties of non-spherical particles with the physical geometric optics method and okeudos advisor dr ping yang atmospheric sciences professor and geosciences associate dean for research will serve as principal investigator i am very proud of nancys achievements yang said her finesst project is directed towards elevating our knowledge about the optical properties of dust aerosols in particular the proposed comparisons between theoretical simulations and satellite observations will aim at defining an optimal dust optical property model therefore successful completion of the proposed work would lead to realistic optical properties of dust particles which would benefit ground-based and spaceborne remote sensing of dust aerosol properties the finesst program reviewed a total of 789 proposals with nasas earth science division receiving 341 of those and selecting 62 for award of which okeudo's and chaos were two by leslie lee 09" " texas a&m study: texas will face driest conditions of the last 1 000 yearsdr john nielsen-gammon led the study which says the state will be facing hotter and drier conditions for decades to come especially in west texasjul 10 2020a drought-stricken wheat field bakes in the sun july 27 2011 near hermleigh texas a severe drought had caused the majority of dry-land crops to fail in the region the past nine months had been the driest in texas at the time since record keeping began in 1895 (photo credit: scott olson/getty images)texas future climate will feature drier summers and decreasing water supplies for much of the state for the remainder of the 21st century likely resulting in the driest conditions the state has endured in the last 1 000 years according to a team of researchers led by a texas a&m university professor using the most advanced climate models the team projected drought conditions and relevant information for stakeholders like agricultural producers large surface water suppliers small groundwater water districts and regional water planning districts the researchers found the message is clear: texas is getting hotter and drier and the time to take action is now regents professor of atmospheric sciences dr john nielsen-gammon director of the texas center for climate studies and the texas state climatologist said data shows texas was much wetter 10-15 000 years ago coming out of the last ice age since then the states climate has mostly been similar to todays with the exception of some wetter and drier periods in the past thousand years there have been multiple decades of extended drought periods called megadroughts something texas will likely see through the end of the century our study shows that the drier conditions expected in the latter half of the 21st century could be drier than any of those megadroughts depending on how you measure dryness nielsen-gammon said nielsen-gammon and colleagues from the university of texas at austin texas state university the university of oklahoma nasa and others recently had their work recently published in earths future texas policy makers have developed water projections and conservation plans for decades but these fall short in many areas the study concluded the drought of the 1950s is still considered the drought of record and remains the most severe in texas in the past 125 years but current water plans do not take into consideration likely declines in texas water supply due to future climate change the state water plan doesnt explicitly consider climate change in figuring out how water supply and water demand will both change nielsen-gammon said as our paper points out pinning numbers on either of those changes is a difficult challenge and its not simply a matter of estimating changes in precipitation tying future water supply to criteria established by the drought of record is a defensible choice but policymakers should be aware that the chances of exceeding the drought of record are probably increasing year by year the report notes that parts of texas will likely be hit harder by drier conditions than the rest of the state west texas is especially prone to drought or even megadrought conditions according to the report west texas seems most likely to get a double whammy: decreased rainfall and increased temperatures nielsen-gammon said even though rainfall has increased statewide over the past century by about 10 percent west texas has seen little to no increase west texas is already planning for what happens as one or more critical aquifers get depleted climate change is going to make that depletion happen a little bit faster but the decline of the ogallala aquifer is primarily caused by water extraction for irrigation rather than by climate change its very likely that texas will continue to become hotter and drier because any long-term changes in precipitation will be dwarfed by how much more evaporation will deplete the water supply he said but droughts are temporary by definition so it wouldnt be correct to think of the future as a state of permanent drought nielsen-gammon said its really a change in the climate with the normally dry conditions in west texas slowly migrating toward east texas he said nielsen-gammon said the severity of the future dryness will likely depend on local circumstances there are key questions that remain to be answered these include ones such as does it matter what time of year sees increases or decreases in precipitation how much water supply is there is the most important issue the amount of water or the health of the crops and foliage is it more important to get runoff or to have the rainfall soak into the ground he said the project was funded by the national science foundation the cynthia and george mitchell foundation and the university of texas at austins planet texas 2050 bridging barriers research initiative by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing and communications " a drought-stricken wheat field bakes in the sun july 27 2011 near hermleigh texas a severe drought had caused the majority of dry-land crops to fail in the region the past nine months had been the driest in texas at the time since record keeping began in 1895 (photo credit: scott olson/getty images) "texas future climate will feature drier summers and decreasing water supplies for much of the state for the remainder of the 21st century likely resulting in the driest conditions the state has endured in the last 1 000 years according to a team of researchers led by a texas a&m university professor using the most advanced climate models the team projected drought conditions and relevant information for stakeholders like agricultural producers large surface water suppliers small groundwater water districts and regional water planning districts the researchers found the message is clear: texas is getting hotter and drier and the time to take action is now regents professor of atmospheric sciences dr john nielsen-gammon director of the texas center for climate studies and the texas state climatologist said data shows texas was much wetter 10-15 000 years ago coming out of the last ice age since then the states climate has mostly been similar to todays with the exception of some wetter and drier periods in the past thousand years there have been multiple decades of extended drought periods called megadroughts something texas will likely see through the end of the century our study shows that the drier conditions expected in the latter half of the 21st century could be drier than any of those megadroughts depending on how you measure dryness nielsen-gammon said nielsen-gammon and colleagues from the university of texas at austin texas state university the university of oklahoma nasa and others recently had their work recently published in earths future texas policy makers have developed water projections and conservation plans for decades but these fall short in many areas the study concluded the drought of the 1950s is still considered the drought of record and remains the most severe in texas in the past 125 years but current water plans do not take into consideration likely declines in texas water supply due to future climate change the state water plan doesnt explicitly consider climate change in figuring out how water supply and water demand will both change nielsen-gammon said as our paper points out pinning numbers on either of those changes is a difficult challenge and its not simply a matter of estimating changes in precipitation tying future water supply to criteria established by the drought of record is a defensible choice but policymakers should be aware that the chances of exceeding the drought of record are probably increasing year by year the report notes that parts of texas will likely be hit harder by drier conditions than the rest of the state west texas is especially prone to drought or even megadrought conditions according to the report west texas seems most likely to get a double whammy: decreased rainfall and increased temperatures nielsen-gammon said even though rainfall has increased statewide over the past century by about 10 percent west texas has seen little to no increase west texas is already planning for what happens as one or more critical aquifers get depleted climate change is going to make that depletion happen a little bit faster but the decline of the ogallala aquifer is primarily caused by water extraction for irrigation rather than by climate change its very likely that texas will continue to become hotter and drier because any long-term changes in precipitation will be dwarfed by how much more evaporation will deplete the water supply he said but droughts are temporary by definition so it wouldnt be correct to think of the future as a state of permanent drought nielsen-gammon said its really a change in the climate with the normally dry conditions in west texas slowly migrating toward east texas he said nielsen-gammon said the severity of the future dryness will likely depend on local circumstances there are key questions that remain to be answered these include ones such as does it matter what time of year sees increases or decreases in precipitation how much water supply is there is the most important issue the amount of water or the health of the crops and foliage is it more important to get runoff or to have the rainfall soak into the ground he said the project was funded by the national science foundation the cynthia and george mitchell foundation and the university of texas at austins planet texas 2050 bridging barriers research initiative by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing and communications" " jacob arnold 19 to receive ralph rayburn scholarship from texas sea grant this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 former texas sea grant associate director and extension program leader jul 2 2020jacob arnold a master of science student studying oceanography will receive the 2020 ralph rayburn 69 texas sea grant scholarship arnolds love for the ocean began at a young age and his curiosity grew over the years i became interested in studying oceanography simply because of my love of the ocean and interest in its processes he said within oceanography arnold has a variety of interests including glacial activity and the impact of glaciers on climate change his current research combines this fascination with glaciers with his curiosity for the unique characteristics of southern ocean water masses the southern ocean also known as the antarctic ocean is globally important because it is the only location in which all the world's oceans are able to mix additionally the region is home to antarctica which holds a vast amount of freshwater in ice this freshwater flows toward the edges of the continent as ice sheets and glaciers which contact the southernmost portion of the southern ocean dense deep waters are produced in these regions which then flow to the deepest parts of the world's oceans this process causes changes in water characteristics such as temperature and salinity arnold explained these changes in water characteristics can indicate large-scale climate processes such as warming trends and glacial melt which can lead to rising sea levels further studying how freshwater interacts with southern ocean water masses and how those interactions affect antarctica can help researchers such as arnold identify specific mechanisms that may be causing global temperature trends that affect glacial melt and sea level changes in other words arnolds research is important because answers to questions about climate change may be found in the depths of the ocean after arnold graduates in december 2021 he plans to immediately begin pursuing his phd in oceanography so that he can acquire a position in academia as a professor i hope to do the two things i love: teaching and researching arnold said i am incredibly grateful to have been awarded the scholarship as it will contribute significantly to my academic focus this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 a graduate of texas a&m university rayburn first joined texas sea grant in 1978 as a marine agent for aransas and san patricio counties after several years as executive director of the texas shrimp association and in a number of roles at texas parks and wildlife department he returned to texas sea grant in 1999 as the associate director and extension program leader through his association with these three organizations he worked tirelessly for the protection of texas' marine resources but he is also remembered for his integrity professionalism work ethic and outgoing personality   by callie rainosek '17 '19 " "jacob arnold a master of science student studying oceanography will receive the 2020 ralph rayburn 69 texas sea grant scholarship arnolds love for the ocean began at a young age and his curiosity grew over the years i became interested in studying oceanography simply because of my love of the ocean and interest in its processes he said within oceanography arnold has a variety of interests including glacial activity and the impact of glaciers on climate change his current research combines this fascination with glaciers with his curiosity for the unique characteristics of southern ocean water masses the southern ocean also known as the antarctic ocean is globally important because it is the only location in which all the world's oceans are able to mix additionally the region is home to antarctica which holds a vast amount of freshwater in ice this freshwater flows toward the edges of the continent as ice sheets and glaciers which contact the southernmost portion of the southern ocean dense deep waters are produced in these regions which then flow to the deepest parts of the world's oceans this process causes changes in water characteristics such as temperature and salinity arnold explained these changes in water characteristics can indicate large-scale climate processes such as warming trends and glacial melt which can lead to rising sea levels further studying how freshwater interacts with southern ocean water masses and how those interactions affect antarctica can help researchers such as arnold identify specific mechanisms that may be causing global temperature trends that affect glacial melt and sea level changes in other words arnolds research is important because answers to questions about climate change may be found in the depths of the ocean after arnold graduates in december 2021 he plans to immediately begin pursuing his phd in oceanography so that he can acquire a position in academia as a professor i hope to do the two things i love: teaching and researching arnold said i am incredibly grateful to have been awarded the scholarship as it will contribute significantly to my academic focus this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 a graduate of texas a&m university rayburn first joined texas sea grant in 1978 as a marine agent for aransas and san patricio counties after several years as executive director of the texas shrimp association and in a number of roles at texas parks and wildlife department he returned to texas sea grant in 1999 as the associate director and extension program leader through his association with these three organizations he worked tirelessly for the protection of texas' marine resources but he is also remembered for his integrity professionalism work ethic and outgoing personality   by callie rainosek '17 '19" " texas sea grant funds nearly $50 thousand to 19 texas a&m system graduate studentsjun 30 20202020-2022 grants-in-aid of graduate research awardee maureen hayden is pictured standing in shallow water at the beachthe texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university awarded $48 810 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fiscal year 2020-22 recipients their institutions and projects are: paxton bachand pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc  stable isotope analysis of natural nutrient sources contributing to a reoccurring aureoumbra lagunensis bloom in baffin bay texas fernando calderon gutierrez pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug characterizing the microbial community on the subterranean estuary of the yucatan peninsula mexico through next-generation sequencing jessie castanier pursuing a master's degree in fisheries and mariculture at tamucc public aquariums as a potential source of marine fish for exhibits and conservation michael curtis pursuing a master's degree in fisheries and mariculture at tamucc variation in habitat use and trophic dynamics of catadromous fish (anguilla rostrata) in sub-tropical texas bimal gyawali pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc estimation of groundwater discharge variability to the gulf of mexico using grace satellite and field observations maureen hayden pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamu quantitative analysis of microplastics on beaches and effects of microplastic ingestion on amphipod populations in texas christena hoelscher pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu episodic sediment dispersal on three different depositional environments robert iles pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu refining submersible autonomous glider observations with coincident in-situ sampling bumsoo kim pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu rethinking the role of methane during the paleocene – eocene thermal maximum ashley mcdonald pursuing a doctorate in coastal ecology at tamug impacts of a large-scale hydrological alteration on coastal wetlands emily meese pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug movement patterns of a coastal predator in a subtropical estuary alexis neffinger pursuing masters degree in coastal and marine system science at tamucc assessing biotic integrity for tidal streams along the south texas coast dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc assessing mhc-associated mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) altaf taqi pursuing a doctorate in ocean engineering at tamu a two dimensional experimental investigation on mixed sediment dune evolution under storm surge and wave impact jamie thompson pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug patterns of insect herbivory on black mangroves (avicennia germinans) along the texas coast yu umeki pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug the use of a juvenile american alligator (alligator mississippiensis) liver enzyme assay to study the metabolism and detoxification of man-made pollutants christopher vickers pursuing a masters degree in coastal in coastal and marine system science at tamucc groundwater contribution of elevated nutrients to laguna salada baffin bay david weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc epigenetic biomarkers: a novel non-lethal approach to aging exploited fish species william wolfe pursuing a masters degree in coastal and marine system science at tamucc quantifying submarine groundwater discharge through continuous long-term measurements of radon in a semi-arid estuary   by mia zwolinski texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration " 2020-2022 grants-in-aid of graduate research awardee maureen hayden is pictured standing in shallow water at the beach "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university awarded $48 810 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fiscal year 2020-22 recipients their institutions and projects are: paxton bachand pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc  stable isotope analysis of natural nutrient sources contributing to a reoccurring aureoumbra lagunensis bloom in baffin bay texas fernando calderon gutierrez pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug characterizing the microbial community on the subterranean estuary of the yucatan peninsula mexico through next-generation sequencing jessie castanier pursuing a master's degree in fisheries and mariculture at tamucc public aquariums as a potential source of marine fish for exhibits and conservation michael curtis pursuing a master's degree in fisheries and mariculture at tamucc variation in habitat use and trophic dynamics of catadromous fish (anguilla rostrata) in sub-tropical texas bimal gyawali pursuing a doctorate in coastal and marine system science at tamucc estimation of groundwater discharge variability to the gulf of mexico using grace satellite and field observations maureen hayden pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamu quantitative analysis of microplastics on beaches and effects of microplastic ingestion on amphipod populations in texas christena hoelscher pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu episodic sediment dispersal on three different depositional environments robert iles pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu refining submersible autonomous glider observations with coincident in-situ sampling bumsoo kim pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu rethinking the role of methane during the paleocene – eocene thermal maximum ashley mcdonald pursuing a doctorate in coastal ecology at tamug impacts of a large-scale hydrological alteration on coastal wetlands emily meese pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug movement patterns of a coastal predator in a subtropical estuary alexis neffinger pursuing masters degree in coastal and marine system science at tamucc assessing biotic integrity for tidal streams along the south texas coast dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc assessing mhc-associated mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) altaf taqi pursuing a doctorate in ocean engineering at tamu a two dimensional experimental investigation on mixed sediment dune evolution under storm surge and wave impact jamie thompson pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug patterns of insect herbivory on black mangroves (avicennia germinans) along the texas coast yu umeki pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug the use of a juvenile american alligator (alligator mississippiensis) liver enzyme assay to study the metabolism and detoxification of man-made pollutants christopher vickers pursuing a masters degree in coastal in coastal and marine system science at tamucc groundwater contribution of elevated nutrients to laguna salada baffin bay david weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc epigenetic biomarkers: a novel non-lethal approach to aging exploited fish species william wolfe pursuing a masters degree in coastal and marine system science at tamucc quantifying submarine groundwater discharge through continuous long-term measurements of radon in a semi-arid estuary   by mia zwolinski texas sea grant assistant director research and fiscal administration" " grossman leading nsf-funded study of clumped isotopes in carbonate mineralsdr ethan grossman will lead the project analyzing rare isotopes to study ancient ocean and sediment temperatures jun 25 2020dr grossman with the mass spectrometer used for clumped isotope analyses (photo courtesy of grossman)sigf faculty staff and students in 2018 (photo courtesy of grossman)dr ethan grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics recently received a $340 620 earth sciences (ear) grant from the national science foundation (nsf) to study the kinetics of clumped isotope reordering in carbonate minerals carbonate clumped isotopes is the name given to the field studying the co-occurrence of heavy oxygen (18o) and heavy carbon (13c) in the same molecules grossman said geoscientists have long used the proportion of heavy-to-light oxygen (18o vs 16o) in fossils and microfossils to reconstruct temperatures of ancient oceans in fact this approach is a mainstay in studies of deep-sea cores collected by the international ocean discovery program (iodp) he explained measurements of the proportion of heavy-to-light carbon (13c vs 12c) collected at the same time as heavy oxygen data are used to explore changes in the carbon cycle especially those connected with climate change  rare isotopes hold clues to ancient temperatures the clumping of heavy oxygen and heavy carbon in the same molecule is a rare happenstance occurring in only 00067% of calcium carbonate molecules the amount of clumping is dependent on temperature and serves as a thermometer for ancient oceans free of the assumptions of other methods grossman said however deep burial of sediments and subsequent heating can reequilibrate or reorder the clumped isotope signatures grossman and dr sarbajit banerjee professor and davidson chair in science in the texas a&m department of chemistry and their students will reproduce this effect by heating different carbonate minerals in the laboratory at different temperatures for different durations to determine the rate of reorderingbanerjees group will apply sophisticated modeling and measurement techniques to determine how changes in crystalline structure affect atom movement and consequently reordering rate solid-state chemistry techniques banerjee uses to help develop better battery technology the refined kinetics data and model will allow more accurate reconstruction of ancient ocean temperatures grossman explained and at the same time aid in hydrocarbon exploration by permitting more accurate representations of the burial temperatures of the sediments that generate fossil fuels texas a&m facilities provide cutting-edge capabilities the clumped isotope analyses are performed in the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) in the college of geosciences to make the measurement powdered carbonate is placed in a series of vials and an automated system adds drops of acid to the sample producing carbon dioxide grossman said the carbon dioxide is transferred through a vacuum line using liquid nitrogen into a mass spectrometer the clumped isotope instrument was purchased in 2017 as part of a $1 million award from the chancellors office to support mass spectrometry at texas a&m located in the eller oceanography and meteorology building sigf was established in 2009 to provide students faculty and staff with high-quality stable isotope measurements grossman is co-director of sigf along with dr brendan roark department of geography and together they operate the facility with drs niall slowey and yige zhang department of oceanography and facility manager dr christopher maupin with the wealth of data collected in this research additional applications in future projects are also possible grossman said including refining the temperature history of hydrocarbon-generating basins such as texas permian basin and determining ocean temperatures during the evolution of early animals grossman and banerjees grant will support two graduate students and one undergraduate student for the duration of the two-year project grossman believes that these research opportunities are invaluable to students because no matter what the job former students need problem-solving skills and research experience is all about solving problems learning technique is important but solving problems is critical by amanda hoth 21 " dr grossman with the mass spectrometer used for clumped isotope analyses (photo courtesy of grossman)sigf faculty staff and students in 2018 (photo courtesy of grossman) "dr ethan grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics recently received a $340 620 earth sciences (ear) grant from the national science foundation (nsf) to study the kinetics of clumped isotope reordering in carbonate minerals carbonate clumped isotopes is the name given to the field studying the co-occurrence of heavy oxygen (18o) and heavy carbon (13c) in the same molecules grossman said geoscientists have long used the proportion of heavy-to-light oxygen (18o vs 16o) in fossils and microfossils to reconstruct temperatures of ancient oceans in fact this approach is a mainstay in studies of deep-sea cores collected by the international ocean discovery program (iodp) he explained measurements of the proportion of heavy-to-light carbon (13c vs 12c) collected at the same time as heavy oxygen data are used to explore changes in the carbon cycle especially those connected with climate change  rare isotopes hold clues to ancient temperatures the clumping of heavy oxygen and heavy carbon in the same molecule is a rare happenstance occurring in only 00067% of calcium carbonate molecules the amount of clumping is dependent on temperature and serves as a thermometer for ancient oceans free of the assumptions of other methods grossman said however deep burial of sediments and subsequent heating can reequilibrate or reorder the clumped isotope signatures grossman and dr sarbajit banerjee professor and davidson chair in science in the texas a&m department of chemistry and their students will reproduce this effect by heating different carbonate minerals in the laboratory at different temperatures for different durations to determine the rate of reordering" "banerjees group will apply sophisticated modeling and measurement techniques to determine how changes in crystalline structure affect atom movement and consequently reordering rate solid-state chemistry techniques banerjee uses to help develop better battery technology the refined kinetics data and model will allow more accurate reconstruction of ancient ocean temperatures grossman explained and at the same time aid in hydrocarbon exploration by permitting more accurate representations of the burial temperatures of the sediments that generate fossil fuels texas a&m facilities provide cutting-edge capabilities the clumped isotope analyses are performed in the stable isotope geosciences facility (sigf) in the college of geosciences to make the measurement powdered carbonate is placed in a series of vials and an automated system adds drops of acid to the sample producing carbon dioxide grossman said the carbon dioxide is transferred through a vacuum line using liquid nitrogen into a mass spectrometer the clumped isotope instrument was purchased in 2017 as part of a $1 million award from the chancellors office to support mass spectrometry at texas a&m located in the eller oceanography and meteorology building sigf was established in 2009 to provide students faculty and staff with high-quality stable isotope measurements grossman is co-director of sigf along with dr brendan roark department of geography and together they operate the facility with drs niall slowey and yige zhang department of oceanography and facility manager dr christopher maupin with the wealth of data collected in this research additional applications in future projects are also possible grossman said including refining the temperature history of hydrocarbon-generating basins such as texas permian basin and determining ocean temperatures during the evolution of early animals grossman and banerjees grant will support two graduate students and one undergraduate student for the duration of the two-year project grossman believes that these research opportunities are invaluable to students because no matter what the job former students need problem-solving skills and research experience is all about solving problems learning technique is important but solving problems is critical by amanda hoth 21" " aquaculture specialist joins texas sea grant texas sea grant has hired mario marquez as the programs new aquaculture specialist to meet the needs of the recent legalization of the oyster aquaculture industry in texasjun 24 2020 the recent legalization of oyster aquaculture in texas brings opportunities to support of this emerging industry to meet these new needs texas sea grant has hired mario marquez as the programs new aquaculture specialist he joins the extensive texas sea grant extension team which provides practical and science-based support to the texas coast marquez will be based in palacios tx and he will aid the expansion and development of the oyster aquaculture industry in partnership with the harte research institute at texas a&m – corpus christi he will coordinate with public and private stakeholders to facilitate economical and sustainable oyster aquaculture this assistance to the oyster aquaculture industry will include planning and program evaluation; assisting the integration of oyster hatcheries seed production and oyster farm operations; and educating and guiding stakeholders one of marquezs first major projects will be aiding the creation of a website to inform aspiring oyster farmers on how to navigate the permitting process and successfully start their new business  im so excited to help in developing this new oyster aquaculture industry along the texas coast and growing some of the best oysters any texan would be proud of marquez said marquez comes to texas sea grant with extensive experience in aquaculture and oyster fisheries he is currently obtaining his phd in environmental sciences focusing on the ecosystem benefits of oyster aquaculture in oyster bay fl he was also a founder and ceo of the oyster company llc an oyster farm in northern florida  marquez is a fellow with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) environmental cooperative science center he also serves as an advisory board member for sea turtle inc and fishings future prior to working on his phd marquez received a masters of science and a bachelors of science in biology both from the university of texas at brownsville  we are thrilled to have mario joining texas sea grant said cindy lyle senior associate director and extension program leader at texas sea grant oyster farmers will need assistance navigating the permitting process as well as launching and growing their businesses and marios expertise will be immensely helpful in this process and beyond " " the recent legalization of oyster aquaculture in texas brings opportunities to support of this emerging industry to meet these new needs texas sea grant has hired mario marquez as the programs new aquaculture specialist he joins the extensive texas sea grant extension team which provides practical and science-based support to the texas coast marquez will be based in palacios tx and he will aid the expansion and development of the oyster aquaculture industry in partnership with the harte research institute at texas a&m – corpus christi he will coordinate with public and private stakeholders to facilitate economical and sustainable oyster aquaculture this assistance to the oyster aquaculture industry will include planning and program evaluation; assisting the integration of oyster hatcheries seed production and oyster farm operations; and educating and guiding stakeholders one of marquezs first major projects will be aiding the creation of a website to inform aspiring oyster farmers on how to navigate the permitting process and successfully start their new business  im so excited to help in developing this new oyster aquaculture industry along the texas coast and growing some of the best oysters any texan would be proud of marquez said marquez comes to texas sea grant with extensive experience in aquaculture and oyster fisheries he is currently obtaining his phd in environmental sciences focusing on the ecosystem benefits of oyster aquaculture in oyster bay fl he was also a founder and ceo of the oyster company llc an oyster farm in northern florida  marquez is a fellow with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) environmental cooperative science center he also serves as an advisory board member for sea turtle inc and fishings future prior to working on his phd marquez received a masters of science and a bachelors of science in biology both from the university of texas at brownsville  we are thrilled to have mario joining texas sea grant said cindy lyle senior associate director and extension program leader at texas sea grant oyster farmers will need assistance navigating the permitting process as well as launching and growing their businesses and marios expertise will be immensely helpful in this process and beyond" " water-insecurity increases covid-19 riskstexas a&ms dr wendy jepson and researchers analyze how water insecurity can hinder strategies to combat the coronavirusjun 22 2020a woman and children carrying water on their heads in traditional pots in rural india (photo credit: istock)for people who do not have easy access to safe drinking water maintaining personal hygiene and physical distancing to stem the global outbreak of covid-19 is no simple task water insecurity which is a lack of access to affordable adequate reliable and safe drinking water can make following safety precautions nearly impossible said dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university and a co-author of a recent paper on these problems water-insecure households in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable to covid-19 as they often rely on water sources for daily life that precludes social distancing measures jepson said reliance on water fetching in particular increases risk and for some the lack of water for adequate hygiene further compounds vulnerability the researchers analysis was recently published in the journal of global health led by dr justin stoler university of miami associate professor of geography and public health sciences the paper was co-authored by jepson and dr amber wutich arizona state university inadequate water security can be a multiplier effect for covid-19 risk and lead to more severe cases stoler said the researchers described how inadequate water access increases the risk for covid-19 in many ways beyond limiting handwashing stringent physical distancing measures imposed as a result of covid-19 are not always compatible with the realities of people living in the most impoverished regions of the world such as sub-saharan africa and south asia who often obtain water from outside the home cities with high population densities and urban poverty are areas with compounded risks and likely covid-19 hot spots the researchers said poverty and inequality which correlates with water insecurity further deepen covid-19 risk and disproportionately burden the most vulnerable jepson said typical social distancing measures that might be taken for granted in the united states will be even more challenging to follow for families living without basic water and sanitation services they said when people experience water insecurity it becomes more challenging for them to collect water needed for basic personal hygiene such as handwashing and it is difficult for them to have enough water to sanitize surfaces these problems also exist in the us in places like the navajo nation where many live without running water and in under-resourced areas some low-income residents who have lost jobs have had their water service shut off because they cant pay the bill stoler jepson and wutich along with several other researchers in the national science foundation-funded household water insecurity experiences research coordination network (hwise rcn) are conducting a follow-up study that analyzes data from 8 297 households across 23 countries to quantify how covid-19 is most likely to affect families who experience water insecurity their analysis shows that 71 percent of households face at least one water problem that could interfere with covid-19 prevention stoler said it is common for households around the world to compensate for a lack of access to water by sharing a water source which also contradicts physical distancing guidelines jepson noted that over half of the study households accessed water in ways that potentially place people at an increased risk of covid-19 transmission water fetching and reliance on bottled or vended water involve interactions which require person-to-person contact some families must reuse water storage containers which could raise the possibility of contamination or transmission of the virus as well from a policy standpoint interventions to alleviate or make water fetching safer may help or increasing public water access points may also allow for households to reduce time exposed to others while waiting in line jepson said but in the final analysis we also look to better and smarter investments in providing public water and sanitation that is close safe and secure as the necessary solution for the next pandemic jepson stoler and wutich co-lead hwise-rcn which has nsf funding through 2023  read the full publication by leslie lee in collaboration with janette neuwahl tannen university of miami " a woman and children carrying water on their heads in traditional pots in rural india (photo credit: istock) "for people who do not have easy access to safe drinking water maintaining personal hygiene and physical distancing to stem the global outbreak of covid-19 is no simple task water insecurity which is a lack of access to affordable adequate reliable and safe drinking water can make following safety precautions nearly impossible said dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university and a co-author of a recent paper on these problems water-insecure households in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable to covid-19 as they often rely on water sources for daily life that precludes social distancing measures jepson said reliance on water fetching in particular increases risk and for some the lack of water for adequate hygiene further compounds vulnerability the researchers analysis was recently published in the journal of global health led by dr justin stoler university of miami associate professor of geography and public health sciences the paper was co-authored by jepson and dr amber wutich arizona state university inadequate water security can be a multiplier effect for covid-19 risk and lead to more severe cases stoler said the researchers described how inadequate water access increases the risk for covid-19 in many ways beyond limiting handwashing stringent physical distancing measures imposed as a result of covid-19 are not always compatible with the realities of people living in the most impoverished regions of the world such as sub-saharan africa and south asia who often obtain water from outside the home cities with high population densities and urban poverty are areas with compounded risks and likely covid-19 hot spots the researchers said poverty and inequality which correlates with water insecurity further deepen covid-19 risk and disproportionately burden the most vulnerable jepson said typical social distancing measures that might be taken for granted in the united states will be even more challenging to follow for families living without basic water and sanitation services they said when people experience water insecurity it becomes more challenging for them to collect water needed for basic personal hygiene such as handwashing and it is difficult for them to have enough water to sanitize surfaces these problems also exist in the us in places like the navajo nation where many live without running water and in under-resourced areas some low-income residents who have lost jobs have had their water service shut off because they cant pay the bill stoler jepson and wutich along with several other researchers in the national science foundation-funded household water insecurity experiences research coordination network (hwise rcn) are conducting a follow-up study that analyzes data from 8 297 households across 23 countries to quantify how covid-19 is most likely to affect families who experience water insecurity their analysis shows that 71 percent of households face at least one water problem that could interfere with covid-19 prevention stoler said it is common for households around the world to compensate for a lack of access to water by sharing a water source which also contradicts physical distancing guidelines jepson noted that over half of the study households accessed water in ways that potentially place people at an increased risk of covid-19 transmission water fetching and reliance on bottled or vended water involve interactions which require person-to-person contact some families must reuse water storage containers which could raise the possibility of contamination or transmission of the virus as well from a policy standpoint interventions to alleviate or make water fetching safer may help or increasing public water access points may also allow for households to reduce time exposed to others while waiting in line jepson said but in the final analysis we also look to better and smarter investments in providing public water and sanitation that is close safe and secure as the necessary solution for the next pandemic jepson stoler and wutich co-lead hwise-rcn which has nsf funding through 2023  read the full publication by leslie lee in collaboration with janette neuwahl tannen university of miami" " texas a&m study: face masks critical in preventing spread of covid-19a study led by dr renyi zhang estimates that the measure prevented more than 66 000 infections in new york city in less than a monthjun 15 2020passengers wearing face masks ride the subway on april 28 2020 in new york city researchers esetimate that more than 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city (photo: getty images)a study by a team of researchers led by a texas a&m university professor has found that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a persons chances of being infected by the covid-19 virus dr renyi zhang  texas a&m distinguished professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in the college of geosciences and colleagues from the university of texas the university of california-san diego and the california institute of technology have had their work published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team examined the chances of covid-19 infection and how the virus is easily passed from person to person comparing trends and mitigation procedures in china italy and new york city the researchers found that using a face mask reduced the number of infections by more than 78 000 in italy from april 6-may 9 and by over 66 000 in new york city from april 17-may 9 our results clearly show that airborne transmission via respiratory aerosols represents the dominant route for the spread of covid-19 zhang said by analyzing the pandemic trends without face-covering using the statistical method and by projecting the trend we calculated that over 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city we conclude that wearing a face mask in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent inter-human transmission this inexpensive practice in conjunction with social distancing and other procedures is the most likely opportunity to stop the covid-19 pandemic our work also highlights that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics one of the papers co-authors  dr mario molina is a professor at the university of california-san diego and a co-recipient of the 1995 nobel prize in chemistry for his role in understanding the threat to the earths ozone layer of man-made halocarbon gases our study establishes very clearly that using a face mask is not only useful to prevent infected coughing droplets from reaching uninfected persons but is also crucial for these uninfected persons to avoid breathing the minute atmospheric particles (aerosols) that infected people emit when talking and that can remain in the atmosphere tens of minutes and can travel tens of feet molina said zhang said that many people in china have worn face masks for years mainly because of the bad air quality of the country so people there are sort of used to this he said mandated face-covering helped china in containing the covid-19 outbreak zhang said the results should send a clear message to people worldwide – wearing a face mask is essential in fighting the virus our work suggests that the failure in containing the propagation of covid-19 pandemic worldwide is largely attributed to the unrecognized importance of airborne virus transmission he said social-distancing and washing our hands must continue but thats not sufficient enough protection wearing a face mask as well as practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing will greatly reduce the chances of anyone contracting the covid-19 virus the study was funded by the robert a welch foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " passengers wearing face masks ride the subway on april 28 2020 in new york city researchers esetimate that more than 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city (photo: getty images) "a study by a team of researchers led by a texas a&m university professor has found that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a persons chances of being infected by the covid-19 virus dr renyi zhang  texas a&m distinguished professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in the college of geosciences and colleagues from the university of texas the university of california-san diego and the california institute of technology have had their work published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team examined the chances of covid-19 infection and how the virus is easily passed from person to person comparing trends and mitigation procedures in china italy and new york city the researchers found that using a face mask reduced the number of infections by more than 78 000 in italy from april 6-may 9 and by over 66 000 in new york city from april 17-may 9 our results clearly show that airborne transmission via respiratory aerosols represents the dominant route for the spread of covid-19 zhang said by analyzing the pandemic trends without face-covering using the statistical method and by projecting the trend we calculated that over 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city we conclude that wearing a face mask in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent inter-human transmission this inexpensive practice in conjunction with social distancing and other procedures is the most likely opportunity to stop the covid-19 pandemic our work also highlights that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics one of the papers co-authors  dr mario molina is a professor at the university of california-san diego and a co-recipient of the 1995 nobel prize in chemistry for his role in understanding the threat to the earths ozone layer of man-made halocarbon gases our study establishes very clearly that using a face mask is not only useful to prevent infected coughing droplets from reaching uninfected persons but is also crucial for these uninfected persons to avoid breathing the minute atmospheric particles (aerosols) that infected people emit when talking and that can remain in the atmosphere tens of minutes and can travel tens of feet molina said zhang said that many people in china have worn face masks for years mainly because of the bad air quality of the country so people there are sort of used to this he said mandated face-covering helped china in containing the covid-19 outbreak zhang said the results should send a clear message to people worldwide – wearing a face mask is essential in fighting the virus our work suggests that the failure in containing the propagation of covid-19 pandemic worldwide is largely attributed to the unrecognized importance of airborne virus transmission he said social-distancing and washing our hands must continue but thats not sufficient enough protection wearing a face mask as well as practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing will greatly reduce the chances of anyone contracting the covid-19 virus the study was funded by the robert a welch foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " with texas beaches empty did water quality improve texas sea grant has awarded a rapid response grant to researchers at texas a&m university-corpus christi to examine water quality data collected during the covid-19 quarantinejun 4 2020photo credit: texas a&m university-corpus christiat the peak of quarantine during the covid-19 pandemic an image went viral on social media of the canals in venice as people stayed home without the usual bustling human traffic of tourists the citys waters were left clear and shimmering the bottom clearly visible – a picture that left many people around the world wondering if nature was doing better without us dr michael wetz chair for coastal ecosystem processes at the harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies at texas a&m university-corpus christi and dr jeff turner texas a&m-corpus christi associate professor of marine biology want to find out what happened to texass coastal waters while we were inside the duo recently received a rapid response grant from texas sea grant that will allow them to examine water quality data collected during the quarantine to try to determine whether our waters changed or even improved while most people stayed home from the beach to wait out the pandemic the researchers will take water quality data collected on the texas coast during the period of texas gov greg abbotts emergency stay-at-home order which was issued march 31 and lasted through the month of april they plan to compare data from that period to the same time in years past to determine how a lack of human activity might have impacted water quality the quarantine period and a reduction in things like beachgoers during spring break gives us a rare opportunity to directly examine how humans affect coastal water quality wetz said  beyond just the gee-whiz factor (like seeing clear canals in venice) it can help us to identify areas on the coast where the human impact is most pronounced the project begins immediately and will last through january 2021 they hope to have some findings available as early as this summer that can help scientists to prioritize projects like living shorelines oyster reef restoration and infrastructure improvements that could improve water quality for the benefit of our coastal habitats and our human economies which in the beachfront communities that dot the gulf of mexico often depend on the health of the coast wetz said the project was inspired by the images of venice but theres already anecdotal evidence of some local water quality improvement while everyone focused on the amazing water clarity in those photos a sharp reduction in tourists to coastal communities would have led to reduced bacteria coming from wastewater facilities and home septic tanks turner and his doctoral student nicole powers have already noticed a sharp drop in bacteria in their samples taken here in texas which they believe may be due to decreased human activity on the coast the group plans to examine coastal water quality data from the national estuarine research reserve system the general land offices texas beachwatch bacterial sampling program and other ongoing water quality monitoring programs to help determine how coastal areas were impacted   by nikki buskey communications manager harte research institute texas a&m-corpus christi   republished with permission from the harte research institute view the original article " "at the peak of quarantine during the covid-19 pandemic an image went viral on social media of the canals in venice as people stayed home without the usual bustling human traffic of tourists the citys waters were left clear and shimmering the bottom clearly visible – a picture that left many people around the world wondering if nature was doing better without us dr michael wetz chair for coastal ecosystem processes at the harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies at texas a&m university-corpus christi and dr jeff turner texas a&m-corpus christi associate professor of marine biology want to find out what happened to texass coastal waters while we were inside the duo recently received a rapid response grant from texas sea grant that will allow them to examine water quality data collected during the quarantine to try to determine whether our waters changed or even improved while most people stayed home from the beach to wait out the pandemic the researchers will take water quality data collected on the texas coast during the period of texas gov greg abbotts emergency stay-at-home order which was issued march 31 and lasted through the month of april they plan to compare data from that period to the same time in years past to determine how a lack of human activity might have impacted water quality the quarantine period and a reduction in things like beachgoers during spring break gives us a rare opportunity to directly examine how humans affect coastal water quality wetz said  beyond just the gee-whiz factor (like seeing clear canals in venice) it can help us to identify areas on the coast where the human impact is most pronounced the project begins immediately and will last through january 2021 they hope to have some findings available as early as this summer that can help scientists to prioritize projects like living shorelines oyster reef restoration and infrastructure improvements that could improve water quality for the benefit of our coastal habitats and our human economies which in the beachfront communities that dot the gulf of mexico often depend on the health of the coast wetz said the project was inspired by the images of venice but theres already anecdotal evidence of some local water quality improvement while everyone focused on the amazing water clarity in those photos a sharp reduction in tourists to coastal communities would have led to reduced bacteria coming from wastewater facilities and home septic tanks turner and his doctoral student nicole powers have already noticed a sharp drop in bacteria in their samples taken here in texas which they believe may be due to decreased human activity on the coast the group plans to examine coastal water quality data from the national estuarine research reserve system the general land offices texas beachwatch bacterial sampling program and other ongoing water quality monitoring programs to help determine how coastal areas were impacted   by nikki buskey communications manager harte research institute texas a&m-corpus christi   republished with permission from the harte research institute view the original article" " new groundwater research: clay layers exacerbate arsenic problems in bangladeshco-authored by texas a&ms dr peter knappett the recently published study examined causes of arsenic contamination in bangladesh aquifersmay 28 2020dr peter knappett conducting water well surveys in bangladesh (photo courtesy of knappett)villagers at a community well in bangladesh (photo courtesy of knappett)groundwater is a precious resource worldwide especially in communities where surface water is scarce or contaminated clay layers are widely thought to protect these valuable groundwater aquifers from above-ground pollutants and contaminants but new research recently published in nature communications has shown that in bangladesh clay layers that were thought to protect underlying aquifers from downward migration of naturally-occurring high-arsenic water from shallow aquifers are actually making arsenic groundwater contamination worse this study documents the long-term rise in arsenic concentrations in an aquifer lying below a clay layer said study co-author dr peter knappett associate professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university above that clay layer is a shallow aquifer with high arsenic concentrations this deeper of the two aquifers is a crucial source of safe drinking water for much of the rural population of bangladesh in explaining the rising arsenic concentrations this research provides the most conclusive evidence to date that organic carbon from clay layers drives the release of arsenic from sediments in low-arsenic oxidized aquifers knappett said the study narrows down the process that is driving the migration of dissolve organic carbon into the low-arsenic aquifer to two options he said: 1) molecular diffusion; and 2) advection of clay pore-waters under the influence of hydraulic gradients created by dhaka pumping 20 kilometers to the west this study adds to growing evidence that how much and where humans pump aquifers can influence the quality of the water that remains dangerous wells  well water contaminated by arsenic in bangladesh is a widespread public health crisis there an estimated 39 million people drink water naturally contaminated by this deadly element which can silently attack a persons organs over years or decades leading to cancers cardiovascular disease diabetes developmental and cognitive problems in children and death every year an estimated 43 000 people die from arsenic-related illness in bangladesh to alleviate this problem many communities in bangladesh no longer rely on shallow wells and instead drill deeper more expensive private or community wells which are thought to produce safer water and typically confining clay layers protect groundwater aquifers against downward intrusion of such contaminants lowering the risk of dangerous exposure levelsfive of the studys authors including texas a&ms dr peter knappett (third from left) near the village of baylakandi bangladesh in 2013 the sign on the left helped inform people about where safe wells were located (photo courtesy of knappett)dr ivan mihajlov and imtiaz choudhury conducting field work in bangladesh  (photo courtesy of mihajlov)but at their research site near the village of baylakandi east of bangladesh's capital dhaka knappett and this research team found concerning results their analysis showed that an aquifers proximity to a confining clay layer that expels organic carbon as an indirect response to groundwater pumping drove the rising arsenic concentrations in the previously safe aquifer the team used a number of methods to determine the processes driving the observed increasing arsenic concentrations over time dozens of monitoring wells were installed and equipped with pressure transducers to monitor hydraulic heads over several years knappett said and sediments and pore-waters recovered from the drilling of these wells underwent extensive chemical measurements to determine the source of the organic carbon driving the release of arsenic underlying the clay layer the team members have worked in the area studying processes driving arsenic release for almost two decades  households depending on depressurized contaminated aquifers for local households on the outskirts of dhaka that have been privately re-installing wells to access relatively shallow aquifers beneath the impermeable clay layer the teams findings were especially worrisome knappett said over-pumping to meet dhakas municipal water needs has resulted in water levels under dhaka itself being almost one hundred meters below what they would naturally be resulting in a cone of depression in the aquifer below the city and exacerbating communities water insecurity with groundwater pumping from sedimentary aquifers expected to continue throughout the world he said more attention should be paid to potential contamination of groundwater with arsenic by compacting clay layers the lead author of the research was dr ivan mihajlov department of earth and environmental sciences at columbia university co-authors were dr m rajib h mozumder dr benjamin bostick dr martin stute dr brian mailloux dr peter schlosser and dr alexander van geen of the lamont-doherty earth observatory at columbia university; dr knappett of the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university; and imtiaz choudhury and dr kazi matin ahmed of the department of geology at dhaka university this research was funded by in-part by the national institute of environmental health sciences and the national science foundation by leslie lee 09 " dr peter knappett conducting water well surveys in bangladesh (photo courtesy of knappett)villagers at a community well in bangladesh (photo courtesy of knappett) "groundwater is a precious resource worldwide especially in communities where surface water is scarce or contaminated clay layers are widely thought to protect these valuable groundwater aquifers from above-ground pollutants and contaminants but new research recently published in nature communications has shown that in bangladesh clay layers that were thought to protect underlying aquifers from downward migration of naturally-occurring high-arsenic water from shallow aquifers are actually making arsenic groundwater contamination worse this study documents the long-term rise in arsenic concentrations in an aquifer lying below a clay layer said study co-author dr peter knappett associate professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university above that clay layer is a shallow aquifer with high arsenic concentrations this deeper of the two aquifers is a crucial source of safe drinking water for much of the rural population of bangladesh in explaining the rising arsenic concentrations this research provides the most conclusive evidence to date that organic carbon from clay layers drives the release of arsenic from sediments in low-arsenic oxidized aquifers knappett said the study narrows down the process that is driving the migration of dissolve organic carbon into the low-arsenic aquifer to two options he said: 1) molecular diffusion; and 2) advection of clay pore-waters under the influence of hydraulic gradients created by dhaka pumping 20 kilometers to the west this study adds to growing evidence that how much and where humans pump aquifers can influence the quality of the water that remains dangerous wells  well water contaminated by arsenic in bangladesh is a widespread public health crisis there an estimated 39 million people drink water naturally contaminated by this deadly element which can silently attack a persons organs over years or decades leading to cancers cardiovascular disease diabetes developmental and cognitive problems in children and death every year an estimated 43 000 people die from arsenic-related illness in bangladesh to alleviate this problem many communities in bangladesh no longer rely on shallow wells and instead drill deeper more expensive private or community wells which are thought to produce safer water and typically confining clay layers protect groundwater aquifers against downward intrusion of such contaminants lowering the risk of dangerous exposure levels" five of the studys authors including texas a&ms dr peter knappett (third from left) near the village of baylakandi bangladesh in 2013 the sign on the left helped inform people about where safe wells were located (photo courtesy of knappett)dr ivan mihajlov and imtiaz choudhury conducting field work in bangladesh  (photo courtesy of mihajlov) "but at their research site near the village of baylakandi east of bangladesh's capital dhaka knappett and this research team found concerning results their analysis showed that an aquifers proximity to a confining clay layer that expels organic carbon as an indirect response to groundwater pumping drove the rising arsenic concentrations in the previously safe aquifer the team used a number of methods to determine the processes driving the observed increasing arsenic concentrations over time dozens of monitoring wells were installed and equipped with pressure transducers to monitor hydraulic heads over several years knappett said and sediments and pore-waters recovered from the drilling of these wells underwent extensive chemical measurements to determine the source of the organic carbon driving the release of arsenic underlying the clay layer the team members have worked in the area studying processes driving arsenic release for almost two decades  households depending on depressurized contaminated aquifers for local households on the outskirts of dhaka that have been privately re-installing wells to access relatively shallow aquifers beneath the impermeable clay layer the teams findings were especially worrisome knappett said over-pumping to meet dhakas municipal water needs has resulted in water levels under dhaka itself being almost one hundred meters below what they would naturally be resulting in a cone of depression in the aquifer below the city and exacerbating communities water insecurity with groundwater pumping from sedimentary aquifers expected to continue throughout the world he said more attention should be paid to potential contamination of groundwater with arsenic by compacting clay layers the lead author of the research was dr ivan mihajlov department of earth and environmental sciences at columbia university co-authors were dr m rajib h mozumder dr benjamin bostick dr martin stute dr brian mailloux dr peter schlosser and dr alexander van geen of the lamont-doherty earth observatory at columbia university; dr knappett of the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university; and imtiaz choudhury and dr kazi matin ahmed of the department of geology at dhaka university this research was funded by in-part by the national institute of environmental health sciences and the national science foundation by leslie lee 09" " geography student and mascot corporal joins reveille ix on disney+ showtexas a&m mascot reveille accompanied by colton ray 22 will be featured in the third episode of the show 'it's a dog's life' on disney's streaming channelmay 28 2020its a dogs life host bill farmer learns how to saw ‘em off at the texas a&m-auburn game at kyle field on sept 21 2019 (photo courtesy of texas a&m division of marketing & communications)texas a&m universitys mascot reveille ix will be the subject of an upcoming episode of the new disney+ show its a dogs life the episode featuring the universitys long-haired collie mascot will be available on the streaming channel beginning friday may 29corps of cadets mascot corporal colton ray 22 has served as reveilles handler for the 2019-2020 school year and is a geographic information science and technology major in the department of geography originally from greenbrier ark ray spent several days escorting its a dogs life host bill farmer around campus with reveille as she met excited fans everywhere she wentthe shows host and film crew spent time on campus last fall working closely with university staff and students filming reveille as she conducted many of her mascot duties including corps march-in and her appearance at the home football game against auburn on sept 21in its a dogs life farmer travels around the country meeting dogs with jobs including search and rescue guide dogs and sheep dogs reveille is the only university mascot to be featured in the shows inaugural seasonall of the students were so kind and generous everyone was kind – just the best – it was a totally exciting adventure farmer saidduring his stay farmer attended a military science class with reveille visited rays dorm and met aggies and campus visitors in the memorial student center he even attended the mascots six-hour long appointment with a groomer in bryan the universitys neighboring townrays job as reveilles handler will conclude at the end of the summer and a new mascot corporal will be chosen he said whoever gets the job and the rest of company e-2 the corp of cadets mascot company should be prepared for and enjoy opportunities like the disney show when they come alonggetting to represent the university with miss rev is a huge honor and responsibility and you never know what cards are going to be dealt to you he said when you get opportunities to be a part of a production like this just enjoy it and have fun with itcontinue reading on texas a&m todayby lesley henton texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " its a dogs life host bill farmer learns how to saw ‘em off at the texas a&m-auburn game at kyle field on sept 21 2019 (photo courtesy of texas a&m division of marketing & communications) texas a&m universitys mascot reveille ix will be the subject of an upcoming episode of the new disney+ show its a dogs life the episode featuring the universitys long-haired collie mascot will be available on the streaming channel beginning friday may 29corps of cadets mascot corporal colton ray 22 has served as reveilles handler for the 2019-2020 school year and is a geographic information science and technology major in the department of geography originally from greenbrier ark ray spent several days escorting its a dogs life host bill farmer around campus with reveille as she met excited fans everywhere she wentthe shows host and film crew spent time on campus last fall working closely with university staff and students filming reveille as she conducted many of her mascot duties including corps march-in and her appearance at the home football game against auburn on sept 21in its a dogs life farmer travels around the country meeting dogs with jobs including search and rescue guide dogs and sheep dogs reveille is the only university mascot to be featured in the shows inaugural seasonall of the students were so kind and generous everyone was kind – just the best – it was a totally exciting adventure farmer saidduring his stay farmer attended a military science class with reveille visited rays dorm and met aggies and campus visitors in the memorial student center he even attended the mascots six-hour long appointment with a groomer in bryan the universitys neighboring townrays job as reveilles handler will conclude at the end of the summer and a new mascot corporal will be chosen he said whoever gets the job and the rest of company e-2 the corp of cadets mascot company should be prepared for and enjoy opportunities like the disney show when they come alonggetting to represent the university with miss rev is a huge honor and responsibility and you never know what cards are going to be dealt to you he said when you get opportunities to be a part of a production like this just enjoy it and have fun with itcontinue reading on texas a&m todayby lesley henton texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " two texas sea grant-nominated fellows selected for noaa coastal management fellowshipsfellows selected for this competitive program work with noaa partner organizations on coastal resource management and policy may 27 2020meghan martinez (photo credit: meghan martinez)brian desanti (photo credit: brian desanti)meghan martinez and brian desanti from texas were selected for the noaa office of coastal managements coastal management and digital coast fellowship program following nomination by texas sea grant this two-year postgraduate program provides on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management policy and coastal issues texas sea grant recruits and nominates students from various universities across the state of texas our nominees from texas join a highly competitive pool of prospective fellows drawn from the best and the brightest students from across the us said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant we are honored when just one of our nominees is selected to the final round of the competition there are few words to describe what it feels like to have two nominees make it to the final round this year and then to be selected to receive this prestigious fellowship fellows are matched with noaa partner organizations around the country to work on projects relevant to coastal resource management and policy martinez who recently graduated with a masters in marine biology from texas a&m university – corpus christi has been paired with the california state coastal conservancy through her work she will be supporting a community-based wetland restoration program with the goal of increasing coastal wetland resilience she will help implement track and evaluate a visionary regional plan im really honored to be chosen for this particular fellowship and this project i think its going to be a great opportunity to work with people who are really passionate and ready to make a difference in their own communities martinez said im just really thrilled and grateful to be part of this experience and to have the support throughout my career to help me get to this point desanti a recent graduate from texas tech university with a phd in mass communications will be working with the texas coastal management program through stakeholder engagement data analysis communication and strategic program review he will focus on implementing water quality management measures throughout the texas coast  i was very surprised when i was selected after the shock wore off i was excited for this opportunity desanti said what im hoping to get out of this experience is using what ive learned and making a difference in the communities i will be working in   both martinez and desanti will begin their fellowships in august 2020 i am very excited for meghan and brian and look forward to following them as they contribute to managing our coastal resources plotkin said   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager   " meghan martinez (photo credit: meghan martinez)brian desanti (photo credit: brian desanti) "meghan martinez and brian desanti from texas were selected for the noaa office of coastal managements coastal management and digital coast fellowship program following nomination by texas sea grant this two-year postgraduate program provides on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management policy and coastal issues texas sea grant recruits and nominates students from various universities across the state of texas our nominees from texas join a highly competitive pool of prospective fellows drawn from the best and the brightest students from across the us said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant we are honored when just one of our nominees is selected to the final round of the competition there are few words to describe what it feels like to have two nominees make it to the final round this year and then to be selected to receive this prestigious fellowship fellows are matched with noaa partner organizations around the country to work on projects relevant to coastal resource management and policy martinez who recently graduated with a masters in marine biology from texas a&m university – corpus christi has been paired with the california state coastal conservancy through her work she will be supporting a community-based wetland restoration program with the goal of increasing coastal wetland resilience she will help implement track and evaluate a visionary regional plan im really honored to be chosen for this particular fellowship and this project i think its going to be a great opportunity to work with people who are really passionate and ready to make a difference in their own communities martinez said im just really thrilled and grateful to be part of this experience and to have the support throughout my career to help me get to this point desanti a recent graduate from texas tech university with a phd in mass communications will be working with the texas coastal management program through stakeholder engagement data analysis communication and strategic program review he will focus on implementing water quality management measures throughout the texas coast  i was very surprised when i was selected after the shock wore off i was excited for this opportunity desanti said what im hoping to get out of this experience is using what ive learned and making a difference in the communities i will be working in   both martinez and desanti will begin their fellowships in august 2020 i am very excited for meghan and brian and look forward to following them as they contribute to managing our coastal resources plotkin said   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager  " " when storms roll in texas a&m steps up to aid weather forecasters texas a&m atmospheric sciences helped monitor severe weather as it moved through the brazos and trinity valleysmay 27 2020etten-bohm and nowotarski prepare to the releasing the sounding balloon that morning photo courtesy montana etten-bohmon april 22 the first day of a multi-day severe weather outbreak in the southern united states the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m acted quickly to provide regional timely field data to official forecasters we were the national weather services eyes for a tornadic supercell thunderstorm said dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences conlee graduate student montana etten-bohm and dr christopher nowotarski assistant professor coordinated with the national weather service (nws) houston-galveston and fort worth offices to provide upper-air and radar observations to help enhance nws forecasts of the event on april 22 our balloon sounding provided a substantial increase to the situational awareness and potential of the day as our soundings often do conlee said observational balloons are normally sent out every 12 hours at 7 am and 7 pm local time but texas a&m and much of central and southeast texas are caught in an observation gap that includes the austin san antonio and houston metropolitan areas etten-bohm nowotarski and conlee launched an observational sounding on campus in the late morning that day the data it retrieved suggested that supercell thunderstorms rotating thunderstorms highly coincident with severe weather and significant hail were all expected in the regionspc categorical warning levels for april 22 2020data from the morning sounding indicating that conditions were favorable for severe thunderstorm developmentradar imagery from the atmo radar at 10:24 pm that evening showing the supercell thunderstorm that produced the tornado near trinityadditionally the distance between the brazos and trinity river valleys and nws radar sites in houston fort worth temple-killeen and shreveport can cause problems with radar coverage of the lower levels of the atmosphere limiting the reliability of the data used to declare storm warnings the aggie doppler radar (adrad) atop the eller o&m building on the texas a&m campus was used to cover the region during the outbreak and helped provide the nws in houston with vital radar information helping save lives the april 22 storm did in fact result in a tornado data from the adrad helped the nws issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for a strong supercell thunderstorm that passed over east texas near trinity around 7 pm that night preliminary surveys of the onalaska tornado from nws houston-galveston and the polk county office of emergency management reported an ef-3 tornado with estimated peak winds of 140 mph that touched the ground for 33 miles and large hail with a max-measured diameter of 2 inches tragically resulting in 33 injuries and 3 deaths making it the deadliest tornado to hit the area since 1987 that particular storm was sustained long after leaving the brazos valley producing tornadoes in louisiana until it finally dissipated in mississippi over 6 hours later nowotarski is planning on taking the upper-air and adrad data from the storm to investigate how the storm persisted for such a long period of time and continued to produce tornadoes well after sunset a graduating meteorology senior brandon gale safely followed the storm to collect and report hail samples normally undergraduates would be heavily involved in both radar and weather balloon observations but that day they were not able to assist due to pandemic protocols the significance of the event shows the necessity of observations during the course of the weather outbreak and how texas a&m is afforded the opportunity to coordinate with the local nws offices to help forecasters protect the lives of the people who live here ""the texas a&m radar provided important detail on the storm structure as it crossed brazos and grimes counties that was not evident on the more distant nws radars said dan reilly warning coordination meteorologist for the nws houston/galveston office given its proximity to the storm it was able to see features with higher resolution and closer to the ground than could be seen by other radars this information was critical for nws warning decision-making for the stormupper-air sounding from may 20 2019 suggesting conditions were favorable for supercell thunderstorms and significant hail that afternoon this sounding was requested by wns fort worthnot the first time this is not the first time that texas a&m atmospheric sciences students have aided with collecting data for severe weather on may 20 2019 during a forecasted high-risk day from the storm prediction center nws fort worth requested an upper-air sounding to aid their diagnosis for severe weather for eastern texas and the student operational upper-air program (soup) carried out the requested sounding like the april 22 2020 sounding conditions then indicated the potential for supercells and significant hail adrad operations also helped keep local communities safe earlier this year on march 4 when the kgrk nws radar in temple-killeen was unavailable the nws in fort worth made use of adrad data to make warnings on storms moving through central texas and communicate the potential danger of those storms to local emergency managers and news media those storms produced winds over 60 mph and hailstones larger than 1 inch in diameter in brazos and robertson counties early in the morning in addition to using adrad and launching upper-air soundings texas a&m students also help local nws offices through the skywarn spotter training program last year students reported a tornado touched down on april 24 during a thunderstorm that was not well-sampled through nws radar though adrad was not operating that day students were able to identify the storm and those students were able to help nws identify the threat for thunderstorms in spite of the lack of radar data   by david coates " etten-bohm and nowotarski prepare to the releasing the sounding balloon that morning photo courtesy montana etten-bohm "on april 22 the first day of a multi-day severe weather outbreak in the southern united states the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m acted quickly to provide regional timely field data to official forecasters we were the national weather services eyes for a tornadic supercell thunderstorm said dr don conlee instructional professor of atmospheric sciences conlee graduate student montana etten-bohm and dr christopher nowotarski assistant professor coordinated with the national weather service (nws) houston-galveston and fort worth offices to provide upper-air and radar observations to help enhance nws forecasts of the event on april 22 our balloon sounding provided a substantial increase to the situational awareness and potential of the day as our soundings often do conlee said observational balloons are normally sent out every 12 hours at 7 am and 7 pm local time but texas a&m and much of central and southeast texas are caught in an observation gap that includes the austin san antonio and houston metropolitan areas etten-bohm nowotarski and conlee launched an observational sounding on campus in the late morning that day the data it retrieved suggested that supercell thunderstorms rotating thunderstorms highly coincident with severe weather and significant hail were all expected in the region" spc categorical warning levels for april 22 2020data from the morning sounding indicating that conditions were favorable for severe thunderstorm developmentradar imagery from the atmo radar at 10:24 pm that evening showing the supercell thunderstorm that produced the tornado near trinity "additionally the distance between the brazos and trinity river valleys and nws radar sites in houston fort worth temple-killeen and shreveport can cause problems with radar coverage of the lower levels of the atmosphere limiting the reliability of the data used to declare storm warnings the aggie doppler radar (adrad) atop the eller o&m building on the texas a&m campus was used to cover the region during the outbreak and helped provide the nws in houston with vital radar information helping save lives the april 22 storm did in fact result in a tornado data from the adrad helped the nws issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for a strong supercell thunderstorm that passed over east texas near trinity around 7 pm that night preliminary surveys of the onalaska tornado from nws houston-galveston and the polk county office of emergency management reported an ef-3 tornado with estimated peak winds of 140 mph that touched the ground for 33 miles and large hail with a max-measured diameter of 2 inches tragically resulting in 33 injuries and 3 deaths making it the deadliest tornado to hit the area since 1987 that particular storm was sustained long after leaving the brazos valley producing tornadoes in louisiana until it finally dissipated in mississippi over 6 hours later nowotarski is planning on taking the upper-air and adrad data from the storm to investigate how the storm persisted for such a long period of time and continued to produce tornadoes well after sunset a graduating meteorology senior brandon gale safely followed the storm to collect and report hail samples normally undergraduates would be heavily involved in both radar and weather balloon observations but that day they were not able to assist due to pandemic protocols the significance of the event shows the necessity of observations during the course of the weather outbreak and how texas a&m is afforded the opportunity to coordinate with the local nws offices to help forecasters protect the lives of the people who live here ""the texas a&m radar provided important detail on the storm structure as it crossed brazos and grimes counties that was not evident on the more distant nws radars said dan reilly warning coordination meteorologist for the nws houston/galveston office given its proximity to the storm it was able to see features with higher resolution and closer to the ground than could be seen by other radars this information was critical for nws warning decision-making for the storm" upper-air sounding from may 20 2019 suggesting conditions were favorable for supercell thunderstorms and significant hail that afternoon this sounding was requested by wns fort worth "not the first time this is not the first time that texas a&m atmospheric sciences students have aided with collecting data for severe weather on may 20 2019 during a forecasted high-risk day from the storm prediction center nws fort worth requested an upper-air sounding to aid their diagnosis for severe weather for eastern texas and the student operational upper-air program (soup) carried out the requested sounding like the april 22 2020 sounding conditions then indicated the potential for supercells and significant hail adrad operations also helped keep local communities safe earlier this year on march 4 when the kgrk nws radar in temple-killeen was unavailable the nws in fort worth made use of adrad data to make warnings on storms moving through central texas and communicate the potential danger of those storms to local emergency managers and news media those storms produced winds over 60 mph and hailstones larger than 1 inch in diameter in brazos and robertson counties early in the morning in addition to using adrad and launching upper-air soundings texas a&m students also help local nws offices through the skywarn spotter training program last year students reported a tornado touched down on april 24 during a thunderstorm that was not well-sampled through nws radar though adrad was not operating that day students were able to identify the storm and those students were able to help nws identify the threat for thunderstorms in spite of the lack of radar data   by david coates" " iodp travel team honored with texas a&m president's meritorious service awardthe awards recognize outstanding texas a&m university staffmay 26 2020 the joides resolution at the pier in punta arenas chile before iodp expedition 382 in march 2019 (photo credit: thomas ronge and iodp) the international ocean discovery program (iodp) travel team  kathy bass diane mcdonald and beverly wilson was recently awarded a president's meritorious service award from texas a&m university the presidents meritorious service awards recognize and reward staff for their commendable service to texas a&m and texas a&m president michael k young announced this years recipients may 5 recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service president young said to each of them i extend my most sincere congratulations and deep appreciation for their tremendous efforts that make texas a&m such a great place to live and work iodp expeditions sail aboard the joides resolution research vessel and texas a&m serves as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) based in the texas a&m college of geosciences and one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said that the teams exemplary work benefits not only the university but the entire international science community the jrso travel team diane mcdonald kathy bass and beverly wilson truly is a group of heroes that showcase to the world the best of our university thomas said thousands of scientists from around the world have benefited and continue to benefit from their efforts to ensure that everyone arrives at the drillship and cruise-related meetings safely and without incident hundreds of texas a&m employees at the jrso have been shepherded safely to ports in far-flung locations most of the time we would never know how hard or expertly they work because travel logistics are executed seamlessly and smoothly she said but travel logistics proceed smoothly because of the travel team  team recipients of the award are recognized with a plaque for departmental display and each member of each of the team will receive an award of $200 a framed certificate of recognition and a lapel pin each recipient of the supervisor award will receive a $1 500 award a commemorative plaque and a lapel pin the presidents meritorious service awards program is sponsored by the office of the president and the association of former students and coordinated by the division of human resources and organizational effectiveness the college of geosciences congratulates the iodp travel team on their president meritorious service award and for their selfless service to texas a&m by leslie lee 09 " " the joides resolution at the pier in punta arenas chile before iodp expedition 382 in march 2019 (photo credit: thomas ronge and iodp) " "the international ocean discovery program (iodp) travel team  kathy bass diane mcdonald and beverly wilson was recently awarded a president's meritorious service award from texas a&m university the presidents meritorious service awards recognize and reward staff for their commendable service to texas a&m and texas a&m president michael k young announced this years recipients may 5 recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service president young said to each of them i extend my most sincere congratulations and deep appreciation for their tremendous efforts that make texas a&m such a great place to live and work iodp expeditions sail aboard the joides resolution research vessel and texas a&m serves as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) based in the texas a&m college of geosciences and one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said that the teams exemplary work benefits not only the university but the entire international science community the jrso travel team diane mcdonald kathy bass and beverly wilson truly is a group of heroes that showcase to the world the best of our university thomas said thousands of scientists from around the world have benefited and continue to benefit from their efforts to ensure that everyone arrives at the drillship and cruise-related meetings safely and without incident hundreds of texas a&m employees at the jrso have been shepherded safely to ports in far-flung locations most of the time we would never know how hard or expertly they work because travel logistics are executed seamlessly and smoothly she said but travel logistics proceed smoothly because of the travel team  team recipients of the award are recognized with a plaque for departmental display and each member of each of the team will receive an award of $200 a framed certificate of recognition and a lapel pin each recipient of the supervisor award will receive a $1 500 award a commemorative plaque and a lapel pin the presidents meritorious service awards program is sponsored by the office of the president and the association of former students and coordinated by the division of human resources and organizational effectiveness the college of geosciences congratulates the iodp travel team on their president meritorious service award and for their selfless service to texas a&m by leslie lee 09" " study reveals ancient ocean oxygen levels associated with changing atmospheric carbon dioxidethe nsf-funded texas a&m-led study analyzed equatorial pacific ocean sediment cores to provide new insights into the relationship between deep ocean oxygenation and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the 50 000 years before the last ice agemay 19 2020a sediment core on a research cruise led by marcantonio aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photos courtesy of marcantonio)deep ocean floor sediment cores hold chemical clues to earth's pastwhy do carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere wax and wane in conjunction with the warm and cold periods of earths past scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years and thanks to chemical clues left in sediment cores extracted from deep in the ocean floor they are starting to put together pieces of that puzzle recent research suggests that there was enhanced storage of respired carbon in the deep ocean when levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were lower than todays levels but now new research led by a texas a&m scientist has reached back even further in time for the first time revealing insights into atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the 50 000 years before the last ice age one of the biggest unknowns about past climate is the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide variability over global warm-cold cycles said dr franco marcantonio lead author of the study and professor and jane and ken r williams 45 chair in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m here we investigated the ‘how of varying carbon dioxide with the ‘where namely the eastern equatorial pacific ocean which is an important region of the world ocean where today significant carbon dioxide is exhaled into the atmosphere and the greatest rates phytoplankton growth are found  the national science foundation-funded research was recently published in scientific reports a nature research journal  how to reach back in time to examine ancient carbon dioxide levels marcantonio and a team of researchers analyzed an ocean floor sediment core extracted from the deep eastern equatorial pacific ocean the ten-meter long core spans about 180 000 years and the chemistry of the layers of sediment provide scientists with a window into past climates the chemical measurements they make serve as a proxy for oxygen levels of the deep sea measuring minute traces of uranium and thorium isotopes the team was able to associate periods of increased storage of respired carbon (and low deep-sea oxygen levels) with periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the past 70 000 yearsthe sediment core analyzed in this study was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photo courtesy of marcantonio)by comparing our high-resolution sediment record of deep-sea oxygenation in the eastern equatorial pacific with other areas of the pacific and southern ocean we find that the pacific ocean like the southern ocean is a location for deep-ocean respired carbon storage during periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations he said importantly we put constraints on the location in the water column of the extent of the respired stored carbon pool during cold periods  understanding the past dynamics of earth's carbon cycle is of fundamental importance to informing and guiding societal policy-making in a warming world with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide co-authors of the study were ryan hostak a former texas a&m graduate student who earned his masters degree in geology in 2019; dr jennifer e hertzberg who received her phd in oceanography from texas a&m in 2015 and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the department of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at old dominion university; and dr matthew w schmidt associate professor of ocean earth and atmospheric sciences at old dominion marcantonio and his colleagues designed the study he and hostak performed the isotope analyses and the team interpreted the data by performing similar studies in sediment covering a wider swath of the deep pacific ocean well be able to spatially map the extent of this past deep pool of respired carbon marcantonio said looking forward to future research  the studys radiogenic and trace element analyses were conducted in the college of geosciences r ken williams radiogenic isotope facility the sediment core was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 read the full study here by leslie lee '09 " a sediment core on a research cruise led by marcantonio aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photos courtesy of marcantonio)deep ocean floor sediment cores hold chemical clues to earth's past "why do carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere wax and wane in conjunction with the warm and cold periods of earths past scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years and thanks to chemical clues left in sediment cores extracted from deep in the ocean floor they are starting to put together pieces of that puzzle recent research suggests that there was enhanced storage of respired carbon in the deep ocean when levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were lower than todays levels but now new research led by a texas a&m scientist has reached back even further in time for the first time revealing insights into atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the 50 000 years before the last ice age one of the biggest unknowns about past climate is the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide variability over global warm-cold cycles said dr franco marcantonio lead author of the study and professor and jane and ken r williams 45 chair in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m here we investigated the ‘how of varying carbon dioxide with the ‘where namely the eastern equatorial pacific ocean which is an important region of the world ocean where today significant carbon dioxide is exhaled into the atmosphere and the greatest rates phytoplankton growth are found  the national science foundation-funded research was recently published in scientific reports a nature research journal  how to reach back in time to examine ancient carbon dioxide levels marcantonio and a team of researchers analyzed an ocean floor sediment core extracted from the deep eastern equatorial pacific ocean the ten-meter long core spans about 180 000 years and the chemistry of the layers of sediment provide scientists with a window into past climates the chemical measurements they make serve as a proxy for oxygen levels of the deep sea measuring minute traces of uranium and thorium isotopes the team was able to associate periods of increased storage of respired carbon (and low deep-sea oxygen levels) with periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the past 70 000 years" the sediment core analyzed in this study was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photo courtesy of marcantonio) "by comparing our high-resolution sediment record of deep-sea oxygenation in the eastern equatorial pacific with other areas of the pacific and southern ocean we find that the pacific ocean like the southern ocean is a location for deep-ocean respired carbon storage during periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations he said importantly we put constraints on the location in the water column of the extent of the respired stored carbon pool during cold periods  understanding the past dynamics of earth's carbon cycle is of fundamental importance to informing and guiding societal policy-making in a warming world with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide co-authors of the study were ryan hostak a former texas a&m graduate student who earned his masters degree in geology in 2019; dr jennifer e hertzberg who received her phd in oceanography from texas a&m in 2015 and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the department of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at old dominion university; and dr matthew w schmidt associate professor of ocean earth and atmospheric sciences at old dominion marcantonio and his colleagues designed the study he and hostak performed the isotope analyses and the team interpreted the data by performing similar studies in sediment covering a wider swath of the deep pacific ocean well be able to spatially map the extent of this past deep pool of respired carbon marcantonio said looking forward to future research  the studys radiogenic and trace element analyses were conducted in the college of geosciences r ken williams radiogenic isotope facility the sediment core was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 read the full study here by leslie lee '09" " new study explores andes tectonics co-authored by geology seniorwith lead author dr nick perez undergraduate researcher kristina levine was second author of a publication investigating the geologic processes impacting the andes in southern perumay 13 2020view from the study sample site in eastern cordillera of southern peru sample site is located at approximately 4800 meters or approximately 15 750 feet in elevation (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)dr nick perez and kristina levine ‘20 a senior in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university investigated the tectonics of the andes peru kristina was named the second author of the publication in earth and planetary science letters  ""participating in undergraduate research has given me more confidence and purpose in geology levine said i have invaluable experiences that are helping me make better career decisions and i have friends now from my team that i wouldn't trade for the world"" the paper diagnosing an ancient shallow-angle subduction event from cenozoic depositional and deformational records in the central andes of southern peru investigates tectonic processes impacting the andes mountains in southern peru undergraduate research is really important to me because i personally benefited from research experiences both in the lab and in the field perez said since starting at texas a&m one of my main goals has been to continue that legacy which was so impactful to me and develop a research program that fosters and sustains undergraduate research opportunities kristina levine ‘20 conducting field work during her internship with geo-watersheds scientific levine is using duct tape to mark water levels along the shore of caddo lake tx to create a hydrologic cross section of the shoreline (photo courtesy of kristina levine)minor traffic alpacas from local farmers on the way to the sample area (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)their study was inspired by a 2018 white paper emphasizing a persistent problem highlighted by the 2018 community vision document submitted to the us national science foundation challenges and opportunities for research in tectonics: understanding deformation and the processes that link earth systems from geologic time to human time  they used multiple datasets to constrain how different processes active at the earths surface such as erosion sediment transport subsidence and rock uplift may or may not have responded to a major tectonic event that occurred in the eocene to oligocene the andes are formed above an ocean-continent subduction zone that has been active since at least the mesozoic typically in the andes the oceanic plate subducts down into the earths mantle at a dip of roughly 20-30º or perhaps more however from time to time segments of the subduction zone along the andes have experienced subduction at shallower angles or even completely flatlandscape in the eastern cordillera of the andes southern peru showing folded permian carbonates cut by a normal fault (dipping to the left) the snow-covered peaks (left background) were carried over rocks in the foreground by a reverse fault during cenozoic shortening and construction of the andes (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)these changes in subduction zone dip are spatially restricted and do not persist eventually the subduction zone returns to a more typical dip after perhaps 10-20 million years in southern peru during the eocene to oligocene one of these shallow-angle events has been previously proposed this provided perez and levine with the perfect location to test how earth-surface processes on the upper south american tectonic plate responded to changing tectonic conditions perez and levine found that during shallow subduction the style of basin development changed the style of deformation in the upper plate changed and the magnitude of measured subsidence was less than would be predicted they also found that after the subduction zone began returning to normal the earth surface processes affecting the upper plate immediately responded  this study emphasizes the spectrum of possible behaviors that upper plates may exhibit in subduction zones that the andes a 7000+ km mountain range actually developed with more segmented and varied mountain building style from north to south and provides an example of the dynamic links between the earths surface processes and plate tectonicsa stratigraphic section in southern peru this unstudied section may preserve the cretaceous/tertiary boundary and likely archives the stratigraphic record of the onset of andean mountain building (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)the andes of southern peru has an active volcanic arc perez observed a minor eruption during a scouting field season in 2017 (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)i have been fortunate to work with a number of our brightest and most motivated students perez said kristina has been in my group for 3 years now and has contributed so much she is curious intelligent a self-starter a good communicator and works great as part of a team or individually she did an impressive amount of work for this project which was enough to turn an incomplete manuscript beforehand into a complete story  he noted that levine has not just focused on this project but also other significant work she has also contributed to detrital zircon geochronology tectonic geomorphology work using gis tools and matlab and outreach to high school students through the geo-x program he said i am proud of her work and quite pleased that it was accepted for publication by ali snell " view from the study sample site in eastern cordillera of southern peru sample site is located at approximately 4800 meters or approximately 15 750 feet in elevation (photo courtesy of dr nick perez) "dr nick perez and kristina levine ‘20 a senior in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university investigated the tectonics of the andes peru kristina was named the second author of the publication in earth and planetary science letters  ""participating in undergraduate research has given me more confidence and purpose in geology levine said i have invaluable experiences that are helping me make better career decisions and i have friends now from my team that i wouldn't trade for the world"" the paper diagnosing an ancient shallow-angle subduction event from cenozoic depositional and deformational records in the central andes of southern peru investigates tectonic processes impacting the andes mountains in southern peru undergraduate research is really important to me because i personally benefited from research experiences both in the lab and in the field perez said since starting at texas a&m one of my main goals has been to continue that legacy which was so impactful to me and develop a research program that fosters and sustains undergraduate research opportunities " kristina levine ‘20 conducting field work during her internship with geo-watersheds scientific levine is using duct tape to mark water levels along the shore of caddo lake tx to create a hydrologic cross section of the shoreline (photo courtesy of kristina levine)minor traffic alpacas from local farmers on the way to the sample area (photo courtesy of dr nick perez) "their study was inspired by a 2018 white paper emphasizing a persistent problem highlighted by the 2018 community vision document submitted to the us national science foundation challenges and opportunities for research in tectonics: understanding deformation and the processes that link earth systems from geologic time to human time  they used multiple datasets to constrain how different processes active at the earths surface such as erosion sediment transport subsidence and rock uplift may or may not have responded to a major tectonic event that occurred in the eocene to oligocene the andes are formed above an ocean-continent subduction zone that has been active since at least the mesozoic typically in the andes the oceanic plate subducts down into the earths mantle at a dip of roughly 20-30º or perhaps more however from time to time segments of the subduction zone along the andes have experienced subduction at shallower angles or even completely flat" landscape in the eastern cordillera of the andes southern peru showing folded permian carbonates cut by a normal fault (dipping to the left) the snow-covered peaks (left background) were carried over rocks in the foreground by a reverse fault during cenozoic shortening and construction of the andes (photo courtesy of dr nick perez) "these changes in subduction zone dip are spatially restricted and do not persist eventually the subduction zone returns to a more typical dip after perhaps 10-20 million years in southern peru during the eocene to oligocene one of these shallow-angle events has been previously proposed this provided perez and levine with the perfect location to test how earth-surface processes on the upper south american tectonic plate responded to changing tectonic conditions perez and levine found that during shallow subduction the style of basin development changed the style of deformation in the upper plate changed and the magnitude of measured subsidence was less than would be predicted they also found that after the subduction zone began returning to normal the earth surface processes affecting the upper plate immediately responded  this study emphasizes the spectrum of possible behaviors that upper plates may exhibit in subduction zones that the andes a 7000+ km mountain range actually developed with more segmented and varied mountain building style from north to south and provides an example of the dynamic links between the earths surface processes and plate tectonics" a stratigraphic section in southern peru this unstudied section may preserve the cretaceous/tertiary boundary and likely archives the stratigraphic record of the onset of andean mountain building (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)the andes of southern peru has an active volcanic arc perez observed a minor eruption during a scouting field season in 2017 (photo courtesy of dr nick perez) "i have been fortunate to work with a number of our brightest and most motivated students perez said kristina has been in my group for 3 years now and has contributed so much she is curious intelligent a self-starter a good communicator and works great as part of a team or individually she did an impressive amount of work for this project which was enough to turn an incomplete manuscript beforehand into a complete story  he noted that levine has not just focused on this project but also other significant work she has also contributed to detrital zircon geochronology tectonic geomorphology work using gis tools and matlab and outreach to high school students through the geo-x program he said i am proud of her work and quite pleased that it was accepted for publication by ali snell" " may 2020 graduates recognized with awards and honorsthe college of geosciences virtual graduation celebration was held may 7may 8 2020the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2020 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 7 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas led the event and congratulated the graduates on their significant achievements aggies now please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science lead us there aggie geoscientists  the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award these students started their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher alexi allen caroline cameron camille carter brendan christensen catherin franklin lori garcia keller herrin benjamin longbottom samantha longridge ryan marrero-vila liam norris erin parker abigail pettett jonathan rollings jillian sanders kristen sarna evan schaff justin spotts connor wichterich college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold maryam cheta catherin franklin brandon gale xiao ming matthew ooi robin pierce carlee schnee justin spotts silver alexi allen kristen koppel alexis lemos samuel marquardt daniel mathewson liam norris brooke salisbury kristen sarna bronze john carlo garcia leah hirtriter lucky marchelino ailsa robson maria rodriguez watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so " "the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2020 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 7 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas led the event and congratulated the graduates on their significant achievements aggies now please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science lead us there aggie geoscientists  the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award these students started their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher alexi allen caroline cameron camille carter brendan christensen catherin franklin lori garcia keller herrin benjamin longbottom samantha longridge ryan marrero-vila liam norris erin parker abigail pettett jonathan rollings jillian sanders kristen sarna evan schaff justin spotts connor wichterich college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold maryam cheta catherin franklin brandon gale xiao ming matthew ooi robin pierce carlee schnee justin spotts silver alexi allen kristen koppel alexis lemos samuel marquardt daniel mathewson liam norris brooke salisbury kristen sarna bronze john carlo garcia leah hirtriter lucky marchelino ailsa robson maria rodriguez watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so" " understanding covid-19 transmission routes key to curbing spreadtexas a&m professor says covering nose and mouth in public is a simple yet critical habit people should adopt immediatelyapr 29 2020a texas a&m professor says wearing a face masks while in public is critical to protect yourself from infected airborne particles photo by getty imagesthe importance of wearing face protection during the covid-19 pandemic has not been adequately emphasized by decision-makers when it comes to mandating what precautions people should take against the virus according to a texas a&m researcher there is existing evidence that dr renyi zhang and several of his colleagues say is enough to show that tiny fast and invisible virus-bearing particles that escape when talking breathing coughing or sneezing can be easily inhaled into the lungs of another person even minutes to hours after their release from an infected person and despite social distancing measures being practiced zhang a texas a&m university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences said guidance directed by the world health organization and the centers for disease control has not been strict enough to curb the spread of the disease some countries including germany have made it mandatory for everyone in public to wear a mask as researchers try to secure a deeper understanding of covid-19s transmission routes zhang said all proven helpful measures should be implemented now social-distancing and washing our hands must continue but thats not sufficient enough protection said zhang who submitted a policy paper with several colleagues including a nobel prize-winning chemist the simple effort to wear a mask will reduce the chances of small infected airborne particles that you cant see from taking hold of your respiratory tract for example: a man who doesnt know hes infected and isnt wearing a face mask is in a grocery store another customer also without protection over his nose and mouth is in the store more than 6 feet away and never speaks with the man still he easily could unknowingly inhale the infected particles which quickly attach along the respiratory tract the complication of silent carriers moving through public spaces combined with the current lack of fully understanding the viruss transmission hinders the development of effective mitigation policies that could be protecting the public according to their finding the tiny virus-laden particles – known as aerosols are proven through epidemiological and experimental studies to represent an important manner in which the disease is spread zhang said slow start guidance from the world health organization through mid-march erroneously suggested the virus could not be transferred through the air once that was proven not to be true the cdc on april 3 reversed its initial guidance and recommended to the public they wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when in public dr mario molina a nobel laureate chemist who teaches at university of california-san diego said mandated face-coverings contribute to the distinct trends of the outbreaks between wuhan china; italy and the united states with areas requiring masks showing a continuous decline in cases as of tuesday 56 259 people have died from the virus in the us and another 988 197 have tested positive showing significant increases week-over-week for zhang and molina the fact a mask would help viral shedding and limit exposure to the infection wasnt surprising since theyve long studied how infinitesimal particles traveling through the air can easily be sucked into the lungs both researchers are experts in global air pollution and have recently published studies on the effects of tiny aerosols on health using animal models we want to use what we know to be scientifically true to contribute to solutions said molina who has collaborated with zhang for more than three decades molina is best known for his role in proving the threat to the earths ozone layer of chlorofluorocarbon gases and for his part in discovering the formation of the antarctic ozone hole we want to cut down the number of lives taken and impacted by this virus so it is urgent that decision-makers realize that putting on a mask covering our faces such a simple thing can save lives molina said zhang said the scientific evidence that covid-19 is active in miniscule particles is clear others involved in the paper include yixin li a texas a&m chemistry graduate student; annie l zhang a chemist at the university of texas at austin; and yuan wang with geological and planetary sciences at california institute of technology   by texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " a texas a&m professor says wearing a face masks while in public is critical to protect yourself from infected airborne particles photo by getty images "the importance of wearing face protection during the covid-19 pandemic has not been adequately emphasized by decision-makers when it comes to mandating what precautions people should take against the virus according to a texas a&m researcher there is existing evidence that dr renyi zhang and several of his colleagues say is enough to show that tiny fast and invisible virus-bearing particles that escape when talking breathing coughing or sneezing can be easily inhaled into the lungs of another person even minutes to hours after their release from an infected person and despite social distancing measures being practiced zhang a texas a&m university distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences said guidance directed by the world health organization and the centers for disease control has not been strict enough to curb the spread of the disease some countries including germany have made it mandatory for everyone in public to wear a mask as researchers try to secure a deeper understanding of covid-19s transmission routes zhang said all proven helpful measures should be implemented now social-distancing and washing our hands must continue but thats not sufficient enough protection said zhang who submitted a policy paper with several colleagues including a nobel prize-winning chemist the simple effort to wear a mask will reduce the chances of small infected airborne particles that you cant see from taking hold of your respiratory tract for example: a man who doesnt know hes infected and isnt wearing a face mask is in a grocery store another customer also without protection over his nose and mouth is in the store more than 6 feet away and never speaks with the man still he easily could unknowingly inhale the infected particles which quickly attach along the respiratory tract the complication of silent carriers moving through public spaces combined with the current lack of fully understanding the viruss transmission hinders the development of effective mitigation policies that could be protecting the public according to their finding the tiny virus-laden particles – known as aerosols are proven through epidemiological and experimental studies to represent an important manner in which the disease is spread zhang said slow start guidance from the world health organization through mid-march erroneously suggested the virus could not be transferred through the air once that was proven not to be true the cdc on april 3 reversed its initial guidance and recommended to the public they wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when in public dr mario molina a nobel laureate chemist who teaches at university of california-san diego said mandated face-coverings contribute to the distinct trends of the outbreaks between wuhan china; italy and the united states with areas requiring masks showing a continuous decline in cases as of tuesday 56 259 people have died from the virus in the us and another 988 197 have tested positive showing significant increases week-over-week for zhang and molina the fact a mask would help viral shedding and limit exposure to the infection wasnt surprising since theyve long studied how infinitesimal particles traveling through the air can easily be sucked into the lungs both researchers are experts in global air pollution and have recently published studies on the effects of tiny aerosols on health using animal models we want to use what we know to be scientifically true to contribute to solutions said molina who has collaborated with zhang for more than three decades molina is best known for his role in proving the threat to the earths ozone layer of chlorofluorocarbon gases and for his part in discovering the formation of the antarctic ozone hole we want to cut down the number of lives taken and impacted by this virus so it is urgent that decision-makers realize that putting on a mask covering our faces such a simple thing can save lives molina said zhang said the scientific evidence that covid-19 is active in miniscule particles is clear others involved in the paper include yixin li a texas a&m chemistry graduate student; annie l zhang a chemist at the university of texas at austin; and yuan wang with geological and planetary sciences at california institute of technology   by texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " message from the deandean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas writes to the aggie geosciences familyapr 21 2020aggie geosciences family i hope you all are safe healthy and as comfortable as possible sheltering in place as we all band together to fight the spread of the coronavirus as we all conduct our operations from home it is easy to lose sight of the good we are doing and the ways both small and large that we are helping a world that desperately needs us surviving the day-to-day seems herculean enough in fact im reminded of a scene from my life-long favorite book the hobbit for those of you who know the book recall the portion of the journey where bilbo and the dwarves find themselves lost in the treacherous gloom of mirkwood forest low on food and hope (and likely toilet paper) one day they send bilbo up one of the taller trees to see if there is any sign of an end to the forest at the top he is greeted with sunlight singing birds and hope this issue of impact is our collective chance to look above the forest for the hope and promise of the brilliant future that we are shaping please allow yourselves some time to explore the stories in this issue i promise they will remind you of the tremendous value of higher education and the role that the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is playing to help the world through this crisis and emerge even stronger than before i wish to express my deepest gratitude to every member of the aggie geosciences family our students: for digging deep and learning how to learn in very new ways and for trusting us to work by your side through every issue and challenge our staff and faculty: your efforts these past several weeks to transform our learning environment and to support our students have been nothing short of heroic and every single member of our team has risen to the occasion and made this transition possible advising it business instruction everything you do matters   our former students: your ongoing and new support is critical to our current and future students success and we are so deeply grateful for your engagement and generosity and everything you do matters now more than ever  when our students look back on this semester they are going to remember our efforts our compassion our honesty and our humanity they will realize that our leadership through this moment in history helped give them the resilience they need to succeed in life yes the course material and learning outcomes that we teach day-in and day-out always remain critical but we have all chosen to embrace this opportunity to teach resilience and how to navigate the future challenges that inevitably they will encounter with intention and honesty we all presume that every student at every grade level in every country around the world will have an asterisk on their transcript or resume for this semester but aggie geosciences students will have a resume showcasing their indomitable can-do attitude backed up by a record of achievement that defies any asterisk: proven ability to adapt to unpredictably dynamic conditions and execute projects with integrity and compassion exceptional communication skills employing multiple concurrent strategies positive leadership through adversity with the ability to elevate every team member to achieve the common goal i wish to thank you all dearly for everything you do to help each other through this challenge but of course that is what aggie geoscientists do thank you dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas " "aggie geosciences family i hope you all are safe healthy and as comfortable as possible sheltering in place as we all band together to fight the spread of the coronavirus as we all conduct our operations from home it is easy to lose sight of the good we are doing and the ways both small and large that we are helping a world that desperately needs us surviving the day-to-day seems herculean enough in fact im reminded of a scene from my life-long favorite book the hobbit for those of you who know the book recall the portion of the journey where bilbo and the dwarves find themselves lost in the treacherous gloom of mirkwood forest low on food and hope (and likely toilet paper) one day they send bilbo up one of the taller trees to see if there is any sign of an end to the forest at the top he is greeted with sunlight singing birds and hope this issue of impact is our collective chance to look above the forest for the hope and promise of the brilliant future that we are shaping please allow yourselves some time to explore the stories in this issue i promise they will remind you of the tremendous value of higher education and the role that the college of geosciences at texas a&m university is playing to help the world through this crisis and emerge even stronger than before i wish to express my deepest gratitude to every member of the aggie geosciences family our students: for digging deep and learning how to learn in very new ways and for trusting us to work by your side through every issue and challenge our staff and faculty: your efforts these past several weeks to transform our learning environment and to support our students have been nothing short of heroic and every single member of our team has risen to the occasion and made this transition possible advising it business instruction everything you do matters   our former students: your ongoing and new support is critical to our current and future students success and we are so deeply grateful for your engagement and generosity and everything you do matters now more than ever  when our students look back on this semester they are going to remember our efforts our compassion our honesty and our humanity they will realize that our leadership through this moment in history helped give them the resilience they need to succeed in life yes the course material and learning outcomes that we teach day-in and day-out always remain critical but we have all chosen to embrace this opportunity to teach resilience and how to navigate the future challenges that inevitably they will encounter with intention and honesty we all presume that every student at every grade level in every country around the world will have an asterisk on their transcript or resume for this semester but aggie geosciences students will have a resume showcasing their indomitable can-do attitude backed up by a record of achievement that defies any asterisk: proven ability to adapt to unpredictably dynamic conditions and execute projects with integrity and compassion exceptional communication skills employing multiple concurrent strategies positive leadership through adversity with the ability to elevate every team member to achieve the common goal i wish to thank you all dearly for everything you do to help each other through this challenge but of course that is what aggie geoscientists do thank you dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas" " south asia faces increased double-threat of extreme heat extreme pollution study showsregional study led by texas a&m professor was first of its kind and produced alarming resultsapr 21 2020daily street life in the early morning during extreme smog conditions in new delhi india in 2012 (photo courtesy of istock/getty)scientists know that extreme heat has a negative impact on the human body causing distress in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and they know that extreme air pollution can also have serious impacts on the human body but as climate change impacts continue globally how often will humans be threatened by both of those extremes when they occur simultaneously a texas a&m university professor has led a regional research study recently published in the brand new journal agu advances answering that question for south asia south asia is a hot-spot for future climate change impacts said dr yangyang xu an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m extreme heat occurrences worldwide have increased in recent decades and at the same time many cities are facing severe air pollution problems featuring episodes of high particulate matter (pm) pollution he said this study provides an integrated assessment of human exposure to rare days of both extreme heat and high pm levels our assessment projects that occurrences of heat extremes will increase in frequency by 75% by 2050 that is an increase from 45 days a year to 78 days in a year more concerning is the rare joint events of both extreme heat and extreme pm will increase in frequency by 175% by 2050 xu said climate change is not just a global average number it is something you can feel in your neighborhood he said and thats why regional-scale climate studies are important the studys regional focus was south asia: afghanistan bangladesh bhutan india myanmar nepal and pakistan the scientists used a high-resolution decadal-long model simulation using a state-of-the-science regional chemistry-climate model xu lead the first of its kind research project and scientists from the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) in boulder colorado led the development of the fully coupled chemistry-climate model and performed model simulations for the present-day and future conditions these models allow chemistry and climate to affect each other at every time step said dr rajesh kumar a project scientist at ncar and co-author on the study the study was also co-authored by dr mary barth and dr gerald a meehl both senior scientists at ncar with most of the analysis done by texas a&m atmospheric sciences graduate student xiaokang wumumbai maharashtra india - october 2019: high air pollution and haze envelops the high rises in the suburb of kandivali east (photo courtesy of istock/getty)dr yangyang xuas climate change impacts continue to become reality it is important for scientists to consider human impacts of multiple extreme conditions happening simultaneously xu said projected increases in humidity and temperature are expected to cause extreme heat stress for the people of south asia where the population is projected to increase from 15 billion people to 2 billion by 2050 it is important to extend this analysis on the co-variability of heat and haze extremes in other regions of the world such as the industrial regions of the us europe and east asia barth said  the analysis also showed that the fraction of land exposed to prolonged dual-extreme days increases by more than tenfold in 2050 much larger than the increase when assessed individually i think this study raises a lot of important concerns and much more research is needed over other parts of the world on these compounded extremes the risks they pose and their potential human health effects xu said read the full research study in agu advances ncar is sponsored by the national science foundation and managed by the university corporation for atmospheric research  by leslie lee '09 " daily street life in the early morning during extreme smog conditions in new delhi india in 2012 (photo courtesy of istock/getty) "scientists know that extreme heat has a negative impact on the human body causing distress in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and they know that extreme air pollution can also have serious impacts on the human body but as climate change impacts continue globally how often will humans be threatened by both of those extremes when they occur simultaneously a texas a&m university professor has led a regional research study recently published in the brand new journal agu advances answering that question for south asia south asia is a hot-spot for future climate change impacts said dr yangyang xu an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m extreme heat occurrences worldwide have increased in recent decades and at the same time many cities are facing severe air pollution problems featuring episodes of high particulate matter (pm) pollution he said this study provides an integrated assessment of human exposure to rare days of both extreme heat and high pm levels our assessment projects that occurrences of heat extremes will increase in frequency by 75% by 2050 that is an increase from 45 days a year to 78 days in a year more concerning is the rare joint events of both extreme heat and extreme pm will increase in frequency by 175% by 2050 xu said climate change is not just a global average number it is something you can feel in your neighborhood he said and thats why regional-scale climate studies are important the studys regional focus was south asia: afghanistan bangladesh bhutan india myanmar nepal and pakistan the scientists used a high-resolution decadal-long model simulation using a state-of-the-science regional chemistry-climate model xu lead the first of its kind research project and scientists from the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) in boulder colorado led the development of the fully coupled chemistry-climate model and performed model simulations for the present-day and future conditions these models allow chemistry and climate to affect each other at every time step said dr rajesh kumar a project scientist at ncar and co-author on the study the study was also co-authored by dr mary barth and dr gerald a meehl both senior scientists at ncar with most of the analysis done by texas a&m atmospheric sciences graduate student xiaokang wu" mumbai maharashtra india - october 2019: high air pollution and haze envelops the high rises in the suburb of kandivali east (photo courtesy of istock/getty)dr yangyang xu "as climate change impacts continue to become reality it is important for scientists to consider human impacts of multiple extreme conditions happening simultaneously xu said projected increases in humidity and temperature are expected to cause extreme heat stress for the people of south asia where the population is projected to increase from 15 billion people to 2 billion by 2050 it is important to extend this analysis on the co-variability of heat and haze extremes in other regions of the world such as the industrial regions of the us europe and east asia barth said  the analysis also showed that the fraction of land exposed to prolonged dual-extreme days increases by more than tenfold in 2050 much larger than the increase when assessed individually i think this study raises a lot of important concerns and much more research is needed over other parts of the world on these compounded extremes the risks they pose and their potential human health effects xu said read the full research study in agu advances ncar is sponsored by the national science foundation and managed by the university corporation for atmospheric research  by leslie lee '09" " atmospheric sciences professors presenting virtual earth month webinarshosted by the texas a&m office of sustainability the webinars are open to the campus communityapr 17 2020three professors from the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university will host webinars on climate change as part of the texas a&m office of sustainabilitys virtual earth month this april the webinars which will take place from april 17 to april 21 will each discuss different aspects of climate change impacts on our world friday april 17 at 5:30 pm dr gunnar schade atmospheric sciences associate professor will discuss climate changes impact on underwater technology monday april 20 at 10:30 am dr john nielsen-gammon the texas state climatologist and regents professorprofessor will host a webinar that explores how to talk about climate change in ways that make listeners receptive to the information much like giving a weather forecast tuesday april 21 at 2:00 pm dr andrew dessler atmospheric sciences professor and reta a haynes chair in geosciences will dive into answering the question: why do we continue emitting greenhouse gases given that we know that these emissions are changing our climate the links for the webinars and additional information can be found on the virtual earth month website the office of sustainability is hosting virtual events throughout april to celebrate earth month and the 50th anniversary of earth day " "three professors from the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university will host webinars on climate change as part of the texas a&m office of sustainabilitys virtual earth month this april the webinars which will take place from april 17 to april 21 will each discuss different aspects of climate change impacts on our world friday april 17 at 5:30 pm dr gunnar schade atmospheric sciences associate professor will discuss climate changes impact on underwater technology monday april 20 at 10:30 am dr john nielsen-gammon the texas state climatologist and regents professorprofessor will host a webinar that explores how to talk about climate change in ways that make listeners receptive to the information much like giving a weather forecast tuesday april 21 at 2:00 pm dr andrew dessler atmospheric sciences professor and reta a haynes chair in geosciences will dive into answering the question: why do we continue emitting greenhouse gases given that we know that these emissions are changing our climate the links for the webinars and additional information can be found on the virtual earth month website the office of sustainability is hosting virtual events throughout april to celebrate earth month and the 50th anniversary of earth day" " julia reece receives nsf career awardwith the prestigious award reece will research how microfossils can trigger submarine landslides and will also provide high-impact learning experiences to studentsapr 16 2020dr julia reece was recently awarded a prestigious nsf career awarddr julia reece an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization  we are so proud of dr reeces recognition! said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas she has earned the prestige of the nsf career award through the profound impact of her research and her immense talents as a cutting-edge educator but the true value of this early-career award is that it heralds the beginning of many many more accomplishments and honors and it is going to be a joy to watch dr reece build on this foundation! reeces project aims to answer the question: are microfossils drivers for submarine landslides earthquakes are usually thought of as one of the major causes of landslides reece explained but weve found as a scientific community that many large submarine landslides occur on passive continental margins around the globe where earthquakes are absent so why are they happening what has caused them to occur with this project reece will examine the role of microfossils in potentially destabilizing those  continental slopes through the development of elevated pore pressures in the subsurface the research will integrate experimental and numerical efforts and aims to characterize the role of microfossils in weakening sediment layers possibly causing large-scale glide planes for submarine landslides improving scientific understanding of underwater landslides could improve prediction and mitigation capabilities thereby saving lives communities and billions of dollars these landslides have a significant impact with major societal and socioeconomic consequences reece said submarine landslides damage ecosystems and they can destroy or damage infrastructure such as communications cables pipelines or oil rigs and of course these landslides can cause hugely destructive tsunamis the five-year project will support two graduate students in geology and geophysics they will be testing and modeling geomechanical properties of mixtures composed of diatomites and marine sediments  reece said that the project will also include education and outreach components providing high-impact learning experiences and research opportunities for high school undergraduate and graduate students her team will coordinate an earth science educational program with a local high school including annual workshops and two-week summer research camps we want to show these students that geosciences can be a real career option for them and a great field of study to choose as your destination in college she said and as part of a stacked undergraduate and graduate student course a field trip to west texas and new mexico to study submarine slope channels and landslide deposits will also be developed  through all of these components reece said this project will foster next-generation researchers who can facilitate interdisciplinary science and broad collaboration to advance knowledge and mitigate natural hazards by leslie lee 09 " "dr julia reece an assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation (nsf) the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsf's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization  we are so proud of dr reeces recognition! said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas she has earned the prestige of the nsf career award through the profound impact of her research and her immense talents as a cutting-edge educator but the true value of this early-career award is that it heralds the beginning of many many more accomplishments and honors and it is going to be a joy to watch dr reece build on this foundation! reeces project aims to answer the question: are microfossils drivers for submarine landslides earthquakes are usually thought of as one of the major causes of landslides reece explained but weve found as a scientific community that many large submarine landslides occur on passive continental margins around the globe where earthquakes are absent so why are they happening what has caused them to occur with this project reece will examine the role of microfossils in potentially destabilizing those  continental slopes through the development of elevated pore pressures in the subsurface the research will integrate experimental and numerical efforts and aims to characterize the role of microfossils in weakening sediment layers possibly causing large-scale glide planes for submarine landslides improving scientific understanding of underwater landslides could improve prediction and mitigation capabilities thereby saving lives communities and billions of dollars these landslides have a significant impact with major societal and socioeconomic consequences reece said submarine landslides damage ecosystems and they can destroy or damage infrastructure such as communications cables pipelines or oil rigs and of course these landslides can cause hugely destructive tsunamis the five-year project will support two graduate students in geology and geophysics they will be testing and modeling geomechanical properties of mixtures composed of diatomites and marine sediments  reece said that the project will also include education and outreach components providing high-impact learning experiences and research opportunities for high school undergraduate and graduate students her team will coordinate an earth science educational program with a local high school including annual workshops and two-week summer research camps we want to show these students that geosciences can be a real career option for them and a great field of study to choose as your destination in college she said and as part of a stacked undergraduate and graduate student course a field trip to west texas and new mexico to study submarine slope channels and landslide deposits will also be developed  through all of these components reece said this project will foster next-generation researchers who can facilitate interdisciplinary science and broad collaboration to advance knowledge and mitigate natural hazards by leslie lee 09" " covid-19 is hurting texas fisheries but eating local seafood helpstexans can still enjoy gulf seafood while social distancing through curbside and delivery options and cooking at home apr 16 2020typically spring is a high-demand season for commercial fisheries and many in the industry rely on these peak months to carry their income throughout the year but this year the widespread disruption from covid-19 has caused seafood demand to come to a screeching halt fortunately there are ways to support these fisheries and that means consuming more locally sourced seafood one of the best ways to support local economies is to know where your food comes from and support local sources said laura picariello fisheries specialist at the texas sea grant program at texas a&m university  restaurant managers should be able to tell you where they source their seafood you can call the restaurant in advance or ask your server to check with the kitchen if its not printed on the menu seafood from the gulf of mexico like shrimp and oysters are texas cuisine classics these foods are rich in vitamins and minerals low in sodium and a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and protein gulf seafood is healthier and more sustainable because of the highly regulated practices implemented by american fisheries including using safer handling practices and fewer antibiotics besides providing a nutritious and delicious seafood gulf fisheries support texas coastal economies in 2018 texas fishermen landed more than 84 million pounds of fish and shellfish worth more than $211 million according to national oceanic and atmospheric administration according to the national marine fisheries service 70 percent of the seafood landed is consumed at restaurants as restaurants close their doors to support social distancing there is less demand for seafood leading some fishermen to stop fishing all together many restaurants have responded to the need for social distancing by offering curbside pick-up and no-contact delivery including restaurants that serve gulf seafood some restaurants offering these services are also part of the gulf restaurant partnership program a joint effort with texas sea grant texas state aquarium and audubon nature institute in which restaurants pledge to serve gulf seafood texas sea grant trains restaurant staff on where their seafood is sourced and helps restaurants evaluate their menus and make sustainable choices partner restaurants and the services currently offered include: palmers restaurant bar & courtyard in san marcos is offering quarantine kits for delivery or pick-up which includes seafood and other ingredients for daily recipe specials and a roll of toilet paper glow in rockport offers no-contact delivery and the ability to donate a meal to emergency medical services workers corpus christi yacht club has curbside pick-up and delivery options as well as family meal specials katies seafood in galveston has pick-up and delivery options for ordering from both their restaurant and their seafood market     if information on where the restaurants source their seafood is not available online consumers can ask the restaurant directly in texas consumers can also look for the go texan logo from the department of agriculture which indicates that the product is produced in texas many grocery stores also offer information including country of origin and fishing practices used about their seafood online which is especially useful for consumers using online ordering be careful because products can be deceiving picariello said the packaging may look like its american such as using images of the american flag but may in fact be imported thats why its important to check the back of the package for the country of origin label seafood can also be purchased at local markets and directly from fishermen like larger grocers many local markets offer curbside service and delivery options texas sea grant has compiled and is continuing to update a list of seafood retailers that are currently open with details on the services they are providing   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " "typically spring is a high-demand season for commercial fisheries and many in the industry rely on these peak months to carry their income throughout the year but this year the widespread disruption from covid-19 has caused seafood demand to come to a screeching halt fortunately there are ways to support these fisheries and that means consuming more locally sourced seafood one of the best ways to support local economies is to know where your food comes from and support local sources said laura picariello fisheries specialist at the texas sea grant program at texas a&m university  restaurant managers should be able to tell you where they source their seafood you can call the restaurant in advance or ask your server to check with the kitchen if its not printed on the menu seafood from the gulf of mexico like shrimp and oysters are texas cuisine classics these foods are rich in vitamins and minerals low in sodium and a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and protein gulf seafood is healthier and more sustainable because of the highly regulated practices implemented by american fisheries including using safer handling practices and fewer antibiotics besides providing a nutritious and delicious seafood gulf fisheries support texas coastal economies in 2018 texas fishermen landed more than 84 million pounds of fish and shellfish worth more than $211 million according to national oceanic and atmospheric administration according to the national marine fisheries service 70 percent of the seafood landed is consumed at restaurants as restaurants close their doors to support social distancing there is less demand for seafood leading some fishermen to stop fishing all together many restaurants have responded to the need for social distancing by offering curbside pick-up and no-contact delivery including restaurants that serve gulf seafood some restaurants offering these services are also part of the gulf restaurant partnership program a joint effort with texas sea grant texas state aquarium and audubon nature institute in which restaurants pledge to serve gulf seafood texas sea grant trains restaurant staff on where their seafood is sourced and helps restaurants evaluate their menus and make sustainable choices partner restaurants and the services currently offered include: palmers restaurant bar & courtyard in san marcos is offering quarantine kits for delivery or pick-up which includes seafood and other ingredients for daily recipe specials and a roll of toilet paper glow in rockport offers no-contact delivery and the ability to donate a meal to emergency medical services workers corpus christi yacht club has curbside pick-up and delivery options as well as family meal specials katies seafood in galveston has pick-up and delivery options for ordering from both their restaurant and their seafood market     if information on where the restaurants source their seafood is not available online consumers can ask the restaurant directly in texas consumers can also look for the go texan logo from the department of agriculture which indicates that the product is produced in texas many grocery stores also offer information including country of origin and fishing practices used about their seafood online which is especially useful for consumers using online ordering be careful because products can be deceiving picariello said the packaging may look like its american such as using images of the american flag but may in fact be imported thats why its important to check the back of the package for the country of origin label seafood can also be purchased at local markets and directly from fishermen like larger grocers many local markets offer curbside service and delivery options texas sea grant has compiled and is continuing to update a list of seafood retailers that are currently open with details on the services they are providing   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " geology and geophysics graduate student sailed on two iodp cruises in one semesterjohn sarao completed two scientific cruises in the fall of 2019apr 16 2020sunrise on the jodies resolution jr100 expedition 379t as the ship moves through the strait of magellan off the coast of southern chile the strait of magellan is an important natural sea passage between the atlantic and pacific oceans (photo credit: yair rosenthall)john sarao a phd student in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university completed two scientific cruises with the international ocean discovery program (iodp) in the 2019 fall semester he served as a nannofossil biostratigrapher on both cruises  saraos research centers around paleoclimate reconstructions of the past 300 thousand years using microfossils as proxies reconstructions based on calcareous nannofossil-derived alkenones have become one of the more reliable and trusted proxies in paleoclimate research focusing on sediments eocene age or younger  he focuses on using changes in nannofossil assemblages as well as the biomarkers produced by the microfossil group to reconstruct the climate history of the eastern margin of the pacific ocean from the holocene  his first cruise expedition 379t: extending high resolution paleoclimate records from the chilean margin to the eemian was the inaugural joides resolution (jr) jr100 cruise the jr100 is a month-long non-iodp cruise funded by a new nsf program that enables scientists to use the joides resolution research vessel to collect long sediment cores up to 100 meters in length  expedition 379t sailed from jul to aug 2019 leaving port from punta arenas chile and sailed through the straits of magellan to reach the first study site as part of the study 8 sites were drilled along the chilean margin and finally the cruise docked in antofagasta chile this cruise was led by dr samantha bova and dr yair rosenthal from rutgers university  john sarao in the core description area of expedition 385 he is on his way to collect paleo-sediment core samples from the core catcher on deck (photo credit: florian schubert)the paleontology team aboard expedition 35 from left to right: shijun jiang (jinan university china) ligia perez (universidad nacional autonoma de mexico mexico) lihua ran (ministry of natural resources china) and john sarao (texas a&m university usa) (photo credit: tim fulton)the atmosphere on the joides resolution is a unique one sarao said   you take 20 to 30 subject matter experts and allow them to interact in close quarters discussing the science that makes them excited to get up in the morning that facilitates learning and collaboration better than anything ive ever seen it was truly an honor to be part of these two expeditions and be among the select few that get to participate in such a fast-paced world-class experience the second cruise expedition 385: guaymas basin tectonics and biosphere was an official iodp cruise focused on the tectonic history and biosphere of guaymas basin gulf of california expedition 385 sailed out of san diego ca from september to november 2019 the co-chief scientists in charge of the cruise were dr andreas teske of the university of north carolina and dr daniel lizarralde of the woods hole oceanographic institution iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries iodp coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m  by ali snellthe jodies resolution awaiting departure while docked in port at san diego ca (photo credit: tobias hofig) " sunrise on the jodies resolution jr100 expedition 379t as the ship moves through the strait of magellan off the coast of southern chile the strait of magellan is an important natural sea passage between the atlantic and pacific oceans (photo credit: yair rosenthall) "john sarao a phd student in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university completed two scientific cruises with the international ocean discovery program (iodp) in the 2019 fall semester he served as a nannofossil biostratigrapher on both cruises  saraos research centers around paleoclimate reconstructions of the past 300 thousand years using microfossils as proxies reconstructions based on calcareous nannofossil-derived alkenones have become one of the more reliable and trusted proxies in paleoclimate research focusing on sediments eocene age or younger  he focuses on using changes in nannofossil assemblages as well as the biomarkers produced by the microfossil group to reconstruct the climate history of the eastern margin of the pacific ocean from the holocene  his first cruise expedition 379t: extending high resolution paleoclimate records from the chilean margin to the eemian was the inaugural joides resolution (jr) jr100 cruise the jr100 is a month-long non-iodp cruise funded by a new nsf program that enables scientists to use the joides resolution research vessel to collect long sediment cores up to 100 meters in length  expedition 379t sailed from jul to aug 2019 leaving port from punta arenas chile and sailed through the straits of magellan to reach the first study site as part of the study 8 sites were drilled along the chilean margin and finally the cruise docked in antofagasta chile this cruise was led by dr samantha bova and dr yair rosenthal from rutgers university  " john sarao in the core description area of expedition 385 he is on his way to collect paleo-sediment core samples from the core catcher on deck (photo credit: florian schubert)the paleontology team aboard expedition 35 from left to right: shijun jiang (jinan university china) ligia perez (universidad nacional autonoma de mexico mexico) lihua ran (ministry of natural resources china) and john sarao (texas a&m university usa) (photo credit: tim fulton) "the atmosphere on the joides resolution is a unique one sarao said   you take 20 to 30 subject matter experts and allow them to interact in close quarters discussing the science that makes them excited to get up in the morning that facilitates learning and collaboration better than anything ive ever seen it was truly an honor to be part of these two expeditions and be among the select few that get to participate in such a fast-paced world-class experience the second cruise expedition 385: guaymas basin tectonics and biosphere was an official iodp cruise focused on the tectonic history and biosphere of guaymas basin gulf of california expedition 385 sailed out of san diego ca from september to november 2019 the co-chief scientists in charge of the cruise were dr andreas teske of the university of north carolina and dr daniel lizarralde of the woods hole oceanographic institution iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries iodp coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m  by ali snell" the jodies resolution awaiting departure while docked in port at san diego ca (photo credit: tobias hofig) " what not to wear: experts evaluate diy mask materialstexas a&m scientists conduct study evaluating household materials for constructing effective face masksapr 15 2020during this pandemic people around the world are making face masks from ordinary materials (photo: istock/getty)are cloth masks effective in blocking the transmission of covid-19 scientists at texas a&m university are testing a variety of popular diy mask materials to give consumers fact-based information on mask options  we are conducting a study evaluating a wide range of household materials as resources for constructing diy face masks said dr sarah d brooks director of texas a&m universitys center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) and professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences in this situation people around the world have started making their own face masks from ordinary materials she said however many people question the effectiveness of a diy cloth mask in blocking transmission of the sars-cov-2 virus known to cause covid-19 brooks led the study with collaborators dr michael r moreno director of innovation for engineering medicine and j mike walker 66 faculty fellow and jessica mirrielees and bo chen both atmospheric sciences graduate students in brooks laboratory in the department of atmospheric sciences the scientists tested the effectiveness of high-quality n95 respirators which were completely effective and compared the effectiveness of diy masks made of household materials effective face protection must fit snugly around the mouth and nose and must be made of appropriate materials brooks said our results show that while a standard bandana provides some protection certain household materials including room air filters and vacuum bags are more effective at blocking the viruss passage through a mask however many other household materials do not provide additional filtering capability in summary make your cloth masks but stitch a layer of either of these into its lining and you may have a mask with much better filtering capability and better protection against transmission of the virus view the full list of materials and their effectiveness on the cace website where the researchers plan to provide updated information as they continue testing various materials this month  using aerosol counting and sizing equipment in the brooks lab the team tested the materials by  producing airborne samples of non-biological surrogate particles and measuring the concentration before and after passing the sample air passed through the materials of interest  by leslie lee '09 disclaimer from cace: the filtering materials used in these tests and mask designs are items that we identified as household materials that have been considered for diy mask type respirators our results are strictly related to mask filtering ability we have not tested the safety of the filter material itself for use as a mask manufacturers have insisted that the products are only to be used as intended on the packaging and should not be used as face masks many filtering materials are dangerous and the composition and safety of them must be considered before using " during this pandemic people around the world are making face masks from ordinary materials (photo: istock/getty) "are cloth masks effective in blocking the transmission of covid-19 scientists at texas a&m university are testing a variety of popular diy mask materials to give consumers fact-based information on mask options  we are conducting a study evaluating a wide range of household materials as resources for constructing diy face masks said dr sarah d brooks director of texas a&m universitys center for atmospheric chemistry and the environment (cace) and professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences in this situation people around the world have started making their own face masks from ordinary materials she said however many people question the effectiveness of a diy cloth mask in blocking transmission of the sars-cov-2 virus known to cause covid-19 brooks led the study with collaborators dr michael r moreno director of innovation for engineering medicine and j mike walker 66 faculty fellow and jessica mirrielees and bo chen both atmospheric sciences graduate students in brooks laboratory in the department of atmospheric sciences the scientists tested the effectiveness of high-quality n95 respirators which were completely effective and compared the effectiveness of diy masks made of household materials effective face protection must fit snugly around the mouth and nose and must be made of appropriate materials brooks said our results show that while a standard bandana provides some protection certain household materials including room air filters and vacuum bags are more effective at blocking the viruss passage through a mask however many other household materials do not provide additional filtering capability in summary make your cloth masks but stitch a layer of either of these into its lining and you may have a mask with much better filtering capability and better protection against transmission of the virus view the full list of materials and their effectiveness on the cace website where the researchers plan to provide updated information as they continue testing various materials this month  using aerosol counting and sizing equipment in the brooks lab the team tested the materials by  producing airborne samples of non-biological surrogate particles and measuring the concentration before and after passing the sample air passed through the materials of interest  by leslie lee '09 disclaimer from cace: the filtering materials used in these tests and mask designs are items that we identified as household materials that have been considered for diy mask type respirators our results are strictly related to mask filtering ability we have not tested the safety of the filter material itself for use as a mask manufacturers have insisted that the products are only to be used as intended on the packaging and should not be used as face masks many filtering materials are dangerous and the composition and safety of them must be considered before using" " a decade after bp oil spill texas a&m experts say it could happen againoceanography professors say the deepwater horizon spill in 2010 changed the gulf of mexico in ways we are still trying to understandapr 15 2020fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig deepwater horizon in the gulf of mexico on april 21 2010 near new orleans louisiana (photo from getty images)on april 20 2010 bps deepwater horizon well exploded in the gulf of mexico killing 11 workers and resulting in the worst oil spill in history about 168 million gallons of oil spilled into the gulf before the well was sealed months later as the 10th anniversary of the spill approaches a team of texas a&m university scientists who conducted various research projects during and after the spill believe that such an event could happen again oceanography professors piers chapman and steve dimarco at texas a&m and antonietta quigg at texas a&m-galveston said the spill was in a class of its own compared to previous oil spills it is still hard to comprehend that many people lost their lives immediately at the time of the spill and hundreds of thousands of people had their lives disrupted and their businesses and livelihoods displaced dimarco said one thing we learned much about is the resiliency of the gulf of mexico ecosystem and coastal communities we also learned that although there was damage to the environment there were many natural processes such as ocean currents wind and naturally occurring marine microbial life that were in place that helped to prevent the damage from being much worse nasa satellite images of the spill later confirmed that it was much larger than originally believed – about 68 000 square miles about the size of the state of oklahoma chapman who led a $14 million project with dimarco and others from texas a&m said the deepwater horizon spill caused major damage to fauna in the gulf of mexico including deep ocean coral reefs that grow very slowly we now know a lot more about the biology of the deep gulf of mexico than we did before chapman said there was also a lot of research on the use of dispersants that has led to some major arguments in the scientific community some studies showed that dispersants used in the clean-up process were far more harmful to marine life than the actual spill itself one really interesting fact was that despite huge amounts of methane gas released with the oil much of it never made it to the surface but was consumed by natural bacterial population he said since the gulf has thousands of natural oil and gas seeps these bacteria see any such release as a food source although they do not act on a scale as fast as we would like it to be quigg who received grants totaling $10 million from the gulf of mexico research initiative – part of a $500 million fund bp established to support research – to study the impacts of the oil spill said various stakeholders worked together that had never before and much has been learned from the event such as how oil behaves in the environment and how the environment itself can also work toward eliminating much of the oil she said we now know much more about how these two factors determine the fate and transport of the oil in the ocean quigg said we also now have a deeper understanding of the role of dispersants this is all good information which can be applied to the next spill all agree that the long-term effects of the spill are still being determined for example a 2013 study showed that dolphins and other marine life were dying at six times the normal rate in the area affected by the spill there is no account of how much marine life was lost or will be lost quigg said the ability to produce offspring or new growth is part of this loss but we still do not have a good way to assess what this will be for the gulf all of the experts agree that another such spill is a virtual certainty one reason: more than 2 000 deep-sea wells have been drilled in the gulf in the last 25 years i hate to be pessimistic but i suspect that there will be a similar spill at some point although not necessarily in the gulf chapman said it will be just as messy although the industry will come together again to solve the engineering problems that result to date bp has spent more than $50 billion in fines damages and clean-up costs related to the spill dimarco said he is concerned that in the past 10 years since the spill there are still no detailed steps of what to do if another event occurs there is still no plan for a sustained and integrated ocean observatory to provide real-time observations of the full water column – from surface to ocean bottom dimarco said an analogy would be if you were trying to make hurricane predictions for the entire east coast but youre using just one atmospheric pressure record from miami florida quigg called the spill was a life-changing event for many including herself there is now a community that has developed a common language and set of skills which can spring into action and respond much more quickly than prior to the incident she said i have been fortunate to be able to examine the environmental effects of the spill and to be part of an amazing community of scholars through our gulf of mexico research initiative quigg said in this way the spill will have a lasting impression on me i have had the honor and privilege to work and interact with the most amazing array of people from 16-year-old high school students wanting some hands-on experience during their summers to senior scientists into their 70s all of them have made a contribution by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications " fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig deepwater horizon in the gulf of mexico on april 21 2010 near new orleans louisiana (photo from getty images) "on april 20 2010 bps deepwater horizon well exploded in the gulf of mexico killing 11 workers and resulting in the worst oil spill in history about 168 million gallons of oil spilled into the gulf before the well was sealed months later as the 10th anniversary of the spill approaches a team of texas a&m university scientists who conducted various research projects during and after the spill believe that such an event could happen again oceanography professors piers chapman and steve dimarco at texas a&m and antonietta quigg at texas a&m-galveston said the spill was in a class of its own compared to previous oil spills it is still hard to comprehend that many people lost their lives immediately at the time of the spill and hundreds of thousands of people had their lives disrupted and their businesses and livelihoods displaced dimarco said one thing we learned much about is the resiliency of the gulf of mexico ecosystem and coastal communities we also learned that although there was damage to the environment there were many natural processes such as ocean currents wind and naturally occurring marine microbial life that were in place that helped to prevent the damage from being much worse nasa satellite images of the spill later confirmed that it was much larger than originally believed – about 68 000 square miles about the size of the state of oklahoma chapman who led a $14 million project with dimarco and others from texas a&m said the deepwater horizon spill caused major damage to fauna in the gulf of mexico including deep ocean coral reefs that grow very slowly we now know a lot more about the biology of the deep gulf of mexico than we did before chapman said there was also a lot of research on the use of dispersants that has led to some major arguments in the scientific community some studies showed that dispersants used in the clean-up process were far more harmful to marine life than the actual spill itself one really interesting fact was that despite huge amounts of methane gas released with the oil much of it never made it to the surface but was consumed by natural bacterial population he said since the gulf has thousands of natural oil and gas seeps these bacteria see any such release as a food source although they do not act on a scale as fast as we would like it to be quigg who received grants totaling $10 million from the gulf of mexico research initiative – part of a $500 million fund bp established to support research – to study the impacts of the oil spill said various stakeholders worked together that had never before and much has been learned from the event such as how oil behaves in the environment and how the environment itself can also work toward eliminating much of the oil she said we now know much more about how these two factors determine the fate and transport of the oil in the ocean quigg said we also now have a deeper understanding of the role of dispersants this is all good information which can be applied to the next spill all agree that the long-term effects of the spill are still being determined for example a 2013 study showed that dolphins and other marine life were dying at six times the normal rate in the area affected by the spill there is no account of how much marine life was lost or will be lost quigg said the ability to produce offspring or new growth is part of this loss but we still do not have a good way to assess what this will be for the gulf all of the experts agree that another such spill is a virtual certainty one reason: more than 2 000 deep-sea wells have been drilled in the gulf in the last 25 years i hate to be pessimistic but i suspect that there will be a similar spill at some point although not necessarily in the gulf chapman said it will be just as messy although the industry will come together again to solve the engineering problems that result to date bp has spent more than $50 billion in fines damages and clean-up costs related to the spill dimarco said he is concerned that in the past 10 years since the spill there are still no detailed steps of what to do if another event occurs there is still no plan for a sustained and integrated ocean observatory to provide real-time observations of the full water column – from surface to ocean bottom dimarco said an analogy would be if you were trying to make hurricane predictions for the entire east coast but youre using just one atmospheric pressure record from miami florida quigg called the spill was a life-changing event for many including herself there is now a community that has developed a common language and set of skills which can spring into action and respond much more quickly than prior to the incident she said i have been fortunate to be able to examine the environmental effects of the spill and to be part of an amazing community of scholars through our gulf of mexico research initiative quigg said in this way the spill will have a lasting impression on me i have had the honor and privilege to work and interact with the most amazing array of people from 16-year-old high school students wanting some hands-on experience during their summers to senior scientists into their 70s all of them have made a contribution by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications" " graduate students honored by scouts for community outreachgeology and geophysics graduate students michelle chrpa and ali snell were invited to the local scouts annual blue and gold banquet in recognition of their outreach apr 15 2020michelle chrpa and ali snell (top left) with the webelos group of scouts pack 62 each webelo member is displaying their favorite geology related item from the outreach event (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)feb 29 michelle chrpa and ali snell phd students in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university were honored at the scouts annual blue and gold banquet for their community outreach they were invited by the webelos group of pack 62 college station  this past fall michelle and ali led geology-based outreach activities for the webelos group they focused on the key things that a typical 4th-grader would need to know to earn the earth rocks badge two webelos enjoy igneous rock samples with michelle chrpa (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)ali snell discusses the basics of minerals with webelos (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)the earth rocks badge includes learning geology basics like the types of rocks mohs scale of mineral hardness and careers in geology they seemed to really pick up on observing the differences between rocks and classifications and how rocks and minerals related to minecraft said andy armstrong a webelos parent  so often they play a game watch a show or see a movie and never connect to reality i know they enjoyed the observable see touch smell taste aspect of the rocks and mineralsa webelo uses a hand lens to take a closer look at an igneous rock sample (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)ali and michelle answer questions about geology from webelos (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)scouts bsa promotes learning and connection with others individuals achieve success by continuing their involvement by demonstrating what they learn and holding themselves responsible for their actions  this gave them a connection to how they see the world around them hopefully their view changed or will change he said by ali snell " michelle chrpa and ali snell (top left) with the webelos group of scouts pack 62 each webelo member is displaying their favorite geology related item from the outreach event (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong) "feb 29 michelle chrpa and ali snell phd students in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university were honored at the scouts annual blue and gold banquet for their community outreach they were invited by the webelos group of pack 62 college station  this past fall michelle and ali led geology-based outreach activities for the webelos group they focused on the key things that a typical 4th-grader would need to know to earn the earth rocks badge " two webelos enjoy igneous rock samples with michelle chrpa (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)ali snell discusses the basics of minerals with webelos (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong) "the earth rocks badge includes learning geology basics like the types of rocks mohs scale of mineral hardness and careers in geology they seemed to really pick up on observing the differences between rocks and classifications and how rocks and minerals related to minecraft said andy armstrong a webelos parent  so often they play a game watch a show or see a movie and never connect to reality i know they enjoyed the observable see touch smell taste aspect of the rocks and minerals" a webelo uses a hand lens to take a closer look at an igneous rock sample (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong)ali and michelle answer questions about geology from webelos (photo courtesy of andrew armstrong) "scouts bsa promotes learning and connection with others individuals achieve success by continuing their involvement by demonstrating what they learn and holding themselves responsible for their actions  this gave them a connection to how they see the world around them hopefully their view changed or will change he said by ali snell" " geology and geophysics seg chapter awarded outreach granttexas a&ms society of exploration geophysicists (seg) student chapter was recently recognizedapr 15 2020texas a&m seg student chapter logothe department of geology and geophysics texas a&m society of exploration geophysicists (seg) student chapter was recently awarded a chapter outreach grant from the seg   as a chapter we wanted to encourage the next generation of students to consider geophysics as their future career path share our knowledge and also show how the work of a geophysicist can affect a life of a regular member of a society said dawid szafranski the current seg chapter president  we were inspired by outreach activities done by other student chapters around the world he said with the grant they plan to organize geophysical workshops for high-school students at texas a&ms rellis campus they will introduce students to geophysical acquisition processing and interpretation concepts while presenting it all in an easy-to-understand way  seg is currently in the process of contacting schools and preparing for the outreach events the department of geology and geophysics is proud to see our students actively involved in recruiting the next generation of geoscientists as was envisioned by the seg upon establishment of this important outreach grant program "" said dr mark everett seg faculty advisor  if anyone wants to be involved in this outreach they can contact szafranski at dawidszafranski@tamuedu or everett at m-everett1@geostamuedu the seg is a not-for-profit organization supporting more than 14 000 members from 114 countries founded in 1930 the seg aims to support advancing the science of exploration geophysics supporting humanitarian efforts and accelerating geophysical innovation by ali snell " "the department of geology and geophysics texas a&m society of exploration geophysicists (seg) student chapter was recently awarded a chapter outreach grant from the seg   as a chapter we wanted to encourage the next generation of students to consider geophysics as their future career path share our knowledge and also show how the work of a geophysicist can affect a life of a regular member of a society said dawid szafranski the current seg chapter president  we were inspired by outreach activities done by other student chapters around the world he said with the grant they plan to organize geophysical workshops for high-school students at texas a&ms rellis campus they will introduce students to geophysical acquisition processing and interpretation concepts while presenting it all in an easy-to-understand way  seg is currently in the process of contacting schools and preparing for the outreach events the department of geology and geophysics is proud to see our students actively involved in recruiting the next generation of geoscientists as was envisioned by the seg upon establishment of this important outreach grant program "" said dr mark everett seg faculty advisor  if anyone wants to be involved in this outreach they can contact szafranski at dawidszafranski@tamuedu or everett at m-everett1@geostamuedu the seg is a not-for-profit organization supporting more than 14 000 members from 114 countries founded in 1930 the seg aims to support advancing the science of exploration geophysics supporting humanitarian efforts and accelerating geophysical innovation by ali snell" " winter break field-based courses take students to new geologic environmentsthis winter the department of geology and geophysics field methods and field trip courses brought students to the american southwest apr 15 2020students take in an overturned fold limb located in the mouth of titus canyon death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)this winter break the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics field-based courses explored geology from death valley ca to the valley of fire nv  field methods course dr mike pope professor; three graduate teaching assistants (tas) james martell tanner mills and dawid szafranski; and 27 undergraduate students enrolled in geol 250 field methods spent early january mapping the geology of nevada and eastern california students dot the surface of the aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)field tents are warmed by the rising sun in the campground of the valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)after flying into las vegas international airport the students rendezvoused with pope and the tas and from there proceeded to nevadas valley of fire state park the class set up camp in a scenic group site area and spent the first three days mapping the keystone thrust in the park and miocene sedimentary rocks just outside of the park boundary while in the valley of fire some of the group saw a herd of desert sheepstudent stands before aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)students stand on outcrop in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)the class then moved on to death valley national park california where they mapped a pliocene to pleistocene extensional basin along the furnace creek fault zone some nights students went swimming and took showers in the nearby furnace creek resort  i would say that the students' hands-on geologic mapping experience is important in understanding geologic concepts taught in the classroom said martell the field methods course to death valley was many of the students' first time mapping where they began to identify different structural and stratigraphic features through several mapping areas in many cases students would get excited about features they had only seen in the classroom and can now use their field experience to better transition into the upper-level coursesstudent stands before chevron folds in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)students investigate a road cut outside of death valley national park ca the road cut exposes a noticeable black geologic unit obsidian volcanic glass and the surrounding brown area aka a baked zone and the surrounding unbaked light gray sedimentary unit (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)finally they left the park and spent two days measuring a stratigraphic section through early cambrian sediments then mapping the distribution of these rocks near emigrant pass  each day students worked in the field from 8 am to 5 pm and even though it was dry there were some cold evenings and early mornings with temperatures in the low 30's each night they had a large campfire to keep warm and bring everyone togetheraztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of claire martin)student stands in one of many slot canyons in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)weathered aztec sanstone balances upon itself in the valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of claire martin)""i thought the class was quite fun and the daytime weather really was spectacular as we had no rain and temperatures commonly in the high 50's and low 60's pope said  it was different mapping the entire time as i had taught geol 330 in this area but it is more of a show-and-tell experience so this was a first for me too i hope the student's liked the course/trip as we will likely go there again next year""panoramic image of students atop the aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)geology field trips course dr brian balta lecturer; ta claire martin; and 16 undergraduate students enrolled in geol 330 geology field trips also conducted field-based learning in the death valley national park area in california and nevada this winter this class was a delight to teach as i did my graduate research in california and ran half a dozen different field trips to death valley so i got to visit sites i went to 15 years ago and this time i did so leading my own students balta said plus i was able to visit a number of locations i never got to on my own making this extra fun for mestudents ponder the geologic origin of a large breccia outcrop with angular clasts suspended in a calcite matrix outcrop is located in titus canyon death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)group photo of geol 330 students ta and instructor at teakettle junction in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)the course included a hike across the southern death valley fault zone in an area called the confidence hills and a night of wilderness camping just past racetrack playa  aside from some cold nights students saw a lot of unique geology learned how those features formed and had a good time in the process hopefully in 20 years someone on this trip is bringing their own students or colleagues back to this trip passing it on just as i did balta concluded by ali snellthe sun sets over the racetrack in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of claire martin)the view from zabriskie point in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of claire martin) " students take in an overturned fold limb located in the mouth of titus canyon death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) "this winter break the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics field-based courses explored geology from death valley ca to the valley of fire nv  field methods course dr mike pope professor; three graduate teaching assistants (tas) james martell tanner mills and dawid szafranski; and 27 undergraduate students enrolled in geol 250 field methods spent early january mapping the geology of nevada and eastern california " students dot the surface of the aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)field tents are warmed by the rising sun in the campground of the valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) after flying into las vegas international airport the students rendezvoused with pope and the tas and from there proceeded to nevadas valley of fire state park the class set up camp in a scenic group site area and spent the first three days mapping the keystone thrust in the park and miocene sedimentary rocks just outside of the park boundary while in the valley of fire some of the group saw a herd of desert sheep student stands before aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)students stand on outcrop in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) "the class then moved on to death valley national park california where they mapped a pliocene to pleistocene extensional basin along the furnace creek fault zone some nights students went swimming and took showers in the nearby furnace creek resort  i would say that the students' hands-on geologic mapping experience is important in understanding geologic concepts taught in the classroom said martell the field methods course to death valley was many of the students' first time mapping where they began to identify different structural and stratigraphic features through several mapping areas in many cases students would get excited about features they had only seen in the classroom and can now use their field experience to better transition into the upper-level courses" student stands before chevron folds in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)students investigate a road cut outside of death valley national park ca the road cut exposes a noticeable black geologic unit obsidian volcanic glass and the surrounding brown area aka a baked zone and the surrounding unbaked light gray sedimentary unit (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) "finally they left the park and spent two days measuring a stratigraphic section through early cambrian sediments then mapping the distribution of these rocks near emigrant pass  each day students worked in the field from 8 am to 5 pm and even though it was dry there were some cold evenings and early mornings with temperatures in the low 30's each night they had a large campfire to keep warm and bring everyone together" aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of claire martin)student stands in one of many slot canyons in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)weathered aztec sanstone balances upon itself in the valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of claire martin) """i thought the class was quite fun and the daytime weather really was spectacular as we had no rain and temperatures commonly in the high 50's and low 60's pope said  it was different mapping the entire time as i had taught geol 330 in this area but it is more of a show-and-tell experience so this was a first for me too i hope the student's liked the course/trip as we will likely go there again next year""" panoramic image of students atop the aztec sandstone in valley of fire state park nv (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) "geology field trips course dr brian balta lecturer; ta claire martin; and 16 undergraduate students enrolled in geol 330 geology field trips also conducted field-based learning in the death valley national park area in california and nevada this winter this class was a delight to teach as i did my graduate research in california and ran half a dozen different field trips to death valley so i got to visit sites i went to 15 years ago and this time i did so leading my own students balta said plus i was able to visit a number of locations i never got to on my own making this extra fun for me" students ponder the geologic origin of a large breccia outcrop with angular clasts suspended in a calcite matrix outcrop is located in titus canyon death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta)group photo of geol 330 students ta and instructor at teakettle junction in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of dr brian balta) "the course included a hike across the southern death valley fault zone in an area called the confidence hills and a night of wilderness camping just past racetrack playa  aside from some cold nights students saw a lot of unique geology learned how those features formed and had a good time in the process hopefully in 20 years someone on this trip is bringing their own students or colleagues back to this trip passing it on just as i did balta concluded by ali snell" the sun sets over the racetrack in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of claire martin)the view from zabriskie point in death valley national park ca (photo courtesy of claire martin) " texas a&m scientists find trace elements increasing in rapidly changing arctic oceanoceanographers used data from a pan-arctic survey of carbon and trace elements to better understand how climate change will affect ecosystems in one of the fastest warming regions of the worldapr 14 2020group photo of the us geotraces team at the north pole alongside the crew of the uscgc healy texas a&m assistant professor fitzsimmons is in the middle of the front row in blue photo courtesy of us geotraces and the us coast guard (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)significant quantities of carbon and trace elements are flowing across the central arctic ocean under the sea ice via freshwater runoff from rivers and continental shelf sediments according to a new study by an international team of ocean scientists this research is critical to understanding the current and future health of the arctic ocean which is warming faster than much of the rest of the planet said dr jessica fitzsimmons a co-author of the study and assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university the arctic is also receiving more freshwater with its changing climate making an understanding of the chemistry and fate of that freshwater more important than ever before texas a&m doctoral students laramie jensen and tatiana williford and dr rainer amon professor of marine and coastal environmental science at texas a&m - galveston were also co-authors of the study their results were recently published in the journal of geophysical research-oceansdr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor of oceanography at texas a&m on the sea ice near the north pole preparing to collect samples (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)phd candidate laramie jensen at the door to the fitzsimmons lab clean room at texas a&m oceanography where the metal samples for this study were analyzed due to the low metal content of some of these water samples they were highly prone to contamination from dust and human fibers and thus they were analyzed in fitzsimmons metal-free clean room (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)our team analyzed the concentrations of six nutrient metals – like iron and zinc – and one toxic contaminant metal – lead - and found that the nutrient metals are supplied by arctic rivers and are directly transported across the center of the arctic ocean within a high-speed current fitzsimmons said fortunately toxic contaminant fluxes in this study remained low and do not appear to be coming from arctic rivers the increased nutrients are carried by the transpolar drift a major surface current that moves water from siberia across the north pole to the north atlantic ocean in 2015 oceanographers conducting research in the arctic ocean as part of the international geotraces program found much higher concentrations of trace elements in surface waters near the north pole than in regions on either side of the current  many important trace elements that enter the ocean from rivers and shelf sediments are quickly removed from the water column said dr matthew charette lead author of the study and a marine chemist at woods hole oceanographic institution but in the arctic they are bound with abundant organic matter from rivers which allows the mixture to be transported into the central arctic over 1 000 kilometers from their source"" trace elements like iron form essential building blocks for ocean life as the arctic warms and larger swaths of the ocean become ice-free for longer periods of time marine algae are becoming more productive a greater abundance of trace elements coming from rivers and shelf sediments can lead to increases in nutrients reaching the central arctic ocean further fueling algal production its difficult to say exactly what changes this might bring charette said but we do know that the structure of marine ecosystems is set by nutrient availability nutrients fuel the growth of phytoplankton a microscopic algae that forms the base of the marine food web generally speaking more phytoplankton brings more zooplanktonsmall fish and crustaceans which can then be eaten by top ocean predators like seals and whalesarctic ocean sea ice operations about the uscgc healy on the 2015 us geotraces cruise (photo courtesy of cory mendenhall us coast guard)a polar bear investigating the ship while on the us geotraces cruise in the arctic (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)higher concentrations of trace elements and nutrients previously locked up in frozen soils (permafrost) are expected to increase as more river runoff reaches the arctic which is warming at a much faster rate than most anywhere else on earth while an increase in nutrients may boost arctic marine productivity charette cautioned that the continued loss of sea ice will further exacerbate climate warming which will impact ecosystems more broadly the arctic plays an important role in regulating earths climate with the ice cover reflecting sunlight back to space helping to mitigate rising global temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions charette added once the ice is gone the arctic ocean will absorb more heat from the atmosphere which will only make our climate predicament worse funding for arctic geotraces was provided by the us national science foundation swedish research council formas french agence nationale de la recherche and labexmer netherlands organization for scientific research and independent research fund denmark the arctic geotraces expeditions were supported by the captains and crew of the uscgc healy and the r/v polarstern laramie jensen was also funded by a texas a&m graduate merit fellowship written in collaboration with woods hole oceanographic institution  " group photo of the us geotraces team at the north pole alongside the crew of the uscgc healy texas a&m assistant professor fitzsimmons is in the middle of the front row in blue photo courtesy of us geotraces and the us coast guard (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons) "significant quantities of carbon and trace elements are flowing across the central arctic ocean under the sea ice via freshwater runoff from rivers and continental shelf sediments according to a new study by an international team of ocean scientists this research is critical to understanding the current and future health of the arctic ocean which is warming faster than much of the rest of the planet said dr jessica fitzsimmons a co-author of the study and assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university the arctic is also receiving more freshwater with its changing climate making an understanding of the chemistry and fate of that freshwater more important than ever before texas a&m doctoral students laramie jensen and tatiana williford and dr rainer amon professor of marine and coastal environmental science at texas a&m - galveston were also co-authors of the study their results were recently published in the journal of geophysical research-oceans" dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor of oceanography at texas a&m on the sea ice near the north pole preparing to collect samples (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)phd candidate laramie jensen at the door to the fitzsimmons lab clean room at texas a&m oceanography where the metal samples for this study were analyzed due to the low metal content of some of these water samples they were highly prone to contamination from dust and human fibers and thus they were analyzed in fitzsimmons metal-free clean room (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons) "our team analyzed the concentrations of six nutrient metals – like iron and zinc – and one toxic contaminant metal – lead - and found that the nutrient metals are supplied by arctic rivers and are directly transported across the center of the arctic ocean within a high-speed current fitzsimmons said fortunately toxic contaminant fluxes in this study remained low and do not appear to be coming from arctic rivers the increased nutrients are carried by the transpolar drift a major surface current that moves water from siberia across the north pole to the north atlantic ocean in 2015 oceanographers conducting research in the arctic ocean as part of the international geotraces program found much higher concentrations of trace elements in surface waters near the north pole than in regions on either side of the current  many important trace elements that enter the ocean from rivers and shelf sediments are quickly removed from the water column said dr matthew charette lead author of the study and a marine chemist at woods hole oceanographic institution but in the arctic they are bound with abundant organic matter from rivers which allows the mixture to be transported into the central arctic over 1 000 kilometers from their source"" trace elements like iron form essential building blocks for ocean life as the arctic warms and larger swaths of the ocean become ice-free for longer periods of time marine algae are becoming more productive a greater abundance of trace elements coming from rivers and shelf sediments can lead to increases in nutrients reaching the central arctic ocean further fueling algal production its difficult to say exactly what changes this might bring charette said but we do know that the structure of marine ecosystems is set by nutrient availability nutrients fuel the growth of phytoplankton a microscopic algae that forms the base of the marine food web generally speaking more phytoplankton brings more zooplanktonsmall fish and crustaceans which can then be eaten by top ocean predators like seals and whales" arctic ocean sea ice operations about the uscgc healy on the 2015 us geotraces cruise (photo courtesy of cory mendenhall us coast guard)a polar bear investigating the ship while on the us geotraces cruise in the arctic (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons) "higher concentrations of trace elements and nutrients previously locked up in frozen soils (permafrost) are expected to increase as more river runoff reaches the arctic which is warming at a much faster rate than most anywhere else on earth while an increase in nutrients may boost arctic marine productivity charette cautioned that the continued loss of sea ice will further exacerbate climate warming which will impact ecosystems more broadly the arctic plays an important role in regulating earths climate with the ice cover reflecting sunlight back to space helping to mitigate rising global temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions charette added once the ice is gone the arctic ocean will absorb more heat from the atmosphere which will only make our climate predicament worse funding for arctic geotraces was provided by the us national science foundation swedish research council formas french agence nationale de la recherche and labexmer netherlands organization for scientific research and independent research fund denmark the arctic geotraces expeditions were supported by the captains and crew of the uscgc healy and the r/v polarstern laramie jensen was also funded by a texas a&m graduate merit fellowship written in collaboration with woods hole oceanographic institution " " texas a&m research team finds life deep beneath ocean floorthe cores show life present at 2 600 feet below the indian ocean seafloor the discovery could lead to similar finds around the worldmar 19 2020 the joides resolution research drillship (photo by iodp)a team of scientists – including two texas a&m university researchers – have uncovered cores that contain life at some of the deepest levels ever found in subseafloor ancient rocks their discovery could open new doors for finding life at other remote areas of the word dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography and graduate student shu ying wee along with a team of international scientists have had their work published in the current issue of nature the team examined ocean cores from the international ocean discovery program (iodp) that were drilled almost 2 600 feet beneath the floor of the indian ocean they found tiny microbes that are alive and active in the rock cores and revealed how they survive so deep below the seafloor in an environment with no light barely any space and very little food they are tiny around 1 micrometer sylvan said we cant tell the age but assume them to be currently extant so not necessarily old but in an environment that is extreme and subsurface we believe this is the first research to show active microbes in this environment and to be able to describe their lifestyles using such a broad array of data streams he said the findings could reveal secrets about how the earth evolved and how life – no matter how small – can find ways to survive even in the most harsh and difficult of environments this environment and lower oceanic crust is comprised largely of types of material called gabbro and peridotite and these allow for some chemical reactions that were likely present on early earth and also on other planets where water and volcanic rocks interact sylvan said so this is an exciting discovery that expands the places on our own planet where life has been found and also tells us what to look for elsewhere in the solar system iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor for the past 34 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution research ship on behalf of the national science foundation to study the history of the earth recorded in those sediments and rocks sylvan said the research is especially noteworthy for texas a&m because the cell counts and methane measurements were conducted here on campus for this type of work it also shows us that microbial life is likely to persist wherever there is room for it and that it will evolve ways to live in those difficult environments he said the study was funded by the national science foundation by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications " "a team of scientists – including two texas a&m university researchers – have uncovered cores that contain life at some of the deepest levels ever found in subseafloor ancient rocks their discovery could open new doors for finding life at other remote areas of the word dr jason sylvan assistant professor in the department of oceanography and graduate student shu ying wee along with a team of international scientists have had their work published in the current issue of nature the team examined ocean cores from the international ocean discovery program (iodp) that were drilled almost 2 600 feet beneath the floor of the indian ocean they found tiny microbes that are alive and active in the rock cores and revealed how they survive so deep below the seafloor in an environment with no light barely any space and very little food they are tiny around 1 micrometer sylvan said we cant tell the age but assume them to be currently extant so not necessarily old but in an environment that is extreme and subsurface we believe this is the first research to show active microbes in this environment and to be able to describe their lifestyles using such a broad array of data streams he said the findings could reveal secrets about how the earth evolved and how life – no matter how small – can find ways to survive even in the most harsh and difficult of environments this environment and lower oceanic crust is comprised largely of types of material called gabbro and peridotite and these allow for some chemical reactions that were likely present on early earth and also on other planets where water and volcanic rocks interact sylvan said so this is an exciting discovery that expands the places on our own planet where life has been found and also tells us what to look for elsewhere in the solar system iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor for the past 34 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution research ship on behalf of the national science foundation to study the history of the earth recorded in those sediments and rocks sylvan said the research is especially noteworthy for texas a&m because the cell counts and methane measurements were conducted here on campus for this type of work it also shows us that microbial life is likely to persist wherever there is room for it and that it will evolve ways to live in those difficult environments he said the study was funded by the national science foundation by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications" " aggie student veteran receives ams outstanding poster award atmospheric sciences and oceanography student lance belobrajdic 21 was awarded an outstanding student conference poster award from the american meteorological society (ams)mar 10 2020texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 21 recently received an outstanding student conference poster award: undergraduate from the american meteorological society (ams) belobrajdic presented his research at the 2020 ams conference in boston from jan 11-12 2020 belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology (most) graduate degree program belobrajdic is a military veteran and was named a 2018 tillman scholarlance belobrajdic standing next to his poster at the 2020 american meteorological society conference (photo courtesy of lance belobrajdic)belobrajdics research focuses on over evaluating geostationary and polar orbiting satellite measurements to in situ buoy measurements of sea surface temperatures (sst) for large and small lakes this research was started while i interned at the nasa kennedy space center over the 2019 summer and continued while at texas a&m with my advisors dr don conlee (instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences) and dr robert hetland (professor in the department of oceanography) said belobrajdic the goal of the research was to determine the reliability consistency and accuracy of the two different satellite platforms ability to measure ssts for the indian river lagoon around the nasa kennedy space center in florida measured sst data is incorporated into the local high-resolution numerical weather prediction (nwp) model from nasa to resolve the mesoscale land/sea breezes initiated by the lagoon system which inhibits rocket launches along the space coast read more about his research during the nasa internship in this article at the ams conference belobrajdic gave a poster presentation titled investigating sea surface temperature retrievals of lakes using geostationary and polar orbiting platforms i am grateful to my judges who enjoyed my poster and presentation and thank the ams student conference team for allowing me to present this research said belobrajdic i would like to thank my two advisors and mentors at nasa dr kristin smith and dr kathy rice who greatly supported and guided me through this research process most of the practice preparation familiarity for presenting research came from the department and faculty in encouraging students to present in the classroom to develop these public speaking and presentation skills said belobrajdic by bumsoo kim " "texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 21 recently received an outstanding student conference poster award: undergraduate from the american meteorological society (ams) belobrajdic presented his research at the 2020 ams conference in boston from jan 11-12 2020 belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology (most) graduate degree program belobrajdic is a military veteran and was named a 2018 tillman scholar" lance belobrajdic standing next to his poster at the 2020 american meteorological society conference (photo courtesy of lance belobrajdic) "belobrajdics research focuses on over evaluating geostationary and polar orbiting satellite measurements to in situ buoy measurements of sea surface temperatures (sst) for large and small lakes this research was started while i interned at the nasa kennedy space center over the 2019 summer and continued while at texas a&m with my advisors dr don conlee (instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences) and dr robert hetland (professor in the department of oceanography) said belobrajdic the goal of the research was to determine the reliability consistency and accuracy of the two different satellite platforms ability to measure ssts for the indian river lagoon around the nasa kennedy space center in florida measured sst data is incorporated into the local high-resolution numerical weather prediction (nwp) model from nasa to resolve the mesoscale land/sea breezes initiated by the lagoon system which inhibits rocket launches along the space coast read more about his research during the nasa internship in this article at the ams conference belobrajdic gave a poster presentation titled investigating sea surface temperature retrievals of lakes using geostationary and polar orbiting platforms i am grateful to my judges who enjoyed my poster and presentation and thank the ams student conference team for allowing me to present this research said belobrajdic i would like to thank my two advisors and mentors at nasa dr kristin smith and dr kathy rice who greatly supported and guided me through this research process most of the practice preparation familiarity for presenting research came from the department and faculty in encouraging students to present in the classroom to develop these public speaking and presentation skills said belobrajdic by bumsoo kim" " extreme weather risks rising in texas warns new report the new texas-specific analysis fills a major data gap for policymakers and business leaders and shows coming climate change impacts says texas a&m professor and state climatologistmar 5 2020negative extreme weather impacts driven by climate change represent a risk to current and future texans according to dr john nielsen-gammon texas state climatologist and texas a&m regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in a new report published today nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers analyze what texas climate and weather conditions will be like when the state turns 200 in 2036 using observed and analyzed historical meteorological and climate data the report describes future extreme weather risks facing the state anyone who is impacted by weather and climate and anybody who cares about the future of texas should read this report nielsen-gammon said the reports data and analysis show that:  the number of 100-degree days will double by 2036 compared to the 2000-2018 average the expected average temperature in 2036 will be about 3 degrees warmer than the average over the last half of the last century by 2036 extreme rainfall is expected to be 30-50 percent more frequent than the 1950-1999 average causing more flooding especially in houston and other texas cities where impervious surfaces increase rainwater runoff intensity higher temperatures and increased rainfall variability will cause more intense droughts for some parts of the texas coast the storm surge risk may double by 2050 due to sea level rise and more intense hurricanes texas needed an updated state-specific climate assessment nielsen-gammon said; the last such assessment was published in 2011 in 2018 nielsen-gammon contributed to a regional climate assessment as a regional co-author of the fourth national climate assessment its great to be able to publish projections that are specific to texas and its much more beneficial for texans to have an assessment thats specifically focused on the special climate agricultural economic and environmental situation that texas finds itself in he said titled assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036 the report looks only at the climate-driven aspects of future extreme events he noted not other drivers another thing that people in the state of texas need to think about is how will other factors make us more or less vulnerable to extreme environmental hazards water-supply planning urban planning and flood control measures are just a few of the other factors that policymakers should consider as texas natural hazards risks change he said historically its been more effective cheaper and less destructive to prepare for natural disasters before they happen rather than deal with the destruction after they happen nielsen-gammon was the lead author of the report; texas a&m college of geosciences students jacob escobedo catherine ott ali van fleet and jeramy dedrick also contributed this research was funded by texas 2036 and texas a&m  nielsen-gammon has served as texas state climatologist for two decades after then-governor george w bush named him to the position in 2000   by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences ### media contact: robyn blackmon college of geosciences (979) 845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu " "negative extreme weather impacts driven by climate change represent a risk to current and future texans according to dr john nielsen-gammon texas state climatologist and texas a&m regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in a new report published today nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers analyze what texas climate and weather conditions will be like when the state turns 200 in 2036 using observed and analyzed historical meteorological and climate data the report describes future extreme weather risks facing the state anyone who is impacted by weather and climate and anybody who cares about the future of texas should read this report nielsen-gammon said the reports data and analysis show that:  the number of 100-degree days will double by 2036 compared to the 2000-2018 average the expected average temperature in 2036 will be about 3 degrees warmer than the average over the last half of the last century by 2036 extreme rainfall is expected to be 30-50 percent more frequent than the 1950-1999 average causing more flooding especially in houston and other texas cities where impervious surfaces increase rainwater runoff intensity higher temperatures and increased rainfall variability will cause more intense droughts for some parts of the texas coast the storm surge risk may double by 2050 due to sea level rise and more intense hurricanes texas needed an updated state-specific climate assessment nielsen-gammon said; the last such assessment was published in 2011 in 2018 nielsen-gammon contributed to a regional climate assessment as a regional co-author of the fourth national climate assessment its great to be able to publish projections that are specific to texas and its much more beneficial for texans to have an assessment thats specifically focused on the special climate agricultural economic and environmental situation that texas finds itself in he said titled assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036 the report looks only at the climate-driven aspects of future extreme events he noted not other drivers another thing that people in the state of texas need to think about is how will other factors make us more or less vulnerable to extreme environmental hazards water-supply planning urban planning and flood control measures are just a few of the other factors that policymakers should consider as texas natural hazards risks change he said historically its been more effective cheaper and less destructive to prepare for natural disasters before they happen rather than deal with the destruction after they happen nielsen-gammon was the lead author of the report; texas a&m college of geosciences students jacob escobedo catherine ott ali van fleet and jeramy dedrick also contributed this research was funded by texas 2036 and texas a&m  nielsen-gammon has served as texas state climatologist for two decades after then-governor george w bush named him to the position in 2000   by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences ### media contact: robyn blackmon college of geosciences (979) 845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu" " new oil spill outreach specialist joins texas sea grantdani bailey will be ""an integral addition to both the oil spill science program"" and ""provide much-needed services to her communityfeb 28 2020danielle dani bailey joins texas sea grant college program as an oil spill outreach specialist one of four members of a gulf-wide oil spill science outreach team bailey and her team members are located in different gulf of mexico states but work together to conduct workshops in coastal communities share oil spill research and produce oil spill-related publications the oil spill science program was created by the gulf of mexico sea grant programs and is funded by a grant from the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) an independent organization created in 2010 following the deepwater horizon oil spill to support oil spill research in the gulf i am thrilled to be a part of texas sea grant and the oil spill outreach team i look forward to connecting with my community locally and throughout the gulf of mexico bailey said bailey comes to texas sea grant from marine education center at the university of southern mississippi where she served as a marine education specialist in this role she created and coordinated marine-based education programs focused on marine organisms and ecosystems scientific careers and community sustainability  bailey holds a master of science in coastal science from the university of southern mississippi and a bachelor of science in biology from roger williams university in her studies she focused on understanding and researching sportfish and sharks i grew up in new jersey with a passion for understanding sharks i continued along that path but always enjoyed outreach and education bailey said i recently learned about science communication as a career option and wanted to help spread my love of the ocean effectively and with enthusiasm  we are delighted to have dani as part of our team said cindy lyle senior associate director and extension leader at texas sea grant her background and education make her an integral addition to both the oil spill science program and texas sea grant and we know she will provide much-needed services to her community   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager   " "danielle dani bailey joins texas sea grant college program as an oil spill outreach specialist one of four members of a gulf-wide oil spill science outreach team bailey and her team members are located in different gulf of mexico states but work together to conduct workshops in coastal communities share oil spill research and produce oil spill-related publications the oil spill science program was created by the gulf of mexico sea grant programs and is funded by a grant from the gulf of mexico research initiative (gomri) an independent organization created in 2010 following the deepwater horizon oil spill to support oil spill research in the gulf i am thrilled to be a part of texas sea grant and the oil spill outreach team i look forward to connecting with my community locally and throughout the gulf of mexico bailey said bailey comes to texas sea grant from marine education center at the university of southern mississippi where she served as a marine education specialist in this role she created and coordinated marine-based education programs focused on marine organisms and ecosystems scientific careers and community sustainability  bailey holds a master of science in coastal science from the university of southern mississippi and a bachelor of science in biology from roger williams university in her studies she focused on understanding and researching sportfish and sharks i grew up in new jersey with a passion for understanding sharks i continued along that path but always enjoyed outreach and education bailey said i recently learned about science communication as a career option and wanted to help spread my love of the ocean effectively and with enthusiasm  we are delighted to have dani as part of our team said cindy lyle senior associate director and extension leader at texas sea grant her background and education make her an integral addition to both the oil spill science program and texas sea grant and we know she will provide much-needed services to her community   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager  " " ping yang named distinguished professor by texas a&m universitydr ping yang has been named a university distinguished professor by texas a&m university and appointed associate dean for research by the college of geosciencesfeb 28 2020dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences has been named a university distinguished professor by texas a&m university yang is one of seven faculty members across the university who received the honor of distinguished professor which is the universitys highest faculty honor the 2020 class of university distinguished professors also includes faculty from the college of agriculture and life sciences the college of engineering the school of law and the college of science distinguished professorships celebrate the high caliber and global significance of research underway at texas a&m university said provost and executive vice president carol a fierke the designation of university distinguished professor identifies members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field yang and the other honorees will be inducted at a ceremony in march in addition to the honor of being named university distinguished professor yang has been formally appointed as the associate dean for research for the college of geosciences effective immediately yang has served as interim associate dean for research since september 2019 the associate dean for research is responsible for the administration of research elements of the college  this charge includes ensuring the integrity of research programs and enhancing the college research enterprise and faculty professional development programming related to scholarly impact  the associate dean for research serves as liaison on research matters for the college with a variety of university offices including the vice president for research the dean of faculties operation council and international programs dr yangs superlative record of scholarship combined with his deep experience previously serving the college as department head of atmospheric sciences will be invaluable to us all and we are exceedingly grateful for his leadership said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences by stephanie taylor '10 " "dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences has been named a university distinguished professor by texas a&m university yang is one of seven faculty members across the university who received the honor of distinguished professor which is the universitys highest faculty honor the 2020 class of university distinguished professors also includes faculty from the college of agriculture and life sciences the college of engineering the school of law and the college of science distinguished professorships celebrate the high caliber and global significance of research underway at texas a&m university said provost and executive vice president carol a fierke the designation of university distinguished professor identifies members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field yang and the other honorees will be inducted at a ceremony in march in addition to the honor of being named university distinguished professor yang has been formally appointed as the associate dean for research for the college of geosciences effective immediately yang has served as interim associate dean for research since september 2019 the associate dean for research is responsible for the administration of research elements of the college  this charge includes ensuring the integrity of research programs and enhancing the college research enterprise and faculty professional development programming related to scholarly impact  the associate dean for research serves as liaison on research matters for the college with a variety of university offices including the vice president for research the dean of faculties operation council and international programs dr yangs superlative record of scholarship combined with his deep experience previously serving the college as department head of atmospheric sciences will be invaluable to us all and we are exceedingly grateful for his leadership said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences by stephanie taylor '10" " extraordinary ocean floor cores speak to ancient climate shifts texas a&m dean saysdr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m spent five weeks co-leading international ocean discovery program expedition 378 which recovered the sediment cores in the south pacificfeb 28 2020expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr ursula röhl and dr debbie thomas (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso) with the very first core of the expedition daniel marone iodp jrso electronics specialist nicolette lawler iodp jrso marine laboratory specialist and others (photo credit: yiming yu and iodp)nearly 1 000 meters of sediment cores from the deep ocean floor were recently recovered by international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 378 in the eastern south pacific ocean paleoclimate scientists around the world are especially excited about the time interval that these cores span says the texas a&m scientist who co-led the expedition we recovered three sets of cores of the time period spanning about 25 to 36 million years ago and whats important about this interval of time is that it captures the early phases of interglacial variability on antarctica but during a climate state thats actually warmer than our current climate state said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university paleoceanographer and co-chief scientist of the expedition included in those three sets of cores is the prominent climate event that occurred 34 million years ago known as the eocene-oligocene transition which marks the first major build-up of ice on antarctica as the planet cooled from the extreme warmth she said many of our expeditions scientists as well as the broader paleoclimate community are really interested in understanding that event the expedition successfully recovering this time-segment three times (in three separate holes at the same location) is critically important because it gives scientists more material to work with but also a more complete overall record through time she said not only that but in two deeper holes we drilled we recovered two complete copies of the rapid global warming event at 56 million years ago which was another one of the primary objectives of the entire expedition expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate  sailing aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel expedition 378 began jan 3 out of lautoka fiji and concluded feb 6 in papeete tahiti co-chief scientists thomas and dr ursula röhl from the marum - center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen in germany led the 35-person science party in investigating the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography in the southern pacific ocean by recovering and studying deep ocean sediment coresexpedition 378 science party (photo credit: iodp jrso)expedition 378 science party noon to midnight shift (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso)expedition 378 set out to recover the sediment sequences from a location south of new zealand iodp site u1553 which is critical to scientists understanding of high-latitude environmental conditions ocean circulation and wind patterns during a time in recent earth history characterized by the evolution of climate from extreme warmth into a climate state that supported the growth of ice sheets on antarctica thomas said iodp and texas a&m have a long history: since 1985 texas a&m has served as the host of joides resolution science operations and the joides resolution science operator (jrso) is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences two of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories are housed at texas a&m and at the marum at the university of bremen iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries conducting critically needed science even with a shortened itinerary about 10 days before the expedition began thomas and röhl learned from iodp and jrso leadership that an inspection of the joides resolutions derrick revealed that it could not drill in waters deeper than 2 kilometers eliminating four of the five drill sites originally planned for expedition 378 and therefore shortening the overall expedition science conducted at sea is an inherently risky operation and successful data collection truly relies on an alignment of stars favorable weather and sea state properly functioning sampling equipment and a safely functioning research vessel thomas wrote at the time safety is paramount all sea-going scientists have their tale of misaligned stars thomas and röhl regrouped and worked with jrso director dr brad clement to quickly adjust the expeditions plans for only drilling at one site instead of five: site u1553 located south of new zealand the only way forward was positive thomas said everyone onboard the ship is giving up time everyone is enduring some sacrifice so it really fell on us to make sure that not only was the experience as positive and formative as possible but that everyone came away with really impactful science decades before this voyage cores from the same location as site u1553 had been recovered by iodps predecessor the deep see drilling project (dsdp) aboard the glomar challenger drillship in 1973 but the modern state-of-the art drilling and laboratory equipment on the joides resolution and iodps scientific advances in drilling and analyzing sediments made a revisit to the site a very strategic endeavor in 2020 we return to dsdp site 277 we give it a new name a couple new holes and the best scientific analysis we can muster wrote expedition 378 outreach officer lindy newman during the voyage in 2020 we call it iodp site u1553 because even after all our scientific advancements the earth still has secrets to reveal how to lead a floating never-stopping multilingual science station what is it like to co-lead a science team of experts from all over the world sedimentologists micropaleontologists petrologists chemists paleomagnetists downhole logging specialists and equipment technicians all constantly working in 12-hour shifts on a tight schedule in the middle of the ocean while also coordinating with a crew of professional drill operators serving as co-chief was a stressful blast thomas said even before sailing the science that they proposed for the expedition required a tremendous amount of planning she said then we worked with the program management offices in our various iodp member consortia and nations to select the ideal group of scientists to help us achieve these scientific objectives aboard the joides resolution a co-chief scientists day is very busy thomas led the day shift which was noon to midnight and röhl led the night shift from midnight to noon  once we reach the drill site the co-chiefs job is to really help guide decision making about drilling she explained its working with the drillers and the operations team to best use the time that we have available for drilling operations and so in our case we had to balance getting redundant but critical replication of different portions of the sediment sequence in the five separate holes drilled at site u1553at the sampling table: ingrid hendy sedimentologist university of michigan; christopher hollis observer/micropaleontologist gns science new zealand; and wei yuan paleomagnetist tongji university china (photo credit: lindy newman and iodp) siem offshore personnel place the drill bit into position on the rig floor (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso)natural gas levels in the sea floor equipment issues goals to replicate multiple copies of cores or fill in gaps identified in the previous holes as well as weather conditions are all factors that the co-chiefs and the operators consider in making their drilling decisions we had to make constant decisions working with our stratigraphic correlator the drillers the operations manager every time a core came up we examined the how much core was recovered relative to how far the driller advanced the hole depth and had to decide for the next core if we attempt a full 10m advance or a half advance or was this the time when we should switch from the piston corer to the extended core barrel a diverse team immersed in science 24/7 scientists aboard the joides resolution are required to work in 12-hour shifts 7 days a week for relaxation and recreation they enjoy a phenomenal gym a great movie room musical instruments and games thomas said but part of the recreation is in the luxury of being able to immerse ourselves in science without having to do laundry or cook or any of those usual things it really is a rare gift to be able to recapture why you were passionate about this science in the first place and to get to engage in interdisciplinary problem-solving for huge chunks of the day another noteworthy aspect of expedition 378s science team was that it was uniquely diverse we were the first science party to sail on the joides resolution in which the three primary leadership roles as well as the lab officer all were filled by women and the majority of the entire science party was female absolutely amazing she explained i think that the diverse composition of the science party is a really important triumph to share with children and students in college and graduate school who are thinking about a career in science after this extraordinary team processed the last core packed up the drill pipe raised the thrusters and waved goodbye to site u1553 the science party still had years of progress and discoveries to look forward to weve laid a foundation for these scientists to do some amazing science over the next four years and beyond thomas said and i think weve also shown the early career team members that a career in science is not only going to be rewarding but its going to be fun and theyll have a chance to feel supported in the community that weve created with this shipboard science party in april the sediment cores from expedition 378 will arrive at the iodp gulf coast repository housed at texas a&m for sampling and x-ray florescence analysis and the science party will gather for its post-cruise meeting this is just an immensely talented group of scientists the quality of the science is going to be unbelievable by leslie lee 09 " expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr ursula röhl and dr debbie thomas (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso) with the very first core of the expedition daniel marone iodp jrso electronics specialist nicolette lawler iodp jrso marine laboratory specialist and others (photo credit: yiming yu and iodp) "nearly 1 000 meters of sediment cores from the deep ocean floor were recently recovered by international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 378 in the eastern south pacific ocean paleoclimate scientists around the world are especially excited about the time interval that these cores span says the texas a&m scientist who co-led the expedition we recovered three sets of cores of the time period spanning about 25 to 36 million years ago and whats important about this interval of time is that it captures the early phases of interglacial variability on antarctica but during a climate state thats actually warmer than our current climate state said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university paleoceanographer and co-chief scientist of the expedition included in those three sets of cores is the prominent climate event that occurred 34 million years ago known as the eocene-oligocene transition which marks the first major build-up of ice on antarctica as the planet cooled from the extreme warmth she said many of our expeditions scientists as well as the broader paleoclimate community are really interested in understanding that event the expedition successfully recovering this time-segment three times (in three separate holes at the same location) is critically important because it gives scientists more material to work with but also a more complete overall record through time she said not only that but in two deeper holes we drilled we recovered two complete copies of the rapid global warming event at 56 million years ago which was another one of the primary objectives of the entire expedition expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate  sailing aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel expedition 378 began jan 3 out of lautoka fiji and concluded feb 6 in papeete tahiti co-chief scientists thomas and dr ursula röhl from the marum - center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen in germany led the 35-person science party in investigating the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography in the southern pacific ocean by recovering and studying deep ocean sediment cores" expedition 378 science party (photo credit: iodp jrso)expedition 378 science party noon to midnight shift (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso) "expedition 378 set out to recover the sediment sequences from a location south of new zealand iodp site u1553 which is critical to scientists understanding of high-latitude environmental conditions ocean circulation and wind patterns during a time in recent earth history characterized by the evolution of climate from extreme warmth into a climate state that supported the growth of ice sheets on antarctica thomas said iodp and texas a&m have a long history: since 1985 texas a&m has served as the host of joides resolution science operations and the joides resolution science operator (jrso) is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences two of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories are housed at texas a&m and at the marum at the university of bremen iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries conducting critically needed science even with a shortened itinerary about 10 days before the expedition began thomas and röhl learned from iodp and jrso leadership that an inspection of the joides resolutions derrick revealed that it could not drill in waters deeper than 2 kilometers eliminating four of the five drill sites originally planned for expedition 378 and therefore shortening the overall expedition science conducted at sea is an inherently risky operation and successful data collection truly relies on an alignment of stars favorable weather and sea state properly functioning sampling equipment and a safely functioning research vessel thomas wrote at the time safety is paramount all sea-going scientists have their tale of misaligned stars thomas and röhl regrouped and worked with jrso director dr brad clement to quickly adjust the expeditions plans for only drilling at one site instead of five: site u1553 located south of new zealand the only way forward was positive thomas said everyone onboard the ship is giving up time everyone is enduring some sacrifice so it really fell on us to make sure that not only was the experience as positive and formative as possible but that everyone came away with really impactful science decades before this voyage cores from the same location as site u1553 had been recovered by iodps predecessor the deep see drilling project (dsdp) aboard the glomar challenger drillship in 1973 but the modern state-of-the art drilling and laboratory equipment on the joides resolution and iodps scientific advances in drilling and analyzing sediments made a revisit to the site a very strategic endeavor in 2020 we return to dsdp site 277 we give it a new name a couple new holes and the best scientific analysis we can muster wrote expedition 378 outreach officer lindy newman during the voyage in 2020 we call it iodp site u1553 because even after all our scientific advancements the earth still has secrets to reveal how to lead a floating never-stopping multilingual science station what is it like to co-lead a science team of experts from all over the world sedimentologists micropaleontologists petrologists chemists paleomagnetists downhole logging specialists and equipment technicians all constantly working in 12-hour shifts on a tight schedule in the middle of the ocean while also coordinating with a crew of professional drill operators serving as co-chief was a stressful blast thomas said even before sailing the science that they proposed for the expedition required a tremendous amount of planning she said then we worked with the program management offices in our various iodp member consortia and nations to select the ideal group of scientists to help us achieve these scientific objectives aboard the joides resolution a co-chief scientists day is very busy thomas led the day shift which was noon to midnight and röhl led the night shift from midnight to noon  once we reach the drill site the co-chiefs job is to really help guide decision making about drilling she explained its working with the drillers and the operations team to best use the time that we have available for drilling operations and so in our case we had to balance getting redundant but critical replication of different portions of the sediment sequence in the five separate holes drilled at site u1553" at the sampling table: ingrid hendy sedimentologist university of michigan; christopher hollis observer/micropaleontologist gns science new zealand; and wei yuan paleomagnetist tongji university china (photo credit: lindy newman and iodp) siem offshore personnel place the drill bit into position on the rig floor (photo credit: tim fulton iodp jrso) "natural gas levels in the sea floor equipment issues goals to replicate multiple copies of cores or fill in gaps identified in the previous holes as well as weather conditions are all factors that the co-chiefs and the operators consider in making their drilling decisions we had to make constant decisions working with our stratigraphic correlator the drillers the operations manager every time a core came up we examined the how much core was recovered relative to how far the driller advanced the hole depth and had to decide for the next core if we attempt a full 10m advance or a half advance or was this the time when we should switch from the piston corer to the extended core barrel a diverse team immersed in science 24/7 scientists aboard the joides resolution are required to work in 12-hour shifts 7 days a week for relaxation and recreation they enjoy a phenomenal gym a great movie room musical instruments and games thomas said but part of the recreation is in the luxury of being able to immerse ourselves in science without having to do laundry or cook or any of those usual things it really is a rare gift to be able to recapture why you were passionate about this science in the first place and to get to engage in interdisciplinary problem-solving for huge chunks of the day another noteworthy aspect of expedition 378s science team was that it was uniquely diverse we were the first science party to sail on the joides resolution in which the three primary leadership roles as well as the lab officer all were filled by women and the majority of the entire science party was female absolutely amazing she explained i think that the diverse composition of the science party is a really important triumph to share with children and students in college and graduate school who are thinking about a career in science after this extraordinary team processed the last core packed up the drill pipe raised the thrusters and waved goodbye to site u1553 the science party still had years of progress and discoveries to look forward to weve laid a foundation for these scientists to do some amazing science over the next four years and beyond thomas said and i think weve also shown the early career team members that a career in science is not only going to be rewarding but its going to be fun and theyll have a chance to feel supported in the community that weve created with this shipboard science party in april the sediment cores from expedition 378 will arrive at the iodp gulf coast repository housed at texas a&m for sampling and x-ray florescence analysis and the science party will gather for its post-cruise meeting this is just an immensely talented group of scientists the quality of the science is going to be unbelievable by leslie lee 09" " fueling future geologiststom and cyd kelly's impactful giving has endowed two petroleum geosciences scholarships and one graduate student fellowshipfeb 27 2020the michel t halbouty geosciences building at texas a&mfor as long as he can remember tom kelly 53 55 has been immersed in the oil and gas business i grew up in the oil industry he said as a kid i was painting oil tanks or working on a rig i loved itand i still do to this day but for tom growing up in the oil industry meant growing up as the stepson of one of the worlds most renowned petroleum geologists and wildcatters: michel t halbouty 30 a mere six weeks after receiving his degree from the then agricultural and mechanical college of texas halbouty discovered the 150 million-barrel high island oilfield near galveston then in 1957 he became the first independent petroleum producer to adventure into alaskas unexplored areas his reputation as a fearless adventurer and enormously successful wildcatter cemented his place in historyand in lore while some children try to escape the shadow of famous parents tom enthusiastically followed in his stepfathers footsteps through business sense subject knowledge political involvement and an uncanny ability to spot and act on promising opportunities tom has made his own indelible mark on the oil and gas industry like halbouty before him tom is also leaving a legacy of a different kind: gifts to the texas a&m foundation by tom and his wife cyd will help countless students afford a petroleum geology education at texas a&m university preparing them to make their own contributions to the fossil fuel industry making his mark growing up in houston tom always knew hed be a petroleum geologist like his stepfather i got indoctrinated at an early age he said but ive loved everything about it for tom attending texas a&m was part of that plan while he knew he would get a first-rate education he didnt foresee the mentor relationships that in many ways proved even more valuable than the classroom experience we had great professors who took tremendous individual interest in each student he said i found them incredibly encouraging particularly when i reached the graduate student levelcadet tom kelly '53 '55 poses for his senior texas a&m portraittom and cyd kelly tom kelly 53 55 among those many outstanding geology faculty members tom said were professor travis j parker and department head shirley a lynch who influenced toms enthusiasm for petroleum geology as a profession but it was professor fred smith his graduate supervisor whom he remembers most fondly tom spent many nights sleeping on the smiths porch after long hot summer days in the field followed by strict grammar corrections to his thesis by freds wife odette who was an incredible english teacher after earning his masters degree tom spent two years conducting national security and counterintelligence operations in the us air force in 1956 he went to work as an exploration geologist for conoco but left that job two years later and joined a new company: halbouty alaska oil company in anchorage alaska it was during his nine years working for the halbouty alaska oil co that tom became friends with wally hickela larger-than-life figure who would rise from a kansas tenant farm to become a self-made millionaire governor of alaska and us secretary of the interior tom and hickels friendship was based in great part on their common vision for alaskan statehood and growth and for development of its resources by and for the alaskan people hickel appointed tom as the states commissioner of natural resources in 1967 two years later north americas largest oil field was discovered on state-owned lands tom planned and presided over the largest oil and gas lease sale (to that point in time) of prudhoe bay leases which netted the state of alaska nearly $1 billion and brought the state out of near bankruptcy this laid the groundwork for the permanent fund that pays all alaskan residents a handsome cash dividend annually something unique to alaska after three years as commissioner and a regime change tom decided to set out on his own for 27 years he shared his exploration conservation and development know-how as a geological consultant primarily helping native alaskan corporations manage natural resource development matters on tribal lands a perfect partnership by the time tom and cyd met in houston he was a widower with four grown children they married in 1992 and she and her two children followed him to his home in seattle tom was without an administrative assistant at that time and cyd stepped in to fill the role for what was supposedly a two-week timeframe while tom found another assistant nothing happened and cyd has been his partner in life and business ever since almost three decades later the couple still marvels at the role fate played in their partnership cyd mastered accounting skills while working in houstons galleria complex real estate office later she served as an administrative assistant for two pricewaterhousecoopers international tax partners who specialized in oil and gas taxation she also handled the personal oil and gas investments of one of those partners  everything i did was beneficial down the road she said my prior careers prepared me to work with tom another kind of legacy when halbouty passed away in 2004 he left a legacy both as a petroleum geologist and as a texas a&m benefactor in terms of his own legacy tom continues to provide gifts to the foundation he and cyd have endowed two petroleum geosciences scholarships and one graduate student fellowship while proceeds from the graduate fellowship are already helping texas a&m students afford their education the kellys recently decided to enhance this endowment through a planned gift by remembering the foundation in their will the couple will double the size of this endowment and by giving in the form of a charitable bequest they retain full use of their assets during their lifetime while supporting texas a&m students with a portion of those assets after theyre gone dr julie newman professor and department head for the department of geology and geophysics explained the long-term impact of the kellys gift ""graduate fellowships invest in our future because graduate education in geology is fundamental to the discovery of new knowledge about the earth and its resources the graduate experience in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m prepares students to lead our field contributions like this change lives and build careers this generous gift will have a lasting impact for years to come""  by pledging a planned gift that will enhance their already-established graduate student endowment the kellys feel they will both impact the lives of more students and in doing so bolster the future of the petroleum geology field im still heavily partial to geosciences and i think theres a lot of life left in the fossil fuel energy business tom explained hydrocarbon resources are used for so many things besides fuel that there simply wont be a time when we wont need them im all for renewable resources but i dont believe the fossil fuel industry is anywhere close to dead by kara bounds socol originally published by the texas a&m foundation " "for as long as he can remember tom kelly 53 55 has been immersed in the oil and gas business i grew up in the oil industry he said as a kid i was painting oil tanks or working on a rig i loved itand i still do to this day but for tom growing up in the oil industry meant growing up as the stepson of one of the worlds most renowned petroleum geologists and wildcatters: michel t halbouty 30 a mere six weeks after receiving his degree from the then agricultural and mechanical college of texas halbouty discovered the 150 million-barrel high island oilfield near galveston then in 1957 he became the first independent petroleum producer to adventure into alaskas unexplored areas his reputation as a fearless adventurer and enormously successful wildcatter cemented his place in historyand in lore while some children try to escape the shadow of famous parents tom enthusiastically followed in his stepfathers footsteps through business sense subject knowledge political involvement and an uncanny ability to spot and act on promising opportunities tom has made his own indelible mark on the oil and gas industry like halbouty before him tom is also leaving a legacy of a different kind: gifts to the texas a&m foundation by tom and his wife cyd will help countless students afford a petroleum geology education at texas a&m university preparing them to make their own contributions to the fossil fuel industry making his mark growing up in houston tom always knew hed be a petroleum geologist like his stepfather i got indoctrinated at an early age he said but ive loved everything about it for tom attending texas a&m was part of that plan while he knew he would get a first-rate education he didnt foresee the mentor relationships that in many ways proved even more valuable than the classroom experience we had great professors who took tremendous individual interest in each student he said i found them incredibly encouraging particularly when i reached the graduate student level" cadet tom kelly '53 '55 poses for his senior texas a&m portraittom and cyd kelly tom kelly 53 55  "among those many outstanding geology faculty members tom said were professor travis j parker and department head shirley a lynch who influenced toms enthusiasm for petroleum geology as a profession but it was professor fred smith his graduate supervisor whom he remembers most fondly tom spent many nights sleeping on the smiths porch after long hot summer days in the field followed by strict grammar corrections to his thesis by freds wife odette who was an incredible english teacher after earning his masters degree tom spent two years conducting national security and counterintelligence operations in the us air force in 1956 he went to work as an exploration geologist for conoco but left that job two years later and joined a new company: halbouty alaska oil company in anchorage alaska it was during his nine years working for the halbouty alaska oil co that tom became friends with wally hickela larger-than-life figure who would rise from a kansas tenant farm to become a self-made millionaire governor of alaska and us secretary of the interior tom and hickels friendship was based in great part on their common vision for alaskan statehood and growth and for development of its resources by and for the alaskan people hickel appointed tom as the states commissioner of natural resources in 1967 two years later north americas largest oil field was discovered on state-owned lands tom planned and presided over the largest oil and gas lease sale (to that point in time) of prudhoe bay leases which netted the state of alaska nearly $1 billion and brought the state out of near bankruptcy this laid the groundwork for the permanent fund that pays all alaskan residents a handsome cash dividend annually something unique to alaska after three years as commissioner and a regime change tom decided to set out on his own for 27 years he shared his exploration conservation and development know-how as a geological consultant primarily helping native alaskan corporations manage natural resource development matters on tribal lands a perfect partnership by the time tom and cyd met in houston he was a widower with four grown children they married in 1992 and she and her two children followed him to his home in seattle tom was without an administrative assistant at that time and cyd stepped in to fill the role for what was supposedly a two-week timeframe while tom found another assistant nothing happened and cyd has been his partner in life and business ever since almost three decades later the couple still marvels at the role fate played in their partnership cyd mastered accounting skills while working in houstons galleria complex real estate office later she served as an administrative assistant for two pricewaterhousecoopers international tax partners who specialized in oil and gas taxation she also handled the personal oil and gas investments of one of those partners  everything i did was beneficial down the road she said my prior careers prepared me to work with tom another kind of legacy when halbouty passed away in 2004 he left a legacy both as a petroleum geologist and as a texas a&m benefactor in terms of his own legacy tom continues to provide gifts to the foundation he and cyd have endowed two petroleum geosciences scholarships and one graduate student fellowship while proceeds from the graduate fellowship are already helping texas a&m students afford their education the kellys recently decided to enhance this endowment through a planned gift by remembering the foundation in their will the couple will double the size of this endowment and by giving in the form of a charitable bequest they retain full use of their assets during their lifetime while supporting texas a&m students with a portion of those assets after theyre gone dr julie newman professor and department head for the department of geology and geophysics explained the long-term impact of the kellys gift ""graduate fellowships invest in our future because graduate education in geology is fundamental to the discovery of new knowledge about the earth and its resources the graduate experience in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m prepares students to lead our field contributions like this change lives and build careers this generous gift will have a lasting impact for years to come""  by pledging a planned gift that will enhance their already-established graduate student endowment the kellys feel they will both impact the lives of more students and in doing so bolster the future of the petroleum geology field im still heavily partial to geosciences and i think theres a lot of life left in the fossil fuel energy business tom explained hydrocarbon resources are used for so many things besides fuel that there simply wont be a time when we wont need them im all for renewable resources but i dont believe the fossil fuel industry is anywhere close to dead by kara bounds socol originally published by the texas a&m foundation" " graduate students present research at special atmospheric sciences seminarkyle wodzicki and brianna hendrickson winners of the atmospheric science graduate student seminar series presented their researchfeb 26 2020kyle wodzicki and brianna hendrickson: winners of the 2019 atmospheric sciences graduate student seminar series (all photos by david coates)each year the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university provides funding for a series of seminars presented by graduate students for an audience of other graduate students the purpose is for students to practice giving presentations to a peer audience and the subject matter is open to any research the students are engaged in either through funding internships or personal interest most students choose to present their masters or phd research and each presentation is given constructive feedback from the graduate student audience at the end of the semester the highest rated seminar speaker is awarded a $500 cash award for their work each years winners are then invited to present their research to the entire department during its spring seminar series the following year kyle wodzicki the winner of the spring 2019 series and brianna hendrickson winner of the fall 2019 series presented this yearwodzicki's presentation: variations in cloud populations with itcz width in the pacific oceanhendrickson's presentation: determining how composition changes in the sea surface microlayer affect cloud formationkyle wodzicki: changes in tropical pacific convection wodzicki who works with dr anita rapp presented his doctoral research concerning changes in convection in the tropical pacific ocean the walker and hadley cell circulations the tropical components of the general atmospheric mean circulation have been observed to have changed as a result of climate change wodzicki said the intertropical convergence zone (itcz) the meeting point between the northern and southern hemispheric circulation cells is strongly linked to tropical precipitation therefore he said identifying how tropical convection and cloud populations react to changes in the itcz is a key research area in identifying the impacts of climate change wodzickis current research builds on his masters research in which he built a database of itcz characteristics using an algorithm to identify the location of convergence regions in the tropical pacific over the last 30 years he was then able to compare that database with data collected from the terra aqua and trmm satellites to quantify the magnitude and location of itczs and see how changes in those characteristics affect rainfall rates he found that tropical precipitation is less driven directly by the itcz and more by the el niño southern oscillation (enso) and that the itcz is more a feature of the convection than vice versa this research has been submitted for publication in the journal of climate wodzicki who has a background in data visualization as well as atmospheric science is planning to work in software development after hes completed his phd developing tools for scientists to use in their research brianna hendrickson: north atlantic aerosols and naames field campaigns hendrickson who works with dr sarah brooks in collaboration with dr daniel thornton in the department of oceanography presented her masters work which is centered around two field campaigns she took part in during her first year as a graduate student: the north atlantic aerosols and marine ecosystems study (naames) 3 and 4 campaigns hendrickson said that her research involved taking measurements to better understand the ocean and atmospheric processes influencing cloud formation during a phytoplankton bloom one specific topic of interest which connects the ocean and atmospheric processes with the aerosol populations is the sea surface microlayer (sml) she said the sml is the interface between the ocean and the atmosphere the importance of the sml composition is related to aerosols generated from the surface of the ocean it is well known that marine aerosols consist largely of salts and that these inorganic compounds efficiently activate as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) resulting in cloud formation she said however the ability of organic compounds (such as those present in marine aerosols) to activate as ccn is not well characterized during the third and fourth naames campaigns hendrickson sampled the sml at several stations to further study the properties of the organics present in marine aerosols the sml samples were desalinated to remove the salts present the samples were then aerosolized to determine their ability to activate as ccn by comparing the activation of aerosols as ccn from the sml samples and desalinated sml samples the influence of marine organics on cloud formation could be better quantified she said results from this study will be submitted to the frontiers journal in the coming months now a phd candidate hendrickson is hoping to continue work characterizing ccn but is moving from marine organic matter to pollen as the topic of her upcoming research which she says will involve designing and building a pollen chamber in addition to determining pollens ability to activate as ccn the pollen will also be tested to determine their ability to activate as ice nucleating particles (inp) after graduate school hendrickson is hoping to continue conducting research that involves more field studies such as naames 3 and 4 and is hoping to continue such work into her career by david coates " kyle wodzicki and brianna hendrickson: winners of the 2019 atmospheric sciences graduate student seminar series (all photos by david coates) "each year the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university provides funding for a series of seminars presented by graduate students for an audience of other graduate students the purpose is for students to practice giving presentations to a peer audience and the subject matter is open to any research the students are engaged in either through funding internships or personal interest most students choose to present their masters or phd research and each presentation is given constructive feedback from the graduate student audience at the end of the semester the highest rated seminar speaker is awarded a $500 cash award for their work each years winners are then invited to present their research to the entire department during its spring seminar series the following year kyle wodzicki the winner of the spring 2019 series and brianna hendrickson winner of the fall 2019 series presented this year" wodzicki's presentation: variations in cloud populations with itcz width in the pacific oceanhendrickson's presentation: determining how composition changes in the sea surface microlayer affect cloud formation "kyle wodzicki: changes in tropical pacific convection wodzicki who works with dr anita rapp presented his doctoral research concerning changes in convection in the tropical pacific ocean the walker and hadley cell circulations the tropical components of the general atmospheric mean circulation have been observed to have changed as a result of climate change wodzicki said the intertropical convergence zone (itcz) the meeting point between the northern and southern hemispheric circulation cells is strongly linked to tropical precipitation therefore he said identifying how tropical convection and cloud populations react to changes in the itcz is a key research area in identifying the impacts of climate change wodzickis current research builds on his masters research in which he built a database of itcz characteristics using an algorithm to identify the location of convergence regions in the tropical pacific over the last 30 years he was then able to compare that database with data collected from the terra aqua and trmm satellites to quantify the magnitude and location of itczs and see how changes in those characteristics affect rainfall rates he found that tropical precipitation is less driven directly by the itcz and more by the el niño southern oscillation (enso) and that the itcz is more a feature of the convection than vice versa this research has been submitted for publication in the journal of climate wodzicki who has a background in data visualization as well as atmospheric science is planning to work in software development after hes completed his phd developing tools for scientists to use in their research brianna hendrickson: north atlantic aerosols and naames field campaigns hendrickson who works with dr sarah brooks in collaboration with dr daniel thornton in the department of oceanography presented her masters work which is centered around two field campaigns she took part in during her first year as a graduate student: the north atlantic aerosols and marine ecosystems study (naames) 3 and 4 campaigns hendrickson said that her research involved taking measurements to better understand the ocean and atmospheric processes influencing cloud formation during a phytoplankton bloom one specific topic of interest which connects the ocean and atmospheric processes with the aerosol populations is the sea surface microlayer (sml) she said the sml is the interface between the ocean and the atmosphere the importance of the sml composition is related to aerosols generated from the surface of the ocean it is well known that marine aerosols consist largely of salts and that these inorganic compounds efficiently activate as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) resulting in cloud formation she said however the ability of organic compounds (such as those present in marine aerosols) to activate as ccn is not well characterized during the third and fourth naames campaigns hendrickson sampled the sml at several stations to further study the properties of the organics present in marine aerosols the sml samples were desalinated to remove the salts present the samples were then aerosolized to determine their ability to activate as ccn by comparing the activation of aerosols as ccn from the sml samples and desalinated sml samples the influence of marine organics on cloud formation could be better quantified she said results from this study will be submitted to the frontiers journal in the coming months now a phd candidate hendrickson is hoping to continue work characterizing ccn but is moving from marine organic matter to pollen as the topic of her upcoming research which she says will involve designing and building a pollen chamber in addition to determining pollens ability to activate as ccn the pollen will also be tested to determine their ability to activate as ice nucleating particles (inp) after graduate school hendrickson is hoping to continue conducting research that involves more field studies such as naames 3 and 4 and is hoping to continue such work into her career by david coates" " geology and geophysics graduate student receives agu outstanding student presentation awardtexas a&m geology and geophysics graduate student monica barbery was awarded a 2019 outstanding presentation awardfeb 25 2020monica barbery with experimental deformation rig in the center for tectonophysics lab (photo courtesy of monica barbery)monica barbery a graduate student in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently received an outstanding student presentation award from the american geophysical union (agu) barbery presented her research at the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 - 13 2019 the outstanding student presentation awards (ospa) are awarded to promote recognize and reward undergraduate masters and doctoral students for quality research in earth and space science and the ability to effectively communicate it barbery is a geology and geophysics doctoral student who works in the center for tectonophysics her research simulated earthquakes in the centers lab using a high-speed biaxial apparatus and measured surface temperatures during experiments by using a high-speed infrared camera  temperature distributions were combined with 1-d thermal models to characterize the distribution and evolution of normal stress during sliding and to understand how changing sliding surface conditions impact the frictional behavior of rocks during earthquakes at the agu meeting she gave an oral presentation titled temperature and stress distribution on flash heated contacts in granite at seismic slip rates im honored to receive such a prestigious award and im grateful for the opportunity to be a part of texas a&ms innovative research in geoscience barbery said id like to recognize the ospa volunteer judges liaisons and coordinators for their dedication and im thankful for their constructive feedback im grateful for the feedback and support i received from my advisors when preparing and rehearsing my talk and for the collective support from my fellow graduate students faculty and staff in the geology and geophysics department barberys faculty advisors are dr judith chester and dr frederick chester both professors in the department of geology and geophysics by ali snell " monica barbery with experimental deformation rig in the center for tectonophysics lab (photo courtesy of monica barbery) "monica barbery a graduate student in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university recently received an outstanding student presentation award from the american geophysical union (agu) barbery presented her research at the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 - 13 2019 the outstanding student presentation awards (ospa) are awarded to promote recognize and reward undergraduate masters and doctoral students for quality research in earth and space science and the ability to effectively communicate it barbery is a geology and geophysics doctoral student who works in the center for tectonophysics her research simulated earthquakes in the centers lab using a high-speed biaxial apparatus and measured surface temperatures during experiments by using a high-speed infrared camera  temperature distributions were combined with 1-d thermal models to characterize the distribution and evolution of normal stress during sliding and to understand how changing sliding surface conditions impact the frictional behavior of rocks during earthquakes at the agu meeting she gave an oral presentation titled temperature and stress distribution on flash heated contacts in granite at seismic slip rates im honored to receive such a prestigious award and im grateful for the opportunity to be a part of texas a&ms innovative research in geoscience barbery said id like to recognize the ospa volunteer judges liaisons and coordinators for their dedication and im thankful for their constructive feedback im grateful for the feedback and support i received from my advisors when preparing and rehearsing my talk and for the collective support from my fellow graduate students faculty and staff in the geology and geophysics department barberys faculty advisors are dr judith chester and dr frederick chester both professors in the department of geology and geophysics by ali snell" " texas sea grant awards $14 million in research funding to support the texas coastthe grants support research in natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering that can positively impact texas and its citizens feb 24 2020the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded five new research grants totaling $14 million for two-year research projects the grants will fund researchers at universities around the state to support coastal and marine ecosystems communities and economies through partnerships with the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top scientists funded projects are selected using a competitive and rigorous peer-review process that considers the projects potential to produce substantial and beneficial impacts to society and its ability to integrate research and extension efforts projects must also align with texas sea grants strategic plan and four focus areas: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem (science technology engineering and math) education and workforce development awards for the 2020 - 2022 period are: a hybrid decision support system for driving resiliency in texas coastal communities dr amir behzadan texas a&m university and texas a&m engineering experiment station guaranteeing coastal wetland survival under sea level rise through nature-based beneficial-use dredged sediment placement: a galveston bay living laboratory dr jens figlus texas a&m university – galveston oyster aquaculture suitability index and production potential model for the eastern oyster (crassostrea virginica) in copano bay tx usa dr joe fox texas a&m university ­– corpus christi (tamucc) long-term benthic data informs adaptive management of freshwater inflow to the texas coastal bend dr paul montagna tamucc  safety of slab home elevations in harvey-affected communities: research extension training and outreach dr nur yazdani university of texas at arlington according to texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin these new research grants will support outcome-oriented research that span the natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering while generating substantial positive impacts for the people economy and ecosystems of texas " "the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university has awarded five new research grants totaling $14 million for two-year research projects the grants will fund researchers at universities around the state to support coastal and marine ecosystems communities and economies through partnerships with the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top scientists funded projects are selected using a competitive and rigorous peer-review process that considers the projects potential to produce substantial and beneficial impacts to society and its ability to integrate research and extension efforts projects must also align with texas sea grants strategic plan and four focus areas: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem (science technology engineering and math) education and workforce development awards for the 2020 - 2022 period are: a hybrid decision support system for driving resiliency in texas coastal communities dr amir behzadan texas a&m university and texas a&m engineering experiment station guaranteeing coastal wetland survival under sea level rise through nature-based beneficial-use dredged sediment placement: a galveston bay living laboratory dr jens figlus texas a&m university – galveston oyster aquaculture suitability index and production potential model for the eastern oyster (crassostrea virginica) in copano bay tx usa dr joe fox texas a&m university ­– corpus christi (tamucc) long-term benthic data informs adaptive management of freshwater inflow to the texas coastal bend dr paul montagna tamucc  safety of slab home elevations in harvey-affected communities: research extension training and outreach dr nur yazdani university of texas at arlington according to texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin these new research grants will support outcome-oriented research that span the natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering while generating substantial positive impacts for the people economy and ecosystems of texas" " investigating past ocean circulation slowey led nsf-funded southern argentine margin expedition dr niall slowey led an nsf-funded expedition to the southern argentine margin with three oceanography graduate students also onboard feb 21 2020ocean circulation plays a central role in regulating the earths climate system transferring heat from warm low latitudes to cold high latitude regions and cycling various elements including carbon nutrients and trace elements modern oceanographic observations and geochemical evidences have revealed that the southern ocean and north atlantic ocean are the largest and most important engines of todays deep ocean circulation however our knowledge of earths past ocean circulation is less clear for example aspects of ocean circulation during the last glacial maximum (lgm) the time during the most recent glacial period when ice sheets at both poles were at their greatest extent are not fully understood unfortunately our knowledge of the end-member characteristics of lgm water masses particularly those originating from the southern ocean is very limited said dr niall slowey professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m universitydr niall slowey professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m universitythe argentine margin and the track of the r/v thomas g thompson the ship embarked and arrived back to the port in montevideo uruguay with most work being done in a large area located north of the falkland/malvinas islands (image courtesy of ruby schaufler)from sept 11 to oct 31 2019 slowey led an expedition in the southern argentine margin aboard the ship r/v thomas g thompson to investigate the characteristics of the water masses originating from the southern ocean and their role in climate/ocean circulation during recent geological past including the lgm this collaborative research co-led by dr james wright professor at rutgers university was funded by the national science foundation (nsf) the argentine margin is like an intersection slowey said this oceanographic region is a unique place where all of the major water masses in the atlantic ocean converge to reconstruct the history of ocean water masses and better understand their variations in conjunction with past climate the answer lies in the marine sediment beneath the seafloor according to slowey the histories of climatic and oceanographic conditions are reflected by the geochemical composition and deposition of the sediments that accumulate along continental margins over time moreover changes in climate sea-level and ocean circulation greatly influence the sediment supply and eventually the architecture of the margin therefore by studying the sequences of continental margin sediments scientists have a special opportunity to reconstruct comprehensive histories of ocean circulation and to better understand its fundamental connection to both changes in global climate and the evolution of continental margins over timeimage of an air-gun that acted as the sound source (photo courtesy of ruby schaufler)higher-resolution images of the upper few tens of meters of the seabed were obtained using a chirp subbottom profiler which relies upon higher frequency sound pulses than those made by the air-guns layers are clearly shown by black lines on this subbottom profile image which represents a cross section of the seabed (photo courtesy of niall slowey)to investigate the southern argentine margin and its sedimentary records of past ocean circulation scientists aboard the expedition used integrated research techniques including: acoustic imaging (multichannel seismic surveying subbottom profiling and multibeam-mapping) seafloor sediment sampling using gravity cores piston cores and multi-corers and seawater property measurements to obtain high-resolution images of seabed features that may be hundreds of meters thick a pair of air-guns and 900-meter-long hydrophone streamer were towed in the seawater behind the ship the guns released air bubbles to generate pulses of sound that traveled down to the seafloor and then penetrated the sediments that make up the seabed sound that reflected off sediment layers was measured by the hydrophones in the streamer and then used to generate images of the seabed featurestexas a&m graduate student richard rosas (right) and tim shamus from rutgers university (left) standing next to the multi-corer which has clear plastic tubes attached to it (photo courtesy of james wright)the tubes collect seawater and sediment samples when the multi-corer is lowered to the seafloor (photo courtesy of james wright)three current texas a&m oceanography graduate students advised by slowey were also part of the cruise: josé córdova richard rosas and ruby schaufler additionally texas a&m student researcher tanner eischen and former graduate student dr theodore them now an assistant professor at college of charleston were also aboard while at sea the students participated in hands-on research collecting sediment cores and oceanographic data their major responsibility was to log various sediment cores using a multi-sensor core logger (mscl) to obtain the physical properties of the core such as core length thickness bulk density etc in addition seawater samples were collected at each core site overall the expedition surveyed more than 9000 km and collected over 370 meters of sediment samples slowey said once the crew brought the sediment cores on to the deck we as a team had to cut clean and label all the cores which took several hours to accomplish the task after much experience and organizing ourselves as a pit team we learned to manage the tasks córdova said we got to know each other and the coring operation became the fun moment of the day rather becoming a routine job during the cruise to us the cruise was not only a scientific experience but also a life and leadership experienceruby schaufler sitting on top of all cores collected during the expedition (photo courtesy of ruby schaufler)day watch researchers jose córdova tanner eischen and ruby schaufler from texas a&m university along aaron watters and mark yu from rutgers universtiy and gregorio diaz torres from argentina cutting a sediment core on the deck after recovery (photo courtesy of james wright)not only was the argentine expedition essential for our nsf project it is very important for our next step slowey said slowey and wright are leading an effort to plan an international ocean discovery program (iodp) scientific drilling expedition to re-visit the argentine margin and collect much longer records of sediment cores using the iodp drilling ship joides resolution the proposed plan is now being considered by the iodp science evaluation panel despite its importance as sedimentary record scientific ocean drilling has yet to be conducted along the argentine margin slowey said the seismic data and other results from this study will be used to refine drilling targets and identify specific sites for the proposed drilling leg which would enable better understanding of the evolution of the southern oceans water mass structure over the cenozoic (the past 65 million years) by bumsoo kim " "ocean circulation plays a central role in regulating the earths climate system transferring heat from warm low latitudes to cold high latitude regions and cycling various elements including carbon nutrients and trace elements modern oceanographic observations and geochemical evidences have revealed that the southern ocean and north atlantic ocean are the largest and most important engines of todays deep ocean circulation however our knowledge of earths past ocean circulation is less clear for example aspects of ocean circulation during the last glacial maximum (lgm) the time during the most recent glacial period when ice sheets at both poles were at their greatest extent are not fully understood unfortunately our knowledge of the end-member characteristics of lgm water masses particularly those originating from the southern ocean is very limited said dr niall slowey professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university" dr niall slowey professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m universitythe argentine margin and the track of the r/v thomas g thompson the ship embarked and arrived back to the port in montevideo uruguay with most work being done in a large area located north of the falkland/malvinas islands (image courtesy of ruby schaufler) "from sept 11 to oct 31 2019 slowey led an expedition in the southern argentine margin aboard the ship r/v thomas g thompson to investigate the characteristics of the water masses originating from the southern ocean and their role in climate/ocean circulation during recent geological past including the lgm this collaborative research co-led by dr james wright professor at rutgers university was funded by the national science foundation (nsf) the argentine margin is like an intersection slowey said this oceanographic region is a unique place where all of the major water masses in the atlantic ocean converge to reconstruct the history of ocean water masses and better understand their variations in conjunction with past climate the answer lies in the marine sediment beneath the seafloor according to slowey the histories of climatic and oceanographic conditions are reflected by the geochemical composition and deposition of the sediments that accumulate along continental margins over time moreover changes in climate sea-level and ocean circulation greatly influence the sediment supply and eventually the architecture of the margin therefore by studying the sequences of continental margin sediments scientists have a special opportunity to reconstruct comprehensive histories of ocean circulation and to better understand its fundamental connection to both changes in global climate and the evolution of continental margins over time" image of an air-gun that acted as the sound source (photo courtesy of ruby schaufler)higher-resolution images of the upper few tens of meters of the seabed were obtained using a chirp subbottom profiler which relies upon higher frequency sound pulses than those made by the air-guns layers are clearly shown by black lines on this subbottom profile image which represents a cross section of the seabed (photo courtesy of niall slowey) "to investigate the southern argentine margin and its sedimentary records of past ocean circulation scientists aboard the expedition used integrated research techniques including: acoustic imaging (multichannel seismic surveying subbottom profiling and multibeam-mapping) seafloor sediment sampling using gravity cores piston cores and multi-corers and seawater property measurements to obtain high-resolution images of seabed features that may be hundreds of meters thick a pair of air-guns and 900-meter-long hydrophone streamer were towed in the seawater behind the ship the guns released air bubbles to generate pulses of sound that traveled down to the seafloor and then penetrated the sediments that make up the seabed sound that reflected off sediment layers was measured by the hydrophones in the streamer and then used to generate images of the seabed features" texas a&m graduate student richard rosas (right) and tim shamus from rutgers university (left) standing next to the multi-corer which has clear plastic tubes attached to it (photo courtesy of james wright)the tubes collect seawater and sediment samples when the multi-corer is lowered to the seafloor (photo courtesy of james wright) "three current texas a&m oceanography graduate students advised by slowey were also part of the cruise: josé córdova richard rosas and ruby schaufler additionally texas a&m student researcher tanner eischen and former graduate student dr theodore them now an assistant professor at college of charleston were also aboard while at sea the students participated in hands-on research collecting sediment cores and oceanographic data their major responsibility was to log various sediment cores using a multi-sensor core logger (mscl) to obtain the physical properties of the core such as core length thickness bulk density etc in addition seawater samples were collected at each core site overall the expedition surveyed more than 9000 km and collected over 370 meters of sediment samples slowey said once the crew brought the sediment cores on to the deck we as a team had to cut clean and label all the cores which took several hours to accomplish the task after much experience and organizing ourselves as a pit team we learned to manage the tasks córdova said we got to know each other and the coring operation became the fun moment of the day rather becoming a routine job during the cruise to us the cruise was not only a scientific experience but also a life and leadership experience" ruby schaufler sitting on top of all cores collected during the expedition (photo courtesy of ruby schaufler)day watch researchers jose córdova tanner eischen and ruby schaufler from texas a&m university along aaron watters and mark yu from rutgers universtiy and gregorio diaz torres from argentina cutting a sediment core on the deck after recovery (photo courtesy of james wright) "not only was the argentine expedition essential for our nsf project it is very important for our next step slowey said slowey and wright are leading an effort to plan an international ocean discovery program (iodp) scientific drilling expedition to re-visit the argentine margin and collect much longer records of sediment cores using the iodp drilling ship joides resolution the proposed plan is now being considered by the iodp science evaluation panel despite its importance as sedimentary record scientific ocean drilling has yet to be conducted along the argentine margin slowey said the seismic data and other results from this study will be used to refine drilling targets and identify specific sites for the proposed drilling leg which would enable better understanding of the evolution of the southern oceans water mass structure over the cenozoic (the past 65 million years) by bumsoo kim" " texas a&m scientists: record antarctic heat reflects current future climate trendsbecause earths poles hold massive amounts of ice recent high temperatures in antarctica are indicative of a trend of global concern and a changing antarctic region according to expertsfeb 17 2020the antarctic peninsula (istock)on feb 9 the high temperature here in college station texas was 74 degrees fahrenheit or 233 degrees celsius surprisingly the high temperature in antarctica that day was only slightly cooler brazilian scientists at antarcticas seymour island logged a high temperature of 6935 fahrenheit or 2075 celsius feb 9 if the record is confirmed by the world meteorological organization (wmo) this will be a new high temperature record for the antarctic region which includes all of the land and islands south of 60 degrees latitude this came after another record-breaking temperature just three days earlier on feb 6 the argentine research base esperanza on the northern tip of the antarctic peninsula recorded a high temperature of  649 degrees fahrenheit or 183 degrees celsius a new record temperature for the antarctic continent according to argentinas national meteorological service and reported by the wmo these one-time extreme temperature events are reflective of long-term climate trends experts from texas a&m universitys college of geosciences say and texas is already being impacted by the same globally interconnected trends these individual record temperatures are not concerning to me; what concerns me is the long-term upward trend in temperatures that made these apparent records more likely to occur said dr john nielsen-gammon texas a&m regents professor of atmospheric sciences and texas state climatologist scientists have been predicting since the 1890s that burning fossil fuels will warm the planet so this should surprise no one said dr andrew dessler professor in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences the antarctic peninsula which is the northwest tip near to south america is among the fastest warming regions of the planet almost 3 degrees celsius over the last 50 years according to the wmo the amount of ice lost annually from the antarctic ice sheet increased at least six-fold between 1979 and 2017 there is over 200 feet of sea-level locked up in antarctica and the warmer temperatures were seeing are a leading indicator that some of it will be released into the ocean where it will inundate low-lying land around the world dessler said for a state like texas with a very long coastline with expensive port facilities refineries and cities this is very bad news sea level rise is not an abstract risk to texans it is an ongoing reality the scientists said the texas gulf coast is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts because of three factors: sea level rise land subsidence and increased rainfall intensity nielsen-gammon said over the past century texas coastal lands have subsided at least as much as waters have risen he explained thats set to change especially if some of the big antarctic glaciers go unstable we know when past interglacials were warmer it led to many feet of additional sea level rise the question is shifting from whether it will happen again to how long it will take this time a warming antarctic could also lead to fundamental changes to what we have known as an isolated frigid continent covered in ice said dr julie loisel assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m as the antarctic glaciers are melting land gets uncovered and new ecosystems develop it is critically important she said to understand what these new ecosystems will become and what kinds of migration of plants insects and animals can be expected in the coming decades and centuries many sub-antarctic islands as well as the southern tip of south america are rich in carbon-accumulating peat wetlands loisel explained that these peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale as the antarctic peninsula continues to warm its possible that the mini-peatlands that have been observed there continue to grow to become increasingly important carbon reservoirs she said imagine a green antarctic if you wish rich in wetlands that flourish under warmer climates in 2014 loisel participated in a research expedition to the antarctic peninsula to sample peatlands and determine their carbon stocks because peat deposits can be cored and their layers read like a history book her research has been providing valuable insights into past climates from this region the antarctic peninsula is an incredible place its empty quiet and incredibly vast yet its more beautiful and inspiring than anyone can ever imagine loisel said there are only two species of flowering plants that grow there and they are believed to have been brought by birds that flew from patagonia many thousand years ago we need to spend more time and resources studying the environmental changes that are transforming this barren place into a green garden by leslie lee '09 " "on feb 9 the high temperature here in college station texas was 74 degrees fahrenheit or 233 degrees celsius surprisingly the high temperature in antarctica that day was only slightly cooler brazilian scientists at antarcticas seymour island logged a high temperature of 6935 fahrenheit or 2075 celsius feb 9 if the record is confirmed by the world meteorological organization (wmo) this will be a new high temperature record for the antarctic region which includes all of the land and islands south of 60 degrees latitude this came after another record-breaking temperature just three days earlier on feb 6 the argentine research base esperanza on the northern tip of the antarctic peninsula recorded a high temperature of  649 degrees fahrenheit or 183 degrees celsius a new record temperature for the antarctic continent according to argentinas national meteorological service and reported by the wmo these one-time extreme temperature events are reflective of long-term climate trends experts from texas a&m universitys college of geosciences say and texas is already being impacted by the same globally interconnected trends these individual record temperatures are not concerning to me; what concerns me is the long-term upward trend in temperatures that made these apparent records more likely to occur said dr john nielsen-gammon texas a&m regents professor of atmospheric sciences and texas state climatologist scientists have been predicting since the 1890s that burning fossil fuels will warm the planet so this should surprise no one said dr andrew dessler professor in the texas a&m department of atmospheric sciences the antarctic peninsula which is the northwest tip near to south america is among the fastest warming regions of the planet almost 3 degrees celsius over the last 50 years according to the wmo the amount of ice lost annually from the antarctic ice sheet increased at least six-fold between 1979 and 2017 there is over 200 feet of sea-level locked up in antarctica and the warmer temperatures were seeing are a leading indicator that some of it will be released into the ocean where it will inundate low-lying land around the world dessler said for a state like texas with a very long coastline with expensive port facilities refineries and cities this is very bad news sea level rise is not an abstract risk to texans it is an ongoing reality the scientists said the texas gulf coast is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts because of three factors: sea level rise land subsidence and increased rainfall intensity nielsen-gammon said over the past century texas coastal lands have subsided at least as much as waters have risen he explained thats set to change especially if some of the big antarctic glaciers go unstable we know when past interglacials were warmer it led to many feet of additional sea level rise the question is shifting from whether it will happen again to how long it will take this time a warming antarctic could also lead to fundamental changes to what we have known as an isolated frigid continent covered in ice said dr julie loisel assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m as the antarctic glaciers are melting land gets uncovered and new ecosystems develop it is critically important she said to understand what these new ecosystems will become and what kinds of migration of plants insects and animals can be expected in the coming decades and centuries many sub-antarctic islands as well as the southern tip of south america are rich in carbon-accumulating peat wetlands loisel explained that these peatlands store large quantities of carbon within their thick soil layers over thousands of years which causes them to act as a cooling climate agent on a global scale as the antarctic peninsula continues to warm its possible that the mini-peatlands that have been observed there continue to grow to become increasingly important carbon reservoirs she said imagine a green antarctic if you wish rich in wetlands that flourish under warmer climates in 2014 loisel participated in a research expedition to the antarctic peninsula to sample peatlands and determine their carbon stocks because peat deposits can be cored and their layers read like a history book her research has been providing valuable insights into past climates from this region the antarctic peninsula is an incredible place its empty quiet and incredibly vast yet its more beautiful and inspiring than anyone can ever imagine loisel said there are only two species of flowering plants that grow there and they are believed to have been brought by birds that flew from patagonia many thousand years ago we need to spend more time and resources studying the environmental changes that are transforming this barren place into a green garden by leslie lee '09" " judith chester named agu section awardeethe geology and geophysics professor was honored at the 2019 agu fall meetingfeb 12 2020dr judith chester professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was named a 2019 american geophysical union (agu) section awardee at the the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 – 13 2019 she received the paul g silver award for outstanding scientific service a joint award for geodesy seismology and tectonophysics sections of agu  dr chesters long-term leadership activities with the southern california earthquake center have been instrumental to this community and invaluable to our departments research endeavors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head we have long known dr chester as an individual who has given so much in service to her community and we are so proud that her contributions have been recognized by the broader geoscience community  the american geophysical union is the worlds largest earth and space science society  among the 25 sections of agu there are 65 awards 21 for early-career scientists 6 for midcareer and 27 awards are named lectureships that offer unique opportunities to highlight the meritorious accomplishments of the awardees named lectures offered by agu sections recognize distinguished scientists with proven leadership in their fields of science by ali snell " "dr judith chester professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was named a 2019 american geophysical union (agu) section awardee at the the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 – 13 2019 she received the paul g silver award for outstanding scientific service a joint award for geodesy seismology and tectonophysics sections of agu  dr chesters long-term leadership activities with the southern california earthquake center have been instrumental to this community and invaluable to our departments research endeavors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head we have long known dr chester as an individual who has given so much in service to her community and we are so proud that her contributions have been recognized by the broader geoscience community  the american geophysical union is the worlds largest earth and space science society  among the 25 sections of agu there are 65 awards 21 for early-career scientists 6 for midcareer and 27 awards are named lectureships that offer unique opportunities to highlight the meritorious accomplishments of the awardees named lectures offered by agu sections recognize distinguished scientists with proven leadership in their fields of science by ali snell " " study details how auto emissions pose human health problems worldwidetexas a&m researchers are part of a team that analyzed how auto exhaust in large cities especially in china is linked to air quality and health problemsfeb 10 2020vehicles drive along a road beijing china in heavy smog on jan 3 2017 (getty images)tiny matter called ultrafine particles in the atmosphere are un-regulated according to the world health organization but a team of international researchers that includes a texas a&m university professor and two graduate students has found that auto emissions are a key factor in the creation of the particles and pose a significant health problem in many urban areas dr renyi zhang texas a&m distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in geosciences and colleagues from the university of texas at austin the university of california-san diego the california institute of technology johns hopkins university and several chinese universities have had their work published in the latest issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team studied auto emissions relevant to urban areas especially beijing which has some of the highest pollution from auto exhaust in the world it found that the auto exhaust plays a part in the creation of large amounts of ultrafine particles tiny matter that is no wider than one-thousandth of a human hair these tiny particles are a proven harmful contributor to air quality and human health and have been linked to birth defects this has been an emerging area for research zhang said ultrafine particles can penetrate easily through human lungs and reach many vital organs the impacts of ultrafine particles on human health can be far-reaching currently ultrafine particles are un-regulated they can be present in high concentrations but you still see blue sky the air quality standards established by the us environmental protection agency (epa) only limit the mass concentration of pm25 – referring to particles smaller than 25 microns – for human health concerns ultrafine particles make up little pm25 because of their negligibly small masses they are produced more efficiently when the atmospheric pm25 levels are low according to this study our measurements are representative of typical urban environments worldwide since the gasoline fleet of the commonly used vehicle model in china is equivalent to those in europe and the united states the researchers wrote in the paper the problem of ultrafine particles is as important in china as in the us reduction in pm25 to improve air quality could exacerbate pollution of ultrafine particles zhang said the implementation of the clean air act in 1990 has resulted in noticeable reduction in pm25 over the united states protecting the public health needs simultaneous reduction in both types of particles zhang said sound science is essential to guide the regulatory policies while finding ways to reduce the ultrafine particles will require much more research zhang says drivers using electric cars would almost certainly help but that could be years in the future since electric vehicles currently make up less than 1 percent of over a billion vehicles on roads worldwide zhang said the study shows for the first time that traffic emissions are a major source for ultrafine particles our studies show that aromatic organic compounds from auto exhaust form these ultrafine particles they form in any cities from car exhaust such as houston new york city and washington dc residents who live close to highways or congested roads are particularly vulnerable this is a frontier area in air pollution producing close to 1 million nanoparticles per cc in air is a serious matter of concern he said the study was funded by the national natural science foundation of china the robert a welch foundation and a collaborative research program between texas a&m university and the national natural science foundation of china   by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications " vehicles drive along a road beijing china in heavy smog on jan 3 2017 (getty images) "tiny matter called ultrafine particles in the atmosphere are un-regulated according to the world health organization but a team of international researchers that includes a texas a&m university professor and two graduate students has found that auto emissions are a key factor in the creation of the particles and pose a significant health problem in many urban areas dr renyi zhang texas a&m distinguished professor of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in geosciences and colleagues from the university of texas at austin the university of california-san diego the california institute of technology johns hopkins university and several chinese universities have had their work published in the latest issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team studied auto emissions relevant to urban areas especially beijing which has some of the highest pollution from auto exhaust in the world it found that the auto exhaust plays a part in the creation of large amounts of ultrafine particles tiny matter that is no wider than one-thousandth of a human hair these tiny particles are a proven harmful contributor to air quality and human health and have been linked to birth defects this has been an emerging area for research zhang said ultrafine particles can penetrate easily through human lungs and reach many vital organs the impacts of ultrafine particles on human health can be far-reaching currently ultrafine particles are un-regulated they can be present in high concentrations but you still see blue sky the air quality standards established by the us environmental protection agency (epa) only limit the mass concentration of pm25 – referring to particles smaller than 25 microns – for human health concerns ultrafine particles make up little pm25 because of their negligibly small masses they are produced more efficiently when the atmospheric pm25 levels are low according to this study our measurements are representative of typical urban environments worldwide since the gasoline fleet of the commonly used vehicle model in china is equivalent to those in europe and the united states the researchers wrote in the paper the problem of ultrafine particles is as important in china as in the us reduction in pm25 to improve air quality could exacerbate pollution of ultrafine particles zhang said the implementation of the clean air act in 1990 has resulted in noticeable reduction in pm25 over the united states protecting the public health needs simultaneous reduction in both types of particles zhang said sound science is essential to guide the regulatory policies while finding ways to reduce the ultrafine particles will require much more research zhang says drivers using electric cars would almost certainly help but that could be years in the future since electric vehicles currently make up less than 1 percent of over a billion vehicles on roads worldwide zhang said the study shows for the first time that traffic emissions are a major source for ultrafine particles our studies show that aromatic organic compounds from auto exhaust form these ultrafine particles they form in any cities from car exhaust such as houston new york city and washington dc residents who live close to highways or congested roads are particularly vulnerable this is a frontier area in air pollution producing close to 1 million nanoparticles per cc in air is a serious matter of concern he said the study was funded by the national natural science foundation of china the robert a welch foundation and a collaborative research program between texas a&m university and the national natural science foundation of china   by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications" " two oceanography graduate students receive agus outstanding presentation award texas a&m oceanography graduate students daianne höfig and tyler winkler were both awarded 2019 outstanding student presentation awardsfeb 5 2020daianne höfig (left) and her faculty advisor dr yige zhang (right) (photo courtesy of daianne höfig)tyler winkler (photo courtesy of tyler winkler)daianne höfig and tyler winkler graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university both recently received an outstanding student presentation award from the american geophysical union (agu) höfig and winkler presented their research at the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 – 13 2019 the outstanding student presentation awards (ospa) are awarded to promote recognize and reward undergraduate masters and doctoral students for quality research in earth and space science and the ability to effectively communicate it according to agu the prestigious award is granted each year to only the top 5% of student participants at the agu fall meeting höfig is an oceanography doctoral student and her research is focused on reconstructing the past atmospheric carbon dioxide (co2) variation 15 million years ago using leaf fossils to understand the role of earths natural processes in controlling co2 levels read more about her research in this article at the agu meeting she gave a poster presentation titled towards establishing decadal-timescale atmospheric co2 records during the middle miocene climate optimum i feel humbled for being selected to receive this prestigious award höfig said i am proud to represent the awesome graduate research that is developed in the department of oceanography i want to thank the coordinators and judges for their constructive feedbacks my lab colleagues and advisor for the valuable feedback when i was preparing my poster and rehearsing for this presentation she said höfigs faculty advisor is dr yige zhang assistant professor at texas a&m oceanography and lastly to my department oceanography graduate students have the opportunity to present their research in the departmental weekly seminars - it is a great tradition! i took advantage of this opportunity in october and it certainly helped me to prepare for presenting for a general scientific audience! winkler is an oceanography doctoral student conducting research at the marine and coastal environmental science department at texas a&m university at galveston winklers research focuses on using sediment cores from blue holes (flooded sinkholes) in the northern caribbean to reconstruct the frequency of pre-historic hurricanes throughout the last 2000 years by resolving when and where pre-historic hurricane strikes were more frequent i hope to better understand how past climate conditions influenced hurricane activity so that we can better anticipate potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change winkler said winkler also gave a poster presentation at the agu meeting titled an 1800-year sedimentary record from a bahamian blue hole archives significant variations in intense hurricane landfall frequency winklers faculty advisor is dr pete van hengstum associate professor at texas a&m–galveston the centennial american geophysical union fall meeting was an epic event and i was constantly in awe of the amazing science being shared around me he said with roughly 25 000 participants and more than 1 000 sessions every year agu fall meeting is the largest international earth and space science meeting in the world i am beyond honored to be considered among the top 5% student presenters at the conference and receiving this award has increased my confidence as a science communicator and affirmed the significance of my research he said by bumsoo kim " daianne höfig (left) and her faculty advisor dr yige zhang (right) (photo courtesy of daianne höfig)tyler winkler (photo courtesy of tyler winkler) "daianne höfig and tyler winkler graduate students in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university both recently received an outstanding student presentation award from the american geophysical union (agu) höfig and winkler presented their research at the 2019 agu fall meeting in san francisco from dec 9 – 13 2019 the outstanding student presentation awards (ospa) are awarded to promote recognize and reward undergraduate masters and doctoral students for quality research in earth and space science and the ability to effectively communicate it according to agu the prestigious award is granted each year to only the top 5% of student participants at the agu fall meeting höfig is an oceanography doctoral student and her research is focused on reconstructing the past atmospheric carbon dioxide (co2) variation 15 million years ago using leaf fossils to understand the role of earths natural processes in controlling co2 levels read more about her research in this article at the agu meeting she gave a poster presentation titled towards establishing decadal-timescale atmospheric co2 records during the middle miocene climate optimum i feel humbled for being selected to receive this prestigious award höfig said i am proud to represent the awesome graduate research that is developed in the department of oceanography i want to thank the coordinators and judges for their constructive feedbacks my lab colleagues and advisor for the valuable feedback when i was preparing my poster and rehearsing for this presentation she said höfigs faculty advisor is dr yige zhang assistant professor at texas a&m oceanography and lastly to my department oceanography graduate students have the opportunity to present their research in the departmental weekly seminars - it is a great tradition! i took advantage of this opportunity in october and it certainly helped me to prepare for presenting for a general scientific audience! winkler is an oceanography doctoral student conducting research at the marine and coastal environmental science department at texas a&m university at galveston winklers research focuses on using sediment cores from blue holes (flooded sinkholes) in the northern caribbean to reconstruct the frequency of pre-historic hurricanes throughout the last 2000 years by resolving when and where pre-historic hurricane strikes were more frequent i hope to better understand how past climate conditions influenced hurricane activity so that we can better anticipate potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change winkler said winkler also gave a poster presentation at the agu meeting titled an 1800-year sedimentary record from a bahamian blue hole archives significant variations in intense hurricane landfall frequency winklers faculty advisor is dr pete van hengstum associate professor at texas a&m–galveston the centennial american geophysical union fall meeting was an epic event and i was constantly in awe of the amazing science being shared around me he said with roughly 25 000 participants and more than 1 000 sessions every year agu fall meeting is the largest international earth and space science meeting in the world i am beyond honored to be considered among the top 5% student presenters at the conference and receiving this award has increased my confidence as a science communicator and affirmed the significance of my research he said by bumsoo kim" " outstanding faculty and staff honored at geosciences awards ceremonythe jan 10 holiday luncheon and ceremony honored award-winning faculty and staff in the collegejan 31 2020geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang led the ceremony dean dr debbie thomas addressed the ceremony live from the joides resolutionthe college of geosciences at texas a&m university honored several outstanding faculty and staff at its annual holiday luncheon and awards ceremony jan 10 at the annenberg presidential conference center geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang led the ceremony as dean dr debbie thomas was aboard the joides resolution in the southeast pacific ocean serving as co-chief scientist of international ocean discovery program expedition 378 i believe that we are more than an extraordinary faculty and staff at a world-class institution we are truly part of boldly providing solutions to challenges that face the world today and tomorrow not only by educating the future leaders but also in our cutting-edge research inspired teaching and impactful service missions the college gathered to celebrate the end of an amazing year of accomplishments in 2019 as well as the following 2019 award winners association of former students college level teaching awards dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor of oceanography was honored with a 2019 association of former students college level teaching award dr inci guneralp associate professor of geography was also honored with a 2019 association of former students college level teaching award deans distinguished achievement awards judy nunez director of college recruitment received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service in the staff category theresa morrison business administrator in the department of atmospheric sciences was awarded the deans distinguished award for exemplary service also in the staff category dr david sparks professor of geology received the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in teaching dr ryan ewing associate professor of geology was honored with the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in research dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor of oceanography received the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in service dr william lamb professor of geology and geophysics was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for selfless service in the faculty categoryendowed chairs and professorships holders of endowed chairs and professorships that were awarded or re-awarded in 2019 were also honored at the event: fred chester the david bullock harris chair in geology ping chang the louis elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography ethan grossman the michel t halbouty chair in geology ping yang the david bullock harris chair in geosciences renyi zhang the harold j haynes chair in geosciences service milestones faculty and staff members who had reached significant milestones in their service to texas a&m were also recognized for 20 years of service: theresa morrison kenneth sherar matthew nobles for 25 years of service: martin bohn achim stoessel benjamin giese for 30 years of service: jonathan smith for 35 years of service: william mills bradley julson donald sims rick giardino terry wade jack baldauf photos from the awards ceremony can be viewed at txag/geosawardsjanuary2020   by leslie lee ‘09 " geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang led the ceremony dean dr debbie thomas addressed the ceremony live from the joides resolution "the college of geosciences at texas a&m university honored several outstanding faculty and staff at its annual holiday luncheon and awards ceremony jan 10 at the annenberg presidential conference center geosciences interim associate dean for research dr ping yang led the ceremony as dean dr debbie thomas was aboard the joides resolution in the southeast pacific ocean serving as co-chief scientist of international ocean discovery program expedition 378 i believe that we are more than an extraordinary faculty and staff at a world-class institution we are truly part of boldly providing solutions to challenges that face the world today and tomorrow not only by educating the future leaders but also in our cutting-edge research inspired teaching and impactful service missions the college gathered to celebrate the end of an amazing year of accomplishments in 2019 as well as the following 2019 award winners association of former students college level teaching awards dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor of oceanography was honored with a 2019 association of former students college level teaching award dr inci guneralp associate professor of geography was also honored with a 2019 association of former students college level teaching award deans distinguished achievement awards judy nunez director of college recruitment received the deans distinguished achievement award for exemplary service in the staff category theresa morrison business administrator in the department of atmospheric sciences was awarded the deans distinguished award for exemplary service also in the staff category dr david sparks professor of geology received the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in teaching dr ryan ewing associate professor of geology was honored with the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in research dr jessica fitzsimmons assistant professor of oceanography received the deans distinguished award for faculty excellence in service dr william lamb professor of geology and geophysics was honored with the deans distinguished achievement award for selfless service in the faculty category" "endowed chairs and professorships holders of endowed chairs and professorships that were awarded or re-awarded in 2019 were also honored at the event: fred chester the david bullock harris chair in geology ping chang the louis elizabeth scherck chair in oceanography ethan grossman the michel t halbouty chair in geology ping yang the david bullock harris chair in geosciences renyi zhang the harold j haynes chair in geosciences service milestones faculty and staff members who had reached significant milestones in their service to texas a&m were also recognized for 20 years of service: theresa morrison kenneth sherar matthew nobles for 25 years of service: martin bohn achim stoessel benjamin giese for 30 years of service: jonathan smith for 35 years of service: william mills bradley julson donald sims rick giardino terry wade jack baldauf photos from the awards ceremony can be viewed at txag/geosawardsjanuary2020   by leslie lee ‘09" " swath of natural habitat larger than the uk will be urbanized by 2030 global study predictscritical knowledge gaps on habitat loss in lower-income countries were also revealed by the research study co-authored by a texas a&m geographerjan 29 2020an aerial view of recife pernambuco brazil (photo by istock)by the year 2030 more than 2 billion additional people are expected to live in cities around the globe this pace of urban growth is equivalent to building a city the size of new york city every six weeks according to researchers  a research study recently published in nature sustainability and co-authored by a texas a&m university professor has shown that urban expansion into undeveloped land will destroy 290 000 km2 of natural habitat from 2000 to 2030 an area larger in size than the entire united kingdom dr burak güneralp assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m contributed to the research our planet is rapidly urbanizing güneralp said our societies on the other hand benefit in many ways from the planets biodiversity and ecosystems therefore we need to act quickly to understand the multitude of impacts this huge wave of urbanization is having on biodiversity and ecosystems so that we can develop appropriate policy responses to manage these impacts he said  the study also uncovered a bias in what scientists study after analyzing published papers about urban impacts on biodiversity the authors discovered that there is a large discrepancy between where most of the studies focus and where the most severe impacts on biodiversity are taking place their analysis revealed that the body of research isnt covering all of the right places: 72 percent of studies of direct urban impacts on biodiversity are in high-income countries while urban-caused natural habitat loss is projected to be more severe in lower income countries the direct impacts of urban expansion on biodiversity will be most severe in the tropical moist forest biome where there are rapidly expanding urban areas such as those along the brazilian coast in west africa and southeast asia direct impacts of urbanization are any loss or fragmentation in natural habitats due to their conversion to urban land uses güneralp said indirect urban impacts on biodiversity such as those due to food and energy consumption are likely greater than direct impacts for example the amount of agricultural land required to feed the worlds cities is 36 times greater in size than the urban areas themselves the teams analysis of biodiversity studies is important because it shows what scientists know and dont know about how urban growth is affecting the diversity of life on earth the authors said and since the lack of data on urban impacts on biodiversity in middle- and low-income countries could lead policymakers to underestimate the importance of the issue further research in those areas is needed titled research gaps in knowledge of the impact of urban growth on biodiversity the study was led by dr rob mcdonald lead scientist for global cities at the nature conservancy co-authors included güneralp dr andressa v mansur dr fernando ascensão mlisa colbert katie crossman dr thomas elmqvist dr andrew gonzalez dr dagmar haase dr maike hamann oliver hillel dr kangning huang belinda kahnt dr david maddox andrea pacheco dr henrique m pereira dr karen c seto rohan simkin dr brenna walsh alexandra s werner and dr carly ziter the research was funded by the german research foundation (dfg) by leslie lee 09 " "by the year 2030 more than 2 billion additional people are expected to live in cities around the globe this pace of urban growth is equivalent to building a city the size of new york city every six weeks according to researchers  a research study recently published in nature sustainability and co-authored by a texas a&m university professor has shown that urban expansion into undeveloped land will destroy 290 000 km2 of natural habitat from 2000 to 2030 an area larger in size than the entire united kingdom dr burak güneralp assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m contributed to the research our planet is rapidly urbanizing güneralp said our societies on the other hand benefit in many ways from the planets biodiversity and ecosystems therefore we need to act quickly to understand the multitude of impacts this huge wave of urbanization is having on biodiversity and ecosystems so that we can develop appropriate policy responses to manage these impacts he said  the study also uncovered a bias in what scientists study after analyzing published papers about urban impacts on biodiversity the authors discovered that there is a large discrepancy between where most of the studies focus and where the most severe impacts on biodiversity are taking place their analysis revealed that the body of research isnt covering all of the right places: 72 percent of studies of direct urban impacts on biodiversity are in high-income countries while urban-caused natural habitat loss is projected to be more severe in lower income countries the direct impacts of urban expansion on biodiversity will be most severe in the tropical moist forest biome where there are rapidly expanding urban areas such as those along the brazilian coast in west africa and southeast asia direct impacts of urbanization are any loss or fragmentation in natural habitats due to their conversion to urban land uses güneralp said indirect urban impacts on biodiversity such as those due to food and energy consumption are likely greater than direct impacts for example the amount of agricultural land required to feed the worlds cities is 36 times greater in size than the urban areas themselves the teams analysis of biodiversity studies is important because it shows what scientists know and dont know about how urban growth is affecting the diversity of life on earth the authors said and since the lack of data on urban impacts on biodiversity in middle- and low-income countries could lead policymakers to underestimate the importance of the issue further research in those areas is needed titled research gaps in knowledge of the impact of urban growth on biodiversity the study was led by dr rob mcdonald lead scientist for global cities at the nature conservancy co-authors included güneralp dr andressa v mansur dr fernando ascensão mlisa colbert katie crossman dr thomas elmqvist dr andrew gonzalez dr dagmar haase dr maike hamann oliver hillel dr kangning huang belinda kahnt dr david maddox andrea pacheco dr henrique m pereira dr karen c seto rohan simkin dr brenna walsh alexandra s werner and dr carly ziter the research was funded by the german research foundation (dfg) by leslie lee 09" " texas oyster mariculture stakeholder meeting slated for jan 25a meeting for stakeholders in the lower laguna madre will facilitate discussion on oyster mariculture in the areajan 21 2020following the passage of texas hb 1300 which allows for oyster mariculture in texas questions remain about the implications of this legislation stakeholders in the lower laguna madre are invited to attend a meeting to discuss the potential effects of the new oyster mariculture industry the texas oyster mariculture stakeholder meeting will be held on jan 25 at 10 am at the university of texas rio grande valley (utrgv) coastal studies laboratory located at 100 marine lab dr in isla blanca park on south padre island those who use the lower laguna madre or own property in the area are encouraged to attend and participate in the discussion   the meeting will feature utrgv professor jo rampersad and texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension agent tony reisinger who are both experienced in oyster mariculture to rsvp to attend the texas oyster mariculture stakeholder meeting in person email coastal@utrgvedu the meeting will also be available online at utrgvzoomus/j/160677994 for more information see the event flyer   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager " "following the passage of texas hb 1300 which allows for oyster mariculture in texas questions remain about the implications of this legislation stakeholders in the lower laguna madre are invited to attend a meeting to discuss the potential effects of the new oyster mariculture industry the texas oyster mariculture stakeholder meeting will be held on jan 25 at 10 am at the university of texas rio grande valley (utrgv) coastal studies laboratory located at 100 marine lab dr in isla blanca park on south padre island those who use the lower laguna madre or own property in the area are encouraged to attend and participate in the discussion   the meeting will feature utrgv professor jo rampersad and texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension agent tony reisinger who are both experienced in oyster mariculture to rsvp to attend the texas oyster mariculture stakeholder meeting in person email coastal@utrgvedu the meeting will also be available online at utrgvzoomus/j/160677994 for more information see the event flyer   by sara carney '13 texas sea grant communications manager" " epic south pacific expedition is special for texas a&m geosciences deandr debbie thomas is co-leading an elite international team of scientists aboard a world-class research drillshipjan 16 2020ursula röhl co-chief scientist; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief (photo courtesy of iodp jrso and dr debbie thomas)the texas a&m flag flies on the joides resolution (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas)the old saying of your ship has come in has a special meaning for texas a&m university college of geosciences dean dr debbie thomas in her case that ship is the joides resolution  the 429-foot long research drillship that is the mainstay of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) on jan 3 she embarked on an epic five-week expedition aboard the joides resolution in the southwestern pacific ocean serving as co-chief scientist of iodp expedition 378 thomas is leading an elite science team in unearthing ancient climate and oceanography data scientists use the joides resolution to collect core samples from the ocean floor that are used by scientists to understand climate change geology and earths history it is capable of drilling to depths over 18 000 feet texas a&m is the iodp science operator of the joides resolution and iodp is funded by the national science foundation on her current cruise thomas is in the southwestern pacific ocean near the south of new zealand and the team will investigate the record of climate and oceanography over the past 67 million years video content courtesy of phil christie siem industries scientists will target sediments deposited during the warm late cretaceous through late oligocene periods (approximately 67 to 23 million years ago) recovering sediments at a location previously drilled in 1973 the recovered sediments will be used to study how the entire earth system responds to the evolution of climate from a very warm nearly ice-free state to a climate that supported the growth of major ice sheets on antarctica superimposed on this long-term evolution were several prominent global warming events that are primary targets of the expedition the sediments we recover will provide critical constraints on the history of ocean temperatures and the carbon cycle for the vast south pacific thomas said the data will lead to big leaps in our understanding of climate dynamics during intervals of global warmth it is an immense privilege to sail with this team of world-class scholars marine technicians the ships crewsunset over the pacific ocean during transit aboard the joides resolution (photo by dr ulla roehl)iodp expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate (image courtesy of iodp)iodp expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr debbie thomas and dr ursula röhl at the beginning of the expedition (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas)thomas and the ship are old friends she took her first research cruise on the ship when she was a graduate student at the university of north carolina in 2001the trip to the northern pacific ocean centered on the shatsky rise the largest dormant underwater volcano in the world that later was renamed tamu massif by former texas a&m oceanographer will sager the primary goal of the expedition was to recover sediments that recorded climate history over the past 120 million years thomas said the trip was crucial in her studies as most of her masters and doctoral research focused on a rapid global warming event that occurred 56 million years ago but she also gained new knowledge of how the oceans transport heat during extremely warm climate events overall she said the trip changed her life it is hard to imagine any other major scientific collaboration in which graduate students and early career researchers have the opportunity to work alongside and learn directly from the legends and pioneers of our science she said i cant begin to describe the brilliant minds and amazing people with whom i got to spend two months i am also exceedingly proud that my service on leg 198 connected me with the college of geosciences at texas a&m will sager encouraged me to apply for a position and i ultimately earned the job since joining the faculty here two of my own phd students have had the chance to sail on iodp expeditions and all of my students have used samples recovered from the joides for their research it is hard thomas said for me not to get emotional when i think of how privileged i am as the dean of the college of geosciences to help contribute to the leadership and success of iodp after all that the program has done for me and my career you can follow the teams daily progress on the research cruise expedition site thomas also is posting regular updates to her personal expedition blog by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing and communications " ursula röhl co-chief scientist; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief (photo courtesy of iodp jrso and dr debbie thomas)the texas a&m flag flies on the joides resolution (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas) "the old saying of your ship has come in has a special meaning for texas a&m university college of geosciences dean dr debbie thomas in her case that ship is the joides resolution  the 429-foot long research drillship that is the mainstay of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) on jan 3 she embarked on an epic five-week expedition aboard the joides resolution in the southwestern pacific ocean serving as co-chief scientist of iodp expedition 378 thomas is leading an elite science team in unearthing ancient climate and oceanography data scientists use the joides resolution to collect core samples from the ocean floor that are used by scientists to understand climate change geology and earths history it is capable of drilling to depths over 18 000 feet texas a&m is the iodp science operator of the joides resolution and iodp is funded by the national science foundation on her current cruise thomas is in the southwestern pacific ocean near the south of new zealand and the team will investigate the record of climate and oceanography over the past 67 million years video content courtesy of phil christie siem industries scientists will target sediments deposited during the warm late cretaceous through late oligocene periods (approximately 67 to 23 million years ago) recovering sediments at a location previously drilled in 1973 the recovered sediments will be used to study how the entire earth system responds to the evolution of climate from a very warm nearly ice-free state to a climate that supported the growth of major ice sheets on antarctica superimposed on this long-term evolution were several prominent global warming events that are primary targets of the expedition the sediments we recover will provide critical constraints on the history of ocean temperatures and the carbon cycle for the vast south pacific thomas said the data will lead to big leaps in our understanding of climate dynamics during intervals of global warmth it is an immense privilege to sail with this team of world-class scholars marine technicians the ships crew" sunset over the pacific ocean during transit aboard the joides resolution (photo by dr ulla roehl) iodp expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate (image courtesy of iodp)iodp expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr debbie thomas and dr ursula röhl at the beginning of the expedition (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas) "thomas and the ship are old friends she took her first research cruise on the ship when she was a graduate student at the university of north carolina in 2001the trip to the northern pacific ocean centered on the shatsky rise the largest dormant underwater volcano in the world that later was renamed tamu massif by former texas a&m oceanographer will sager the primary goal of the expedition was to recover sediments that recorded climate history over the past 120 million years thomas said the trip was crucial in her studies as most of her masters and doctoral research focused on a rapid global warming event that occurred 56 million years ago but she also gained new knowledge of how the oceans transport heat during extremely warm climate events overall she said the trip changed her life it is hard to imagine any other major scientific collaboration in which graduate students and early career researchers have the opportunity to work alongside and learn directly from the legends and pioneers of our science she said i cant begin to describe the brilliant minds and amazing people with whom i got to spend two months i am also exceedingly proud that my service on leg 198 connected me with the college of geosciences at texas a&m will sager encouraged me to apply for a position and i ultimately earned the job since joining the faculty here two of my own phd students have had the chance to sail on iodp expeditions and all of my students have used samples recovered from the joides for their research it is hard thomas said for me not to get emotional when i think of how privileged i am as the dean of the college of geosciences to help contribute to the leadership and success of iodp after all that the program has done for me and my career you can follow the teams daily progress on the research cruise expedition site thomas also is posting regular updates to her personal expedition blog by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing and communications" " explanation found for die-off of coral reefs in gulf of mexicoa texas a&m oceanography research team found that processes leading to hypoxia led to the death of parts of the reefs in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuaryjan 16 2020corals at the east bank reef in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary show a distinct mortality line with dead white coral below and living brown coral above (noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary)a dead sea urchin in the area of mortality on the east bank coral reef of the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary (noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary)three years ago parts of coral reefs in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary were killed in a dramatic event what caused the death of the large and colorful reefs about 100 miles from the galveston coast with up to 80 percent mortality in some areas was a mystery a team of oceanographers from texas a&m university believes it has an explanation considered some of the healthiest coral reefs remaining in the caribbean and gulf of mexico the reefs at the flower garden banks grow on top of shallow submerged banks in otherwise deep water the texas a&m teams research which was recently published in the current issue of coral reefs  found that two separate processes caused hypoxia on the reef leading to the die-off researchers from the department of oceanography included dr katie shamberger dr shawn doyle dr jason sylvan dr robert hetland and dr steven dimarco along with dr andrea kealoha now at the university of hawaii maui college the team found that hypoxia low levels of oxygen was caused by the transport of freshwater runoff from the mississippi atchafalaya and brazos rivers and an upwelling of deep dense water onto the reef we believe the combination of two different processes river runoff and upwelling caused localized hypoxia that killed invertebrates on the reef shamberger said in other words both processes happened simultaneously to cause hypoxia and one of them alone may not have caused any trouble shamberger said the first process which was river runoff that flowed offshore was most likely water from the mississippi-atchafalaya rivers but about one-fifth of the water was from texas rivers these waters made it out to the flower garden banks as a thin low salinity surface layer since it was on the surface the low salinity water probably didnt touch the flower garden banks reefs which are about 60 feet deep but the runoff was turbid and blocked sunlight from the reef blocking light from the reef reduces photosynthesis and we think this resulted in there being more respiration than photosynthesis by reef organisms as a result oxygen on the reef was being used up faster than it was being produced shamberger said this would be no big deal if the water on the reef mixed with surrounding water with normal oxygen levels to replace the oxygen being used up by reef organisms but we think a second process called upwelling helped prevent mixing when upwelling occurred shamberger said deeper and denser water settled into pockets on the reef this presented mixing and allowed respiration to use up oxygen in the bottom layer causing the death of reef organisms that couldnt swim away from the hypoxic water all of this could have happened very quickly – within 48 hours shamberger said only about 3 percent of the reef was affected by the die-off but some of these areas experienced almost 80 percent mortality she explained and those areas have still not recovered corals sponges urchins and sea stars were some of the marine life most affected while we know that river runoff makes it out to the flower garden banks periodically and that there is evidence that upwelling at east bank also occurs we do not know how often these processes happen simultaneously or how likely it is that they will occur together to cause hypoxia on the coral reefs in the future shamberger said we do know that there is cause for great concern because human caused climate change and ocean warming are generally making ocean hypoxia worse the research team went to the site to collect data five days after the discovery of the die-off event shamberger said it was an incredibly quick turnaround time to mobilize such a research cruise kealoha said the flower garden banks and other noaa national marine sanctuaries are special places that hold remarkable diversity and beauty cultural and historical significance and economic opportunity however the event shows that the areas are still subject to environmental and climate change stressors that cannot be controlled by local management kealoha said and stressors need to be managed through national and global efforts hypoxia in coral reefs is an emerging stressor that is gaining more attention kealoha said yet it is very difficult to measure hypoxia because many reefs like the flower garden banks are isolated by the time anyone can figure out whats happening its often too late the authors wrote that instruments on the reef continuously measuring ocean conditions could help us understand the stresses coral reefs are under and how they respond to human-caused environmental changes funds for the work were provided by the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary noaa office of national marine sanctuaries gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system the college of geosciences the department of oceanography the geochemical and environmental research group the harte research institute the texas general land office the texas onegulf center of excellence the gom research initiative to support the aggregation and degradation of dispersants and oil by microbial exopolymers (addomex) consortium and noaa nancy foster scholarship program partial funding was provided by the texas governor fund through the texas restore program as well as the g unger vetlesen foundation by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications " corals at the east bank reef in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary show a distinct mortality line with dead white coral below and living brown coral above (noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary)a dead sea urchin in the area of mortality on the east bank coral reef of the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary (noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary) "three years ago parts of coral reefs in the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary were killed in a dramatic event what caused the death of the large and colorful reefs about 100 miles from the galveston coast with up to 80 percent mortality in some areas was a mystery a team of oceanographers from texas a&m university believes it has an explanation considered some of the healthiest coral reefs remaining in the caribbean and gulf of mexico the reefs at the flower garden banks grow on top of shallow submerged banks in otherwise deep water the texas a&m teams research which was recently published in the current issue of coral reefs  found that two separate processes caused hypoxia on the reef leading to the die-off researchers from the department of oceanography included dr katie shamberger dr shawn doyle dr jason sylvan dr robert hetland and dr steven dimarco along with dr andrea kealoha now at the university of hawaii maui college the team found that hypoxia low levels of oxygen was caused by the transport of freshwater runoff from the mississippi atchafalaya and brazos rivers and an upwelling of deep dense water onto the reef we believe the combination of two different processes river runoff and upwelling caused localized hypoxia that killed invertebrates on the reef shamberger said in other words both processes happened simultaneously to cause hypoxia and one of them alone may not have caused any trouble shamberger said the first process which was river runoff that flowed offshore was most likely water from the mississippi-atchafalaya rivers but about one-fifth of the water was from texas rivers these waters made it out to the flower garden banks as a thin low salinity surface layer since it was on the surface the low salinity water probably didnt touch the flower garden banks reefs which are about 60 feet deep but the runoff was turbid and blocked sunlight from the reef blocking light from the reef reduces photosynthesis and we think this resulted in there being more respiration than photosynthesis by reef organisms as a result oxygen on the reef was being used up faster than it was being produced shamberger said this would be no big deal if the water on the reef mixed with surrounding water with normal oxygen levels to replace the oxygen being used up by reef organisms but we think a second process called upwelling helped prevent mixing when upwelling occurred shamberger said deeper and denser water settled into pockets on the reef this presented mixing and allowed respiration to use up oxygen in the bottom layer causing the death of reef organisms that couldnt swim away from the hypoxic water all of this could have happened very quickly – within 48 hours shamberger said only about 3 percent of the reef was affected by the die-off but some of these areas experienced almost 80 percent mortality she explained and those areas have still not recovered corals sponges urchins and sea stars were some of the marine life most affected while we know that river runoff makes it out to the flower garden banks periodically and that there is evidence that upwelling at east bank also occurs we do not know how often these processes happen simultaneously or how likely it is that they will occur together to cause hypoxia on the coral reefs in the future shamberger said we do know that there is cause for great concern because human caused climate change and ocean warming are generally making ocean hypoxia worse the research team went to the site to collect data five days after the discovery of the die-off event shamberger said it was an incredibly quick turnaround time to mobilize such a research cruise kealoha said the flower garden banks and other noaa national marine sanctuaries are special places that hold remarkable diversity and beauty cultural and historical significance and economic opportunity however the event shows that the areas are still subject to environmental and climate change stressors that cannot be controlled by local management kealoha said and stressors need to be managed through national and global efforts hypoxia in coral reefs is an emerging stressor that is gaining more attention kealoha said yet it is very difficult to measure hypoxia because many reefs like the flower garden banks are isolated by the time anyone can figure out whats happening its often too late the authors wrote that instruments on the reef continuously measuring ocean conditions could help us understand the stresses coral reefs are under and how they respond to human-caused environmental changes funds for the work were provided by the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary noaa office of national marine sanctuaries gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system the college of geosciences the department of oceanography the geochemical and environmental research group the harte research institute the texas general land office the texas onegulf center of excellence the gom research initiative to support the aggregation and degradation of dispersants and oil by microbial exopolymers (addomex) consortium and noaa nancy foster scholarship program partial funding was provided by the texas governor fund through the texas restore program as well as the g unger vetlesen foundation by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications" " study shows earths river ice is rapidly decliningtexas a&m geographys dr george allen co-authored research showing river ice has dramatically decreased over the past 30 yearsjan 16 2020a view of the frozen hudson river on jan 5 2018 in dobbs ferry new york (getty images)dr george allenin what is believed to be the most comprehensive study of its kind a team of researchers that includes a texas a&m university geographer has found the amount of ice in the earths rivers has rapidly declined over the past three decades and the trend is likely to continue dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is part of the study led by researchers at the university of north carolina that is published in the current issue of nature magazine more than a third of the earths land mass is drained by rivers that seasonably freeze over forming river ice examining more than 400 000 satellite images over the past 34 years the team found that the overall amount of river ice has been declining and will almost certainly continue to do so as global temperatures continue to rise the researchers found that for every degree of increase in global temperature there will be about 6 days less of ice per year on rivers that freeze we found that 56 percent of earths rivers are seasonally affected by river ice which amounts to a much greater proportion of rivers than previously thought allen said we found that almost all the river ice is located in the northern hemisphere with only rivers in southernmost portions of new zealand patagonia and australia it is important to note that we only observed rivers with widths over 300 feet so it is likely that there a lot of smaller rivers and streams that also freeze but we did not detect them allen said that rivers are natural hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere and these emissions typically slow down or completely stop when rivers freeze the teams findings that the occurrence of river ice is declining suggests that the global river network is contributing more and more to the atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions the anticipated acceleration in the decline of river ice is not evenly distributed around the world allen said in the united states river ice is expected to decline most rapidly in the rocky mountains and in the northeast if youve lived in texas for a long time you probably havent thought that much about the importance of river ice allen said however in many parts of the world river ice plays important roles in transportation and in ecosystems for example during the winter many remote arctic civilizations rely on frozen rivers as ice roads in the spring during river ice breakup ice jams can cause unpredictable and hugely disruptive floods but these floods actually benefit ecosystems by distributing nutrients across floodplains allen said the study is made possible by two recent technological developments one is the first global map of river location and width from optical satellite images and the second is cloud- based data provided by google earth engine that makes processing hundreds of thousands of satellite images relatively easy the study was funded by the nasa/cnes surface water and ocean topography (swot) satellite mission which is planned for launch in september 2021 and is expected to provide unprecedented observations of earths rivers and lakes by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications " a view of the frozen hudson river on jan 5 2018 in dobbs ferry new york (getty images)dr george allen "in what is believed to be the most comprehensive study of its kind a team of researchers that includes a texas a&m university geographer has found the amount of ice in the earths rivers has rapidly declined over the past three decades and the trend is likely to continue dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university is part of the study led by researchers at the university of north carolina that is published in the current issue of nature magazine more than a third of the earths land mass is drained by rivers that seasonably freeze over forming river ice examining more than 400 000 satellite images over the past 34 years the team found that the overall amount of river ice has been declining and will almost certainly continue to do so as global temperatures continue to rise the researchers found that for every degree of increase in global temperature there will be about 6 days less of ice per year on rivers that freeze we found that 56 percent of earths rivers are seasonally affected by river ice which amounts to a much greater proportion of rivers than previously thought allen said we found that almost all the river ice is located in the northern hemisphere with only rivers in southernmost portions of new zealand patagonia and australia it is important to note that we only observed rivers with widths over 300 feet so it is likely that there a lot of smaller rivers and streams that also freeze but we did not detect them allen said that rivers are natural hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere and these emissions typically slow down or completely stop when rivers freeze the teams findings that the occurrence of river ice is declining suggests that the global river network is contributing more and more to the atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions the anticipated acceleration in the decline of river ice is not evenly distributed around the world allen said in the united states river ice is expected to decline most rapidly in the rocky mountains and in the northeast if youve lived in texas for a long time you probably havent thought that much about the importance of river ice allen said however in many parts of the world river ice plays important roles in transportation and in ecosystems for example during the winter many remote arctic civilizations rely on frozen rivers as ice roads in the spring during river ice breakup ice jams can cause unpredictable and hugely disruptive floods but these floods actually benefit ecosystems by distributing nutrients across floodplains allen said the study is made possible by two recent technological developments one is the first global map of river location and width from optical satellite images and the second is cloud- based data provided by google earth engine that makes processing hundreds of thousands of satellite images relatively easy the study was funded by the nasa/cnes surface water and ocean topography (swot) satellite mission which is planned for launch in september 2021 and is expected to provide unprecedented observations of earths rivers and lakes by keith randall texas a&m marketing & communications" " co-led by geosciences dean iodp expedition studies ancient warm climate clues in south pacificdr debbie thomas is serving as co-chief scientist of the international expeditionjan 14 2020iodp expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr debbie thomas and dr ursula röhl at the beginning of the expedition (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas)when the earth endured extreme warmth in the past how were environmental conditions ocean temperatures ocean circulation and wind patterns impacted that question is actually answerable and the key lies in ancient records at the bottom of earths oceans: layers of sediments below the ocean floor expedition 378 of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel began jan 3 from lautoka fiji and is investigating the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography in the southern pacific ocean  dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university and dr ursula röhl from the marum - center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen in germany are serving as co-chief scientists of the south pacific paleogene climate expedition which will conclude feb 6 in papeete tahiti expedition 378 operations will recover the sediment sequences from a site south of new zealand critical to scientists understanding of high-latitude environmental conditions ocean circulation and wind patterns during a time in recent earth history characterized by extreme warmth thomas said iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries iodp coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences two of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories are housed at texas a&m and the marum at the university of bremen crucial data for understanding climate dynamics during past periods of global warmth the team will be taking the drillship into the southern pacific to investigate the record of climate and oceanography over the past 66 million years expedition 378 will provide unparalleled opportunities to finally fill an information gap in the southwest pacific by re-drilling one of the first sediment sections recovered in the region providing new information in unprecedented resolution and completeness to the study of long-term cenozoic climate röhl saidiodp expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate (image courtesy of iodp) ursula röhl co-chief scientist; lisa crowder laboratory officer; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief scientist aboard the joides resolution (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso) scientists will target sediments deposited during the very warm late paleocene and early eocene including the paleocene-eocene boundary as well as the eocene-oligocene transition to investigate how the eocene earth maintained high global temperatures and high heat transport to the polar regions despite receiving near modern levels of solar energy input  due to a last-minute mechanical issue the sole operational objective of the expedition is to recover sediments at a location previously tackled in 1973 but incompletely drilled  the sediments at this location likely include the cretaceous/paleogene boundary mass extinction event approximately 66 million years ago  investigation of the recovered sediments also will concern the subpolar pacific climate oceanographic structure and biogeochemical cycling of much of the cenozoic the current and most recent geological era that began 66 million years ago recovered sediments will be used to characterize water masses deep and shallow ocean temperature latitudinal temperature gradients the strength of upwelling and the strength of the zonal winds to study both the atmospheric and oceanic climatic subsystems iodp expedition 378 will retrieve important sections that include crucial time intervals for the south pacific area röhl said all efforts will be made to integrate expedition data toward the age of the recovered sediments in relation to time this namely includes correlating and assigning relative ages of sediment strata by using the fossil assemblages data on polarity changes of earth´s magnetic field and cycles that describe the effects of changes in the earth's movements on its climate over thousands of years dr thomas and i are very enthusiastic that such a great group of distinguished early career through senior scientists will participate in this cruise  the sediments we recover will provide critical constraints on ocean temperatures and the carbon cycle for the vast south pacific and these data will lead to big leaps in our understanding of climate dynamics during intervals of global warmth thomas said it is an immense privilege to sail with the team of world-class scholars marine technicians drillers and ships crew! collectively 12 nations are represented by the shipboard science party follow along with expedition 378: debbie thomas expedition blog joides resolution expedition blog written in collaboration with marum – the center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen germany " iodp expedition 378 co-chief scientists dr debbie thomas and dr ursula röhl at the beginning of the expedition (photo courtesy of dr debbie thomas) "when the earth endured extreme warmth in the past how were environmental conditions ocean temperatures ocean circulation and wind patterns impacted that question is actually answerable and the key lies in ancient records at the bottom of earths oceans: layers of sediments below the ocean floor expedition 378 of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) aboard the joides resolution (jr) research vessel began jan 3 from lautoka fiji and is investigating the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography in the southern pacific ocean  dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m university and dr ursula röhl from the marum - center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen in germany are serving as co-chief scientists of the south pacific paleogene climate expedition which will conclude feb 6 in papeete tahiti expedition 378 operations will recover the sediment sequences from a site south of new zealand critical to scientists understanding of high-latitude environmental conditions ocean circulation and wind patterns during a time in recent earth history characterized by extreme warmth thomas said iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries iodp coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor the joides resolution science operator (jrso) operates the scientific drillship and the jrso is based in the texas a&m college of geosciences two of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories are housed at texas a&m and the marum at the university of bremen crucial data for understanding climate dynamics during past periods of global warmth the team will be taking the drillship into the southern pacific to investigate the record of climate and oceanography over the past 66 million years expedition 378 will provide unparalleled opportunities to finally fill an information gap in the southwest pacific by re-drilling one of the first sediment sections recovered in the region providing new information in unprecedented resolution and completeness to the study of long-term cenozoic climate röhl said" "iodp expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate (image courtesy of iodp) ursula röhl co-chief scientist; lisa crowder laboratory officer; laurel childress expedition project manager/staff scientist; and debbie thomas co-chief scientist aboard the joides resolution (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso) " "scientists will target sediments deposited during the very warm late paleocene and early eocene including the paleocene-eocene boundary as well as the eocene-oligocene transition to investigate how the eocene earth maintained high global temperatures and high heat transport to the polar regions despite receiving near modern levels of solar energy input  due to a last-minute mechanical issue the sole operational objective of the expedition is to recover sediments at a location previously tackled in 1973 but incompletely drilled  the sediments at this location likely include the cretaceous/paleogene boundary mass extinction event approximately 66 million years ago  investigation of the recovered sediments also will concern the subpolar pacific climate oceanographic structure and biogeochemical cycling of much of the cenozoic the current and most recent geological era that began 66 million years ago recovered sediments will be used to characterize water masses deep and shallow ocean temperature latitudinal temperature gradients the strength of upwelling and the strength of the zonal winds to study both the atmospheric and oceanic climatic subsystems iodp expedition 378 will retrieve important sections that include crucial time intervals for the south pacific area röhl said all efforts will be made to integrate expedition data toward the age of the recovered sediments in relation to time this namely includes correlating and assigning relative ages of sediment strata by using the fossil assemblages data on polarity changes of earth´s magnetic field and cycles that describe the effects of changes in the earth's movements on its climate over thousands of years dr thomas and i are very enthusiastic that such a great group of distinguished early career through senior scientists will participate in this cruise  the sediments we recover will provide critical constraints on ocean temperatures and the carbon cycle for the vast south pacific and these data will lead to big leaps in our understanding of climate dynamics during intervals of global warmth thomas said it is an immense privilege to sail with the team of world-class scholars marine technicians drillers and ships crew! collectively 12 nations are represented by the shipboard science party follow along with expedition 378: debbie thomas expedition blog joides resolution expedition blog written in collaboration with marum – the center for marine environmental sciences at the university of bremen germany" " julie massey honored with distinguished agent titlein recognition of her longstanding service texas sea grant extension agent julie massey has earned the prestigious title of distinguished agentjan 10 2020photo credit: texas master naturalistsphoto credit: texas sea grantlong-time extension agent with texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension service julie massey has been designated a distinguished agent the new title recognizes masseys outstanding efforts and service to her community in her role as an extension agent in galveston county massey was nominated for the award by her regional leadership team at agrilife extension she was recognized for this accomplishment at the 2020 agrilife conference on jan 9 2020  the designation was developed in 2017 and is only held by a select few extension agents with at least 20 years of experience distinguished agents are selected based on their excellent programming agency leadership community engagement and peer mentoring massey advises and works closely with the galveston bay chapter of the texas master naturalists which contains over 200 volunteers and contributed over 46 000 service hours in 2019 she also organizes the national ocean sciences bowls dolphin challenge a competition to teach high school students about the oceans i am thrilled to receive this recognition massey said i am fortunate to work with master naturalist volunteers who inspire and challenge me as we address texas coastal resource issues in 2014 massey received the superior service award from agrilife extension and was a member of a team awarded the superior service award in 2012 in 2016 massey received the distinguished service award from the national association of county agricultural agents she was also a member of team at texas sea grant that received the assembly of sea grant extension program leaders superior outreach programming award for their hurricane ike response efforts  this designation is a reflection of julies exemplary service over the course of her career said cynthia lyle texas sea grant senior associate director and extension leader she is truly deserving and we are proud to have her at texas sea grant   by sara carney texas sea grant communications manager " "long-time extension agent with texas sea grant and texas a&m agrilife extension service julie massey has been designated a distinguished agent the new title recognizes masseys outstanding efforts and service to her community in her role as an extension agent in galveston county massey was nominated for the award by her regional leadership team at agrilife extension she was recognized for this accomplishment at the 2020 agrilife conference on jan 9 2020  the designation was developed in 2017 and is only held by a select few extension agents with at least 20 years of experience distinguished agents are selected based on their excellent programming agency leadership community engagement and peer mentoring massey advises and works closely with the galveston bay chapter of the texas master naturalists which contains over 200 volunteers and contributed over 46 000 service hours in 2019 she also organizes the national ocean sciences bowls dolphin challenge a competition to teach high school students about the oceans i am thrilled to receive this recognition massey said i am fortunate to work with master naturalist volunteers who inspire and challenge me as we address texas coastal resource issues in 2014 massey received the superior service award from agrilife extension and was a member of a team awarded the superior service award in 2012 in 2016 massey received the distinguished service award from the national association of county agricultural agents she was also a member of team at texas sea grant that received the assembly of sea grant extension program leaders superior outreach programming award for their hurricane ike response efforts  this designation is a reflection of julies exemplary service over the course of her career said cynthia lyle texas sea grant senior associate director and extension leader she is truly deserving and we are proud to have her at texas sea grant   by sara carney texas sea grant communications manager" " three 2023 finalists selected for the john a knauss marine policy fellowship programthese knauss finalists are among 86 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programsjul 28 2022tacey hicks michael mccloy and kendall scarlett nominees from texas sea grant have been selected as finalists for the 2023 john a knauss marine policy fellowship program they are three of 86 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programs since 1979 over 1 500 fellows have completed the program becoming leaders in science policy and public administration roles hicks is currently a phd student in oceanography at texas a&m university examining seawater chemistry and acidification in various oceanic ecosystems to support informed marine conservation and management decisions mccloy also a phd student at texas a&m university studies ecology and evolutionary biology scarlett is currently pursuing their phd in environmental science from baylor university in waco texas we are so proud of texas three finalists said texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin this marine policy fellowship is the premiere educational and professional experience that places early career individuals in legislative or executive branch offices in washington dc for real-world life-changing experiences knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs if applicants are successful at the state program level their applications are then reviewed by a national panel of experts this years class includes students and recent graduates from 62 distinct universities including 16 finalists from nine minority-serving institutions the finalists represent 29 of the 34 sea grant programs and they completed coursework and research in a range of fields such as biology chemistry ecology engineering environmental science and management law marine and coastal sciences and policy and several disciplines of oceanography the knauss fellowship offers graduate students the invaluable opportunity to put their academic knowledge to practice in tackling marine coastal and great lakes management and policy challenges at the federal level said dr jonathan pennock national sea grant college program director we look forward to welcoming the 2023 class of knauss fellows and seeing how they will apply their unique insights to developing solutions to some of the most important challenges facing the country this fall the 2023 finalists will participate in a virtual placement week to get to know each other and interview with potential host offices following placement they will begin their fellowships in february 2023 want to learn more about the knauss fellowship the knauss blog shares stories from the 2022 knauss class on fellowship experiences and their journeys to dc learn more about this years knauss finalists from the national sea grant college program  " "tacey hicks michael mccloy and kendall scarlett nominees from texas sea grant have been selected as finalists for the 2023 john a knauss marine policy fellowship program they are three of 86 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programs since 1979 over 1 500 fellows have completed the program becoming leaders in science policy and public administration roles hicks is currently a phd student in oceanography at texas a&m university examining seawater chemistry and acidification in various oceanic ecosystems to support informed marine conservation and management decisions mccloy also a phd student at texas a&m university studies ecology and evolutionary biology scarlett is currently pursuing their phd in environmental science from baylor university in waco texas we are so proud of texas three finalists said texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin this marine policy fellowship is the premiere educational and professional experience that places early career individuals in legislative or executive branch offices in washington dc for real-world life-changing experiences knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs if applicants are successful at the state program level their applications are then reviewed by a national panel of experts this years class includes students and recent graduates from 62 distinct universities including 16 finalists from nine minority-serving institutions the finalists represent 29 of the 34 sea grant programs and they completed coursework and research in a range of fields such as biology chemistry ecology engineering environmental science and management law marine and coastal sciences and policy and several disciplines of oceanography the knauss fellowship offers graduate students the invaluable opportunity to put their academic knowledge to practice in tackling marine coastal and great lakes management and policy challenges at the federal level said dr jonathan pennock national sea grant college program director we look forward to welcoming the 2023 class of knauss fellows and seeing how they will apply their unique insights to developing solutions to some of the most important challenges facing the country this fall the 2023 finalists will participate in a virtual placement week to get to know each other and interview with potential host offices following placement they will begin their fellowships in february 2023 want to learn more about the knauss fellowship the knauss blog shares stories from the 2022 knauss class on fellowship experiences and their journeys to dc learn more about this years knauss finalists from the national sea grant college program " " texas a&m graduate student spends fifty-one days at sea studying hydrothermal ventsoceanography graduate student nathan lanning joined the nsf-funded plume raiders cruise to the southern east pacific rise to investigate the chemistry of hydrothermal vent fluids in the areadec 17 2021lanning holds an expendable bathythermograph (xbt) a sensor that is thrown into the ocean and measures temperature which is then used to calibrate sound velocity for our acoustic multibeam sensor image courtesy of jess davisa trace metal ctd rosette going into the water image courtesy of nathan lanningto study the impact of diffuse warm-temperature hydrothermal vents texas a&m graduate student nathan lanning spent an exceptional 51 days at sea collecting and filtering water column samples lanning is part of  associate professor dr jessica fitzsimmons lab in texas a&ms department of oceanography and they are specifically studying the release of iron and other metals from vents with different temperature fluids this national science foundation (nsf)-funded expedition sailed from sept 18 through nov 6 2021 aboard the r/v roger revelle and was led by chief scientist dr joseph resing from the university of washington other collaborators included scientists from woods hole oceanographic institute old dominion university the university of south carolina and the national oceanic and atmospheric administrations pacific marine environmental laboratory (noaa/pmel) it was an exciting opportunity and im grateful that i was able to take part in it lanning said i was given leadership opportunities and was responsible for tackling complex scientific problems at sea fitzsimmons added i was very glad that nate was able to participate in the plume raiders cruise because it builds upon previous research my group has done to study southern east pacific rise hydrothermal venting which is home to the longest hydrothermal plume known in the global ocean it will also connect well to our upcoming nsf-funded expedition to study metal transport from northeast pacific hydrothermal vents fitzsimmons previous expedition to the southern east pacific rise studied high-temperature black smoker hydrothermal vents and found material from the plumes travelled about 4300 km away from the sourcea trace metal ctd rosette in the water image courtesy of nathan lanningautonomous underwater vehicle sentry deployment image courtesy of nathan lanningthe diffuse-flow vent fluids focused on during the plume raiders cruise are significantly cooler and contain fewer metals like iron but they are expelled at much higher volumes thus the researchers believe they may be equally or even more important contributors to the hydrothermally-derived metals in the region lanning primarily sampled from a trace metal clean rosette and then ultrafiltered the samples in a positive-pressure clean bubble set up on the ship so those black smokers are very high temperature vents that reach 300-400 degrees celsius but what were looking at is much cooler below 100 degrees celsius lanning said the diffuse flow vents have clear water released not that black smoke-like water we typically think of the lower temperature of these diffuse-flow fluids and lack of color difference from the surrounding seawater makes diffuse-flow fluids harder to find and thus they are historically less well-studied over the history of hydrothermal vent research because iron is a biologically essential micronutrient required for phytoplankton respiration photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation fitzsimmons and her lab are interested in seeing how far the colloidal nanoparticles of iron and other metals can travel from their source fitzsimmons group is measuring the size and chemical composition of iron in the seawater samples collected from plume raiders in order to understand what controls the amount of iron that is preserved in hydrothermal plumes one of the big questions we have in chemical oceanography is how much of this iron released from hydrothermal vents travels away from its source thousands of kilometers away and makes it to the surface to fertilize the phytoplankton lanning said multiple projects worked in tandem on this cruise to address the overall question of diffuse vent impacts in the region the multiple projects used three different ctd rosette systems for seawater collection multibeam mapping of the ridge crest and surveys of the local bathymetry using whois autonomous underwater vehicle sentry according to lanning to see more about the plume raiders cruise see their twitter feed by justin agan ‘18 " lanning holds an expendable bathythermograph (xbt) a sensor that is thrown into the ocean and measures temperature which is then used to calibrate sound velocity for our acoustic multibeam sensor image courtesy of jess davisa trace metal ctd rosette going into the water image courtesy of nathan lanning "to study the impact of diffuse warm-temperature hydrothermal vents texas a&m graduate student nathan lanning spent an exceptional 51 days at sea collecting and filtering water column samples lanning is part of  associate professor dr jessica fitzsimmons lab in texas a&ms department of oceanography and they are specifically studying the release of iron and other metals from vents with different temperature fluids this national science foundation (nsf)-funded expedition sailed from sept 18 through nov 6 2021 aboard the r/v roger revelle and was led by chief scientist dr joseph resing from the university of washington other collaborators included scientists from woods hole oceanographic institute old dominion university the university of south carolina and the national oceanic and atmospheric administrations pacific marine environmental laboratory (noaa/pmel) it was an exciting opportunity and im grateful that i was able to take part in it lanning said i was given leadership opportunities and was responsible for tackling complex scientific problems at sea fitzsimmons added i was very glad that nate was able to participate in the plume raiders cruise because it builds upon previous research my group has done to study southern east pacific rise hydrothermal venting which is home to the longest hydrothermal plume known in the global ocean it will also connect well to our upcoming nsf-funded expedition to study metal transport from northeast pacific hydrothermal vents fitzsimmons previous expedition to the southern east pacific rise studied high-temperature black smoker hydrothermal vents and found material from the plumes travelled about 4300 km away from the source" a trace metal ctd rosette in the water image courtesy of nathan lanningautonomous underwater vehicle sentry deployment image courtesy of nathan lanning "the diffuse-flow vent fluids focused on during the plume raiders cruise are significantly cooler and contain fewer metals like iron but they are expelled at much higher volumes thus the researchers believe they may be equally or even more important contributors to the hydrothermally-derived metals in the region lanning primarily sampled from a trace metal clean rosette and then ultrafiltered the samples in a positive-pressure clean bubble set up on the ship so those black smokers are very high temperature vents that reach 300-400 degrees celsius but what were looking at is much cooler below 100 degrees celsius lanning said the diffuse flow vents have clear water released not that black smoke-like water we typically think of the lower temperature of these diffuse-flow fluids and lack of color difference from the surrounding seawater makes diffuse-flow fluids harder to find and thus they are historically less well-studied over the history of hydrothermal vent research because iron is a biologically essential micronutrient required for phytoplankton respiration photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation fitzsimmons and her lab are interested in seeing how far the colloidal nanoparticles of iron and other metals can travel from their source fitzsimmons group is measuring the size and chemical composition of iron in the seawater samples collected from plume raiders in order to understand what controls the amount of iron that is preserved in hydrothermal plumes one of the big questions we have in chemical oceanography is how much of this iron released from hydrothermal vents travels away from its source thousands of kilometers away and makes it to the surface to fertilize the phytoplankton lanning said multiple projects worked in tandem on this cruise to address the overall question of diffuse vent impacts in the region the multiple projects used three different ctd rosette systems for seawater collection multibeam mapping of the ridge crest and surveys of the local bathymetry using whois autonomous underwater vehicle sentry according to lanning to see more about the plume raiders cruise see their twitter feed by justin agan ‘18" " how do aerosols impact cloud formationnew nsf-funded research led by texas a&ms dr yue zhang will examine aerosol and cloud interactions which have major implications for climate models and predictionsdec 14 2021credit: getty imagesatmospheric scientists have unanswered questions about aerosols and how they affect the formation of clouds and storms do different types of aerosols promote or inhibit the formation of clouds and therefore lead to different precipitation and how do climate models need to account for aerosols a new national science foundation (nsf)-funded research project led by texas a&m universitys dr yue zhang is tackling these questions with a team of experts this research will improve the understanding of how aerosols impact cloud formation and cloud properties and we will contribute to reducing the uncertainties in predicting future climate said zhang an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m zhang is examining the climate effects of organosulfate-containing secondary organic aerosols also known as soa he will be working with research teams led by dr daniel cziczo professor and department head of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences at purdue university and dr jason surratt professor of chemistry and environmental sciences and engineering at the university of north carolina at chapel hill aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere most aerosols consist of mineral dust and sea salt but aerosols can also consist of other particles such as volcanic ash sulfate nitrate and organic carbon including organosulfates formed by the atmospheric chemical interaction of sulfate and organic carbon) organosulfates are important soa components because they are known and abundant particulate products resulting from atmospheric multiphase chemistry however it remains unclear how this understudied chemical class of particulates affects cloud formation and cloud properties texas a&m will advance knowledge in atmospheric chemistry/aerosol cloud interaction research by collaborating with purdue and unc chapel hill and we are very excited about the potentially important findings resulting from this teamwork zhang said the researchers will investigate organosulfate-rich soa chemical composition morphology and phase state in a laboratory setting and then parameterize the resulting data for the prediction of aerosol-cloud interactions our hypothesis is that when volatile organic carbon emissions from trees combine with acidic sulfate particles derived from human emissions in the atmosphere they will cause the aerosol particles to become more effective at making icy cirrus clouds and less effective as cloud condensation nuclei to form liquid clouds due to the formation of particulate organosulfates zhang said this project is extremely important research and our team is excited to participate said cziczo co-principal investigator of the purdue university group within the project aircraft measurements in recent years have pointed to the previously unrealized abundance of organic containing aerosols in the upper atmosphere and their importance for cloud formation this project will give us a chance to investigate the chemistry and cloud formation potential of these particles in the laboratory in unprecedented detail and help us better understand the field measurements the research team received about $900 000 of funding from nsf to conduct the proposed research they also plan to jointly deploy their instruments and meet at texas a&m to understand how particulate organosulfates and other types of secondary organic aerosols impact the cloud formation process by combining advanced characterization methods of aerosol composition phase state and morphology with cloud activity measurements of these particles our team could potentially resolve how exactly acid-catalyzed multiphase chemical processes in the atmosphere contribute to the formation of clouds surratt said texas a&m undergraduate students as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from each team including those from traditionally underrepresented groups will participate in this project to share and transfer knowledge amongst the three collaborative labs to prepare students to become future stem researchers and leaders the experimental results and data interpretations will be openly shared with the scientific community which can be used in global climate models to improve future climate predictions by leslie lee college of geosciences _________ media contacts: leslie lee leslielee@tamuedu; robyn blackmon robynblackmon@tamuedu " "atmospheric scientists have unanswered questions about aerosols and how they affect the formation of clouds and storms do different types of aerosols promote or inhibit the formation of clouds and therefore lead to different precipitation and how do climate models need to account for aerosols a new national science foundation (nsf)-funded research project led by texas a&m universitys dr yue zhang is tackling these questions with a team of experts this research will improve the understanding of how aerosols impact cloud formation and cloud properties and we will contribute to reducing the uncertainties in predicting future climate said zhang an assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m zhang is examining the climate effects of organosulfate-containing secondary organic aerosols also known as soa he will be working with research teams led by dr daniel cziczo professor and department head of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences at purdue university and dr jason surratt professor of chemistry and environmental sciences and engineering at the university of north carolina at chapel hill aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere most aerosols consist of mineral dust and sea salt but aerosols can also consist of other particles such as volcanic ash sulfate nitrate and organic carbon including organosulfates formed by the atmospheric chemical interaction of sulfate and organic carbon) organosulfates are important soa components because they are known and abundant particulate products resulting from atmospheric multiphase chemistry however it remains unclear how this understudied chemical class of particulates affects cloud formation and cloud properties texas a&m will advance knowledge in atmospheric chemistry/aerosol cloud interaction research by collaborating with purdue and unc chapel hill and we are very excited about the potentially important findings resulting from this teamwork zhang said the researchers will investigate organosulfate-rich soa chemical composition morphology and phase state in a laboratory setting and then parameterize the resulting data for the prediction of aerosol-cloud interactions our hypothesis is that when volatile organic carbon emissions from trees combine with acidic sulfate particles derived from human emissions in the atmosphere they will cause the aerosol particles to become more effective at making icy cirrus clouds and less effective as cloud condensation nuclei to form liquid clouds due to the formation of particulate organosulfates zhang said this project is extremely important research and our team is excited to participate said cziczo co-principal investigator of the purdue university group within the project aircraft measurements in recent years have pointed to the previously unrealized abundance of organic containing aerosols in the upper atmosphere and their importance for cloud formation this project will give us a chance to investigate the chemistry and cloud formation potential of these particles in the laboratory in unprecedented detail and help us better understand the field measurements the research team received about $900 000 of funding from nsf to conduct the proposed research they also plan to jointly deploy their instruments and meet at texas a&m to understand how particulate organosulfates and other types of secondary organic aerosols impact the cloud formation process by combining advanced characterization methods of aerosol composition phase state and morphology with cloud activity measurements of these particles our team could potentially resolve how exactly acid-catalyzed multiphase chemical processes in the atmosphere contribute to the formation of clouds surratt said texas a&m undergraduate students as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from each team including those from traditionally underrepresented groups will participate in this project to share and transfer knowledge amongst the three collaborative labs to prepare students to become future stem researchers and leaders the experimental results and data interpretations will be openly shared with the scientific community which can be used in global climate models to improve future climate predictions by leslie lee college of geosciences _________ media contacts: leslie lee leslielee@tamuedu; robyn blackmon robynblackmon@tamuedu " " graduating senior talks adventure equestrian and jumping into the workforcegeography graduating senior alexandra king is excited to begin her geospatial career after commencement in decemberdec 13 2021photo courtesy of alexandra kingphoto courtesy of alexandra kingalexandra king 21 had a unique childhood her mother was a professional equestrian rider and because of this she traveled throughout europe growing up constantly experiencing new places and meeting new people throughout her life king began to enjoy this process of moving somewhere new and starting fresh this led her to apply to a university far from home: texas a&m university when it came time to apply to college king and her family were living in florida she knew she wanted to move to a new place and start her own adventure she applied and was accepted to texas a&m galveston in the fall of 2017 studying ocean and coastal resources after realizing that the program wasnt exactly what she wanted to do king then transferred to texas a&m and into the geographic information science and technology (gist) program in 2018 i knew i wanted to be in the oil and gas industry king said studying ocean and coastal resources didnt feel right so i switched luckily i had a friend who recommended the gist program to me now here at texas a&m king is active among her classmates in the ever-changing field of gist outside of her major she frequently travels out of state to compete with her horse in show jumping in the winter she competes at the world equestrian center in ocala florida and the winter equestrian festival located in wellington florida in the summer king also competes in north carolina new york new jersey long island virginia and many more king credits the lifelong friends shes made at texas a&m as one of the things that has made her aggie experience so worthwhile from class projects to football games her life at this university would not have been nearly as rewarding without meaningful friendships she said through her hard work and support from friends king has a full-time job waiting for her once she graduates she will be a gis technician at bge inc doing data and geodatabase updates king interned at bge in 2021 and is excited to join the company full-time she said now graduating from texas a&m she feels comforted by how well college station has accepted her as an aggie and she knows she will always be welcomed back i decided to go to a&m without knowing too much about it but now it feels like home king said for aspiring underclassmen wanting to follow in her footsteps she recommends being active in the gist community dont be afraid to talk to your classmates because i really believe thats what got me to this point most of the seniors i have talked to feel as though they couldnt have gotten to this point without each other she said not only talking to other classmates but professors as well can help someone succeed kings community participation throughout her life not just college has opened many doors for her she recommends trying to welcome wonderful people into your life just in case they lead you on your next adventure by abigail spears ‘23 " "alexandra king 21 had a unique childhood her mother was a professional equestrian rider and because of this she traveled throughout europe growing up constantly experiencing new places and meeting new people throughout her life king began to enjoy this process of moving somewhere new and starting fresh this led her to apply to a university far from home: texas a&m university when it came time to apply to college king and her family were living in florida she knew she wanted to move to a new place and start her own adventure she applied and was accepted to texas a&m galveston in the fall of 2017 studying ocean and coastal resources after realizing that the program wasnt exactly what she wanted to do king then transferred to texas a&m and into the geographic information science and technology (gist) program in 2018 i knew i wanted to be in the oil and gas industry king said studying ocean and coastal resources didnt feel right so i switched luckily i had a friend who recommended the gist program to me now here at texas a&m king is active among her classmates in the ever-changing field of gist outside of her major she frequently travels out of state to compete with her horse in show jumping in the winter she competes at the world equestrian center in ocala florida and the winter equestrian festival located in wellington florida in the summer king also competes in north carolina new york new jersey long island virginia and many more king credits the lifelong friends shes made at texas a&m as one of the things that has made her aggie experience so worthwhile from class projects to football games her life at this university would not have been nearly as rewarding without meaningful friendships she said through her hard work and support from friends king has a full-time job waiting for her once she graduates she will be a gis technician at bge inc doing data and geodatabase updates king interned at bge in 2021 and is excited to join the company full-time she said now graduating from texas a&m she feels comforted by how well college station has accepted her as an aggie and she knows she will always be welcomed back i decided to go to a&m without knowing too much about it but now it feels like home king said for aspiring underclassmen wanting to follow in her footsteps she recommends being active in the gist community dont be afraid to talk to your classmates because i really believe thats what got me to this point most of the seniors i have talked to feel as though they couldnt have gotten to this point without each other she said not only talking to other classmates but professors as well can help someone succeed kings community participation throughout her life not just college has opened many doors for her she recommends trying to welcome wonderful people into your life just in case they lead you on your next adventure by abigail spears ‘23" " geosciences professor hosts texas a&m exploration space sciences workshoptexas a&m professors hold a space exploration workshop to discuss the diversity of research required for space exploration and the future of texas a&ms aptitude of space research dec 13 2021photo courtesy of dr ryan ewingspace science is a major field of research in many disciplines throughout texas a&m university and recently a college of geosciences professor invited all of those researchers to gather together virtually dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics planned and hosted exploration space science workshop virtually oct 22 open to the entire texas a&m community one of ewings major research projects involved studying mars-like environments in the icelandic highlands which aided in the mars 2020 mission numerous research groups on campus are studying aspects of planetary and space science he said he recalled even being contacted by the department of construction science for some insight on lunar construction in recent years due to this unique but mutual vision the extraterrestrial engineering and construction research initiative (extec) was founded at texas a&m with participation from the college of engineering college of architecture and college of geosciences it was exactly this multidisciplinary participation that made ewing wonder just how many subgroups exist in the field of space exploration to further explore this question he helped plan and host the exploration space science workshop the professors and researchers that attended had a diverse background in numerous  fields including earth sciences planetary sciences astrophysics cosmology astrobiology and the list goes on professors who spoke during the workshop include dr marion nachon associate research scientist in geology and geophysics on the surface of mars dr jonelle walsh assistant professor in physics and astronomy on black holes dr mathias katzfuss associate professor in the department of statistics on the statistics of space dr george allen assistant professor in geology on surface water and ocean topography (swat) dr anita rapp associate professor in atmospheric sciences on using sensors in atmospheric sciences and dr darren depoy professor in physics and astronomy on exoplanet research during the discussions one of the main goals was to recognize how large and diverse this area of research is and if any fields are being left out which the scholars present were quick to list to the hosts another goal set for this workshop was to plan the expansion of texas a&ms already established influence on space exploration sciences since the university is a space grant institution the reality of becoming a recognized leader in space exploration and supporting the national vision set by nasa doe space force and others is more than just a wish its a projection the workshop allowed for the many professionals to answer the question what do we want to do and what do we need to do it it was agreed upon by attendees that the inclusion of current and future students in the universitys research of space was vital to texas a&ms future which speaker emily wilkinson a third year student and president of students for the exploration and development of space (sed) spoke on the group allows any major to participate not just students already studying space the space community at texas a&m is thriving and growing wilkinson said the students belong there no matter what they bring to the table as texas a&m continues to produce fantastic scholars in many areas of research and encourages all disciplines to participate in programs like sed the potential this university holds on the future of space exploration seems infinite much like space itself by abigail spears ‘23 " "space science is a major field of research in many disciplines throughout texas a&m university and recently a college of geosciences professor invited all of those researchers to gather together virtually dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics planned and hosted exploration space science workshop virtually oct 22 open to the entire texas a&m community one of ewings major research projects involved studying mars-like environments in the icelandic highlands which aided in the mars 2020 mission numerous research groups on campus are studying aspects of planetary and space science he said he recalled even being contacted by the department of construction science for some insight on lunar construction in recent years due to this unique but mutual vision the extraterrestrial engineering and construction research initiative (extec) was founded at texas a&m with participation from the college of engineering college of architecture and college of geosciences it was exactly this multidisciplinary participation that made ewing wonder just how many subgroups exist in the field of space exploration to further explore this question he helped plan and host the exploration space science workshop the professors and researchers that attended had a diverse background in numerous  fields including earth sciences planetary sciences astrophysics cosmology astrobiology and the list goes on professors who spoke during the workshop include dr marion nachon associate research scientist in geology and geophysics on the surface of mars dr jonelle walsh assistant professor in physics and astronomy on black holes dr mathias katzfuss associate professor in the department of statistics on the statistics of space dr george allen assistant professor in geology on surface water and ocean topography (swat) dr anita rapp associate professor in atmospheric sciences on using sensors in atmospheric sciences and dr darren depoy professor in physics and astronomy on exoplanet research during the discussions one of the main goals was to recognize how large and diverse this area of research is and if any fields are being left out which the scholars present were quick to list to the hosts another goal set for this workshop was to plan the expansion of texas a&ms already established influence on space exploration sciences since the university is a space grant institution the reality of becoming a recognized leader in space exploration and supporting the national vision set by nasa doe space force and others is more than just a wish its a projection the workshop allowed for the many professionals to answer the question what do we want to do and what do we need to do it it was agreed upon by attendees that the inclusion of current and future students in the universitys research of space was vital to texas a&ms future which speaker emily wilkinson a third year student and president of students for the exploration and development of space (sed) spoke on the group allows any major to participate not just students already studying space the space community at texas a&m is thriving and growing wilkinson said the students belong there no matter what they bring to the table as texas a&m continues to produce fantastic scholars in many areas of research and encourages all disciplines to participate in programs like sed the potential this university holds on the future of space exploration seems infinite much like space itself by abigail spears ‘23" " mobile storm science comes to houston: texas a&m scientists join tracer campaignprofessors in the department of atmospheric sciences will be conducting mobile field research for the new tracer campaign studying deep convection systems in the houston areanov 24 2021(image credit: unsplash photos)in houstons air there are many aerosols that can interact with convective storm systems: marine and urban aerosols smoke from industry and dust atmospheric scientists need to better understand how aerosols affect storm systems and the us department of energy (doe) recently funded a new field campaign to study just that the tracer campaign short for tracking aerosol convection interactions experiment is a co-operated field study that will be carried out by the doe atmospheric radiation measurement (arm) user facility from oct 1 2021 to sept 30 2022 several texas a&m university scientists from the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences will be an integral part of the field research dr anita rapp associate professor is serving as principal investigator with co-investigators dr sarah brooks professor and dr christopher nowotarski associate professor on a doe-funded project to lead a research team of graduate and undergraduate students to conduct a series of observations and experiments from june through sept 2022 during the tracer intensive operational period (iop) during the campaign the texas a&m team and scientists from different laboratories and universities around the nation will use a suite of instruments to collect data on aerosols and atmospheric characteristics to learn more about aerosol-cloud interactions in deep convection systems over the houston area texas a&ms unique role in tracer to improve our understanding of the interactions between aerosols and convective systems we need to understand both aerosol and meteorological conditions of the atmosphere rapp said however one of the difficulties in understanding the impact of aerosols on storms especially from an observational standpoint lies in separating the effects of aerosols from effects of the background meteorology  in houston for instance the sea breeze soot dust and smoke emitted by industrial pollution sources and urban heat island all contribute to different aerosol and meteorology background conditions raising the uncertainty of predicting aerosols impact on convection and climate in models to cope with this challenge doe deployed a suite of different platforms supplied by arm at four locations outside houston but the doe sites are fixed thats where when we come in brooks said the sea breeze which can help initiate storms moves so we need to be mobile to measure the meteorology and aerosol properties where the convection is developing  a newly purchased mobile van by texas a&m will be deployed to carry the instruments to different places in the morning we will be at a coastal site where we can measure the aerosols and meteorology on the marine side of the sea breeze while in the evening we will move inland to the continental side nowotarski said because we want to collect data on the opposite sides of the sea breeze from the similar observations being collected at fixed doe arm sites objectives and outcomes in order to answer questions of how aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) and ice nuclei (in) that water condenses on to form cloud droplets and then how variations in ccn and in influence the properties of thunderstorms scientists will collect data on aerosol concentrations composition size distributions ccn/in concentrations and atmospheric characteristics by deploying a set of state-of-the-art instruments  besides the radars and lidars provided at the fixed doe arm sites the texas a&m research team will provide additional mobile instruments such as a lidar ccn counter continuous flow diffusion chambers (cfdc) scanning mobility particle sizer (smps) vocus ptr-tof mass spectrometer soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (sp-ams) etc to analyze a wide range of aerosol samples including dust sea salt pollen soot particles the texas a&m team will also launch weather balloons to measure vertical profiles of temperature relative humidity and wind of the atmosphere despite the importance of aerosols role as ice nucleating particles in determining the properties of clouds scientists are still unable to assess the impact of atmospheric ice formation because our basic knowledge about it is insufficient and thus leads to uncertainties in model simulations tracer will fill in some of the missing data to help us improve climate and numerical weather forecasting models brooks said all data collected during the course of the campaign will be saved in does archive and freely accessible online to anyone who wants to analyze it houston experiences a wide range of meteorology and aerosol conditions so the research results will be applicable beyond the houston area in other major cities around the world as well brooks said tracer is aiming to focus on aerosol cloud precipitation and radiation processes and is anticipated to improve the accuracy of predictions made by weather forecasting and climate models benefiting residents agricultural activities and disaster preparation and prevention by joy lai " "in houstons air there are many aerosols that can interact with convective storm systems: marine and urban aerosols smoke from industry and dust atmospheric scientists need to better understand how aerosols affect storm systems and the us department of energy (doe) recently funded a new field campaign to study just that the tracer campaign short for tracking aerosol convection interactions experiment is a co-operated field study that will be carried out by the doe atmospheric radiation measurement (arm) user facility from oct 1 2021 to sept 30 2022 several texas a&m university scientists from the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences will be an integral part of the field research dr anita rapp associate professor is serving as principal investigator with co-investigators dr sarah brooks professor and dr christopher nowotarski associate professor on a doe-funded project to lead a research team of graduate and undergraduate students to conduct a series of observations and experiments from june through sept 2022 during the tracer intensive operational period (iop) during the campaign the texas a&m team and scientists from different laboratories and universities around the nation will use a suite of instruments to collect data on aerosols and atmospheric characteristics to learn more about aerosol-cloud interactions in deep convection systems over the houston area texas a&ms unique role in tracer to improve our understanding of the interactions between aerosols and convective systems we need to understand both aerosol and meteorological conditions of the atmosphere rapp said however one of the difficulties in understanding the impact of aerosols on storms especially from an observational standpoint lies in separating the effects of aerosols from effects of the background meteorology  in houston for instance the sea breeze soot dust and smoke emitted by industrial pollution sources and urban heat island all contribute to different aerosol and meteorology background conditions raising the uncertainty of predicting aerosols impact on convection and climate in models to cope with this challenge doe deployed a suite of different platforms supplied by arm at four locations outside houston but the doe sites are fixed thats where when we come in brooks said the sea breeze which can help initiate storms moves so we need to be mobile to measure the meteorology and aerosol properties where the convection is developing  a newly purchased mobile van by texas a&m will be deployed to carry the instruments to different places in the morning we will be at a coastal site where we can measure the aerosols and meteorology on the marine side of the sea breeze while in the evening we will move inland to the continental side nowotarski said because we want to collect data on the opposite sides of the sea breeze from the similar observations being collected at fixed doe arm sites objectives and outcomes in order to answer questions of how aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei (ccn) and ice nuclei (in) that water condenses on to form cloud droplets and then how variations in ccn and in influence the properties of thunderstorms scientists will collect data on aerosol concentrations composition size distributions ccn/in concentrations and atmospheric characteristics by deploying a set of state-of-the-art instruments  besides the radars and lidars provided at the fixed doe arm sites the texas a&m research team will provide additional mobile instruments such as a lidar ccn counter continuous flow diffusion chambers (cfdc) scanning mobility particle sizer (smps) vocus ptr-tof mass spectrometer soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (sp-ams) etc to analyze a wide range of aerosol samples including dust sea salt pollen soot particles the texas a&m team will also launch weather balloons to measure vertical profiles of temperature relative humidity and wind of the atmosphere despite the importance of aerosols role as ice nucleating particles in determining the properties of clouds scientists are still unable to assess the impact of atmospheric ice formation because our basic knowledge about it is insufficient and thus leads to uncertainties in model simulations tracer will fill in some of the missing data to help us improve climate and numerical weather forecasting models brooks said all data collected during the course of the campaign will be saved in does archive and freely accessible online to anyone who wants to analyze it houston experiences a wide range of meteorology and aerosol conditions so the research results will be applicable beyond the houston area in other major cities around the world as well brooks said tracer is aiming to focus on aerosol cloud precipitation and radiation processes and is anticipated to improve the accuracy of predictions made by weather forecasting and climate models benefiting residents agricultural activities and disaster preparation and prevention by joy lai" " texas a&m geosciences announces 2021 distinguished achievement awardsthree outstanding geoscientists will receive the awards during the distinguished achievement awards gala jan 14 2022nov 23 2021dan allen hughes jrjill urban-karrelora aranaeach individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science three exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held jan 14 at the annenberg presidential conference center the geosciences awards program began in 1978 with the creation of the geosciences and earth resources medal for distinguished achievement (gerac) in 2004 it was unanimously decided by the gerac committee and supported by then texas a&m president robert gates to rename the highly regarded award the michel t halbouty medal in honor of the venerable originator of the award the awards program was expanded in 2017 to recognize highly distinguished individuals for extraordinary achievements and contributions to their professions the geosciences and to texas a&m dan allen hughes jr 80 dan allen hughes jr is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal with 41 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production dan allen hughes jr 80 is the president of the dan a hughes co as well as other oil and gas related companies hughes graduated from texas a&m in 1980 with a degree in management after completing further studies in geology he joined his familys oil and gas firm learning the business from his father texas a&m distinguished alumnus dan a hughes sr 51 hughes helped establish the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems at texas a&m with his father and his uncle dudley hughes in 2009 with the mission to integrate education and training in geology geophysics and engineering the center was designed to carry out collaborative research with industry and solve current problems efficiently he has served as the chairman of the centers industry advisory board for four years and today the berg-hughes center is highly regarded for its impactful research and applied educationdan a hughes sr dan allen hughes jr and dudley hughes the michel t halbouty geosciences medalin 1997 the college of geosciences awarded the michel t halbouty medal which was named gerac at that time to dan and dudley hughes nearly 25 years later dan allen hughes jr becomes the third hughes to receive the medal like his father and uncle before him in 2010 and 2011 respectively hughes was named a distinguished alumni of texas a&m in 2019 and in 2020 he was appointed to the texas a&m foundation board of trustees dan allen hughes jr is a distinguished texas a&m former student who has given exceptional and distinguished service to the geosciences and to the oil and gas industry said dr mukul r bhatia director of the berg-hughes center the hughes familys legacy in the geosciences is decades-long and continues to this day jill urban-karr 86 jill urban-karr 86 has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award urban-karr graduated from texas a&m in 1986 with a degree in geography and then began her career in the development and implementation of gis and geospatial solutions in the public sector today she is the executive director of the consulting services/landfolio solutions team for the land administration solutions group of trimble incorporated she is a member of the world banks task force on public private partnerships in land administration she has led strategic discussions with the heads of state of sri lanka romania the gambia bulgaria namibia ghana antigua and barbuda belize turkey egypt saudi arabia and others regarding land rights as a catalyst for economic growth as a former student urban-karr has given her time and service to the college of geosciences in numerous roles most notably serving as the chair of the deans advisory council for seven years she has also worked with the college of agriculture and life sciences through helping researchers identify successful technology approaches for enhancing food security via land tenure in ghana and the college of education and human development through engagement in the aggie stem camps she also led the establishment of the multi-million dollar gift of the trimble technology laboratory at texas a&m university we celebrate the accomplishments legacy and sustained impact of one of the most visionary aggies mrs jill urban-karr who is one of the worlds recognized leaders in addressing the sustainability of developing nations said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at the heart of jills accomplishments is elevating the standard of living and personal security for millions of people across the world especially those vulnerable to exploitation elora arana '16 elora arana 16 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award arana is a development manager for ercot and spp markets for key capture energy a battery energy storage system (bess) renewable energy firm arana identifies manages and advances utility-scale energy storage projects from conceptualization and greenfield status to construction hand-off she earned a bachelors degree in environmental studies in 2016 minoring in economics and geography with a focus on energy markets and solar energy since graduation she has been a regular participant at the texas a&m sciences career fair as a recruiter and has also given of her time for numerous career panels geosciences students preparing for careers have received valuable advice and expertise from arana regarding renewable energy sustainability environmental compliance and environmental management systems elora has been a stalwart reliable and passionate promoter of our degree programs said dr christian brannstrom geosciences associate dean for academic affairs through her own career path she has shown the important role that environmental studies students can have in the field of environmental compliance and hse she translates her career path success into highly relevant and practical advice to our undergraduates for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee college of geosciences " "each individually renowned for their geosciences expertise service to the aggie family and legacy contributions to science three exemplary award recipients have been named by the texas a&m university college of geosciences the recipients will be celebrated and honored during the college of geosciences distinguished achievement awards gala which will be held jan 14 at the annenberg presidential conference center the geosciences awards program began in 1978 with the creation of the geosciences and earth resources medal for distinguished achievement (gerac) in 2004 it was unanimously decided by the gerac committee and supported by then texas a&m president robert gates to rename the highly regarded award the michel t halbouty medal in honor of the venerable originator of the award the awards program was expanded in 2017 to recognize highly distinguished individuals for extraordinary achievements and contributions to their professions the geosciences and to texas a&m dan allen hughes jr 80 dan allen hughes jr is being honored with the michel t halbouty geosciences medal with 41 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production dan allen hughes jr 80 is the president of the dan a hughes co as well as other oil and gas related companies hughes graduated from texas a&m in 1980 with a degree in management after completing further studies in geology he joined his familys oil and gas firm learning the business from his father texas a&m distinguished alumnus dan a hughes sr 51 hughes helped establish the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems at texas a&m with his father and his uncle dudley hughes in 2009 with the mission to integrate education and training in geology geophysics and engineering the center was designed to carry out collaborative research with industry and solve current problems efficiently he has served as the chairman of the centers industry advisory board for four years and today the berg-hughes center is highly regarded for its impactful research and applied education" dan a hughes sr dan allen hughes jr and dudley hughes the michel t halbouty geosciences medal "in 1997 the college of geosciences awarded the michel t halbouty medal which was named gerac at that time to dan and dudley hughes nearly 25 years later dan allen hughes jr becomes the third hughes to receive the medal like his father and uncle before him in 2010 and 2011 respectively hughes was named a distinguished alumni of texas a&m in 2019 and in 2020 he was appointed to the texas a&m foundation board of trustees dan allen hughes jr is a distinguished texas a&m former student who has given exceptional and distinguished service to the geosciences and to the oil and gas industry said dr mukul r bhatia director of the berg-hughes center the hughes familys legacy in the geosciences is decades-long and continues to this day jill urban-karr 86 jill urban-karr 86 has been awarded the geosciences distinguished alumni award urban-karr graduated from texas a&m in 1986 with a degree in geography and then began her career in the development and implementation of gis and geospatial solutions in the public sector today she is the executive director of the consulting services/landfolio solutions team for the land administration solutions group of trimble incorporated she is a member of the world banks task force on public private partnerships in land administration she has led strategic discussions with the heads of state of sri lanka romania the gambia bulgaria namibia ghana antigua and barbuda belize turkey egypt saudi arabia and others regarding land rights as a catalyst for economic growth as a former student urban-karr has given her time and service to the college of geosciences in numerous roles most notably serving as the chair of the deans advisory council for seven years she has also worked with the college of agriculture and life sciences through helping researchers identify successful technology approaches for enhancing food security via land tenure in ghana and the college of education and human development through engagement in the aggie stem camps she also led the establishment of the multi-million dollar gift of the trimble technology laboratory at texas a&m university we celebrate the accomplishments legacy and sustained impact of one of the most visionary aggies mrs jill urban-karr who is one of the worlds recognized leaders in addressing the sustainability of developing nations said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at the heart of jills accomplishments is elevating the standard of living and personal security for millions of people across the world especially those vulnerable to exploitation elora arana '16 elora arana 16 has been awarded the geosciences young alumni award arana is a development manager for ercot and spp markets for key capture energy a battery energy storage system (bess) renewable energy firm arana identifies manages and advances utility-scale energy storage projects from conceptualization and greenfield status to construction hand-off she earned a bachelors degree in environmental studies in 2016 minoring in economics and geography with a focus on energy markets and solar energy since graduation she has been a regular participant at the texas a&m sciences career fair as a recruiter and has also given of her time for numerous career panels geosciences students preparing for careers have received valuable advice and expertise from arana regarding renewable energy sustainability environmental compliance and environmental management systems elora has been a stalwart reliable and passionate promoter of our degree programs said dr christian brannstrom geosciences associate dean for academic affairs through her own career path she has shown the important role that environmental studies students can have in the field of environmental compliance and hse she translates her career path success into highly relevant and practical advice to our undergraduates for more details on the colleges awards program read about our awards and recognitions by leslie lee college of geosciences" " new research shows the importance of upper ocean temperature structure to hurricane intensitytexas a&m scientist finds late season storms to have greater potential for intensifying than early season stormsnov 16 2021credit: getty imagestexas a&m oceanographer and assistant professor dr henry potter gathered evidence suggesting that tropical storms in the late hurricane season have a better chance of intensifying than early season storms in his new research article potter explains that differences in upper ocean temperatures between the two times of year are key to cyclone strength and longevity my interest was trying to understand variability in upper ocean heat throughout hurricane season potter said tropical cyclones get their energy by sucking the heat from the warm upper waters of the ocean throughout the season from june to november temperatures vary both at and below the surface which can influence how strong a storm can become sea surface temperatures can be tracked by satellite but not subsurface temperatures making intensity predictions more difficult the most intense storms tend to occur during the peak months of august and september however two nearly identical storms that occur in june and november could behave very differently because of these differences in upper ocean temperatures the early summer months have a thinner layer of hot water in the upper ocean and the later months of the season have a much deeper layer of warm water for storms to draw energy from as a storm draws heat from the upper layer it also draws up the cooler waters from below cooling the upper waters and thus reducing the surface heat energy available for intensification in the later months of the season the cooler waters are further down making it harder for the storm to cool the upper waters and increasing the possibility of storm intensification for this study potter collected ten years of data from the argo program part of the global ocean observing system the argo program consists of about 4000 drifting floats globally to measure profiles at each measuring water temperature from the surface to 2000 m every 10 days the number of operational floats changes daily and there are about 20-30 floats operating in the gulf of mexico at any given time dr potter used the temperature profiles to calculate the tropical storm heat potential the tropical cyclone heat potential is a metric used by the hurricane community that helps improve hurricane forecasts when used in addition to sea surface temperature potter said it is important to know what the temperature profile is below the surface so we have a better idea of how much the ocean is likely to cool due to the hurricane mixing it together it is a very timely work the role of upper ocean heat content in tropical cyclone intensification is an important scientific and societal subject said dr anthony knap oceanography professor and director of texas a&ms geochemical & environmental research group (gerg) although storm track forecasting has been significantly improved in the past 30 years long term intensity forecasts have lagged i have had a long-term interest in this problem gerg has a series of gliders which are deployed to help fill the gaps knap said however we need more support to keep these gliders in the water pre-hurricane season in the gulf of mexico hurricanes do a lot of damage and upend a lot of peoples lives in very serious ways potter said one of the best things we can do as a community of hurricane scientists is to produce reliable forecasts so that people heed evacuation warnings " "texas a&m oceanographer and assistant professor dr henry potter gathered evidence suggesting that tropical storms in the late hurricane season have a better chance of intensifying than early season storms in his new research article potter explains that differences in upper ocean temperatures between the two times of year are key to cyclone strength and longevity my interest was trying to understand variability in upper ocean heat throughout hurricane season potter said tropical cyclones get their energy by sucking the heat from the warm upper waters of the ocean throughout the season from june to november temperatures vary both at and below the surface which can influence how strong a storm can become sea surface temperatures can be tracked by satellite but not subsurface temperatures making intensity predictions more difficult the most intense storms tend to occur during the peak months of august and september however two nearly identical storms that occur in june and november could behave very differently because of these differences in upper ocean temperatures the early summer months have a thinner layer of hot water in the upper ocean and the later months of the season have a much deeper layer of warm water for storms to draw energy from as a storm draws heat from the upper layer it also draws up the cooler waters from below cooling the upper waters and thus reducing the surface heat energy available for intensification in the later months of the season the cooler waters are further down making it harder for the storm to cool the upper waters and increasing the possibility of storm intensification for this study potter collected ten years of data from the argo program part of the global ocean observing system the argo program consists of about 4000 drifting floats globally to measure profiles at each measuring water temperature from the surface to 2000 m every 10 days the number of operational floats changes daily and there are about 20-30 floats operating in the gulf of mexico at any given time dr potter used the temperature profiles to calculate the tropical storm heat potential the tropical cyclone heat potential is a metric used by the hurricane community that helps improve hurricane forecasts when used in addition to sea surface temperature potter said it is important to know what the temperature profile is below the surface so we have a better idea of how much the ocean is likely to cool due to the hurricane mixing it together it is a very timely work the role of upper ocean heat content in tropical cyclone intensification is an important scientific and societal subject said dr anthony knap oceanography professor and director of texas a&ms geochemical & environmental research group (gerg) although storm track forecasting has been significantly improved in the past 30 years long term intensity forecasts have lagged i have had a long-term interest in this problem gerg has a series of gliders which are deployed to help fill the gaps knap said however we need more support to keep these gliders in the water pre-hurricane season in the gulf of mexico hurricanes do a lot of damage and upend a lot of peoples lives in very serious ways potter said one of the best things we can do as a community of hurricane scientists is to produce reliable forecasts so that people heed evacuation warnings" " my first-gen story: leslie vallecillo 21after nearly dropping out of texas a&m two years ago leslie vallecillo 21 will graduate this december with a degree in geographic information science and technology and minors in meteorology and geographynov 12 2021vallecillo (front row center) and college of geosciences students during a study abroad trip to costa rica (all photos courtesy of vallecillo)vallecillo experienced launching weather balloons in meteorology courses in the college of geosciencesin the second semester of her sophomore year at texas a&m leslie vallecillo came to the end of her rope she had been taking around 19 hours of classes each semester working about 30 hours a week as a server at a local restaurant and trying to keep up with challenging coursework as a meteorology major all while supporting herself financially i remember walking through the college of geosciences deans office dropping off my academic probation paperwork feeling hopeless vallecillo said i was very upset and decided to stop by judy nunezs office and hoped that someone i was familiar with would be able to understand the devastating circumstances i was in judy listened to me and helped me discover a major i didnt even know existed if it wasnt for her i dont think id be where i am now""  thanks to her own determination and the support of the college of geosciences vallecillo was able to recover academically change majors and find her way forward today vallecillo is now a senior in the geographic information science and technology (gist) degree program in the department of geography and will graduate in december  two years ago i was on academic probation and feeling lost but now im here celebrating my first-generation accomplishments and about to graduate she said tackling first-gen challenges growing up on the east side of houston vallecillo said that attending college was not common at her high school and no one in her family had attended college yet but when her senior year of high school came she realized she was ready to try to change that even though some people advised her not to a friend attending texas a&m told her about their experience at the school and vallecillo was interested no one at my school encouraged me to apply to texas a&m but i decided to do it anyway and i got in! she said i find it encouraging when people doubt me dont tell me i cant do something! her determination paid off and she began her academic journey at texas a&m in the fall of 2017 as a meteorology major between working long hours at her job and adjusting to college life vallecillo often felt overwhelmed there were a lot of challenges but the hardest thing was knowing how to balance everything because my family wasnt able to assist me financially and i had to figure it out on my own she said so having to go to work and then go to school full-time was challenging learning how to balance all of that and still take care of daily life was i think the hardest part for me personally i didnt know how to manage everything and i didnt have anyone to look up togist students jaron capps and leslie vallecilloleslie vallecillo and her aggie ring  experiencing the geosciences the summer after her freshman year vallecillo participated in a college of geosciences study abroad trip to costa rica led by nunez that was a huge highlight for me because i met such great people including some of my closest friends today she said vallecillo has a passion for gist and is excited to use it in a career as an environmental professional this summer she worked as an intern at the texas commission for environmental quality i want to have a significant impact on the preservation of our planet and i know that my passion for gis can help me do that during this final semester of her undergraduate degree she said that geography 476 with michael bishop professor of geography has been a highlight of her senior year the semester-long project in that course has been extremely challenging but it has been really fun incorporating everything weve learned in gis its so exciting! she said reflecting on her time aggieland what makes the texas a&m student experience unique for vallecillo it was the community ive been outside of bryan-college station now and run into other aggies with their aggie rings on and you just spark up a conversation the aggie family and that community aspect of being   a student here is one of the best parts of being a student she said one piece of advice she said she would give younger students would be to try to find ways to talk to seniors graduate students and professors and to not be afraid to seek out advice proactively today vallecillo is extremely proud to be walking the graduation stage in december graduating is going to be my biggest accomplishment from my time at texas a&m she said i was really close to dropping out of college two years into it because it was just so difficult and i wasnt sure what i wanted to do now looking back im so glad that i pushed through didnt give up and found a major that i absolutely fell in love with by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences " vallecillo (front row center) and college of geosciences students during a study abroad trip to costa rica (all photos courtesy of vallecillo)vallecillo experienced launching weather balloons in meteorology courses in the college of geosciences "in the second semester of her sophomore year at texas a&m leslie vallecillo came to the end of her rope she had been taking around 19 hours of classes each semester working about 30 hours a week as a server at a local restaurant and trying to keep up with challenging coursework as a meteorology major all while supporting herself financially i remember walking through the college of geosciences deans office dropping off my academic probation paperwork feeling hopeless vallecillo said i was very upset and decided to stop by judy nunezs office and hoped that someone i was familiar with would be able to understand the devastating circumstances i was in judy listened to me and helped me discover a major i didnt even know existed if it wasnt for her i dont think id be where i am now""  thanks to her own determination and the support of the college of geosciences vallecillo was able to recover academically change majors and find her way forward today vallecillo is now a senior in the geographic information science and technology (gist) degree program in the department of geography and will graduate in december  two years ago i was on academic probation and feeling lost but now im here celebrating my first-generation accomplishments and about to graduate she said tackling first-gen challenges growing up on the east side of houston vallecillo said that attending college was not common at her high school and no one in her family had attended college yet but when her senior year of high school came she realized she was ready to try to change that even though some people advised her not to a friend attending texas a&m told her about their experience at the school and vallecillo was interested no one at my school encouraged me to apply to texas a&m but i decided to do it anyway and i got in! she said i find it encouraging when people doubt me dont tell me i cant do something! her determination paid off and she began her academic journey at texas a&m in the fall of 2017 as a meteorology major between working long hours at her job and adjusting to college life vallecillo often felt overwhelmed there were a lot of challenges but the hardest thing was knowing how to balance everything because my family wasnt able to assist me financially and i had to figure it out on my own she said so having to go to work and then go to school full-time was challenging learning how to balance all of that and still take care of daily life was i think the hardest part for me personally i didnt know how to manage everything and i didnt have anyone to look up to" gist students jaron capps and leslie vallecilloleslie vallecillo and her aggie ring "  experiencing the geosciences the summer after her freshman year vallecillo participated in a college of geosciences study abroad trip to costa rica led by nunez that was a huge highlight for me because i met such great people including some of my closest friends today she said vallecillo has a passion for gist and is excited to use it in a career as an environmental professional this summer she worked as an intern at the texas commission for environmental quality i want to have a significant impact on the preservation of our planet and i know that my passion for gis can help me do that during this final semester of her undergraduate degree she said that geography 476 with michael bishop professor of geography has been a highlight of her senior year the semester-long project in that course has been extremely challenging but it has been really fun incorporating everything weve learned in gis its so exciting! she said reflecting on her time aggieland what makes the texas a&m student experience unique for vallecillo it was the community ive been outside of bryan-college station now and run into other aggies with their aggie rings on and you just spark up a conversation the aggie family and that community aspect of being   a student here is one of the best parts of being a student she said one piece of advice she said she would give younger students would be to try to find ways to talk to seniors graduate students and professors and to not be afraid to seek out advice proactively today vallecillo is extremely proud to be walking the graduation stage in december graduating is going to be my biggest accomplishment from my time at texas a&m she said i was really close to dropping out of college two years into it because it was just so difficult and i wasnt sure what i wanted to do now looking back im so glad that i pushed through didnt give up and found a major that i absolutely fell in love with by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences" " geosciences celebrates first-generation studentsabout one out of four aggies are first-generation college students and this week the university is celebrating their accomplishments and determinationnov 11 2021 video by drew davis '23 this week texas a&m university and the college of geosciences are celebrating first-generation week in recognition of the determined spirit of students faculty and staff who are or were the first in their families to earn a four-year degree  first-generation students are broadly defined as those whose parents have not earned a bachelors degree about 25 percent of the undergraduate population at texas a&m are first-generation students being a first-generation college student means breaking through barriers said allison savoie a phd student in the department of oceanography there are a lot of steps that youre not really prepared for when you get to college and you have to figure those out on your own the college of geosciences kicked-off first-gen week with a special celebration nov 8 gathering together students faculty and staff outside the o&m buildingstudents faculty and staff joined in the geosciences first-gen celebration (photos by leslie lee)i just didnt have anyone to look up to said leslie vallecillo 21 a first-gen student and geographic information science and technology senior now post-four-years about to graduate in december ive found a major that i fell in love with and graduating is going to be my biggest accomplishment yet the weeklong celebration is supported by the office for student success routh first-generation center and includes events around the university celebrating first-generation students pays tribute to their accomplishments as well as honoring the sacrifices others have made to help them on that journey said interim provost and executive vice president dr timothy p scott were excited to recognize the significance four-year degrees will make in the lives of our students by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences " " video by drew davis '23 this week texas a&m university and the college of geosciences are celebrating first-generation week in recognition of the determined spirit of students faculty and staff who are or were the first in their families to earn a four-year degree  first-generation students are broadly defined as those whose parents have not earned a bachelors degree about 25 percent of the undergraduate population at texas a&m are first-generation students being a first-generation college student means breaking through barriers said allison savoie a phd student in the department of oceanography there are a lot of steps that youre not really prepared for when you get to college and you have to figure those out on your own the college of geosciences kicked-off first-gen week with a special celebration nov 8 gathering together students faculty and staff outside the o&m building" students faculty and staff joined in the geosciences first-gen celebration (photos by leslie lee) "i just didnt have anyone to look up to said leslie vallecillo 21 a first-gen student and geographic information science and technology senior now post-four-years about to graduate in december ive found a major that i fell in love with and graduating is going to be my biggest accomplishment yet the weeklong celebration is supported by the office for student success routh first-generation center and includes events around the university celebrating first-generation students pays tribute to their accomplishments as well as honoring the sacrifices others have made to help them on that journey said interim provost and executive vice president dr timothy p scott were excited to recognize the significance four-year degrees will make in the lives of our students by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences" " texas earthquakes: not uncommon but rarely damagingtwo recent quakes near the odessa area are nothing to worry about texas a&m experts say because the state is a ""safe zone""nov 5 2021two earthquakes were recorded near odessa texas getty imagestwo earthquakes have hit the odessa area recently but texans should not be overly alarmed because the state lies in a relatively safe zone when it comes to severe earthquakes according to two texas a&m university experts dr fred chester and dr nick perez in the college of geosciences said the two quakes – a 36 and 34 on the richter scale – are not uncommon in the area especially since it is in the heart of texas oil country which in recent years has seen a dramatic uptick in earthquake activity earthquakes can happen just about anywhere in the north america continent but the risk varies greatly dr chester said in general the risk in texas is lower overall than most other places in the us and the risk is lowest along the gulf coast the largest and most devastating earthquakes – with respect to lives infrastructure and financial loss – occur at tectonic plate boundaries and texas is far from plate boundaries dr chester said natural earthquakes occur in west and north texas and some of these can cause damage and chance of injury  according to the texas almanac the largest earthquake ever to hit texas occurred in 1931 near valentine in far west texas and measured 65 for decades both texas and oklahoma have seen huge increases in the production of oil and gas from unconventional reservoirs made possible by the practice of fracking to unlock gas and fluids trapped in the source rock numerous studies have shown a direct link between production from unconventional reservoirs and an increase in rates of local earthquakes most of which are in the 30 or below magnitude category and cause little damage dr chester said we now recognize that most of the north american continental crust is naturally stressed to levels that are close to failure and thus primed for causing earthquakes and that fluids in the crust have a role in earthquake faulting he said pumping fluids in and out of the crust can locally trigger earthquakes that would eventually occur naturally the physical understanding that pumping fluids into the crust can trigger earthquakes is robust and understood for 50 years or so and triggering is most likely to occur when pumping particularly large volumes of fluids quickly it is well documented that pumping wastewater into the crust such as in north texas and oklahoma increases the rate of earthquakes and can trigger earthquakes large enough to cause damage he added that researchers in the department of geology & geophysics at texas a&m have contributed to the scientific knowledge of earthquakes efforts to identify earthquake hazards and progress in earthquake forecasting through involvement in the southern california earthquake center (scec) texas a&m is a core institution of scec dr perez said those interested in texas earthquakes should go to the texnet website that regularly tracks them he also recommends the us geological (usgs) site by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " "two earthquakes have hit the odessa area recently but texans should not be overly alarmed because the state lies in a relatively safe zone when it comes to severe earthquakes according to two texas a&m university experts dr fred chester and dr nick perez in the college of geosciences said the two quakes – a 36 and 34 on the richter scale – are not uncommon in the area especially since it is in the heart of texas oil country which in recent years has seen a dramatic uptick in earthquake activity earthquakes can happen just about anywhere in the north america continent but the risk varies greatly dr chester said in general the risk in texas is lower overall than most other places in the us and the risk is lowest along the gulf coast the largest and most devastating earthquakes – with respect to lives infrastructure and financial loss – occur at tectonic plate boundaries and texas is far from plate boundaries dr chester said natural earthquakes occur in west and north texas and some of these can cause damage and chance of injury  according to the texas almanac the largest earthquake ever to hit texas occurred in 1931 near valentine in far west texas and measured 65 for decades both texas and oklahoma have seen huge increases in the production of oil and gas from unconventional reservoirs made possible by the practice of fracking to unlock gas and fluids trapped in the source rock numerous studies have shown a direct link between production from unconventional reservoirs and an increase in rates of local earthquakes most of which are in the 30 or below magnitude category and cause little damage dr chester said we now recognize that most of the north american continental crust is naturally stressed to levels that are close to failure and thus primed for causing earthquakes and that fluids in the crust have a role in earthquake faulting he said pumping fluids in and out of the crust can locally trigger earthquakes that would eventually occur naturally the physical understanding that pumping fluids into the crust can trigger earthquakes is robust and understood for 50 years or so and triggering is most likely to occur when pumping particularly large volumes of fluids quickly it is well documented that pumping wastewater into the crust such as in north texas and oklahoma increases the rate of earthquakes and can trigger earthquakes large enough to cause damage he added that researchers in the department of geology & geophysics at texas a&m have contributed to the scientific knowledge of earthquakes efforts to identify earthquake hazards and progress in earthquake forecasting through involvement in the southern california earthquake center (scec) texas a&m is a core institution of scec dr perez said those interested in texas earthquakes should go to the texnet website that regularly tracks them he also recommends the us geological (usgs) site by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " meteorology freshman produces post-hurricane nws safety video ella murphy '25 interned for the national weather service austin-san antonio office in the summer of 2021nov 5 2021photo courtesy of ella murphyscreenshot from nws safety videohurricane ida which struck land august 26 was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit louisiana only second to hurricane katrina in 2005 in the aftermath of ida the national weather service (nws) new orleans used twitter to reach people affected by the storm nws shared crucial safety tips including a video explaining post-storm dangers and what to look out for when returning home from water contamination to generator safety that video was made by texas a&ms ella murphy a freshman meteorology student in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences texas a&m to the rescue during her mentorship class in high school murphy was seeking out a possible opportunity to work with meteorologists in the field however due to complications caused by the ongoing pandemic and the fact that she lacked experience she had trouble finding the mentorship she was looking for that was until she reached out to texas a&m professors dr john nielson-gammon dr christopher nowotarski dr don conlee and dr yangyang xu who were all willing to assist and not only did they work with her but they brought on several other students from multiple states and created a mentorship program with varying topics from week to week all about atmospheric sciences they were later paired with individual professors based on their career interests and murphy worked with conlee murphy says i learned a lot about what other careers and resources are out there the internship after getting accepted into texas a&m murphy was then offered an internship with nws austin/san antonio there she was able to help out in the media department and had many prompts to choose from one in particular stuck out to her a video idea for safety after a hurricane that the national hurricane center needed i love teaching and communicating to others about weather so i liked the idea of making something that people can use she said after the video was finished and approved the video was sent to nws new orleans during the recovery of ida which was posted on their twitter account using this cool video that @jonzeitler from @nwssanantonio shared with us a few weeks back that one of their summer interns #hurricanesafety https://tco/xsvkp7ypz9 christopher (@ulmwxr) september 6 2021   the thought that i ended up helping a lot of people after the hurricane is so cool "" she said ""i actually did that and im only a freshman in college murphy gives this advice to other young people interested in meteorology: network network network network even if you feel unqualified even if you are a high school student a perfect fit when considering where to go to college texas a&m was a top choice due to the research opportunities available here murphy had experienced an intense storm when she was young which could have frightened her but instead filled her with intrigue she said ever since then she has been obsessed about the atmospheric sciences she wanted a school that allowed her to dive head first into her interests which made texas a&m perfect for her here murphy is able to work with classmates who possess that same passion for meteorology that she has murphy is excited to see what else texas a&m has to offer her and what other opportunities she can uncover for herself by abigail spears '23 " "hurricane ida which struck land august 26 was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit louisiana only second to hurricane katrina in 2005 in the aftermath of ida the national weather service (nws) new orleans used twitter to reach people affected by the storm nws shared crucial safety tips including a video explaining post-storm dangers and what to look out for when returning home from water contamination to generator safety that video was made by texas a&ms ella murphy a freshman meteorology student in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences texas a&m to the rescue during her mentorship class in high school murphy was seeking out a possible opportunity to work with meteorologists in the field however due to complications caused by the ongoing pandemic and the fact that she lacked experience she had trouble finding the mentorship she was looking for that was until she reached out to texas a&m professors dr john nielson-gammon dr christopher nowotarski dr don conlee and dr yangyang xu who were all willing to assist and not only did they work with her but they brought on several other students from multiple states and created a mentorship program with varying topics from week to week all about atmospheric sciences they were later paired with individual professors based on their career interests and murphy worked with conlee murphy says i learned a lot about what other careers and resources are out there the internship after getting accepted into texas a&m murphy was then offered an internship with nws austin/san antonio there she was able to help out in the media department and had many prompts to choose from one in particular stuck out to her a video idea for safety after a hurricane that the national hurricane center needed i love teaching and communicating to others about weather so i liked the idea of making something that people can use she said after the video was finished and approved the video was sent to nws new orleans during the recovery of ida which was posted on their twitter account using this cool video that @jonzeitler from @nwssanantonio shared with us a few weeks back that one of their summer interns #hurricanesafety https://tco/xsvkp7ypz9 christopher (@ulmwxr) september 6 2021   the thought that i ended up helping a lot of people after the hurricane is so cool "" she said ""i actually did that and im only a freshman in college murphy gives this advice to other young people interested in meteorology: network network network network even if you feel unqualified even if you are a high school student a perfect fit when considering where to go to college texas a&m was a top choice due to the research opportunities available here murphy had experienced an intense storm when she was young which could have frightened her but instead filled her with intrigue she said ever since then she has been obsessed about the atmospheric sciences she wanted a school that allowed her to dive head first into her interests which made texas a&m perfect for her here murphy is able to work with classmates who possess that same passion for meteorology that she has murphy is excited to see what else texas a&m has to offer her and what other opportunities she can uncover for herself by abigail spears '23" " texas a&m scientist at cop26 shows the world peatlands are key to climate resiliencetexas a&m geography's dr julie loisel says that preserving and restoring peatlands can help the world tackle the climate crisisnov 4 2021professors julie loisel and angela gallego-sala co-leads of c-peat at the cop26 summit in glasgow scotland this week (photo by loisel)peatlands in tierra del fuego and texas a&m students on a research expedition led by loisel (photo by patrick campbell)texas a&m university geographer dr julie loisel is presenting a major exhibit at the global cop26 climate summit in glasgow scotland this week loisel is part of an expert team leading the c-peat project carbon in peat on earth through time the two-week-long summit is the 26th united nations climate change conference and loisel said the c-peat researchers are presenting the exhibit on friday nov 5 in the peatland pavilion titled ""getting to know peatlands the largest natural land carbon stores on earth the exhibit will examine peatlands as nature-based climate solutions loisel co-leads c-peat and is an assistant professor of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m we can collectively make a difference loisel said we have a responsibility to stop the destruction of peatlands and find sustainable practices the peatland pavilion is the first of its kind; it is sponsored by the united nations global peatlands initiative and at the cop26 meeting it provides an invaluable platform for peatland experts from around to showcase the importance of these ecosystems and innovative ways to restore them the c-peat team will be presenting live from 2:00 – 4:30 pm cst on nov 5 with the first 30 minutes reserved for participation from remote attendees register online to view the live presentation exhibit and peatland pavilion peatlands are a type of wetland found in almost every country on earth and despite covering just 3% of the global land surface they contain more carbon than all the world's forests combined the protection of peatlands should become a priority loisel said as of now they are only minimally protected from a climate policy perspective peatlands have been cooling the global climate for thousands of years by slowly accumulating thick layers of organic soil ongoing climate and land-use changes are not only threatening the capacity of these ecosystems to keep doing their job; these changes can also compromise the large stores of carbon that has taken thousands of years to accumulate ""using ecosystems that naturally capture carbon tends to be more economically and energetically viable compared to technological methods for co2 removal "" said c-peat researcher professor angela gallego-sala of the global systems institute at the university of exeter ""the most widely known of these solutions are afforestation and reforestation in addition peatland rewetting is becoming better recognised as an important nature-based solution"" a study published last year by a team led by loisel and gallego-sala warned that peatlands have already shifted from an overall ""sink"" (absorbing carbon) to a source and that they have the potential to continue to release vast quantities of carbon to the atmosphere this century primarily due to human impacts mainstream policy instruments such as carbon offsetting are not designed to protect large and intact carbon-rich sites such as peatlands loisel said instead emphasis lays on the restoration of degraded sites and associated increases in net carbon sequestration rates rather than on preserving soil carbon that has been saved away over thousands of years the c-peat exhibit will highlight the importance of peatland management and restoration for meeting net zero targets loisel and c-peat experts will be at the exhibit ready to explain more about peatlands all over the world and how they are a vital part of our response to climate change we believe this situation is poised to change with organizations setting ambitious net-zero targets she said natural carbon sinks such as peatlands should play an increasingly important role towards meeting those targets  by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " professors julie loisel and angela gallego-sala co-leads of c-peat at the cop26 summit in glasgow scotland this week (photo by loisel)peatlands in tierra del fuego and texas a&m students on a research expedition led by loisel (photo by patrick campbell) "texas a&m university geographer dr julie loisel is presenting a major exhibit at the global cop26 climate summit in glasgow scotland this week loisel is part of an expert team leading the c-peat project carbon in peat on earth through time the two-week-long summit is the 26th united nations climate change conference and loisel said the c-peat researchers are presenting the exhibit on friday nov 5 in the peatland pavilion titled ""getting to know peatlands the largest natural land carbon stores on earth the exhibit will examine peatlands as nature-based climate solutions loisel co-leads c-peat and is an assistant professor of geography in the college of geosciences at texas a&m we can collectively make a difference loisel said we have a responsibility to stop the destruction of peatlands and find sustainable practices the peatland pavilion is the first of its kind; it is sponsored by the united nations global peatlands initiative and at the cop26 meeting it provides an invaluable platform for peatland experts from around to showcase the importance of these ecosystems and innovative ways to restore them the c-peat team will be presenting live from 2:00 – 4:30 pm cst on nov 5 with the first 30 minutes reserved for participation from remote attendees register online to view the live presentation exhibit and peatland pavilion peatlands are a type of wetland found in almost every country on earth and despite covering just 3% of the global land surface they contain more carbon than all the world's forests combined the protection of peatlands should become a priority loisel said as of now they are only minimally protected from a climate policy perspective peatlands have been cooling the global climate for thousands of years by slowly accumulating thick layers of organic soil ongoing climate and land-use changes are not only threatening the capacity of these ecosystems to keep doing their job; these changes can also compromise the large stores of carbon that has taken thousands of years to accumulate ""using ecosystems that naturally capture carbon tends to be more economically and energetically viable compared to technological methods for co2 removal "" said c-peat researcher professor angela gallego-sala of the global systems institute at the university of exeter ""the most widely known of these solutions are afforestation and reforestation in addition peatland rewetting is becoming better recognised as an important nature-based solution"" a study published last year by a team led by loisel and gallego-sala warned that peatlands have already shifted from an overall ""sink"" (absorbing carbon) to a source and that they have the potential to continue to release vast quantities of carbon to the atmosphere this century primarily due to human impacts mainstream policy instruments such as carbon offsetting are not designed to protect large and intact carbon-rich sites such as peatlands loisel said instead emphasis lays on the restoration of degraded sites and associated increases in net carbon sequestration rates rather than on preserving soil carbon that has been saved away over thousands of years the c-peat exhibit will highlight the importance of peatland management and restoration for meeting net zero targets loisel and c-peat experts will be at the exhibit ready to explain more about peatlands all over the world and how they are a vital part of our response to climate change we believe this situation is poised to change with organizations setting ambitious net-zero targets she said natural carbon sinks such as peatlands should play an increasingly important role towards meeting those targets  by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " agu awards andrew dessler 2021 climate communication prizethe prestigious award recognizes desslers renowned work in publicly communicating climate change science and impactsnov 4 2021dr andrew desslerdr andrew dessler professor and reta a haynes chair in geosciences in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently selected by the american geophysical union (agu) as the 2021 climate communication prize recipient  the award is given in recognition of the communication of climate science to promote scientific literacy clarity of message and efforts to foster respect and understanding of science-based values particularly around climate change the agu climate communication prize is an unparalleled benchmark of impact and celebrates the critical work that dr dessler has led and continues to lead said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are so deeply grateful for his efforts and thrilled that they are so deeply valued by the entire geosciences community! communicating science  dessler is an expert in global climate physics climate impacts atmospheric chemistry and climate change policy his latest research focuses on climate change water vapor and clouds  in addition to his research and teaching in the department he frequently contributes op-eds public outreach and expert analysis to the public sphere and to policymakers i view communicating science to the public as an obligation of being a scientist  the public supports research with their tax dollars so a top priority should be letting them know what our research shows  this is especially true when the results have important implications for society as is certainly the case for climate change dessler said  agu lauded all of its 2021 awardees as having made outstanding achievements and contributions by pushing forward the frontiers of our science each recipient embodies our shared vision of a thriving sustainable and equitable future powered by discovery innovation and action these recipients have worked with integrity respect and collaboration while creating deep engagement in education diversity and outreach agu will formally recognize this years award recipients during agu 2021 fall meeting dec 13-17 in new orleans and online a career in climate dessler received a ba in physics from rice university in 1986 and an am and phd in chemistry from harvard university in 1990 and 1994 following his undergraduate degree he worked in the energy group at the first boston corporation in mergers and acquisitions analysis he left his job on wall street in 1988 to go to graduate school in chemistry  after receiving his phd in 1994 dessler completed two years of postdoctoral research at nasa's goddard space flight center and then spent nine years on the research faculty of the university of maryland he served as the senior policy analyst in the white house office of science and technology policy in 2000 dessler joined the atmospheric sciences faculty at texas a&m in 2005 and became a tenured professor of atmospheric sciences in 2007 he was named a fellow of the agu in 2019 and a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) in 2017 helping the general public is part of the mission of land-grant universities like texas a&m dessler said it is therefore a tremendous honor to get an award from the agu recognizing my efforts helping society better understand the reality of climate change by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences " "dr andrew dessler professor and reta a haynes chair in geosciences in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently selected by the american geophysical union (agu) as the 2021 climate communication prize recipient  the award is given in recognition of the communication of climate science to promote scientific literacy clarity of message and efforts to foster respect and understanding of science-based values particularly around climate change the agu climate communication prize is an unparalleled benchmark of impact and celebrates the critical work that dr dessler has led and continues to lead said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas we are so deeply grateful for his efforts and thrilled that they are so deeply valued by the entire geosciences community! communicating science  dessler is an expert in global climate physics climate impacts atmospheric chemistry and climate change policy his latest research focuses on climate change water vapor and clouds  in addition to his research and teaching in the department he frequently contributes op-eds public outreach and expert analysis to the public sphere and to policymakers i view communicating science to the public as an obligation of being a scientist  the public supports research with their tax dollars so a top priority should be letting them know what our research shows  this is especially true when the results have important implications for society as is certainly the case for climate change dessler said  agu lauded all of its 2021 awardees as having made outstanding achievements and contributions by pushing forward the frontiers of our science each recipient embodies our shared vision of a thriving sustainable and equitable future powered by discovery innovation and action these recipients have worked with integrity respect and collaboration while creating deep engagement in education diversity and outreach agu will formally recognize this years award recipients during agu 2021 fall meeting dec 13-17 in new orleans and online a career in climate dessler received a ba in physics from rice university in 1986 and an am and phd in chemistry from harvard university in 1990 and 1994 following his undergraduate degree he worked in the energy group at the first boston corporation in mergers and acquisitions analysis he left his job on wall street in 1988 to go to graduate school in chemistry  after receiving his phd in 1994 dessler completed two years of postdoctoral research at nasa's goddard space flight center and then spent nine years on the research faculty of the university of maryland he served as the senior policy analyst in the white house office of science and technology policy in 2000 dessler joined the atmospheric sciences faculty at texas a&m in 2005 and became a tenured professor of atmospheric sciences in 2007 he was named a fellow of the agu in 2019 and a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) in 2017 helping the general public is part of the mission of land-grant universities like texas a&m dessler said it is therefore a tremendous honor to get an award from the agu recognizing my efforts helping society better understand the reality of climate change by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences" " sustaining the blue economy: nsf funds texas a&m research on west coast fisheries managementled by a texas a&m oceanographer and funded by nsfs convergence accelerator a multi-disciplinary team of scientists will develop an intelligent spatial decision support system for us west coast fisheries communities threatened by climate changeoct 25 2021a crab fishing boat patrols the morning hours off the shores of huntington beach california (getty images)climate change is posing new threats to west coast communities dependent on fisheries a new national science foundation convergence accelerator-funded research project led by texas a&m university scientists is tackling those challenges with a power-house multidisciplinary team and cutting-edge modeling and decision-making technologies  the project is a large multi-institutional endeavor led by dr piers chapman research professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m college station and brings together scientists from academia federal agencies and industry we will develop new models and tools that will help keep california oregon and washington coast fisheries communities sustainable in the face of ongoing decadal-scale climate change chapman said nsfs convergence accelerator program aims to produce tangible solutions to national-scale societal challenges that cannot be solved by single disciplines but require innovative ideas approaches and technologies from a wide diverse range of sectors and expertise aligned to the programs 2021 cohort the project will last for one year and is funded at $750 000 if successful the team will be eligible to compete for an additional two-year project funded at up to $5 million climate change-driven adverse ocean impacts are already hitting many coastal fishing-dependent communities including fishing-dependent tribal nations located on the us west coast and these adverse impacts will likely accelerate for the foreseeable future the researchers said climate change is causing increasing temperatures in ocean waters as well as decreased oxygen concentrations said dr colleen petrik a co-principal investigator on the project and an assistant professor at the scripps institution for oceanography at the university of california san diego these changes have serious effects on fish and shellfish stocks along the west coast of the us as they can reduce suitable habitat alter breeding success and affect migration routes the team aims to help preserve these communities and their way of life both economically and culturally and communicating effectively with diverse stakeholders is a challenge yet vital to the success of our project said dr keri stephens also a co-principal investigator on the project and a professor of communication studies at the university of texas at austin input from coastal fishing-dependent stakeholder communities will be incorporated into every level of the project chapman said combining the powers of ecosystem modeling high-resolution climate modeling social science and fisheries stakeholder engagement communication geographic information science (gis) and fisheries management science the multidisciplinary team will ultimately produce a climate-informed decision support system (dss) called sustainable blue for the regions fisheries chapman will lead the project with co-principal investigators dr gokhan danabasoglu senior scientist at the national center for atmospheric research (ncar); petrik; stephens; and dr zhe zhang assistant professor of geography at texas a&m project partners also include dr ping chang professor of oceanography at texas a&m; dr jaison kurian assistant research scientist at texas a&m oceanography; dr desiree tommasi noaa project scientist at the cooperative institute for marine ecosystems and climate at uc santa cruz; dr matthew long scientist and dr monica morrison postdoctoral researcher at ncar; and mr glen spain jd northwest regional director for the pacific coast federation of fishermens associations (pcffa) the overall aim of the project is to deliver the sustainable blue dss that combines the output of a series of high-resolution climate model simulations and predictions with local knowledge fisheries management policy and decision-making tools to provide the necessary information for fisheries management and other decision-makers to respond to changing climatic conditions said chang high-resolution is needed to ensure that the models can reproduce correctly the changes we see in data collected at sea  the final sustainable blue dss will enable knowledge co-production between scientists and fishery stakeholders through a shared knowledge base derived using stakeholders' engagement activities chapman said the dss by being linked to the latest information from our high-resolution models will enable fisheries managers to make better long-term decisions on fish catches and fleet management stakeholders will make use of a simple-to-use web-based system that provides access to the information they need zhang said by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences " a crab fishing boat patrols the morning hours off the shores of huntington beach california (getty images) "climate change is posing new threats to west coast communities dependent on fisheries a new national science foundation convergence accelerator-funded research project led by texas a&m university scientists is tackling those challenges with a power-house multidisciplinary team and cutting-edge modeling and decision-making technologies  the project is a large multi-institutional endeavor led by dr piers chapman research professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m college station and brings together scientists from academia federal agencies and industry we will develop new models and tools that will help keep california oregon and washington coast fisheries communities sustainable in the face of ongoing decadal-scale climate change chapman said nsfs convergence accelerator program aims to produce tangible solutions to national-scale societal challenges that cannot be solved by single disciplines but require innovative ideas approaches and technologies from a wide diverse range of sectors and expertise aligned to the programs 2021 cohort the project will last for one year and is funded at $750 000 if successful the team will be eligible to compete for an additional two-year project funded at up to $5 million climate change-driven adverse ocean impacts are already hitting many coastal fishing-dependent communities including fishing-dependent tribal nations located on the us west coast and these adverse impacts will likely accelerate for the foreseeable future the researchers said climate change is causing increasing temperatures in ocean waters as well as decreased oxygen concentrations said dr colleen petrik a co-principal investigator on the project and an assistant professor at the scripps institution for oceanography at the university of california san diego these changes have serious effects on fish and shellfish stocks along the west coast of the us as they can reduce suitable habitat alter breeding success and affect migration routes the team aims to help preserve these communities and their way of life both economically and culturally and communicating effectively with diverse stakeholders is a challenge yet vital to the success of our project said dr keri stephens also a co-principal investigator on the project and a professor of communication studies at the university of texas at austin input from coastal fishing-dependent stakeholder communities will be incorporated into every level of the project chapman said combining the powers of ecosystem modeling high-resolution climate modeling social science and fisheries stakeholder engagement communication geographic information science (gis) and fisheries management science the multidisciplinary team will ultimately produce a climate-informed decision support system (dss) called sustainable blue for the regions fisheries chapman will lead the project with co-principal investigators dr gokhan danabasoglu senior scientist at the national center for atmospheric research (ncar); petrik; stephens; and dr zhe zhang assistant professor of geography at texas a&m project partners also include dr ping chang professor of oceanography at texas a&m; dr jaison kurian assistant research scientist at texas a&m oceanography; dr desiree tommasi noaa project scientist at the cooperative institute for marine ecosystems and climate at uc santa cruz; dr matthew long scientist and dr monica morrison postdoctoral researcher at ncar; and mr glen spain jd northwest regional director for the pacific coast federation of fishermens associations (pcffa) the overall aim of the project is to deliver the sustainable blue dss that combines the output of a series of high-resolution climate model simulations and predictions with local knowledge fisheries management policy and decision-making tools to provide the necessary information for fisheries management and other decision-makers to respond to changing climatic conditions said chang high-resolution is needed to ensure that the models can reproduce correctly the changes we see in data collected at sea  the final sustainable blue dss will enable knowledge co-production between scientists and fishery stakeholders through a shared knowledge base derived using stakeholders' engagement activities chapman said the dss by being linked to the latest information from our high-resolution models will enable fisheries managers to make better long-term decisions on fish catches and fleet management stakeholders will make use of a simple-to-use web-based system that provides access to the information they need zhang said by leslie lee texas a&m geosciences" " dr yina liu awarded early career research fellowship by nasemtexas a&m oceanographys dr yina liu recently received a 2021 early career research fellowship from the national academies of sciences engineering and medicineoct 18 2021the gulf research program of national academies of sciences engineering and medicine (nasem) recently announced the eight scientists to receive the early career research fellowship (ecrf) among them was texas a&m oceanographys own dr yina liu dr liu is a rising star and is incredibly deserving of this award texas a&ms oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis said she is both a thought leader in the field of organic biogeochemistry and a thoughtful mentor and advocate for her students and research staff as an assistant professor of oceanography and the analytical chemistry research and development team lead at texas a&ms geochemical and environmental research group lius focus is in organic biogeochemistry and is studying organic compound cycling and how it affects biological and ecological processes a proponent of multiple approaches she uses both targeted and untargeted analyses and data science in her research because the ecrf award is not attached to a specific project she will have the opportunity and freedom to pursue creative high-risk high-reward research ideas that might have previously been impossible i am very excited about this opportunity not only because this fellowship provides me with support to conduct new research but also because nasem has vast interests in promoting diversity equity inclusion and justice liu said i have always been passionate about including diversity equity inclusion and justice as integral parts of my research; but with this particular opportunity i get to work with my fellowship mentor dr pamela plotkin on implementing them the ecrf fellows will investigate specific issues related to the gulfs changing ecosystems with the goal of producing research that informs decisions that enhance environmental protection and stewardship according to a nasem press release i would like to thank my research group members sangeetha puthigai xiaolei xu and dr michael shields for their support and hard work that enabled the science projects liu said working with them has been the most rewarding and inspiring experience i would like to thank my mentor dr pamela plotkin she continued dr plotkin has been an amazing female scientist role model and has introduced me to many new topics regarding engaging the community and communicating science to the general public finally i would like to thank the department of oceanography and the college of geosciences for fostering a welcome and supportive environment for early-career faculty members like myself " "the gulf research program of national academies of sciences engineering and medicine (nasem) recently announced the eight scientists to receive the early career research fellowship (ecrf) among them was texas a&m oceanographys own dr yina liu dr liu is a rising star and is incredibly deserving of this award texas a&ms oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis said she is both a thought leader in the field of organic biogeochemistry and a thoughtful mentor and advocate for her students and research staff as an assistant professor of oceanography and the analytical chemistry research and development team lead at texas a&ms geochemical and environmental research group lius focus is in organic biogeochemistry and is studying organic compound cycling and how it affects biological and ecological processes a proponent of multiple approaches she uses both targeted and untargeted analyses and data science in her research because the ecrf award is not attached to a specific project she will have the opportunity and freedom to pursue creative high-risk high-reward research ideas that might have previously been impossible i am very excited about this opportunity not only because this fellowship provides me with support to conduct new research but also because nasem has vast interests in promoting diversity equity inclusion and justice liu said i have always been passionate about including diversity equity inclusion and justice as integral parts of my research; but with this particular opportunity i get to work with my fellowship mentor dr pamela plotkin on implementing them the ecrf fellows will investigate specific issues related to the gulfs changing ecosystems with the goal of producing research that informs decisions that enhance environmental protection and stewardship according to a nasem press release i would like to thank my research group members sangeetha puthigai xiaolei xu and dr michael shields for their support and hard work that enabled the science projects liu said working with them has been the most rewarding and inspiring experience i would like to thank my mentor dr pamela plotkin she continued dr plotkin has been an amazing female scientist role model and has introduced me to many new topics regarding engaging the community and communicating science to the general public finally i would like to thank the department of oceanography and the college of geosciences for fostering a welcome and supportive environment for early-career faculty members like myself" " texas sea grant launches oyster mariculture websitetexans interested in oyster farming can learn about techniques regulations permitting and more at oystertexasseagrantorgoct 14 2021the newly launched oystertexasseagrantorg offers many resources to anyone interested in oyster farmingthe new texas oyster mariculture or farming industry has a new online resource at its disposal oyster farmers and oyster enthusiasts alike can learn more about this emerging industry at a new website just launched by texas sea grant: oystertexasseagrantorg the website houses a breadth of oyster information including a step-by-step guide to the permitting process in texas which will help farmers successfully launch their businesses the site also contains up-to-date information about gear types and techniques biosecurity risk management and more additionally viewers can find accurate information on the nutritional and environmental benefits of oysters oyster recipes and the truth behind commonly believed oyster myths  we are so excited to launch this new website said mario marquez texas sea grant aquaculture specialist it will give farmers the information they need to start growing and selling their oysters and it will give consumers the chance to learn more about oysters and oyster farming the website is a continuation of texas sea grants commitment to supporting this new industry in addition to producing the website texas sea grant has also facilitated multiple hands-on workshops on oyster mariculture and marquez has advised many new farmers developing the workforce for the future is one of texas sea grants priorities said dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director this new resource developed for texas expanding oyster mariculture industry will be instrumental to launching careers and businesses that will grow and market the best oysters in the country   media contact: sara carney '13 communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamucom 713-435-9585 " the newly launched oystertexasseagrantorg offers many resources to anyone interested in oyster farming "the new texas oyster mariculture or farming industry has a new online resource at its disposal oyster farmers and oyster enthusiasts alike can learn more about this emerging industry at a new website just launched by texas sea grant: oystertexasseagrantorg the website houses a breadth of oyster information including a step-by-step guide to the permitting process in texas which will help farmers successfully launch their businesses the site also contains up-to-date information about gear types and techniques biosecurity risk management and more additionally viewers can find accurate information on the nutritional and environmental benefits of oysters oyster recipes and the truth behind commonly believed oyster myths  we are so excited to launch this new website said mario marquez texas sea grant aquaculture specialist it will give farmers the information they need to start growing and selling their oysters and it will give consumers the chance to learn more about oysters and oyster farming the website is a continuation of texas sea grants commitment to supporting this new industry in addition to producing the website texas sea grant has also facilitated multiple hands-on workshops on oyster mariculture and marquez has advised many new farmers developing the workforce for the future is one of texas sea grants priorities said dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director this new resource developed for texas expanding oyster mariculture industry will be instrumental to launching careers and businesses that will grow and market the best oysters in the country   media contact: sara carney '13 communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamucom 713-435-9585" " state climatologist: texas future depends on extreme weather preparednessnew research from texas a&m shows that texas will experience more urban flooding higher temperatures and more intense droughts over the next 15 yearsoct 7 2021flooded streets in houston texas during hurricane harvey (getty images)by 2036 texas will experience record-breaking heat as much as 50 percent more flooding and severe droughts according to a new study conducted by the texas state climatologist and texas a&m university researchers and recent data shows that texans are already feeling the damaging effects the researchers analyzed decades of texas weather records to project trends out to 2036 the year of texas bicentennial they found that texas will experience twice as many 100-degree days 30-50 percent more urban flooding and more intense droughts 15 years from now if present climate trends continue texas weather is changing and its doing so in a way that will make it harder to live here and more expensive to recover from increasingly disruptive events said state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m that means preparation and resilience are more important than ever texas long-term prosperity will depend on how well we prepare for these increasingly damaging natural disasters the report assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036: the 2021 update was released today and has major implications for statewide planning and funding of infrastructure water and flood control energy and transportation nielsen-gammon led the team of texas a&m researchers that analyzed decades of texas weather records to project trends out to 2036 the year of texas bicentennial they found that texas will experience twice as many 100-degree days 30-50 percent more urban flooding and more intense droughts 15 years from now if present climate trends continue over the past several decades weve seen triple-digit days basically double in number in all regions of the state nielsen-gammon said these past trends are relevant because they are indicators of future changes climate models have been fairly accurate in simulating temperature trends in texas since 1950 and they suggest that the trend since 1975 will continue for the next few decades at least the study was conducted independently by nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers and was funded by texas 2036 a nonprofit nonpartisan policy organization in the assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036 released march 5 2020 nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers analyze what texas climate and weather conditions will be like when the state turns 200 in 2036 using observed and analyzed historical meteorological and climate data the report describes future extreme weather risks facing the state nielsen-gammon is the lead author of the 2020 report and the 2021 update texas a&m students sara holman austin buley and savannah jorgensen contributed to the update recent polling data conducted by texas 2036 showed that 72 percent of texas voters recognize texas climate has changed over the past 10 years with 32 percent of respondents saying those changes have been dramatic further 59 percent of voters said the state is not well-prepared for extreme weather events such as the severe winter storm in february that knocked out power and water service to more than half the state and resulted in hundreds of deaths state leaders need to take a hard look at what is required  and what it will cost to prepare texas for the extreme and disruptive weather events we know are coming said margaret spellings president and ceo of texas 2036 dr nielsen-gammon and his team have given texas a data-driven look at the states present and future most voters already see the devastating effects of extreme weather on texas people communities and economy texas needs to plan and prepare for whats next the texas a&m report shows that texas climate has already changed in ways that leave the state more vulnerable to extreme weather the study analyzed a variety of past and future meteorological trends including average temperatures extreme temperatures precipitation extreme rainfall drought river flooding urban flooding winter precipitation severe thunderstorms hurricanes and coastal erosion and wildfires it found that if current trends continue as expected disruptive weather events will make it harder to live in texas than it is today: the number of 100-degree days has more than doubled over the past 40 years and could nearly double again compared to the number of 100-degree days texans have experienced between 2001-2020 there also will likely be a higher frequency of 100-degree days in urban areas by 2036 a phenomenon enhanced by texas urban heat islands the average annual texas surface temperature in 2036 is expected to be 3 degrees warmer than average temperatures in the last half of the 20th century (1950-1999) extreme rainfall has become more frequent and severe and is expected to worsen as a result there will be a significant increase in urban flooding as much as 30-50% more than occurred between 1950-1999 while the frequency of hurricanes is expected to stay the same or even decrease their intensity is expected to increase significantly and thanks to sea level rise the risk of hurricane storm surge may double in some places by 2050 compared with risk levels around 1900 despite increased precipitation in certain areas most factors point toward more severe droughts and increased risks of wildfires in the future view the research in full here by robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences media contact: robyn blackmon 979-845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu " flooded streets in houston texas during hurricane harvey (getty images) "by 2036 texas will experience record-breaking heat as much as 50 percent more flooding and severe droughts according to a new study conducted by the texas state climatologist and texas a&m university researchers and recent data shows that texans are already feeling the damaging effects the researchers analyzed decades of texas weather records to project trends out to 2036 the year of texas bicentennial they found that texas will experience twice as many 100-degree days 30-50 percent more urban flooding and more intense droughts 15 years from now if present climate trends continue texas weather is changing and its doing so in a way that will make it harder to live here and more expensive to recover from increasingly disruptive events said state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m that means preparation and resilience are more important than ever texas long-term prosperity will depend on how well we prepare for these increasingly damaging natural disasters the report assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036: the 2021 update was released today and has major implications for statewide planning and funding of infrastructure water and flood control energy and transportation nielsen-gammon led the team of texas a&m researchers that analyzed decades of texas weather records to project trends out to 2036 the year of texas bicentennial they found that texas will experience twice as many 100-degree days 30-50 percent more urban flooding and more intense droughts 15 years from now if present climate trends continue over the past several decades weve seen triple-digit days basically double in number in all regions of the state nielsen-gammon said these past trends are relevant because they are indicators of future changes climate models have been fairly accurate in simulating temperature trends in texas since 1950 and they suggest that the trend since 1975 will continue for the next few decades at least the study was conducted independently by nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers and was funded by texas 2036 a nonprofit nonpartisan policy organization in the assessment of historic and future trends of extreme weather in texas 1900-2036 released march 5 2020 nielsen-gammon and texas a&m researchers analyze what texas climate and weather conditions will be like when the state turns 200 in 2036 using observed and analyzed historical meteorological and climate data the report describes future extreme weather risks facing the state nielsen-gammon is the lead author of the 2020 report and the 2021 update texas a&m students sara holman austin buley and savannah jorgensen contributed to the update recent polling data conducted by texas 2036 showed that 72 percent of texas voters recognize texas climate has changed over the past 10 years with 32 percent of respondents saying those changes have been dramatic further 59 percent of voters said the state is not well-prepared for extreme weather events such as the severe winter storm in february that knocked out power and water service to more than half the state and resulted in hundreds of deaths state leaders need to take a hard look at what is required  and what it will cost to prepare texas for the extreme and disruptive weather events we know are coming said margaret spellings president and ceo of texas 2036 dr nielsen-gammon and his team have given texas a data-driven look at the states present and future most voters already see the devastating effects of extreme weather on texas people communities and economy texas needs to plan and prepare for whats next the texas a&m report shows that texas climate has already changed in ways that leave the state more vulnerable to extreme weather the study analyzed a variety of past and future meteorological trends including average temperatures extreme temperatures precipitation extreme rainfall drought river flooding urban flooding winter precipitation severe thunderstorms hurricanes and coastal erosion and wildfires it found that if current trends continue as expected disruptive weather events will make it harder to live in texas than it is today: the number of 100-degree days has more than doubled over the past 40 years and could nearly double again compared to the number of 100-degree days texans have experienced between 2001-2020 there also will likely be a higher frequency of 100-degree days in urban areas by 2036 a phenomenon enhanced by texas urban heat islands the average annual texas surface temperature in 2036 is expected to be 3 degrees warmer than average temperatures in the last half of the 20th century (1950-1999) extreme rainfall has become more frequent and severe and is expected to worsen as a result there will be a significant increase in urban flooding as much as 30-50% more than occurred between 1950-1999 while the frequency of hurricanes is expected to stay the same or even decrease their intensity is expected to increase significantly and thanks to sea level rise the risk of hurricane storm surge may double in some places by 2050 compared with risk levels around 1900 despite increased precipitation in certain areas most factors point toward more severe droughts and increased risks of wildfires in the future view the research in full here by robyn blackmon texas a&m geosciences media contact: robyn blackmon 979-845-6324 robynblackmon@tamuedu" " la niña developing in pacific could affect texasstate climatologist john nielsen-gammon says the weather event usually means warmer and drier conditions but might only last a few monthssep 30 2021cooler waters in the pacific ocean can mean warmer and drier weather for much of the country (photo: getty images)a developing la niña event in the pacific ocean could mean warmer and drier conditions for texas in the next few months said a texas a&m university expert dr john nielsen-gammon a regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist said a la niña event appears likely a la niña happens when cooler than normal temperatures occur across the central and eastern pacific ocean the results often mean less rain and warmer temperatures for the southwest where many areas have been hard hit by lingering drought conditions right now water surface temperatures are cooling off but temperatures below the surface to about 750 feet deep are already a few degrees cooler than normal he said so a la niña appears to be gearing up typically a la niña brings enhanced chances of drier and warmer conditions for most of the southwest united states including texas last years la niña helped produce the driest november through march since 2014 for texas a la niña could spell bad news for the western us which has been hit hard by record-breaking temperatures and extreme drought conditions for the past year lake powell (arizona and utah) and lake mead (arizona and nevada) are experiencing some of their lowest water levels in history the good news is that it appears this la niña event may be relatively weak and short-lived probably over by springtime nielsen-gammon said he said the climate prediction centers outlook for the rest of the year is consistent with a weak la niña with slightly enhanced chances of below-normal precipitation from now through the end of winter the outlook favors above-normal temperatures but thats nothing special since global warming makes above-normal temperatures more likely anyway if texas is entering an extended dry period some parts of the state are better off than others he said the relatively wet spring and summer means that many ranchers were able to get more than one hay cutting from warm-season grasses so there should be ample hay supplies to tide things over also because of the wet spring and summer water supplies in most areas are doing fine if things dry out quickly the most vulnerable areas are the panhandle and the interior portion of south texas because that area has been very dry over the past month or more by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing and communications " cooler waters in the pacific ocean can mean warmer and drier weather for much of the country (photo: getty images) "a developing la niña event in the pacific ocean could mean warmer and drier conditions for texas in the next few months said a texas a&m university expert dr john nielsen-gammon a regents professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m who also serves as state climatologist said a la niña event appears likely a la niña happens when cooler than normal temperatures occur across the central and eastern pacific ocean the results often mean less rain and warmer temperatures for the southwest where many areas have been hard hit by lingering drought conditions right now water surface temperatures are cooling off but temperatures below the surface to about 750 feet deep are already a few degrees cooler than normal he said so a la niña appears to be gearing up typically a la niña brings enhanced chances of drier and warmer conditions for most of the southwest united states including texas last years la niña helped produce the driest november through march since 2014 for texas a la niña could spell bad news for the western us which has been hit hard by record-breaking temperatures and extreme drought conditions for the past year lake powell (arizona and utah) and lake mead (arizona and nevada) are experiencing some of their lowest water levels in history the good news is that it appears this la niña event may be relatively weak and short-lived probably over by springtime nielsen-gammon said he said the climate prediction centers outlook for the rest of the year is consistent with a weak la niña with slightly enhanced chances of below-normal precipitation from now through the end of winter the outlook favors above-normal temperatures but thats nothing special since global warming makes above-normal temperatures more likely anyway if texas is entering an extended dry period some parts of the state are better off than others he said the relatively wet spring and summer means that many ranchers were able to get more than one hay cutting from warm-season grasses so there should be ample hay supplies to tide things over also because of the wet spring and summer water supplies in most areas are doing fine if things dry out quickly the most vulnerable areas are the panhandle and the interior portion of south texas because that area has been very dry over the past month or more by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing and communications" " the next generation of geoscientists: geox camp completes 11th summerthe 2021 virtual geox camp invited more than 100 high school students to step into every field of study within the college of geosciences sep 30 2021geox 2021 participants and counselorsfor the past 11 summers budding geoscientists have had the incredible opportunity to grow their passions for earth sciences at texas a&m the geosciences exploration summer program or geox has continually provided a life-changing experience for high school students geox was hosted virtually over a period of two weeks this summer students experienced incredible presentations ranging from those of scientists currently working on nasas mars perseverance rover to that of texas a&m professors exploring the depths of oceans here on earth the geox program strives to immerse campers into each of the majors offered in texas a&ms college of geosciences and the two-week camp is an extremely collaborative project amongst the faculty campers were able to learn from and interact with geosciences dean dr debbie thomas texas a&m faculty members the geochemical and environmental research group the international ocean discovery program texas sea grant the soltis center in costa rica former students and countless others judy nuñez college of geosciences director of recruitment organizes and facilitates geox with more than 100 students participating in the camp nuñez helped keep them engaged and active she said that many of these high school students were taking online classes working full or part-time and were overall busy however campers continually logged on and participated throughout the two weeks deanna flores a geology major and counselor for geox for the past four years remembered her favorite part of the experience as meeting future geoscientists and hopefully being instrumental in peoples decision to pursue an education and career in the geosciences she said that it is the campers who really make the experience and their interactions with each other and the presenters that give (the camp) life many students gave thanks to the program after its conclusion july 2nd geox has been the highlight of my summer so far one camper said and i cannot thank you enough for that amazing opportunity! by drew davis 23 texas a&m geosciences " "for the past 11 summers budding geoscientists have had the incredible opportunity to grow their passions for earth sciences at texas a&m the geosciences exploration summer program or geox has continually provided a life-changing experience for high school students geox was hosted virtually over a period of two weeks this summer students experienced incredible presentations ranging from those of scientists currently working on nasas mars perseverance rover to that of texas a&m professors exploring the depths of oceans here on earth the geox program strives to immerse campers into each of the majors offered in texas a&ms college of geosciences and the two-week camp is an extremely collaborative project amongst the faculty campers were able to learn from and interact with geosciences dean dr debbie thomas texas a&m faculty members the geochemical and environmental research group the international ocean discovery program texas sea grant the soltis center in costa rica former students and countless others judy nuñez college of geosciences director of recruitment organizes and facilitates geox with more than 100 students participating in the camp nuñez helped keep them engaged and active she said that many of these high school students were taking online classes working full or part-time and were overall busy however campers continually logged on and participated throughout the two weeks deanna flores a geology major and counselor for geox for the past four years remembered her favorite part of the experience as meeting future geoscientists and hopefully being instrumental in peoples decision to pursue an education and career in the geosciences she said that it is the campers who really make the experience and their interactions with each other and the presenters that give (the camp) life many students gave thanks to the program after its conclusion july 2nd geox has been the highlight of my summer so far one camper said and i cannot thank you enough for that amazing opportunity! by drew davis 23 texas a&m geosciences" " gist student kendahl hejl '22 reflects on her summer internship at nasahejl interned in nasas space communication and navigation program this summersep 29 2021(photo by kendahl hejl)(photo by kendahl hejl)kendahl hejl 22 recently completed a summer internship to remember working as an intern in nasas space communication and navigation program as a gist student in the department of geography at texas a&m university she had already gained valuable gis knowledge and skills yet was missing the experience of fully utilizing this knowledge this changed after her nasa internship began hejl credits her acceptance into the space communication and navigation program to her studies at texas a&m  my position this summer was very much involved with computer programming which my major touches on but not in depth she said however i was brought on due to my knowledge about theories of geodetic science behind what i was doing the classes i took at texas a&m really helped me adjust to the technicality of the job taking a chance gaining new skills hejl said that she had never considered applying to nasa for a summer internship because at the time she wasnt sure if her skills and knowledge could be used however she rose to the occasion applied and was accepted under headquarters she worked with many other fields including software engineers electrical engineers and research scientists coding collecting and analyzing data from the navcube 20 a gps receiver on the international space station after learning how to code i wrote scripts that automatically pulled data from the receiver and transferred it into another script that analyzed that data visualizing it for us to use hejl said in addition to working with the gps receiver she also had a chance to attend the space generation advisory council fusion forum in which nasa has a small number of young interns go to a four-day event and speak with companies that are involved with space like rocket lab and origin  we worked with the ceos of these companies to write recommendations to the united nations committee on peaceful uses of outer space concerning satellite sustainability which the forum was surrounded on she said it was great to not only have the opportunity to meet with them but also to write something that is going to be used by the un hejl is excited to bring this new technical knowledge she found at nasa back with her to texas a&m and apply it to her scientific studies looking back on campus life as a first generation college student it was serendipitous that hejl found her way to the gist major i had no idea where i wanted to go but i knew i loved the earth so i was lucky to find the gist degree program around the same time i had discovered what gis was she said it was a leap and it was scary but looking back i would definitely say its gone well for me in addition to being focused on her major hejl has participated in many extracurricular activities she is a member of aggie classics which is a womens leadership organization at texas a&m and is the vice president of membership for the geography society that focuses on the academic and social aspects in the field of geography  hejl is also a certified aggie research scholar at texas a&m and has had multiple opportunities to perform research projects for the college of geosciences working with many professors including dr wendy jepson in geography and dr yangyang xu in atmospheric sciences  as a true aggie hejl is also a big football fan one of the most memorable experiences she has at texas a&m is the 2018 home game against lsu which she was able to attend and stayed for all seven overtimes that game is definitely going to be something that i am going to tell my kids about she said into the unknown through her undergraduate career and internship at nasa hejl has a better understanding of what she wants for her future currently shes planning to pursue graduate school after completing her degree  shes looking at a few programs   and hopes to further her studies in remote sensing through satellites and using remote sensing to promote sustainable space practices were making these big steps towards space development and science and we have to be sustainable in the way that were accomplishing that and i think a key feature in doing that is utilizing remote sensing though those fields are new and full of unknowns hejl is excited to see what the unknown of the future and space holds for her by abigail spears 23 " "kendahl hejl 22 recently completed a summer internship to remember working as an intern in nasas space communication and navigation program as a gist student in the department of geography at texas a&m university she had already gained valuable gis knowledge and skills yet was missing the experience of fully utilizing this knowledge this changed after her nasa internship began hejl credits her acceptance into the space communication and navigation program to her studies at texas a&m  my position this summer was very much involved with computer programming which my major touches on but not in depth she said however i was brought on due to my knowledge about theories of geodetic science behind what i was doing the classes i took at texas a&m really helped me adjust to the technicality of the job taking a chance gaining new skills hejl said that she had never considered applying to nasa for a summer internship because at the time she wasnt sure if her skills and knowledge could be used however she rose to the occasion applied and was accepted under headquarters she worked with many other fields including software engineers electrical engineers and research scientists coding collecting and analyzing data from the navcube 20 a gps receiver on the international space station after learning how to code i wrote scripts that automatically pulled data from the receiver and transferred it into another script that analyzed that data visualizing it for us to use hejl said in addition to working with the gps receiver she also had a chance to attend the space generation advisory council fusion forum in which nasa has a small number of young interns go to a four-day event and speak with companies that are involved with space like rocket lab and origin  we worked with the ceos of these companies to write recommendations to the united nations committee on peaceful uses of outer space concerning satellite sustainability which the forum was surrounded on she said it was great to not only have the opportunity to meet with them but also to write something that is going to be used by the un hejl is excited to bring this new technical knowledge she found at nasa back with her to texas a&m and apply it to her scientific studies looking back on campus life as a first generation college student it was serendipitous that hejl found her way to the gist major i had no idea where i wanted to go but i knew i loved the earth so i was lucky to find the gist degree program around the same time i had discovered what gis was she said it was a leap and it was scary but looking back i would definitely say its gone well for me in addition to being focused on her major hejl has participated in many extracurricular activities she is a member of aggie classics which is a womens leadership organization at texas a&m and is the vice president of membership for the geography society that focuses on the academic and social aspects in the field of geography  hejl is also a certified aggie research scholar at texas a&m and has had multiple opportunities to perform research projects for the college of geosciences working with many professors including dr wendy jepson in geography and dr yangyang xu in atmospheric sciences  as a true aggie hejl is also a big football fan one of the most memorable experiences she has at texas a&m is the 2018 home game against lsu which she was able to attend and stayed for all seven overtimes that game is definitely going to be something that i am going to tell my kids about she said into the unknown through her undergraduate career and internship at nasa hejl has a better understanding of what she wants for her future currently shes planning to pursue graduate school after completing her degree  shes looking at a few programs   and hopes to further her studies in remote sensing through satellites and using remote sensing to promote sustainable space practices were making these big steps towards space development and science and we have to be sustainable in the way that were accomplishing that and i think a key feature in doing that is utilizing remote sensing though those fields are new and full of unknowns hejl is excited to see what the unknown of the future and space holds for her by abigail spears 23" " meet senior yell leader and geosciences student woods johnson 22johnson is looking forward to representing texas a&m and completing his gist degree in the department of geographysep 29 2021   when five yell leaders are leading tens of thousands of aggie fans in kyle field this fall one of them will be woods johnson 22 a senior geospatial science and technology (gist) major in the department of geography in texas a&m's college of geosciences   johnson was elected senior yell leader earlier this year yell leaders are the official spirit organization of texas a&m – five students who are elected by the student body who lead aggie fans in the schools traditional yells during athletic and other events originally from new york johnson has fully embraced the traditions that come with representing the texas a&m student body he couldnt ask for a better home than texas a&m and the college of geosciences he saidwoods johnson 22 (photos courtesy of texas a&m yell leaders)from left 2021-22 yell leaders zac cross woods johnson memo salinas noah ferguson and kipp knecht (photo by camille matzke 21)you get more than a degree here you get a family and it's truly no better place where you can spend your four years woods is excited to finish his senior year in gist while serving as a yell leader the combination of the pivotal aggie role and his education has allowed him to network with and meet many new people in the field he said the college is proud to have an aggie geoscientist representing on kyle field this year by drew davis " "   when five yell leaders are leading tens of thousands of aggie fans in kyle field this fall one of them will be woods johnson 22 a senior geospatial science and technology (gist) major in the department of geography in texas a&m's college of geosciences   johnson was elected senior yell leader earlier this year yell leaders are the official spirit organization of texas a&m – five students who are elected by the student body who lead aggie fans in the schools traditional yells during athletic and other events originally from new york johnson has fully embraced the traditions that come with representing the texas a&m student body he couldnt ask for a better home than texas a&m and the college of geosciences he said" woods johnson 22 (photos courtesy of texas a&m yell leaders)from left 2021-22 yell leaders zac cross woods johnson memo salinas noah ferguson and kipp knecht (photo by camille matzke 21) "you get more than a degree here you get a family and it's truly no better place where you can spend your four years woods is excited to finish his senior year in gist while serving as a yell leader the combination of the pivotal aggie role and his education has allowed him to network with and meet many new people in the field he said the college is proud to have an aggie geoscientist representing on kyle field this year by drew davis" " autonomous glider withstands two hurricanes while transmitting continuous ocean dataa texas a&m liquid robotics waveglider is collecting and transmitting water quality data from above the flower garden banks national marine sanctuarysep 27 2021the texas a&m liquid robotics waveglider sv3 was deployed aug 13 2021 (video still courtesy of dr steve dimarco)today one hundred miles off the coast of texas a 10-foot-long yellow autonomous glider is riding waves as it patrols the perimeter above the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary it is collecting water quality data related to ocean acidification which is essential to monitoring the long-term survival of the sanctuarys unique coral reef ecosystem and transmitting it to a research team that includes texas a&m university system scientists the texas a&m liquid robotics waveglider sv3s 90-day deployment the first of its kind in the us is part of a multi-institutional collaborative project funded by noaas oceanic and atmospheric research office ocean acidification program (oap) project partners include the harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies at texas a&m university-corpus christi texas a&m universitys geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) liquid robotics and the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary but the wavegliders mission has been bumpier than expected it has survived two named hurricanes ida and nicholas since texas a&m gerg scientists deployed it into the gulf of mexico aug 13 the waveglider was riding 16-foot (5-meter) swells after hurricane nicholas said dr steve dimarco professor of oceanography at texas a&m and team leader for ocean observing at texas a&m gerg those are not seas where we want to put a research vessel loaded with scientists and students so thats one reason why this autonomous glider is perfect for this mission its the first long-term operational monitoring of a coral reef in us waters using an autonomous surface vehicle (asv)   this feat shows the important role that autonomous systems can play in collecting invaluable ocean data even in the face of extreme weather events the research team said the principal investigator leading the project is dr xinping hu chair for ecosystem science and modeling at the harte research institute and associate professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at texas a&m university-corpus christi our lab has been working with the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary since 2013 collecting seawater carbonate data hu said but sample collections have been mostly on a seasonal basis and rely on the sanctuarys research vessel the r/v manta the waveglider offers an excellent opportunity for us to continuously monitor this area for an extended period of time with unprecedented temporal resolution we cant wait to see what the on-board sensors will reveal for the entire deployment researchers work together to protect marine sanctuary this groundbreaking work is being made possible through collaborations with several partners dimarco is co-leading the research while dr kerri whilden gerg assistant research scientist and gcoos oceanographer is leading at-sea logistics sensor integration deployment and recovery operations liquid robotics technicians are remotely piloting the asv  the waveglider mission support is provided by the gcoos glider-piloting dashboard and data portal known as gandalf in addition to providing real-time vehicle positioning information gandalf can show data layers that can be individually displayed on the base map including visible and infrared satellite images sea surface temperature and chlorophyll images sea surface heights and navigational chartsdr piers chapman dr kerri whilden dr steve dimarco and dr xinping hu on the waveglider deployment cruise (photo courtesy of dimarco)the waveglider glides out into the gulf of mexico aug 13 (video still courtesy of dimarco)the flower garden banks is a stunningly beautiful coral reef and its just off the texas coast said dr anthony knap director of gerg not many people know about it but it is very well known in the diving community were interested in it scientifically because its vulnerable to the harmful effects of ocean acidification which can cause bleaching and death to corals and if the building blocks of a reef corals start to die then all the rest of that ecosystem the fish the turtles the whale sharks all the life that depends upon that coral reef could also be in danger there has been recent history of mortality events at this location dimarco said in 2016 there was a really bad die-off of the coral and it was attributed to low oxygen water that bathed that coral reef and caused bleaching of the coral heads this type of monitoring provides resource managers timely information so they can respond to future threats autonomous glider gives continual data reduces costs and risks the wavegliders 90-day solo voyage is an important test run for ocean science if it can successfully patrol above the marine sanctuary regularly measuring and transmitting water quality data then a whole new set of possibilities will open up for oceanographers: remote continual data collection that is not dependent on a stable sea-state as research vessel voyages are  our job here is to create an autonomous vehicle that we could send out on patrol instead of relying on an expensive weather-dependent ship-based team to monitor this important reef dimarco said and since aug 13 our asv team has demonstrated the operational capability to put a data-collecting system like this out there and have it patrol around the waveglider deployment from the r/v pelican included a diverse team of scientists technicians and students on board from texas a&m were chief scientist dr dimarco chemist dr piers chapman asv operations leader dr whilden and students ellen laaker samantha longridge reshmi joseph sakib mahmud and xiao ge the texas a&m corpus christi team included dr hu postdoctoral researcher dr hang yin technician cory staryk and students molly brzezinski nicole kumbula and kenzie merrill the deployment was a one-of-a-kind experience for those students and graduate students and the importance of their work is clear the scientists said: if the flower garden banks sanctuary is not protected from ocean acidification its corals and entire ecosystem are in danger this research is a public-private research partnership including texas a&m university – corpus christi texas a&m university the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) noaas atlantic oceanographic and meteorological laboratory and boeing liquid robotics by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences media contacts: leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu; nikki buskey texas a&m university-corpus christi nikkibuskey@tamuccedu " the texas a&m liquid robotics waveglider sv3 was deployed aug 13 2021 (video still courtesy of dr steve dimarco) "today one hundred miles off the coast of texas a 10-foot-long yellow autonomous glider is riding waves as it patrols the perimeter above the noaa flower garden banks national marine sanctuary it is collecting water quality data related to ocean acidification which is essential to monitoring the long-term survival of the sanctuarys unique coral reef ecosystem and transmitting it to a research team that includes texas a&m university system scientists the texas a&m liquid robotics waveglider sv3s 90-day deployment the first of its kind in the us is part of a multi-institutional collaborative project funded by noaas oceanic and atmospheric research office ocean acidification program (oap) project partners include the harte research institute for gulf of mexico studies at texas a&m university-corpus christi texas a&m universitys geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) liquid robotics and the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary but the wavegliders mission has been bumpier than expected it has survived two named hurricanes ida and nicholas since texas a&m gerg scientists deployed it into the gulf of mexico aug 13 the waveglider was riding 16-foot (5-meter) swells after hurricane nicholas said dr steve dimarco professor of oceanography at texas a&m and team leader for ocean observing at texas a&m gerg those are not seas where we want to put a research vessel loaded with scientists and students so thats one reason why this autonomous glider is perfect for this mission its the first long-term operational monitoring of a coral reef in us waters using an autonomous surface vehicle (asv)   this feat shows the important role that autonomous systems can play in collecting invaluable ocean data even in the face of extreme weather events the research team said the principal investigator leading the project is dr xinping hu chair for ecosystem science and modeling at the harte research institute and associate professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at texas a&m university-corpus christi our lab has been working with the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary since 2013 collecting seawater carbonate data hu said but sample collections have been mostly on a seasonal basis and rely on the sanctuarys research vessel the r/v manta the waveglider offers an excellent opportunity for us to continuously monitor this area for an extended period of time with unprecedented temporal resolution we cant wait to see what the on-board sensors will reveal for the entire deployment researchers work together to protect marine sanctuary this groundbreaking work is being made possible through collaborations with several partners dimarco is co-leading the research while dr kerri whilden gerg assistant research scientist and gcoos oceanographer is leading at-sea logistics sensor integration deployment and recovery operations liquid robotics technicians are remotely piloting the asv  the waveglider mission support is provided by the gcoos glider-piloting dashboard and data portal known as gandalf in addition to providing real-time vehicle positioning information gandalf can show data layers that can be individually displayed on the base map including visible and infrared satellite images sea surface temperature and chlorophyll images sea surface heights and navigational charts" dr piers chapman dr kerri whilden dr steve dimarco and dr xinping hu on the waveglider deployment cruise (photo courtesy of dimarco)the waveglider glides out into the gulf of mexico aug 13 (video still courtesy of dimarco) "the flower garden banks is a stunningly beautiful coral reef and its just off the texas coast said dr anthony knap director of gerg not many people know about it but it is very well known in the diving community were interested in it scientifically because its vulnerable to the harmful effects of ocean acidification which can cause bleaching and death to corals and if the building blocks of a reef corals start to die then all the rest of that ecosystem the fish the turtles the whale sharks all the life that depends upon that coral reef could also be in danger there has been recent history of mortality events at this location dimarco said in 2016 there was a really bad die-off of the coral and it was attributed to low oxygen water that bathed that coral reef and caused bleaching of the coral heads this type of monitoring provides resource managers timely information so they can respond to future threats autonomous glider gives continual data reduces costs and risks the wavegliders 90-day solo voyage is an important test run for ocean science if it can successfully patrol above the marine sanctuary regularly measuring and transmitting water quality data then a whole new set of possibilities will open up for oceanographers: remote continual data collection that is not dependent on a stable sea-state as research vessel voyages are  our job here is to create an autonomous vehicle that we could send out on patrol instead of relying on an expensive weather-dependent ship-based team to monitor this important reef dimarco said and since aug 13 our asv team has demonstrated the operational capability to put a data-collecting system like this out there and have it patrol around the waveglider deployment from the r/v pelican included a diverse team of scientists technicians and students on board from texas a&m were chief scientist dr dimarco chemist dr piers chapman asv operations leader dr whilden and students ellen laaker samantha longridge reshmi joseph sakib mahmud and xiao ge the texas a&m corpus christi team included dr hu postdoctoral researcher dr hang yin technician cory staryk and students molly brzezinski nicole kumbula and kenzie merrill the deployment was a one-of-a-kind experience for those students and graduate students and the importance of their work is clear the scientists said: if the flower garden banks sanctuary is not protected from ocean acidification its corals and entire ecosystem are in danger this research is a public-private research partnership including texas a&m university – corpus christi texas a&m university the gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) noaas atlantic oceanographic and meteorological laboratory and boeing liquid robotics by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences media contacts: leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu; nikki buskey texas a&m university-corpus christi nikkibuskey@tamuccedu" " to reef or not reef newly funded research will inform decisions on the fate of gulf oil rigssea grant-supported researchers will produce data allowing decision makers to see the ecological and economic impacts of removing oil rigs or creating artificial reefssep 23 2021over the past two decades the number of oil rigs in the gulf of mexico have significantly declined today there are fewer than half the number of operational oil rigs in the gulf than in the early 2000s now researchers want to better understand how changes in the number oil rigs in the gulf affect recreational fish populations and the economy the national sea grant college program and the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement have awarded over $795 thousand to texas sea grant and a team of researchers from texas a&m university and lgl ecological research services to produce information that could lead to the development of a decision-support tool modeling the ecological and economic effects of changing the composition of oil rigs in the gulf the motivating factor behind this project is that there has been a rapid and rather drastic decline in the number of oil and gas rigs in the gulf of mexico said dr richard woodward professor at texas a&m university and co-principal investigator on the project decommissioned rigs can either be removed or transformed into artificial reefs which provide habitat to many marine species including recreationally significant fish such as red snapper cobia and greater amberjack while most of us might think of [removing oil rigs] as a good thing for the environment it turns out that the oil and gas rigs are playing an interesting part in the ecology of the gulf of mexico woodward said they are providing habitat for fish particularly reef species and they provide places where recreational fishermen can find fish the study will consider the intricate link between the structure and abundance of recreational fish populations and the economic value associated with recreational fishing in these areas changes to recreationally significant fish populations impact the satisfaction of anglers and in turn affect the number of private and for-hire fishing trips taken which ultimately has economic effects to develop the ecological component of this model researchers will analyze historical data on the population and environmental impacts of removed rigs compared to rigs that become artificial reefs additionally researchers will survey anglers using a smartphone app that monitors the anglers location and identifies the species of fish caught well have really interesting data on recreational fishermen where they are going and how long they are fishing which will help us understand the importance of these rigs woodward said if all the fishermen always go to a certain rig that tells us a lot the study will produce data that could inform future tools to readily identify the environmental and economic impacts of removing an oil rig this will allow decision makers to make an informed choices on whether to remove a rig or turn the rig into an artificial reef  according to texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin this new research investment to measure the ecological and economic effects of existing and reefed offshore energy facilities in the gulf of mexico will contribute to our knowledge about the overall importance of oil rigs to the marine ecosystem and quantify the economic benefits of retaining these valuable habitats long after the rigs are decommissioned   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu " "over the past two decades the number of oil rigs in the gulf of mexico have significantly declined today there are fewer than half the number of operational oil rigs in the gulf than in the early 2000s now researchers want to better understand how changes in the number oil rigs in the gulf affect recreational fish populations and the economy the national sea grant college program and the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement have awarded over $795 thousand to texas sea grant and a team of researchers from texas a&m university and lgl ecological research services to produce information that could lead to the development of a decision-support tool modeling the ecological and economic effects of changing the composition of oil rigs in the gulf the motivating factor behind this project is that there has been a rapid and rather drastic decline in the number of oil and gas rigs in the gulf of mexico said dr richard woodward professor at texas a&m university and co-principal investigator on the project decommissioned rigs can either be removed or transformed into artificial reefs which provide habitat to many marine species including recreationally significant fish such as red snapper cobia and greater amberjack while most of us might think of [removing oil rigs] as a good thing for the environment it turns out that the oil and gas rigs are playing an interesting part in the ecology of the gulf of mexico woodward said they are providing habitat for fish particularly reef species and they provide places where recreational fishermen can find fish the study will consider the intricate link between the structure and abundance of recreational fish populations and the economic value associated with recreational fishing in these areas changes to recreationally significant fish populations impact the satisfaction of anglers and in turn affect the number of private and for-hire fishing trips taken which ultimately has economic effects to develop the ecological component of this model researchers will analyze historical data on the population and environmental impacts of removed rigs compared to rigs that become artificial reefs additionally researchers will survey anglers using a smartphone app that monitors the anglers location and identifies the species of fish caught well have really interesting data on recreational fishermen where they are going and how long they are fishing which will help us understand the importance of these rigs woodward said if all the fishermen always go to a certain rig that tells us a lot the study will produce data that could inform future tools to readily identify the environmental and economic impacts of removing an oil rig this will allow decision makers to make an informed choices on whether to remove a rig or turn the rig into an artificial reef  according to texas sea grant director dr pamela t plotkin this new research investment to measure the ecological and economic effects of existing and reefed offshore energy facilities in the gulf of mexico will contribute to our knowledge about the overall importance of oil rigs to the marine ecosystem and quantify the economic benefits of retaining these valuable habitats long after the rigs are decommissioned   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu" " new study: hurricane harvey impacted colored dissolved organic matter in galveston baytexas a&m oceanography researchers have published new research results that show how large storms can impact colored dissolved organic matter in a subtropical estuarysep 21 2021image by nasa courtesy of getty imagesin a rare and opportunistic study texas a&m scientists analyzed colored dissolved organic matter in galveston bay over a 2-year period around the time of hurricane harveys landfall on houston the recently published study results show significant differences in colored dissolved organic matter (cdom) between the wet and dry seasons and hurricane harvey they also show differences between the san jacinto and trinity rivers the two major freshwater inputs to the bay in june 2017 dr gerardo gold bouchot professor for texas a&ms department of oceanography and his associates set out to study cdom in galveston bay over the following two years the landfall of hurricane harvey over houston on august 25 2017 during the study period presented a rare opportunity to measure the impact of a large (category 4) hurricane on cdom in the estuary we had the heaviest rainfall hurricane in us history and had a boat booked to go out three or four days after so that was a good opportunity gold bouchot said because the hurricane deposited most of its water on the west side of the bay more freshwater came from the san jacinto river than the trinity river he explained ordinarily the trinity river on the east side accounts for about 60-70 percent of freshwater input to galveston bay after harvey there was a major influx of freshwater from the northwest through the san jacinto and the study found a significant increase in cdom from that source after the storm the study also found differences in data between wet and dry seasons they even included samples from the san jacinto near a chemical spill site from the itc facilities the authors emphasize important differences observed in 2018 between the san jacinto and trinity rivers and their cdom signatures with the san jacinto river showing a more urbanized signal it was surprising that the system recovered very fast gold bouchot said two-and-a-half months after harvey the system was back to normal in terms of colored dissolved organic matter the study of cdom is an important oceanographic tool it is used to track primary production and geochemical carbon cycling among many other applications it was even used to track oil and how it changed in the water column after the deepwater horizon oil spill among the coauthors of this study was texas a&m oceanography professor dr daniel thornton who specializes in biological oceanography specifically phytoplankton biogeochemistry and aerosols thornton helped design the study and contributed to the manuscript three undergraduate students that gold bouchot mentored for texas a&m oceanographys research exposure for undergraduates (reu) program also contributed to the project sam polis a former oceanography student and now high school science teacher contributed to a portion of the data analysis on this study particularly the parafac analysis the multi-variate nature of our research and data analysis impressed me polis said we ran a parafac (parallel factor) analysis which was an advanced multi-variate analysis that pulls out the components of cdom throughout the dataset in addition to funding from the texas a&m university t3 triads for success grant the undergraduate students benefited from a fellowship from the nsf funded reu observing the ocean program at the department of oceanography of texas a&m i found the oceanography department to be a really enjoyable place to do research polis said i felt really mentored by the department by justin agan '18 " "in a rare and opportunistic study texas a&m scientists analyzed colored dissolved organic matter in galveston bay over a 2-year period around the time of hurricane harveys landfall on houston the recently published study results show significant differences in colored dissolved organic matter (cdom) between the wet and dry seasons and hurricane harvey they also show differences between the san jacinto and trinity rivers the two major freshwater inputs to the bay in june 2017 dr gerardo gold bouchot professor for texas a&ms department of oceanography and his associates set out to study cdom in galveston bay over the following two years the landfall of hurricane harvey over houston on august 25 2017 during the study period presented a rare opportunity to measure the impact of a large (category 4) hurricane on cdom in the estuary we had the heaviest rainfall hurricane in us history and had a boat booked to go out three or four days after so that was a good opportunity gold bouchot said because the hurricane deposited most of its water on the west side of the bay more freshwater came from the san jacinto river than the trinity river he explained ordinarily the trinity river on the east side accounts for about 60-70 percent of freshwater input to galveston bay after harvey there was a major influx of freshwater from the northwest through the san jacinto and the study found a significant increase in cdom from that source after the storm the study also found differences in data between wet and dry seasons they even included samples from the san jacinto near a chemical spill site from the itc facilities the authors emphasize important differences observed in 2018 between the san jacinto and trinity rivers and their cdom signatures with the san jacinto river showing a more urbanized signal it was surprising that the system recovered very fast gold bouchot said two-and-a-half months after harvey the system was back to normal in terms of colored dissolved organic matter the study of cdom is an important oceanographic tool it is used to track primary production and geochemical carbon cycling among many other applications it was even used to track oil and how it changed in the water column after the deepwater horizon oil spill among the coauthors of this study was texas a&m oceanography professor dr daniel thornton who specializes in biological oceanography specifically phytoplankton biogeochemistry and aerosols thornton helped design the study and contributed to the manuscript three undergraduate students that gold bouchot mentored for texas a&m oceanographys research exposure for undergraduates (reu) program also contributed to the project sam polis a former oceanography student and now high school science teacher contributed to a portion of the data analysis on this study particularly the parafac analysis the multi-variate nature of our research and data analysis impressed me polis said we ran a parafac (parallel factor) analysis which was an advanced multi-variate analysis that pulls out the components of cdom throughout the dataset in addition to funding from the texas a&m university t3 triads for success grant the undergraduate students benefited from a fellowship from the nsf funded reu observing the ocean program at the department of oceanography of texas a&m i found the oceanography department to be a really enjoyable place to do research polis said i felt really mentored by the department by justin agan '18" " scoreboards and scholarsfrom an old kyle field scoreboard in their backyard to the scholarships they created angela 85 and kerry stein 85 root for aggielandsep 20 2021kerry and angela stein (left) enjoy meeting three of their six 2021-2022 geosciences scholars: joshua edwards '24 colton ray '22 and ernie vita '22 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)the steins walking with the three scholars by the old kyle field scoreboard (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)angela 85 and kerry stein 85 have a little piece of aggie history in their own backyard when the washington texas couple was looking for a second home in college station they discovered the scoreboard house nicknamed for the old kyle field scoreboard in the yard that was used during the steins time at texas a&m university located across the street from campus on george bush drive the house also has ties to texas a&m: it once belonged to frederick hensel 41 an architecture professor and the universitys first official landscape architect and it includes a detached cottage that was moved from campus to the property in 1941 avid aggie football fans and longtime season ticket holders the couple hopes to bring the scoreboard back to life this fall and fill the yard with tailgating and cheers for the 12th man in addition to rooting for the aggies the steins have translated their love for the university into scholarships to support bright minds inspired by the generosity they experienced at texas a&m the steins are using their gifts to cheer on scholars now and for generations to come lifechanging letters angelas journey to texas a&m began with a letter it arrived in the mailbox of her familys south carolina home one day with exciting news: she had been offered a scholarship to attend texas a&m though she had not previously considered the university the scholarship created by walter lechner class of 1916 opened the door for her to make aggieland her home without worrying about out-of-state tuition more than 1 000 miles away in san antonio kerry also received a letter he had already been accepted to texas a&m and the note announced that he had been awarded a presidents endowed scholarship created by ce pat olsen class of 1923 i didnt know about it but my high school counselor had submitted a scholarship application on my behalf kerry explained it was such a wonderful surprise i was thrilled and so grateful the couple first crossed paths at texas a&m in a geology class kerry had just switched his major to geophysics while angela would soon leave the department when she changed her major from geophysics to geography but their connection blossomed into dates two-stepping at the texas hall of fame dance hall after graduating the steins worked in the oil and gas industry but they never forgot the generosity they experienced from lechner and olsen their contribution to texas a&m occurred long before we were students but it helped us immensely angela said weve had a long-term goal of paying back that generosity hoping to give more than we received a few years ago the steins fulfilled that goal with current and planned gifts to the university they annually contribute to a scholarship in the college of geosciences in addition to an endowment in their names that will perpetually create geosciences endowed deans scholar awards and presidents endowed scholarships for high-achieving students in addition they planned a gift in their wills to further support the endowment and its scholarships beyond their lifetimes anything that supports education is a worthy endeavor kerry said we knew we could have a lasting impact by contributing to education and texas a&m winning minds the steins generosity has already supported bright minds like meteorology graduates miles langfeld 21 and joshua ostaszewski 21 langfelds interest in weather led him to aggieland when he heard about the meteorology programs prestige growing up on a small farm outside san antonio i was always interested in the weather because it was a big part of my life he explained langfeld enjoyed multiple opportunities beyond the classroom while at texas a&m he served as president of the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and learned about tropical and mountain meteorology on study abroad trips to barbados and germany he also volunteered with the national weather service weather forecast offices in new braunfels and houston and interned with a flood diagnostic team at the organizations springfield missouri office now he works at the springfield office as a full-time meteorologist a san antonio native ostaszewski knew texas a&m was the right choice during a visit to aggieland as soon as i stepped on campus i immediately felt a sense of family he said during his time at the university ostaszewski pursued his passion for weather by researching forecast techniques of tornadic environments and participating in tamscams and the texas aggie storm chasers those two organizations and my research showed me the different paths you can take with meteorology he said after graduating in may ostaszewski joined texas tech universitys graduate program where he continues to research storm systems with the goal of one day working for the storm prediction center or the national severe storms laboratory the end goal is to help improve forecasting systems so people dont lose their lives he explained a victory for aggieland both scholars attribute the steins geosciences scholarships as a boost to their achievements their generous donation means the world to me langfeld said it allowed me to focus on my studies rather than the financial strain of collegeostaszewski agreed i was adopted by my grandparents so neither they nor my parents saved money for me to attend college he shared my first year at texas a&m was a big struggle for me financially which directly impacted my schooling as soon as i received the steins scholarship it removed that stress even though i didnt know them personally at the time knowing that they care about students futures and our time at texas a&m meant a lot the steins have enjoyed meeting their scholars and hearing how the students are contributing to texas a&ms success theyre an impressive bunch angela said its very inspiring to interact with them the couple looks forward to meeting more recipients in the future and thanks to their planned gift their legacy of support will live on in endless generations of scholars whether theyre tailgating at the scoreboard house or supporting students the steins will continue to root for aggies on and off the field thanks to their generosity they can cheer even louder knowing that theyre helping aggieland score a brighter future we hope our scholarships continue to attract a diverse group of worthy recipients kerry said and maybe our efforts can instill the same pay-it-forward motivation in these students that mr olsen and mr lechner did so many years ago for us interested in supporting students in the college of geosciences contact david bacot 90 to learn more to learn more about leaving a legacy for future aggies contact angela throne 03 at giftplanning@txamfoundationcom by the texas a&m foundation " kerry and angela stein (left) enjoy meeting three of their six 2021-2022 geosciences scholars: joshua edwards '24 colton ray '22 and ernie vita '22 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)the steins walking with the three scholars by the old kyle field scoreboard (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation) "angela 85 and kerry stein 85 have a little piece of aggie history in their own backyard when the washington texas couple was looking for a second home in college station they discovered the scoreboard house nicknamed for the old kyle field scoreboard in the yard that was used during the steins time at texas a&m university located across the street from campus on george bush drive the house also has ties to texas a&m: it once belonged to frederick hensel 41 an architecture professor and the universitys first official landscape architect and it includes a detached cottage that was moved from campus to the property in 1941 avid aggie football fans and longtime season ticket holders the couple hopes to bring the scoreboard back to life this fall and fill the yard with tailgating and cheers for the 12th man in addition to rooting for the aggies the steins have translated their love for the university into scholarships to support bright minds inspired by the generosity they experienced at texas a&m the steins are using their gifts to cheer on scholars now and for generations to come lifechanging letters angelas journey to texas a&m began with a letter it arrived in the mailbox of her familys south carolina home one day with exciting news: she had been offered a scholarship to attend texas a&m though she had not previously considered the university the scholarship created by walter lechner class of 1916 opened the door for her to make aggieland her home without worrying about out-of-state tuition more than 1 000 miles away in san antonio kerry also received a letter he had already been accepted to texas a&m and the note announced that he had been awarded a presidents endowed scholarship created by ce pat olsen class of 1923 i didnt know about it but my high school counselor had submitted a scholarship application on my behalf kerry explained it was such a wonderful surprise i was thrilled and so grateful the couple first crossed paths at texas a&m in a geology class kerry had just switched his major to geophysics while angela would soon leave the department when she changed her major from geophysics to geography but their connection blossomed into dates two-stepping at the texas hall of fame dance hall after graduating the steins worked in the oil and gas industry but they never forgot the generosity they experienced from lechner and olsen their contribution to texas a&m occurred long before we were students but it helped us immensely angela said weve had a long-term goal of paying back that generosity hoping to give more than we received a few years ago the steins fulfilled that goal with current and planned gifts to the university they annually contribute to a scholarship in the college of geosciences in addition to an endowment in their names that will perpetually create geosciences endowed deans scholar awards and presidents endowed scholarships for high-achieving students in addition they planned a gift in their wills to further support the endowment and its scholarships beyond their lifetimes anything that supports education is a worthy endeavor kerry said we knew we could have a lasting impact by contributing to education and texas a&m winning minds the steins generosity has already supported bright minds like meteorology graduates miles langfeld 21 and joshua ostaszewski 21 langfelds interest in weather led him to aggieland when he heard about the meteorology programs prestige growing up on a small farm outside san antonio i was always interested in the weather because it was a big part of my life he explained langfeld enjoyed multiple opportunities beyond the classroom while at texas a&m he served as president of the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and learned about tropical and mountain meteorology on study abroad trips to barbados and germany he also volunteered with the national weather service weather forecast offices in new braunfels and houston and interned with a flood diagnostic team at the organizations springfield missouri office now he works at the springfield office as a full-time meteorologist a san antonio native ostaszewski knew texas a&m was the right choice during a visit to aggieland as soon as i stepped on campus i immediately felt a sense of family he said during his time at the university ostaszewski pursued his passion for weather by researching forecast techniques of tornadic environments and participating in tamscams and the texas aggie storm chasers those two organizations and my research showed me the different paths you can take with meteorology he said after graduating in may ostaszewski joined texas tech universitys graduate program where he continues to research storm systems with the goal of one day working for the storm prediction center or the national severe storms laboratory the end goal is to help improve forecasting systems so people dont lose their lives he explained a victory for aggieland both scholars attribute the steins geosciences scholarships as a boost to their achievements their generous donation means the world to me langfeld said it allowed me to focus on my studies rather than the financial strain of collegeostaszewski agreed i was adopted by my grandparents so neither they nor my parents saved money for me to attend college he shared my first year at texas a&m was a big struggle for me financially which directly impacted my schooling as soon as i received the steins scholarship it removed that stress even though i didnt know them personally at the time knowing that they care about students futures and our time at texas a&m meant a lot the steins have enjoyed meeting their scholars and hearing how the students are contributing to texas a&ms success theyre an impressive bunch angela said its very inspiring to interact with them the couple looks forward to meeting more recipients in the future and thanks to their planned gift their legacy of support will live on in endless generations of scholars whether theyre tailgating at the scoreboard house or supporting students the steins will continue to root for aggies on and off the field thanks to their generosity they can cheer even louder knowing that theyre helping aggieland score a brighter future we hope our scholarships continue to attract a diverse group of worthy recipients kerry said and maybe our efforts can instill the same pay-it-forward motivation in these students that mr olsen and mr lechner did so many years ago for us interested in supporting students in the college of geosciences contact david bacot 90 to learn more to learn more about leaving a legacy for future aggies contact angela throne 03 at giftplanning@txamfoundationcom by the texas a&m foundation" " montana etten-bohm recognized with texas a&m cirtl bednarz award atmospheric sciences phd candidate montana etten-bohm was recognized with prestigious award for her teaching and research contributionssep 17 2021texas a&m universitys center for integration of teaching research and learning (cirtl) recently awarded the bednarz award to atmospheric sciences phd candidate montana etten-bohm in recognition of her superior teaching-as-research (tar) fellows project and overall involvement the center said the bednarz award was established in 2016 to honor the many contributions of dr sarah bednarz professor emerita of geography to cirtl by annually recognizing an outstanding doctoral student in cirtl programs because of etten-bohms passion for undergraduate education specifically in the field of meteorology and desire to learn more about the field of education she has been heavily involved in cirtl programs she said she has completed the academy of future faculty and the teaching-as-research programs as well as the cirtl massive open online course local learning community and the college classroom teaching course through completion of these courses and programs she has earned the cirtl associate practitioner and scholar certificates ive always loved meteorology and being able to spread my passion through teaching is incredibly rewarding she said not only can i have an impact on someones life in the classroom but in meteorology im also capable of equipping students with skills that could ultimately save a life montana is a talented educator said dr courtney schumacher etten-bohms advisor she is organized well-informed and intent upon teaching students in the best way possible this may mean using different methods and tools depending on the topic which was the essence of her tar fellows research her results have implications on how we teach hundreds of students the most difficult concepts in introductory meteorology every year in the department of atmospheric sciences she has also been very involved in teaching assisting as both a teaching assistant and graduate assistant lecturer and was awarded the outstanding teaching assistant award for the department of atmospheric sciences in december of 2020 montana has also been an invaluable contributor to our departments educational mission by teaching labs and large lecture classes with high praise from her students an indicator of her passion for teaching and her respect for student learning schumacher said after completing her phd she will be joining the university of north dakotas department of atmospheric sciences as an instructional assistant professor in the fall of 2022 by leslie lee " "texas a&m universitys center for integration of teaching research and learning (cirtl) recently awarded the bednarz award to atmospheric sciences phd candidate montana etten-bohm in recognition of her superior teaching-as-research (tar) fellows project and overall involvement the center said the bednarz award was established in 2016 to honor the many contributions of dr sarah bednarz professor emerita of geography to cirtl by annually recognizing an outstanding doctoral student in cirtl programs because of etten-bohms passion for undergraduate education specifically in the field of meteorology and desire to learn more about the field of education she has been heavily involved in cirtl programs she said she has completed the academy of future faculty and the teaching-as-research programs as well as the cirtl massive open online course local learning community and the college classroom teaching course through completion of these courses and programs she has earned the cirtl associate practitioner and scholar certificates ive always loved meteorology and being able to spread my passion through teaching is incredibly rewarding she said not only can i have an impact on someones life in the classroom but in meteorology im also capable of equipping students with skills that could ultimately save a life montana is a talented educator said dr courtney schumacher etten-bohms advisor she is organized well-informed and intent upon teaching students in the best way possible this may mean using different methods and tools depending on the topic which was the essence of her tar fellows research her results have implications on how we teach hundreds of students the most difficult concepts in introductory meteorology every year in the department of atmospheric sciences she has also been very involved in teaching assisting as both a teaching assistant and graduate assistant lecturer and was awarded the outstanding teaching assistant award for the department of atmospheric sciences in december of 2020 montana has also been an invaluable contributor to our departments educational mission by teaching labs and large lecture classes with high praise from her students an indicator of her passion for teaching and her respect for student learning schumacher said after completing her phd she will be joining the university of north dakotas department of atmospheric sciences as an instructional assistant professor in the fall of 2022 by leslie lee" " texas sea grant celebrates 50 years of science and stewardship on sept 17texas a&m university achieved formal designation as a sea grant college 50 years ago sep 14 2021dedication of the first four universities to achieve sea grant designation in 1971 the other three were oregon state university university of rhode island and university of washington photo from dr john c calhoun jron sept 17 the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university will celebrate its 50th anniversary for half a century the program has supported science and stewardship on the texas coast by funding coastal and marine research and bringing data-driven resources to coastal communities through its coast-wide extension program texas sea grant uses research outreach and education programs to benefit the citizens businesses and communities of texas its mission is to improve understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and ocean resources this unique program unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas industry and universities across the state it is funded through the national sea grant college program ­ part of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) the texas legislature and texas a&m university   sea grant history and texas a&m universitys sea grant designation the national sea grant college program modeled its structure after the land grant college program established in 1862 by the morrill act land grants allowed states to develop agriculture and mechanical colleges over time land grant colleges developed research extension and education efforts after its inception in the early 1960s by inventor and scientist dr athelstan spilhaus the sea grant concept quickly gained momentum among academics and influential politicians public support and the success of the land grant program inspired passage of the national sea grant college act of 1966 signed into law by president lyndon b johnson texas a&m's budding program in oceanography and success as a land grant institution made it the natural choice for sea grant designation according to earl rudder former president of texas a&m designation of texas a&m recognizes the breadth and quality of the universitys programs in oceanography coastal engineering food resources and related areas  a significant factor in texas a&ms designation as a sea grant college was the college of geosciences particularly the department in oceanography established in 1949 the department assisted the state of texas with emerging challenges in the gulf of mexico the mission and aspirations of the sea grant college program aligned with the efforts of the college of geosciences and made the college the ideal home for texas sea grant where the program resides to this day in 1968 the national science foundation awarded texas a&m a $475 000 grant to establish a sea grant program then in 1971 texas a&m became one of four universities (in addition to oregon state university university of rhode island and university of washington) to be officially designated a sea grant university today there are 34 sea grant programs across the united states and its territoriestexas governor mark white (right) presents a plaque to texas sea grant director freenan d jennings (left) designating july 1 1984 – july 1 1985 the year of the ocean affirming the states commitment to the ocean and its resourcesprofessor emeritus dr sammy ray (pictured) credited texas sea grants funding of texas a&ms marine biology laboratory as a contributing factor to its development into texas a&m university at galveston rays efforts were also instrumental in texas a&ms sea grant designation photo by norman martintexas sea grant fisheries specialist gary graham (right) working with texas parks and wildlife department to research bycatch (or catch of non-target species) on a shrimp boat in 1997 photo by stephan myersthe 57-foot former working shrimp boat known as the karma served as texas sea grants floating classroom texas sea grant welcomed students of all ages aboard to learn about wildlife water quality marine transportation and moretexas sea grant extension agent terrie looney speaking with the jefferson and chambers counties communities after hurricane iketexas sea grant extension agent tony reisinger and dr jinha jung attempting to identify red tide blooms photo by seth pattersonserving texas science and stewardship throughout its history texas sea grant has funded faculty at texas universities to study numerous issues significant to the texas coast and its people these topics include droughts floods fish kills shrimp diseases marine debris oil spills oyster reef collapse sea turtle deaths hurricanes ocean acidification and many other emerging issues of concern to texas coastal communities and economies  the early years of texas sea grant focused on building capacity in texas university academic programs to develop undergraduate and graduate teaching programs and support seminal research said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant this grew the research enterprise in the state and launched careers of faculty and trained graduate students in various disciplines from coastal engineering to marine aquaculture ultimately the research texas sea grant funds produces necessary information to create tangible solutions which the program actively helps texans implement through our outreach and education programs 50 years after its founding texas sea grant continues to uphold its commitment as we look forward to the next 50 years texas needs will continue to evolve and so will our adaptation strategies but our purpose will remain the same said plotkin texas sea grant will still look to challenges with optimism and create opportunities that better the lives of texans   celebrating sea grant the history and current works of texas sea grant are on display in the george bush presidential library and museum information on re-opening and hours of operation can be found at bush41org anyone interested in learning more about the history of texas sea grant can read the latest issue of texas shores magazine and look for #txsghistory on social media additionally texas sea grant will host a special birthday celebration seaside chat webinar on sept 17 at 3 pm via zoom recounting its history with long-time staff attendees can register online at txag/txsgseasidechats to celebrate the programs birthday texas sea grant asks that individuals support the texas coast by choosing sustainable seafood respecting local wildlife reducing the use of plastic and making safety a priority at the beach     media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585 " dedication of the first four universities to achieve sea grant designation in 1971 the other three were oregon state university university of rhode island and university of washington photo from dr john c calhoun jr "on sept 17 the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university will celebrate its 50th anniversary for half a century the program has supported science and stewardship on the texas coast by funding coastal and marine research and bringing data-driven resources to coastal communities through its coast-wide extension program texas sea grant uses research outreach and education programs to benefit the citizens businesses and communities of texas its mission is to improve understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and ocean resources this unique program unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas industry and universities across the state it is funded through the national sea grant college program ­ part of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) the texas legislature and texas a&m university   sea grant history and texas a&m universitys sea grant designation the national sea grant college program modeled its structure after the land grant college program established in 1862 by the morrill act land grants allowed states to develop agriculture and mechanical colleges over time land grant colleges developed research extension and education efforts after its inception in the early 1960s by inventor and scientist dr athelstan spilhaus the sea grant concept quickly gained momentum among academics and influential politicians public support and the success of the land grant program inspired passage of the national sea grant college act of 1966 signed into law by president lyndon b johnson texas a&m's budding program in oceanography and success as a land grant institution made it the natural choice for sea grant designation according to earl rudder former president of texas a&m designation of texas a&m recognizes the breadth and quality of the universitys programs in oceanography coastal engineering food resources and related areas  a significant factor in texas a&ms designation as a sea grant college was the college of geosciences particularly the department in oceanography established in 1949 the department assisted the state of texas with emerging challenges in the gulf of mexico the mission and aspirations of the sea grant college program aligned with the efforts of the college of geosciences and made the college the ideal home for texas sea grant where the program resides to this day in 1968 the national science foundation awarded texas a&m a $475 000 grant to establish a sea grant program then in 1971 texas a&m became one of four universities (in addition to oregon state university university of rhode island and university of washington) to be officially designated a sea grant university today there are 34 sea grant programs across the united states and its territories" texas governor mark white (right) presents a plaque to texas sea grant director freenan d jennings (left) designating july 1 1984 – july 1 1985 the year of the ocean affirming the states commitment to the ocean and its resourcesprofessor emeritus dr sammy ray (pictured) credited texas sea grants funding of texas a&ms marine biology laboratory as a contributing factor to its development into texas a&m university at galveston rays efforts were also instrumental in texas a&ms sea grant designation photo by norman martintexas sea grant fisheries specialist gary graham (right) working with texas parks and wildlife department to research bycatch (or catch of non-target species) on a shrimp boat in 1997 photo by stephan myers the 57-foot former working shrimp boat known as the karma served as texas sea grants floating classroom texas sea grant welcomed students of all ages aboard to learn about wildlife water quality marine transportation and moretexas sea grant extension agent terrie looney speaking with the jefferson and chambers counties communities after hurricane iketexas sea grant extension agent tony reisinger and dr jinha jung attempting to identify red tide blooms photo by seth patterson "serving texas science and stewardship throughout its history texas sea grant has funded faculty at texas universities to study numerous issues significant to the texas coast and its people these topics include droughts floods fish kills shrimp diseases marine debris oil spills oyster reef collapse sea turtle deaths hurricanes ocean acidification and many other emerging issues of concern to texas coastal communities and economies  the early years of texas sea grant focused on building capacity in texas university academic programs to develop undergraduate and graduate teaching programs and support seminal research said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant this grew the research enterprise in the state and launched careers of faculty and trained graduate students in various disciplines from coastal engineering to marine aquaculture ultimately the research texas sea grant funds produces necessary information to create tangible solutions which the program actively helps texans implement through our outreach and education programs 50 years after its founding texas sea grant continues to uphold its commitment as we look forward to the next 50 years texas needs will continue to evolve and so will our adaptation strategies but our purpose will remain the same said plotkin texas sea grant will still look to challenges with optimism and create opportunities that better the lives of texans   celebrating sea grant the history and current works of texas sea grant are on display in the george bush presidential library and museum information on re-opening and hours of operation can be found at bush41org anyone interested in learning more about the history of texas sea grant can read the latest issue of texas shores magazine and look for #txsghistory on social media additionally texas sea grant will host a special birthday celebration seaside chat webinar on sept 17 at 3 pm via zoom recounting its history with long-time staff attendees can register online at txag/txsgseasidechats to celebrate the programs birthday texas sea grant asks that individuals support the texas coast by choosing sustainable seafood respecting local wildlife reducing the use of plastic and making safety a priority at the beach     media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585" " return em right launches – a new angler-driven program tackling barotrauma in gulf of mexico reef fishreturn 'em right a new program launching this september will tackle release mortality due to barotrauma in gulf of mexico (gom) reef fish this program will offer gom anglers an opportunity to sharpen their release skills when targeting reef speciessep 14 2021gainesville fla (september 14 2021) – have you ever caught and released a fish only to see it float away on the surface each year millions of reef fish are discarded and many die due to barotrauma damage caused by the rapid expansion of gases in fish brought to the surface return 'em right a new program launching today will tackle release mortality due to barotrauma in gulf of mexico (gom) reef fish this program will offer gom anglers an opportunity to sharpen their release skills when targeting reef species in return eligible anglers will receive free release gear to use on the water and collectively contribute to the health of gulf reef fish the program anticipates distributing release gear to tens of thousands of gulf reef anglers the programs goals are to reduce catch and release mortality improve anglers experiences with release gear and support the overall health of the reef fish fishery ""the return em right program is based on research that shows when anglers have the knowledge and tools to best release reef fish more fish survive to be caught later this program will benefit todays anglers the next generation of anglers and the overall health of the reef ecosystem "" said angela collins extension agent for florida sea grant gulf reef fish are often caught in deep water and may experience barotrauma from being reeled to the surface barotrauma is a pressure-related injury that occurs when gases expand in fishs tissues and organs causing internal damage and often preventing them from swimming back to depth effects from barotrauma can lead to a high percentage of reef fish dying after release unless proper release techniques are used by anglers anglers practicing best handling and release techniques can improve the survival of discarded fish return ‘em right will promote all best release practices with an emphasis on the proper use of descending devices which research shows can improve survival of reef fish species descending devices are weighted devices that help fish overcome buoyancy and symptoms of barotrauma by releasing themat depth these devices come in a variety of forms including weighted inverted hooks lip clamp devices and box/crate styles that can be made at home captain troy frady owner and operator of distraction charters in orange beach alabama has used descending devices for 13 years fish descending devices offer anglers a wonderful tool that helps ensure released fish that are suffering from barotrauma have a chance to survive frady said federally permitted headboat and charter boat captains and crews are now eligible to take the return em right 15-minute training and receive free release gear in return partners will reach out directly to the federal for-hire sector with an invitation to take the module in the coming weeks state for-hire and private recreational anglers will have the opportunity to receive gear when the program expands in the spring of 2022 but by pre-registering on the website those anglers can be some of the first to receivegear in the spring   about return em rightreturn em right was selected as a restoration project by the deepwater horizon open ocean trustee implementation group as part of a 2019 restoration plan about $30 million was dedicated to return em right which is anticipated to span from 2020 to 2027 return em right website: returnemrightorgemail: info@returnemrightorgmedia contact: tory moore public relations specialist 352-273-3566 torymoore@ufledu   by return em right see original article " "gainesville fla (september 14 2021) – have you ever caught and released a fish only to see it float away on the surface each year millions of reef fish are discarded and many die due to barotrauma damage caused by the rapid expansion of gases in fish brought to the surface return 'em right a new program launching today will tackle release mortality due to barotrauma in gulf of mexico (gom) reef fish this program will offer gom anglers an opportunity to sharpen their release skills when targeting reef species in return eligible anglers will receive free release gear to use on the water and collectively contribute to the health of gulf reef fish the program anticipates distributing release gear to tens of thousands of gulf reef anglers the programs goals are to reduce catch and release mortality improve anglers experiences with release gear and support the overall health of the reef fish fishery ""the return em right program is based on research that shows when anglers have the knowledge and tools to best release reef fish more fish survive to be caught later this program will benefit todays anglers the next generation of anglers and the overall health of the reef ecosystem "" said angela collins extension agent for florida sea grant gulf reef fish are often caught in deep water and may experience barotrauma from being reeled to the surface barotrauma is a pressure-related injury that occurs when gases expand in fishs tissues and organs causing internal damage and often preventing them from swimming back to depth effects from barotrauma can lead to a high percentage of reef fish dying after release unless proper release techniques are used by anglers anglers practicing best handling and release techniques can improve the survival of discarded fish return ‘em right will promote all best release practices with an emphasis on the proper use of descending devices which research shows can improve survival of reef fish species descending devices are weighted devices that help fish overcome buoyancy and symptoms of barotrauma by releasing themat depth these devices come in a variety of forms including weighted inverted hooks lip clamp devices and box/crate styles that can be made at home captain troy frady owner and operator of distraction charters in orange beach alabama has used descending devices for 13 years fish descending devices offer anglers a wonderful tool that helps ensure released fish that are suffering from barotrauma have a chance to survive frady said federally permitted headboat and charter boat captains and crews are now eligible to take the return em right 15-minute training and receive free release gear in return partners will reach out directly to the federal for-hire sector with an invitation to take the module in the coming weeks state for-hire and private recreational anglers will have the opportunity to receive gear when the program expands in the spring of 2022 but by pre-registering on the website those anglers can be some of the first to receivegear in the spring   about return em rightreturn em right was selected as a restoration project by the deepwater horizon open ocean trustee implementation group as part of a 2019 restoration plan about $30 million was dedicated to return em right which is anticipated to span from 2020 to 2027 return em right website: returnemrightorgemail: info@returnemrightorgmedia contact: tory moore public relations specialist 352-273-3566 torymoore@ufledu   by return em right see original article" " texas sea grant to fund over $49 thousand to 20 texas a&m graduate studentstexas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas aug 12 2021college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) will award $49 335 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fy2021-23 recipients their institutions and projects are listed below molly brzezinski pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc dermal toxicity of photodegraded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons dillon campbell pursuing a doctorate in marine and coastal management and science at tamug the socioeconomic implications of marine debris in galveston bay: unraveling the management strategies and increasing public awareness katheryn campbell pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug mineralogical influence on microbial community composition and function in lakes along the east-west precipitation gradient of texas sarah davis pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug a toxic fate the impact of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid on the toxin production of karenia brevis and dinophysis ovum elena duran pursuing a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology at tamu avian sentinels: an evaluation of black skimmer health in a persistently contaminated region ashleigh epps pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc corals thriving in dynamic environments may hold key insights into future coral reefs allyson girard pursuing a masters in chemistry at tamucc assessing the influence of genotypic diversity on sulfur dynamics in the seagrass halodule wrightii using stable isotope analysis alexandra good pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc a risk and resilience assessment of coastal bend oyster reefs from two sub-species of the eastern oyster crassostrea virginica binglin guo pursuing a doctorate in environmental engineering at tamu characterization of microplastics/nanoplastics in photochemical interactions with natural organic matters in the marine environment tacey hicks pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu understanding the chemical environment of deep sea coral reefs asim bashir khajwal pursuing a doctorate in civil engineering at tamu trustworthy crowdsourcing for rapid disaster damage assessment: addressing uncertainty and enhancing reliability chengxue li pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamu impacts of hurricane harvey on recruitment dynamics of eastern oysters (crassostrea virginica) in galveston bay kaden muffett pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug impact of a jellyfish on gulf microbial sediments rayna nolen pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug the fate and physiological effects of emerging pfas pollutants in coastal and offshore pelagic fish and marine mammal species colin odonnell pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc genomic analysis of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) on nurdles in beach sediment along galveston bay sangeetha puthigai pursuing a masters in oceanography at tamu per and poly fluoroalkyl substances in sea turtles and ocean a one health approach allison savoie pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu investigating changes in carbonate chemistry at the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary across five years dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc assessing mhc-associated mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) olivia thibault pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug comparison of invasive and noninvasive steroid hormone sampling techniques in adult southern flounder (paralichthys lethostigma) david weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc epigenetic biomarkers: a novel non-lethal approach to aging exploited fish species   " "college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) will award $49 335 in research grants to 20 graduate students at three texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston (tamug) or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research and fiscal administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fy2021-23 recipients their institutions and projects are listed below molly brzezinski pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc dermal toxicity of photodegraded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons dillon campbell pursuing a doctorate in marine and coastal management and science at tamug the socioeconomic implications of marine debris in galveston bay: unraveling the management strategies and increasing public awareness katheryn campbell pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug mineralogical influence on microbial community composition and function in lakes along the east-west precipitation gradient of texas sarah davis pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug a toxic fate the impact of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid on the toxin production of karenia brevis and dinophysis ovum elena duran pursuing a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology at tamu avian sentinels: an evaluation of black skimmer health in a persistently contaminated region ashleigh epps pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc corals thriving in dynamic environments may hold key insights into future coral reefs allyson girard pursuing a masters in chemistry at tamucc assessing the influence of genotypic diversity on sulfur dynamics in the seagrass halodule wrightii using stable isotope analysis alexandra good pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc a risk and resilience assessment of coastal bend oyster reefs from two sub-species of the eastern oyster crassostrea virginica binglin guo pursuing a doctorate in environmental engineering at tamu characterization of microplastics/nanoplastics in photochemical interactions with natural organic matters in the marine environment tacey hicks pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu understanding the chemical environment of deep sea coral reefs asim bashir khajwal pursuing a doctorate in civil engineering at tamu trustworthy crowdsourcing for rapid disaster damage assessment: addressing uncertainty and enhancing reliability chengxue li pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamu impacts of hurricane harvey on recruitment dynamics of eastern oysters (crassostrea virginica) in galveston bay kaden muffett pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug impact of a jellyfish on gulf microbial sediments rayna nolen pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug the fate and physiological effects of emerging pfas pollutants in coastal and offshore pelagic fish and marine mammal species colin odonnell pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc genomic analysis of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) on nurdles in beach sediment along galveston bay sangeetha puthigai pursuing a masters in oceanography at tamu per and poly fluoroalkyl substances in sea turtles and ocean a one health approach allison savoie pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu investigating changes in carbonate chemistry at the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary across five years dominic swift pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc assessing mhc-associated mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (carcharhinus limbatus) olivia thibault pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamug comparison of invasive and noninvasive steroid hormone sampling techniques in adult southern flounder (paralichthys lethostigma) david weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc epigenetic biomarkers: a novel non-lethal approach to aging exploited fish species  " " alyssa alsante named a texas a&m cirtl teaching as research fellowoceanography graduate student alyssa alsante was awarded a fellowship from the texas a&m center for the integration of research teaching and learningaug 4 2021online learning has increased in popularity most significantly over the last 18 months the ongoing pandemic underscores how important alternative learning methods can be alyssa alsante oceanography graduate student at texas a&m university and one of this years center for the integration of research teaching and learning (cirtl) teaching as research (tar) fellows hopes to learn more about how online formats affect student learning serving as a teaching assistant for both the online and in-person sections of oceanography laboratory (ocng) 252 alsante will be able to compare the two learning environments with direct input from her students she can also leverage the tools available to teachers to better measure student engagement with the material online students may not spend as much time using web-based lab modules as they would if it were in person alsante said it will be important to determine if students are succeeding in both modalities and suggest improved teaching strategies for online courses in the future to promote student success alsante will have the support of dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor in the department of oceanography and the primary investigator on this project wiederwohl oversees the lab and teaches the oceanography majors section of the corresponding lecture ocng 251 when alyssa approached me about working together on this project i was immediately on-board wiederwohl said student success is something i think about a lot with my classes  this research will help us better understand how we can modify the class to maximize student learning the center awards a stipend to teaching as research fellows after hitting certain milestones in their project equaling up to $1 000 the fellowship enables graduate students to experiment with teaching methods in real class settings under the guidance of a faculty mentor in their field of study i am starting my project in the fall semester and may extend into spring semester depending on online enrollment and student interest in participating in the study alsante said then i will write a report that will be available to faculty and teaching assistants at the university and present my findings at a scientific conference where my results may be implemented in future teaching practices ideally the project will also result in a peer-reviewed publication the final milestone of the tar fellowship program i am excited to work with dr wiederwohl in the tar program to understand how online courses could be affecting student learning and improve our online courses in the future by justin agan ‘18 " "online learning has increased in popularity most significantly over the last 18 months the ongoing pandemic underscores how important alternative learning methods can be alyssa alsante oceanography graduate student at texas a&m university and one of this years center for the integration of research teaching and learning (cirtl) teaching as research (tar) fellows hopes to learn more about how online formats affect student learning serving as a teaching assistant for both the online and in-person sections of oceanography laboratory (ocng) 252 alsante will be able to compare the two learning environments with direct input from her students she can also leverage the tools available to teachers to better measure student engagement with the material online students may not spend as much time using web-based lab modules as they would if it were in person alsante said it will be important to determine if students are succeeding in both modalities and suggest improved teaching strategies for online courses in the future to promote student success alsante will have the support of dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor in the department of oceanography and the primary investigator on this project wiederwohl oversees the lab and teaches the oceanography majors section of the corresponding lecture ocng 251 when alyssa approached me about working together on this project i was immediately on-board wiederwohl said student success is something i think about a lot with my classes  this research will help us better understand how we can modify the class to maximize student learning the center awards a stipend to teaching as research fellows after hitting certain milestones in their project equaling up to $1 000 the fellowship enables graduate students to experiment with teaching methods in real class settings under the guidance of a faculty mentor in their field of study i am starting my project in the fall semester and may extend into spring semester depending on online enrollment and student interest in participating in the study alsante said then i will write a report that will be available to faculty and teaching assistants at the university and present my findings at a scientific conference where my results may be implemented in future teaching practices ideally the project will also result in a peer-reviewed publication the final milestone of the tar fellowship program i am excited to work with dr wiederwohl in the tar program to understand how online courses could be affecting student learning and improve our online courses in the future by justin agan ‘18" " now at texas a&m southern regional climate center continues key servicesthe center is now led by texas state climatologist dr john nielsen gammon professor in the department of atmospheric sciencesaug 4 2021photo courtesy of texas a&mone of only six such institutions around the country the southern regional climate center (srcc) is now housed at texas a&m university the srcc serves arkansas louisiana mississippi oklahoma tennessee and texas and is part of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) regional climate centers program it officially moved from louisiana state university to texas a&m may 14 and texas state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in texas a&ms department of atmospheric sciences also now serves as srcc director our mission is to increase the usefulness and availability of climate information with a focus on the particular needs of people in the southern region nielsen-gammon said many of the products and services we now provide were pioneered and developed by lsu and we are extremely grateful for their decades of valuable climate service the center is responsible for providing important regional climate data products and services robust computer-based infrastructure for climate information and seamless integration of regional climate data and noaa data the texas a&m university system team supporting the srcc involves three entities: texas a&ms college of geosciences the texas a&m transportation institute (tti) and trabus technologies we could not be more pleased to partner with dr nielsen-gammon trabus technologies and the department of atmospheric sciences to establish the southern region climate center at texas a&m university said srcc project manager jim cline a senior research engineer at tti climate issues are key to the solution of many transportation resiliency challenges and the expertise available at tti will contribute greatly to meeting the long-term goals of the region this innovative teaming approach brings together strong expertise in climatology engineering research and data science nielsen-gammon said as texas state climatologist i primarily focused on helping match stakeholders with the existing information that best met their needs nielsen-gammon said  now with the resources provided by noaa through the srcc we have the capacity to take the raw materials which are the climate data and transform them into products and information that are specially tailored to peoples needs both now and in the future one of the missions of the srcc is to provide climate data services to fulfill a wide range of applications and therefore the center provides data to insurance companies attorneys construction companies state and federal government agencies universities consultants and engineering firms  the college of geosciences is so pleased to be part of this exceedingly important effort and now the entire region will benefit from the invaluable efforts of dr nielson-gammon said dean of texas a&ms college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and moving forward the srcc will also now have a new emphasis on transportation and climate they said the extreme droughts record-breaking hurricanes severe snow and ice storms and increased flooding events that have occurred in our country during the past 15 years or so make this center a significant addition to texas a&m and ttis research and education portfolio said tti agency director greg winfree improving the sustainability and resiliency of the transportation system is always top of mind for us and we are proud to offer transportation expertise for the center nielsen-gammon said that he will also focus on the center building collaborations among the many entities providing different types of climate services throughout the southern united states  we also want to provide equitable climate services in the sense that hosting and maintaining a set of web-based tools and products is nice but it doesnt help people who dont have easy access to the internet or dont even know about us he said people who dont contact us may have very different but unmet needs for climate services than people who contact us frequently by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " "one of only six such institutions around the country the southern regional climate center (srcc) is now housed at texas a&m university the srcc serves arkansas louisiana mississippi oklahoma tennessee and texas and is part of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) regional climate centers program it officially moved from louisiana state university to texas a&m may 14 and texas state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor in texas a&ms department of atmospheric sciences also now serves as srcc director our mission is to increase the usefulness and availability of climate information with a focus on the particular needs of people in the southern region nielsen-gammon said many of the products and services we now provide were pioneered and developed by lsu and we are extremely grateful for their decades of valuable climate service the center is responsible for providing important regional climate data products and services robust computer-based infrastructure for climate information and seamless integration of regional climate data and noaa data the texas a&m university system team supporting the srcc involves three entities: texas a&ms college of geosciences the texas a&m transportation institute (tti) and trabus technologies we could not be more pleased to partner with dr nielsen-gammon trabus technologies and the department of atmospheric sciences to establish the southern region climate center at texas a&m university said srcc project manager jim cline a senior research engineer at tti climate issues are key to the solution of many transportation resiliency challenges and the expertise available at tti will contribute greatly to meeting the long-term goals of the region this innovative teaming approach brings together strong expertise in climatology engineering research and data science nielsen-gammon said as texas state climatologist i primarily focused on helping match stakeholders with the existing information that best met their needs nielsen-gammon said  now with the resources provided by noaa through the srcc we have the capacity to take the raw materials which are the climate data and transform them into products and information that are specially tailored to peoples needs both now and in the future one of the missions of the srcc is to provide climate data services to fulfill a wide range of applications and therefore the center provides data to insurance companies attorneys construction companies state and federal government agencies universities consultants and engineering firms  the college of geosciences is so pleased to be part of this exceedingly important effort and now the entire region will benefit from the invaluable efforts of dr nielson-gammon said dean of texas a&ms college of geosciences dr debbie thomas and moving forward the srcc will also now have a new emphasis on transportation and climate they said the extreme droughts record-breaking hurricanes severe snow and ice storms and increased flooding events that have occurred in our country during the past 15 years or so make this center a significant addition to texas a&m and ttis research and education portfolio said tti agency director greg winfree improving the sustainability and resiliency of the transportation system is always top of mind for us and we are proud to offer transportation expertise for the center nielsen-gammon said that he will also focus on the center building collaborations among the many entities providing different types of climate services throughout the southern united states  we also want to provide equitable climate services in the sense that hosting and maintaining a set of web-based tools and products is nice but it doesnt help people who dont have easy access to the internet or dont even know about us he said people who dont contact us may have very different but unmet needs for climate services than people who contact us frequently by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " " fires drought slamming much of western ustexas a&m climate expert andrew dessler says climate change is playing a big role in the western fires and texas itself is getting much hotteraug 2 2021fire information officer jacob welsh leads a media tour on the northern front of the bootleg fire on july 23 2021 near silver creek oregon image credit: mathieu lewis-rolland/getty imagesextreme heat waves and severe drought have been hammering the western united states for weeks and its a problem that was easily predicted says a texas a&m university climate expert andrew dessler professor and the reta haynes chair in geosciences at texas a&m said the western us is getting pounded with a double whammy: some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region – as high as 118 degrees in some areas – and a drought that is reaching historic levels add global warming and climate change to the mix and its a recipe that scientists have seen coming for years climate scientists have been predicting that if we add a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere we will see more intense heat waves more intense precipitation events rising sea levels ocean acidification and so on dessler said well we added a lot of greenhouse gases and now everything that we predicted is taking place thus we can state with some confidence that the events were seeing in the west – heatwaves drought fires – are all made worse by climate change it is important to note that climate change does not cause them but makes these events more intense there are currently 82 fires burning in the west and they have destroyed 169 million acres of land in 13 states in oregon drought conditions helped make way for the bootleg fire to become the nations largest burning over 413 00 acres it is only about 50 percent contained california has been especially hard hit with six active wildfires that have burned 347 616 acres so far the fires in california have burned almost four times the number of acres as this time last year they are mired in a terrible drought right now so their present conditions might not be a new normal dessler said of the california and oregon situation but it does seem clear that the western us needs to adapt to a drier future california has 7 500 public water systems and many of them are facing the worst drought since at least 1977 several studies have shown that texas and the southwest could be in a mega-drought situation that could be the worst in the last 1 000 years hotter temperatures and less rainfall are predicted for the rest of this century texas is definitely getting hotter and will experience more severe heat waves in the future you can bet your mortgage on that dessler said rainfall and drought are harder to predict we can expect west texas which is a desert to get drier joining the rest of the us southwest for the part of texas along the gulf drying out is not the problem their problem is extreme precipitation which will get worse with warming he said some parts of the state should expect more heavy rain events and flooding in the future by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " fire information officer jacob welsh leads a media tour on the northern front of the bootleg fire on july 23 2021 near silver creek oregon image credit: mathieu lewis-rolland/getty images "extreme heat waves and severe drought have been hammering the western united states for weeks and its a problem that was easily predicted says a texas a&m university climate expert andrew dessler professor and the reta haynes chair in geosciences at texas a&m said the western us is getting pounded with a double whammy: some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region – as high as 118 degrees in some areas – and a drought that is reaching historic levels add global warming and climate change to the mix and its a recipe that scientists have seen coming for years climate scientists have been predicting that if we add a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere we will see more intense heat waves more intense precipitation events rising sea levels ocean acidification and so on dessler said well we added a lot of greenhouse gases and now everything that we predicted is taking place thus we can state with some confidence that the events were seeing in the west – heatwaves drought fires – are all made worse by climate change it is important to note that climate change does not cause them but makes these events more intense there are currently 82 fires burning in the west and they have destroyed 169 million acres of land in 13 states in oregon drought conditions helped make way for the bootleg fire to become the nations largest burning over 413 00 acres it is only about 50 percent contained california has been especially hard hit with six active wildfires that have burned 347 616 acres so far the fires in california have burned almost four times the number of acres as this time last year they are mired in a terrible drought right now so their present conditions might not be a new normal dessler said of the california and oregon situation but it does seem clear that the western us needs to adapt to a drier future california has 7 500 public water systems and many of them are facing the worst drought since at least 1977 several studies have shown that texas and the southwest could be in a mega-drought situation that could be the worst in the last 1 000 years hotter temperatures and less rainfall are predicted for the rest of this century texas is definitely getting hotter and will experience more severe heat waves in the future you can bet your mortgage on that dessler said rainfall and drought are harder to predict we can expect west texas which is a desert to get drier joining the rest of the us southwest for the part of texas along the gulf drying out is not the problem their problem is extreme precipitation which will get worse with warming he said some parts of the state should expect more heavy rain events and flooding in the future by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " study: earths snow and ice cover shrinking by 33 000 square miles per yearco-authored by a texas a&m geographer the first ever global assessment of the earths cryosphere has major implications for climate sciencejul 26 2021dr oliver frauenfeldsea ice melting in the arctic ocean (photo credits: nasa/kathryn hansen)dr oliver frauenfeld an associate professor and climatologist in texas a&m universitys department of geography collaborated with scientists conducting the first global assessment of the extent of snow ice cover and frozen ground on earths surface a critical factor in cooling the planet through reflected sunlight and its response to increasing temperatures frauenfeld and the team of researchers discovered that the earths cryosphere is shrinking by 33 000 square miles (87 000 square kilometers) per year their research findings were recently published in earths future agus journal for interdisciplinary research on the past present and future of our planet and its inhabitants this means that all of the areas with frozen water and soil on earth shrank by about the size of lake superior per year on average between 1979 and 2016 as a result of climate change this research is the first to make a global estimate of the surface area of the earth covered by sea ice snow cover and frozen ground despite frequent reports of a 'shrinking' cryosphere previous estimates only focused on individual variables like sea ice area or snow cover extent no one had attempted to come up with a global estimate of the cryosphere as a whole and quantify the magnitude of its decrease our record of cryospheric extent can serve as a useful climate change indicator similar to other vital signs like global temperature or sea level frauenfeld said the extent of land covered by frozen water is just as important as its mass because the bright white surface reflects sunlight so effectively cooling the planet changes in the size or location of ice and snow can alter air temperatures change the sea level and even affect ocean currents worldwide the cryosphere is one of the most sensitive climate indicators and the first one to demonstrate a changing world said first author dr xiaoqing peng a physical geographer at lanzhou university its change in size represents a major global change rather than a regional or local issuethe percentage of each area that experiences ice snow or frozen ground at some point during the year (1981–2010) credit: peng et al (2021) earths future https://doiorg/101029/2020ef001969the cryosphere holds almost three-quarters of earths fresh water and in some mountainous regions dwindling glaciers threaten drinking water supplies many scientists have documented shrinking ice sheets dwindling snow cover and loss of arctic sea ice individually due to climate change but no previous study has considered the entire extent of the cryosphere over earths surface and its response to warming temperatures contraction in time and space peng and his co-authors from lanzhou university calculated the daily extent of the cryosphere and averaged those values to come up with yearly estimates while the extent of the cryosphere grows and shrinks with the seasons they found that the average area covered by earths cryosphere has contracted overall since 1979 correlating with rising air temperatures the shrinkage primarily occurred in the northern hemisphere with a loss of about 102 000 square kilometers (about 39 300 square miles) or about half the size of kansas each year those losses are offset slightly by growth in the southern hemisphere where the cryosphere expanded by about 14 000 square kilometers (5 400 square miles) annually this growth mainly occurred in the sea ice in the ross sea around antarctica likely due to patterns of wind and ocean currents and the addition of cold meltwater from antarctic ice sheets the estimates showed that not only was the global cryosphere shrinking but that many regions remained frozen for less time the average first day of freezing now occurs about 36 days later than in 1979 and the ice thaws about 57 days earlier this kind of analysis is a nice idea for a global index or indicator of climate change said dr shawn marshall a glaciologist at the university of calgary who was not involved in the study he thinks that a natural next step would be to use these data to examine when ice and snow cover give earth its peak brightness to see how changes in albedo impact the climate on a seasonal or monthly basis and how this is changing over time to compile their global estimate of the extent of the cryosphere the authors divided up the planets surface into a grid system they used existing data sets of global sea ice extent snow cover and frozen soil to classify each cell in the grid as part of the cryosphere if it contained at least one of the three components then they estimated the extent of the cryosphere on a daily monthly and yearly basis and examined how it changed over the 37 years of their study this estimate of cryospheric extent is an important first step according to frauenfeld what would be even better is a similar record of cryospheric volume because it would allow us to link cryospheric variability to other climate change impacts like sea level rise unfortunately we do not currently have good enough observations for all parts of the globe to develop robust cryospheric volume estimates the authors say that the global dataset can now be used to further probe the impact of climate change on the cryosphere and how these changes impact ecosystems carbon exchange and the timing of plant and animal life cycles   by mariam moeen19 originally published by agu " dr oliver frauenfeldsea ice melting in the arctic ocean (photo credits: nasa/kathryn hansen) "dr oliver frauenfeld an associate professor and climatologist in texas a&m universitys department of geography collaborated with scientists conducting the first global assessment of the extent of snow ice cover and frozen ground on earths surface a critical factor in cooling the planet through reflected sunlight and its response to increasing temperatures frauenfeld and the team of researchers discovered that the earths cryosphere is shrinking by 33 000 square miles (87 000 square kilometers) per year their research findings were recently published in earths future agus journal for interdisciplinary research on the past present and future of our planet and its inhabitants this means that all of the areas with frozen water and soil on earth shrank by about the size of lake superior per year on average between 1979 and 2016 as a result of climate change this research is the first to make a global estimate of the surface area of the earth covered by sea ice snow cover and frozen ground despite frequent reports of a 'shrinking' cryosphere previous estimates only focused on individual variables like sea ice area or snow cover extent no one had attempted to come up with a global estimate of the cryosphere as a whole and quantify the magnitude of its decrease our record of cryospheric extent can serve as a useful climate change indicator similar to other vital signs like global temperature or sea level frauenfeld said the extent of land covered by frozen water is just as important as its mass because the bright white surface reflects sunlight so effectively cooling the planet changes in the size or location of ice and snow can alter air temperatures change the sea level and even affect ocean currents worldwide the cryosphere is one of the most sensitive climate indicators and the first one to demonstrate a changing world said first author dr xiaoqing peng a physical geographer at lanzhou university its change in size represents a major global change rather than a regional or local issue" the percentage of each area that experiences ice snow or frozen ground at some point during the year (1981–2010) credit: peng et al (2021) earths future https://doiorg/101029/2020ef001969 "the cryosphere holds almost three-quarters of earths fresh water and in some mountainous regions dwindling glaciers threaten drinking water supplies many scientists have documented shrinking ice sheets dwindling snow cover and loss of arctic sea ice individually due to climate change but no previous study has considered the entire extent of the cryosphere over earths surface and its response to warming temperatures contraction in time and space peng and his co-authors from lanzhou university calculated the daily extent of the cryosphere and averaged those values to come up with yearly estimates while the extent of the cryosphere grows and shrinks with the seasons they found that the average area covered by earths cryosphere has contracted overall since 1979 correlating with rising air temperatures the shrinkage primarily occurred in the northern hemisphere with a loss of about 102 000 square kilometers (about 39 300 square miles) or about half the size of kansas each year those losses are offset slightly by growth in the southern hemisphere where the cryosphere expanded by about 14 000 square kilometers (5 400 square miles) annually this growth mainly occurred in the sea ice in the ross sea around antarctica likely due to patterns of wind and ocean currents and the addition of cold meltwater from antarctic ice sheets the estimates showed that not only was the global cryosphere shrinking but that many regions remained frozen for less time the average first day of freezing now occurs about 36 days later than in 1979 and the ice thaws about 57 days earlier this kind of analysis is a nice idea for a global index or indicator of climate change said dr shawn marshall a glaciologist at the university of calgary who was not involved in the study he thinks that a natural next step would be to use these data to examine when ice and snow cover give earth its peak brightness to see how changes in albedo impact the climate on a seasonal or monthly basis and how this is changing over time to compile their global estimate of the extent of the cryosphere the authors divided up the planets surface into a grid system they used existing data sets of global sea ice extent snow cover and frozen soil to classify each cell in the grid as part of the cryosphere if it contained at least one of the three components then they estimated the extent of the cryosphere on a daily monthly and yearly basis and examined how it changed over the 37 years of their study this estimate of cryospheric extent is an important first step according to frauenfeld what would be even better is a similar record of cryospheric volume because it would allow us to link cryospheric variability to other climate change impacts like sea level rise unfortunately we do not currently have good enough observations for all parts of the globe to develop robust cryospheric volume estimates the authors say that the global dataset can now be used to further probe the impact of climate change on the cryosphere and how these changes impact ecosystems carbon exchange and the timing of plant and animal life cycles   by mariam moeen19 originally published by agu" " lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins selected as 2022 finalists for the john a knauss marine policy fellowship programknauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels howe-kerr and higgins are among 74 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programsjul 22 2021lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins nominees from texas sea grant have been selected as  finalists for the 2022 john a knauss marine policy fellowship program they are two of 74 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programs since 1979 over 1 500 fellows have completed the program becoming leaders in science policy and public administration roles as a phd student at rice university howe-kerr studies coral reef microbial ecology by tracking the microbiomes of coral colonies she examines how viruses algae and bacteria can be used to support resilience in coral reef ecosystems she is interested in learning about the intersection of science and policy to tackle multifaceted issues  i am excited to apply my scientific experience towards policy and management solutions that tangibly address climate change and ocean conservation howe-kerr said i am also looking forward to learning how researchers can be more civically engaged in national policy ed higgins a phd student from the university of oklahoma studies the interactions between bivalves and environmental microbiomes which have an increasingly clearer connection with each other and their ecosystems he is also interested in the relationship between the language used in scientific policy documents and the legislative outcomes  higgins said i'm excited for the chance to play a role in federal science policy and learn about the intricacies involved in integrating scientific knowledge with decision making on a national level it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun! we are honored to have 2 finalists for the john a knauss marine policy fellowship their academic training and experiences will be valuable assets when they go to washington dc to work in the legislative or executive branch of government and are immersed in the national policy decision-making that impacts our coastal ocean and great lakes resources texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin said knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs if applicants are successful at the state program level their applications are then reviewed by a national panel of experts at both the state and national levels sea grants active recruitment and student engagement efforts supported one of the most robust applicant pools in fellowship history said dr jonathan pennock national sea grant college program director i have no doubt that the finalists diverse perspectives will provide great insight towards addressing critical marine policy and science challenges we look forward to welcoming the 2022 class of knauss fellows this fall the 2022 finalists will participate in a virtual placement week to get to know each other and interview with potential host offices following placement they will begin their fellowships in february 2022 want to learn more about the knauss fellowship the knauss blog shares stories from the 2021 knauss class on fellowship experiences and their journeys to dc learn more about this years knauss finalists from the national sea grant college programs press release   " "lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins nominees from texas sea grant have been selected as  finalists for the 2022 john a knauss marine policy fellowship program they are two of 74 finalists across the united states nominated by their respective sea grant programs since 1979 over 1 500 fellows have completed the program becoming leaders in science policy and public administration roles as a phd student at rice university howe-kerr studies coral reef microbial ecology by tracking the microbiomes of coral colonies she examines how viruses algae and bacteria can be used to support resilience in coral reef ecosystems she is interested in learning about the intersection of science and policy to tackle multifaceted issues  i am excited to apply my scientific experience towards policy and management solutions that tangibly address climate change and ocean conservation howe-kerr said i am also looking forward to learning how researchers can be more civically engaged in national policy ed higgins a phd student from the university of oklahoma studies the interactions between bivalves and environmental microbiomes which have an increasingly clearer connection with each other and their ecosystems he is also interested in the relationship between the language used in scientific policy documents and the legislative outcomes  higgins said i'm excited for the chance to play a role in federal science policy and learn about the intricacies involved in integrating scientific knowledge with decision making on a national level it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun! we are honored to have 2 finalists for the john a knauss marine policy fellowship their academic training and experiences will be valuable assets when they go to washington dc to work in the legislative or executive branch of government and are immersed in the national policy decision-making that impacts our coastal ocean and great lakes resources texas sea grant director dr pamela plotkin said knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs if applicants are successful at the state program level their applications are then reviewed by a national panel of experts at both the state and national levels sea grants active recruitment and student engagement efforts supported one of the most robust applicant pools in fellowship history said dr jonathan pennock national sea grant college program director i have no doubt that the finalists diverse perspectives will provide great insight towards addressing critical marine policy and science challenges we look forward to welcoming the 2022 class of knauss fellows this fall the 2022 finalists will participate in a virtual placement week to get to know each other and interview with potential host offices following placement they will begin their fellowships in february 2022 want to learn more about the knauss fellowship the knauss blog shares stories from the 2021 knauss class on fellowship experiences and their journeys to dc learn more about this years knauss finalists from the national sea grant college programs press release  " " under the radarthe aggie doppler radar helps students and the national weather service track severe weatherjul 20 2021photograph by igor kraguljacone hundred and fifty feet above the hustle and bustle of students below the aggie doppler radar sits atop the highest point on texas a&m universitys campus its 16-foot-diameter dish was built in 1962 and moved to the roof of the eller oceanography and meteorology (o&m) building in 1973 where it has since been continually updated to keep up with technological advances dr don conlee 94 an atmospheric sciences professor in the college of geosciences helps oversee a program that allows undergraduate and graduate meteorology students to operate the fully functional weather radar firsthand we train students to monitor the radar in severe or interesting weather situations conlee said thats an irreplaceable experience that most students around the country even those at institutions specializing in radar dont get to do though the instruments technical specifications are closer to what national researchers used in the 1990s than the cutting edge conlee considers it the most capable weather radar dedicated to education in the country because of its prime real estate in central texas the national weather service still routinely calls upon its data to track and assess severe weather across the state when a deadly tornado tore through the east texas town of onalaska on april 23 2020 the radar was in the best position to record the tornados formation and help deliver timely warnings to the community the college of geosciences seeks a $2 million endowment to provide for the continued maintenance of the radar as a unique educational tool forecasting aid and historical icon of the texas a&m atmospheric sciences program to learn more about this unique giving opportunity contact david bacot '90 senior director of development for the college of geosciences: (979) 862-4944  dbacot@txamfoundationcom by bailey payne '19 texas a&m foundation " "one hundred and fifty feet above the hustle and bustle of students below the aggie doppler radar sits atop the highest point on texas a&m universitys campus its 16-foot-diameter dish was built in 1962 and moved to the roof of the eller oceanography and meteorology (o&m) building in 1973 where it has since been continually updated to keep up with technological advances dr don conlee 94 an atmospheric sciences professor in the college of geosciences helps oversee a program that allows undergraduate and graduate meteorology students to operate the fully functional weather radar firsthand we train students to monitor the radar in severe or interesting weather situations conlee said thats an irreplaceable experience that most students around the country even those at institutions specializing in radar dont get to do though the instruments technical specifications are closer to what national researchers used in the 1990s than the cutting edge conlee considers it the most capable weather radar dedicated to education in the country because of its prime real estate in central texas the national weather service still routinely calls upon its data to track and assess severe weather across the state when a deadly tornado tore through the east texas town of onalaska on april 23 2020 the radar was in the best position to record the tornados formation and help deliver timely warnings to the community the college of geosciences seeks a $2 million endowment to provide for the continued maintenance of the radar as a unique educational tool forecasting aid and historical icon of the texas a&m atmospheric sciences program to learn more about this unique giving opportunity contact david bacot '90 senior director of development for the college of geosciences: (979) 862-4944  dbacot@txamfoundationcom by bailey payne '19 texas a&m foundation" " geography doctoral student receives two aag awardsanna van de grift recently received the aag research award and a society of woman geographers evelyn l pruitt national fellowship for dissertation research grant for 2021-2022jul 15 2021anna van de grift (photo by: anna van de grift)anna van de grift currently a phd student in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently received the aag dissertation research award and a society of woman geographers evelyn l pruitt national fellowship for dissertation research grant for 2021-2022 she works with dr wendy jepson in examining barriers to adequate water sanitation and hygiene (wash) infrastructure wash provisioning policy and the experiences of insecure wash access for urban residents experiencing homelessness in seattle washington research inspired by real-world problems being from the northwest region of washington state van de grift completed her bachelors from fairhaven college at washington university and her masters in geography from syracuse university van de grift approached her research with dedication to making basic resources accessible for those in need i approach scholarship with a commitment to social justice and concern for equitable access to resources related to my work experiences as an agricultural laborer and relationships developed in highland peruvian communities during my undergraduate and masters education van de grift said during time in between my degrees i worked in seattle teaching english as a second language i was stunned by the difficulty in finding access to bathrooms and free water for drinking on my long work commutes as well as the apparent high degree of seattleites experiencing homelessness she said van de grift shared that the covid-19 pandemic reminded her of the importance of having access to water and sanitation which are fundamental to human beings survival and health i was reminded of this when covid-19 required businesses and public buildings to close she said just when everyone was told to wash their hands frequently access to public water for sanitation and hygiene was dramatically reduced insecure access to water for sanitation and hygiene (wash) is a public health issue for everyone and especially for people without a home with plumbing publicly accessible bathrooms and drinking water are crucial resources for homeless residents in any city water and sanitation are recognized by the united nations as a human right she added this lack of basic necessities for those that are underprivileged motivated van de grift to explore the possible barriers resulting inadequate accessibility i was moved to investigate the experiences of lack of adequate access to wash and the barriers posed by the urban environment policy and constraints that homeless service providers face van de grift said such water-related insecurities may be shared in similar urban contexts and understanding barriers to secure wash and how vulnerable social groups experience those insecurities is applicable to urban policy across cities van de grift also received a graduate research fellowship from texas a&ms melbern g glasscock center for humanities research which supported her initial project transformation of place-based values: andean communities and payment for ecosystem services (pes) this funding will also contribute to my current doctoral work (much later than expected) and i would like to acknowledge their gracious allowance she said i will also present my research at their upcoming graduate colloquium series   research fellowships provide support van de grift experienced various hurdles in research as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and had to quickly shift projects the pandemic significantly impacted my research trajectory and i was forced to abandon my initial dissertation project located in peru and develop a new project located within the us she emphasized i sought to retain thematic aspects related to water resource policy and equitable distribution and access to water for marginalized social groups aspects that speak to my orientation in human-environment geography my scholarly orientation found a good fit with these three resources the texas water institutes mills scholarship the society of woman geographers pruitt fellowship and the american association of geographers dissertation research grant van de grift said each of the fellowships provided van de grift with crucial resources for catching up from a year disrupted by the pandemic including tuition travel and research expense support the texas water institutes mills scholarship also encouraged my thinking about the potential for future comparative studies of wash insecurity in urban contexts and implication for cities in texas she said van de grift attributes the mentorship of her advisor dr wendy jepson was invaluable to her not only as a graduate student but as a researcher dr jepson encouraged me to use the process of applying to scholarships and fellowships as a tool to sharpen my dissertation design and articulate clearly my methodologies van de grift said her mentorship was key to strengthening my understanding of the art of writing proposals thinking about your audience and the pragmatics of your research design choices her encouragement also fueled my stamina through the long drafting process dr jepsons coursework in water security significantly contributed to van de grifts  ability to frame the problem of wash access and provision as well as departmental classes in political ecology and human-environment research in terms of social justice and questions of sustainability   goals moving forward van de grift shared what she hoped to achieve through her fellowships and aspires to teach a human geography course afterwards van de grift plans to participate in next years american association of geographers annual meeting and hopes to complete her data collection and analysis with the support of these fellowships and defend her dissertation next summer the immediate goal is to complete the dissertation and graduate next year she said i would like to bring my research to the classroom and teach a human geography class and also gain professional experience in a post-doctoral position related to water and urban geography through the research process i aim to develop lasting relationships with advocates and stakeholders in the seattle community who are invested in tackling the issues of homelessness related to wash     significant research van de grift hopes that her research will help a broader audience learn the importance of wash accessibility and suggest potential improvements to where it currently stands through her research my aim is to develop empirical knowledge about the socio-spatial experiential and policy dimensions of water insecurity as reduced or eliminated access to public toilets showers drinking fountains and handwashing facilities for communities in north american cities she said my hope is to clarify how water insecurities are experienced by an urban centers most vulnerable population knowledge that may contribute to policy intervention and focus prioritization of city resources van de grift added i hope this work is a step toward future comparative studies on wash insecurities across cities she views public access to water for sanitation and hygiene as a facet of urban spaces that can significantly contribute to the health and quality of life for a diversity of city users with a range of wash-related needs i hope that bringing attention to the shared public benefits of public access to wash will expand peoples appreciation for the need for publicly accessible wash and places where it is lacking van de grift said highlighting the complexities of wash insecurities that impact people experiencing homelessness may broaden the publics view on the issue of homelessness itself and encourage engaging in solutions that enhance dignity and well-being   by mariam moeen ‘19 " "anna van de grift currently a phd student in the department of geography at texas a&m university recently received the aag dissertation research award and a society of woman geographers evelyn l pruitt national fellowship for dissertation research grant for 2021-2022 she works with dr wendy jepson in examining barriers to adequate water sanitation and hygiene (wash) infrastructure wash provisioning policy and the experiences of insecure wash access for urban residents experiencing homelessness in seattle washington research inspired by real-world problems being from the northwest region of washington state van de grift completed her bachelors from fairhaven college at washington university and her masters in geography from syracuse university van de grift approached her research with dedication to making basic resources accessible for those in need i approach scholarship with a commitment to social justice and concern for equitable access to resources related to my work experiences as an agricultural laborer and relationships developed in highland peruvian communities during my undergraduate and masters education van de grift said during time in between my degrees i worked in seattle teaching english as a second language i was stunned by the difficulty in finding access to bathrooms and free water for drinking on my long work commutes as well as the apparent high degree of seattleites experiencing homelessness she said van de grift shared that the covid-19 pandemic reminded her of the importance of having access to water and sanitation which are fundamental to human beings survival and health i was reminded of this when covid-19 required businesses and public buildings to close she said just when everyone was told to wash their hands frequently access to public water for sanitation and hygiene was dramatically reduced insecure access to water for sanitation and hygiene (wash) is a public health issue for everyone and especially for people without a home with plumbing publicly accessible bathrooms and drinking water are crucial resources for homeless residents in any city water and sanitation are recognized by the united nations as a human right she added this lack of basic necessities for those that are underprivileged motivated van de grift to explore the possible barriers resulting inadequate accessibility i was moved to investigate the experiences of lack of adequate access to wash and the barriers posed by the urban environment policy and constraints that homeless service providers face van de grift said such water-related insecurities may be shared in similar urban contexts and understanding barriers to secure wash and how vulnerable social groups experience those insecurities is applicable to urban policy across cities van de grift also received a graduate research fellowship from texas a&ms melbern g glasscock center for humanities research which supported her initial project transformation of place-based values: andean communities and payment for ecosystem services (pes) this funding will also contribute to my current doctoral work (much later than expected) and i would like to acknowledge their gracious allowance she said i will also present my research at their upcoming graduate colloquium series   research fellowships provide support van de grift experienced various hurdles in research as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and had to quickly shift projects the pandemic significantly impacted my research trajectory and i was forced to abandon my initial dissertation project located in peru and develop a new project located within the us she emphasized i sought to retain thematic aspects related to water resource policy and equitable distribution and access to water for marginalized social groups aspects that speak to my orientation in human-environment geography my scholarly orientation found a good fit with these three resources the texas water institutes mills scholarship the society of woman geographers pruitt fellowship and the american association of geographers dissertation research grant van de grift said each of the fellowships provided van de grift with crucial resources for catching up from a year disrupted by the pandemic including tuition travel and research expense support the texas water institutes mills scholarship also encouraged my thinking about the potential for future comparative studies of wash insecurity in urban contexts and implication for cities in texas she said van de grift attributes the mentorship of her advisor dr wendy jepson was invaluable to her not only as a graduate student but as a researcher dr jepson encouraged me to use the process of applying to scholarships and fellowships as a tool to sharpen my dissertation design and articulate clearly my methodologies van de grift said her mentorship was key to strengthening my understanding of the art of writing proposals thinking about your audience and the pragmatics of your research design choices her encouragement also fueled my stamina through the long drafting process dr jepsons coursework in water security significantly contributed to van de grifts  ability to frame the problem of wash access and provision as well as departmental classes in political ecology and human-environment research in terms of social justice and questions of sustainability   goals moving forward van de grift shared what she hoped to achieve through her fellowships and aspires to teach a human geography course afterwards van de grift plans to participate in next years american association of geographers annual meeting and hopes to complete her data collection and analysis with the support of these fellowships and defend her dissertation next summer the immediate goal is to complete the dissertation and graduate next year she said i would like to bring my research to the classroom and teach a human geography class and also gain professional experience in a post-doctoral position related to water and urban geography through the research process i aim to develop lasting relationships with advocates and stakeholders in the seattle community who are invested in tackling the issues of homelessness related to wash     significant research van de grift hopes that her research will help a broader audience learn the importance of wash accessibility and suggest potential improvements to where it currently stands through her research my aim is to develop empirical knowledge about the socio-spatial experiential and policy dimensions of water insecurity as reduced or eliminated access to public toilets showers drinking fountains and handwashing facilities for communities in north american cities she said my hope is to clarify how water insecurities are experienced by an urban centers most vulnerable population knowledge that may contribute to policy intervention and focus prioritization of city resources van de grift added i hope this work is a step toward future comparative studies on wash insecurities across cities she views public access to water for sanitation and hygiene as a facet of urban spaces that can significantly contribute to the health and quality of life for a diversity of city users with a range of wash-related needs i hope that bringing attention to the shared public benefits of public access to wash will expand peoples appreciation for the need for publicly accessible wash and places where it is lacking van de grift said highlighting the complexities of wash insecurities that impact people experiencing homelessness may broaden the publics view on the issue of homelessness itself and encourage engaging in solutions that enhance dignity and well-being   by mariam moeen ‘19" " texas sea grant welcomes new fisheries bycatch reduction project managermatthew kammann will work with the sustainable fisheries and aquaculture team to lend support and expertise to the noaa better bycatch reduction device projectjul 9 2021texas sea grant (txsg) welcomes matthew kammann as the organizations new fisheries bycatch reduction project manager he joins the extensive sustainable fisheries and aquaculture team to provide support and expertise to national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) better bycatch reduction devices for the gulf of mexico shrimp trawl fishery project funded by the deepwater horizon open ocean trustee implementation group kammanns position is part of a large cooperative project between txsg louisiana sea grant and noaa to work with the shrimp industry on developing new bycatch reduction devices to help restore finfish populations in the gulf of mexico i am very excited to be working with sea grant said kammann i love working in the community i love helping people and the environment and its great to lend my help and expertise to this project kammann holds a masters degree in marine and environmental science from the university of the virgin islands and comes to txsg with a wealth of fisheries experience before coming aboard with txsg he worked as a fisheries biologist with the us virgin islands department of planning and natural resources for over four years working closely on fisheries management and research projects in the caribbean i think being somewhere like sea grant that intersects science academia and industry is the perfect fit for me said kammann   by corley-ann parker '20       " "texas sea grant (txsg) welcomes matthew kammann as the organizations new fisheries bycatch reduction project manager he joins the extensive sustainable fisheries and aquaculture team to provide support and expertise to national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) better bycatch reduction devices for the gulf of mexico shrimp trawl fishery project funded by the deepwater horizon open ocean trustee implementation group kammanns position is part of a large cooperative project between txsg louisiana sea grant and noaa to work with the shrimp industry on developing new bycatch reduction devices to help restore finfish populations in the gulf of mexico i am very excited to be working with sea grant said kammann i love working in the community i love helping people and the environment and its great to lend my help and expertise to this project kammann holds a masters degree in marine and environmental science from the university of the virgin islands and comes to txsg with a wealth of fisheries experience before coming aboard with txsg he worked as a fisheries biologist with the us virgin islands department of planning and natural resources for over four years working closely on fisheries management and research projects in the caribbean i think being somewhere like sea grant that intersects science academia and industry is the perfect fit for me said kammann   by corley-ann parker '20      " " makeda mills to receive ralph rayburn scholarship from texas sea grant this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 former texas sea grant associate director and extension program leader jul 7 2021makeda mills a phd student studying oceanography at texas a&m university will receive the 2021 ralph rayburn 69 texas sea grant scholarship mills is currently researching deep sea coral microbiomes to better understand their survival in changing environments i am hoping to apply this information to better understand how coral bleaching happens and how [corals] come back from that said mills my research goes hand in hand with that phenomenon so it will be great to get more information to share mills love for and fascination with the ocean started at a young age she said growing up near the ocean in saint kitts and saint thomas really allowed [her] interest in ocean science to grow even further in fact her plans after finishing her phd involve gaining further understanding of the oceans i would hope to do some research with noaa in the future said mills i havent quite figured out if im going more into the academic side of things yet but im okay with wherever life takes me at this point the rayburn scholarship is already proving to be beneficial in helping mills through her phd program having this scholarship definitely helps remove some stress from the experience of getting your phd said mills you can just focus more on studying and preparing for exams rather than wondering about how youre going to pay for certain things i just want to say thank you to the committee for choosing me for this scholarship said mills i greatly appreciate it   this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 a graduate of texas a&m university rayburn first joined texas sea grant in 1978 as a marine agent for aransas and san patricio counties after several years as executive director of the texas shrimp association and in a number of roles at texas parks and wildlife department he returned to texas sea grant in 1999 as the associate director and extension program leader through his association with these three organizations he worked tirelessly for the protection of texas' marine resources but he is also remembered for his integrity professionalism work ethic and outgoing personality   by corley-ann parker '20         " "makeda mills a phd student studying oceanography at texas a&m university will receive the 2021 ralph rayburn 69 texas sea grant scholarship mills is currently researching deep sea coral microbiomes to better understand their survival in changing environments i am hoping to apply this information to better understand how coral bleaching happens and how [corals] come back from that said mills my research goes hand in hand with that phenomenon so it will be great to get more information to share mills love for and fascination with the ocean started at a young age she said growing up near the ocean in saint kitts and saint thomas really allowed [her] interest in ocean science to grow even further in fact her plans after finishing her phd involve gaining further understanding of the oceans i would hope to do some research with noaa in the future said mills i havent quite figured out if im going more into the academic side of things yet but im okay with wherever life takes me at this point the rayburn scholarship is already proving to be beneficial in helping mills through her phd program having this scholarship definitely helps remove some stress from the experience of getting your phd said mills you can just focus more on studying and preparing for exams rather than wondering about how youre going to pay for certain things i just want to say thank you to the committee for choosing me for this scholarship said mills i greatly appreciate it   this scholarship is named in honor of ralph rayburn 69 a graduate of texas a&m university rayburn first joined texas sea grant in 1978 as a marine agent for aransas and san patricio counties after several years as executive director of the texas shrimp association and in a number of roles at texas parks and wildlife department he returned to texas sea grant in 1999 as the associate director and extension program leader through his association with these three organizations he worked tirelessly for the protection of texas' marine resources but he is also remembered for his integrity professionalism work ethic and outgoing personality   by corley-ann parker '20        " " texas sea grant exhibit: 50 years of science and stewardship to be featured at the george hw bush presidential library and museumthe bush library and museum announces 50 years of science and stewardship exhibit from texas sea grant jun 30 2021the texas sea grant exhibit at the bush library and museum (photo courtesy of texas sea grant)a hallmark of texas a&m university is its status as a land- sea- and space-grant university one of those programs the texas sea grant college program is celebrating 50 years of science and stewardship at the bush library and museum the exhibit is slated to run from july 1 2021 to july 5 2022 in the ansary gallery of american history tickets must be purchased in advance visitors are encouraged to visit bush41org for updates to hours of operation as one of the first sea grant programs texas sea grant has a rich history of supporting the texas coast and its people through cutting-edge research and innovative outreach and educational programs from maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems to aiding sustainable fisheries to promoting resilient communities: texas sea grant has helped texans protect and enhance the unique culturally significant and economically important resources of texas coastal and marine environments at this exhibit visitors can discover the wonders of the texas coast learn how sea turtles are saved by turtle excluder devices (by walking through a shrimpers net) find out how experts build communities for the changing texas coast see how texas sea grant has helped these efforts and more visitors will learn about historic and current texas sea grant programs and successes and they will realize their own impact as stewards of the texas coast -- about texas sea grant: texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 34 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources about the george bush presidential library and museum: located on the campus of texas a&m university the george bush presidential library and museum is part of the national archives and records administration the bush library and museum is located at 1000 george bush drive west college station tx 77845 the museum is fully handicapped accessible for more information call 979-691-4000 or go to bush41org media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu tracy paine interim marketing and communications director george hw bush presidential library and museum 979-691-4014 paine@naragov   " the texas sea grant exhibit at the bush library and museum (photo courtesy of texas sea grant) "a hallmark of texas a&m university is its status as a land- sea- and space-grant university one of those programs the texas sea grant college program is celebrating 50 years of science and stewardship at the bush library and museum the exhibit is slated to run from july 1 2021 to july 5 2022 in the ansary gallery of american history tickets must be purchased in advance visitors are encouraged to visit bush41org for updates to hours of operation as one of the first sea grant programs texas sea grant has a rich history of supporting the texas coast and its people through cutting-edge research and innovative outreach and educational programs from maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems to aiding sustainable fisheries to promoting resilient communities: texas sea grant has helped texans protect and enhance the unique culturally significant and economically important resources of texas coastal and marine environments at this exhibit visitors can discover the wonders of the texas coast learn how sea turtles are saved by turtle excluder devices (by walking through a shrimpers net) find out how experts build communities for the changing texas coast see how texas sea grant has helped these efforts and more visitors will learn about historic and current texas sea grant programs and successes and they will realize their own impact as stewards of the texas coast -- about texas sea grant: texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 34 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources about the george bush presidential library and museum: located on the campus of texas a&m university the george bush presidential library and museum is part of the national archives and records administration the bush library and museum is located at 1000 george bush drive west college station tx 77845 the museum is fully handicapped accessible for more information call 979-691-4000 or go to bush41org media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu tracy paine interim marketing and communications director george hw bush presidential library and museum 979-691-4014 paine@naragov  " " two weeks of chasing: aggies complete multi-state convective storms field studytexas a&m meteorology students recently completed a two-week long field experience studying severe weather forecasting storms and safely storm chasingjun 30 2021   in may of 2021 a group of aggie meteorology students set out on a two-week field study to forecast observe and study severe weather the study was led by dr chris nowotarski associate professor in texas a&m universitys department of atmospheric sciences who researches the dynamics and structure of severe weather nowotarski led a group of 20 undergraduate students across the great plains ranging from hays kansas to their home base in college station alongside atmospheric sciences faculty dr don conlee and dr erik nielsen they taught and trained students on how to properly conduct a storm chase the class consisted of structured weather briefings weather balloon launches and equipment training every student involved was able to both observe and learn from the veteran storm chasers rising junior annisa mccollom said her experience was beyond impactful because we got to forecast [storms] beforehand and go and actually see it happen in the field not only did the students learn how to operate meteorological equipment but they also provided invaluable data from weather balloon launches to surrounding national weather service offices the data collected helped forecasters at each office prepare the public for severe weather later that evening the 2021 convective storms field studyeven other colleges contributed to the success of this field study as western texas college and fort hays state university provided space on their campuses for the aggie weather briefings opportunities like these are very common in the college of geosciences at texas a&m these students have developed their meteorological technical skills and gained experience in properly communicating weather information it was an incredible experience for the undergraduates and dr nowotarski wishes to host a version of this course in the future and yes they did see some tornadoes by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences " "   in may of 2021 a group of aggie meteorology students set out on a two-week field study to forecast observe and study severe weather the study was led by dr chris nowotarski associate professor in texas a&m universitys department of atmospheric sciences who researches the dynamics and structure of severe weather nowotarski led a group of 20 undergraduate students across the great plains ranging from hays kansas to their home base in college station alongside atmospheric sciences faculty dr don conlee and dr erik nielsen they taught and trained students on how to properly conduct a storm chase the class consisted of structured weather briefings weather balloon launches and equipment training every student involved was able to both observe and learn from the veteran storm chasers rising junior annisa mccollom said her experience was beyond impactful because we got to forecast [storms] beforehand and go and actually see it happen in the field not only did the students learn how to operate meteorological equipment but they also provided invaluable data from weather balloon launches to surrounding national weather service offices the data collected helped forecasters at each office prepare the public for severe weather later that evening " "even other colleges contributed to the success of this field study as western texas college and fort hays state university provided space on their campuses for the aggie weather briefings opportunities like these are very common in the college of geosciences at texas a&m these students have developed their meteorological technical skills and gained experience in properly communicating weather information it was an incredible experience for the undergraduates and dr nowotarski wishes to host a version of this course in the future and yes they did see some tornadoes by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences" " changing majors staying the course: meet recent graduate isaac breedloveisaac breedlove 21 graduated in may and credits the college of geosciences environmental programs and his support system with helping him achieve his goalsjun 29 2021isaac breedlove on his ring day in november 2020 (photos courtesy of isaac breedlove '21)the texas a&m geosciences costa rica trip in april 2018for many of his formative years isaac breedlove 21 had two higher education dreams: attend the university of texas and study meteorology as fate would have it he graduated from texas a&m university instead with an environmental geosciences degree in may of this year and today hes grateful that his childhood plans didnt work out staying flexible my whole family grew up as longhorns breedlove said my parents both went to the university of texas and met there and my sister graduated from ut austin in 2020 so i grew up wanting to go to ut but i also grew up wanting to study meteorology  as a high school student he applied to texas a&m and the university of oklahoma because he knew he wanted to stay in the region and study meteorology his senior year he received a houston livestock and rodeo scholarship to be applied to a texas public university and that cemented his decision to attend texas a&m as he began earning his degree at texas a&m in 2017 he had his sights set on meteorology i chose meteorology because i dreamed of becoming a storm chaser for years breedlove said i ended up switching my major at the end of my sophomore year to environmental geosciences i was still able to minor in meteorology and graduate on time environmental geosciences is an interdisciplinary major that offers students a lot of flexibility and includes course content drawn from meteorology geology oceanography and physical geography  already having a significant amount of knowledge of meteorology being able to use that knowledge in other classes and bringing that knowledge into oceanography or geology perspectives has been really beneficial and exciting he explained that has helped me connect so many physical sciences aspects of the geosciences memorable moments in aggieland breedloves four years at texas a&m were full of extraordinary experiences he said at the beginning of my junior year one of my professors reached out to me about conducting undergraduate research he recalled that was such a blessing and really exciting to be able to work with dr casellas-connors and be able to assist with his research i was able to become more involved in the research side of academics and gain knowledge that i would not have gained in a regular lecture it also helped me build networking connections and skills with faculty  his undergraduate research work involved analyzing deer in the northeast us specifically in massachusetts and new york i studied and conducted survey analyses on how the populations of those states felt about the deer population rising he said we also analyzed the effects of urbanization and how thats affected the deers habitat as well as humans lifestyles  dr casellas-connors reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to do research was very impactfulisaac breedlove at the antioch community church fall retreat in november 2019isaac breedlove at the men of god christian fraternity inc public induction ceremonylearning about environmental policy and planning in the course issues in environmental quality also left an impression on breedlove that course along with science and politics of global climate change were great policy classes that i most likely wouldnt have taken in meteorology and those allowed me to become even more knowledgeable about the social aspects of our science he said since graduating in may breedlove is now pursuing a career in environmental consulting or regulation advice for incoming students one piece of wisdom from his mother that breedlove wishes he would have taken to heart sooner is to ask for help  my mom taught me this: its so important to know that its okay to ask for help its okay to not know he said the professors and teaching assistants are willing to help theyre not going to give you the answers but if you ask for help and are willing to think critically theyll be willing to help you participating in student organizations also made all the difference in his undergraduate career he reflected one thing that really impacted me was getting involved and i really encourage younger geoscientists to do that he said i was a part of the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) wine to water a community emergency response team and outside of the major i also got involved with intramurals my church and big event – and those were all important supports and stress relief judy nunez college of geosciences director of recruitment was also a huge source of support and encouragement he said being in the wine to water first year seminar with judy nunez was one of the greatest experiences ive had at texas a&m he recalled learning about the global water crisis and then getting to go to costa rica that spring that was so impactful she also helped me decide what to switch my major to and that was such a blessing as well by leslie lee " isaac breedlove on his ring day in november 2020 (photos courtesy of isaac breedlove '21)the texas a&m geosciences costa rica trip in april 2018 "for many of his formative years isaac breedlove 21 had two higher education dreams: attend the university of texas and study meteorology as fate would have it he graduated from texas a&m university instead with an environmental geosciences degree in may of this year and today hes grateful that his childhood plans didnt work out staying flexible my whole family grew up as longhorns breedlove said my parents both went to the university of texas and met there and my sister graduated from ut austin in 2020 so i grew up wanting to go to ut but i also grew up wanting to study meteorology  as a high school student he applied to texas a&m and the university of oklahoma because he knew he wanted to stay in the region and study meteorology his senior year he received a houston livestock and rodeo scholarship to be applied to a texas public university and that cemented his decision to attend texas a&m as he began earning his degree at texas a&m in 2017 he had his sights set on meteorology i chose meteorology because i dreamed of becoming a storm chaser for years breedlove said i ended up switching my major at the end of my sophomore year to environmental geosciences i was still able to minor in meteorology and graduate on time environmental geosciences is an interdisciplinary major that offers students a lot of flexibility and includes course content drawn from meteorology geology oceanography and physical geography  already having a significant amount of knowledge of meteorology being able to use that knowledge in other classes and bringing that knowledge into oceanography or geology perspectives has been really beneficial and exciting he explained that has helped me connect so many physical sciences aspects of the geosciences memorable moments in aggieland breedloves four years at texas a&m were full of extraordinary experiences he said at the beginning of my junior year one of my professors reached out to me about conducting undergraduate research he recalled that was such a blessing and really exciting to be able to work with dr casellas-connors and be able to assist with his research i was able to become more involved in the research side of academics and gain knowledge that i would not have gained in a regular lecture it also helped me build networking connections and skills with faculty  his undergraduate research work involved analyzing deer in the northeast us specifically in massachusetts and new york i studied and conducted survey analyses on how the populations of those states felt about the deer population rising he said we also analyzed the effects of urbanization and how thats affected the deers habitat as well as humans lifestyles  dr casellas-connors reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to do research was very impactful" isaac breedlove at the antioch community church fall retreat in november 2019isaac breedlove at the men of god christian fraternity inc public induction ceremony "learning about environmental policy and planning in the course issues in environmental quality also left an impression on breedlove that course along with science and politics of global climate change were great policy classes that i most likely wouldnt have taken in meteorology and those allowed me to become even more knowledgeable about the social aspects of our science he said since graduating in may breedlove is now pursuing a career in environmental consulting or regulation advice for incoming students one piece of wisdom from his mother that breedlove wishes he would have taken to heart sooner is to ask for help  my mom taught me this: its so important to know that its okay to ask for help its okay to not know he said the professors and teaching assistants are willing to help theyre not going to give you the answers but if you ask for help and are willing to think critically theyll be willing to help you participating in student organizations also made all the difference in his undergraduate career he reflected one thing that really impacted me was getting involved and i really encourage younger geoscientists to do that he said i was a part of the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) wine to water a community emergency response team and outside of the major i also got involved with intramurals my church and big event – and those were all important supports and stress relief judy nunez college of geosciences director of recruitment was also a huge source of support and encouragement he said being in the wine to water first year seminar with judy nunez was one of the greatest experiences ive had at texas a&m he recalled learning about the global water crisis and then getting to go to costa rica that spring that was so impactful she also helped me decide what to switch my major to and that was such a blessing as well by leslie lee" " oceanography students experience life at sea during four-day cruisetexas a&m oceanography undergraduates spent four days in the gulf of mexico on a research cruise generously funded by hal schade 67jun 28 2021bon voyage wished to the faculty and students by hal schade (top left) before setting off on the schade cruise (image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl)twelve undergraduate students in texas a&ms department of oceanography recently joined faculty and the crew of the r/v point sur on a research cruise in the gulf of mexico no typical four-hour tour this cruise spanned four days from june 1 through june 4 started in 2019 thanks to a generous donation from hal schade 67 the cruise is affectionately referred to as the schade cruise schade is passionate about the ocean and helping aggies find meaningful careers in ocean sciences from 2003 to 2009 he sailed in the western caribbean on his boat griffin in 2009 he moved back to college station and renewed his involvement with supporting texas a&m a texas a&m foundation representative came to meet me on my boat in port aransas texas schade recalled he asked: ‘where specifically do you want this money to go i thought about it while sitting on my boat in the ocean and that was it! i answered ‘see if they have an oceanography program today that gift makes the schade cruise possible giving undergraduate students the enhanced education and hands-on experiences necessary to fully grasp all aspects of oceanographic research experience the science envisioned as a cruise specifically for undergraduate students the schade cruise continues to afford valuable opportunities for undergraduates to do real research on a multi-day cruise it not only gives students oceanographic experience but also allows them to experience working and living on a ship as a team working closely together and developing strong bonds while doing meaningful work was a highlight of the cruise said charles larrouilh this hands-on experience exposed me to the reality of life at sea and has deepened my interest in this vocation the cruise was led by dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor of oceanography at texas a&m and dr shari yvon-lewis professor and department head for oceanography together they led their students in continuing the research started in 2019 students and faculty divided into two 12-hour shifts day and night working around the clock to accomplish the continuous sample and data collections throughout the trip the overarching goal is to provide students with the opportunity to put into practice what they learn either in their classes or during our shorter half-day field trips in galveston bay said yvon-lewis in class we discuss data and what the data can tell us about conditions in the ocean but this cruise drives home how we collect that data and can even make it more clear how we draw our conclusions from the datafaculty and students viewing incoming data from the control room on board image credit: gabriel luciostudents helping lower the ctd rosette into the water during the night shift image credit: gabriel luciosimilar to the cruise in 2019 they did several full water column profiles around the area of the tragic 2010 deep-water horizon oil spill to collect continuous data from the surface down to the bottom temperature salinity pressure dissolved oxygen and fluorescence were measured and bottle samples were taken of oxygen methane dissolved inorganic carbon (dic) total alkalinity nutrients and salinity additionally the students also took samples for dissolved organic matter and colored dissolved organic matter and even looked for polyfluoroalkyl substances this year as well were studying the hydrography of the area by looking at natural water mass motion in the area yvon-lewis said we collected additional water samples for tracers which are chemicals found in seawater that identify specific water masses so we can look at circulation overall this years cruise benefited from fair weather and calmer waters one of the challenges of a research cruise is learning to work in a variety of sea-states and weather conditions we had much better weather than last time which allowed the students to get their sea legs sooner wiederwohl said even those that were a little sea-sick were still eager to get their integral part of the science donefaculty and students mustered on deck of the r/v point sur image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlfuture oceanographers the undergraduate students on this cruise ranged from freshmen to seniors while it might have been the first cruise for many the students stepped up to the challenge the most important thing was how to time manage and keep yourself busy but also balance work and passing time said veronica burgos an oceanography junior i enjoyed that i could openly ask everybody questions and that i could physically see and even touch what we were learning about i was in charge of collecting samples for dic said chris martin a senior oceanography student i just joined the oceanography department last year and have only had online classes so it was awesome meeting people in my major and talking with dr wiederwohl and dr yvon-lewis theyre really knowledgeable and really care about this stuff larrouilh was given the large responsibility of overseeing the ctd rosette which measures conductivity temperature and depth at various points between the surface and the sea floor for these aggie undergraduates the schade cruise was a lot more than just a hands-on field experience they all received a healthy taste of what it is like to be a real oceanographer after over a year of teaching through zoom it was truly inspiring to watch our students renew and solidify their passion for being oceanography majors wiederwohl said  it was amazing to interact with our students in person and dive back into sea-going research and training each student walked away with more knowledge and experience a new perspective of the science they learned in the classroom and a huge appreciation for schades generositystudents gathered around the ctd rosette image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlgiving makes high-impact experiences possible mr schade there are no words that can describe how much this opportunity has firmly cemented my passion for oceanography and has opened my eyes to the importance of ocean advocacy larrouilh said your donation changed my life and i hope to thank you in person one day thank you very much for allowing me to have an amazing experience that will last a lifetime! your generosity and love of our school and our program is truly inspiring martin said while it is certain to produce life-long memories the schade cruise provides the integral hands-on experience students will need to take with them into the next phase of their careers i am eternally grateful for the opportunity you have given me burgos said thanks to you i never want to stop learning and i hope i can inspire others the way you have inspired me getting hands-on experience at the undergraduate level can help reinforce for people that theyve made the right decision schade said to see them doing the work the excitement on their faces and their enjoyment of the science is a real pleasure schade is also the benefactor for an endowed undergraduate scholarship available to oceanography students named in memory of his sister the peni m basse memorial scholarship by justin agan '18 " bon voyage wished to the faculty and students by hal schade (top left) before setting off on the schade cruise (image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl) "twelve undergraduate students in texas a&ms department of oceanography recently joined faculty and the crew of the r/v point sur on a research cruise in the gulf of mexico no typical four-hour tour this cruise spanned four days from june 1 through june 4 started in 2019 thanks to a generous donation from hal schade 67 the cruise is affectionately referred to as the schade cruise schade is passionate about the ocean and helping aggies find meaningful careers in ocean sciences from 2003 to 2009 he sailed in the western caribbean on his boat griffin in 2009 he moved back to college station and renewed his involvement with supporting texas a&m a texas a&m foundation representative came to meet me on my boat in port aransas texas schade recalled he asked: ‘where specifically do you want this money to go i thought about it while sitting on my boat in the ocean and that was it! i answered ‘see if they have an oceanography program today that gift makes the schade cruise possible giving undergraduate students the enhanced education and hands-on experiences necessary to fully grasp all aspects of oceanographic research experience the science envisioned as a cruise specifically for undergraduate students the schade cruise continues to afford valuable opportunities for undergraduates to do real research on a multi-day cruise it not only gives students oceanographic experience but also allows them to experience working and living on a ship as a team working closely together and developing strong bonds while doing meaningful work was a highlight of the cruise said charles larrouilh this hands-on experience exposed me to the reality of life at sea and has deepened my interest in this vocation the cruise was led by dr chrissy wiederwohl instructional associate professor of oceanography at texas a&m and dr shari yvon-lewis professor and department head for oceanography together they led their students in continuing the research started in 2019 students and faculty divided into two 12-hour shifts day and night working around the clock to accomplish the continuous sample and data collections throughout the trip the overarching goal is to provide students with the opportunity to put into practice what they learn either in their classes or during our shorter half-day field trips in galveston bay said yvon-lewis in class we discuss data and what the data can tell us about conditions in the ocean but this cruise drives home how we collect that data and can even make it more clear how we draw our conclusions from the data" faculty and students viewing incoming data from the control room on board image credit: gabriel luciostudents helping lower the ctd rosette into the water during the night shift image credit: gabriel lucio "similar to the cruise in 2019 they did several full water column profiles around the area of the tragic 2010 deep-water horizon oil spill to collect continuous data from the surface down to the bottom temperature salinity pressure dissolved oxygen and fluorescence were measured and bottle samples were taken of oxygen methane dissolved inorganic carbon (dic) total alkalinity nutrients and salinity additionally the students also took samples for dissolved organic matter and colored dissolved organic matter and even looked for polyfluoroalkyl substances this year as well were studying the hydrography of the area by looking at natural water mass motion in the area yvon-lewis said we collected additional water samples for tracers which are chemicals found in seawater that identify specific water masses so we can look at circulation overall this years cruise benefited from fair weather and calmer waters one of the challenges of a research cruise is learning to work in a variety of sea-states and weather conditions we had much better weather than last time which allowed the students to get their sea legs sooner wiederwohl said even those that were a little sea-sick were still eager to get their integral part of the science done" faculty and students mustered on deck of the r/v point sur image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl "future oceanographers the undergraduate students on this cruise ranged from freshmen to seniors while it might have been the first cruise for many the students stepped up to the challenge the most important thing was how to time manage and keep yourself busy but also balance work and passing time said veronica burgos an oceanography junior i enjoyed that i could openly ask everybody questions and that i could physically see and even touch what we were learning about i was in charge of collecting samples for dic said chris martin a senior oceanography student i just joined the oceanography department last year and have only had online classes so it was awesome meeting people in my major and talking with dr wiederwohl and dr yvon-lewis theyre really knowledgeable and really care about this stuff larrouilh was given the large responsibility of overseeing the ctd rosette which measures conductivity temperature and depth at various points between the surface and the sea floor for these aggie undergraduates the schade cruise was a lot more than just a hands-on field experience they all received a healthy taste of what it is like to be a real oceanographer after over a year of teaching through zoom it was truly inspiring to watch our students renew and solidify their passion for being oceanography majors wiederwohl said  it was amazing to interact with our students in person and dive back into sea-going research and training each student walked away with more knowledge and experience a new perspective of the science they learned in the classroom and a huge appreciation for schades generosity" students gathered around the ctd rosette image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl "giving makes high-impact experiences possible mr schade there are no words that can describe how much this opportunity has firmly cemented my passion for oceanography and has opened my eyes to the importance of ocean advocacy larrouilh said your donation changed my life and i hope to thank you in person one day thank you very much for allowing me to have an amazing experience that will last a lifetime! your generosity and love of our school and our program is truly inspiring martin said while it is certain to produce life-long memories the schade cruise provides the integral hands-on experience students will need to take with them into the next phase of their careers i am eternally grateful for the opportunity you have given me burgos said thanks to you i never want to stop learning and i hope i can inspire others the way you have inspired me getting hands-on experience at the undergraduate level can help reinforce for people that theyve made the right decision schade said to see them doing the work the excitement on their faces and their enjoyment of the science is a real pleasure schade is also the benefactor for an endowed undergraduate scholarship available to oceanography students named in memory of his sister the peni m basse memorial scholarship by justin agan '18" " hurricane experts guide: geosciences faculty and researchers available to mediatexas a&m geoscientists are available to offer scientific analysis and expertise to media during the 2021 hurricane seasonjun 28 2021hurricane hector pictured from the international space station aug 7 2018 (image credit: nasa)the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in lightning behavior in severe storms and hurricanes and is also an expert in pollution smoke and mineral dust impacts on clouds severe weather lightning and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu   dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology and the relationship between storms and climate contact: cschu@tamuedu   dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an physical oceanography and hurricane expert his field research focuses on how interaction between the air and upper ocean affects hurricane intensity with a particular interest in storms occurring in the gulf of mexico contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu   structural damage water damage off-shore structures dani bailey: texas sea grant oil spill outreach specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi bailey is an expert in oil spill recovery and mitigation planning contact: (361) 825-6215 or daniellebailey@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and head of the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography associate professor fitzsimmons is an expert in the chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry of contaminants and nutrients she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan associate professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu ashley bennis planning specialist texas sea grant bennis is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (361) 825-3225 ashmarie@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards developing intelligent tools to support social media use for emergency rescue engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: fisheries extension specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 371-4207 or lpicariello@tamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu by leslie lee " hurricane hector pictured from the international space station aug 7 2018 (image credit: nasa) "the following experts from within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university are available to discuss hurricanes and related issues for experts in other fields see the full texas a&m hurricane expert guide how hurricanes form storm severity dr john nielsen-gammon regents professor of atmospheric sciences nielsen-gammon serves as texas state climatologist and is an expert on the history of texas hurricanes hurricane forecasting rainfall and flooding produced by hurricanes and how climate change affects hurricane impacts contact: (979) 862-2248 or n-g@tamuedu dr tim logan: assistant professor of atmospheric sciences logan is an expert in lightning behavior in severe storms and hurricanes and is also an expert in pollution smoke and mineral dust impacts on clouds severe weather lightning and hurricanes contact: (979) 845-2004 or tlogan52@tamuedu   dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences korty is an expert on how hurricanes affect oceans and how climate affects hurricanes contact: (979) 847-9090 or korty@tamuedu dr courtney schumacher: professor of atmospheric sciences schumacher is an expert in tropical meteorology and the relationship between storms and climate contact: cschu@tamuedu   dr henry potter: assistant professor of oceanography potter is an physical oceanography and hurricane expert his field research focuses on how interaction between the air and upper ocean affects hurricane intensity with a particular interest in storms occurring in the gulf of mexico contact: (979) 845-0405 or hpotter@tamuedu   structural damage water damage off-shore structures dani bailey: texas sea grant oil spill outreach specialist at texas a&m university - corpus christi bailey is an expert in oil spill recovery and mitigation planning contact: (361) 825-6215 or daniellebailey@tamuedu environmental and ecosystem effects of hurricanes dr shari yvon-lewis professor and head of the department of oceanography yvon-lewis is an expert in chemical oceanography trace gas biogeochemistry and has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 458-1816 or syvon-lewis@oceantamuedu dr jessica fitzsimmons oceanography associate professor fitzsimmons is an expert in the chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry of contaminants and nutrients she has conducted extensive post-hurricane research in galveston bay contact: (979) 845-5137 or jessfitz@tamuedu dr anthony knap director of the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m and professor of oceanography knap is an expert in effects of contaminants on marine environments ocean health and human health interactions he also co-leads the texas a&m superfund contact: (979) 458-9328 or tknap@tamuedu dr lisa campbell regents professor of oceanography campbell is an expert in biological oceanography phytoplankton ecology and harmful algal blooms; she is well-versed in the effects hurricanes can have on ecosystems contact: (979) 845-5706 or lisacampbell@tamuedu dr jason sylvan associate professor of oceanography sylvan is an expert in biological oceanography: microbial ecology geomicrobiology deep biosphere hydrocarbon microbiology and can discuss the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5105 or jasonsylvan@tamuedu dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography shamberger is an expert in chemical oceanography ocean acidification and seawater carbonate chemistry as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs contact: (979) 845-5752 or shamberger@tamuedu dr steve dimarco: professor of oceanography and team leader for ocean observing in the geochemical and environmental research group at texas a&m dimarco is an expert in ocean observing systems (ie real-time reporting of oceanographic and meteorological observations buoys moorings and high-frequency coastal radar) autonomous ocean vehicles (ie buoyancy gliders and surface vehicles) and data collection methods as well as the short-term and long-term effects of hurricanes on environments and ecosystems including coral reefs and coastal hypoxia contact: (979) 862-4168 or sdimarco@tamuedu warnings recovery and resilient coastal communities kate de gennaro planning specialist texas sea grant kate de gennaro is an expert in hurricane preparedness mitigation and recovery contact: (956) 574-8204 or kdegennaro@tamuedu ashley bennis planning specialist texas sea grant bennis is an expert in long-term disaster recovery planning contact: (361) 825-3225 ashmarie@tamuedu dr courtney thompson assistant professor of geography thompson is an expert in natural hazards exposure vulnerability and resilience quantification and risk perception she is also an expert in using gis survey analysis and spatial statistics to better understand human-environment interactions contact: (979) 458-1096 or cthompson24@tamuedu dr lei zou assistant professor of geography zou is an expert in disaster resilience emergency management  gis big data analytics and coupled natural-human system modeling he has led interdisciplinary projects related to hurricane management and resilience such as measuring community resilience to coastal hazards developing intelligent tools to support social media use for emergency rescue engaging citizen science in resilience improvement  and modeling coastal sustainability through spatial modeling and machine learning contact: lzou@tamuedu  hurricanes and marine life seafood laura picariello: fisheries extension specialist texas sea grant picariello has experience working with commercial fisheries both in texas and across the gulf of mexico contact: (361) 371-4207 or lpicariello@tamuedu for more information contact: robyn blackmon texas a&m college of geosciences robynblackmon@tamuedu; or leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences leslielee@tamuedu by leslie lee" " texas a&m postdoctoral researcher co-authors anti-racism plangeology and geophysics postdoctoral researcher dr julia cisneros and scientists from throughout the us contributed to the recently published paperjun 28 2021geosciences researchers from all over the country recently published a ground-breaking perspectives article in nature communications recommending specific anti-racism action-steps for the geosciences field dr julia cisneros 15 a postdoctoral researcher in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university co-authored the piece  an actionable anti-racism plan for geoscience organizations presents a twenty-point anti-racism plan that organizations can implement to build inclusive equitable and accessible communities according to the authors dr hendratta n ali associate professor of geosciences at fort hays state university served as lead author of the paper and cisneros credited alis leadership for helping develop the actionable plan while many people understand and acknowledge that racism exists within society it can be more difficult to see the racism that is manifesting within spaces held dear the authors wrote yet geoscientists cannot continue to be complicit in racism discrimination and inaction in the summer of 2020 after recognizing the significant harm against black lives we all came together to stand by dr hendratta ali and demand action be taken within our organizations to fight racism cisneros said we wrote the ‘call for a robust anti-racism plan for the geosciences together in an online document and watching our cursors buzzing around the screen was one of the most fulfilling collaborative moments ive ever experienced this paper is a natural continuation of that plan and it urges our community to re-evaluate what really has been accomplished over the past year in terms of anti-racism and whether those actions amount to long-term change their recommendations have motivated many antiracism initiatives in departments and institutions across the country she saiddr julia cisneros '15 postdoctoral researcher in the department of geology and geophysics (photo credit: cisneros)constructs for effective anti-racism (figure credit: ali hn sheffield sl bauer je et al)the next few years will be crucial in revealing how the geoscience community and other stem disciplines tackle the presence of racism and discrimination in their communities the authors wrote this plan is a practical roadmap cisneros recently returned to aggieland as a postdoctoral scholar she earned a bachelors degree in geology from texas a&m in 2015 and then completed her phd in geology from the university of illinois urbana-champaign in march so far im proud to see so many scholars appreciating the work and saying they will use it in their organizations she said i think the team did an amazing job in setting out a clear roadmap and i hope that we can create long-term action that systematically chips away at the structural racism that currently defines and determines who is a part of and thrives within the geoscience community in addition a good number of authors including myself are early career researchers and i hope other geoscientists are as excited as i am about the next generation of geoscience leaders a term coined by drs raquel bryant and benjamin keisling in 2019 cisneros ran a geosciences camp for girls in illinois to foster interest and knowledge in the geosciences for girls from underrepresented backgrounds in 2020 she co-developed the diversity equity and inclusion literature database an extensive resource specifically for the geosciences field later that year she was invited to present her work on the geosciences camp and be a panelist in the gsa 2020 pardee symposium the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion  today her postdoctoral research is focused on morphodynamics of sand dunes in deserts and rivers and is funded by a national science foundation (nsf) division of earth sciences postdoctoral fellowship she will be jointly working with researchers at texas a&m the university of texas and texas tech university by leslie lee " "geosciences researchers from all over the country recently published a ground-breaking perspectives article in nature communications recommending specific anti-racism action-steps for the geosciences field dr julia cisneros 15 a postdoctoral researcher in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university co-authored the piece  an actionable anti-racism plan for geoscience organizations presents a twenty-point anti-racism plan that organizations can implement to build inclusive equitable and accessible communities according to the authors dr hendratta n ali associate professor of geosciences at fort hays state university served as lead author of the paper and cisneros credited alis leadership for helping develop the actionable plan while many people understand and acknowledge that racism exists within society it can be more difficult to see the racism that is manifesting within spaces held dear the authors wrote yet geoscientists cannot continue to be complicit in racism discrimination and inaction in the summer of 2020 after recognizing the significant harm against black lives we all came together to stand by dr hendratta ali and demand action be taken within our organizations to fight racism cisneros said we wrote the ‘call for a robust anti-racism plan for the geosciences together in an online document and watching our cursors buzzing around the screen was one of the most fulfilling collaborative moments ive ever experienced this paper is a natural continuation of that plan and it urges our community to re-evaluate what really has been accomplished over the past year in terms of anti-racism and whether those actions amount to long-term change their recommendations have motivated many antiracism initiatives in departments and institutions across the country she said" dr julia cisneros '15 postdoctoral researcher in the department of geology and geophysics (photo credit: cisneros)constructs for effective anti-racism (figure credit: ali hn sheffield sl bauer je et al) "the next few years will be crucial in revealing how the geoscience community and other stem disciplines tackle the presence of racism and discrimination in their communities the authors wrote this plan is a practical roadmap cisneros recently returned to aggieland as a postdoctoral scholar she earned a bachelors degree in geology from texas a&m in 2015 and then completed her phd in geology from the university of illinois urbana-champaign in march so far im proud to see so many scholars appreciating the work and saying they will use it in their organizations she said i think the team did an amazing job in setting out a clear roadmap and i hope that we can create long-term action that systematically chips away at the structural racism that currently defines and determines who is a part of and thrives within the geoscience community in addition a good number of authors including myself are early career researchers and i hope other geoscientists are as excited as i am about the next generation of geoscience leaders a term coined by drs raquel bryant and benjamin keisling in 2019 cisneros ran a geosciences camp for girls in illinois to foster interest and knowledge in the geosciences for girls from underrepresented backgrounds in 2020 she co-developed the diversity equity and inclusion literature database an extensive resource specifically for the geosciences field later that year she was invited to present her work on the geosciences camp and be a panelist in the gsa 2020 pardee symposium the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion  today her postdoctoral research is focused on morphodynamics of sand dunes in deserts and rivers and is funded by a national science foundation (nsf) division of earth sciences postdoctoral fellowship she will be jointly working with researchers at texas a&m the university of texas and texas tech university by leslie lee" " texas sea grant welcomes new community engaged internsalexis guidroz and shadrach villafranca will be mentored by txsg professionals and gain valuable field experience through the new texas sea grant community engaged internship program (txsg-cei) jun 21 2021texas sea grant's new community engaged interns alexis guidroz (left) and shadrach villafranca (right)texas sea grant welcomes two undergraduate students alexis guidroz and shadrach villafranca as summer interns through the new texas sea grant community engaged internship program (txsg-cei)  the community engaged internship is an opportunity for undergraduate students from underserved and/or underrepresented or indigenous communities to gain experience and mentorship in an area of interest specific to each student this internship is part of a national sea grant-wide effort to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions to the next generation of scientists and decision-makers guidroz an undergraduate student studying environmental biology at the university of houston-clear lake will work in galveston under the mentorship of texas sea grants distinguished extension agent julie massey to learn more about environmental research in the area my plans right now are to just get involved in the community and learn new skills especially gain field experience guidroz said im excited for all the diversity [in opportunities] because i dont know exactly what i want to work with villafranca an undergraduate student majoring in marine biology at the university of texas rio grande valley (utrgv) will work with texas sea grant extension agent tony reisinger along with texas sea grant extension planning specialist kate de gennaro to gain valuable field experience in restoration and conservation efforts throughout the rio grande valley especially with fisheries and aquaculture since im going into the field of marine biology [this internship] lets me work with professionals to get to know them and build connections villafranca said im excited to get out there and start communicating and interacting with all these different people both guidroz and villafranca will gain experience and mentorship from texas sea grant professionals in their chosen fields over the summer and participate in community engagement activities they will also complete a professional development series that focuses on networking and building relationships with local community members the internship also requires completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address coastal issues of environmental economic and social importance both interns will plan to present on their respective projects at the end of their internship term in august    -30-   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442   by corley-ann parker 20   " texas sea grant's new community engaged interns alexis guidroz (left) and shadrach villafranca (right) "texas sea grant welcomes two undergraduate students alexis guidroz and shadrach villafranca as summer interns through the new texas sea grant community engaged internship program (txsg-cei)  the community engaged internship is an opportunity for undergraduate students from underserved and/or underrepresented or indigenous communities to gain experience and mentorship in an area of interest specific to each student this internship is part of a national sea grant-wide effort to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions to the next generation of scientists and decision-makers guidroz an undergraduate student studying environmental biology at the university of houston-clear lake will work in galveston under the mentorship of texas sea grants distinguished extension agent julie massey to learn more about environmental research in the area my plans right now are to just get involved in the community and learn new skills especially gain field experience guidroz said im excited for all the diversity [in opportunities] because i dont know exactly what i want to work with villafranca an undergraduate student majoring in marine biology at the university of texas rio grande valley (utrgv) will work with texas sea grant extension agent tony reisinger along with texas sea grant extension planning specialist kate de gennaro to gain valuable field experience in restoration and conservation efforts throughout the rio grande valley especially with fisheries and aquaculture since im going into the field of marine biology [this internship] lets me work with professionals to get to know them and build connections villafranca said im excited to get out there and start communicating and interacting with all these different people both guidroz and villafranca will gain experience and mentorship from texas sea grant professionals in their chosen fields over the summer and participate in community engagement activities they will also complete a professional development series that focuses on networking and building relationships with local community members the internship also requires completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address coastal issues of environmental economic and social importance both interns will plan to present on their respective projects at the end of their internship term in august    -30-   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442   by corley-ann parker 20  " " study: more intense and frequent thunderstorms linked to global climate variabilityusing isotopes from texas cave stalactites scientists in texas a&ms college of geosciences studied thunderstorm changes in the southern great plainsjun 18 2021dr chris maupin audrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 half a mile underground in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin)audrey housson '16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 near golden gate bridge in san francisco california (photo courtesy of chris maupin)large thunderstorms in the southern great plains (sgp) of the us are some of the strongest on earth in recent years these storms have increased in frequency and intensity and new research shows that these shifts are linked to climate variability co-authored by dr christopher maupin dr courtney schumacher and dr brendan roark  all scientists in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences along with other researchers the research was recently published in nature geoscience in the study researchers analyzed oxygen isotopes from 30 000–50 000 year old stalactites from texas caves to understand trends in past thunderstorms and their durations using radar-based calibration for the regions rainfall isotopes they discovered that when storm regimes shift from weakly to strongly organized on millennial timescales they coincide with well-known global abrupt climate shifts during the last glacial period which occurred between about 120 000 and 11 500 years ago through modern-day synoptic analysis researchers learned that thunderstorms in the sgp are strongly related to changes in wind and moisture patterns occurring at a much larger scale understanding these changes and various correlations will not only help reconstruct past thunderstorm occurrences but also help predict future mid-latitude thunderstorm patterns ""this method of climate research is under-used and ripe for amplification "" the researchers said proxy records are available in the southern great plains within caves maupin said there are probably thousands of caves in southern great plains and in southern texas why hasnt more research occurred in those areas cave deposits are so promising as proxies ""scientists understand modern-day rainfall patterns and that really big storms can deplete isotopes "" schumacher said however we dont know what will happen in the future and this work will help predict trends of storms in the future if we can run a climate model for the past which is consistent with cave records and run that same model moving forward we can trust its findings more if it matched the cave records versus if they didnt she said out of two models if one really matches the cave isotopes then you can trust that one in understanding storm distribution in the future southern great plains supercell thunderstorm (photo by chris maupin)southern great plains cg strike (photo by chris maupin)caves hold little-known climate records maupin is a paleoclimatologist and described the limitations that exist in capturing the true distribution of weather events across time   there are really important questions about what has happened in the past regarding big weather events we get through mesoscale convective systems (large storms) vs non-mesoscale (smaller storms) stuff maupin said we get so much precipitation from really big storms and model grids cant capture big weather events because the grids themselves are so big paleoclimatology helps with organizing past events to develop a proxy record of how they respond to mean climate what controls isotopes in rainfall texas doesnt have changing moisture sources altitude effects etc so its tough to identify what is being reconstructed maupin said every day it rained we took water samples measured the samples isotopic ratios and then looked at radar data to understand how to pick out what is connected to a mesoscale convective system or regular rainfall event maupin collaborated with national taiwan university to do uranium thorium dating and discovered that the stalactites and stalagmites were in fact from around the ice age the team worked with environmental consultants swca and cambrian environmental that had already been working in central texas karst voids which are prevalent in the austin and williamson county region some caves have stalactites and stalagmites growing in them he said sometimes new caves are breached by construction equipment stalactites and stalagmites are broken off we wanted to use those that were already broken and from a conservation mindset approach analyze the samples that were passed on to me research experience for undergraduate aggies celia lorraine mcchesney 16 and audrey housson 16 were two undergraduate researchers involved in this publication and both learned a great deal through the field work collaboration and high-impact learning experience the samples from the caves were used as a tool for high-impact learning in understanding texas paleoclimate maupin said one of the undergraduates started micro-milling the stalactites i was very fortunate to have access to the college of geosciences resources and to work with these talented undergrads on ground-breaking research being the lab manager for the stable isotopes geosciences facility maupin enjoys working on research projects that students can get involved in whenever he has time this publication allowed undergrads to engage in high impact research and get familiar with many different instrumentsaudrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 collecting dripwaters and deploying temperature loggers in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin)audrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 collecting dripwaters and deploying temperature loggers in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin)what happens if we have a whole bunch of mesoscale convective systems that rain for 2-3 days in a row lorraine worked on understanding more extreme distributions while audrey built the record or rainfall events maupin said as long as you have a supportive environment anyone is capable of doing good research and coming up with good ideas both undergraduate researchers presented their research at the american geophysical union (agu) annual conference in 2016 my experience working on my senior thesis at the sigf lab was invaluable mcchesney said this research has allowed me to travel and go out into the field mcchesney expressed the gratification researchers experience when conducting research outdoors emerging from the ground covered in mud after exploring a cave that few people have ever visited was definitely my favorite part of this process mcchesney said most importantly the technical knowledge and work ethic that are involved in working on a project like this have stuck with me and are skills i carried into my professional life she added having been one of the first to conduct their kind of research undergraduate researcher housson expressed her gratitude in having the opportunity to study various correlations to the paleoclimate record as an undergraduate research student at texas a&m i was proud to be part of one of the first teams to correlate climate change and weather linkages in a paleoclimate record housson said this whole experience provided great exposure to the academic world and made me more confident as a scientist now as a geologist and civil engineer i am working on heavy civil infrastructure projects like tunnels and dams related to water resources i love how my career ties back into my undergraduate research where knowing the correlation between climate change and weather helps plan for water resources in the future she added interdisciplinary collaboration schumachers expertise was needed to make connections with various rainfall events that occurred over time she had experience working with radar data and rain measurements on a global scale large storms that cover hundreds of miles provide around 50-80% of rain in texas schumacher said in the modern day these storms have different isotope signatures chris has modern day measurements really unique information which help reconstruct what has happened in the past schumacher said he also has 30 000 – 50 000-year-old samples of stalactites and stalagmiteslorraine mcchesney 16 holds a freshly collected dripwater sample retrieved for oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratio measurements these measurements help link thunderstorm precipitation with speleothem-forming groundwater (photo by chris maupin)schumacher was interested to join this paleo-radar initiative because it allowed researchers to look at modern day records (in terms of storms and isotopes in texas) and link them back to these ancient cave deposit observations making this link and showing very significant changes to storms over thousands of years is very powerful schumacher said my role in this project was to help understand storm processes and how they may relate back to the isotope measurements in addition to large scale wind and moisture pattern dynamics in atmospheric circulations i try to understand how storms may be impacted by changing weather patterns and can tell you what kind of weather patterns these storms will form in and when they might not understanding basic principles of science make you realize the importance of taking daily rain measurements to understand what causes big storms maupin said its raining [these] are the physical processes involved thats what inspired taking daily measurements of rain after samples of rain are taken it is important to understand the isotope distribution within them to make connections between what kind of weather event they are from people think you deplete heavier isotopes from different air when in fact it is big storms schumacher said this finding is a huge paradigm shift which made publishing these findings difficult these research discoveries are far from the standard model of studying paleoclimate and caves maupin added maupins research is pushing back on outdated principles in the paleo-world because you have to study how storms get larger and what influences them he said these thunderstorms are so big that even if most of the rain occurs in oklahoma rain in texas will still carry isotopic signature of these huge storms maupin stated youre fingerprinting these systems despite where they occur and they dont have to be super localized to be recognized big storms cause depleted isotopic signatures you cant explain the variability in stalactites with temperature changes alone you can have the same amount of rain and if you have a lot of little storms producing the same amount of rain as one big storm you will get a very different isotopic signatures he said that really matters maupin clarified that this projects analysis takes a simple ingredients-based approach of the knowledge researchers currently have to understand the consistency in how the large-scale winds change to encourage or discourage these really big storms other people are very interested in this schumacher said it has been a very interdisciplinary project where we have had to bring in observational expertise from the weather and chemistry side looking at model data etc by mariam moeen '19 texas a&m college of geosciences " dr chris maupin audrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 half a mile underground in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin)audrey housson '16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 near golden gate bridge in san francisco california (photo courtesy of chris maupin) "large thunderstorms in the southern great plains (sgp) of the us are some of the strongest on earth in recent years these storms have increased in frequency and intensity and new research shows that these shifts are linked to climate variability co-authored by dr christopher maupin dr courtney schumacher and dr brendan roark  all scientists in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences along with other researchers the research was recently published in nature geoscience in the study researchers analyzed oxygen isotopes from 30 000–50 000 year old stalactites from texas caves to understand trends in past thunderstorms and their durations using radar-based calibration for the regions rainfall isotopes they discovered that when storm regimes shift from weakly to strongly organized on millennial timescales they coincide with well-known global abrupt climate shifts during the last glacial period which occurred between about 120 000 and 11 500 years ago through modern-day synoptic analysis researchers learned that thunderstorms in the sgp are strongly related to changes in wind and moisture patterns occurring at a much larger scale understanding these changes and various correlations will not only help reconstruct past thunderstorm occurrences but also help predict future mid-latitude thunderstorm patterns ""this method of climate research is under-used and ripe for amplification "" the researchers said proxy records are available in the southern great plains within caves maupin said there are probably thousands of caves in southern great plains and in southern texas why hasnt more research occurred in those areas cave deposits are so promising as proxies ""scientists understand modern-day rainfall patterns and that really big storms can deplete isotopes "" schumacher said however we dont know what will happen in the future and this work will help predict trends of storms in the future if we can run a climate model for the past which is consistent with cave records and run that same model moving forward we can trust its findings more if it matched the cave records versus if they didnt she said out of two models if one really matches the cave isotopes then you can trust that one in understanding storm distribution in the future " southern great plains supercell thunderstorm (photo by chris maupin)southern great plains cg strike (photo by chris maupin) "caves hold little-known climate records maupin is a paleoclimatologist and described the limitations that exist in capturing the true distribution of weather events across time   there are really important questions about what has happened in the past regarding big weather events we get through mesoscale convective systems (large storms) vs non-mesoscale (smaller storms) stuff maupin said we get so much precipitation from really big storms and model grids cant capture big weather events because the grids themselves are so big paleoclimatology helps with organizing past events to develop a proxy record of how they respond to mean climate what controls isotopes in rainfall texas doesnt have changing moisture sources altitude effects etc so its tough to identify what is being reconstructed maupin said every day it rained we took water samples measured the samples isotopic ratios and then looked at radar data to understand how to pick out what is connected to a mesoscale convective system or regular rainfall event maupin collaborated with national taiwan university to do uranium thorium dating and discovered that the stalactites and stalagmites were in fact from around the ice age the team worked with environmental consultants swca and cambrian environmental that had already been working in central texas karst voids which are prevalent in the austin and williamson county region some caves have stalactites and stalagmites growing in them he said sometimes new caves are breached by construction equipment stalactites and stalagmites are broken off we wanted to use those that were already broken and from a conservation mindset approach analyze the samples that were passed on to me research experience for undergraduate aggies celia lorraine mcchesney 16 and audrey housson 16 were two undergraduate researchers involved in this publication and both learned a great deal through the field work collaboration and high-impact learning experience the samples from the caves were used as a tool for high-impact learning in understanding texas paleoclimate maupin said one of the undergraduates started micro-milling the stalactites i was very fortunate to have access to the college of geosciences resources and to work with these talented undergrads on ground-breaking research being the lab manager for the stable isotopes geosciences facility maupin enjoys working on research projects that students can get involved in whenever he has time this publication allowed undergrads to engage in high impact research and get familiar with many different instruments" audrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 collecting dripwaters and deploying temperature loggers in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin)audrey housson 16 and lorraine mcchesney 16 collecting dripwaters and deploying temperature loggers in a williamson county cave (photo by chris maupin) "what happens if we have a whole bunch of mesoscale convective systems that rain for 2-3 days in a row lorraine worked on understanding more extreme distributions while audrey built the record or rainfall events maupin said as long as you have a supportive environment anyone is capable of doing good research and coming up with good ideas both undergraduate researchers presented their research at the american geophysical union (agu) annual conference in 2016 my experience working on my senior thesis at the sigf lab was invaluable mcchesney said this research has allowed me to travel and go out into the field mcchesney expressed the gratification researchers experience when conducting research outdoors emerging from the ground covered in mud after exploring a cave that few people have ever visited was definitely my favorite part of this process mcchesney said most importantly the technical knowledge and work ethic that are involved in working on a project like this have stuck with me and are skills i carried into my professional life she added having been one of the first to conduct their kind of research undergraduate researcher housson expressed her gratitude in having the opportunity to study various correlations to the paleoclimate record as an undergraduate research student at texas a&m i was proud to be part of one of the first teams to correlate climate change and weather linkages in a paleoclimate record housson said this whole experience provided great exposure to the academic world and made me more confident as a scientist now as a geologist and civil engineer i am working on heavy civil infrastructure projects like tunnels and dams related to water resources i love how my career ties back into my undergraduate research where knowing the correlation between climate change and weather helps plan for water resources in the future she added interdisciplinary collaboration schumachers expertise was needed to make connections with various rainfall events that occurred over time she had experience working with radar data and rain measurements on a global scale large storms that cover hundreds of miles provide around 50-80% of rain in texas schumacher said in the modern day these storms have different isotope signatures chris has modern day measurements really unique information which help reconstruct what has happened in the past schumacher said he also has 30 000 – 50 000-year-old samples of stalactites and stalagmites" lorraine mcchesney 16 holds a freshly collected dripwater sample retrieved for oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratio measurements these measurements help link thunderstorm precipitation with speleothem-forming groundwater (photo by chris maupin) "schumacher was interested to join this paleo-radar initiative because it allowed researchers to look at modern day records (in terms of storms and isotopes in texas) and link them back to these ancient cave deposit observations making this link and showing very significant changes to storms over thousands of years is very powerful schumacher said my role in this project was to help understand storm processes and how they may relate back to the isotope measurements in addition to large scale wind and moisture pattern dynamics in atmospheric circulations i try to understand how storms may be impacted by changing weather patterns and can tell you what kind of weather patterns these storms will form in and when they might not understanding basic principles of science make you realize the importance of taking daily rain measurements to understand what causes big storms maupin said its raining [these] are the physical processes involved thats what inspired taking daily measurements of rain after samples of rain are taken it is important to understand the isotope distribution within them to make connections between what kind of weather event they are from people think you deplete heavier isotopes from different air when in fact it is big storms schumacher said this finding is a huge paradigm shift which made publishing these findings difficult these research discoveries are far from the standard model of studying paleoclimate and caves maupin added maupins research is pushing back on outdated principles in the paleo-world because you have to study how storms get larger and what influences them he said these thunderstorms are so big that even if most of the rain occurs in oklahoma rain in texas will still carry isotopic signature of these huge storms maupin stated youre fingerprinting these systems despite where they occur and they dont have to be super localized to be recognized big storms cause depleted isotopic signatures you cant explain the variability in stalactites with temperature changes alone you can have the same amount of rain and if you have a lot of little storms producing the same amount of rain as one big storm you will get a very different isotopic signatures he said that really matters maupin clarified that this projects analysis takes a simple ingredients-based approach of the knowledge researchers currently have to understand the consistency in how the large-scale winds change to encourage or discourage these really big storms other people are very interested in this schumacher said it has been a very interdisciplinary project where we have had to bring in observational expertise from the weather and chemistry side looking at model data etc by mariam moeen '19 texas a&m college of geosciences" " ancient deepsea shells reveal 66 million years of carbon dioxide levelsco-authored by two texas a&m scientists a new analysis using ancient marine organisms provides important new past climate data and context to modern carbon emissionsjun 11 2021in the last 100 years atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen significantly researchers sayin a new study scientists have estimated carbon dioxide levels from the past 66 million years using two methods analyzing tiny organisms found in sediment cores from the deep seafloor and found a consistent picture of the evolution of the ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide levels  co-authored by dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and oceanography graduate student xiaoqing liu the research was conducted by an international team and recently published in in the annual review of earth and planetary sciences this new environmental reconstruction research shows that twenty-first-century carbon emissions have the potential to return atmospheric carbon dioxide (co2) to levels not seen since the much warmer climates of earths distant past the study found co2 levels of over 1500 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere associated with extreme global warmth 50 million years ago a climate so warm that no ice existed on the poles the researchers said for instance at co2 levels of around 1500 ppm last seen about 50 million years ago it was so warm that we find fossilized alligators in the arctic said dr james rae lead author of the paper and reader in the school of earth and environmental sciences at the university of st andrewsat co2 levels of around 1500 ppm last seen about 50 million years ago it was so warm that we find fossilized alligators in the arctic researchers say (image courtesy of james rae)for the last 1 million years co2 levels slowly oscillated between 180 ppm and 300 ppm as earths climate transitioned in and out of the ice ages with the dawn of agriculture and human settlement only establishing when co2 and climate stabilized at the end of the last ice age around 10 000 years ago rae said in the last 100 years fossil fuel burning has driven co2 from 280 up to 414 ppm he said   understanding ancient atmosphere using tiny ocean organisms societally we all care about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in paleoclimatology we have these methods to look at co2 variations in earths history zhang explained and in particular these two-ocean marine-based methods are the two most common and arguably the most accurate we used those two state-of-the-art methods analyzed how they compare with each other and looked at what history they inform us about for the last 66 million years the researchers used two proxy methods to reconstruct carbon dioxide levels during the last 66 million years also known as the cenozoic era: one method using carbon isotopes in alkenones and another method using boron isotopes in planktic foraminifera – single-celled organisms with calcite shells common in marine cores zhang collaborated with researchers from the university of st andrews and the university of south hampton both in the uk and the swiss federal institute of technology in zürich these data allow us to see how co2 has changed through earths history and the impact this has had on climate rae said over the last 66 million years we find that co2 and global climate go hand in hand with higher co2 levels associated with dramatically different climates zhang helped oversee the alkenones method team along with dr heather stoll professor at eth zürich and liu assisted in the research rae worked on the boron isotope methods along with dr gavin foster of the university of southampton and dr ross whiteford of the university of st andrews the alkenone method begins with biomarkers that were produced by algae millions of years ago and these algae like algae today were photosynthetic – just like plants or trees on land zhang said when these algae photosynthesize they fractionate carbon isotopes that process is determined by a number of factors and one of them is the amount of co2 available to them in seawaterchemical fingerprints of past co2 levels are preserved in microscopic fossil shells such as this foraminifera (image courtesy of the foraminifera project)yige zhang assistant professor of oceanographythese biomarkers leave a timeline of carbon levels he explained samples were taken from cores of mud from the deep sea floor where microscopic fossils and ancient molecules accumulate preserving the history of co2 and climate by firing these ancient atoms through super sensitive instruments scientists can detect the chemical fingerprints of past changes in co2 the shells and molecules we measure capture the chemistry of seawater at the time they grow said rae over the last 20 years scientists have figured out how to use these chemical fingerprints to reconstruct how much co2 was in seawater and the atmosphere above it  these methods have been the focus of the researchers various efforts for years and together they aim for this paper to contribute to wider efforts to combine a broader range of paleo-co2 proxies recent refinements to these methods now allow more accurate and precise reconstructions of the ancient atmosphere this refined method produces co2 estimates that are in line with the ice core-derived co2 records over the last one million years zhang said this gives us more confidence in extending the reconstructions to the entire cenozoic era  the last time co2 was as high as it is today was 3 million years ago and it drove enough warming to melt all the ice from greenland and west antarctica and raise sea level by around 60 feet rae said it takes time for global warming to catch up with co2 levels but the geological record shows us where were headed if we dont use cleaner ways to get our energy by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " in the last 100 years atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen significantly researchers say "in a new study scientists have estimated carbon dioxide levels from the past 66 million years using two methods analyzing tiny organisms found in sediment cores from the deep seafloor and found a consistent picture of the evolution of the ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide levels  co-authored by dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and oceanography graduate student xiaoqing liu the research was conducted by an international team and recently published in in the annual review of earth and planetary sciences this new environmental reconstruction research shows that twenty-first-century carbon emissions have the potential to return atmospheric carbon dioxide (co2) to levels not seen since the much warmer climates of earths distant past the study found co2 levels of over 1500 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere associated with extreme global warmth 50 million years ago a climate so warm that no ice existed on the poles the researchers said for instance at co2 levels of around 1500 ppm last seen about 50 million years ago it was so warm that we find fossilized alligators in the arctic said dr james rae lead author of the paper and reader in the school of earth and environmental sciences at the university of st andrews" at co2 levels of around 1500 ppm last seen about 50 million years ago it was so warm that we find fossilized alligators in the arctic researchers say (image courtesy of james rae) "for the last 1 million years co2 levels slowly oscillated between 180 ppm and 300 ppm as earths climate transitioned in and out of the ice ages with the dawn of agriculture and human settlement only establishing when co2 and climate stabilized at the end of the last ice age around 10 000 years ago rae said in the last 100 years fossil fuel burning has driven co2 from 280 up to 414 ppm he said   understanding ancient atmosphere using tiny ocean organisms societally we all care about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in paleoclimatology we have these methods to look at co2 variations in earths history zhang explained and in particular these two-ocean marine-based methods are the two most common and arguably the most accurate we used those two state-of-the-art methods analyzed how they compare with each other and looked at what history they inform us about for the last 66 million years the researchers used two proxy methods to reconstruct carbon dioxide levels during the last 66 million years also known as the cenozoic era: one method using carbon isotopes in alkenones and another method using boron isotopes in planktic foraminifera – single-celled organisms with calcite shells common in marine cores zhang collaborated with researchers from the university of st andrews and the university of south hampton both in the uk and the swiss federal institute of technology in zürich these data allow us to see how co2 has changed through earths history and the impact this has had on climate rae said over the last 66 million years we find that co2 and global climate go hand in hand with higher co2 levels associated with dramatically different climates zhang helped oversee the alkenones method team along with dr heather stoll professor at eth zürich and liu assisted in the research rae worked on the boron isotope methods along with dr gavin foster of the university of southampton and dr ross whiteford of the university of st andrews the alkenone method begins with biomarkers that were produced by algae millions of years ago and these algae like algae today were photosynthetic – just like plants or trees on land zhang said when these algae photosynthesize they fractionate carbon isotopes that process is determined by a number of factors and one of them is the amount of co2 available to them in seawater" chemical fingerprints of past co2 levels are preserved in microscopic fossil shells such as this foraminifera (image courtesy of the foraminifera project)yige zhang assistant professor of oceanography "these biomarkers leave a timeline of carbon levels he explained samples were taken from cores of mud from the deep sea floor where microscopic fossils and ancient molecules accumulate preserving the history of co2 and climate by firing these ancient atoms through super sensitive instruments scientists can detect the chemical fingerprints of past changes in co2 the shells and molecules we measure capture the chemistry of seawater at the time they grow said rae over the last 20 years scientists have figured out how to use these chemical fingerprints to reconstruct how much co2 was in seawater and the atmosphere above it  these methods have been the focus of the researchers various efforts for years and together they aim for this paper to contribute to wider efforts to combine a broader range of paleo-co2 proxies recent refinements to these methods now allow more accurate and precise reconstructions of the ancient atmosphere this refined method produces co2 estimates that are in line with the ice core-derived co2 records over the last one million years zhang said this gives us more confidence in extending the reconstructions to the entire cenozoic era  the last time co2 was as high as it is today was 3 million years ago and it drove enough warming to melt all the ice from greenland and west antarctica and raise sea level by around 60 feet rae said it takes time for global warming to catch up with co2 levels but the geological record shows us where were headed if we dont use cleaner ways to get our energy by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " oceanography cruises return for undergraduate studentsundergraduate students at texas a&m university oceanography learned valuable lab and field methods on their first cruise since before the covid-19 pandemicjun 7 2021oceanography undergraduate students on a cruise field trip for oceanographic field and laboratory methods course image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlafter a year of quarantine social distancing and occupancy limitations undergraduate students from texas a&ms department of oceanography were able to get back into the field for much needed hands-on learning during two cruises this spring semester as part of the oceanographic field and laboratory methods course the cruises were led by dr chrissy wiederwohl over the last year this course had to be taught without these field trips because of covid-19 protocols lab and field methods like collecting various samples from a research vessel had to be demonstrated or explained in the classroom and online its hard to teach field methods without the field wiederwohl said so the second texas a&m said they were opening up field trips again for the spring semester i jumped at the opportunity even with field trips like this open again safety still took precedence covid-19 testing was required for all students and faculty on the cruises as well as wearing kn95 masks and social distancing throughout the trips these cruises were also still subject to a 50 percent occupancy limitation for some students these field trips were their first opportunity to experience oceanographic cruises for others like seniors dylan halbeisen and andrew jansen the april 9 cruise could be their last cruise before graduating and moving on to the next step in their careers my favorite part was watching everybody work together halbeisen said everybodys on the job taking it seriously there for the science and for one another; its a pretty powerful momentstudents getting hands-on experience during galveston bay cruise image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlstudents collecting samples on galveston bay image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlthe field and lab methods course included two research cruises in galveston bay during the semester on march 2 and april 9 2021 to give students the hands-on experience that can be lacking in other programs of study on the first cruise early in the semester each student learned how to use all the different equipment and to properly collect a variety of oceanographic samples on the ship at least once when the second cruise came around later in the semester the training wheels came off and the students were expected to run the show and work as a team to accomplish all cruise goals it was great to actually apply some of the stuff weve learned in class said jansen the students can also take pride in the fact that their data collections were not only for class purposes but also contributed to ongoing oceanographic research by sampling at various sites along the houston ship channel the data collected by the students is often used to help fill in gaps of other studies taking place in galveston bay they like seeing the behind-the-scenes… theyve had a lot of classes where they work with data sets but dont know where they came from wiederwohl said it gives them their first real taste of what being a scientist is from raw data collection in the field to the final data product at the end of the course students prepared a complete cruise report where they presented all the data collected over the two cruises just as any other oceanographer would what i enjoy the most is the students' excitement about these research cruises and how much they grow as scientists throughout the semester wiederwohl said by justin agan ‘18 " oceanography undergraduate students on a cruise field trip for oceanographic field and laboratory methods course image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl "after a year of quarantine social distancing and occupancy limitations undergraduate students from texas a&ms department of oceanography were able to get back into the field for much needed hands-on learning during two cruises this spring semester as part of the oceanographic field and laboratory methods course the cruises were led by dr chrissy wiederwohl over the last year this course had to be taught without these field trips because of covid-19 protocols lab and field methods like collecting various samples from a research vessel had to be demonstrated or explained in the classroom and online its hard to teach field methods without the field wiederwohl said so the second texas a&m said they were opening up field trips again for the spring semester i jumped at the opportunity even with field trips like this open again safety still took precedence covid-19 testing was required for all students and faculty on the cruises as well as wearing kn95 masks and social distancing throughout the trips these cruises were also still subject to a 50 percent occupancy limitation for some students these field trips were their first opportunity to experience oceanographic cruises for others like seniors dylan halbeisen and andrew jansen the april 9 cruise could be their last cruise before graduating and moving on to the next step in their careers my favorite part was watching everybody work together halbeisen said everybodys on the job taking it seriously there for the science and for one another; its a pretty powerful moment" students getting hands-on experience during galveston bay cruise image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlstudents collecting samples on galveston bay image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl "the field and lab methods course included two research cruises in galveston bay during the semester on march 2 and april 9 2021 to give students the hands-on experience that can be lacking in other programs of study on the first cruise early in the semester each student learned how to use all the different equipment and to properly collect a variety of oceanographic samples on the ship at least once when the second cruise came around later in the semester the training wheels came off and the students were expected to run the show and work as a team to accomplish all cruise goals it was great to actually apply some of the stuff weve learned in class said jansen the students can also take pride in the fact that their data collections were not only for class purposes but also contributed to ongoing oceanographic research by sampling at various sites along the houston ship channel the data collected by the students is often used to help fill in gaps of other studies taking place in galveston bay they like seeing the behind-the-scenes… theyve had a lot of classes where they work with data sets but dont know where they came from wiederwohl said it gives them their first real taste of what being a scientist is from raw data collection in the field to the final data product at the end of the course students prepared a complete cruise report where they presented all the data collected over the two cruises just as any other oceanographer would what i enjoy the most is the students' excitement about these research cruises and how much they grow as scientists throughout the semester wiederwohl said by justin agan ‘18" " new study: galveston bays lead levels are low 25% human-sourced researchers recently found that despite low lead levels in galveston bay approximately 25 percent is estimated to be anthropogenicjun 4 2021sediment sampling from the r/v trident using a van veen sediment grab sampler image credit: texas a&m university at galveston (left) and chris mouchyn college of geosciences texas a&m university (right)approximately 25 percent of the lead in galveston bay is from human sources a new study says this study used state-of-the-art geochemical modeling for environmental analysis scientists from the university of houston new mexico state university texas a&m university and texas a&m university at galveston used a novel method of lead isotope measurement to fingerprint lead sources to galveston bay despite the high proportion of lead from human influence the study finds overall lead concentrations to be below benthic (bottom-dwelling) ecology toxicity thresholds set by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) galveston bay is such a rich system to study because its a natural estuary that also has strong anthropogenic influences because of industrialization along its shorelines dr jessica fitzsimmons co-author and associate professor in texas a&ms department of oceanography says so it is a perfect place to study contaminant cycling within natural systems while there are no known lead ore deposits in galveston bay there are other sources of naturally weathered lead that enter the system through river water despite this the scientists found that bay sediment leaches (weak chemical dissolutions which access the surface-most portions of the sediments) were approximately 84% anthropogenic while the overall bulk sediments were mostly derived from natural lead sources this research emphasizes that sediment leaches access the same surface-most pools of lead that biota might access within galveston bay sediments and these lead pools are dominantly human-suppliedpanel a: deployment of the van veen sediment grab sampler from the ship the r/v trident panel b: closeup of the sediment grab sampler filled with sediment panel c: recently graduated phd mandy mulcan lopez first author of the sedimentary lead article image credit: chris mouchyndr peter santschi a regents professor at texas a&m university at galveston praises the paper as a nice demonstration of an application of stable isotopes that can delineate sources its a powerful method and they are very good at it says santschi who was not part of the research team he explains that the houston ship channel (hsc) which is constantly dredged for large ship passage acts as a sediment trap the constant dredging creates dredge islands to the sides of the hsc it is difficult to sample in the hsc because it is dangerous with the high traffic of large ships and tankers santschi says the only way is to look at or near the dredge islands samples for this study were collected from tributaries that drain into galveston bay the san jacinto and trinity rivers and buffalo bayou and across the entirety of galveston bay at various bay stations collection took place quarterly between june 2017 and june 2019 and the researchers also used a previously collected (july 2016) sediment core the core sample (e3) was used to compare current lead levels to what was found in the core sample dating back 150 years as the scientists expected lead levels steadily rose over the last 150 years which coincides with human industrial growth in the area however those levels began to level off in the 1990s possible due to policy changes such as the elimination of leaded fuels in the usdr jessica fitzsimmonsmap of sampling locations sampling sites indicated by pink stars and the sediment core sample (e3) is indicated by the orange dot image credit: created by nathan lanning department of oceanography; revised by dr jessica fitzsimmonswe were hoping that lead concentrations in the last couple decades would have gone back down but we did not see as much of the downturn as we might have hoped given the recent clean-up efforts in galveston bay fitzsimmons says the study also provided some unexpected results in certain areas for example lead concentrations were surprisingly higher in eastern bay areas which are mostly surrounded by natural refuge lands than in the western bay areas closer to houston and its industrial ports the scientists believe that complex chemical interactions occur when freshwaters from the trinity river which empties into the east side of the bay and is the highest freshwater contributor to the bay meets the seawater entering the bay from the gulf of mexico these complex chemical interactions cause natural riverine lead that is dissolved in trinity bay waters to attach the surfaces of sediment grains causing the higher concentrations in the east circulation of sediments and residence times may be a more important part of the story than we previously considered fitzsimmons says the trinity river source supplies so much freshwater that it drives the salinity gradient across the entire bay which forces the lead out of the water and onto the sediment grains lead concentrations in oyster bayou on the southeast side of the bay were also higher than expected fitzsimmons and her colleagues believe this unidentified lead source is potentially derived from the gulf intracoastal waterway but requires further investigation fitzsimmons would also like to see better transport modeling of sediments conducted in galveston bay in future studies in this study i wanted to apply my analytical toolbox to a more local area with greater human impact fitzsimmons says the best news is that our results showed that lead concentrations in sediments in our backyard waters fall below toxicity thresholds this research was funded by the galveston bay estuary program and the texas a&m t3 triad program by justin agan ‘18 " sediment sampling from the r/v trident using a van veen sediment grab sampler image credit: texas a&m university at galveston (left) and chris mouchyn college of geosciences texas a&m university (right) "approximately 25 percent of the lead in galveston bay is from human sources a new study says this study used state-of-the-art geochemical modeling for environmental analysis scientists from the university of houston new mexico state university texas a&m university and texas a&m university at galveston used a novel method of lead isotope measurement to fingerprint lead sources to galveston bay despite the high proportion of lead from human influence the study finds overall lead concentrations to be below benthic (bottom-dwelling) ecology toxicity thresholds set by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) galveston bay is such a rich system to study because its a natural estuary that also has strong anthropogenic influences because of industrialization along its shorelines dr jessica fitzsimmons co-author and associate professor in texas a&ms department of oceanography says so it is a perfect place to study contaminant cycling within natural systems while there are no known lead ore deposits in galveston bay there are other sources of naturally weathered lead that enter the system through river water despite this the scientists found that bay sediment leaches (weak chemical dissolutions which access the surface-most portions of the sediments) were approximately 84% anthropogenic while the overall bulk sediments were mostly derived from natural lead sources this research emphasizes that sediment leaches access the same surface-most pools of lead that biota might access within galveston bay sediments and these lead pools are dominantly human-supplied" panel a: deployment of the van veen sediment grab sampler from the ship the r/v trident panel b: closeup of the sediment grab sampler filled with sediment panel c: recently graduated phd mandy mulcan lopez first author of the sedimentary lead article image credit: chris mouchyn "dr peter santschi a regents professor at texas a&m university at galveston praises the paper as a nice demonstration of an application of stable isotopes that can delineate sources its a powerful method and they are very good at it says santschi who was not part of the research team he explains that the houston ship channel (hsc) which is constantly dredged for large ship passage acts as a sediment trap the constant dredging creates dredge islands to the sides of the hsc it is difficult to sample in the hsc because it is dangerous with the high traffic of large ships and tankers santschi says the only way is to look at or near the dredge islands samples for this study were collected from tributaries that drain into galveston bay the san jacinto and trinity rivers and buffalo bayou and across the entirety of galveston bay at various bay stations collection took place quarterly between june 2017 and june 2019 and the researchers also used a previously collected (july 2016) sediment core the core sample (e3) was used to compare current lead levels to what was found in the core sample dating back 150 years as the scientists expected lead levels steadily rose over the last 150 years which coincides with human industrial growth in the area however those levels began to level off in the 1990s possible due to policy changes such as the elimination of leaded fuels in the us" dr jessica fitzsimmonsmap of sampling locations sampling sites indicated by pink stars and the sediment core sample (e3) is indicated by the orange dot image credit: created by nathan lanning department of oceanography; revised by dr jessica fitzsimmons "we were hoping that lead concentrations in the last couple decades would have gone back down but we did not see as much of the downturn as we might have hoped given the recent clean-up efforts in galveston bay fitzsimmons says the study also provided some unexpected results in certain areas for example lead concentrations were surprisingly higher in eastern bay areas which are mostly surrounded by natural refuge lands than in the western bay areas closer to houston and its industrial ports the scientists believe that complex chemical interactions occur when freshwaters from the trinity river which empties into the east side of the bay and is the highest freshwater contributor to the bay meets the seawater entering the bay from the gulf of mexico these complex chemical interactions cause natural riverine lead that is dissolved in trinity bay waters to attach the surfaces of sediment grains causing the higher concentrations in the east circulation of sediments and residence times may be a more important part of the story than we previously considered fitzsimmons says the trinity river source supplies so much freshwater that it drives the salinity gradient across the entire bay which forces the lead out of the water and onto the sediment grains lead concentrations in oyster bayou on the southeast side of the bay were also higher than expected fitzsimmons and her colleagues believe this unidentified lead source is potentially derived from the gulf intracoastal waterway but requires further investigation fitzsimmons would also like to see better transport modeling of sediments conducted in galveston bay in future studies in this study i wanted to apply my analytical toolbox to a more local area with greater human impact fitzsimmons says the best news is that our results showed that lead concentrations in sediments in our backyard waters fall below toxicity thresholds this research was funded by the galveston bay estuary program and the texas a&m t3 triad program by justin agan ‘18" " noaa predicts above-average 2021 atlantic hurricane seasonthe national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)'s climate prediction center announced in their may 20 2021 briefing that they are expecting another highly active hurricane season this year jun 2 2021may 20 2021  the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)'s climate prediction center announced in their may 20 2021 briefing that they are expecting another highly active hurricane season this year noaa forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of an above-average season for 2021 which officially starts june 1 and continues through nov 30 these predictions include an estimated range of 13-20 named storms 6-10 hurricanes and 3-5 major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) likely earlier this year noaa updated the statistics for determining average levels of hurricane activity the updated average hurricane season now produces 14 named storms and 7 hurricanes including 3 major hurricanes while it is predicted to be an above-average hurricane season the 2021 season is not expected to be as active as 2020 which was the most active hurricane season on record however a less active hurricane season does not equal a lower potential for devastating storm damages although noaa scientists do not expect this season to be as busy as last year it only takes one storm to devastate a community said ben friedman acting noaa administrator in the briefing with hurricane season around the corner noaa and the national weather service and texas sea grant are urging coastal communities to start preparing now kate de gennaro planning specialist with the community resilience collaborative (crc) emphasized the importance of early preparedness for hurricanes especially when it comes to having a good list of supplies and forming an evacuation plan make sure that you know what youre going to do well in advance and talk over your plan with everyone in your household including friends or family that live more inland said de gennaro always err on the side of caution you dont want to be stuck in one of these storms for more information on hurricane preparedness de gennaro recommends the homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards which is available online in english and spanish to download for free texas sea grant also has a program page dedicated to more resources for hurricane preparedness  including links to informational videos and a comprehensive list of further resources   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442     by corley-ann parker '20    " "may 20 2021  the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)'s climate prediction center announced in their may 20 2021 briefing that they are expecting another highly active hurricane season this year noaa forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of an above-average season for 2021 which officially starts june 1 and continues through nov 30 these predictions include an estimated range of 13-20 named storms 6-10 hurricanes and 3-5 major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) likely earlier this year noaa updated the statistics for determining average levels of hurricane activity the updated average hurricane season now produces 14 named storms and 7 hurricanes including 3 major hurricanes while it is predicted to be an above-average hurricane season the 2021 season is not expected to be as active as 2020 which was the most active hurricane season on record however a less active hurricane season does not equal a lower potential for devastating storm damages although noaa scientists do not expect this season to be as busy as last year it only takes one storm to devastate a community said ben friedman acting noaa administrator in the briefing with hurricane season around the corner noaa and the national weather service and texas sea grant are urging coastal communities to start preparing now kate de gennaro planning specialist with the community resilience collaborative (crc) emphasized the importance of early preparedness for hurricanes especially when it comes to having a good list of supplies and forming an evacuation plan make sure that you know what youre going to do well in advance and talk over your plan with everyone in your household including friends or family that live more inland said de gennaro always err on the side of caution you dont want to be stuck in one of these storms for more information on hurricane preparedness de gennaro recommends the homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards which is available online in english and spanish to download for free texas sea grant also has a program page dedicated to more resources for hurricane preparedness  including links to informational videos and a comprehensive list of further resources   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442     by corley-ann parker '20   " " may 2021 graduates recognized with awards and honorsthe college of geosciences virtual graduation celebration was may 18 and commencement was held may 19 in reed arenamay 27 2021may 2021 commencement ceremony in reed arena (photo courtesy of texas a&m)the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2021 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 18 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments congratulations to all of you on your inspiring accomplishments completing our degree programs which are incredibly rigorous said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas who led the event you should all be very proud and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors geosciences students receiving their doctoral degrees were honored at the doctoral commencement and hooding ceremony on may 8 and undergraduate and graduate students received their degrees at the may 19 commencement ceremony please draw from your courage your strength and your discipline to lead by example thomas said your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science so lead us there aggie geoscientists!   the following students were honored with awards at the event department and program honors environmental programs outstanding graduating seniors  amanda wright environmental geosciences james ""will"" maddux environmental geosciences kennedy mayo environmental studies kenji blum environmental studies undergraduate excellence in oceanography award dylan halbeisan geography outstanding student award luke vitullo geography christina shaw gist klein family scholarship kendahl hejl gtu national honor society eshan zia elyse burgess nathan bradley christina shaw abir chaudhuri nathan young geology and geophysics outstanding senior award deanna flores catherine lloyd colton barr kade flynn atmospheric sciences outstanding senior award leanne blind-doskocil outstanding student award these students began their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher colton barr leanne blind-doskocil kenji blum elyse burgess kristina djinis kade flynn analisa garcia james will maddux kennedy mayo daniel mckinney clara migala christina shaw emily smith luke vitullo amanda wright college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold lance belobrajdic leanne blind-doskocil hannah davis jeanette gallardo gonzalez joseph miles langfeld james will maddux chelsea parada erin sherman silver rachel eldridge kade flynn matthew herdrich kalli johnson bailey ohlson joshua ostaszewski dalton st romain kayleigh thomas bronze dylan halbeisen nicole hernandez andrew jansen katherine maberry anneliese olbrich nadia partida amber schlessiger julia villafranca james wilde watch the college of geosciences may 2021 graduation celebration by leslie lee " may 2021 commencement ceremony in reed arena (photo courtesy of texas a&m) "the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2021 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 18 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments congratulations to all of you on your inspiring accomplishments completing our degree programs which are incredibly rigorous said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas who led the event you should all be very proud and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors geosciences students receiving their doctoral degrees were honored at the doctoral commencement and hooding ceremony on may 8 and undergraduate and graduate students received their degrees at the may 19 commencement ceremony please draw from your courage your strength and your discipline to lead by example thomas said your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science so lead us there aggie geoscientists!   the following students were honored with awards at the event department and program honors environmental programs outstanding graduating seniors  amanda wright environmental geosciences james ""will"" maddux environmental geosciences kennedy mayo environmental studies kenji blum environmental studies undergraduate excellence in oceanography award dylan halbeisan geography outstanding student award luke vitullo geography christina shaw gist klein family scholarship kendahl hejl gtu national honor society eshan zia elyse burgess nathan bradley christina shaw abir chaudhuri nathan young geology and geophysics outstanding senior award deanna flores catherine lloyd colton barr kade flynn atmospheric sciences outstanding senior award leanne blind-doskocil outstanding student award these students began their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher colton barr leanne blind-doskocil kenji blum elyse burgess kristina djinis kade flynn analisa garcia james will maddux kennedy mayo daniel mckinney clara migala christina shaw emily smith luke vitullo amanda wright college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold lance belobrajdic leanne blind-doskocil hannah davis jeanette gallardo gonzalez joseph miles langfeld james will maddux chelsea parada erin sherman silver rachel eldridge kade flynn matthew herdrich kalli johnson bailey ohlson joshua ostaszewski dalton st romain kayleigh thomas bronze dylan halbeisen nicole hernandez andrew jansen katherine maberry anneliese olbrich nadia partida amber schlessiger julia villafranca james wilde watch the college of geosciences may 2021 graduation celebration by leslie lee" " meet raquel bryant geology and geophysics postdoctoral research associatedr raquel bryant is one of the first recipients of the geosciences future faculty (gff) postdoctoral fellowshipmay 21 2021dr bryant in the field conducting research in socorro county new mexico (photo courtesy of dr bryant)through the recently established geosciences future faculty fellow program dr raquel bryant is a postdoctoral research associate in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics bryant has a research background in cretaceous paleoceanography and micropaleontology and specializes in the study of fossil foraminifera marine protists and ancient environments working with dr christina belanger bryants current research focuses on analyzing past marine environments by building datasets of micropaleontological data and by integrating microfossil and geochemical recordsdr bryant examining a piston core from the shelf area off the coast of southern california while serving as a gradaute mentor with the program stem seas in the summer of 2016 stem seas sailed from san diego california to honolulu hawaii with 10 undergraduate students from various institutions and majors all of whom were interested in ocean science they sampled the core to make smear slides and washed and sieved samples for foraminiferal analysis (photo courtesy of dr bryant)postdoctoral research at a&m  bryant is one of the first texas a&m college of geosciences future faculty (gff) postdoctoral fellowships working with dr christina belanger in the department of geology and geophysics  bryant was drawn to texas a&m by the mix of different paleoceanography research topics the college engages in and international ocean discovery program (iodp)  i was especially excited to work with my advisor dr christina belanger because she has expertise in paleoecology and applies it to modern and relevant topics like understanding ocean hypoxia bryant said individual fossils can tell us a lot but aggregating that data into big data sets facilitates the identification of bigger ecological trends i also like to consider how geochemical records can give a broader paleoenvironmental context so i am really interested in building integrated microfossil and geochemical datasets for the application of quantitative paleoecological methods i recently submitted my first first-authored paper and it really exemplifies how integrating geochemical and microfossil records can tell us a lot about paleoenvironments one of the big conclusions is that benthic foraminifera are not always an indicator of a well oxygenated seafloor some forams are okay with low oxygen conditions and looking at the fossils with the geochemistry really revealed that these results have inspired my next project i am wondering how these forams cope with low oxygen so this was the inspiration for designing 3 undergraduate research projects bryant is working with belanger to use data science to compile multi-proxy datasets  for analyzing paleoclimate systems and understanding ancient low oxygen environments  there is already a lot published on foram fossil occurrences and there are a lot of geochemical records especially from key iodp drilling sites something i learned from my graduate studies is how to use litho- and chemostratigraphy to correlate across sites so i am creating data sets from already published studies so that i can apply quantitative ecological methods to analyze low oxygen environments across a basin instead of just at one sitedr bryant pictured serving as a mentor and instructor for the nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured presenting her research on at the 2019 international conference on paleoceanography in sydney australia (photo courtesy of dr bryant)early inspirations in the geosciences  bryant spent much of her formative years as a child at a local science museum in west hartford connecticut she credits the early exposure to natural history and local geology as sparking an interest in her  i've always liked learning about ecosystems bryant said when i was a kid i spent a lot of time at science museums there are pretty cool dinosaur fossils in the river valley in connecticut and massachusetts and i just remember thinking about how different this area where i live today must have been the appeal of the geosciences continued with the influence of a high school science teacher who had a phd in geophysics this teacher shared with her students all the opportunities for travel and field work  she would just tell us how she got to go to greenland and fiji and australia just to do science and i had no idea you could do that bryant said when i went to undergrad i wanted to study geology because i thought thatd be cool to get to go to different places i had not really traveled at all before that  bryant attended brown university for her undergraduate degree and struggled the first semester with her first science class she said fortunately bryant had a mentor a faculty member at brown that had also struggled initially in university and encouraged her to persevere bryant took an earth systems history course during her second semester and that was when things started to click  i thought i don't think i can major in this i need to change my major this is not what i want to do bryant said and then it actually switched to where i was thinking about soft rock stuff and fossils and especially climate proxies and i knew yes this is what i want to study!  understanding the interconnectedness of life the oceans and climate system excited bryant and inspired her to continue pursuing a career in the geosciences dr bryant presenting on her paleoclimate research at the american geophysical union 2019 annual meeting in san francisco california in addition  dr bryant and dr keisling led the first iteration of the next generation of geoscience leaders at the 2019 agu meeting (photo courtesy of dr bryant)raquel holding a piece of a glacier at kenai fjords national park alaska this field trip was part of the stem seas 2016 expedition (photo courtesy of dr bryant)research opportunity building blocks as an undergraduate student bryant wasnt sure what specific research topics appealed to her so she cast a wide net and reached out to faculty and post-doctoral researchers by being open and interested in many interdisciplinary science topics bryant became involved in undergraduate research using stable isotopes with the archeology department  in addition she was encouraged to apply to a national science foundation (nsf) research experiences for undergraduates (reus) program bryants first reu was at the department of paleobiology in the smithsonian institution national museum of natural history  during this time she worked with museum curator dr brian huber to revise biostratigraphy and evaluate the preservation of microfossil assemblages from the agulhas and naturaliste plateaus ever since working with foraminifera i became convinced that they are the coolest organisms and the createcous ones are the most interesting bryant said   the following year bryant participated in a second reu at scripps institution of oceanography during this time she created a high resolution record of ichthyoliths which are essentially fossil fish teeth it was fun gaining experience with a more unconventional type of microfossil!   upon finishing her undergraduate degree bryant started a phd at university of massachusetts amherst working with dr mark leckie her research looked at foraminifera from the western interior seaway   most people like to focus on just one foram type the ones that live in the upper water column or the ones that life on the seafloor but i focused on the full foram assemblage for my dissertation bryant said which was cool but also challenging it made me become more interested in geochemistry because i wanted to have environmental context for the forams i was observing in order to connect what the fossils from the top and bottom of the water column were telling me during this time she earned two key fellowships the randolph & cecile bromery graduate fellowship and the nsf graduate research fellowship  i've been obsessed with the idea of being a lifelong learner and being able to mentor people and educate them and i found research to be a great vehicle to drive that dr bryant working with dr huber as part of her first reu at the cushman collection in the smithsonian institution national museum of natural history(photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant hard at work on the microscope she used to analyze her graduate school research samples (photo courtesy of dr bryant)barriers in science bryant was first made aware of racial disparities in the sciences in middle school when a teacher spoke about the racial achievement gap it was a deeply discouraging experience that made her question if she even belonged in science bryant said i remember thinking is there even a point in me trying in school is there even a point in me trying in science which i started liking around that same time bryant said it always stuck in my head whenever i would get the highest grade or get into a competitive class i would just think in the back of my head i'm not supposed to be doing this i'm not supposed to be here i felt that all the time i was always on edge bryant continued to deal with racism in her educational environment in high school she recounts how even though she attended a fairly diverse high school she was often the only student of color in her honors and ap stem classes back then i didn't really have any tools to interact with my experiences but because of them it's been a constant in my mind the idea of science and the idea of systemic racism there has never been a time when those things were different for me during her undergraduate degree she noticed that the geosciences field as a whole was disproportionately white bryant credits the support of student organizations that made it acceptable to embrace multiple identities in science this was the first time i was seeing that if you don't feel comfortable in your academic space there are ways to support yourself all of that was so affirming even though there was still the whiteness problem in geology at least now im gaining tools to interact with it  i knew i belonged in the geosciences simply because i wanted to study geoscience bryant said so now i try to see the barriers as opportunities to first refine my skills in overcoming them and second to give advice to someone else down the line as they may encounter those same barriers dr bryant pictured in front of a mural in north carolina (photo courtesy of dr bryant)inspired by bromery in graduate school bryant found a key inspirational figure dr randolph bill bromery bromery was the first black chancellor of umass amherst and left an endowment the randolph and cecile bromery graduate fellowship that supports students of color doing research in the umass department of geosciences bryant received this fellowship for the first two years of her phd program  i took the bromery familys generosity very seriously and i wanted to learn everything about him because he is a famous black geologist and yet i knew nothing about him before getting the fellowship bryant said one of the first things i learned about him was he served as a tuskegee airman like my grandfather!  bromery used that experience in his research; when he returned from war he saw that the usgs was recruiting geologists that knew how to fly planes he became part of the first cohort of usgs airborne geophysists and helped found a whole new field  that is how his geoscience career started by using another skill to make his science even better bryant said bromery was hired as a faculty member at umass amherst authored over 100 journal articles and mentored numerous black students in geosciences and beyond  it was really affirming to find an example of someone i could look up to because it's not necessarily what i see bryant said i don't see many black geoscience faculty and i definitely don't see faculty doing what bromery was doing he was just as committed to broadening participation as he was to his research and approached both with incredible rigor that led him to be very successful in both endeavours bromery went on to become the chancellor of the university of massachusetts and president of the geological society of america he was instrumental in the effort to secure the w e b du bois papers for umass making it a hub for black scholarship and study bromery is very important to me because as a  paleoscientist i am always looking to the past to inform the present and future  bryant said seeing his story and learning more about his life really made me feel that what i'm doing could be the right path just because it's not something i see examples of right now doesn't mean it's not a valid way to be a scientist dr randolph bill bromery the first black chancellor of umass amherst pictured engaging with students on umass campus (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant at the first annual bromery panel at umass bryant co-founded the panel to bring together the geosciences department and afro-american studies department to discuss intersectional issues including environmental racism justice and mining and more (photo courtesy of dr bryant)building supportive communities in academia another component of bryant's success and resilience in academia is her understanding that she needs to find and build communities inside and outside of her academic spaces as an undergrad at brown she helped develop an independent study course race and gender in the scientific community the course took an interdisciplinary approach to understanding why there is underrepresentation in stem they had readings and  invited speakers ranging from history sociology psychology and education i was learning about these phenomena that were going to start controlling my life once i got into grad school bryant said by the time i got to umass i knew what i needed to invest in my own resilience and success in grad school  while in graduate school bryant worked with fellow graduate students to found the bridge lecture series by working with other graduate student groups in other departments they were able to build their graduate student community and solve problems in diversity equity and inclusion within their university  we designed the lecture series that we had always wanted to see in academia bryant said my favorite part about bridge were the grad student lunches because it would be a space where especially students of color could see themselves in the bridge scholars additionally bryant served as co-chair of the #safeatwork campaign a part of a student organization called graduate women in stem (gwis) through the campaign she advocated for graduate students navigating experiences with sexual violence in academia and raised awareness to sexual violence in stem academia  it was inspiring because i was involved with a team where we knew we couldnt be quiet anymore bryant said as a women in science organization we felt we were the first line of defense for students who are experiencing harm and violence in their stem environments the campaign was designed to frame the issue of  sexual violence as a  workplace safety issue if you are an abuser of your students you're out of compliance  all of these experiences helped shape bryant into the well-rounded dynamic scientist she is today and inspired her next chapter her post-doctoral studies at texas a&mdr byrant pictured with fellow co-founders of the umass bridge lecture series (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured with fellow members of the graduate women in stem (gwis) umass chapter (photo courtesy of dr bryant)leading the next generation of geoscience leaders in addition to her current paleoclimate and geochemistry research bryant is also focused on developing the next generation of geoscience leaders  this past fall bryant co-led the geological society of america (gsa) 2020 online connects pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion the symposium provided a collaborative space where participants worked together to develop solutions that address justice equity diversity and inclusion (jedi) challenges specific to their geoscience community the goal was to empower participants to organize and lead initiatives by equipping them with a network of support an action plan and tools and strategies for overcoming obstacles after the pardee symposium success bryant is looking to develop the next generation of geoscience leaders and build strategic relationships inside and outside of traditional academia  its coalition building it's brave space it's challenging space but it doesn't really exist yet bryant said i'm still dreaming it up i think the pardee symposium was a big first step to show people what it would mean to be a part of the next generation of leaders bryant credits the power of key transformative experiences throughout her undergraduate and graduate school experiences and seeks to bring those positive experiences to others bryant is also a principal investigator on the nsf collaborative research grant alliance-building offshore to achieve resilience and diversity (all-aboard) this award builds on her previous experiences as a mentor and instructor with another nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas)  bryant served as a graduate student mentor and instructor for the program and mentored over 28 undergraduates during her years with the program it showed me how important near-peer-mentors are for students especially students from marginalized communities because you already are feeling out of place bryant said it's not an easy leap to them ask a professor for help bryant built on what she learned from participating in stem seas to envision all-aboard going on research vessels has been demonstrated to be a transformative experience it can change the way you think about yourself and see yourself as a scientist bryant said with all-aboard we are taking that and adding intergenerational teams so that you are having this experience across a mentorship spectrum bryant is working with the other co-pis dr benjamin keisling and sharon cooper at lamont-doherty earth observatory and dr brian chad starksdr bryant with dr keisling leading the gsa 2020 pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured serving as a mentor and instructor for the nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) (photo courtesy of dr bryant)looking forward in spring 2021 bryant co-taught geol 450 geology senior project with dr belanger  this is a win-win-win bryant said the undergraduate students worked all semester to build new morphological data sets based on samples from one of bryants dissertation chapters so i had a way to test some of the ideas in my first paper and the students got valuable research experience and i got to see well 'zoom' with a group of people regularly which was awesome because being a postdoc can get pretty lonely this summer i will be working on writing up a paper based on the preliminary studies the students conducted not only did they find super cool results their results fit in really well with some of my hypotheses! bryants passion for ancient geologic systems and inclusive geosciences stems from her appreciation of the whole earth system people are on the earth so they are also a part of the earth system bryant said we have to care about understanding both the earth and the people who live here you can follow dr bryant on twitter at @foramsraqu or visit her personal website at https://wwwraquelbryantcom  by ali snell  " dr bryant in the field conducting research in socorro county new mexico (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "through the recently established geosciences future faculty fellow program dr raquel bryant is a postdoctoral research associate in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics bryant has a research background in cretaceous paleoceanography and micropaleontology and specializes in the study of fossil foraminifera marine protists and ancient environments working with dr christina belanger bryants current research focuses on analyzing past marine environments by building datasets of micropaleontological data and by integrating microfossil and geochemical records" dr bryant examining a piston core from the shelf area off the coast of southern california while serving as a gradaute mentor with the program stem seas in the summer of 2016 stem seas sailed from san diego california to honolulu hawaii with 10 undergraduate students from various institutions and majors all of whom were interested in ocean science they sampled the core to make smear slides and washed and sieved samples for foraminiferal analysis (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "postdoctoral research at a&m  bryant is one of the first texas a&m college of geosciences future faculty (gff) postdoctoral fellowships working with dr christina belanger in the department of geology and geophysics  bryant was drawn to texas a&m by the mix of different paleoceanography research topics the college engages in and international ocean discovery program (iodp)  i was especially excited to work with my advisor dr christina belanger because she has expertise in paleoecology and applies it to modern and relevant topics like understanding ocean hypoxia bryant said individual fossils can tell us a lot but aggregating that data into big data sets facilitates the identification of bigger ecological trends i also like to consider how geochemical records can give a broader paleoenvironmental context so i am really interested in building integrated microfossil and geochemical datasets for the application of quantitative paleoecological methods i recently submitted my first first-authored paper and it really exemplifies how integrating geochemical and microfossil records can tell us a lot about paleoenvironments one of the big conclusions is that benthic foraminifera are not always an indicator of a well oxygenated seafloor some forams are okay with low oxygen conditions and looking at the fossils with the geochemistry really revealed that these results have inspired my next project i am wondering how these forams cope with low oxygen so this was the inspiration for designing 3 undergraduate research projects bryant is working with belanger to use data science to compile multi-proxy datasets  for analyzing paleoclimate systems and understanding ancient low oxygen environments  there is already a lot published on foram fossil occurrences and there are a lot of geochemical records especially from key iodp drilling sites something i learned from my graduate studies is how to use litho- and chemostratigraphy to correlate across sites so i am creating data sets from already published studies so that i can apply quantitative ecological methods to analyze low oxygen environments across a basin instead of just at one site" dr bryant pictured serving as a mentor and instructor for the nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured presenting her research on at the 2019 international conference on paleoceanography in sydney australia (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "early inspirations in the geosciences  bryant spent much of her formative years as a child at a local science museum in west hartford connecticut she credits the early exposure to natural history and local geology as sparking an interest in her  i've always liked learning about ecosystems bryant said when i was a kid i spent a lot of time at science museums there are pretty cool dinosaur fossils in the river valley in connecticut and massachusetts and i just remember thinking about how different this area where i live today must have been the appeal of the geosciences continued with the influence of a high school science teacher who had a phd in geophysics this teacher shared with her students all the opportunities for travel and field work  she would just tell us how she got to go to greenland and fiji and australia just to do science and i had no idea you could do that bryant said when i went to undergrad i wanted to study geology because i thought thatd be cool to get to go to different places i had not really traveled at all before that  bryant attended brown university for her undergraduate degree and struggled the first semester with her first science class she said fortunately bryant had a mentor a faculty member at brown that had also struggled initially in university and encouraged her to persevere bryant took an earth systems history course during her second semester and that was when things started to click  i thought i don't think i can major in this i need to change my major this is not what i want to do bryant said and then it actually switched to where i was thinking about soft rock stuff and fossils and especially climate proxies and i knew yes this is what i want to study!  understanding the interconnectedness of life the oceans and climate system excited bryant and inspired her to continue pursuing a career in the geosciences " dr bryant presenting on her paleoclimate research at the american geophysical union 2019 annual meeting in san francisco california in addition  dr bryant and dr keisling led the first iteration of the next generation of geoscience leaders at the 2019 agu meeting (photo courtesy of dr bryant)raquel holding a piece of a glacier at kenai fjords national park alaska this field trip was part of the stem seas 2016 expedition (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "research opportunity building blocks as an undergraduate student bryant wasnt sure what specific research topics appealed to her so she cast a wide net and reached out to faculty and post-doctoral researchers by being open and interested in many interdisciplinary science topics bryant became involved in undergraduate research using stable isotopes with the archeology department  in addition she was encouraged to apply to a national science foundation (nsf) research experiences for undergraduates (reus) program bryants first reu was at the department of paleobiology in the smithsonian institution national museum of natural history  during this time she worked with museum curator dr brian huber to revise biostratigraphy and evaluate the preservation of microfossil assemblages from the agulhas and naturaliste plateaus ever since working with foraminifera i became convinced that they are the coolest organisms and the createcous ones are the most interesting bryant said   the following year bryant participated in a second reu at scripps institution of oceanography during this time she created a high resolution record of ichthyoliths which are essentially fossil fish teeth it was fun gaining experience with a more unconventional type of microfossil!   upon finishing her undergraduate degree bryant started a phd at university of massachusetts amherst working with dr mark leckie her research looked at foraminifera from the western interior seaway   most people like to focus on just one foram type the ones that live in the upper water column or the ones that life on the seafloor but i focused on the full foram assemblage for my dissertation bryant said which was cool but also challenging it made me become more interested in geochemistry because i wanted to have environmental context for the forams i was observing in order to connect what the fossils from the top and bottom of the water column were telling me during this time she earned two key fellowships the randolph & cecile bromery graduate fellowship and the nsf graduate research fellowship  i've been obsessed with the idea of being a lifelong learner and being able to mentor people and educate them and i found research to be a great vehicle to drive that " dr bryant working with dr huber as part of her first reu at the cushman collection in the smithsonian institution national museum of natural history(photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant hard at work on the microscope she used to analyze her graduate school research samples (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "barriers in science bryant was first made aware of racial disparities in the sciences in middle school when a teacher spoke about the racial achievement gap it was a deeply discouraging experience that made her question if she even belonged in science bryant said i remember thinking is there even a point in me trying in school is there even a point in me trying in science which i started liking around that same time bryant said it always stuck in my head whenever i would get the highest grade or get into a competitive class i would just think in the back of my head i'm not supposed to be doing this i'm not supposed to be here i felt that all the time i was always on edge bryant continued to deal with racism in her educational environment in high school she recounts how even though she attended a fairly diverse high school she was often the only student of color in her honors and ap stem classes back then i didn't really have any tools to interact with my experiences but because of them it's been a constant in my mind the idea of science and the idea of systemic racism there has never been a time when those things were different for me during her undergraduate degree she noticed that the geosciences field as a whole was disproportionately white bryant credits the support of student organizations that made it acceptable to embrace multiple identities in science this was the first time i was seeing that if you don't feel comfortable in your academic space there are ways to support yourself all of that was so affirming even though there was still the whiteness problem in geology at least now im gaining tools to interact with it  i knew i belonged in the geosciences simply because i wanted to study geoscience bryant said so now i try to see the barriers as opportunities to first refine my skills in overcoming them and second to give advice to someone else down the line as they may encounter those same barriers " dr bryant pictured in front of a mural in north carolina (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "inspired by bromery in graduate school bryant found a key inspirational figure dr randolph bill bromery bromery was the first black chancellor of umass amherst and left an endowment the randolph and cecile bromery graduate fellowship that supports students of color doing research in the umass department of geosciences bryant received this fellowship for the first two years of her phd program  i took the bromery familys generosity very seriously and i wanted to learn everything about him because he is a famous black geologist and yet i knew nothing about him before getting the fellowship bryant said one of the first things i learned about him was he served as a tuskegee airman like my grandfather!  bromery used that experience in his research; when he returned from war he saw that the usgs was recruiting geologists that knew how to fly planes he became part of the first cohort of usgs airborne geophysists and helped found a whole new field  that is how his geoscience career started by using another skill to make his science even better bryant said bromery was hired as a faculty member at umass amherst authored over 100 journal articles and mentored numerous black students in geosciences and beyond  it was really affirming to find an example of someone i could look up to because it's not necessarily what i see bryant said i don't see many black geoscience faculty and i definitely don't see faculty doing what bromery was doing he was just as committed to broadening participation as he was to his research and approached both with incredible rigor that led him to be very successful in both endeavours bromery went on to become the chancellor of the university of massachusetts and president of the geological society of america he was instrumental in the effort to secure the w e b du bois papers for umass making it a hub for black scholarship and study bromery is very important to me because as a  paleoscientist i am always looking to the past to inform the present and future  bryant said seeing his story and learning more about his life really made me feel that what i'm doing could be the right path just because it's not something i see examples of right now doesn't mean it's not a valid way to be a scientist " dr randolph bill bromery the first black chancellor of umass amherst pictured engaging with students on umass campus (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant at the first annual bromery panel at umass bryant co-founded the panel to bring together the geosciences department and afro-american studies department to discuss intersectional issues including environmental racism justice and mining and more (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "building supportive communities in academia another component of bryant's success and resilience in academia is her understanding that she needs to find and build communities inside and outside of her academic spaces as an undergrad at brown she helped develop an independent study course race and gender in the scientific community the course took an interdisciplinary approach to understanding why there is underrepresentation in stem they had readings and  invited speakers ranging from history sociology psychology and education i was learning about these phenomena that were going to start controlling my life once i got into grad school bryant said by the time i got to umass i knew what i needed to invest in my own resilience and success in grad school  while in graduate school bryant worked with fellow graduate students to found the bridge lecture series by working with other graduate student groups in other departments they were able to build their graduate student community and solve problems in diversity equity and inclusion within their university  we designed the lecture series that we had always wanted to see in academia bryant said my favorite part about bridge were the grad student lunches because it would be a space where especially students of color could see themselves in the bridge scholars additionally bryant served as co-chair of the #safeatwork campaign a part of a student organization called graduate women in stem (gwis) through the campaign she advocated for graduate students navigating experiences with sexual violence in academia and raised awareness to sexual violence in stem academia  it was inspiring because i was involved with a team where we knew we couldnt be quiet anymore bryant said as a women in science organization we felt we were the first line of defense for students who are experiencing harm and violence in their stem environments the campaign was designed to frame the issue of  sexual violence as a  workplace safety issue if you are an abuser of your students you're out of compliance  all of these experiences helped shape bryant into the well-rounded dynamic scientist she is today and inspired her next chapter her post-doctoral studies at texas a&m" dr byrant pictured with fellow co-founders of the umass bridge lecture series (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured with fellow members of the graduate women in stem (gwis) umass chapter (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "leading the next generation of geoscience leaders in addition to her current paleoclimate and geochemistry research bryant is also focused on developing the next generation of geoscience leaders  this past fall bryant co-led the geological society of america (gsa) 2020 online connects pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion the symposium provided a collaborative space where participants worked together to develop solutions that address justice equity diversity and inclusion (jedi) challenges specific to their geoscience community the goal was to empower participants to organize and lead initiatives by equipping them with a network of support an action plan and tools and strategies for overcoming obstacles after the pardee symposium success bryant is looking to develop the next generation of geoscience leaders and build strategic relationships inside and outside of traditional academia  its coalition building it's brave space it's challenging space but it doesn't really exist yet bryant said i'm still dreaming it up i think the pardee symposium was a big first step to show people what it would mean to be a part of the next generation of leaders bryant credits the power of key transformative experiences throughout her undergraduate and graduate school experiences and seeks to bring those positive experiences to others bryant is also a principal investigator on the nsf collaborative research grant alliance-building offshore to achieve resilience and diversity (all-aboard) this award builds on her previous experiences as a mentor and instructor with another nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas)  bryant served as a graduate student mentor and instructor for the program and mentored over 28 undergraduates during her years with the program it showed me how important near-peer-mentors are for students especially students from marginalized communities because you already are feeling out of place bryant said it's not an easy leap to them ask a professor for help bryant built on what she learned from participating in stem seas to envision all-aboard going on research vessels has been demonstrated to be a transformative experience it can change the way you think about yourself and see yourself as a scientist bryant said with all-aboard we are taking that and adding intergenerational teams so that you are having this experience across a mentorship spectrum bryant is working with the other co-pis dr benjamin keisling and sharon cooper at lamont-doherty earth observatory and dr brian chad starks" dr bryant with dr keisling leading the gsa 2020 pardee symposium: the next generation of geoscience leaders: strategies for excellence in diversity and inclusion (photo courtesy of dr bryant)dr bryant pictured serving as a mentor and instructor for the nsf program science technology engineering and math student experiences aboard ships (stem seas) (photo courtesy of dr bryant) "looking forward in spring 2021 bryant co-taught geol 450 geology senior project with dr belanger  this is a win-win-win bryant said the undergraduate students worked all semester to build new morphological data sets based on samples from one of bryants dissertation chapters so i had a way to test some of the ideas in my first paper and the students got valuable research experience and i got to see well 'zoom' with a group of people regularly which was awesome because being a postdoc can get pretty lonely this summer i will be working on writing up a paper based on the preliminary studies the students conducted not only did they find super cool results their results fit in really well with some of my hypotheses! bryants passion for ancient geologic systems and inclusive geosciences stems from her appreciation of the whole earth system people are on the earth so they are also a part of the earth system bryant said we have to care about understanding both the earth and the people who live here you can follow dr bryant on twitter at @foramsraqu or visit her personal website at https://wwwraquelbryantcom  by ali snell " " from pre-dawn balloon launches to costa rica: meet graduating senior erin sherman the meteorology senior reflects on all of the extraordinary opportunities shes pursued while a student in texas a&ms college of geosciencesmay 19 2021sherman presenting at texas a&m student research week as a part of dr don conlees directed studies group; she and the group won the sigma xi interdisciplinary award for this research (all photos courtesy of erin sherman)sherman (right) and leanne blind-doskocil (left) in 2019 setting up a nasa disdrometer to measure the velocity and drop size distribution of hydrometerserin sherman 21 has wanted to become a meteorologist since she was eight years old this week when she walks across stage during texas a&ms spring commencement ceremonies shell achieve that dream during her time as a meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m sherman has pursued several amazing opportunities from conducting research for nasa and noaa to helping lead the storm chasing student organization to traveling to costa rica to learn about water and the environment after graduation sherman will be moving on to colorado state university where she will be a masters student in the department of atmospheric science turning dreams into reality like a lot of meteorology majors i had a fascination with weather and storms from a very young age sherman recalled  whereas other childhood interests such as ballet and art came and went her fascination with weather stayed with her over the years i remember one day saying ‘i wish there was a job where i could just deal with weather all the time and my mom said ‘you know that is a job right and i was so surprised she said i was around eight years old and ever since then ive been working toward becoming a meteorologist when sherman was in high school she prioritized her meteorology aspirations when selecting what universities to apply to i had just moved to texas with my mom and my sister and i wanted to stay close to home but i also wanted to go to a school with a great meteorology program she said when i heard that texas a&m had a storm chasing group thats what sold me i could stay close to home i could get to storm-chase and texas a&m has a really good program so i felt like i was getting the best of all worldserin sherman in the rainforests of costa rica during a trip that was part of a first-year seminar class taught by judy nuñez and dr wendy jepsonsherman assisting with a weather balloon launch holding the radiosonde which is the instrument that sends back all of the datanow after four years of intensive course work receiving and providing mentorship and conducting and presenting rigorous research projects sherman has earned her meteorology degree from texas a&m incredible opportunities as a freshman at texas a&m sherman traveled to costa rica as a part of a course focused on water security taught by judy nunez geosciences director of student recruitment judy nunez has been an amazing awesome mentor ever since my freshmen year sherman said her sophomore year sherman helped conduct weather balloon launches as a part of a noaa-funded research campaign by the department of atmospheric sciences the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) 2018-2019 field campaign named meso18-19 was a national field project funded by noaa graduate and undergraduate students in the department coordinated and conducted the weather balloon launches for meso18-19 sometimes wed have to get up at 3 am to go to the o&m building and launch balloons sherman said that was one of the highlights of my undergraduate career it was a great bonding experience for the students and i really felt like i belonged in the meteorology major in the summer of 2019 she was selected for a national science foundation-funded research experience for undergraduates (reu) summer program at colorado state university i had been conducting research as a part of dr don conlees specific studies group for a while and he wrote a letter of recommendation for me for a summer reu at colorado state university which i was selected for she said i got to work with really amazing scientists there and i got to do my own research which i ended up presenting at the american meteorological society annual conference and received an award forsherman was the vice president of tamscams and organized a visit to a san antonio tv station to learn more about broadcast meteorologysherman presenting her research poster that she completed during her summer reu with her summer mentor dr  kristen rasmussen who will also by her graduate school advisor at colorado state universitythe reu was a really great experience overall i got to meet people from across the country who were also really interested in atmospheric science research thats what spurred my love for research shermans research centered on atmospheric rivers and flood events in california and how climate change could affect those systems she used climate models to simulate those future scenarios and found that snowmelt could be greatly decreased resulting in possible worsened regional water supply problems she received the outstanding student conference poster award at ams 2020 for this research how to thrive in meteorology in addition to her research accomplishments sherman also served as a peer mentor in the college of geosciences and received a texas a&m university system louis stokes alliance for minority participation (lsamp) scholarship that supported her undergraduate research supporting peer mentorship is a priority in the college and sherman said that community-building and mentoring are very meaningful accomplishments for her i pride myself in being a mentor to younger students who are younger than me in the major "" she said i was working with one student a junior in our major giving a lot of advice on applying to reus wed been talking a lot about it the application process letters of recommendations etc and just recently he told me that he got into his top choice reu and that he also got other offers for reus so he had options to choose from and that was really exciting i was so proud of that lasting impact in the department sherman advised up-and-coming meteorology students to seek out support in their department my top advice would be to build a community in the major she said when there were times when i didnt have the motivation to study or go to office hours i really leaned on my friends to help push me even when things were really difficult and i also did the same for them having that support system was really important we also leaned on our departments graduate students who are so helpful and really involved with the undergraduate students and the professors as well theyre so open to questions and meeting with you outside of office hours  one of shermans favorite classes during the last four years was synoptic dynamics taught by dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences it was a really tough class but dr korty is such a great professor he made it really fun and easy to understand she said i felt very accomplished at the end of that semester and like i had understood and retained all of it well i loved that class""  beginning her junior year sherman pursued an interdisciplinary research project with researchers in texas a&ms school of public health dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas helped connect her to those teams she said and the project was a great learning experience getting out there and meeting the people who will help you succeed is one of the things that will help you every time  by leslie lee " sherman presenting at texas a&m student research week as a part of dr don conlees directed studies group; she and the group won the sigma xi interdisciplinary award for this research (all photos courtesy of erin sherman)sherman (right) and leanne blind-doskocil (left) in 2019 setting up a nasa disdrometer to measure the velocity and drop size distribution of hydrometers "erin sherman 21 has wanted to become a meteorologist since she was eight years old this week when she walks across stage during texas a&ms spring commencement ceremonies shell achieve that dream during her time as a meteorology major in the department of atmospheric sciences in the college of geosciences at texas a&m sherman has pursued several amazing opportunities from conducting research for nasa and noaa to helping lead the storm chasing student organization to traveling to costa rica to learn about water and the environment after graduation sherman will be moving on to colorado state university where she will be a masters student in the department of atmospheric science turning dreams into reality like a lot of meteorology majors i had a fascination with weather and storms from a very young age sherman recalled  whereas other childhood interests such as ballet and art came and went her fascination with weather stayed with her over the years i remember one day saying ‘i wish there was a job where i could just deal with weather all the time and my mom said ‘you know that is a job right and i was so surprised she said i was around eight years old and ever since then ive been working toward becoming a meteorologist when sherman was in high school she prioritized her meteorology aspirations when selecting what universities to apply to i had just moved to texas with my mom and my sister and i wanted to stay close to home but i also wanted to go to a school with a great meteorology program she said when i heard that texas a&m had a storm chasing group thats what sold me i could stay close to home i could get to storm-chase and texas a&m has a really good program so i felt like i was getting the best of all worlds" erin sherman in the rainforests of costa rica during a trip that was part of a first-year seminar class taught by judy nuñez and dr wendy jepsonsherman assisting with a weather balloon launch holding the radiosonde which is the instrument that sends back all of the data "now after four years of intensive course work receiving and providing mentorship and conducting and presenting rigorous research projects sherman has earned her meteorology degree from texas a&m incredible opportunities as a freshman at texas a&m sherman traveled to costa rica as a part of a course focused on water security taught by judy nunez geosciences director of student recruitment judy nunez has been an amazing awesome mentor ever since my freshmen year sherman said her sophomore year sherman helped conduct weather balloon launches as a part of a noaa-funded research campaign by the department of atmospheric sciences the verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment in the southeast (vortex-se) 2018-2019 field campaign named meso18-19 was a national field project funded by noaa graduate and undergraduate students in the department coordinated and conducted the weather balloon launches for meso18-19 sometimes wed have to get up at 3 am to go to the o&m building and launch balloons sherman said that was one of the highlights of my undergraduate career it was a great bonding experience for the students and i really felt like i belonged in the meteorology major in the summer of 2019 she was selected for a national science foundation-funded research experience for undergraduates (reu) summer program at colorado state university i had been conducting research as a part of dr don conlees specific studies group for a while and he wrote a letter of recommendation for me for a summer reu at colorado state university which i was selected for she said i got to work with really amazing scientists there and i got to do my own research which i ended up presenting at the american meteorological society annual conference and received an award for" sherman was the vice president of tamscams and organized a visit to a san antonio tv station to learn more about broadcast meteorologysherman presenting her research poster that she completed during her summer reu with her summer mentor dr  kristen rasmussen who will also by her graduate school advisor at colorado state university "the reu was a really great experience overall i got to meet people from across the country who were also really interested in atmospheric science research thats what spurred my love for research shermans research centered on atmospheric rivers and flood events in california and how climate change could affect those systems she used climate models to simulate those future scenarios and found that snowmelt could be greatly decreased resulting in possible worsened regional water supply problems she received the outstanding student conference poster award at ams 2020 for this research how to thrive in meteorology in addition to her research accomplishments sherman also served as a peer mentor in the college of geosciences and received a texas a&m university system louis stokes alliance for minority participation (lsamp) scholarship that supported her undergraduate research supporting peer mentorship is a priority in the college and sherman said that community-building and mentoring are very meaningful accomplishments for her i pride myself in being a mentor to younger students who are younger than me in the major "" she said i was working with one student a junior in our major giving a lot of advice on applying to reus wed been talking a lot about it the application process letters of recommendations etc and just recently he told me that he got into his top choice reu and that he also got other offers for reus so he had options to choose from and that was really exciting i was so proud of that lasting impact in the department sherman advised up-and-coming meteorology students to seek out support in their department my top advice would be to build a community in the major she said when there were times when i didnt have the motivation to study or go to office hours i really leaned on my friends to help push me even when things were really difficult and i also did the same for them having that support system was really important we also leaned on our departments graduate students who are so helpful and really involved with the undergraduate students and the professors as well theyre so open to questions and meeting with you outside of office hours  one of shermans favorite classes during the last four years was synoptic dynamics taught by dr robert korty associate professor of atmospheric sciences it was a really tough class but dr korty is such a great professor he made it really fun and easy to understand she said i felt very accomplished at the end of that semester and like i had understood and retained all of it well i loved that class""  beginning her junior year sherman pursued an interdisciplinary research project with researchers in texas a&ms school of public health dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas helped connect her to those teams she said and the project was a great learning experience getting out there and meeting the people who will help you succeed is one of the things that will help you every time  by leslie lee" " meet the texas a&m students who conducted mars perseverance research in icelandemily champion and kashauna mason were part of a 2019 research project that helped ensure the success of the rover and helicopter operating on mars todaymay 19 2021   many texas a&m students have access to high-impact research opportunities but in the summer of 2019 two texas a&m college of geosciences students helped conduct research that was out of this world in 2019 nasa had tasked texas a&m with researching an environment similar to mars two years before the mars 2020 mission would successfully land on the red planet that environment lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end was in iceland texas a&m geology undergraduate student emily champion was selected by dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics to assist with the research and phd student kashauna mason was also part of the world-class research team post-doctoral researcher dr marion nachon was a member of the research team as well for three weeks texas a&m geosciences students and scientists studied the geology of the terrain and tested a rover and a drone in support of the mars 2020 mission's perseverance rover and ingenuity helicopter which are successfully operating on the surface of mars todaytexas a&m geology and geophysics researchers in iceland: dr ryan ewing professor; emily champion undergraduate student; kashauna mason doctoral student; and dr marion nachon postdoctoral associate (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications)the team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford university purdue university and canadian space firm mission control i learned a lot about what it is to be a scientist what it is to work for nasa but also how to collect measurements in the field how to work with other scientists and how to be a team player champion said she is now a student in the fast track program in geology and geophysics which is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelors and masters degree not only did the students get to interact with renowned scientists and learn how to conduct field measurements in an incredible environment but their research also furthered the operations of the now active perseverance rover the time that champion and mason spent with the research team huddled in a small icelandic hut furthered the worlds understanding of geology here on earth and on other planets the opportunities texas a&m offers its students are extraordinary the question now is where will aggie geosciences students go next by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences " "   many texas a&m students have access to high-impact research opportunities but in the summer of 2019 two texas a&m college of geosciences students helped conduct research that was out of this world in 2019 nasa had tasked texas a&m with researching an environment similar to mars two years before the mars 2020 mission would successfully land on the red planet that environment lifeless gray rocky terrain with mountains and plains that stretch for miles on end was in iceland texas a&m geology undergraduate student emily champion was selected by dr ryan ewing professor in the department of geology and geophysics to assist with the research and phd student kashauna mason was also part of the world-class research team post-doctoral researcher dr marion nachon was a member of the research team as well for three weeks texas a&m geosciences students and scientists studied the geology of the terrain and tested a rover and a drone in support of the mars 2020 mission's perseverance rover and ingenuity helicopter which are successfully operating on the surface of mars today" texas a&m geology and geophysics researchers in iceland: dr ryan ewing professor; emily champion undergraduate student; kashauna mason doctoral student; and dr marion nachon postdoctoral associate (photo by nick wilson texas a&m marketing and communications) "the team was located two hours north of reykjavik in the icelandic highlands near a trio of glaciers and included 19 people representing nasa stanford university purdue university and canadian space firm mission control i learned a lot about what it is to be a scientist what it is to work for nasa but also how to collect measurements in the field how to work with other scientists and how to be a team player champion said she is now a student in the fast track program in geology and geophysics which is an accelerated 5-year path leading to a bachelors and masters degree not only did the students get to interact with renowned scientists and learn how to conduct field measurements in an incredible environment but their research also furthered the operations of the now active perseverance rover the time that champion and mason spent with the research team huddled in a small icelandic hut furthered the worlds understanding of geology here on earth and on other planets the opportunities texas a&m offers its students are extraordinary the question now is where will aggie geosciences students go next by drew davis texas a&m college of geosciences" " tangled sea turtle rescued during iodp expeditioncurrently working in the south atlantic the nsf-funded international ocean discovery program expedition saved a turtle while completing their engineering effortsmay 7 2021a sea turtle was recently rescued by iodp and joides resolution crew members (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)one lucky sea turtle tangled in fishing nets was recently rescued by crew members aboard the joides resolution sailing on international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 395e in the south atlantic ocean    texas a&m university operates the joides resolution on behalf of the national science foundation (nsf) and iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor one of the crew spotted the unidentified object in the water near the joides resolution said dr sandra herrmann iodp imaging specialist it drifted closer to the ship and they saw that the assembly of nets included a turtle was the turtle alive the crew watched and continued working to assist it they were unsure if the turtle was alive until it started moving she said once the net-creature-bundle kept drifting closer it reached an area they could get to with a rod the crew hooked the net and hauled it up on the side of the ship with an air-driven tugger (winch) they dragged it up close enough to free the turtle; then the turtle dropped back into the ocean started paddling and swam awaythe joides resolution docked in cape town at sunset (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)these members of the joides resolution crew recently rescued a sea turtle (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)the approximate location of the joides resolution the day of the sea turtle rescue (image: google maps)the joides resolution in transit during iodp expedition 395e (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)at the time the vessel was seven days transit from land the fact that this turtle rescue happened in the middle of the south atlantic illustrates how far from shore marine debris can affect wildlife iodp officials said iodp expedition 395e began in cape town south africa on april 6 and the crew is conducting engineering activities in the south atlantic to prepare drilling sites for expeditions taking place later this year the joides resolution crew illustrated their adaptability and creativity in solving problems once more through freeing this fortunate sea turtle said dr james f allan program director for the nsf ocean drilling program  a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary odl as and the vessel is chartered to the texas a&m research foundation in 2019 the national science board (nsb) authorized nsf to extend funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides resolution (jrso) as a facility of iodp through 2024 the agreement totaled more than $350 million over five years and is one of the largest federal research grants currently managed by texas a&m the iodp drilling platforms provide the only way for scientists to access the sediments and rocks that lay buried deep beneath the deep seafloor jrso director dr brad clement said these materials provide a rich archive of changes in the oceans and the planets climate as well as insights into how earths structure has evolved through time the joides resolution has been the workhorse of the international drilling programs conducting expeditions in each of the ocean basins the jrso is within the college of geosciences at texas a&m and one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is additionally housed at texas a&m by leslie lee " a sea turtle was recently rescued by iodp and joides resolution crew members (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso) "one lucky sea turtle tangled in fishing nets was recently rescued by crew members aboard the joides resolution sailing on international ocean discovery program (iodp) expedition 395e in the south atlantic ocean    texas a&m university operates the joides resolution on behalf of the national science foundation (nsf) and iodp is an international research collaboration that coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor one of the crew spotted the unidentified object in the water near the joides resolution said dr sandra herrmann iodp imaging specialist it drifted closer to the ship and they saw that the assembly of nets included a turtle was the turtle alive the crew watched and continued working to assist it they were unsure if the turtle was alive until it started moving she said once the net-creature-bundle kept drifting closer it reached an area they could get to with a rod the crew hooked the net and hauled it up on the side of the ship with an air-driven tugger (winch) they dragged it up close enough to free the turtle; then the turtle dropped back into the ocean started paddling and swam away" the joides resolution docked in cape town at sunset (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso)these members of the joides resolution crew recently rescued a sea turtle (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso) the approximate location of the joides resolution the day of the sea turtle rescue (image: google maps)the joides resolution in transit during iodp expedition 395e (credit: sandra herrmann iodp jrso) "at the time the vessel was seven days transit from land the fact that this turtle rescue happened in the middle of the south atlantic illustrates how far from shore marine debris can affect wildlife iodp officials said iodp expedition 395e began in cape town south africa on april 6 and the crew is conducting engineering activities in the south atlantic to prepare drilling sites for expeditions taking place later this year the joides resolution crew illustrated their adaptability and creativity in solving problems once more through freeing this fortunate sea turtle said dr james f allan program director for the nsf ocean drilling program  a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary odl as and the vessel is chartered to the texas a&m research foundation in 2019 the national science board (nsb) authorized nsf to extend funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides resolution (jrso) as a facility of iodp through 2024 the agreement totaled more than $350 million over five years and is one of the largest federal research grants currently managed by texas a&m the iodp drilling platforms provide the only way for scientists to access the sediments and rocks that lay buried deep beneath the deep seafloor jrso director dr brad clement said these materials provide a rich archive of changes in the oceans and the planets climate as well as insights into how earths structure has evolved through time the joides resolution has been the workhorse of the international drilling programs conducting expeditions in each of the ocean basins the jrso is within the college of geosciences at texas a&m and one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is additionally housed at texas a&m by leslie lee" " jason sylvan receives simons early career investigator awardthe texas a&m oceanographer was recently honored by the simons foundationmay 7 2021dr jason sylvan associate professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university recently received a simons early career investigator in marine microbial ecology and evolution award from the simons foundation this award provides support to launch the careers of outstanding investigators whose research will advance their field the foundation says dr sylvan is incredibly deserving of this award and it will undoubtedly help him advance understanding of the microbial ecology of hydrothermal vents said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head dr sylvan is an excellent mentor for his students and postdoctoral researchers and i anticipate this award will help him provide more support and mentoring opportunities for them sylvan is a microbial ecologist and biogeochemist whose research broadly focuses on interactions between marine microbes their environment and the feedback between the two the sylvan lab focuses on two broad topics: microbial ecology at and below the seafloor and the response of microbial communities to major perturbations these topics manifest as studies of microbial ecology below the seafloor often in collaboration with the international ocean discovery program (iodp); microbial ecology of hydrothermal vent ecosystems; oil spill microbiology; and the response of coral ecosystems to disturbance his lab combines traditional microbiology methods such as culturing and microscopy with cutting-edge molecular biology analyses bioassays to quantify rates of metabolic processes and biogeochemical measurements to generate interdisciplinary insight into marine microbiology  sylvan graduated from brandeis university with a bs in biology and received his ms and phd in biological oceanography from rutgers university where he studied coastal bottom-water dead zones that result from excess nutrient runoff he then conducted postdoctoral research focused on seafloor geomicrobiology in the department of biological sciences at the university of southern california sylvan was a 2016 kavli fellow and a 2016 iodp ocean discovery lecturer and he received the texas a&m geosciences deans distinguished achievement innovative educator award in 2018 the simons foundations mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences and it supports research by making grants to individual investigators and their projects through academic institutions  by leslie lee " "dr jason sylvan associate professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university recently received a simons early career investigator in marine microbial ecology and evolution award from the simons foundation this award provides support to launch the careers of outstanding investigators whose research will advance their field the foundation says dr sylvan is incredibly deserving of this award and it will undoubtedly help him advance understanding of the microbial ecology of hydrothermal vents said dr shari yvon-lewis texas a&m oceanography department head dr sylvan is an excellent mentor for his students and postdoctoral researchers and i anticipate this award will help him provide more support and mentoring opportunities for them sylvan is a microbial ecologist and biogeochemist whose research broadly focuses on interactions between marine microbes their environment and the feedback between the two the sylvan lab focuses on two broad topics: microbial ecology at and below the seafloor and the response of microbial communities to major perturbations these topics manifest as studies of microbial ecology below the seafloor often in collaboration with the international ocean discovery program (iodp); microbial ecology of hydrothermal vent ecosystems; oil spill microbiology; and the response of coral ecosystems to disturbance his lab combines traditional microbiology methods such as culturing and microscopy with cutting-edge molecular biology analyses bioassays to quantify rates of metabolic processes and biogeochemical measurements to generate interdisciplinary insight into marine microbiology  sylvan graduated from brandeis university with a bs in biology and received his ms and phd in biological oceanography from rutgers university where he studied coastal bottom-water dead zones that result from excess nutrient runoff he then conducted postdoctoral research focused on seafloor geomicrobiology in the department of biological sciences at the university of southern california sylvan was a 2016 kavli fellow and a 2016 iodp ocean discovery lecturer and he received the texas a&m geosciences deans distinguished achievement innovative educator award in 2018 the simons foundations mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences and it supports research by making grants to individual investigators and their projects through academic institutions  by leslie lee" " iseaturtle app expands to track turtles over the entire texas coastfollowing a successful period of tracking sea turtles in matagorda bay the turtle sighting app is expanding to cover the texas coast thanks to a partnership between texas sea grant and turtle island restoration network may 3 2021photo by dr pamela plotkinsea turtle lovers and citizen scientists along the texas coast have an opportunity to provide scientists at texas a&m university with critical data to understand the distribution of sea turtles in texas the iseaturtle app allows anyone with a smartphone to alert scientists when they see a sea turtle in texas waters the iseaturtle app was originally created by the lab of dr pamela plotkin professor and texas sea grant director to assist with an ecosystem assessment of matagorda bay sponsored by the texas office of the comptroller which would aid the development of science-based solutions to benefit the economy and environment including sea turtles though partnership with turtle island restoration network (tirn) the app has expanded its coverage to track turtle sightings over all of texas coast ""turtle island restoration network is thrilled to be part of the iseaturtle app to gather critical data on sea turtles in gulf waters stated joanie steinhaus gulf program director of turtle island restoration network ""knowing the locations of sea turtles will help scientists save turtles from going extinct and we hope every texan will support these paramount efforts"" texas is home to five species of threatened and endangered turtles including texas official state sea turtle the kemps ridley sea turtles feed in texas bays and estuaries and the gulf of mexico waters they are often seen near or in seagrass oyster beds jetties piers and other hard structure-like reefs which provide ample opportunities for sea turtles to be sighted from boats according to plotkin the creation of the app was inspired by the knowledge fishermen had about where to find sea turtles recalling a day working in the field plotkin said every fisherman stopped by to watch us attach location transmitters to turtles and they each had a sea turtle story to tell that day i realized that the fishermen had information about sea turtles they wanted to share with us and they were eager to learn more and play a role in the project i decided that we needed to do something to get them involved following its launch in 2020 the app received numerous logs of sea turtle sightings from fishermen and citizen scientists alike prompting the desire to grow the app to gather data from the entire texas coast its our way of giving back to the community which is something the texas office of the state comptroller wanted us to do plotkin said instructions on how to download and use the app and an up-to-date map of sea turtle sightings is available at txag/iseaturtle   ### texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 34 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources turtle island restoration network is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore populations of endangered sea turtles and marine biodiversity on the texas coast and throughout the gulf of mexico learn more at https://seaturtlesorg/our-work/where-we-work/gulf-of-mexico/   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442 joanie steinhaus gulf program director turtle island restoration network joanie@tirnnet 409-795-8426    by sara carney '13 '16 " "sea turtle lovers and citizen scientists along the texas coast have an opportunity to provide scientists at texas a&m university with critical data to understand the distribution of sea turtles in texas the iseaturtle app allows anyone with a smartphone to alert scientists when they see a sea turtle in texas waters the iseaturtle app was originally created by the lab of dr pamela plotkin professor and texas sea grant director to assist with an ecosystem assessment of matagorda bay sponsored by the texas office of the comptroller which would aid the development of science-based solutions to benefit the economy and environment including sea turtles though partnership with turtle island restoration network (tirn) the app has expanded its coverage to track turtle sightings over all of texas coast ""turtle island restoration network is thrilled to be part of the iseaturtle app to gather critical data on sea turtles in gulf waters stated joanie steinhaus gulf program director of turtle island restoration network ""knowing the locations of sea turtles will help scientists save turtles from going extinct and we hope every texan will support these paramount efforts"" texas is home to five species of threatened and endangered turtles including texas official state sea turtle the kemps ridley sea turtles feed in texas bays and estuaries and the gulf of mexico waters they are often seen near or in seagrass oyster beds jetties piers and other hard structure-like reefs which provide ample opportunities for sea turtles to be sighted from boats according to plotkin the creation of the app was inspired by the knowledge fishermen had about where to find sea turtles recalling a day working in the field plotkin said every fisherman stopped by to watch us attach location transmitters to turtles and they each had a sea turtle story to tell that day i realized that the fishermen had information about sea turtles they wanted to share with us and they were eager to learn more and play a role in the project i decided that we needed to do something to get them involved following its launch in 2020 the app received numerous logs of sea turtle sightings from fishermen and citizen scientists alike prompting the desire to grow the app to gather data from the entire texas coast its our way of giving back to the community which is something the texas office of the state comptroller wanted us to do plotkin said instructions on how to download and use the app and an up-to-date map of sea turtle sightings is available at txag/iseaturtle   ### texas sea grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government the state of texas and universities across the state to create knowledge tools products and services that benefit the economy the environment and the citizens of texas it is administered through the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and is one of 34 university-based sea grant programs around the country texas sea grant is a non-academic research center in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the programs mission is to improve the understanding wise use and stewardship of texas coastal and marine resources turtle island restoration network is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore populations of endangered sea turtles and marine biodiversity on the texas coast and throughout the gulf of mexico learn more at https://seaturtlesorg/our-work/where-we-work/gulf-of-mexico/   media contact: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant scarney@tamuedu 979-458-8442 joanie steinhaus gulf program director turtle island restoration network joanie@tirnnet 409-795-8426    by sara carney '13 '16" " new oceanography undergraduate scholarship endowed by hal schadethe peni m basse memorial scholarship in oceanography will help support students for decades to comeapr 27 2021hal schade (center) funded an entire cruise for texas a&m oceanography students in 2019 (photo by chris mouchyn)hal schade 67 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation)the texas a&m university department of oceanographys undergraduate program was established in 2017 and the class of 2022 was the very first freshman class at texas a&m to include oceanography majors scholarships available for oceanography students are key supports needed for the program to continue to grow and thrive and thanks to a generous gift from hal schade 67 there is now more scholarship funding available to oceanography students in january schade endowed the peni m basse memorial scholarship in oceanography in honor of his late sister he designated the funds specifically for undergraduate scholarships we are honored by mr schades gift and are thrilled about the impact it will have on future oceanographers said texas a&m oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis this experience will help them determine their paths going forward and will help shape how they will change the world giving that changes the world my sister passed away in december 2020 and she had a real affinity for the ocean and all the creatures in it so i chose to honor her memory with the naming of this scholarship schade said  when looking to endow the fund schade collaborated with oceanography leadership to determine the most impactful use for it and together they chose to designate it for scholarships supporting undergraduate students endowed scholarships directly benefit aggies because they allow the student to have relieved financial pressure focus more on academic pursuits and graduate with fewer debts as texas a&m oceanography students look forward to rewarding careers schade said that his advice for current aggies centers on flexibility imagine your career on a white-board you on one side and your goal on the other side; you want to draw a straight line to your goal but thats not how life works he said it will zig-zag up and down stop and startthose will be different jobs and opportunities before this goal dont be frustrated if you cant get straight to your goal in fact sometimes you may not advance sometimes you may go back but youll recover have patience and follow your opportunities schade reflected on his career path zigging and zagging many times ultimately leading him to a career that was rewarding and long-lasting schade graduated from texas a&m in 1967 with a bachelors degree in journalism he then served 12 years of active duty in the us army and retired as a colonel in the army reserves with 28 years of total service he also headed the public relations department at usaa for 16 years until his retirement there in 2000 my advice is set your sights on a goal but do not expect to go directly to the goal he said its going to be a journey take what life gives you and make the best of it a passion for texas a&m and the ocean  schade has been supporting texas a&m and texas a&m oceanography for years leaving a legacy of lives changed for the better in 2003 schade followed his two passions sailing and photography and spent the next six years in the western caribbean with his boat  griffin in 2009 he moved to college station and renewed his involvement with financially giving to texas a&m  in 2019 twelve oceanography students had the remarkable opportunity to spend four days at sea conducting research in the gulf of mexico may 23-26 aboard the r/v point sur the entire cruise was funded thanks to a generous gift from schade given in honor of his parents colonel tom and sue mathews learn more about supporting the college of geosciences by leslie lee " hal schade (center) funded an entire cruise for texas a&m oceanography students in 2019 (photo by chris mouchyn)hal schade 67 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m foundation) "the texas a&m university department of oceanographys undergraduate program was established in 2017 and the class of 2022 was the very first freshman class at texas a&m to include oceanography majors scholarships available for oceanography students are key supports needed for the program to continue to grow and thrive and thanks to a generous gift from hal schade 67 there is now more scholarship funding available to oceanography students in january schade endowed the peni m basse memorial scholarship in oceanography in honor of his late sister he designated the funds specifically for undergraduate scholarships we are honored by mr schades gift and are thrilled about the impact it will have on future oceanographers said texas a&m oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis this experience will help them determine their paths going forward and will help shape how they will change the world giving that changes the world my sister passed away in december 2020 and she had a real affinity for the ocean and all the creatures in it so i chose to honor her memory with the naming of this scholarship schade said  when looking to endow the fund schade collaborated with oceanography leadership to determine the most impactful use for it and together they chose to designate it for scholarships supporting undergraduate students endowed scholarships directly benefit aggies because they allow the student to have relieved financial pressure focus more on academic pursuits and graduate with fewer debts as texas a&m oceanography students look forward to rewarding careers schade said that his advice for current aggies centers on flexibility imagine your career on a white-board you on one side and your goal on the other side; you want to draw a straight line to your goal but thats not how life works he said it will zig-zag up and down stop and startthose will be different jobs and opportunities before this goal dont be frustrated if you cant get straight to your goal in fact sometimes you may not advance sometimes you may go back but youll recover have patience and follow your opportunities schade reflected on his career path zigging and zagging many times ultimately leading him to a career that was rewarding and long-lasting schade graduated from texas a&m in 1967 with a bachelors degree in journalism he then served 12 years of active duty in the us army and retired as a colonel in the army reserves with 28 years of total service he also headed the public relations department at usaa for 16 years until his retirement there in 2000 my advice is set your sights on a goal but do not expect to go directly to the goal he said its going to be a journey take what life gives you and make the best of it a passion for texas a&m and the ocean  schade has been supporting texas a&m and texas a&m oceanography for years leaving a legacy of lives changed for the better in 2003 schade followed his two passions sailing and photography and spent the next six years in the western caribbean with his boat  griffin in 2009 he moved to college station and renewed his involvement with financially giving to texas a&m  in 2019 twelve oceanography students had the remarkable opportunity to spend four days at sea conducting research in the gulf of mexico may 23-26 aboard the r/v point sur the entire cruise was funded thanks to a generous gift from schade given in honor of his parents colonel tom and sue mathews learn more about supporting the college of geosciences by leslie lee" " texas a&m former students and scientists contribute to first flight on marsaggie geoscientists played a crucial role in the development of the mars rover perseverance and its helicopter companion ingenuityapr 26 2021nasas ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades allowing them to spin freely on april 7 2021 the 47th martian day or sol of the mission this image was captured by the mastcam-z imager aboard nasas perseverance mars rover on the following sol april 8 2021 (image: nasa/jpl-caltech)in what has been described as a wright brothers moment the first-ever powered flight by an aircraft on another planet was made monday by the mini-helicopter named ingenuity a project several former texas a&m university students  who now work at nasa have been involved in for years the mars rover perseverance landed on the red planet feb 18 and its mission is to conduct tests on soil air terrain and take plenty of photographic images the rover carried ingenuity which flew about 10 feet off the ground for 39 seconds almost the same as the wright brothers first flight in 1903 in north carolina three texas a&m graduates played key roles in the flight from their offices at nasas jet propulsion laboratory (jpl) in pasadena calif keri bean who earned her bachelors degree in meteorology from texas a&m in 2010 and her masters in atmospheric sciences in 2013 is rover planner deputy team lead and an m2020 helicopter integration engineer she played a key role in the helicopter flight and works with both the helicopter and mars rover teams while the helicopter team develops their flights we interface with the rover teams on the helicopter teams behalf she said so we work with the imaging teams making sure helicopter activities are reflected in the rover planning tools and more this represents a fantastic step forward in the path of solar system exploration ingenuity is the first powered controlled flight on another planet the sojourner rover led to all of the amazing rovers were familiar with now like opportunity and curiosity and ingenuity is that first step toward future aerial craft on other planets chris salvo class of 90 is another former student who helped in the ingenuity flight my role with regards to the helicopter was on the perseverance side he said i managed the rover mechanical subsystem development which included the rover chassis mobility and remote sensing mast along with the mars helicopter delivery system (mhds) which cradled and protected the helicopter on its journey to mars then deployed the helicopter on the surface it proved to be a very difficult task to implement this highly integrated system to safely deliver this lightweight and fragile helicopter to mars he said it took the total commitment of both the helicopter team and the mhds team to make it work bob deen class of 87 is a major player in developing the images on perseverance he serves as a data scientist and lead developer for image processing – called instrument data system or ids at the jpl my job is to process images from all the cameras on the perseverance rover and this includes making mosaics and doing stereo image analysis to build 3d models of the terrain as well as general image processing archiving and applying proper calibration he said as part of this role i am peripherally involved in the ingenuity helicopter deen helped with flight zone selection and adapted some programs he originally helped write for a previous project called insight that characterized where it would be safe to land taking into account surface roughness and tilt of the terrain these programs were used as part of the site selection process he said deen also wrote the program that converts the images from the helicopter into the standard format used by the rest of the cameras on the mission the helicopter team itself does the initial extraction of the images but i put them into a form where the broader perseverance team can access them he said finally i am the lead for archiving the helicopter images to pds – the planetary data system – where they will be available to researchers and the general public alike for posterity even this limited involvement has been incredibly exciting and im proud to have played a small role in this most historic project we make a lot of history at jpl but this is the coolest one in a long time in addition  dr michael tice and dr marion nachon both associate research scientists in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics  are part of the perseverance rover mission on mars tice said that although he and nachon were not directly involved in the helicopter ride the event marks a red-letter day for space technology ingenuitys flight is an amazing first achievement that opens up a whole new route for exploring mars in future missions tice said many of us are now imagining future crewed or robotic missions enhanced by drone assistants that will allow us to map out martian features that are hard to fully explore from the ground or see at high enough resolution from space the scientific implications for future missions are enormous nasa officials said that in homage to the wright brothers a piece of the original fabric taken from their plane that made the first flight in kitty hawk nc on dec 17 1903 was attached to ingenuity by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing and communications " nasas ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades allowing them to spin freely on april 7 2021 the 47th martian day or sol of the mission this image was captured by the mastcam-z imager aboard nasas perseverance mars rover on the following sol april 8 2021 (image: nasa/jpl-caltech) "in what has been described as a wright brothers moment the first-ever powered flight by an aircraft on another planet was made monday by the mini-helicopter named ingenuity a project several former texas a&m university students  who now work at nasa have been involved in for years the mars rover perseverance landed on the red planet feb 18 and its mission is to conduct tests on soil air terrain and take plenty of photographic images the rover carried ingenuity which flew about 10 feet off the ground for 39 seconds almost the same as the wright brothers first flight in 1903 in north carolina three texas a&m graduates played key roles in the flight from their offices at nasas jet propulsion laboratory (jpl) in pasadena calif keri bean who earned her bachelors degree in meteorology from texas a&m in 2010 and her masters in atmospheric sciences in 2013 is rover planner deputy team lead and an m2020 helicopter integration engineer she played a key role in the helicopter flight and works with both the helicopter and mars rover teams while the helicopter team develops their flights we interface with the rover teams on the helicopter teams behalf she said so we work with the imaging teams making sure helicopter activities are reflected in the rover planning tools and more this represents a fantastic step forward in the path of solar system exploration ingenuity is the first powered controlled flight on another planet the sojourner rover led to all of the amazing rovers were familiar with now like opportunity and curiosity and ingenuity is that first step toward future aerial craft on other planets chris salvo class of 90 is another former student who helped in the ingenuity flight my role with regards to the helicopter was on the perseverance side he said i managed the rover mechanical subsystem development which included the rover chassis mobility and remote sensing mast along with the mars helicopter delivery system (mhds) which cradled and protected the helicopter on its journey to mars then deployed the helicopter on the surface it proved to be a very difficult task to implement this highly integrated system to safely deliver this lightweight and fragile helicopter to mars he said it took the total commitment of both the helicopter team and the mhds team to make it work bob deen class of 87 is a major player in developing the images on perseverance he serves as a data scientist and lead developer for image processing – called instrument data system or ids at the jpl my job is to process images from all the cameras on the perseverance rover and this includes making mosaics and doing stereo image analysis to build 3d models of the terrain as well as general image processing archiving and applying proper calibration he said as part of this role i am peripherally involved in the ingenuity helicopter deen helped with flight zone selection and adapted some programs he originally helped write for a previous project called insight that characterized where it would be safe to land taking into account surface roughness and tilt of the terrain these programs were used as part of the site selection process he said deen also wrote the program that converts the images from the helicopter into the standard format used by the rest of the cameras on the mission the helicopter team itself does the initial extraction of the images but i put them into a form where the broader perseverance team can access them he said finally i am the lead for archiving the helicopter images to pds – the planetary data system – where they will be available to researchers and the general public alike for posterity even this limited involvement has been incredibly exciting and im proud to have played a small role in this most historic project we make a lot of history at jpl but this is the coolest one in a long time in addition  dr michael tice and dr marion nachon both associate research scientists in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics  are part of the perseverance rover mission on mars tice said that although he and nachon were not directly involved in the helicopter ride the event marks a red-letter day for space technology ingenuitys flight is an amazing first achievement that opens up a whole new route for exploring mars in future missions tice said many of us are now imagining future crewed or robotic missions enhanced by drone assistants that will allow us to map out martian features that are hard to fully explore from the ground or see at high enough resolution from space the scientific implications for future missions are enormous nasa officials said that in homage to the wright brothers a piece of the original fabric taken from their plane that made the first flight in kitty hawk nc on dec 17 1903 was attached to ingenuity by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing and communications" " geosciences students establish national association of black geoscientists chapter and host first eventthe black voices in geoscience virtual event was hosted by the new texas a&m chapter of nabg on april 20apr 23 2021black voices in the geosciences event graphic designed by peace ezegraduate students in the department of geology and geophysics recently established the  texas a&m university chapter of the national association of black geoscientists (nabg) chapter texas a&m nabg was founded this year by the organization president jessica mckay; vice-president peace eze; and treasurer kashauna mason; all of whom are graduate students in the department of geology and geophysics  texas a&m nabg hosted their first virtual event black voices in geosciences april 20 the event consisted of four talks from invited speakers followed by a 15-minute q&a panel with speakers and participants the featured speakers were dr raquel bryant from texas a&m joshua anadu from oklahoma state university tomieka searcy from bp and kashauna mason from texas a&m  mason spoke about her identities and her career path to become a phd student at texas a&m specializing in planetary geology she credited faculty mentoring during her undergraduate career with providing key research experience and crucial insight into how to apply to graduate school in geology  anadu introduced himself as a young scientist and provided an analysis of black people engaging in the outdoors along with the average financial costs of outdoor activities he proposed an exciting idea for decreasing barriers for black people and supporting engagement in the outdoors mason presents on her professional and academic career (photo courtesy of ali snell)anadu provides an analysis of the accessibility of the outdoors for black communities (photo courtesy of ali snell)searcy presented on her experience as a black geoscientist working in the private sector and how to utilize a professional development plan for professional success  always be open and honest with who you are deliver technically and be aware of the job opportunities out there searcy said  bryant spoke about her doctoral and post-doctoral research and the historical impact of dr randolph bromery the first black chancellor at university of massachusetts amherst bryant said that the lack of diversity in the geosciences must be addressed by looking at historical context intentionality and critical race theory  the second hour consisted of small group discussions centered around diversity equity and inclusion in the geosciences small groups discussed everything from what community means to them to finding key commonalities to offering personal and professional supportsearcy highlights the job board postings on the nabg webiste (photo courtesy of ali snell)bryant showcases the impact of dr randolph bromery and his invaluable work for stem black studies and an inclusive educational system (photo courtesy of ali snell)we were first inspired to form a nabg chapter at texas a&m because we wanted to develop a sense of community among the black geoscience population at the university said mckay as many people know the geosciences fields are significantly lacking in diversity meaning many students with minoritized identities may feel isolated or lack a sense of belonging i know this was the case with myself our hope in starting this nabg chapter is to offer that sense of community and place for students to feel like they belong while community building is our foundation we also hope to increase the number of culturally responsible geoscientists at texas a&m and to aid the college of geosciences in creating an inclusive equitable and diverse environment for all students she said our goals are to encourage leadership and fellowship among geoscience students inform students of scholarships grants and financial aid and provide career development programs and information to students eze said  if you are interested in becoming a nabg member you can email tamunabg@gmailcom membership and participation in nabg are open to all students anyone with an interest in creating a more inclusive culture within the geosciences community is welcome group photo the nabg black voices in geoscience event presenters and participants (photo courtesy of ali snell)nabg welcomes all! eze said social outreach and professional development activities provide great avenues for engagement before attending graduate school at texas a&m kashauna mason was a nabg member at her undergraduate institution she recounts greatly benefiting from her involvement as a nabg member my first nabg conference was the first time i saw many people who looked like me who were interested in the same thing i was geology! mason said there was an instant sense of community being in this environment with people who understood how out of place it could feel back in our respective institutions with this new chapter here at a&m i am excited to share the sense of belonging that i felt with nabg with others mason said i want other students to know that they belong here in this space the texas a&m nabg chapter aims to provide a community for geoscience students at the university  by ali snell " "graduate students in the department of geology and geophysics recently established the  texas a&m university chapter of the national association of black geoscientists (nabg) chapter texas a&m nabg was founded this year by the organization president jessica mckay; vice-president peace eze; and treasurer kashauna mason; all of whom are graduate students in the department of geology and geophysics  texas a&m nabg hosted their first virtual event black voices in geosciences april 20 the event consisted of four talks from invited speakers followed by a 15-minute q&a panel with speakers and participants the featured speakers were dr raquel bryant from texas a&m joshua anadu from oklahoma state university tomieka searcy from bp and kashauna mason from texas a&m  mason spoke about her identities and her career path to become a phd student at texas a&m specializing in planetary geology she credited faculty mentoring during her undergraduate career with providing key research experience and crucial insight into how to apply to graduate school in geology  anadu introduced himself as a young scientist and provided an analysis of black people engaging in the outdoors along with the average financial costs of outdoor activities he proposed an exciting idea for decreasing barriers for black people and supporting engagement in the outdoors " mason presents on her professional and academic career (photo courtesy of ali snell)anadu provides an analysis of the accessibility of the outdoors for black communities (photo courtesy of ali snell) "searcy presented on her experience as a black geoscientist working in the private sector and how to utilize a professional development plan for professional success  always be open and honest with who you are deliver technically and be aware of the job opportunities out there searcy said  bryant spoke about her doctoral and post-doctoral research and the historical impact of dr randolph bromery the first black chancellor at university of massachusetts amherst bryant said that the lack of diversity in the geosciences must be addressed by looking at historical context intentionality and critical race theory  the second hour consisted of small group discussions centered around diversity equity and inclusion in the geosciences small groups discussed everything from what community means to them to finding key commonalities to offering personal and professional support" searcy highlights the job board postings on the nabg webiste (photo courtesy of ali snell)bryant showcases the impact of dr randolph bromery and his invaluable work for stem black studies and an inclusive educational system (photo courtesy of ali snell) "we were first inspired to form a nabg chapter at texas a&m because we wanted to develop a sense of community among the black geoscience population at the university said mckay as many people know the geosciences fields are significantly lacking in diversity meaning many students with minoritized identities may feel isolated or lack a sense of belonging i know this was the case with myself our hope in starting this nabg chapter is to offer that sense of community and place for students to feel like they belong while community building is our foundation we also hope to increase the number of culturally responsible geoscientists at texas a&m and to aid the college of geosciences in creating an inclusive equitable and diverse environment for all students she said our goals are to encourage leadership and fellowship among geoscience students inform students of scholarships grants and financial aid and provide career development programs and information to students eze said  if you are interested in becoming a nabg member you can email tamunabg@gmailcom membership and participation in nabg are open to all students anyone with an interest in creating a more inclusive culture within the geosciences community is welcome " group photo the nabg black voices in geoscience event presenters and participants (photo courtesy of ali snell) "nabg welcomes all! eze said social outreach and professional development activities provide great avenues for engagement before attending graduate school at texas a&m kashauna mason was a nabg member at her undergraduate institution she recounts greatly benefiting from her involvement as a nabg member my first nabg conference was the first time i saw many people who looked like me who were interested in the same thing i was geology! mason said there was an instant sense of community being in this environment with people who understood how out of place it could feel back in our respective institutions with this new chapter here at a&m i am excited to share the sense of belonging that i felt with nabg with others mason said i want other students to know that they belong here in this space the texas a&m nabg chapter aims to provide a community for geoscience students at the university  by ali snell" " geox 2021 will be free virtual and open to all high school studentsapplications are due june 10 for the college of geosciences' exploration summer program to be held virtually june 21-july 2apr 22 2021mars rover perseverance on the surface of mars photo credit: nasa/jpl-caltechweather balloon launch photo credit: getty imagesthis summer the college of geosciences at texas a&m will virtually host its annual summer program introducing high school students to looking at the world through a science lens geosciences exploration summer program or geox is a summer program designed for high school students interested in science and the world around them students are given the unique opportunity to interact with faculty experts from the college and get a foundational understanding of the variety of ways someone can make a difference with a degree in geosciences geox 2021 will run from june 21 to july 2 and will provide students with non-stop presentations workshops tours and activities that will all be completed virtually and with the ability to join in from anywhere in the nation applications for the 2021 virtual geox are open for rising high school freshmen to entering texas a&m geosciences freshmen interested applicants should complete a geox application by june 10 judy nuñez director of recruitment for the college of geosciences leads the team that coordinates geox each summer due to concerns of health and safety due to the covid-19 pandemic last summer the geox program evolved into a two-week virtual event for the first time this summer the program will continue with the same virtual format but with a few special additions although geox 2021 will begin virtually there is a plan to create a companion geox experience early fall the details on the companion geox experience have not been formalized; however it could include the opportunity to sit in on classes work with faculty on research projects perform activities in our labs facility tours and much more only students who attend the virtual camp are eligible to participate in the companion event(s) i can honestly say that the virtual geox camp we held last summer was a huge success said judy nuñez we took students to costa rica; boone nc and the bp headquarters in houston  the faculty believe the experience was more geoscience-intensive than the residential camps we have had in the past i learned so much from the students in the process and continue to admire the ways they all have adapted to the current reality that is inching us all closer to that near-normal interested high school students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the geosciences right from their own homes led by texas a&m faculty experts geox presentations will travel virtually from the arctic to the antarctic into the trenches of the pacific ocean even to learning about rovers on mars students will have the opportunity to virtually launch a weather balloon talk to a paleontologist and do several hands-on activities with materials from around their homes while the main focus of geox is giving students an immersive look into the geosciences geox provides several opportunities to learn more about student life at texas a&m and the admission process to becoming an aggie geoscientist past presentations have included talking to texas a&m recruiters learning about life in the texas a&m corps of cadets and even a virtual yell practice with the aggie yell leaders geox also provides several opportunities over the course of the two weeks to learn from and to speak with former students about their careers after graduation more information about the geox program and application process can be found on the college of geosciences website " mars rover perseverance on the surface of mars photo credit: nasa/jpl-caltechweather balloon launch photo credit: getty images "this summer the college of geosciences at texas a&m will virtually host its annual summer program introducing high school students to looking at the world through a science lens geosciences exploration summer program or geox is a summer program designed for high school students interested in science and the world around them students are given the unique opportunity to interact with faculty experts from the college and get a foundational understanding of the variety of ways someone can make a difference with a degree in geosciences geox 2021 will run from june 21 to july 2 and will provide students with non-stop presentations workshops tours and activities that will all be completed virtually and with the ability to join in from anywhere in the nation applications for the 2021 virtual geox are open for rising high school freshmen to entering texas a&m geosciences freshmen interested applicants should complete a geox application by june 10 judy nuñez director of recruitment for the college of geosciences leads the team that coordinates geox each summer due to concerns of health and safety due to the covid-19 pandemic last summer the geox program evolved into a two-week virtual event for the first time this summer the program will continue with the same virtual format but with a few special additions although geox 2021 will begin virtually there is a plan to create a companion geox experience early fall the details on the companion geox experience have not been formalized; however it could include the opportunity to sit in on classes work with faculty on research projects perform activities in our labs facility tours and much more only students who attend the virtual camp are eligible to participate in the companion event(s) i can honestly say that the virtual geox camp we held last summer was a huge success said judy nuñez we took students to costa rica; boone nc and the bp headquarters in houston  the faculty believe the experience was more geoscience-intensive than the residential camps we have had in the past i learned so much from the students in the process and continue to admire the ways they all have adapted to the current reality that is inching us all closer to that near-normal interested high school students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the geosciences right from their own homes led by texas a&m faculty experts geox presentations will travel virtually from the arctic to the antarctic into the trenches of the pacific ocean even to learning about rovers on mars students will have the opportunity to virtually launch a weather balloon talk to a paleontologist and do several hands-on activities with materials from around their homes while the main focus of geox is giving students an immersive look into the geosciences geox provides several opportunities to learn more about student life at texas a&m and the admission process to becoming an aggie geoscientist past presentations have included talking to texas a&m recruiters learning about life in the texas a&m corps of cadets and even a virtual yell practice with the aggie yell leaders geox also provides several opportunities over the course of the two weeks to learn from and to speak with former students about their careers after graduation more information about the geox program and application process can be found on the college of geosciences website" " what if humans could communicate with whalesa new research project involving texas a&m university scientists and project ceti will study the vocalizations of sperm whalesapr 22 2021sperm whale mother and calf (photograph by © amanda cotton)the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) a center within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has announced a research program with project ceti the cetacean translation initiative to understand vocalizations of sperm whales off the west coast of dominica in the caribbean the research is funded by project ceti a non-profit organization texas a&m gergs role in the project is to build three massive buoys and moorings which gerg will deploy in between 2 000 and 2 500 meters of water the aggie scientists will also work with the university of haifa israel to develop acoustic monitoring systems within the buoys the large buoys are 26 meter-wide surface floats with acoustic monitoring systems throughout the top 1 200 meters new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will translate the clicks and other vocalizations into a language to understand what sperm whales are talking about said dr anthony knap director of gerg and the principal investigator at texas a&m for the project john walpert technical team lead for gerg will lead a team of engineers technicians and software engineers to design and construct the arrays gerg and texas a&m are excited to be part of this project and we were pleased to be approached to build these systems knap said the project lead principal investigator is dr david gruber presidential professor of biology and environmental science at city university of new york (cuny) gruber is also an explorer for national geographic discovered the first biofluorescent sea turtle and developed a ""shark-eye"" camera to gain a shark's perspective of the underwater world recent advances in engineering artificial intelligence (ai) biology and linguistics have brought scientists closer than ever to understanding the communication of other animals knap said the sperm whale is the animal with the largest brain and like humans it has a complex communication system and lives in tightly knit family groups he said the researchers believe they now have the tools to identify and translate the deep structure of their communicative patterns and to kick-start the path towards meaningful dialogue with another species the team said that they also aim to illustrate whales intelligence and the value of conservation actions project ceti is bringing together a unique team of accomplished scientists and technologists to study the communication of sperm whales this includes collaborators such as harvard university massachusetts institute of technology imperial college london haifa university university of california at berkeley and isi italy recent breakthroughs in ai and unsupervised machine translation have for the first time allowed researchers to interpret and translate between two unknown human languages without needing a rosetta stone or parallel structure the researchers said project ceti will build on these discoveries to provide the first-ever blueprint of another animals language gerg has decades of experience designing building and operating a wide array of remote and autonomous ocean observing systems throughout the world gerg operates the texas automated buoy network for the texas general land office and also operates a high frequency radar network on the texas coast gerg also operates a number of underwater autonomous systems such as buoyancy gliders and autonomous wave powered vehicles the buoyancy gliders have been recently used for measuring upper ocean heat content to get a better prediction of hurricane intensity  our work with the university of haifa israel in the development of themo the texas a&m haifa eastern mediterranean observatory has led to this opportunity with ceti knap said along with all of the ceti team i look forward to translating what the whales are saying! by the leslie lee " "the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) a center within the college of geosciences at texas a&m university has announced a research program with project ceti the cetacean translation initiative to understand vocalizations of sperm whales off the west coast of dominica in the caribbean the research is funded by project ceti a non-profit organization texas a&m gergs role in the project is to build three massive buoys and moorings which gerg will deploy in between 2 000 and 2 500 meters of water the aggie scientists will also work with the university of haifa israel to develop acoustic monitoring systems within the buoys the large buoys are 26 meter-wide surface floats with acoustic monitoring systems throughout the top 1 200 meters new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will translate the clicks and other vocalizations into a language to understand what sperm whales are talking about said dr anthony knap director of gerg and the principal investigator at texas a&m for the project john walpert technical team lead for gerg will lead a team of engineers technicians and software engineers to design and construct the arrays gerg and texas a&m are excited to be part of this project and we were pleased to be approached to build these systems knap said the project lead principal investigator is dr david gruber presidential professor of biology and environmental science at city university of new york (cuny) gruber is also an explorer for national geographic discovered the first biofluorescent sea turtle and developed a ""shark-eye"" camera to gain a shark's perspective of the underwater world recent advances in engineering artificial intelligence (ai) biology and linguistics have brought scientists closer than ever to understanding the communication of other animals knap said the sperm whale is the animal with the largest brain and like humans it has a complex communication system and lives in tightly knit family groups he said the researchers believe they now have the tools to identify and translate the deep structure of their communicative patterns and to kick-start the path towards meaningful dialogue with another species the team said that they also aim to illustrate whales intelligence and the value of conservation actions project ceti is bringing together a unique team of accomplished scientists and technologists to study the communication of sperm whales this includes collaborators such as harvard university massachusetts institute of technology imperial college london haifa university university of california at berkeley and isi italy recent breakthroughs in ai and unsupervised machine translation have for the first time allowed researchers to interpret and translate between two unknown human languages without needing a rosetta stone or parallel structure the researchers said project ceti will build on these discoveries to provide the first-ever blueprint of another animals language gerg has decades of experience designing building and operating a wide array of remote and autonomous ocean observing systems throughout the world gerg operates the texas automated buoy network for the texas general land office and also operates a high frequency radar network on the texas coast gerg also operates a number of underwater autonomous systems such as buoyancy gliders and autonomous wave powered vehicles the buoyancy gliders have been recently used for measuring upper ocean heat content to get a better prediction of hurricane intensity  our work with the university of haifa israel in the development of themo the texas a&m haifa eastern mediterranean observatory has led to this opportunity with ceti knap said along with all of the ceti team i look forward to translating what the whales are saying! by the leslie lee" " oceanography graduate student awarded schlanger ocean drilling fellowshiptexas a&m oceanography graduate student ronnakrit rattanasriampaipong was selected as a recipient of iodps schlanger ocean drilling fellowshipapr 21 2021along with six other students around the country ronnakrit rattanasriampaipong a phd student in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography was recently awarded the schlanger ocean drilling fellowship award from the international ocean discovery program (iodp) for 2021-2022 schlanger fellows are selected by the us science support program (usssp) of the iodp based on one-year research proposals submitted by applicants rattanasriampaipongs research intends to reconstruct sea surface temperatures for certain parts of the global oceans over approximately the last 66 million years the cenozoic era to accomplish this he will have to analyze sediment cores taken from various places in the global oceans that date back through that time frame part of the reason is to do better climate projections for climate modeling techniques people need long-term records rattanasriampaipong says instrumental climate records are only about a century old there are very few studies that provide long-term continuous data on sea surface temperature and his goal is to find places in the global oceans that can help fill in the gaps in this data he said we have several studies that studied very specific time intervals in the past with a higher resolution in details which is nice we lack the continuous picture of how our sea surface temperature evolved over the last 66 million years the $30 000 fellowship award is for a 12-month period at the end of which he will be able to attend a meeting of the us advisory committee for scientific ocean drilling (usac) to present his initial results and take part in usssp activities rattanasriampaipong praised his advisor dr yige zhang and his committee member dr ethan grossman professor in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics for their support since all of the samples for these experiments are coming from iodp themselves i would like to thank them for providing samples rattanasriampaipong says he expects this project to contribute to his dissertation and hopes to propose future projects to the national science foundation or nasa by justin agan ‘18 " "along with six other students around the country ronnakrit rattanasriampaipong a phd student in texas a&m universitys department of oceanography was recently awarded the schlanger ocean drilling fellowship award from the international ocean discovery program (iodp) for 2021-2022 schlanger fellows are selected by the us science support program (usssp) of the iodp based on one-year research proposals submitted by applicants rattanasriampaipongs research intends to reconstruct sea surface temperatures for certain parts of the global oceans over approximately the last 66 million years the cenozoic era to accomplish this he will have to analyze sediment cores taken from various places in the global oceans that date back through that time frame part of the reason is to do better climate projections for climate modeling techniques people need long-term records rattanasriampaipong says instrumental climate records are only about a century old there are very few studies that provide long-term continuous data on sea surface temperature and his goal is to find places in the global oceans that can help fill in the gaps in this data he said we have several studies that studied very specific time intervals in the past with a higher resolution in details which is nice we lack the continuous picture of how our sea surface temperature evolved over the last 66 million years the $30 000 fellowship award is for a 12-month period at the end of which he will be able to attend a meeting of the us advisory committee for scientific ocean drilling (usac) to present his initial results and take part in usssp activities rattanasriampaipong praised his advisor dr yige zhang and his committee member dr ethan grossman professor in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics for their support since all of the samples for these experiments are coming from iodp themselves i would like to thank them for providing samples rattanasriampaipong says he expects this project to contribute to his dissertation and hopes to propose future projects to the national science foundation or nasa by justin agan ‘18" " student forecasters keep aggieland weather-awaremeteorology students gain unique experience providing broadcasted forecasts to local radio and tv stationsapr 21 2021video stills courtesy of texas a&m marketing and communicationsat the top of the texas a&m university campus student weather forecasters in the department of atmospheric sciences make sure that aggieland gets essential information: an accurate daily weather forecast students broadcast weather forecasts using television radio and social media videos on twitter and facebook this hands-on experience gives texas a&m meteorology students an invaluable leg-up in the atmospheric sciences job market which is both growing and competitive recent graduates need a diverse portfolio of education and experience engaging with aspects of the operational work meteorologists are expected to do professors say and thats just what they get at texas a&m on-air experience for aggies the atmospheric sciences department provides a fully equipped broadcast facility for students to practice presenting their weather forecasts in a simulated broadcast environment this studio is co-located with the texas a&m radar facility (adrad) giving students access to up-to-date observations of the local area during precipitation events as well   the studio and radar lab are there to provide students not only with practice broadcasts for the atmo 461 broadcast meteorology course but also for producing a portfolio reel for their resume as the forecasts are submitted to and presented by local tv and radio stations on the radio students provide 30-second forecasts for fm stations 909 kamu in college station and 905 ktrl in stephenville for the mornings and evenings every day from monday to friday which are presented the following day hourly filmed forecasts also started broadcasting on local tv station kamu-tv in 2020 and the stations pbs kids channel as well the filmed forecasts also give students the opportunity to work with green screens and video editing all of the forecasts are also available on twitter and facebook students are encouraged to make use of the broadcasting booth early on both by professors such as dr don conlee instructional professor and undergraduate mentor or from other students such as senior broadcast coordinator jeanette gallardo or junior broadcast coordinator abby thornton my biggest piece of advice for incoming meteorology undergraduates is to simply get involved within the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and try something new gallardo says through there you can join tamu weather broadcasting texas aggie storm chasers participate in a mentoring program gain valuable knowledge about the field and connect with other students and professionals she sets the schedules for the broadcasts trains students on using the broadcasting and production equipment and manages the aggie weather social media accounts that highlight student forecasts along with mia montgomery a recent graduate who is now a meteorologist at kbtx gallardo got the tv portion of the local broadcasts up and running last spring and now acts as a liaison between the local stations and the student forecasters first-year students get hands-on experience kenzie allen first learned about the broadcast facility when she attended geox in 2019 and started making forecasts almost immediately after starting her freshman year meteorology is something ive always been interested in she said but i am still unsure of the specific career endeavors i want to pursue after graduating broadcast meteorology is one of those options so this is giving me a great opportunity to learn the basic skills that are associated with it"" elizabeth ohlemacher a transfer student who came to texas a&m for its meteorology program hadnt intended to study broadcast meteorology at all honestly i never intended to do anything with broadcasting she said but when i heard about it i thought it would be a good way to meet new people and to get something on my resume she was introduced to the broadcast booth through her atmo 201 course as well as it being suggested for new students by tamscams she wasnt necessarily interested in broadcast meteorology specifically but is interested in making forecasting her long-term career i personally want to be a forecaster for nws or a company she says but remains open to what broadcast meteorology has to offer and has become aware of the skills it takes to be a successful broadcast meteorologist turning childhood dreams into successful careers effrage davis-hester a recent graduate said shes been her familys designated weather forecaster for years i was a kid when i saw my first tornado in oklahoma and that drove me learn everything that i possibly could about the weather in order to stay safe she says it was my job to let my family know when and where we should be expecting any type of precipitation she said she didnt initially know about texas a&ms forecasting program but quickly jumped on it in the fall of 2018 when local broadcasts were radio only she said that forecasting for such a long time has helped her experience forecasting a large variety of different weather conditions like gallardo allen and ohlemacher davis-hester is interested in forecasting as a career and her experience at texas a&m is likely to help her in the future  gallardo credits the weather broadcasting program with providing her with several opportunities those opportunities include presenting research about bilingual broadcast meteorology getting internships networking and currently to serve as the student technician for the atmo 461 class she says as a second-year broadcast coordinator i have also gained valuable leadership and management experience as well most importantly though i've been able to build amazing friendships with the people i've met through the program making the forecasts we can really feel those spring temperatures this week! and those april showers grab an umbrella and raincoat on friday if you need to brave the storm @wxannajohnson has your forecast pictwittercom/ehqvt5afxu texas a&m weather broadcasting (@tamuweather) april 21 2021 nowadays broadcast meteorologists dont simply re-package nws forecasts for their area but make their own forecasts using the same data and knowledge that general forecasters working with the nws use part of the process of the meteorology undergraduate program is learning those tools and how to apply them to the process of forecasting often underclassmen use the nws forecasts as a basis for their own however as they take courses and gain a better understanding of atmospheric dynamics and the intricacies of weather forecast models their ability to make their own independent forecasts grows to make my forecasts i use [nws] hourly weather forecast graphs for the daily allen says in my atmospheric science classes im learning about the tools that i use in my forecasts so its been a great way to apply my knowledge and familiarize myself with tools that i will be using in my future career davis-hester makes use of the college of dupages weather tools for her forecasts which is a collection of various atmospheric observations and forecast models she also uses garp and awips rendering software for observational and forecast data created by unidata that are similar to the programs used by national weather service forecasters; texas a&m provides licenses for these programs for students to use i still follow the same 5 basic steps of forecasting that was taught in atmo 203 she said those five steps are the basic process that all students at texas a&m are taught to frame their forecasts it starts with big picture questions: what are the large-scale conditions affecting a given area and how are they expected to change in the coming days after that what were the conditions in a specific forecast region why were they as they were and are they expected to continue or is there a weather system approaching that could change things then the process starts to focus on more specific questions such as whether clouds and precipitation will be present and if so how much; what the expected temperature range would be and why are those temperatures expected; and finally whether your forecast matches with forecast models and model operational statistics (mos) are suggesting and if not why through this students touch on the majority of the weather conditions that will affect a given area and can assess how their forecasts match up with guidance the latter is an especially useful skill in forecasting and by practicing with a variety of locations such as through the weather challengea national weather forecasting competitionstudents can hone their forecast skills and be well-prepared for forecasting well-beyond their texas a&m undergraduate careers by david coates " "at the top of the texas a&m university campus student weather forecasters in the department of atmospheric sciences make sure that aggieland gets essential information: an accurate daily weather forecast students broadcast weather forecasts using television radio and social media videos on twitter and facebook this hands-on experience gives texas a&m meteorology students an invaluable leg-up in the atmospheric sciences job market which is both growing and competitive recent graduates need a diverse portfolio of education and experience engaging with aspects of the operational work meteorologists are expected to do professors say and thats just what they get at texas a&m on-air experience for aggies the atmospheric sciences department provides a fully equipped broadcast facility for students to practice presenting their weather forecasts in a simulated broadcast environment this studio is co-located with the texas a&m radar facility (adrad) giving students access to up-to-date observations of the local area during precipitation events as well   the studio and radar lab are there to provide students not only with practice broadcasts for the atmo 461 broadcast meteorology course but also for producing a portfolio reel for their resume as the forecasts are submitted to and presented by local tv and radio stations on the radio students provide 30-second forecasts for fm stations 909 kamu in college station and 905 ktrl in stephenville for the mornings and evenings every day from monday to friday which are presented the following day hourly filmed forecasts also started broadcasting on local tv station kamu-tv in 2020 and the stations pbs kids channel as well the filmed forecasts also give students the opportunity to work with green screens and video editing all of the forecasts are also available on twitter and facebook students are encouraged to make use of the broadcasting booth early on both by professors such as dr don conlee instructional professor and undergraduate mentor or from other students such as senior broadcast coordinator jeanette gallardo or junior broadcast coordinator abby thornton my biggest piece of advice for incoming meteorology undergraduates is to simply get involved within the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) and try something new gallardo says through there you can join tamu weather broadcasting texas aggie storm chasers participate in a mentoring program gain valuable knowledge about the field and connect with other students and professionals she sets the schedules for the broadcasts trains students on using the broadcasting and production equipment and manages the aggie weather social media accounts that highlight student forecasts along with mia montgomery a recent graduate who is now a meteorologist at kbtx gallardo got the tv portion of the local broadcasts up and running last spring and now acts as a liaison between the local stations and the student forecasters first-year students get hands-on experience kenzie allen first learned about the broadcast facility when she attended geox in 2019 and started making forecasts almost immediately after starting her freshman year meteorology is something ive always been interested in she said but i am still unsure of the specific career endeavors i want to pursue after graduating broadcast meteorology is one of those options so this is giving me a great opportunity to learn the basic skills that are associated with it"" elizabeth ohlemacher a transfer student who came to texas a&m for its meteorology program hadnt intended to study broadcast meteorology at all honestly i never intended to do anything with broadcasting she said but when i heard about it i thought it would be a good way to meet new people and to get something on my resume she was introduced to the broadcast booth through her atmo 201 course as well as it being suggested for new students by tamscams she wasnt necessarily interested in broadcast meteorology specifically but is interested in making forecasting her long-term career i personally want to be a forecaster for nws or a company she says but remains open to what broadcast meteorology has to offer and has become aware of the skills it takes to be a successful broadcast meteorologist turning childhood dreams into successful careers effrage davis-hester a recent graduate said shes been her familys designated weather forecaster for years i was a kid when i saw my first tornado in oklahoma and that drove me learn everything that i possibly could about the weather in order to stay safe she says it was my job to let my family know when and where we should be expecting any type of precipitation she said she didnt initially know about texas a&ms forecasting program but quickly jumped on it in the fall of 2018 when local broadcasts were radio only she said that forecasting for such a long time has helped her experience forecasting a large variety of different weather conditions like gallardo allen and ohlemacher davis-hester is interested in forecasting as a career and her experience at texas a&m is likely to help her in the future  gallardo credits the weather broadcasting program with providing her with several opportunities those opportunities include presenting research about bilingual broadcast meteorology getting internships networking and currently to serve as the student technician for the atmo 461 class she says as a second-year broadcast coordinator i have also gained valuable leadership and management experience as well most importantly though i've been able to build amazing friendships with the people i've met through the program making the forecasts we can really feel those spring temperatures this week! and those april showers grab an umbrella and raincoat on friday if you need to brave the storm @wxannajohnson has your forecast pictwittercom/ehqvt5afxu texas a&m weather broadcasting (@tamuweather) april 21 2021 nowadays broadcast meteorologists dont simply re-package nws forecasts for their area but make their own forecasts using the same data and knowledge that general forecasters working with the nws use part of the process of the meteorology undergraduate program is learning those tools and how to apply them to the process of forecasting often underclassmen use the nws forecasts as a basis for their own however as they take courses and gain a better understanding of atmospheric dynamics and the intricacies of weather forecast models their ability to make their own independent forecasts grows to make my forecasts i use [nws] hourly weather forecast graphs for the daily allen says in my atmospheric science classes im learning about the tools that i use in my forecasts so its been a great way to apply my knowledge and familiarize myself with tools that i will be using in my future career davis-hester makes use of the college of dupages weather tools for her forecasts which is a collection of various atmospheric observations and forecast models she also uses garp and awips rendering software for observational and forecast data created by unidata that are similar to the programs used by national weather service forecasters; texas a&m provides licenses for these programs for students to use i still follow the same 5 basic steps of forecasting that was taught in atmo 203 she said those five steps are the basic process that all students at texas a&m are taught to frame their forecasts it starts with big picture questions: what are the large-scale conditions affecting a given area and how are they expected to change in the coming days after that what were the conditions in a specific forecast region why were they as they were and are they expected to continue or is there a weather system approaching that could change things then the process starts to focus on more specific questions such as whether clouds and precipitation will be present and if so how much; what the expected temperature range would be and why are those temperatures expected; and finally whether your forecast matches with forecast models and model operational statistics (mos) are suggesting and if not why through this students touch on the majority of the weather conditions that will affect a given area and can assess how their forecasts match up with guidance the latter is an especially useful skill in forecasting and by practicing with a variety of locations such as through the weather challengea national weather forecasting competitionstudents can hone their forecast skills and be well-prepared for forecasting well-beyond their texas a&m undergraduate careers by david coates" " students on the water: oceanography students assist quarterly research cruisesoceanography students joined faculty on a quarterly research cruise in galveston bay to assist in sample collection and gain valuable experience in the fieldapr 20 2021image of the r/v trident image credit: texas a&m university galvestonstudents taking samples for oceanographic research aboard the r/v trident image credit: dr yina liusince the summer of 2017 texas a&m university department of oceanography researchers have been conducting quarterly research cruises on galveston bay on march 13 oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis and assistant professor dr yina liu took students out to galveston bay on the quarterly research cruise enabling multiple faculty and graduate students to collect samples for various research projects these research cruises provide valuable experience for all levels of students the march 13 outing consisted of a single day on the water where professors and students took samples at sites ranging from the mouths of the trinity and san jacinto rivers in the northeast and northwest parts of the bay respectively down the western side along the ship channel in spring of 2020 quarterly cruises were suspended due to covid-19 and were suspended again in fall of 2020 due to mechanical issues with the ship this cruise was the first to take place since the pandemic began but safety protocols still played a part in limiting how long they could be out on the ship together unfortunately this forced the elimination of some regular sampling sites and limited the number of students allowed to only those who were essential to the research projects the department hopes to open cruises up to more students again once the need for physical distancing is eliminated3 this cruise included two graduate students and three undergraduate students two undergraduates work as technicians for the professors and the third is an undergraduate researcher while each worked with their respective professors on the cruise they also worked together as a team throughout the trip yvon-lewis the chief scientist of the cruise and her students looked for volatile compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons cfc 11 cfc 12 and hcfc 22 (a refrigerant) manmade freons known to deplete stratospheric ozone that are now banned they looked for other manmade compounds like bromoform and chloroform used in wastewater treatment also harmful to the ozone layer they also sampled for methane and nitrous oxide two potent greenhouse gases that have mostly natural sources we have seen these compounds to some degree in galveston bay in the past yvon-lewis says we are looking at these compounds in the bay to see how big of a source they could be to the atmosphere and potentially help identify some of the same sources and if they are coming from the same places that [pharmaceutical and personal care products] ppcps are in the houston ship channel lius project centered on finding traces of pharmaceutical and personal care products (ppcps) and per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) found in firefighting foam non-stick cookware and water-repellant textiles these quarterly cruises are the first time these contaminants will be tracked in texas waters over time and across the salinity gradient from freshwater sources into the saltier waters of the bay the goal is to look at how they distribute in the bay and whether the concentration of these compounds is affected by changes in weather events or unexpected events like fires that discharge a lot of firefighting foams into the environment liu says lius research was funded by the texas commission on environmental quality (tceq) as an ongoing project for the next two years they hope to secure future funding to keep the cruises going beyond that time not only do additional cruises add temporal resolution to the research data so emerging pollutants can be tracked over time but they are also a valuable source of experience for students historically this cruise initiated by dr yvon-lewis has enabled multiple graduate student theses dr yvon-lewis is the chief scientist for this cruise but she brought a bunch of additional analysis in addition to what is funded by tceq liu says this is how oceanography works we work together and one funded cruise can spin off into many different educational and research opportunities one of the graduate students on the trip has since graduated and two of the undergraduates will be starting in their own graduate programs soon sangeetha puthigai a biomedical sciences student from texas a&m will start her graduate study with dr liu research opportunities such as an oceanographic cruise often inspire students to think outside the box and apply their knowledge on a much bigger scale – the global ocean liu said if anyone else tells you ‘i want you to get up at 3:30 in the morning work all day and get back at 11 at night anyone else would respond ‘youre crazy! said hunter adams a junior and undergraduate researcher in yvon-lewiss lab this is definitely the best part of the science the field work and getting to interact with people its a very valuable experience it was my first time doing anything like that my first time on a cruise in galveston bay nina mangor says an oceanography graduate student it was kind of like a ‘sink-or-swim situation and i feel like i swam yvon-lewis confirmed her students ability to swim by justin agan ‘18 " image of the r/v trident image credit: texas a&m university galvestonstudents taking samples for oceanographic research aboard the r/v trident image credit: dr yina liu "since the summer of 2017 texas a&m university department of oceanography researchers have been conducting quarterly research cruises on galveston bay on march 13 oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis and assistant professor dr yina liu took students out to galveston bay on the quarterly research cruise enabling multiple faculty and graduate students to collect samples for various research projects these research cruises provide valuable experience for all levels of students the march 13 outing consisted of a single day on the water where professors and students took samples at sites ranging from the mouths of the trinity and san jacinto rivers in the northeast and northwest parts of the bay respectively down the western side along the ship channel in spring of 2020 quarterly cruises were suspended due to covid-19 and were suspended again in fall of 2020 due to mechanical issues with the ship this cruise was the first to take place since the pandemic began but safety protocols still played a part in limiting how long they could be out on the ship together unfortunately this forced the elimination of some regular sampling sites and limited the number of students allowed to only those who were essential to the research projects the department hopes to open cruises up to more students again once the need for physical distancing is eliminated3 this cruise included two graduate students and three undergraduate students two undergraduates work as technicians for the professors and the third is an undergraduate researcher while each worked with their respective professors on the cruise they also worked together as a team throughout the trip yvon-lewis the chief scientist of the cruise and her students looked for volatile compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons cfc 11 cfc 12 and hcfc 22 (a refrigerant) manmade freons known to deplete stratospheric ozone that are now banned they looked for other manmade compounds like bromoform and chloroform used in wastewater treatment also harmful to the ozone layer they also sampled for methane and nitrous oxide two potent greenhouse gases that have mostly natural sources we have seen these compounds to some degree in galveston bay in the past yvon-lewis says we are looking at these compounds in the bay to see how big of a source they could be to the atmosphere and potentially help identify some of the same sources and if they are coming from the same places that [pharmaceutical and personal care products] ppcps are in the houston ship channel lius project centered on finding traces of pharmaceutical and personal care products (ppcps) and per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) found in firefighting foam non-stick cookware and water-repellant textiles these quarterly cruises are the first time these contaminants will be tracked in texas waters over time and across the salinity gradient from freshwater sources into the saltier waters of the bay the goal is to look at how they distribute in the bay and whether the concentration of these compounds is affected by changes in weather events or unexpected events like fires that discharge a lot of firefighting foams into the environment liu says lius research was funded by the texas commission on environmental quality (tceq) as an ongoing project for the next two years they hope to secure future funding to keep the cruises going beyond that time not only do additional cruises add temporal resolution to the research data so emerging pollutants can be tracked over time but they are also a valuable source of experience for students historically this cruise initiated by dr yvon-lewis has enabled multiple graduate student theses dr yvon-lewis is the chief scientist for this cruise but she brought a bunch of additional analysis in addition to what is funded by tceq liu says this is how oceanography works we work together and one funded cruise can spin off into many different educational and research opportunities one of the graduate students on the trip has since graduated and two of the undergraduates will be starting in their own graduate programs soon sangeetha puthigai a biomedical sciences student from texas a&m will start her graduate study with dr liu research opportunities such as an oceanographic cruise often inspire students to think outside the box and apply their knowledge on a much bigger scale – the global ocean liu said if anyone else tells you ‘i want you to get up at 3:30 in the morning work all day and get back at 11 at night anyone else would respond ‘youre crazy! said hunter adams a junior and undergraduate researcher in yvon-lewiss lab this is definitely the best part of the science the field work and getting to interact with people its a very valuable experience it was my first time doing anything like that my first time on a cruise in galveston bay nina mangor says an oceanography graduate student it was kind of like a ‘sink-or-swim situation and i feel like i swam yvon-lewis confirmed her students ability to swim by justin agan ‘18" " texas a&m students delivered water and filters to texans in crisisstudents in the college of geosciences and the texas a&m chapter of wine to water provided water filters to texans still facing household water crises after februarys winter stormsapr 12 2021texas a&m geosciences students jaron capps and hannah davis taking inventory of the arrival of 250 water filters for distribution the valentines day extreme winter storms that impacted millions of texans safety electricity and water supplies caused long-term disruptions for some residents weeks later household water instability persisted for thousands of people and texas a&m university students have worked to help students in the texas a&m college of geosciences and the texas a&m chapter of wine to water recently delivered water filters to residents in need all over the state these aggies have driven water and water filters to bryan college station waco corpus christi rockport port arthur livingston baytown elkhart and longview zerowater filter systems were donated by wine to water to the student chapter for distribution said judy nunez geosciences director of student recruitment and chapter advisor the needs were real she said and these students were ‘water warriors as wine to water founder doc hendley says""  the students also helped distribute 14 pallets of water donated by mananalu a sustainability-focused aluminum-can water company owned by actor jason momoa the canned water supplies were delivered by students to elkhart corpus christi and fire departments in palestine and college station thus far  passionate about water the students involved in wine to water are passionate about providing access to clean water and sanitation to those in most need nunez said and this winter those needs were right here in texas delivering water pitchers and filters to livingston and longview is only part of the story said jaron capps 21 a geographic information science and technology major in the department of geography as i talked to different organization leaders i became much more aware of the disaster in livingston people were coming up to the manafest food bank asking for water over food and for the counties around the longview area some families were still without water a month after the winter stormstexas a&m geosciences students assist city of college station and college station fire department staff with loading water donations (photos by leslie lee)with everything that was taught given and bestowed down to me i am grateful to jump to action when called especially giving back to the communities that sculpted my youth by helping hundreds of individuals get access to clean water capps said  most of the students in the student organization learned about the global water crisis through a first year seminar course taught through the college of geosciences nunez said the seminar plus real-world experiences often within their own hometowns have opened their eyes to the impact of emergencies disasters and policy decisions on vulnerable populations helping people no matter what i love helping people no matter what the situation and when judy told me that there were people without water i jumped at the opportunity to load my truck with water and filters and deliver them  to those who needed them said hannah davis 20 a senior geography major davis delivered water and filters to rockport/fulton isd elkhart first united methodist and the palestine fire department with the help of our student organization members and the delivery of our water filters the communities we helped were now able to filter their water to not only drink but also to cook with she said being able to drink clean water can help our communities avoid health issues that come from drinking dirty/contaminated water by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " texas a&m geosciences students jaron capps and hannah davis taking inventory of the arrival of 250 water filters for distribution  "the valentines day extreme winter storms that impacted millions of texans safety electricity and water supplies caused long-term disruptions for some residents weeks later household water instability persisted for thousands of people and texas a&m university students have worked to help students in the texas a&m college of geosciences and the texas a&m chapter of wine to water recently delivered water filters to residents in need all over the state these aggies have driven water and water filters to bryan college station waco corpus christi rockport port arthur livingston baytown elkhart and longview zerowater filter systems were donated by wine to water to the student chapter for distribution said judy nunez geosciences director of student recruitment and chapter advisor the needs were real she said and these students were ‘water warriors as wine to water founder doc hendley says""  the students also helped distribute 14 pallets of water donated by mananalu a sustainability-focused aluminum-can water company owned by actor jason momoa the canned water supplies were delivered by students to elkhart corpus christi and fire departments in palestine and college station thus far  passionate about water the students involved in wine to water are passionate about providing access to clean water and sanitation to those in most need nunez said and this winter those needs were right here in texas delivering water pitchers and filters to livingston and longview is only part of the story said jaron capps 21 a geographic information science and technology major in the department of geography as i talked to different organization leaders i became much more aware of the disaster in livingston people were coming up to the manafest food bank asking for water over food and for the counties around the longview area some families were still without water a month after the winter storms" texas a&m geosciences students assist city of college station and college station fire department staff with loading water donations (photos by leslie lee) "with everything that was taught given and bestowed down to me i am grateful to jump to action when called especially giving back to the communities that sculpted my youth by helping hundreds of individuals get access to clean water capps said  most of the students in the student organization learned about the global water crisis through a first year seminar course taught through the college of geosciences nunez said the seminar plus real-world experiences often within their own hometowns have opened their eyes to the impact of emergencies disasters and policy decisions on vulnerable populations helping people no matter what i love helping people no matter what the situation and when judy told me that there were people without water i jumped at the opportunity to load my truck with water and filters and deliver them  to those who needed them said hannah davis 20 a senior geography major davis delivered water and filters to rockport/fulton isd elkhart first united methodist and the palestine fire department with the help of our student organization members and the delivery of our water filters the communities we helped were now able to filter their water to not only drink but also to cook with she said being able to drink clean water can help our communities avoid health issues that come from drinking dirty/contaminated water by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " non-traditional path brings geography phd student manuel salgado to snow research meet manuel salgado a phd student in geographyapr 9 2021manuel salgado dr andrew klein and aj uehlinger conducting field work in grand mesa colorado (photo by manny salgado)sunset during fall field work in grand mesa colorado (photo by manny salgado)manuel salgado a phd student working with dr andrew klein in the department of geography at texas a&m university has led a non-traditional journey to higher-education today hes an experienced field researcher and teaching assistant and reflects on some of the challenges hes faced in his career early passion for science salgados passion for science was instilled at a very early age and his fascination with understanding how the world worked is what led him to pursing research and higher education i was always pretty curious at an early age and have wanted to be a scientist for as long as i can remember salgado said the idea of being able to figure out how the world works is extremely appealing to me when i was an undergrad at the university of new mexico (unm) i was fortunate that i had many professors who enabled my participation in their various research projects which helped me experience research firsthand he said i was pretty much hooked from then on journey to academia salgado experienced quite a few challenges prior to joining texas a&m geography im very much a non-traditional student; im pretty sure im the departments oldest current graduate student at 41 salgado said i didnt get a degree straight out of high school and instead tried out various jobs for about a decade at the age of 28 i went back to school at san antonio college and then two years later i transferred to the university of new mexico he said after undergrad i worked at a consulting firm in new mexico for a year before starting grad school here at a&m challenges while pursuing higher education salgado revealed his pathway to college was paved with many struggles my first attempt at college when i was 18 consisted of a semester at a community college where i did extremely poorly salgado said when i went back to school at 28 i did extremely well and i pretty much sailed through undergrad but grad school has been tough! i struggled with qualifying exams when i first arrived here salgado said after a change in departments and advisors i found a better fit with my current advisor andrew klein and he helped me get over that hurdle and i successfully completed my qualifying exams in addition to those challenges salgado discussed how other significant events affected his progress in research on top of that being that my research requires field measurements weve had to overcome a ton of obstacles in the field from incorrect gps measurements out of season weather events a government shutdown that led to a canceled field campaign and doing field work during the covid pandemic salgado said mapping snow in mountain environments salgados undergraduate senior thesis led him to choosing dr klein as an advisor while i was at unm i completed a senior thesis into how climate change was impacting snowpack and the streamflow that resulted from that snowpack melting salgado said dr kleins work with snow made him an excellent fit for me if i wanted to pursue that further once i transferred into the department of geography i had also spoken to a few of his former students who mentioned he was a great advisor who always looked out for his students so that made him an obvious choice salgados research focuses on assessing different aspects of snow distribution in mountainous regions using unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs) and 3d model visualizations my research involves the use of uavs in order to map snow in mountain environments and produce 3d models of the snow surface through a method known as structure from motion (sfm) salgado explained sfm involves the capturing of multiple images of an area from different angles then reconstructing the location of features located within those images in three dimensional space essentially we fly drones over an area of snow and take hundreds of pictures he said we use a gps system to capture centimeter-level accurate locations of targets we place in our field area and then we bring all that data back and use software to combine it and produce the 3d model by comparing models at different times we can see how the snow surface changes and by comparing the snow surface elevations to those of the same area with no snow we can calculate snow depth gaining experience from nasa field campaign salgado had the opportunity to participate in a nasa field campaign during his first year as a phd student which taught him the optimal direction of moving forward in his research my first year with dr klein we participated in a nasa field campaign called snowex salgado said my job during snowex was to use terrestrial lidar (tls) to scan study plots of snow tls scans produce 3d models of the snow surface these are usually highly accurate models he added however working with a large tls system in the snow is cumbersome and time consuming uavs on the other hand dont require you to move a heavy laser system through the snow over the course of a day but rather just require a short 20-minute flight to produce a very similar modelgps base station during field work in 2020 (photo by manny salgado)salgado and researchers digging out a stuck snow machine during a snowex campaign in early (pre-pandemic) 2020 (photo by manny salgado)snow science salgados research focus is on accurately assessing snow distribution and snow depth in grand mesa colorado while comparing results quality between airborne and terrestrial lidar systems with my research i am looking to find out how accurately we can measure snow properties such as depth and how these measurements compare with airborne and terrestrial lidar systems salgado said i would also like to quantify the variability and accuracy of models produced via uav sfm over snow finally we want to demonstrate that uav sfm works in challenging environments for other snow remote sensing locations such as alpine forests the field work salgado takes part in is drastically different between summer and winter months the two environments couldnt be more different he said our snow-free flights in late summer / early fall are a lot of fun colorado is absolutely gorgeous at that time of the year as the aspen leaves are changing and the weather is usually magnificent its an absolute privilege to be able to work in such a beautiful environment and it really hammers home how vital it is that we protect some of these places he emphasized winter field work is a little more challenging and it can be difficult to move around in the mountainous environment when it is covered with deep snow work in the winter is also quite beautiful but its also way more challenging he said i am a large man and as such i sink farther into the snow than some of my lighter colleagues! there have been times when i am sinking into snow up to my hips and moving around in that is quite difficult he added snow shoes help you stay on top of the snow surface but walking around with them also presents its troubles the number of times i have tripped with snow shoes on is quite high salgado said thankfully ive always had helpful and more experienced snow scientists around to help me out and ive gotten much better at getting around than when i first started  it can still be a challenge however significant research salgado shared that the purpose of his research is to develop an efficient methodology that properly accounts for the complexities in snow research while i wouldnt say that my research contains the keys to solving global warming or even snow remote sensing problems (on its own anyway) i wouldnt do it if i didnt think it mattered salgado said snow remote sensing is an incredibly complicated field that faces a lot of obstacles to producing accurate global datasets that account for the amount of water stored in snow uav sfm definitely wont solve that but what it can do is provide us with a method of acquiring information on snow characteristics and dynamics on a small scale a better understanding of how the snow behaves on small scales furthers our understanding and can help produce better models of snow at larger scales he said utilizing uavs also proves to be a more affordable method to study something that is constantly changing uav sfm is a fairly inexpensive method that may open avenues to citizen science salgado shared there are currently many efforts to collect snow observations from the general public the great explosion in the number of uavs in use by the general public and the fact that my models are produced with these same small commercially available drones means that anyone who has a small uav they bought on amazon can produce these models i think theres a role for the general public to add to snow science through the widespread production of sfm models he said moving forward salgado is interesting in exploring the policy side of science and potentially continuing his current research and projects in other research institutes im a bit open on this right now he said i would love to continue to build upon my projects here once i graduate through a government research position or possibly a faculty position at a research university he is planning to graduate in the spring semester of 2022 however i am also quite interested in the policy side of science salgado said we are at the point where we need to start not only acting to prevent climate change but also enacting policy to counteract its effects that are already occurring i would love to find a position where i could advise policy makers and help craft environmental policy he said   by mariam moeen ‘19 " manuel salgado dr andrew klein and aj uehlinger conducting field work in grand mesa colorado (photo by manny salgado)sunset during fall field work in grand mesa colorado (photo by manny salgado) "manuel salgado a phd student working with dr andrew klein in the department of geography at texas a&m university has led a non-traditional journey to higher-education today hes an experienced field researcher and teaching assistant and reflects on some of the challenges hes faced in his career early passion for science salgados passion for science was instilled at a very early age and his fascination with understanding how the world worked is what led him to pursing research and higher education i was always pretty curious at an early age and have wanted to be a scientist for as long as i can remember salgado said the idea of being able to figure out how the world works is extremely appealing to me when i was an undergrad at the university of new mexico (unm) i was fortunate that i had many professors who enabled my participation in their various research projects which helped me experience research firsthand he said i was pretty much hooked from then on journey to academia salgado experienced quite a few challenges prior to joining texas a&m geography im very much a non-traditional student; im pretty sure im the departments oldest current graduate student at 41 salgado said i didnt get a degree straight out of high school and instead tried out various jobs for about a decade at the age of 28 i went back to school at san antonio college and then two years later i transferred to the university of new mexico he said after undergrad i worked at a consulting firm in new mexico for a year before starting grad school here at a&m challenges while pursuing higher education salgado revealed his pathway to college was paved with many struggles my first attempt at college when i was 18 consisted of a semester at a community college where i did extremely poorly salgado said when i went back to school at 28 i did extremely well and i pretty much sailed through undergrad but grad school has been tough! i struggled with qualifying exams when i first arrived here salgado said after a change in departments and advisors i found a better fit with my current advisor andrew klein and he helped me get over that hurdle and i successfully completed my qualifying exams in addition to those challenges salgado discussed how other significant events affected his progress in research on top of that being that my research requires field measurements weve had to overcome a ton of obstacles in the field from incorrect gps measurements out of season weather events a government shutdown that led to a canceled field campaign and doing field work during the covid pandemic salgado said mapping snow in mountain environments salgados undergraduate senior thesis led him to choosing dr klein as an advisor while i was at unm i completed a senior thesis into how climate change was impacting snowpack and the streamflow that resulted from that snowpack melting salgado said dr kleins work with snow made him an excellent fit for me if i wanted to pursue that further once i transferred into the department of geography i had also spoken to a few of his former students who mentioned he was a great advisor who always looked out for his students so that made him an obvious choice salgados research focuses on assessing different aspects of snow distribution in mountainous regions using unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs) and 3d model visualizations my research involves the use of uavs in order to map snow in mountain environments and produce 3d models of the snow surface through a method known as structure from motion (sfm) salgado explained sfm involves the capturing of multiple images of an area from different angles then reconstructing the location of features located within those images in three dimensional space essentially we fly drones over an area of snow and take hundreds of pictures he said we use a gps system to capture centimeter-level accurate locations of targets we place in our field area and then we bring all that data back and use software to combine it and produce the 3d model by comparing models at different times we can see how the snow surface changes and by comparing the snow surface elevations to those of the same area with no snow we can calculate snow depth gaining experience from nasa field campaign salgado had the opportunity to participate in a nasa field campaign during his first year as a phd student which taught him the optimal direction of moving forward in his research my first year with dr klein we participated in a nasa field campaign called snowex salgado said my job during snowex was to use terrestrial lidar (tls) to scan study plots of snow tls scans produce 3d models of the snow surface these are usually highly accurate models he added however working with a large tls system in the snow is cumbersome and time consuming uavs on the other hand dont require you to move a heavy laser system through the snow over the course of a day but rather just require a short 20-minute flight to produce a very similar model" gps base station during field work in 2020 (photo by manny salgado)salgado and researchers digging out a stuck snow machine during a snowex campaign in early (pre-pandemic) 2020 (photo by manny salgado) "snow science salgados research focus is on accurately assessing snow distribution and snow depth in grand mesa colorado while comparing results quality between airborne and terrestrial lidar systems with my research i am looking to find out how accurately we can measure snow properties such as depth and how these measurements compare with airborne and terrestrial lidar systems salgado said i would also like to quantify the variability and accuracy of models produced via uav sfm over snow finally we want to demonstrate that uav sfm works in challenging environments for other snow remote sensing locations such as alpine forests the field work salgado takes part in is drastically different between summer and winter months the two environments couldnt be more different he said our snow-free flights in late summer / early fall are a lot of fun colorado is absolutely gorgeous at that time of the year as the aspen leaves are changing and the weather is usually magnificent its an absolute privilege to be able to work in such a beautiful environment and it really hammers home how vital it is that we protect some of these places he emphasized winter field work is a little more challenging and it can be difficult to move around in the mountainous environment when it is covered with deep snow work in the winter is also quite beautiful but its also way more challenging he said i am a large man and as such i sink farther into the snow than some of my lighter colleagues! there have been times when i am sinking into snow up to my hips and moving around in that is quite difficult he added snow shoes help you stay on top of the snow surface but walking around with them also presents its troubles the number of times i have tripped with snow shoes on is quite high salgado said thankfully ive always had helpful and more experienced snow scientists around to help me out and ive gotten much better at getting around than when i first started  it can still be a challenge however significant research salgado shared that the purpose of his research is to develop an efficient methodology that properly accounts for the complexities in snow research while i wouldnt say that my research contains the keys to solving global warming or even snow remote sensing problems (on its own anyway) i wouldnt do it if i didnt think it mattered salgado said snow remote sensing is an incredibly complicated field that faces a lot of obstacles to producing accurate global datasets that account for the amount of water stored in snow uav sfm definitely wont solve that but what it can do is provide us with a method of acquiring information on snow characteristics and dynamics on a small scale a better understanding of how the snow behaves on small scales furthers our understanding and can help produce better models of snow at larger scales he said utilizing uavs also proves to be a more affordable method to study something that is constantly changing uav sfm is a fairly inexpensive method that may open avenues to citizen science salgado shared there are currently many efforts to collect snow observations from the general public the great explosion in the number of uavs in use by the general public and the fact that my models are produced with these same small commercially available drones means that anyone who has a small uav they bought on amazon can produce these models i think theres a role for the general public to add to snow science through the widespread production of sfm models he said moving forward salgado is interesting in exploring the policy side of science and potentially continuing his current research and projects in other research institutes im a bit open on this right now he said i would love to continue to build upon my projects here once i graduate through a government research position or possibly a faculty position at a research university he is planning to graduate in the spring semester of 2022 however i am also quite interested in the policy side of science salgado said we are at the point where we need to start not only acting to prevent climate change but also enacting policy to counteract its effects that are already occurring i would love to find a position where i could advise policy makers and help craft environmental policy he said   by mariam moeen ‘19" " pollution from hurricane harvey traveled 100 miles off texas coasta texas a&m study shows weather events carried contaminated water to the flower garden banks sanctuary off the galveston coast much farther than expectedapr 9 2021a species of sponge at the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary image credit: noaaa team of researchers that includes three texas a&m university oceanographers has found that human pollution from floods in 2016 and hurricane harvey in 2017 made it all the way to the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary located about 100 miles off the texas coast dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography at texas a&m university's department of oceanography along with texas a&m oceanographers dr shawn doyle and dr jason sylvan and researchers from rice university university of houston-clear lake and boston university have had their work published in the current issue of frontiers in marine science the team examined sponges in the flower garden banks a popular diving area known for its colorful coral reefs it was designated as a national marine sanctuary in 1992 and now has 17 different reef systems the researchers found bacteria from human wastewater including e coli in sponges at the flower garden banks after flooding events in 2016 hurricane harvey in 2017 also carried contaminated water from the texas coastline to the flower garden banks researchers had previously believed the area to be far enough out in the gulf that such pollution was not a concern shamberger said the team was surprised to find bacteria typically associated with wastewater in coral reef sponges so far offshore it has been known for decades that freshwater from land can reach these reefs and lower the salinity at the surface but salinity changes that far offshore are small because freshwater mixes with seawater as it travels offshore she said  also the flower garden banks reefs are about 60 feet deep and low salinity water stays at the surface so these reefs have been thought to be largely protected from land-based pollution doyle said the researchers used sponges living on the reefs as super-sensitive monitoring tools for water quality because they filter and concentrate bacteria from hundreds of gallons of seawater a day looking at the sponges microbiomes (a collection of microorganisms that live on or inside an animal) allowed us to find signs of wastewater that were far too diluted to detect in the water column doyle said both flood periods that were sampled in this study showed bacteria associated with wastewater in the sponges but we do not know how often floodwaters bring harmful bacteria all the way out to these coral reefs hurricane harvey was the biggest rainfall event in us history and dropped an estimated 13 trillion gallons of rain over southeast texas in late august 2017 shamberger said harvey floodwaters were swept down the texas coast with the currents once they reached the gulf of mexico and only a small amount of runoff went offshore all the way out to the flower garden banks it appears there was little mortality in marine life associated with the polluted waters from harvey but she added that more work needs to be done to determine how bacteria linked with floodwaters affect sponge and coral reef ecosystem health in the area the big picture is that even coral reefs 100 miles offshore can be negatively affected by land-based pollution shamberger said intense storms with excessive rainfall that causes flooding in coastal urban areas will continue to increase with climate change  putting these coral reefs at risk she said anything that can help decrease flooding will make coastal communities more resilient to future storms and protect offshore marine ecosystems that support coastal economies the study was funded by the national science foundation the gulf research program of the national academies of sciences and rice university by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " a species of sponge at the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary image credit: noaa "a team of researchers that includes three texas a&m university oceanographers has found that human pollution from floods in 2016 and hurricane harvey in 2017 made it all the way to the flower garden banks national marine sanctuary located about 100 miles off the texas coast dr kathryn shamberger assistant professor of oceanography at texas a&m university's department of oceanography along with texas a&m oceanographers dr shawn doyle and dr jason sylvan and researchers from rice university university of houston-clear lake and boston university have had their work published in the current issue of frontiers in marine science the team examined sponges in the flower garden banks a popular diving area known for its colorful coral reefs it was designated as a national marine sanctuary in 1992 and now has 17 different reef systems the researchers found bacteria from human wastewater including e coli in sponges at the flower garden banks after flooding events in 2016 hurricane harvey in 2017 also carried contaminated water from the texas coastline to the flower garden banks researchers had previously believed the area to be far enough out in the gulf that such pollution was not a concern shamberger said the team was surprised to find bacteria typically associated with wastewater in coral reef sponges so far offshore it has been known for decades that freshwater from land can reach these reefs and lower the salinity at the surface but salinity changes that far offshore are small because freshwater mixes with seawater as it travels offshore she said  also the flower garden banks reefs are about 60 feet deep and low salinity water stays at the surface so these reefs have been thought to be largely protected from land-based pollution doyle said the researchers used sponges living on the reefs as super-sensitive monitoring tools for water quality because they filter and concentrate bacteria from hundreds of gallons of seawater a day looking at the sponges microbiomes (a collection of microorganisms that live on or inside an animal) allowed us to find signs of wastewater that were far too diluted to detect in the water column doyle said both flood periods that were sampled in this study showed bacteria associated with wastewater in the sponges but we do not know how often floodwaters bring harmful bacteria all the way out to these coral reefs hurricane harvey was the biggest rainfall event in us history and dropped an estimated 13 trillion gallons of rain over southeast texas in late august 2017 shamberger said harvey floodwaters were swept down the texas coast with the currents once they reached the gulf of mexico and only a small amount of runoff went offshore all the way out to the flower garden banks it appears there was little mortality in marine life associated with the polluted waters from harvey but she added that more work needs to be done to determine how bacteria linked with floodwaters affect sponge and coral reef ecosystem health in the area the big picture is that even coral reefs 100 miles offshore can be negatively affected by land-based pollution shamberger said intense storms with excessive rainfall that causes flooding in coastal urban areas will continue to increase with climate change  putting these coral reefs at risk she said anything that can help decrease flooding will make coastal communities more resilient to future storms and protect offshore marine ecosystems that support coastal economies the study was funded by the national science foundation the gulf research program of the national academies of sciences and rice university by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " two geography faculty receive los alamos national lab fellowshipsthe fellowships support the development of long-term collaborative ties between texas a&m and lanl researchersmar 29 2021dr inci güneralpdr oliver frauenfelddr inci güneralp and dr oliver frauenfeld both associate professors in the department of geography at texas a&m university were each awarded a 2020-2021 collaborative research program development fellowship from the texas a&m university system (tamus) and los alamos national laboratory (lanl) the fellowships enable tamus researchers to develop long-term collaborative ties with lanl researchers who are also interested in taking part in collaborative research this collaborative multi-element research effort was initiated by the tamus national laboratories office (nlo) to increase the depth and amount of research collaborations that will benefit the tamus lanl and other individuals involved the main goal behind this collaboration is to allow researchers from both groups to share knowledge regarding overlapping research interests that will ultimately develop long-term relationships educate both parties regarding lanls missions and unsolved problems while increasing the likelihood of future funded collaborations that will last for longer periods of time güneralps research project focuses on morphodynamic signatures of arctic and subarctic meandering rivers and she will be collaborating with three lanl researchers: dr joel rowland dr anastasia piliouras and dr jon schwenk permafrost thaw and degradation is destabilizing riverbanks of meandering rivers that can migrate up to tens of meters per year güneralp said river migration also impacts flooding patterns these changes in river landscapes threaten alaskan native communities as well as infrastructure essential to national security including the alaskan pipeline bridges roads and river navigational channels with costs reaching billions of dollars güneralp added in contrast to the growing knowledge on the climate-induced changes in discharge and biogeochemistry of the arctic rivers little is known about the geomorphic characteristics of these rivers this collaborative study investigates these characteristics in relation to different distributions of permafrost and to non-permafrost rivers with the aim of improving our ability to forecast future changes in arctic river landscapes güneralp said the goal of frauenfelds project will be to establish 21st century feedbacks from changing land-atmosphere interactions in permafrost regions and he will be collaborating with dr elchin jafarov from lanls earth and environmental sciences division while a lot of climate research focuses on the consequences of frozen ground degradation most of it revolves around the permafrost carbon feedback frauenfeld said the new and unique contribution of our collaboration will be a focus on the geophysical feedbacks how changes to the arctics thermokarst landscapes and surface hydrology will influence land-atmosphere interactions and ultimately the hydrologic cycle a typical development fellowship funds up to 15 months of salary for the tamus researcher to work with the lanl collaborators to write a joint proposal or research publication additionally long-term relationships will be developed with tamus researchers with whom long-term engagement is of strategic interest to lanl this could take the form of a joint appointment of indefinite duration under which lanl funds a portion of the tamus researchers time each year and the researcher spends significant time working on problems of interest to lanl   by mariam moeen ‘19 " "dr inci güneralp and dr oliver frauenfeld both associate professors in the department of geography at texas a&m university were each awarded a 2020-2021 collaborative research program development fellowship from the texas a&m university system (tamus) and los alamos national laboratory (lanl) the fellowships enable tamus researchers to develop long-term collaborative ties with lanl researchers who are also interested in taking part in collaborative research this collaborative multi-element research effort was initiated by the tamus national laboratories office (nlo) to increase the depth and amount of research collaborations that will benefit the tamus lanl and other individuals involved the main goal behind this collaboration is to allow researchers from both groups to share knowledge regarding overlapping research interests that will ultimately develop long-term relationships educate both parties regarding lanls missions and unsolved problems while increasing the likelihood of future funded collaborations that will last for longer periods of time güneralps research project focuses on morphodynamic signatures of arctic and subarctic meandering rivers and she will be collaborating with three lanl researchers: dr joel rowland dr anastasia piliouras and dr jon schwenk permafrost thaw and degradation is destabilizing riverbanks of meandering rivers that can migrate up to tens of meters per year güneralp said river migration also impacts flooding patterns these changes in river landscapes threaten alaskan native communities as well as infrastructure essential to national security including the alaskan pipeline bridges roads and river navigational channels with costs reaching billions of dollars güneralp added in contrast to the growing knowledge on the climate-induced changes in discharge and biogeochemistry of the arctic rivers little is known about the geomorphic characteristics of these rivers this collaborative study investigates these characteristics in relation to different distributions of permafrost and to non-permafrost rivers with the aim of improving our ability to forecast future changes in arctic river landscapes güneralp said the goal of frauenfelds project will be to establish 21st century feedbacks from changing land-atmosphere interactions in permafrost regions and he will be collaborating with dr elchin jafarov from lanls earth and environmental sciences division while a lot of climate research focuses on the consequences of frozen ground degradation most of it revolves around the permafrost carbon feedback frauenfeld said the new and unique contribution of our collaboration will be a focus on the geophysical feedbacks how changes to the arctics thermokarst landscapes and surface hydrology will influence land-atmosphere interactions and ultimately the hydrologic cycle a typical development fellowship funds up to 15 months of salary for the tamus researcher to work with the lanl collaborators to write a joint proposal or research publication additionally long-term relationships will be developed with tamus researchers with whom long-term engagement is of strategic interest to lanl this could take the form of a joint appointment of indefinite duration under which lanl funds a portion of the tamus researchers time each year and the researcher spends significant time working on problems of interest to lanl   by mariam moeen ‘19" " study: bahamas were settled earlier than believedits believed early settlers to the islands eventually changed the landscape of the bahamasmar 10 2021researchers say the oldest archaeological sites in the southernmost bahamian archipelago from the turks and caicos islands indicate human arrival likely by 700 ad getty imageshumans were present in florida by 14 000 years ago and until recently it was believed the bahamas – located only a few miles away – were not colonized until about 1 000 years ago but new findings from a team including a texas a&m university at galveston researcher prove that the area was colonized earlier and the new settlers dramatically changed the landscape dr peter van hengstum associate professor in texas a&m's department of oceanography and the department of marine and coastal environment science at texas a&m-galveston and colleagues have had their findings published in pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) researchers generated a new environmental record from the blackwood sinkhole which is flooded with 120 feet of groundwater without dissolved oxygen this is important because it has pristinely preserved organic material for the last 3 000 years using core samples and radiocarbon dating the team examined charcoal deposits from human fires thousands of years ago indicating that the first settlers arrived in the bahamas sooner than previously thought the bahamas were the last place colonized by people in the caribbean region and previous physical evidence indicated that it may have taken hundreds of years for indigenous people of the bahamas – called the lucayans – to move through the bahamian archipelago that spans about 500 miles van hengstum said while people were present in florida more than 14 000 years ago at the end of the last ice age he said these people never crossed the florida straits to nearby bahamian islands only 50 to 65 miles away meanwhile the caribbean islands were populated by people migrating from south american northward van hengstum said the oldest archaeological sites in the southernmost bahamian archipelago from the turks and caicos islands indicate human arrival likely by 700 ad but in the northern bahamian great abaco island the earliest physical evidence of human occupation are skeletons preserved in sinkholes and blueholes he said these two skeletons from abaco date from 1200 to 1300 ad our new record of landscape disturbance from people indicates that slash-and-burn agriculture likely began around 830 ad meaning the lucayans rapidly migrated through the bahamian archipelago in likely a century or spanning just a few human generations the teams other findings show how the lucayans changed the new land when the lucayans arrived great abaco island was mostly covered with pine and palm forests and had a unique reptile-dominated ecosystem of giant tortoises and crocodiles increased deforestation and burning allowed pine trees to colonize and out-compete native palms and hardwoods large land reptiles began to disappear after 1000 ad a significant increase in intense regional hurricane activity around 1500 ad is thought to have caused considerable damage to the new pine tree forests as indicated by a decrease in pine pollen in the sediment core the pollen record indicates that the pre-contact forest was not significantly impacted earlier in the record during known times when intense hurricane strike events were more frequent van hengstum said in our current world where the intensity of the largest hurricanes is expected to increase over the coming decades the current pine trees in the northern bahamas may not be as resilient to environmental impacts of these changes in hurricane activity the study was funded by the national science foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " researchers say the oldest archaeological sites in the southernmost bahamian archipelago from the turks and caicos islands indicate human arrival likely by 700 ad getty images "humans were present in florida by 14 000 years ago and until recently it was believed the bahamas – located only a few miles away – were not colonized until about 1 000 years ago but new findings from a team including a texas a&m university at galveston researcher prove that the area was colonized earlier and the new settlers dramatically changed the landscape dr peter van hengstum associate professor in texas a&m's department of oceanography and the department of marine and coastal environment science at texas a&m-galveston and colleagues have had their findings published in pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) researchers generated a new environmental record from the blackwood sinkhole which is flooded with 120 feet of groundwater without dissolved oxygen this is important because it has pristinely preserved organic material for the last 3 000 years using core samples and radiocarbon dating the team examined charcoal deposits from human fires thousands of years ago indicating that the first settlers arrived in the bahamas sooner than previously thought the bahamas were the last place colonized by people in the caribbean region and previous physical evidence indicated that it may have taken hundreds of years for indigenous people of the bahamas – called the lucayans – to move through the bahamian archipelago that spans about 500 miles van hengstum said while people were present in florida more than 14 000 years ago at the end of the last ice age he said these people never crossed the florida straits to nearby bahamian islands only 50 to 65 miles away meanwhile the caribbean islands were populated by people migrating from south american northward van hengstum said the oldest archaeological sites in the southernmost bahamian archipelago from the turks and caicos islands indicate human arrival likely by 700 ad but in the northern bahamian great abaco island the earliest physical evidence of human occupation are skeletons preserved in sinkholes and blueholes he said these two skeletons from abaco date from 1200 to 1300 ad our new record of landscape disturbance from people indicates that slash-and-burn agriculture likely began around 830 ad meaning the lucayans rapidly migrated through the bahamian archipelago in likely a century or spanning just a few human generations the teams other findings show how the lucayans changed the new land when the lucayans arrived great abaco island was mostly covered with pine and palm forests and had a unique reptile-dominated ecosystem of giant tortoises and crocodiles increased deforestation and burning allowed pine trees to colonize and out-compete native palms and hardwoods large land reptiles began to disappear after 1000 ad a significant increase in intense regional hurricane activity around 1500 ad is thought to have caused considerable damage to the new pine tree forests as indicated by a decrease in pine pollen in the sediment core the pollen record indicates that the pre-contact forest was not significantly impacted earlier in the record during known times when intense hurricane strike events were more frequent van hengstum said in our current world where the intensity of the largest hurricanes is expected to increase over the coming decades the current pine trees in the northern bahamas may not be as resilient to environmental impacts of these changes in hurricane activity the study was funded by the national science foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " career panel recap: renowned geoscientists coach aggies on career successthe feb 3 event covered experts' advice on internships skill sets industry opportunities and morefeb 25 2021during the geosciences career frontiers online career panel event feb 3 current texas a&m university students former students faculty and staff had the opportunity to hear perspectives from extraordinary leaders in the geosciences and ask for their advice on specific career questions the panel discussed their respective educational paths the value of their degrees and the pursuit of their highly successful careers hosted by texas a&ms college of geosciences the panel included: dr dawn wright 86 chief scientist at esri carolyn wilson special projects manager at the southeastern universities research association dr russell callender 92 director of washington sea grant ron bisio senior vice president of geospatial at trimble inc jill urban-karr 86 executive director of the consulting services/landfolio solutions team for the land administration solutions group of trimble navigation ltd moderated the event when discussing their best advice for current students wright emphasized the importance of internships it is the singular transformative experience she said i didnt realize that i was stepping into the best internship absolutely possible after getting my masters degree at texas a&m and then going to work as a marine technician for odp what was then the ocean drilling program (today known as iodp) i took a sea grant knauss marine policy fellowship that changed my entire life and my career  callendar said on the importance of experiences and internships and dont give up if you dont get the internship you want that first year or first summer keep trying and be persistent and keep your portfolio current wright said the entire panel agreed that if they had chance to redo their undergraduate career today they would prioritize learning coding bisio also discussed the importance of getting experience abroad get outside the country and see how professionals use our tools in other parts of the world bisio said callendar discussed the importance of networking and also taking risks be willing to take risks in your career he said ive been a risk-taker in both my personal and professional life for many years i was a rock-climber and mountaineer for many years and i also took a lot of risks in jobs the panel also agreed on the importance of asking questions and pursuing scientific curiosity articulating questions and having the courage to ask them is an essential habit wright said curiosity is key wilson said watch the entire panel discussion by leslie lee 09 " "during the geosciences career frontiers online career panel event feb 3 current texas a&m university students former students faculty and staff had the opportunity to hear perspectives from extraordinary leaders in the geosciences and ask for their advice on specific career questions the panel discussed their respective educational paths the value of their degrees and the pursuit of their highly successful careers hosted by texas a&ms college of geosciences the panel included: dr dawn wright 86 chief scientist at esri carolyn wilson special projects manager at the southeastern universities research association dr russell callender 92 director of washington sea grant ron bisio senior vice president of geospatial at trimble inc jill urban-karr 86 executive director of the consulting services/landfolio solutions team for the land administration solutions group of trimble navigation ltd moderated the event when discussing their best advice for current students wright emphasized the importance of internships it is the singular transformative experience she said i didnt realize that i was stepping into the best internship absolutely possible after getting my masters degree at texas a&m and then going to work as a marine technician for odp what was then the ocean drilling program (today known as iodp) i took a sea grant knauss marine policy fellowship that changed my entire life and my career  callendar said on the importance of experiences and internships and dont give up if you dont get the internship you want that first year or first summer keep trying and be persistent and keep your portfolio current wright said the entire panel agreed that if they had chance to redo their undergraduate career today they would prioritize learning coding bisio also discussed the importance of getting experience abroad get outside the country and see how professionals use our tools in other parts of the world bisio said callendar discussed the importance of networking and also taking risks be willing to take risks in your career he said ive been a risk-taker in both my personal and professional life for many years i was a rock-climber and mountaineer for many years and i also took a lot of risks in jobs the panel also agreed on the importance of asking questions and pursuing scientific curiosity articulating questions and having the courage to ask them is an essential habit wright said curiosity is key wilson said watch the entire panel discussion by leslie lee 09" " remembering curtis samford 83my heart is with the samford family said geosciences dean dr debbie thomasfeb 25 2021traci and curtis samford (image courtesy of the samford family)curtis samford 83 a member of the texas a&m geosciences advisory council and longtime supporter of texas a&m university died feb 14 it is just impossible to find the words to express my sorrow for the loss of our dear friend and my heart is with the samford family said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas curtis was an inspiring human being and i forever will be grateful for his friendship and guidance  samford earned his bachelors degree in geophysics from texas a&m in 1984 he went on to work for several oil and gas companies including betz shell oil alcoa pcc and served as the president and chief executive officer of afglobal since 2015 samford began serving on the geosciences deans advisory council in 2017 advising the college on the changing needs of industry for well-trained geoscientists  in 2020 he and his wife traci established the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center which will be a newly renovated physical space in the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center the center will help generations of geosciences students begin and succeed in rewarding careers     samford is survived by his wife traci and his sons cody and ty the samford family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the texas a&m foundation traci 11 and curtis 83 samford geosciences career center to honor his memory read samfords obituary here  by leslie lee 09 " "curtis samford 83 a member of the texas a&m geosciences advisory council and longtime supporter of texas a&m university died feb 14 it is just impossible to find the words to express my sorrow for the loss of our dear friend and my heart is with the samford family said dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas curtis was an inspiring human being and i forever will be grateful for his friendship and guidance  samford earned his bachelors degree in geophysics from texas a&m in 1984 he went on to work for several oil and gas companies including betz shell oil alcoa pcc and served as the president and chief executive officer of afglobal since 2015 samford began serving on the geosciences deans advisory council in 2017 advising the college on the changing needs of industry for well-trained geoscientists  in 2020 he and his wife traci established the traci '11 and curtis samford '83 geosciences career center which will be a newly renovated physical space in the eller o&m building and will serve as a satellite of the texas a&m career center the center will help generations of geosciences students begin and succeed in rewarding careers     samford is survived by his wife traci and his sons cody and ty the samford family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the texas a&m foundation traci 11 and curtis 83 samford geosciences career center to honor his memory read samfords obituary here  by leslie lee 09" " how can declining sea ice thickness affect our worldtexas a&m geography doctoral student victoria ford recently published new findings in climate dynamicsfeb 24 2021victoria fordphoto by istockvictoria ford a phd candidate in texas a&m university's department of geography recently collaborated with three professors within the college of geosciences to research what the future of sea ice thickness in the arctic will be along with co-authors dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor of geography dr chris nowotarski associate professor of atmospheric sciences and dr rodrigo bombardi assistant professor of geography published the research titled effective sea ice area based on a thickness threshold in climate dynamics the researchers found that the atmosphere above areas where arctic ice thickness is less than 040 ­– 050 meters can be exposed to much higher temperatures than areas that have much thicker ice and that these thin ice regions can account for a large portion of the total sea ice area  thus the further accelerating decline of arctic sea ice can cause a cascading effect that will ultimately lead to more major environmental issues occurring all over the earth why is sea ice important sea ice is a highly insulative surface between the ocean and atmosphere and acts as a thermal buffer ford noted that where sea ice is present the ocean and atmosphere are disconnected from one another and the exchange of heat and moisture between the warm ocean and comparatively colder atmosphere is limited with a thinner sea ice cover this thermal energy exchange between the arctic ocean and atmosphere through the sea ice layer is expected to increase warming trends observed in the arctic which already experiences 2-3 times the global average temperature increase ford stated the health of the sea ice cover is one of the most critical climatic indicators for a warming climate as the sea ice cover continues to thin out other environmental issues have begun to surface in the arctic a continually thinning ice cover has several important impacts beyond the physical air-sea-ice coupled system ford stated with increasing amounts of newly ice-free area the ocean and atmosphere become more intrinsically coupled allowing for enhanced heat and moisture exchange and ultimately leading to an increase in high-latitude precipitation the sea ice loss not only affects indigenous communities in the arctic but also wildlife and their habitats loss of sea ice and related changes to the high latitude climate already threatens the safety and food and water security of the indigenous communities in the surrounding arctic countries she added as is well documented in the media ice loss also translates to habitat loss for key megafauna species in the arctic primarily polar bears  sea ice thickness across the arctic ocean from the piomas-20c reanalysis for (a) autumn (october 1999) (b) winter (january 2000) (d) spring (april 2000) and (e) the 2007 record sea ice minimum (september 2007) sea ice area below the sea ice thickness threshold is hatched and areas where sea ice thickness coincides with sea ice concentration below 015 are shaded light grey (c) annual and (f) seasonal contributions to the percent of total sea ice area below the sea ice thickness threshold (image courtesy of victoria ford)a critical threshold ford emphasized the importance of determining a sea-ice thickness threshold and how it will indicate areas in the arctic that arent effectively being thermally buffered despite there being sea ice present in the area this paper addresses the question of ‘is there a critical sea ice thickness threshold where ice is thin enough to induce statistically significant changes in the atmosphere by effectively negating ices buffering presence in those areas ford said in other words we sought to determine if ice is thin enough over a large area whether the atmosphere would respond as if ice were not present at all she clarified to do this we ran a series of idealized sensitivity simulations using the weather research and forecasting model with spatially-uniform sea ice thicknesses and areas she said by teasing out just the influence of varying the sea ice thickness we are able to quantify the simulated atmospheric response and establish a thickness threshold in autumn winter and spring for which the atmospheric response is statistically significant from an ice-free ocean ford stated that this transition point indicates the point at which sea ice is so thin that it effectively becomes negligible from an atmospheric boundary layer perspective having established this threshold we applied it to historical observations and future cmip6 emissions scenarios to project when sea ice thickness falls beneath this critical threshold findings show how much sea ice effectively provides a climate buffer ford and her collaborators determined that a sea ice thickness threshold for the arctic exists where sea ice thicknesses are between 040 meters and 050 meters this threshold is consistent across seasons increasing its applicability and consistency in comparing to other sea ice research she said when this threshold is applied to the reported total sea ice area the resulting ‘effective portion of the sea ice area is 4 – 14 percent lower than the total sea ice area with as much as 400 000 to 1 million square kilometers of the total sea ice area falling beneath this threshold and is present during notable sea ice minima events she added the findings reveal that a significant portion of sea ice fails to act as an effective climate buffer between the thermally variable ocean and atmosphere in other words we find that a non-trivial portion of the total reported sea ice area does not act as an effective climate buffer between the warm ocean and cooler atmosphere ford said certain areas that fall below the sea ice thickness threshold are likely going to be exposed to warmer temperatures the atmosphere above regions with ice below this threshold is susceptible to more than 2°c of warming despite the presence of ice ford said by discerning the declining trend in thickness observations mean sea ice thickness for the entire arctic ocean is projected to be below the thickness threshold prior to 2050 and as early as the mid-2020s in september she stated working in the texas a&m climate science lab victoria is currently a part of the climate science lab (csl) working with her advisor dr oliver frauenfeld to study the intersection of the lower atmosphere and ocean surface in the high-latitudes specifically addressing the changing freshwater balance in the arctic with the decline of its sea ice cover understanding arctic sea ice loss from a geographic perspective is critical for addressing changes to high-latitude climate arctic sea ice loss is not uniform in spatial extent depth or time ford said my background in both meteorology and physical oceanography has provided me the unique perspective of looking at an intricately coupled air-sea system with a spatiotemporal approach this paper encapsulates some of that complexity she added ford found her research topic to be vital to study as it filled in a large knowledge gap that was yet to be explored in the sea ice community the majority of research and literature focuses on the loss of sea ice extent or the lateral shrinking of the ice cover because observing sea ice thickness is immensely challenging in an already data sparse region attention on vertical changes to sea ice is not as common despite being equally important as area changes she said in fact loss of sea ice thickness and therefore ice volume is where much of the total ice loss comes from ford added this work dives into the physical relationship between the atmosphere and vertical ice loss and its corresponding impact on the lateral ice cover as a whole why study arctic sea ice ford was interested in taking the challenge of breaking down this problem and accounting for some for some of the complexities that hadnt been addressed in similar studies regarding declining arctic sea ice my interest in arctic sea ice arose from the intriguing challenge of how the sea ice layer which acts as a highly insulative surface interacts with a warming ocean and atmosphere from a freshwater perspective ford stated sea ice melt inherently translates to more liquid freshwater but the question of what happens to that freshwater today is still not clear thus this paper was motivated by the first question that comes to mind: how does sea ice thickness loss contribute to the geographic distribution of sea ice area loss and associated atmospheric warming she added moving forward ford hopes that the discovered research findings will encourage researchers to include more information regarding sea ice thickness in their climate models to achieve more accurate all-encompassing results climate models universally agree that arctic sea ice will decline throughout the 21st century but these models continue to underestimate the observed sea ice decline she said sea ice thickness changes are demonstrably harder to quantify and complicate modeling efforts and our understanding of the complex coupled climate fully coupled ocean-atmosphere studies on energy exchange as they relate to historical and future sea ice area should also consider the importance of sea ice thickness both regionally and for the arctic ocean as a whole especially in thinning regions where the thermal response is enhanced she added additionally ford clarifies that importance of including such variables in newer research studies for the broader climate-interested community the main takeaway point is that the current perspective of the arctic sea ice cover underestimates the effectiveness of sea ice as a climate buffer ford said application of a critical ice thickness threshold to an effective insulative sea ice area is a major step towards a more holistic sea ice climate indicator by mariam moeen '19   " "victoria ford a phd candidate in texas a&m university's department of geography recently collaborated with three professors within the college of geosciences to research what the future of sea ice thickness in the arctic will be along with co-authors dr oliver frauenfeld associate professor of geography dr chris nowotarski associate professor of atmospheric sciences and dr rodrigo bombardi assistant professor of geography published the research titled effective sea ice area based on a thickness threshold in climate dynamics the researchers found that the atmosphere above areas where arctic ice thickness is less than 040 ­– 050 meters can be exposed to much higher temperatures than areas that have much thicker ice and that these thin ice regions can account for a large portion of the total sea ice area  thus the further accelerating decline of arctic sea ice can cause a cascading effect that will ultimately lead to more major environmental issues occurring all over the earth why is sea ice important sea ice is a highly insulative surface between the ocean and atmosphere and acts as a thermal buffer ford noted that where sea ice is present the ocean and atmosphere are disconnected from one another and the exchange of heat and moisture between the warm ocean and comparatively colder atmosphere is limited with a thinner sea ice cover this thermal energy exchange between the arctic ocean and atmosphere through the sea ice layer is expected to increase warming trends observed in the arctic which already experiences 2-3 times the global average temperature increase ford stated the health of the sea ice cover is one of the most critical climatic indicators for a warming climate as the sea ice cover continues to thin out other environmental issues have begun to surface in the arctic a continually thinning ice cover has several important impacts beyond the physical air-sea-ice coupled system ford stated with increasing amounts of newly ice-free area the ocean and atmosphere become more intrinsically coupled allowing for enhanced heat and moisture exchange and ultimately leading to an increase in high-latitude precipitation the sea ice loss not only affects indigenous communities in the arctic but also wildlife and their habitats loss of sea ice and related changes to the high latitude climate already threatens the safety and food and water security of the indigenous communities in the surrounding arctic countries she added as is well documented in the media ice loss also translates to habitat loss for key megafauna species in the arctic primarily polar bears  " sea ice thickness across the arctic ocean from the piomas-20c reanalysis for (a) autumn (october 1999) (b) winter (january 2000) (d) spring (april 2000) and (e) the 2007 record sea ice minimum (september 2007) sea ice area below the sea ice thickness threshold is hatched and areas where sea ice thickness coincides with sea ice concentration below 015 are shaded light grey (c) annual and (f) seasonal contributions to the percent of total sea ice area below the sea ice thickness threshold (image courtesy of victoria ford) "a critical threshold ford emphasized the importance of determining a sea-ice thickness threshold and how it will indicate areas in the arctic that arent effectively being thermally buffered despite there being sea ice present in the area this paper addresses the question of ‘is there a critical sea ice thickness threshold where ice is thin enough to induce statistically significant changes in the atmosphere by effectively negating ices buffering presence in those areas ford said in other words we sought to determine if ice is thin enough over a large area whether the atmosphere would respond as if ice were not present at all she clarified to do this we ran a series of idealized sensitivity simulations using the weather research and forecasting model with spatially-uniform sea ice thicknesses and areas she said by teasing out just the influence of varying the sea ice thickness we are able to quantify the simulated atmospheric response and establish a thickness threshold in autumn winter and spring for which the atmospheric response is statistically significant from an ice-free ocean ford stated that this transition point indicates the point at which sea ice is so thin that it effectively becomes negligible from an atmospheric boundary layer perspective having established this threshold we applied it to historical observations and future cmip6 emissions scenarios to project when sea ice thickness falls beneath this critical threshold findings show how much sea ice effectively provides a climate buffer ford and her collaborators determined that a sea ice thickness threshold for the arctic exists where sea ice thicknesses are between 040 meters and 050 meters this threshold is consistent across seasons increasing its applicability and consistency in comparing to other sea ice research she said when this threshold is applied to the reported total sea ice area the resulting ‘effective portion of the sea ice area is 4 – 14 percent lower than the total sea ice area with as much as 400 000 to 1 million square kilometers of the total sea ice area falling beneath this threshold and is present during notable sea ice minima events she added the findings reveal that a significant portion of sea ice fails to act as an effective climate buffer between the thermally variable ocean and atmosphere in other words we find that a non-trivial portion of the total reported sea ice area does not act as an effective climate buffer between the warm ocean and cooler atmosphere ford said certain areas that fall below the sea ice thickness threshold are likely going to be exposed to warmer temperatures the atmosphere above regions with ice below this threshold is susceptible to more than 2°c of warming despite the presence of ice ford said by discerning the declining trend in thickness observations mean sea ice thickness for the entire arctic ocean is projected to be below the thickness threshold prior to 2050 and as early as the mid-2020s in september she stated working in the texas a&m climate science lab victoria is currently a part of the climate science lab (csl) working with her advisor dr oliver frauenfeld to study the intersection of the lower atmosphere and ocean surface in the high-latitudes specifically addressing the changing freshwater balance in the arctic with the decline of its sea ice cover understanding arctic sea ice loss from a geographic perspective is critical for addressing changes to high-latitude climate arctic sea ice loss is not uniform in spatial extent depth or time ford said my background in both meteorology and physical oceanography has provided me the unique perspective of looking at an intricately coupled air-sea system with a spatiotemporal approach this paper encapsulates some of that complexity she added ford found her research topic to be vital to study as it filled in a large knowledge gap that was yet to be explored in the sea ice community the majority of research and literature focuses on the loss of sea ice extent or the lateral shrinking of the ice cover because observing sea ice thickness is immensely challenging in an already data sparse region attention on vertical changes to sea ice is not as common despite being equally important as area changes she said in fact loss of sea ice thickness and therefore ice volume is where much of the total ice loss comes from ford added this work dives into the physical relationship between the atmosphere and vertical ice loss and its corresponding impact on the lateral ice cover as a whole why study arctic sea ice ford was interested in taking the challenge of breaking down this problem and accounting for some for some of the complexities that hadnt been addressed in similar studies regarding declining arctic sea ice my interest in arctic sea ice arose from the intriguing challenge of how the sea ice layer which acts as a highly insulative surface interacts with a warming ocean and atmosphere from a freshwater perspective ford stated sea ice melt inherently translates to more liquid freshwater but the question of what happens to that freshwater today is still not clear thus this paper was motivated by the first question that comes to mind: how does sea ice thickness loss contribute to the geographic distribution of sea ice area loss and associated atmospheric warming she added moving forward ford hopes that the discovered research findings will encourage researchers to include more information regarding sea ice thickness in their climate models to achieve more accurate all-encompassing results climate models universally agree that arctic sea ice will decline throughout the 21st century but these models continue to underestimate the observed sea ice decline she said sea ice thickness changes are demonstrably harder to quantify and complicate modeling efforts and our understanding of the complex coupled climate fully coupled ocean-atmosphere studies on energy exchange as they relate to historical and future sea ice area should also consider the importance of sea ice thickness both regionally and for the arctic ocean as a whole especially in thinning regions where the thermal response is enhanced she added additionally ford clarifies that importance of including such variables in newer research studies for the broader climate-interested community the main takeaway point is that the current perspective of the arctic sea ice cover underestimates the effectiveness of sea ice as a climate buffer ford said application of a critical ice thickness threshold to an effective insulative sea ice area is a major step towards a more holistic sea ice climate indicator by mariam moeen '19  " " perseverance rover looks for ancient life on mars with help from aggiestwo scientists in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics are part of the perseverance teamfeb 22 2021a nasa illustration of the perseverance rover firing up its descent stage engines as it nears the martian surface (image by nasa)nasas perseverance rover successfully descended onto the jezero crater on mars surface feb 18 and for approximately the next 687 days will search for signs of ancient microbial life on mars two scientists in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences are part of this mission dr marion nachon associate research scientist in the department of geology and geophysics is one of only 13 participating scientists selected by nasa for this mission the participating scientists will conduct research using data collected by perseverance and support the missions science operations nachons research will couple datasets from perseverances planetary instrument for x-ray lithochemistry (pixl) and supercam instruments and rover cameras to characterize mars geological record at the millimetric/micrometric scale it is a great honor to be one of the 13 participating scientists selected said nachon who also conducted research supporting the mars 2020 mission in iceland in 2019 dr michael tice also an associate research scientist in geology and geophysics is a co-investigator on the mars 2020 pixl team pixl has a tool called an x-ray spectrometer that can identify chemical elements at a tiny scale and it also has a camera that takes close-up pictures of rock and soil textures it is one of the many technologically advanced tools on perseverance that will look for signs of past microbial life on mars perseverance will advance nasas quest to explore the past habitability of mars the rover also has a drill to collect core samples of martian rock and soil and store them for a future mission that would return them to earth for detailed analysis nasa missions before perseverance have found that liquid water existed on mars in the ancient past by leslie lee '09 " a nasa illustration of the perseverance rover firing up its descent stage engines as it nears the martian surface (image by nasa) "nasas perseverance rover successfully descended onto the jezero crater on mars surface feb 18 and for approximately the next 687 days will search for signs of ancient microbial life on mars two scientists in texas a&m universitys college of geosciences are part of this mission dr marion nachon associate research scientist in the department of geology and geophysics is one of only 13 participating scientists selected by nasa for this mission the participating scientists will conduct research using data collected by perseverance and support the missions science operations nachons research will couple datasets from perseverances planetary instrument for x-ray lithochemistry (pixl) and supercam instruments and rover cameras to characterize mars geological record at the millimetric/micrometric scale it is a great honor to be one of the 13 participating scientists selected said nachon who also conducted research supporting the mars 2020 mission in iceland in 2019 dr michael tice also an associate research scientist in geology and geophysics is a co-investigator on the mars 2020 pixl team pixl has a tool called an x-ray spectrometer that can identify chemical elements at a tiny scale and it also has a camera that takes close-up pictures of rock and soil textures it is one of the many technologically advanced tools on perseverance that will look for signs of past microbial life on mars perseverance will advance nasas quest to explore the past habitability of mars the rover also has a drill to collect core samples of martian rock and soil and store them for a future mission that would return them to earth for detailed analysis nasa missions before perseverance have found that liquid water existed on mars in the ancient past by leslie lee '09" " gulf of mexico experiencing record low water temperaturesafter days of freezing weather texas a&m-operated buoys near galveston and corpus christi are reporting the lowest temperatures recorded since their installationfeb 22 2021the tabs buoy system is able to supply vital information such as wave speed and direction wind speed and direction wave climate and water temperature at various locations in the gulf of mexico image credit: texas a&m university college of geosciencesa system of buoys in the gulf of mexico operated by texas a&m university scientists has reported the lowest water temperatures ever recorded since they were installed in 1995 dr steven dimarco  a professor of oceanography at texas a&m who heads the texas automated buoy system (tabs) said that buoys located near galveston recorded a temperature of 525 degrees while another near corpus christi reported a temperature of 50 degrees he said the average daily water temperatures for the galveston and corpus christi areas this time of year are about 585 degrees these are the lowest readings weve seen since the system went into operation in 1995 dimarco said and it appears that some of these temperatures are continuing to get even lower because the cold air has persisted for several days dimarco added that the tabs system has recorded wave heights of 13 feet in some parts of the texas coast compared to a normal reading of three to five feet this time of year the tabs system is supported by the texas general land office and is the only buoy system of its kind in the united states and one of the few in the world it supplies critical data allowing modelers to accurately predict the movement of oil spills and provides other current data that helps protect the 367-mile texas coastline the data collected by the system are freely available and open to the public the buoy system is operated by researchers in the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) in texas a&ms college of geosciences buoys range in size from seven feet to more than 20 feet in length each of them floating on the waters surface and anchored to the ocean floor dimarco said the frigid temperatures hitting texas are harmful to several types of marine life especially sea turtles volunteers have rescued more than 3 000 sea turtles along the texas coast and moved them to warming centers but experts believe many have already died by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " the tabs buoy system is able to supply vital information such as wave speed and direction wind speed and direction wave climate and water temperature at various locations in the gulf of mexico image credit: texas a&m university college of geosciences "a system of buoys in the gulf of mexico operated by texas a&m university scientists has reported the lowest water temperatures ever recorded since they were installed in 1995 dr steven dimarco  a professor of oceanography at texas a&m who heads the texas automated buoy system (tabs) said that buoys located near galveston recorded a temperature of 525 degrees while another near corpus christi reported a temperature of 50 degrees he said the average daily water temperatures for the galveston and corpus christi areas this time of year are about 585 degrees these are the lowest readings weve seen since the system went into operation in 1995 dimarco said and it appears that some of these temperatures are continuing to get even lower because the cold air has persisted for several days dimarco added that the tabs system has recorded wave heights of 13 feet in some parts of the texas coast compared to a normal reading of three to five feet this time of year the tabs system is supported by the texas general land office and is the only buoy system of its kind in the united states and one of the few in the world it supplies critical data allowing modelers to accurately predict the movement of oil spills and provides other current data that helps protect the 367-mile texas coastline the data collected by the system are freely available and open to the public the buoy system is operated by researchers in the geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) in texas a&ms college of geosciences buoys range in size from seven feet to more than 20 feet in length each of them floating on the waters surface and anchored to the ocean floor dimarco said the frigid temperatures hitting texas are harmful to several types of marine life especially sea turtles volunteers have rescued more than 3 000 sea turtles along the texas coast and moved them to warming centers but experts believe many have already died by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " unprecedented high-resolution climate simulation developed by texas a&m scientisttexas a&m university researchers and international collaborators recently published an unprecedented set of long-term high-resolution climate simulationsfeb 10 2021sea-surface temperature field from september 21 2018 as represented in (top) hr and (bottom) lr simulations right panels show a blow-up of the western north atlantic region with a simulated hurricane-induced cold wake visible east of the bahamas in the hr panel (top right) weather extremes such as hurricanes are not captured by lr because of the coarse model resolution image credit: dr ping changfor the first time new high-resolution (hr) climate simulations spanning 750 years are giving scientists the ability to simulate earth systems at such a fine resolution to clearly capture historical evidence of man-made climate change and future predictions dr ping chang professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and his colleagues used a high-resolution (hr) configuration of the community earth system model version 13 (cesm13) to run a 500-year pre-industrial climate simulation and a 250-year historical and future climate simulation from 1850 to 2100 the research was recently published in the journal of advances in modeling earth systems (james) of the american geophysical union (agu) and featured in the agus prestigious eos editors highlights most previous and current models can only run simulations at low-resolution (lr) that resolves climate phenomena at 100 kilometers or larger the newer hr model can simulate climate events up to 10 kilometers ten times finer than the standard models this new model is the first hr simulation to be run for such a long period of time the challenge is to understand the impact of climate change at the regional scale that people really care about and that really requires a much higher resolution modeling capability chang says climate change is real its definitely going to have an impact on regional weather patterns and this model simulation shows very clear evidence that extreme precipitation associated with future hurricanes is going to get more intense chang was the lead author on this study and hopes future research in this area will be able to reach higher resolutions that may be able to show cloud formation in the atmosphere one surprising result of the hr climate simulation was the intermittent occurrence of polynyas large openings in sea ice comparable to the size of new zealand in the southern ocean off antarctica polynyas are phenomena that can last for several years as observed in the weddell sea during mid 1970s and are not realistically simulated by lr climate models chang explains that when running at low (standard)-resolution of the same model these phenomena simply dont occur at all the hr simulation was also in much closer agreement with historical observed data than the lr simulation in other key climate aspects such as average global surface temperatures this research is a first step for the international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) a collaboration between the qingdao national laboratory for marine science and technology (qnlm) texas a&m university and the us national center for atmospheric research (ncar) this collaboration can really provide the opportunity for us to understand the impacts increasing the model resolution can have on future climate projection chang says chang and his colleagues used the sunway taihulight high performance computer (hpc) in wuxi china to run the simulations while one of the fastest hpcs in the world it consumes less energy than more conventional systems when we make such long simulations we actually burn a lot of electricity so it has a significant carbon footprint chang says so we want to make sure that while we are trying to improve our understanding of climate change impact we dont increase co­2 emissions to the environment read the full journal article by justin agan ‘18 " sea-surface temperature field from september 21 2018 as represented in (top) hr and (bottom) lr simulations right panels show a blow-up of the western north atlantic region with a simulated hurricane-induced cold wake visible east of the bahamas in the hr panel (top right) weather extremes such as hurricanes are not captured by lr because of the coarse model resolution image credit: dr ping chang "for the first time new high-resolution (hr) climate simulations spanning 750 years are giving scientists the ability to simulate earth systems at such a fine resolution to clearly capture historical evidence of man-made climate change and future predictions dr ping chang professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university and his colleagues used a high-resolution (hr) configuration of the community earth system model version 13 (cesm13) to run a 500-year pre-industrial climate simulation and a 250-year historical and future climate simulation from 1850 to 2100 the research was recently published in the journal of advances in modeling earth systems (james) of the american geophysical union (agu) and featured in the agus prestigious eos editors highlights most previous and current models can only run simulations at low-resolution (lr) that resolves climate phenomena at 100 kilometers or larger the newer hr model can simulate climate events up to 10 kilometers ten times finer than the standard models this new model is the first hr simulation to be run for such a long period of time the challenge is to understand the impact of climate change at the regional scale that people really care about and that really requires a much higher resolution modeling capability chang says climate change is real its definitely going to have an impact on regional weather patterns and this model simulation shows very clear evidence that extreme precipitation associated with future hurricanes is going to get more intense chang was the lead author on this study and hopes future research in this area will be able to reach higher resolutions that may be able to show cloud formation in the atmosphere one surprising result of the hr climate simulation was the intermittent occurrence of polynyas large openings in sea ice comparable to the size of new zealand in the southern ocean off antarctica polynyas are phenomena that can last for several years as observed in the weddell sea during mid 1970s and are not realistically simulated by lr climate models chang explains that when running at low (standard)-resolution of the same model these phenomena simply dont occur at all the hr simulation was also in much closer agreement with historical observed data than the lr simulation in other key climate aspects such as average global surface temperatures this research is a first step for the international laboratory for high-resolution earth system prediction (ihesp) a collaboration between the qingdao national laboratory for marine science and technology (qnlm) texas a&m university and the us national center for atmospheric research (ncar) this collaboration can really provide the opportunity for us to understand the impacts increasing the model resolution can have on future climate projection chang says chang and his colleagues used the sunway taihulight high performance computer (hpc) in wuxi china to run the simulations while one of the fastest hpcs in the world it consumes less energy than more conventional systems when we make such long simulations we actually burn a lot of electricity so it has a significant carbon footprint chang says so we want to make sure that while we are trying to improve our understanding of climate change impact we dont increase co­2 emissions to the environment read the full journal article by justin agan ‘18" " a perfect storm: aggies and weathertexas a&ms meteorology program is one of the countrys best and its likely your local weatherperson proves it almost dailyfeb 10 2021 the oceanography and meteorology building on the texas a&m campus photo courtesy texas a&m marketing & communications mia montgomery '20 in the broadcast meteorology class in february 2020 (screengrab from texas a&m video)todays outlook: partly cloudy and warm with no rain but a very good chance that your weather forecast will be brought to you by an aggie for decades texas a&m university has had one of the best meteorology programs in the country and the media has taken notice – mainly by hiring them turn on the tv and there will likely be an aggie giving the forecast on the local news scot walker assistant vice president for communications at the association of former students says there are least 150 aggie grads who have the word weather in their job title thats a lot of weather aggies he said so why does texas a&m produce so many weather people our meteorology program is one of the best in the nation and attracts exceptional students said debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences but i think this is also a testament to aggie selfless service because broadcast meteorologists are such critical community resources effective weather communicators save lives a quick answer as to why texas a&m has so many graduates working in weather is probably a combination of several factors said dr chris nowotarski associate professor of atmospheric sciences we have one of the top two or three largest undergraduate programs in meteorology in the country that is widely recognized as having a strong program in weather forecasting he said also we offer instruction and experience in front of a tv green screen just like the tv meteorologists do plus were located in a state with a large number of local media markets which are likely to be run by many former students and the aggie ring effect is real added regents professor and state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon: tv weathercasters are often the de facto science reporters for their tv stations our program helps prepare them for this role with training in physics chemistry oceanography and climate students also have the opportunity to tailor their curriculum to specialize in particular aspects of meteorology other sciences or aspects of society that are affected by weather and climate travis herzog a 2004 graduate and chief weatherperson at ktrk in houston would agree he said most people who get into weather forecasting were bitten by the weather bug at an early age for me it was a tornado spawned by hurricane gilbert in 1988 he said it went right by our house in san antonio and shook us all up – literally from that day i knew i wanted to be a meteorologist herzog who graduated from texas a&m with a perfect 40 grade-point average and has been at ktrk since 2006 said his training at texas a&m has made all the difference i got an excellent undergraduate weather education at a&m and it wasnt just from the courses he said i was active in the student meteorology club called tamscams (texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society) and that provided unique opportunities to hear from guest speakers and to go on field trips to learn more about our amazing atmosphere the list of aggies on tv is a lengthy one rachel briers also at ktrk in houston graduated in 2014 and in san antonio justin horne and sarah spivey give forecasts for ksat in phoenix aggie grad jorge torres does the weather for abc15 and was involved with the texas aggie storm chasers when he was a student in waco brady taylor gives the forecast for kwtx and josh johns can be seen wearing his aggie ring at kxxv avery tomasco does daily weather broadcasts for keye in austin and david finfrock has been a mainstay at kxas in the dallas-fort worth area for 45 years and worked alongside weather expert rebecca miller who taught weather classes at texas a&m for many years and now works for southwest airlines on the national front are chris samsury at the weather channel and jason sippel who gets up close and personal with storms – he flies into them as a hurricane hunter for the national weather service in miami matt mosier holds two weather degrees from texas a&m and provides critical information from his post at the storm prediction center in oklahoma city the list goes on and on – there are aggie weatherpersons in florida georgia tennessee california missouri and many other states texas a&m helped prepare me for the career i have today and i am thankful i got to experience aggieland said johns who started his career in south texas moved to san angelo and now is in waco anyone who is interested in pursuing a meteorology degree needs to really pay attention to the math and science classes as they are a heavy part of the curriculum if anyone is interested in the broadcast side a public speaking background wouldnt be a bad idea either while in school i highly recommend seeking out a broadcast internship i wouldnt be where i am without my two internships travis herzog and david finfrock are the best in the biz two meteorologists i really look up to i watched finfrock as a kid and later in life was mentored by him once i got to a&m i got to know herzog and reached out to him multiple times for advice the aggie network is very strong that sentiment is shared by shel winkley chief weatherperson at kbtx in bryan-college station he has taught a broadcast meteorology class at texas a&m since 2013 the aggie network is very real and it opens doors he said its very true that aggies keep up with other aggies i was always appreciative that the school had some of the best technical equipment we were able to make our own daily weather forecasts using our radar and other instruments i think it gave us a great advantage over other schools   by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications " " the oceanography and meteorology building on the texas a&m campus photo courtesy texas a&m marketing & communications mia montgomery '20 in the broadcast meteorology class in february 2020 (screengrab from texas a&m video)" "todays outlook: partly cloudy and warm with no rain but a very good chance that your weather forecast will be brought to you by an aggie for decades texas a&m university has had one of the best meteorology programs in the country and the media has taken notice – mainly by hiring them turn on the tv and there will likely be an aggie giving the forecast on the local news scot walker assistant vice president for communications at the association of former students says there are least 150 aggie grads who have the word weather in their job title thats a lot of weather aggies he said so why does texas a&m produce so many weather people our meteorology program is one of the best in the nation and attracts exceptional students said debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences but i think this is also a testament to aggie selfless service because broadcast meteorologists are such critical community resources effective weather communicators save lives a quick answer as to why texas a&m has so many graduates working in weather is probably a combination of several factors said dr chris nowotarski associate professor of atmospheric sciences we have one of the top two or three largest undergraduate programs in meteorology in the country that is widely recognized as having a strong program in weather forecasting he said also we offer instruction and experience in front of a tv green screen just like the tv meteorologists do plus were located in a state with a large number of local media markets which are likely to be run by many former students and the aggie ring effect is real added regents professor and state climatologist dr john nielsen-gammon: tv weathercasters are often the de facto science reporters for their tv stations our program helps prepare them for this role with training in physics chemistry oceanography and climate students also have the opportunity to tailor their curriculum to specialize in particular aspects of meteorology other sciences or aspects of society that are affected by weather and climate travis herzog a 2004 graduate and chief weatherperson at ktrk in houston would agree he said most people who get into weather forecasting were bitten by the weather bug at an early age for me it was a tornado spawned by hurricane gilbert in 1988 he said it went right by our house in san antonio and shook us all up – literally from that day i knew i wanted to be a meteorologist herzog who graduated from texas a&m with a perfect 40 grade-point average and has been at ktrk since 2006 said his training at texas a&m has made all the difference i got an excellent undergraduate weather education at a&m and it wasnt just from the courses he said i was active in the student meteorology club called tamscams (texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society) and that provided unique opportunities to hear from guest speakers and to go on field trips to learn more about our amazing atmosphere the list of aggies on tv is a lengthy one rachel briers also at ktrk in houston graduated in 2014 and in san antonio justin horne and sarah spivey give forecasts for ksat in phoenix aggie grad jorge torres does the weather for abc15 and was involved with the texas aggie storm chasers when he was a student in waco brady taylor gives the forecast for kwtx and josh johns can be seen wearing his aggie ring at kxxv avery tomasco does daily weather broadcasts for keye in austin and david finfrock has been a mainstay at kxas in the dallas-fort worth area for 45 years and worked alongside weather expert rebecca miller who taught weather classes at texas a&m for many years and now works for southwest airlines on the national front are chris samsury at the weather channel and jason sippel who gets up close and personal with storms – he flies into them as a hurricane hunter for the national weather service in miami matt mosier holds two weather degrees from texas a&m and provides critical information from his post at the storm prediction center in oklahoma city the list goes on and on – there are aggie weatherpersons in florida georgia tennessee california missouri and many other states texas a&m helped prepare me for the career i have today and i am thankful i got to experience aggieland said johns who started his career in south texas moved to san angelo and now is in waco anyone who is interested in pursuing a meteorology degree needs to really pay attention to the math and science classes as they are a heavy part of the curriculum if anyone is interested in the broadcast side a public speaking background wouldnt be a bad idea either while in school i highly recommend seeking out a broadcast internship i wouldnt be where i am without my two internships travis herzog and david finfrock are the best in the biz two meteorologists i really look up to i watched finfrock as a kid and later in life was mentored by him once i got to a&m i got to know herzog and reached out to him multiple times for advice the aggie network is very strong that sentiment is shared by shel winkley chief weatherperson at kbtx in bryan-college station he has taught a broadcast meteorology class at texas a&m since 2013 the aggie network is very real and it opens doors he said its very true that aggies keep up with other aggies i was always appreciative that the school had some of the best technical equipment we were able to make our own daily weather forecasts using our radar and other instruments i think it gave us a great advantage over other schools   by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications" " erol and barbara morey designate planned endowment to geosciencesthe gift will provide fellowships for geosciences graduate studentsjan 27 2021erol and barbara morey (photos courtesy of the moreys)erol was instrumental in creating maps like this one of khartoum sudan in 1990erol morey 84 is a prime example of how life can surprise you when plan a doesnt work out in 1985 erol had just received his masters in geology from texas a&m university and embarked on his long-awaited oil and gas career when the industry experienced a down-turn there to catch him was an opportunity working for the us department of defense (dod) before he knew it he was trading in his fossil fuel dreams for cold war satellite spy craft thirty-five years later erol and his wife barb are thanking texas a&ms college of geosciences in a tangible way for giving him a solid start to an unexpected yet extraordinary career by designating the texas a&m foundation as the beneficiary of erols individual retirement account (ira) the moreys planned endowment will provide fellowships for countless geosciences graduate students long after the couple is gone along with a stellar education erol credits texas a&m with making graduate school affordable a boston-area native and washington university in st louis alumnus he set his sights on texas for his graduate coursework but money was an issue texas a&m came through with a teaching assistantship complete with an in-state tuition rate of $4 per credit hour texas a&m took a chance on this yankee so i wanted to pay back the benefits i received erol said the ira provides yearly income off the principal that benefits barb and me during our lives after were gone the principal is still there so why not be generous and share it with others a slight change of plans as an undergraduate erol discovered a love of geology pairing that with dreams of living abroad and making good money he decided an oil and gas career was the right path for him taking the advice of job recruiters he opted to earn his masters degree at texas a&m but while his education was top-rate his graduation timing couldnt have been worse i had been to houston dallas and tyler just knocking on doors he recalled of his job search i finally realized that i needed to broaden my horizons so i started sending applications to the federal government his plan b triggered a call that would change his lifes trajectory it was the dods defense mapping agency (dma) erols plan a had been to visualize what might lie beneath the earths surface he was now being asked to look up and imagine the role he could play in satellite imaging in with the new the mid-1980s marked both the tail end of the cold war and the rise in computer literacy it also saw the retirement of those from the world war ii generation with this in mind government agencies were eager to hire a new crop of college graduates the dma realized they needed younger people who both understood computers and made maps this way they didnt need a lot of training erol explained for me it was a pretty natural fit scores of young people poured into the agency among them was barbara barb youngquist a university of washington graduate who like erol had majored in geology barb had dreamed of becoming an archaeologist even participating in a summer dig in france but while good money helped lure erol to the oil and gas industry the lack of it and predictable employment dissuaded barb from an archaeology career so she too found her place in governmental mapping the couple met through a mutual acquaintance married and together hitched their careers to the ever-evolving field of satellite imaging a digital revolution when erol and barb joined the dma in 1985 (before her move to the dods defense intelligence agency) he focused on terrain mapping while she focused on nautical charting among erols early responsibilities was using film-based images from spy satellites to create maps that would predict soviet missile launcher locations barb mapped water body features using multispectral satellite imagery using a method that manipulates different light wavelengths to uncover details invisible to the human eye it would be several years before the agency could completely transition from traditional film-based images and pen and ink mapping techniques but by the end of the 1980s the moreys were among those ushering in the systems that would revolutionize satellite imaging data processing erol said these digital advancements marked a fundamental change in the way the country produced maps and gathered intelligence government officials military officers intelligence personnel and others relied on the agencys maps for such purposes as strategic military operations diplomatic deliberations and assisting soldiers on the ground barb was among those who operated the massive computers essential to digital imaging processing these computers used countless lines of code to manipulate the digital images to produce the most accurate and detailed satellite images ever produced at that point in time the workstations we used cost more than $1 million apiece erol said you can now get similar information on your phone through apps like google maps buy american as the cold war ended so did the need for such a large group of satellite imagery scientists in a 180-degree shift the us government encouraged companies who had worked on classified satellite imaging systems to take their technologies to the public marketplace the hypothesis was that we wanted countries to buy into american companies that used satellites licensed by the us government erol explained we could encourage our friends and allies to buy american because we offered the best products the lamborghinis and ferraris of the imagery exploitation world the moreys left washington dc in 2000 and moved to the denver area there they joined space imaging shortly after the company launched the ikonos satellite the first commercial high-resolution earth imaging satellite space imaging supported us national security efforts such as operation enduring freedom it also sold images to the public and allowed countries to avoid investing in their own satellites by renting the ikonos satellite as it passed overhead thereby providing previously unattainable intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities the next chapter today the ikonos satellite is retired and space imaging has undergone a series of acquisitions the moreys remained in colorado where they raised their son ian and their daughter katie 18 barb continues to use her mapping and analysis skills as the lead geographic information system analyst and developer for jefferson county in 2016 erol returned to the dod to help the joint staff determine the future satellite requirements of the newly reestablished us space command he lends his expertise as the team wrestles with key questions: in five to 10 years what does the force structure need to look like to counter threats from other countries how many satellites will we need and what will that entail in terms of the number and size of rocket launchers what kind of weather satellites should we utilize to support our troops around the world how many and what types of military personnel are needed to execute the space command mission its questions like these that make erol thankful for his time at texas a&m although he prepared for an oil and gas career that didnt pan out his graduate education was far from wasted while i never got to use my knowledge of sedimentary carbonates i learned to set up a masters thesis prove and disprove arguments and write down my findings in a cohesive paper he said those are skills that have lasted a lifetime through their fellowship endowment the moreys hope that future generations of graduate students will likewise leave aggieland with these same research analysis critical thinking and communication abilities skills that are essential to succeeding in all walks of life by kara bounds socol texas a&m foundation to learn more about how you can impact the lives of up-and-coming geosciences students contact college of geosciences senior director of development david bacot 90 at dbacot@txamfoundationcom for more information on using your ira or another retirement account to support the college of geosciences after your lifetime contact angela throne 03 at giftplanning@txamfoundationcom " erol and barbara morey (photos courtesy of the moreys)erol was instrumental in creating maps like this one of khartoum sudan in 1990 "erol morey 84 is a prime example of how life can surprise you when plan a doesnt work out in 1985 erol had just received his masters in geology from texas a&m university and embarked on his long-awaited oil and gas career when the industry experienced a down-turn there to catch him was an opportunity working for the us department of defense (dod) before he knew it he was trading in his fossil fuel dreams for cold war satellite spy craft thirty-five years later erol and his wife barb are thanking texas a&ms college of geosciences in a tangible way for giving him a solid start to an unexpected yet extraordinary career by designating the texas a&m foundation as the beneficiary of erols individual retirement account (ira) the moreys planned endowment will provide fellowships for countless geosciences graduate students long after the couple is gone along with a stellar education erol credits texas a&m with making graduate school affordable a boston-area native and washington university in st louis alumnus he set his sights on texas for his graduate coursework but money was an issue texas a&m came through with a teaching assistantship complete with an in-state tuition rate of $4 per credit hour texas a&m took a chance on this yankee so i wanted to pay back the benefits i received erol said the ira provides yearly income off the principal that benefits barb and me during our lives after were gone the principal is still there so why not be generous and share it with others a slight change of plans as an undergraduate erol discovered a love of geology pairing that with dreams of living abroad and making good money he decided an oil and gas career was the right path for him taking the advice of job recruiters he opted to earn his masters degree at texas a&m but while his education was top-rate his graduation timing couldnt have been worse i had been to houston dallas and tyler just knocking on doors he recalled of his job search i finally realized that i needed to broaden my horizons so i started sending applications to the federal government his plan b triggered a call that would change his lifes trajectory it was the dods defense mapping agency (dma) erols plan a had been to visualize what might lie beneath the earths surface he was now being asked to look up and imagine the role he could play in satellite imaging in with the new the mid-1980s marked both the tail end of the cold war and the rise in computer literacy it also saw the retirement of those from the world war ii generation with this in mind government agencies were eager to hire a new crop of college graduates the dma realized they needed younger people who both understood computers and made maps this way they didnt need a lot of training erol explained for me it was a pretty natural fit scores of young people poured into the agency among them was barbara barb youngquist a university of washington graduate who like erol had majored in geology barb had dreamed of becoming an archaeologist even participating in a summer dig in france but while good money helped lure erol to the oil and gas industry the lack of it and predictable employment dissuaded barb from an archaeology career so she too found her place in governmental mapping the couple met through a mutual acquaintance married and together hitched their careers to the ever-evolving field of satellite imaging a digital revolution when erol and barb joined the dma in 1985 (before her move to the dods defense intelligence agency) he focused on terrain mapping while she focused on nautical charting among erols early responsibilities was using film-based images from spy satellites to create maps that would predict soviet missile launcher locations barb mapped water body features using multispectral satellite imagery using a method that manipulates different light wavelengths to uncover details invisible to the human eye it would be several years before the agency could completely transition from traditional film-based images and pen and ink mapping techniques but by the end of the 1980s the moreys were among those ushering in the systems that would revolutionize satellite imaging data processing erol said these digital advancements marked a fundamental change in the way the country produced maps and gathered intelligence government officials military officers intelligence personnel and others relied on the agencys maps for such purposes as strategic military operations diplomatic deliberations and assisting soldiers on the ground barb was among those who operated the massive computers essential to digital imaging processing these computers used countless lines of code to manipulate the digital images to produce the most accurate and detailed satellite images ever produced at that point in time the workstations we used cost more than $1 million apiece erol said you can now get similar information on your phone through apps like google maps buy american as the cold war ended so did the need for such a large group of satellite imagery scientists in a 180-degree shift the us government encouraged companies who had worked on classified satellite imaging systems to take their technologies to the public marketplace the hypothesis was that we wanted countries to buy into american companies that used satellites licensed by the us government erol explained we could encourage our friends and allies to buy american because we offered the best products the lamborghinis and ferraris of the imagery exploitation world the moreys left washington dc in 2000 and moved to the denver area there they joined space imaging shortly after the company launched the ikonos satellite the first commercial high-resolution earth imaging satellite space imaging supported us national security efforts such as operation enduring freedom it also sold images to the public and allowed countries to avoid investing in their own satellites by renting the ikonos satellite as it passed overhead thereby providing previously unattainable intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities the next chapter today the ikonos satellite is retired and space imaging has undergone a series of acquisitions the moreys remained in colorado where they raised their son ian and their daughter katie 18 barb continues to use her mapping and analysis skills as the lead geographic information system analyst and developer for jefferson county in 2016 erol returned to the dod to help the joint staff determine the future satellite requirements of the newly reestablished us space command he lends his expertise as the team wrestles with key questions: in five to 10 years what does the force structure need to look like to counter threats from other countries how many satellites will we need and what will that entail in terms of the number and size of rocket launchers what kind of weather satellites should we utilize to support our troops around the world how many and what types of military personnel are needed to execute the space command mission its questions like these that make erol thankful for his time at texas a&m although he prepared for an oil and gas career that didnt pan out his graduate education was far from wasted while i never got to use my knowledge of sedimentary carbonates i learned to set up a masters thesis prove and disprove arguments and write down my findings in a cohesive paper he said those are skills that have lasted a lifetime through their fellowship endowment the moreys hope that future generations of graduate students will likewise leave aggieland with these same research analysis critical thinking and communication abilities skills that are essential to succeeding in all walks of life by kara bounds socol texas a&m foundation to learn more about how you can impact the lives of up-and-coming geosciences students contact college of geosciences senior director of development david bacot 90 at dbacot@txamfoundationcom for more information on using your ira or another retirement account to support the college of geosciences after your lifetime contact angela throne 03 at giftplanning@txamfoundationcom" " national cemeteries to be mapped by texas a&m multidisciplinary teamthe department of geographys dr stacey lyle is leading the team which will develop a digitized national cemetery experiencejan 26 2021a multi-disciplinary texas a&m project will digitize veterans legacies and enable virtual visits to their headstones (photo courtesy of texas a&m liberal arts)the national cemetery administration (nca) has awarded a contract to the texas a&m engineering experiment station as part of ncas veterans legacy program (vlp) to engage texas a&m university students in the development of an immersive and interactive digitized national cemetery experience  we are excited to be partnering with texas a&m university said randy reeves under secretary for memorial affairs with this contract we will make great progress towards our goal of ensuring that every veterans story continues to be told – even when it is not possible to visit a va cemetery this is an important step in ensuring ‘no veteran ever dies this initial $249 832 award part of a $22 million contract will provide support to faculty undergraduate and graduate students from texas a&ms department of geography department of history and zachry department of civil and environmental engineering researchers will develop geographic information system (gis)-based applications to allow public contributions to memorialize veterans interred in three va cemeteries:  houston national cemetery and san antonio national cemetery in texas and alexandria national cemetery in virginia the one-year contract was awarded on sept16 2020  capturing us veterans legacies and enabling virtual visits to their headstones through technology requires a transdisciplinary approach said dr stacey lyle texas a&m engineering and geosciences associate professor of practice who leads the project team of four faculty and five students by transcending disciplinary boundaries between history geoscience and engineering we will preserve and make accessible the stories of american veterans great contributions to our freedoms for all people to experience the project will also use geospatial equipment donated by trimble navigation to the college of geosciences students are using the econgnition and inpho uasmaster software in the texas a&m university trimble lab to automate the extraction and interpretation of headstone information captured with drone imagery into a community database lyle said citizen scientists and the community want to visit the headstones using their cellphones at the national cemeteries but currently paper maps are the only method to locate the desired headstone  to insure visitors find the headstone quickly and correctly highly accurate geospatial locations provided from the trimble r-10 gnss surveying equipment is needed students from texas a&ms corps of cadets will contribute biographical research of veterans interred in those cemeteries and others and the texas a&m project team will partner with klein independent school district in houston to create gis-based learning opportunities for students and professional development for steam (science technology engineering arts and mathematics) teachers programs like the veterans legacy program are important to our country for many reasons they allow us to preserve our nations history and legacy while using that same knowledge to shape our future said brig gen joe e ramirez jr 79 commandant of cadets at texas a&m im proud that the corps of cadets is involved with this project as guardians of tradition we take pride in honoring our past while preparing leaders for the future for over 140 years the corps has taken great care to preserve and execute the most time-honored traditions at texas a&m it will be no different with the stories of our nations veterans this work will contribute to ncas efforts to enhance the on-site national cemetery experience through technology while also extending that experience to citizens who are unable to visit a national cemetery written in collaboration with the texas a&m college of engineering and texas a&m college of liberal arts " a multi-disciplinary texas a&m project will digitize veterans legacies and enable virtual visits to their headstones (photo courtesy of texas a&m liberal arts) "the national cemetery administration (nca) has awarded a contract to the texas a&m engineering experiment station as part of ncas veterans legacy program (vlp) to engage texas a&m university students in the development of an immersive and interactive digitized national cemetery experience  we are excited to be partnering with texas a&m university said randy reeves under secretary for memorial affairs with this contract we will make great progress towards our goal of ensuring that every veterans story continues to be told – even when it is not possible to visit a va cemetery this is an important step in ensuring ‘no veteran ever dies this initial $249 832 award part of a $22 million contract will provide support to faculty undergraduate and graduate students from texas a&ms department of geography department of history and zachry department of civil and environmental engineering researchers will develop geographic information system (gis)-based applications to allow public contributions to memorialize veterans interred in three va cemeteries:  houston national cemetery and san antonio national cemetery in texas and alexandria national cemetery in virginia the one-year contract was awarded on sept16 2020  capturing us veterans legacies and enabling virtual visits to their headstones through technology requires a transdisciplinary approach said dr stacey lyle texas a&m engineering and geosciences associate professor of practice who leads the project team of four faculty and five students by transcending disciplinary boundaries between history geoscience and engineering we will preserve and make accessible the stories of american veterans great contributions to our freedoms for all people to experience the project will also use geospatial equipment donated by trimble navigation to the college of geosciences students are using the econgnition and inpho uasmaster software in the texas a&m university trimble lab to automate the extraction and interpretation of headstone information captured with drone imagery into a community database lyle said citizen scientists and the community want to visit the headstones using their cellphones at the national cemeteries but currently paper maps are the only method to locate the desired headstone  to insure visitors find the headstone quickly and correctly highly accurate geospatial locations provided from the trimble r-10 gnss surveying equipment is needed students from texas a&ms corps of cadets will contribute biographical research of veterans interred in those cemeteries and others and the texas a&m project team will partner with klein independent school district in houston to create gis-based learning opportunities for students and professional development for steam (science technology engineering arts and mathematics) teachers programs like the veterans legacy program are important to our country for many reasons they allow us to preserve our nations history and legacy while using that same knowledge to shape our future said brig gen joe e ramirez jr 79 commandant of cadets at texas a&m im proud that the corps of cadets is involved with this project as guardians of tradition we take pride in honoring our past while preparing leaders for the future for over 140 years the corps has taken great care to preserve and execute the most time-honored traditions at texas a&m it will be no different with the stories of our nations veterans this work will contribute to ncas efforts to enhance the on-site national cemetery experience through technology while also extending that experience to citizens who are unable to visit a national cemetery written in collaboration with the texas a&m college of engineering and texas a&m college of liberal arts" " new wildfire smoke research improves climate modeling accuracyco-authored by a texas a&m scientist a new study shows that wildfire smoke cools the climate more than current climate computer models assumejan 25 2021smoke from forest fires in wetter climates such as oregon (above) tends to be brighter and have more of a cooling effect on the climate than smoke emitted from dry bushfires scientists say (photo: istock)smoke from bushfires in places such as australia (above) tends to be darker and have more of a warming effect on the climate (photo: istock)a new study on biomass-burning aerosols has shown that that smoke from wildfires has more of a cooling effect on the climate system than most climate models assume dr xiaohong liu professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m served as corresponding author of the research which was recently published in nature communications when wildfires burn forests and grasslands biomass-burning aerosols are produced forming smoke clouds the composition size and mixing state of biomass-burning aerosols determine the optical properties of the smoke plumes in the atmosphere and those properties determine how much the smoke clouds absorb and scatter the solar radiation the researchers compared climate models predictions to large amounts of wildfire data collected in field sites around the world as well in laboratory experiments and they found major differences we collected field data from across the globe and we found that the models make a lot of assumptions about the physical and optical properties of the biomass-burning aerosols and those assumptions were not accurate liu said climate models such as those examined in this study are used to create important climate change reports such as the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) assessment that is published about every seven years he explained in this study we evaluate the climate models used in the ipcc assessment and we found out that these models assume biomass-burning smoke is more light-absorbing than our data actually shows liu said our study shows that biomass-burning has a more net-cooling effect than previously thought the study was led by dr hunter brown who recently received his phd from the university of wyoming and was advised by liu during his time as a professor at the university of wyoming from 2013-2019 brown recently joined lius team at texas a&m as a postdoctoral researcher to continue his research on biomass-burning aerosols we found that many of the most advanced climate models simulate biomass-burning aerosols or smoke that is darker or more light absorbing than what we see in observations brown said this has implications for the climate predictions made by these models observations and models used in the study covered a wide temporal range africa south america and southeastern asia in addition to boreal fire regions were chosen because these are the largest contributors to biomass-burning smoke emissions in the world brown said these biomass-burning aerosols are extremely complicated liu said the complexity involves the aerosols physical and chemical properties which are determined by the fires burning conditions and the fuel types such as dry grasslands or forests the smoke is very complicated north american forest fire smoke is very different than australian bush fire smoke because of the different types of fuel and burning conditions he said they can produce darker or brighter smoke and the chemical evolution of the smoke in the atmosphere can be very complicatedsmoke from the mullen fire seen from laramie wyoming in october 2020 different radiative and microphysical properties of the particulates that make up smoke from fires such as this play a role in their impact on regional and global climate liu said (photo by dr hunter brown)liu directed this research which involved both modelers and observationalists around the world the national center for atmospheric research (ncar)-wyoming supercomputing center was used for all of the data processing and the model sensitivity simulations now we have a better understanding of the properties of these biomass-burning aerosols so that now then we can improve the models and improve predictions liu said the team incorporated its findings into the ncar climate model and found that the modifications improved the models accuracy in predicting wildfires effects on climate read the full study by leslie lee 09  " smoke from forest fires in wetter climates such as oregon (above) tends to be brighter and have more of a cooling effect on the climate than smoke emitted from dry bushfires scientists say (photo: istock)smoke from bushfires in places such as australia (above) tends to be darker and have more of a warming effect on the climate (photo: istock) "a new study on biomass-burning aerosols has shown that that smoke from wildfires has more of a cooling effect on the climate system than most climate models assume dr xiaohong liu professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m served as corresponding author of the research which was recently published in nature communications when wildfires burn forests and grasslands biomass-burning aerosols are produced forming smoke clouds the composition size and mixing state of biomass-burning aerosols determine the optical properties of the smoke plumes in the atmosphere and those properties determine how much the smoke clouds absorb and scatter the solar radiation the researchers compared climate models predictions to large amounts of wildfire data collected in field sites around the world as well in laboratory experiments and they found major differences we collected field data from across the globe and we found that the models make a lot of assumptions about the physical and optical properties of the biomass-burning aerosols and those assumptions were not accurate liu said climate models such as those examined in this study are used to create important climate change reports such as the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) assessment that is published about every seven years he explained in this study we evaluate the climate models used in the ipcc assessment and we found out that these models assume biomass-burning smoke is more light-absorbing than our data actually shows liu said our study shows that biomass-burning has a more net-cooling effect than previously thought the study was led by dr hunter brown who recently received his phd from the university of wyoming and was advised by liu during his time as a professor at the university of wyoming from 2013-2019 brown recently joined lius team at texas a&m as a postdoctoral researcher to continue his research on biomass-burning aerosols we found that many of the most advanced climate models simulate biomass-burning aerosols or smoke that is darker or more light absorbing than what we see in observations brown said this has implications for the climate predictions made by these models observations and models used in the study covered a wide temporal range africa south america and southeastern asia in addition to boreal fire regions were chosen because these are the largest contributors to biomass-burning smoke emissions in the world brown said these biomass-burning aerosols are extremely complicated liu said the complexity involves the aerosols physical and chemical properties which are determined by the fires burning conditions and the fuel types such as dry grasslands or forests the smoke is very complicated north american forest fire smoke is very different than australian bush fire smoke because of the different types of fuel and burning conditions he said they can produce darker or brighter smoke and the chemical evolution of the smoke in the atmosphere can be very complicated" smoke from the mullen fire seen from laramie wyoming in october 2020 different radiative and microphysical properties of the particulates that make up smoke from fires such as this play a role in their impact on regional and global climate liu said (photo by dr hunter brown) "liu directed this research which involved both modelers and observationalists around the world the national center for atmospheric research (ncar)-wyoming supercomputing center was used for all of the data processing and the model sensitivity simulations now we have a better understanding of the properties of these biomass-burning aerosols so that now then we can improve the models and improve predictions liu said the team incorporated its findings into the ncar climate model and found that the modifications improved the models accuracy in predicting wildfires effects on climate read the full study by leslie lee 09 " " new geographic monitoring technique detects early covid-19 casesa texas a&m geography professor is part of a research team that found efficient ways to track the virus and pinpoint spreading clustersjan 22 2021 this scanning electron microscope image shows sars-cov-2 (yellow) also known as 2019-ncov the virus that causes covid-19 isolated from a patient in the us emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab (niaid-rml) a team of national researchers that includes a texas a&m university professor believes it has found a way to track clusters of covid-19 using geographical techniques the research from dr daniel goldberg associate professor in the department of geography at texas a&m and colleagues is published in nature scientific reports the findings are significant because researchers believe the real-time monitoring of the spread of covid-19 is much needed due to its high level of transmissibility the team has come up with a new method it calls geomedd to identify hotspots and covid-19 clusters it uses health systems records and data to focus on a geographic region from a single household to a housing complex to a neighborhood and analyzes each using real-time data and this information can provide a more precise way of tracking the virus goldberg said that previous efforts that used precise tracking (usually called spatial epidemiology) and similar methods focused more on what happened in the past and why but this new approach could be more efficient he said without methods that can determine emerging hotspots as they are unfolding the disease can run rampant in housing such as nursing homes and other high-density housing sites goldberg said so by the time people are symptomatic and more and more test positive the disease is likely already spreading uncontrollably leading to health systems becoming more and more overwhelmed as we have seen in the recent months any clusters are identified instantly as positive case data are reported resulting in the identification of critical hotspots to be targeted as the disease is still spreading together these levels of cluster data provide public health officials with the data they need in the timeframe in which they need it goldberg said this is needed to tackle a disease like covid-19 which is highly-infectious and where individuals can be actively spreading the virus without showing symptoms it enables us to implement geographically-targeted ways to blunt the spread of covid-19 as quickly as possible and save lives goldberg said the geomedd method can be tailored to identify other outbreaks beyond covid-19 such as flu epidemics severe cases of overdoses other types of pandemics or possible bioterror or radiological outbreaks it gives decision-makers and public health professionals the information they need to take immediate action to prevent current disease spread and to save lives in the future he said   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " " this scanning electron microscope image shows sars-cov-2 (yellow) also known as 2019-ncov the virus that causes covid-19 isolated from a patient in the us emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab (niaid-rml) " "a team of national researchers that includes a texas a&m university professor believes it has found a way to track clusters of covid-19 using geographical techniques the research from dr daniel goldberg associate professor in the department of geography at texas a&m and colleagues is published in nature scientific reports the findings are significant because researchers believe the real-time monitoring of the spread of covid-19 is much needed due to its high level of transmissibility the team has come up with a new method it calls geomedd to identify hotspots and covid-19 clusters it uses health systems records and data to focus on a geographic region from a single household to a housing complex to a neighborhood and analyzes each using real-time data and this information can provide a more precise way of tracking the virus goldberg said that previous efforts that used precise tracking (usually called spatial epidemiology) and similar methods focused more on what happened in the past and why but this new approach could be more efficient he said without methods that can determine emerging hotspots as they are unfolding the disease can run rampant in housing such as nursing homes and other high-density housing sites goldberg said so by the time people are symptomatic and more and more test positive the disease is likely already spreading uncontrollably leading to health systems becoming more and more overwhelmed as we have seen in the recent months any clusters are identified instantly as positive case data are reported resulting in the identification of critical hotspots to be targeted as the disease is still spreading together these levels of cluster data provide public health officials with the data they need in the timeframe in which they need it goldberg said this is needed to tackle a disease like covid-19 which is highly-infectious and where individuals can be actively spreading the virus without showing symptoms it enables us to implement geographically-targeted ways to blunt the spread of covid-19 as quickly as possible and save lives goldberg said the geomedd method can be tailored to identify other outbreaks beyond covid-19 such as flu epidemics severe cases of overdoses other types of pandemics or possible bioterror or radiological outbreaks it gives decision-makers and public health professionals the information they need to take immediate action to prevent current disease spread and to save lives in the future he said   by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications" " paying for emissions weve already releasedglobal warming in excess of 2 degrees celsius has already been committed by past emissions says texas a&m scientist and team of researchersjan 5 2021new research by atmospheric scientists evaluates how much global warming is already in the pipeline from past emissions (photo by istock) dr andrew dessler (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)the planet is committed to global warming in excess of 2 degrees celsius (36 degrees fahrenheit) just from greenhouse gases that have already been added to the atmosphere according to new research by scientists from texas a&m university lawrence livermore national laboratory (llnl) and nanjing university  published in the latest edition of nature climate change  the team used observations and climate model simulations to re-evaluate how much warming is already in the pipeline from past emissions their estimate is higher than previous estimates because it accounts for changes in the geographic pattern of surface warming typically committed warming is estimated assuming that changes in the future will pretty much follow changes in the past said llnl atmospheric scientist dr mark zelinka a co-author of the paper but we now know that this is a bad assumption while most of the planets surface has warmed several important regions like the southern ocean have not the researchers said the lack of surface warming favors the buildup of low-level clouds over these regions which reflect sunlight back to space and strongly cool the planet eventually these regions will warm up when they do the low clouds will decrease which will allow more sunlight to be absorbed by earth and give the world additional warming   the important thing to realize is that this has not yet happened it is not in the historical record said lead author dr chen zhou a researcher at nanjing university after accounting for this effect the estimated future warming based on the historical record would be much higher than previous estimates specifically the team found that future warming with radiative forcing fixed at present-day levels (equivalent to freezing the atmospheric composition as it is today) has a most likely value of +23 degrees c (41 degrees f) above pre-industrial levels this exceeds the limits set in the paris agreement in which the worlds countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees c (36 degrees f) above pre-industrial temperatures while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 15 degrees c (27 degrees f) ""the bad news is that our results suggest that we have most likely already emitted enough carbon dioxide to exceed 2 degrees c said dr andrew dessler professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m and co-author of the study but he pointed out that there is good news once net emissions get to near zero the rate of continued committed warming will be very slow so if we can get net emissions to near zero soon it may take centuries to exceed 2 degrees c the uncertainty on estimates of committed warming is large but we can have high confidence that committed warming is larger than one would expect based on assuming the past is prologue zelinka added this finding increases the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the paris agreement targets the llnl portion of the research was funded by the department of energys office of science for more information about this research including the full paper and an explainer video see this web page originally published by lawrence livermore national laboratory " "new research by atmospheric scientists evaluates how much global warming is already in the pipeline from past emissions (photo by istock) dr andrew dessler (photo by chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)" "the planet is committed to global warming in excess of 2 degrees celsius (36 degrees fahrenheit) just from greenhouse gases that have already been added to the atmosphere according to new research by scientists from texas a&m university lawrence livermore national laboratory (llnl) and nanjing university  published in the latest edition of nature climate change  the team used observations and climate model simulations to re-evaluate how much warming is already in the pipeline from past emissions their estimate is higher than previous estimates because it accounts for changes in the geographic pattern of surface warming typically committed warming is estimated assuming that changes in the future will pretty much follow changes in the past said llnl atmospheric scientist dr mark zelinka a co-author of the paper but we now know that this is a bad assumption while most of the planets surface has warmed several important regions like the southern ocean have not the researchers said the lack of surface warming favors the buildup of low-level clouds over these regions which reflect sunlight back to space and strongly cool the planet eventually these regions will warm up when they do the low clouds will decrease which will allow more sunlight to be absorbed by earth and give the world additional warming   the important thing to realize is that this has not yet happened it is not in the historical record said lead author dr chen zhou a researcher at nanjing university after accounting for this effect the estimated future warming based on the historical record would be much higher than previous estimates specifically the team found that future warming with radiative forcing fixed at present-day levels (equivalent to freezing the atmospheric composition as it is today) has a most likely value of +23 degrees c (41 degrees f) above pre-industrial levels this exceeds the limits set in the paris agreement in which the worlds countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees c (36 degrees f) above pre-industrial temperatures while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 15 degrees c (27 degrees f) ""the bad news is that our results suggest that we have most likely already emitted enough carbon dioxide to exceed 2 degrees c said dr andrew dessler professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m and co-author of the study but he pointed out that there is good news once net emissions get to near zero the rate of continued committed warming will be very slow so if we can get net emissions to near zero soon it may take centuries to exceed 2 degrees c the uncertainty on estimates of committed warming is large but we can have high confidence that committed warming is larger than one would expect based on assuming the past is prologue zelinka added this finding increases the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the paris agreement targets the llnl portion of the research was funded by the department of energys office of science for more information about this research including the full paper and an explainer video see this web page originally published by lawrence livermore national laboratory" " anglers invited to provide critical input on how offshore energy affects recreational anglingresults of the citizen science data will help determine the fate of oil rigs in the gulf aug 3 2022oil and gas rigs can serve as artificial reefs and provide habitat for ecologically and economically significant fish species such as red snapper and amberjack in the early 2000s over 4 000 oil rigs were present in the gulf of mexico today fewer than half this number of active and decommissioned oil rigs are present in the gulf of mexico scientists with texas a&m university and lgl ecological research services are seeking input from recreational anglers in texas and louisiana to fully understand the impacts of this decrease in oil rigs on fish populations and recreational angling in the gulf this study which is supported by the national sea grant college program and the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement could inform future tools to readily identify the environmental and economic impacts of removing an oil rig it will allow decision makers to include impacts on recreational fishing when they make choices on whether to remove a rig or turn the rig into an artificial reef  anglers can help by completing a 15-minute survey online on their fishing habits and destination preferences or by using the fishverify smartphone app to provide detailed information about a single fishing trip survey participants are eligible for a 1 in 50 chance of winning $100 app users are eligible for a 1 in 25 chance of winning $500 all data obtained from participation in the study is confidentialonly aggregate results will be shared publicly to participate or learn more visit txag/recfishing   media contacts: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu dr richard woodward professor texas a&m university 979-845-5864 r-woodward@tamuedu   " "oil and gas rigs can serve as artificial reefs and provide habitat for ecologically and economically significant fish species such as red snapper and amberjack in the early 2000s over 4 000 oil rigs were present in the gulf of mexico today fewer than half this number of active and decommissioned oil rigs are present in the gulf of mexico scientists with texas a&m university and lgl ecological research services are seeking input from recreational anglers in texas and louisiana to fully understand the impacts of this decrease in oil rigs on fish populations and recreational angling in the gulf this study which is supported by the national sea grant college program and the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement could inform future tools to readily identify the environmental and economic impacts of removing an oil rig it will allow decision makers to include impacts on recreational fishing when they make choices on whether to remove a rig or turn the rig into an artificial reef  anglers can help by completing a 15-minute survey online on their fishing habits and destination preferences or by using the fishverify smartphone app to provide detailed information about a single fishing trip survey participants are eligible for a 1 in 50 chance of winning $100 app users are eligible for a 1 in 25 chance of winning $500 all data obtained from participation in the study is confidentialonly aggregate results will be shared publicly to participate or learn more visit txag/recfishing   media contacts: sara carney communications manager texas sea grant 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu dr richard woodward professor texas a&m university 979-845-5864 r-woodward@tamuedu  " " yue zhang co-leading new epa-funded air quality studythe research team will study per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) in outdoor airjul 21 2022dr yue zhangdr sarah brooksdr yue zhang assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences is co-leading an air quality research project recently funded by a $799 833 grant from the united states environmental protection agency (epa) to develop new analytical methods that can improve the detection of emerging air pollutants including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas)  the research project will be led by dr jason surratt professor in the university of north carolina at chapel hill (unc) gillings school of global public health dr sarah brooks professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m; dr barbara turpin professor and chair of the department of environmental sciences and engineering at unc and dr zhenfa zhang associate professor in the gillings school at unc are also co-investigators on the study even though pfas pollution is now recognized to be a major water issue in north carolina less is known about the types sources and fates of pfas in nc air said surratt we do know that air emissions of pfas from certain sources in nc can contaminate private wells from precipitation such as rain the first two years of this new study will be focused on developing and optimizing our new real-time analytical methods to detect pfas in air within nc in the last year of this study we will sample outdoor air near chemours in fayetteville nc in order to understand what types of pfas might be emitted into nc air and chemically transformed during meteorological transport to downwind communities the research will combine online high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometers with air- and particle-phase sampling techniques to increase understanding of fugitive emissions of pfas from stationary point sources currently the most common pfas measurements are conducted offline meaning it would take days to weeks to obtain one pfas concentration in the atmosphere texas a&m university will work with unc and use state-of-the-art instruments to develop new techniques that can measure pfas down to every minute or less in addition we will work with dr brooks and the center for atmospheric chemistry and environment (cace) to deploy the rapid on-site atmospheric measurements van (roam -v) to measure the pfas concentrations in heavily polluted regions the results will improve understandings in atmospheric pfas exposure down to the community level and provide data to help policy makers better protect public health zhang said the study development of high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometry methods for real-time measurement of emerging airborne per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) is important because it will fill in needed gaps in air-quality measurement capabilities  while we have made great strides in reducing air pollution there is still more work to be done to protect public health said maureen gwinn principal deputy assistant administrator for epas office of research and development this research will improve our ability to measure air contaminants and find better strategies for reducing them in the environment this award is part of more than $47m in epa research grants to seven institutions for research to advance measurement and monitoring methods for air toxics and contaminants of emerging concern in the atmosphere hazardous air pollutants (haps) often referred to as air toxics are a subset of air pollutants known to cause cancer or other serious health effects there is extensive evidence that low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionally exposed to air toxics read more from the epa and from unc " "dr yue zhang assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences is co-leading an air quality research project recently funded by a $799 833 grant from the united states environmental protection agency (epa) to develop new analytical methods that can improve the detection of emerging air pollutants including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas)  the research project will be led by dr jason surratt professor in the university of north carolina at chapel hill (unc) gillings school of global public health dr sarah brooks professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m; dr barbara turpin professor and chair of the department of environmental sciences and engineering at unc and dr zhenfa zhang associate professor in the gillings school at unc are also co-investigators on the study even though pfas pollution is now recognized to be a major water issue in north carolina less is known about the types sources and fates of pfas in nc air said surratt we do know that air emissions of pfas from certain sources in nc can contaminate private wells from precipitation such as rain the first two years of this new study will be focused on developing and optimizing our new real-time analytical methods to detect pfas in air within nc in the last year of this study we will sample outdoor air near chemours in fayetteville nc in order to understand what types of pfas might be emitted into nc air and chemically transformed during meteorological transport to downwind communities the research will combine online high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometers with air- and particle-phase sampling techniques to increase understanding of fugitive emissions of pfas from stationary point sources currently the most common pfas measurements are conducted offline meaning it would take days to weeks to obtain one pfas concentration in the atmosphere texas a&m university will work with unc and use state-of-the-art instruments to develop new techniques that can measure pfas down to every minute or less in addition we will work with dr brooks and the center for atmospheric chemistry and environment (cace) to deploy the rapid on-site atmospheric measurements van (roam -v) to measure the pfas concentrations in heavily polluted regions the results will improve understandings in atmospheric pfas exposure down to the community level and provide data to help policy makers better protect public health zhang said the study development of high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometry methods for real-time measurement of emerging airborne per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) is important because it will fill in needed gaps in air-quality measurement capabilities  while we have made great strides in reducing air pollution there is still more work to be done to protect public health said maureen gwinn principal deputy assistant administrator for epas office of research and development this research will improve our ability to measure air contaminants and find better strategies for reducing them in the environment this award is part of more than $47m in epa research grants to seven institutions for research to advance measurement and monitoring methods for air toxics and contaminants of emerging concern in the atmosphere hazardous air pollutants (haps) often referred to as air toxics are a subset of air pollutants known to cause cancer or other serious health effects there is extensive evidence that low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionally exposed to air toxics read more from the epa and from unc" " changing course for the best fit: meet recent graduate jose martinez 22recent oceanography graduate jose martinez reflects on his time at texas a&m with his eyes on the futurejul 6 2022recent graduate jose martinez (second from the right) graduating with friends image credit: jose martinezjose martinez 22 had a mind for engineering coming out of high school after applying to multiple schools he settled on texas a&m university however he realized quickly that engineering wasnt the best match for him while he truly enjoyed upper-level math and knew he wanted to be in a stem field he just didnt feel the same fascination with some other aspects of engineering like his peers a change in heading after some conversations with a friend in the the department of oceanography martinez decided to investigate changing majors i always wanted to do something ocean or coastal related like ocean or coastal engineering martinez said it was important to me to graduate on time but still with a stem degree related to the oceans upon finding that the oceanography degree plans synced up well with his existing course credits without delaying graduation he took the plunge and signed up for the introductory oceanography class i took that first oceanography course and absolutely loved it martinez recalled i remember thinking ‘this is for me i found my nichejose martinez (top left) attending the schade cruise of 2021 image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohlunique experiences martinez counts the schade cruise for undergraduates as one of his most memorable experiences even without aspirations of becoming a full-time researcher he credits the experience for showing him the field work side of research he also appreciated the closer connections with students and faculty he was able to forge on the cruise it was amazing martinez reminisces the other undergrads and i bonded really well and were still really good friends and try to hang out regularly shortly before the covid-19 pandemic started he joined the ocean club which led to more opportunities for new experiences during a graduate student speaker event he had an epiphany of what his education was still missing i asked one of the graduate students ‘what is the one thing you would keep on your resume if you had to throw everything else out they replied simply ‘research martinez recalled it wasnt long before he would be working as a lab assistant in dr kathryn shambergers lab ive worked in dr shambergers lab since january of 2021 and its been great martinez said ive learned so much and its right in the field i love: chemistry martinez would eventually end up writing a thesis on the work he assisted with in shambergers lab he credits shamberger for her up-front and honest support that helped him improve his research and writing skillsimage credit: jose martinezeyes on the horizon and parting advice martinez highly praised the career center for helping him prepare for the future im always looking at what job opportunities this degree can provide martinez said it seemed that a masters degree significantly increased the likelihood of more opportunities with higher salaries and benefits looking to continue studying chemical oceanography martinez has been accepted into the university of puerto rico he is originally from puerto rico making this next step another good fit he hopes to one day work in environmental policy to help affect positive change the advice he leaves for incoming freshmen is to actively seek out research opportunities do research even if thats not what you want as a career martinez said dont be afraid to ask your professors they will more than likely want to help you and will be very forthright with you " recent graduate jose martinez (second from the right) graduating with friends image credit: jose martinez "jose martinez 22 had a mind for engineering coming out of high school after applying to multiple schools he settled on texas a&m university however he realized quickly that engineering wasnt the best match for him while he truly enjoyed upper-level math and knew he wanted to be in a stem field he just didnt feel the same fascination with some other aspects of engineering like his peers a change in heading after some conversations with a friend in the the department of oceanography martinez decided to investigate changing majors i always wanted to do something ocean or coastal related like ocean or coastal engineering martinez said it was important to me to graduate on time but still with a stem degree related to the oceans upon finding that the oceanography degree plans synced up well with his existing course credits without delaying graduation he took the plunge and signed up for the introductory oceanography class i took that first oceanography course and absolutely loved it martinez recalled i remember thinking ‘this is for me i found my niche" jose martinez (top left) attending the schade cruise of 2021 image credit: dr chrissy wiederwohl "unique experiences martinez counts the schade cruise for undergraduates as one of his most memorable experiences even without aspirations of becoming a full-time researcher he credits the experience for showing him the field work side of research he also appreciated the closer connections with students and faculty he was able to forge on the cruise it was amazing martinez reminisces the other undergrads and i bonded really well and were still really good friends and try to hang out regularly shortly before the covid-19 pandemic started he joined the ocean club which led to more opportunities for new experiences during a graduate student speaker event he had an epiphany of what his education was still missing i asked one of the graduate students ‘what is the one thing you would keep on your resume if you had to throw everything else out they replied simply ‘research martinez recalled it wasnt long before he would be working as a lab assistant in dr kathryn shambergers lab ive worked in dr shambergers lab since january of 2021 and its been great martinez said ive learned so much and its right in the field i love: chemistry martinez would eventually end up writing a thesis on the work he assisted with in shambergers lab he credits shamberger for her up-front and honest support that helped him improve his research and writing skills" "eyes on the horizon and parting advice martinez highly praised the career center for helping him prepare for the future im always looking at what job opportunities this degree can provide martinez said it seemed that a masters degree significantly increased the likelihood of more opportunities with higher salaries and benefits looking to continue studying chemical oceanography martinez has been accepted into the university of puerto rico he is originally from puerto rico making this next step another good fit he hopes to one day work in environmental policy to help affect positive change the advice he leaves for incoming freshmen is to actively seek out research opportunities do research even if thats not what you want as a career martinez said dont be afraid to ask your professors they will more than likely want to help you and will be very forthright with you" " texas sea grant to fund nearly $20 thousand to 10 graduate studentstexas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program provides grants to students conducting marine or coastal researchjul 6 2022by alli dickey   college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) will award $19 978 in research grants to 10 graduate students at two texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fy2022-2024 recipients their institutions and projects are listed below kayla dye pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc conservation genomic assessment of imperiled freshwater fishes endemic to the pecos and devils rivers jennifer gilmore pursuing a masters in coastal and marine system science at tamucc ecosystem recovery from the 2021 cold air outbreak in baffin bay texas yerim kim pursuing a doctorate in chemical oceanography at tamu  lead isotopes in galveston bay and the gulf of mexico samantha mcclain pursuing a doctorate in chemical oceanography at tamu the effects of changing wastewater discharge on coral reef water chemistry and health eliza mills pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc  theodolite tracking movement and behavior of bottlenose dolphins in the corpus christi ship channel jacob oster pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc spatial and temporal variability of trophic connections and niche space in hypoxia exposed fish of the gulf of mexico ronnakrit rattanasriampaipong pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu beyond tex86: evaluating archaeal evolution coupled with oceans and climate changes using tetraether lipids jacquline rich pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc impact of salinity temperature and ph on dolphin sperm quality matthew varas pursuing a masters in oceanography at tamu removal of carbon tetrachloride in coastal seawater: chemical and biological rates d nick weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc effect of tissue type on epigenetic age estimation in wild-caught fishes   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585  " "by alli dickey   college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university (tamu) will award $19 978 in research grants to 10 graduate students at two texas a&m university system institutions the students are funded through texas sea grants grants-in-aid of graduate research program which provides small two-year grants to students enrolled at texas a&m university (tamu) texas a&m university at galveston or texas a&m university-corpus christi (tamucc) funded projects must be marine- or coastal-related research and relevant to texas though not necessarily based in texas the grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement the grants-in-aid of graduate research program encourages research activities and supports students in their early careers enabling the development of their research skills and learning to navigate the grant proposal process awarded grants provide opportunities for the student to also develop presentation skills and thesis development said mia zwolinski assistant director research administration at texas sea grant the texas sea grant grants-in-aid of graduate research program fy2022-2024 recipients their institutions and projects are listed below kayla dye pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc conservation genomic assessment of imperiled freshwater fishes endemic to the pecos and devils rivers jennifer gilmore pursuing a masters in coastal and marine system science at tamucc ecosystem recovery from the 2021 cold air outbreak in baffin bay texas yerim kim pursuing a doctorate in chemical oceanography at tamu  lead isotopes in galveston bay and the gulf of mexico samantha mcclain pursuing a doctorate in chemical oceanography at tamu the effects of changing wastewater discharge on coral reef water chemistry and health eliza mills pursuing a masters in marine biology at tamucc  theodolite tracking movement and behavior of bottlenose dolphins in the corpus christi ship channel jacob oster pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc spatial and temporal variability of trophic connections and niche space in hypoxia exposed fish of the gulf of mexico ronnakrit rattanasriampaipong pursuing a doctorate in oceanography at tamu beyond tex86: evaluating archaeal evolution coupled with oceans and climate changes using tetraether lipids jacquline rich pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc impact of salinity temperature and ph on dolphin sperm quality matthew varas pursuing a masters in oceanography at tamu removal of carbon tetrachloride in coastal seawater: chemical and biological rates d nick weber pursuing a doctorate in marine biology at tamucc effect of tissue type on epigenetic age estimation in wild-caught fishes   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585 " " new community engaged intern joins texas sea grantpeter gibson will be mentored and gain valuable field experience through the texas sea grant community engaged internship programjul 5 2022by corley-ann parker   texas sea grant welcomes undergraduate student peter gibson as a summer intern through the community engaged internship program  the community engaged internship is an opportunity for undergraduate students from underrepresented and/or indigenous communities to gain experience and mentorship in an area of interest specific to each student this internship is part of a national sea grant effort to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions to the next generation of scientists and decision-makers gibson an undergraduate student majoring in marine biology at texas a&m university-corpus christi is especially excited to help with community outreach and education events on marine biology topics one of the first projects he will be involved with in this internship will be helping texas sea grant distinguished extension agent julie massey with outdoor summer camp activities in galveston state park through mentorship from texas sea grant professionals and by participating in community engagement activities gibson will gain experience and further knowledge on how to get involved in local coastal community projects he will also complete a professional development series that focuses on networking and building relationships with local community members i think its very important that i will be able to supplement the learning i get in a classroom with hands-on experience said gibson i feel like an internship like this is incredibly valuable for someone like me looking to start a career in science the internship also requires completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address coastal issues of environmental economic and social importance gibson will plan to present on his project at the end of the internship term in august   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585 " "by corley-ann parker   texas sea grant welcomes undergraduate student peter gibson as a summer intern through the community engaged internship program  the community engaged internship is an opportunity for undergraduate students from underrepresented and/or indigenous communities to gain experience and mentorship in an area of interest specific to each student this internship is part of a national sea grant effort to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions to the next generation of scientists and decision-makers gibson an undergraduate student majoring in marine biology at texas a&m university-corpus christi is especially excited to help with community outreach and education events on marine biology topics one of the first projects he will be involved with in this internship will be helping texas sea grant distinguished extension agent julie massey with outdoor summer camp activities in galveston state park through mentorship from texas sea grant professionals and by participating in community engagement activities gibson will gain experience and further knowledge on how to get involved in local coastal community projects he will also complete a professional development series that focuses on networking and building relationships with local community members i think its very important that i will be able to supplement the learning i get in a classroom with hands-on experience said gibson i feel like an internship like this is incredibly valuable for someone like me looking to start a career in science the internship also requires completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address coastal issues of environmental economic and social importance gibson will plan to present on his project at the end of the internship term in august   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585" " new environmental and engineering geology certificate now availablethe department of geology and geophysics is expanding educational opportunities for students providing new certificate programjun 29 2022the department of geology and geophysics is adding a new certificate program in environmental and engineering geology to provide undergraduate students with a solid foundation to understand the geological processes that shape and impact the environment resources and land use the certificate will be available to geology and geophysics undergraduates in fall 2022 environmental program coordinator dr hongbin zhan said that as challenges technologies and best practices continue to evolve in earth sciences the employment prospects for geologists and geophysicists in the next decade are very strong the fastest growing sector is expected to remain in environmental geosciences including engineering and environmental consulting agencies non-profit environmental companies river authority groundwater conservation districts subsidence districts federal state and local regulatory agenciesdr hongbin zhan environmental and engineering geology certificate program coordinator (photo credit: ali snell)geology & geophysics students in the lab (photo credit: ali snell)dr mark everett (center) with geology & geophysics students conducting fieldwork during txdot highway construction (photo credit: mark everett)the department of geology and geophysics has harnessed the need for education in the environmental sector by creating a certificate program available in the 2022-23 catalog this certificate for undergraduates provides valuable knowledge skills and credentialing for individuals operating in the environmental arena because jobs in this sector involve the health and well-being of the public employees generally need to be licensed by a state agency zhan said the eeg certificate is designed to give students a broad background in soils landscapes natural hazards and groundwater resources that will help prepare them for licensure as a professional geologist students pursuing undergraduate degrees in the department of geology and geophysics can complete the environmental and engineering geology certificate through the required and elective courses students gain hands-on experience with laboratory and field methods in both environmental and engineering geology the new generations of environmental geoscientists need to have an in-depth understanding of the driving forces for environmental challenges such as groundwater contamination; geological hazards such as landslides land subsidence and flooding; and knowledge of issues such as carbon capture and storage hydraulic fracking aquifer thermal energy storage etc zhan said geology & geophysics students in the lab (photo credit: ali snell)geology & geophysics students in the field (photo credit: mark everett)students in the certificate program need to complete four courses (9 hours of required coursework and 3 elective hours) and a one-hour seminar the required courses include engineering geology hydrogeology and geochemistry these three required courses provide a foundation in groundwater dynamics and geochemistry of near-surface systems he said they also provide the fundamentals of soil rock and fluid mechanics and basic engineering practices as applied to the analysis of the geological environment the electives allow students to follow up with a course in the specialty that interests them  electives can be chosen from global biogeochemical cycles field methods in geophysics geological data analysis environmental hydrogeology or environmental geology skills gained will prepare graduates for roles in the engineering and environmental consulting agencies and state and local governments the certificate is designed to fit within elective slots in the geology and geophysics curricula undergraduate students majoring in geology or geophysics can enroll at any time but it would be best to begin planning a schedule around these courses early in the junior year interested students can contact the program director dr hongbin zhan at zhan@tamuedu by michelle chrpa " "the department of geology and geophysics is adding a new certificate program in environmental and engineering geology to provide undergraduate students with a solid foundation to understand the geological processes that shape and impact the environment resources and land use the certificate will be available to geology and geophysics undergraduates in fall 2022 environmental program coordinator dr hongbin zhan said that as challenges technologies and best practices continue to evolve in earth sciences the employment prospects for geologists and geophysicists in the next decade are very strong the fastest growing sector is expected to remain in environmental geosciences including engineering and environmental consulting agencies non-profit environmental companies river authority groundwater conservation districts subsidence districts federal state and local regulatory agencies" dr hongbin zhan environmental and engineering geology certificate program coordinator (photo credit: ali snell)geology & geophysics students in the lab (photo credit: ali snell)dr mark everett (center) with geology & geophysics students conducting fieldwork during txdot highway construction (photo credit: mark everett) "the department of geology and geophysics has harnessed the need for education in the environmental sector by creating a certificate program available in the 2022-23 catalog this certificate for undergraduates provides valuable knowledge skills and credentialing for individuals operating in the environmental arena because jobs in this sector involve the health and well-being of the public employees generally need to be licensed by a state agency zhan said the eeg certificate is designed to give students a broad background in soils landscapes natural hazards and groundwater resources that will help prepare them for licensure as a professional geologist students pursuing undergraduate degrees in the department of geology and geophysics can complete the environmental and engineering geology certificate through the required and elective courses students gain hands-on experience with laboratory and field methods in both environmental and engineering geology the new generations of environmental geoscientists need to have an in-depth understanding of the driving forces for environmental challenges such as groundwater contamination; geological hazards such as landslides land subsidence and flooding; and knowledge of issues such as carbon capture and storage hydraulic fracking aquifer thermal energy storage etc zhan said " geology & geophysics students in the lab (photo credit: ali snell)geology & geophysics students in the field (photo credit: mark everett) "students in the certificate program need to complete four courses (9 hours of required coursework and 3 elective hours) and a one-hour seminar the required courses include engineering geology hydrogeology and geochemistry these three required courses provide a foundation in groundwater dynamics and geochemistry of near-surface systems he said they also provide the fundamentals of soil rock and fluid mechanics and basic engineering practices as applied to the analysis of the geological environment the electives allow students to follow up with a course in the specialty that interests them  electives can be chosen from global biogeochemical cycles field methods in geophysics geological data analysis environmental hydrogeology or environmental geology skills gained will prepare graduates for roles in the engineering and environmental consulting agencies and state and local governments the certificate is designed to fit within elective slots in the geology and geophysics curricula undergraduate students majoring in geology or geophysics can enroll at any time but it would be best to begin planning a schedule around these courses early in the junior year interested students can contact the program director dr hongbin zhan at zhan@tamuedu by michelle chrpa" " a first in modern times: turtles hatch on magnolia beachjun 13 2022calhoun county agent rj shelly at the turtles' nest (photo credit: rj shelly)hatched sea turtle eggs (photo credit: emilee deforest)a kemp's ridley sea turtle in its nest (photo credit: emilee deforest)magnolia beach calhoun county texas – a conservation success hatched today on the shores of the magnolia beach in calhoun county texas a sea turtle nest containing approximately 45 hatching kemps ridley eggs was discovered and turtles successfully made their way to the water  this has never happened in modern times said dr pamela plotkin director of texas sea grant and sea turtle biologist sea turtles typically nest on barrier island beaches in texas and so seeing a turtle nest on a beach inside any bay is rare there are many miles of unpopulated bay shoreline along texas coast so it is possible that sea turtle nesting on these shores is more frequent and undetected   for sea turtles the period after hatching is a fight for survival in their first moments of life hatchlings must quickly race from their nests in the sand to the water avoiding predators poaching pollution and other hazards  eggs left on the beach only have a 45 percent chance of hatching which is why intervention from conservationists can be critical  fortunately the turtles hatching on magnolia beach had help  the turtles were found by maintenance workers with the calhoun county precinct 1 commissioners office while picking up trash on the beach zach padron and jason gonzalez spotted approximately 25 hatching turtles and noticed that they were heading the wrong way  padron said he remembered learning from nature television shows that hatching sea turtles are at risk from predators like seagulls he said i thought ‘we better help them because its a good ways to the water!  the workers and commissioner david hall notified calhoun county marine extension agent rj shelly upon arriving shelly began excavating the turtle nest under the guidance of plotkin he found more sea turtles that needed help emerging from the nest approximately 20 more turtles were found  sure enough once we started excavating we saw more and more dig their way out said shelly   these turtles were within 10 feet of a roadway making active monitoring necessary shelly and others supervised the hatching process ensuring the turtles' safe release into matagorda bay  we let them imprint on the sand and then stood there while they made their run shelly said the kemps ridley is the official state sea turtle of texas and is critically endangered decades of efforts from scientists resource managers conservationists and others have allowed the species to begin to recover  these conservation efforts have been ongoing in matagorda bay and include a recent assessment of matagorda bay sponsored by the texas office of the comptroller the assessment included acoustic tracking of turtles in the area by plotkin and her team  matagorda bay is currently a vibrant healthy ecosystem with an abundance of sea turtles that live and feed there said plotkin in the late 1800s there was a commercial sea turtle fishery operating there that decimated the sea turtles in the bay by the early 1900s signs of sea turtle recovery in matagorda bay are visible now and illustrate how reduced fishing pressure in concert with habitat restoration can save threatened and endangered species  the hatching comes at a special time june 8-16 marks the celebration of sea turtle week an internationally recognized week that celebrates sea turtles and educates on the threats they face media contact:  sara carney 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu rj shelly 361-552-9747 ralphshelly@agtamuedu  " calhoun county agent rj shelly at the turtles' nest (photo credit: rj shelly)hatched sea turtle eggs (photo credit: emilee deforest)a kemp's ridley sea turtle in its nest (photo credit: emilee deforest) "magnolia beach calhoun county texas – a conservation success hatched today on the shores of the magnolia beach in calhoun county texas a sea turtle nest containing approximately 45 hatching kemps ridley eggs was discovered and turtles successfully made their way to the water  this has never happened in modern times said dr pamela plotkin director of texas sea grant and sea turtle biologist sea turtles typically nest on barrier island beaches in texas and so seeing a turtle nest on a beach inside any bay is rare there are many miles of unpopulated bay shoreline along texas coast so it is possible that sea turtle nesting on these shores is more frequent and undetected   for sea turtles the period after hatching is a fight for survival in their first moments of life hatchlings must quickly race from their nests in the sand to the water avoiding predators poaching pollution and other hazards  eggs left on the beach only have a 45 percent chance of hatching which is why intervention from conservationists can be critical  fortunately the turtles hatching on magnolia beach had help  the turtles were found by maintenance workers with the calhoun county precinct 1 commissioners office while picking up trash on the beach zach padron and jason gonzalez spotted approximately 25 hatching turtles and noticed that they were heading the wrong way  padron said he remembered learning from nature television shows that hatching sea turtles are at risk from predators like seagulls he said i thought ‘we better help them because its a good ways to the water!  the workers and commissioner david hall notified calhoun county marine extension agent rj shelly upon arriving shelly began excavating the turtle nest under the guidance of plotkin he found more sea turtles that needed help emerging from the nest approximately 20 more turtles were found  sure enough once we started excavating we saw more and more dig their way out said shelly   these turtles were within 10 feet of a roadway making active monitoring necessary shelly and others supervised the hatching process ensuring the turtles' safe release into matagorda bay  we let them imprint on the sand and then stood there while they made their run shelly said the kemps ridley is the official state sea turtle of texas and is critically endangered decades of efforts from scientists resource managers conservationists and others have allowed the species to begin to recover  these conservation efforts have been ongoing in matagorda bay and include a recent assessment of matagorda bay sponsored by the texas office of the comptroller the assessment included acoustic tracking of turtles in the area by plotkin and her team  matagorda bay is currently a vibrant healthy ecosystem with an abundance of sea turtles that live and feed there said plotkin in the late 1800s there was a commercial sea turtle fishery operating there that decimated the sea turtles in the bay by the early 1900s signs of sea turtle recovery in matagorda bay are visible now and illustrate how reduced fishing pressure in concert with habitat restoration can save threatened and endangered species  the hatching comes at a special time june 8-16 marks the celebration of sea turtle week an internationally recognized week that celebrates sea turtles and educates on the threats they face media contact:  sara carney 713-435-9585 scarney@tamuedu rj shelly 361-552-9747 ralphshelly@agtamuedu " " texas sea grant welcomes new coastal resilience program managerdr debalina sengupta will lend her expertise to extension activities associated with the resilient communities and economiesjun 8 2022dr debalina sengupta joins texas sea grant as the new coastal resilience program manager in this role sengupta plans organizes directs and manages extension activities associated with the resilient communities and economies (rce) strategic focus area the rce focus area is one of four key focus areas of sea grant the goal of this focus area is to accommodate the increasing coastal population and activity while balancing demands on coastal resources this includes supporting cutting-edge research in the areas of marine-related energy sources energy efficiency coastal waters ocean plastics hazards and tourism general resilience in coastal communities has been mostly regarded in the perspective of policies and planning and i would like to go beyond [that] and look at best ways for implementation of some of these plans said sengupta i am really interested in trying to bring in perspectives from science and technology on how to turn these plans into action sengupta has a phd in chemical engineering from louisiana state university and worked as the associate director of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) gas and fuels research center she has also been the food-energy-water nexus coordinator for the texas a&m energy institute her current research interests include disaster-resilient manufacturing systems integrated food energy and water technological systems hydrogen technologies and theoretical/analytical methods development for sustainability and resilience we are thrilled to have dr sengupta lead the growth and direction of texas sea grant's coastal resilience program said texas sea grant senior associate director and extension leader cynthia lyle  her expertise and background in a wide variety of topics that impact community resilience will assist communities in building capacity across economic environmental and coastal hazard resilience"" as the coastal resilience program manager sengupta aims to work collaboratively to implement more resilience and sustainability strategies in coastal communities i am excited to get the opportunity to bring more information from research perspectives to the public domain work with non-profits local businesses policy and decision-makers and make that [information] useful for coastal communities in texas said sengupta       " "dr debalina sengupta joins texas sea grant as the new coastal resilience program manager in this role sengupta plans organizes directs and manages extension activities associated with the resilient communities and economies (rce) strategic focus area the rce focus area is one of four key focus areas of sea grant the goal of this focus area is to accommodate the increasing coastal population and activity while balancing demands on coastal resources this includes supporting cutting-edge research in the areas of marine-related energy sources energy efficiency coastal waters ocean plastics hazards and tourism general resilience in coastal communities has been mostly regarded in the perspective of policies and planning and i would like to go beyond [that] and look at best ways for implementation of some of these plans said sengupta i am really interested in trying to bring in perspectives from science and technology on how to turn these plans into action sengupta has a phd in chemical engineering from louisiana state university and worked as the associate director of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) gas and fuels research center she has also been the food-energy-water nexus coordinator for the texas a&m energy institute her current research interests include disaster-resilient manufacturing systems integrated food energy and water technological systems hydrogen technologies and theoretical/analytical methods development for sustainability and resilience we are thrilled to have dr sengupta lead the growth and direction of texas sea grant's coastal resilience program said texas sea grant senior associate director and extension leader cynthia lyle  her expertise and background in a wide variety of topics that impact community resilience will assist communities in building capacity across economic environmental and coastal hazard resilience"" as the coastal resilience program manager sengupta aims to work collaboratively to implement more resilience and sustainability strategies in coastal communities i am excited to get the opportunity to bring more information from research perspectives to the public domain work with non-profits local businesses policy and decision-makers and make that [information] useful for coastal communities in texas said sengupta      " " texas sea grant receives two awards at its 50th anniversary galatexas a&m agrilife extension service and us congressman michael t mccaul presented awards to texas sea grantjun 7 2022by alli dickeyfrom left: nikki fitzgerald tony reisinger dr pamela plotkin dr rick avery julie massey nicole pilson with the texas a&m agrilife extension partnership award (photo credit: richard badillo)destinee vargus from the office of us congressman michael mccaul (left) and dr pamela plotkin with the certificate of special congressional recognition (photo credit: richard badillo)  college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university received the texas a&m agrilife extension service partnership award and a certification of special congressional recognition at its 50th anniversary celebration on may 5 dr rick avery director of texas a&m agrilife extension service presented the partnership award to recognize a 50-year partnership that enhanced the outreach and impact of extension education the partnership between texas a&m agrilife extension and texas sea grant began in 1968 when dr wallace klaussmann established a marine fisheries and general extension program for texas sea grant fifty years later texas sea grant is still working with texas a&m agrilife to enable resilience and economic development in marine industries in texas coastal communities through the integration of research and extension us congressman michael t mccaul bestowed the certification of special congressional recognition to texas sea grant director dr pam plotkin mccaul wrote i commend you on your service and extensive research for the texas sea grant program your effort does not go unnoticed and i wish you continued success in all of your endeavors  this certificate from congressman mccaul recognizes a core part of texas a&m universitys mission as a public land- sea- space-grant institution to advance the common good said plotkin we sincerely appreciate congressman mccauls recognition of the texas sea grant program and his leadership that supports the work we do for texas coastal communities texas sea grant is celebrating its anniversary at its 50 years of science and stewardship exhibit at the george bush presidential library and museum the exhibit is slated to run through july 5 2022 hours of operation can be found online at wwwbush41org   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585 " from left: nikki fitzgerald tony reisinger dr pamela plotkin dr rick avery julie massey nicole pilson with the texas a&m agrilife extension partnership award (photo credit: richard badillo)destinee vargus from the office of us congressman michael mccaul (left) and dr pamela plotkin with the certificate of special congressional recognition (photo credit: richard badillo) "  college station texas the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university received the texas a&m agrilife extension service partnership award and a certification of special congressional recognition at its 50th anniversary celebration on may 5 dr rick avery director of texas a&m agrilife extension service presented the partnership award to recognize a 50-year partnership that enhanced the outreach and impact of extension education the partnership between texas a&m agrilife extension and texas sea grant began in 1968 when dr wallace klaussmann established a marine fisheries and general extension program for texas sea grant fifty years later texas sea grant is still working with texas a&m agrilife to enable resilience and economic development in marine industries in texas coastal communities through the integration of research and extension us congressman michael t mccaul bestowed the certification of special congressional recognition to texas sea grant director dr pam plotkin mccaul wrote i commend you on your service and extensive research for the texas sea grant program your effort does not go unnoticed and i wish you continued success in all of your endeavors  this certificate from congressman mccaul recognizes a core part of texas a&m universitys mission as a public land- sea- space-grant institution to advance the common good said plotkin we sincerely appreciate congressman mccauls recognition of the texas sea grant program and his leadership that supports the work we do for texas coastal communities texas sea grant is celebrating its anniversary at its 50 years of science and stewardship exhibit at the george bush presidential library and museum the exhibit is slated to run through july 5 2022 hours of operation can be found online at wwwbush41org   media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585" " noaa predicts another year of above-normal activity for 2022 atlantic hurricane seasonforecasters at noaas climate prediction center are predicting above-average hurricane activity this year giving 2022 the seventh consecutive above-average hurricane seasonjun 2 2022overall predictions for the 2022 atlantic hurricane season courtesy of noaa national weather service (nws)the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)'s climate prediction center announced in their may 24 2022 media briefing that they are expecting another highly active hurricane season this year noaa forecasters predict a 65 percent chance of an above-average season for 2022 which officially starts june 1 and continues through nov 30 these predictions include an estimated range of 14 to 21 named storms six to 10 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) likely the anticipated increase in hurricane activity this season is attributed to several climate factors including weaker tropical atlantic trade winds and the ongoing la niña weather pattern which is expected to continue through the atlantic hurricane season and warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the atlantic this atlantic seasonal outlook is for overall seasonal activity and is not a landfall forecast noaas climate prediction center will update the 2022 atlantic seasonal outlook in early august just prior to the historical peak of the season for more information on hurricane preparedness view the homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards which is available in spanish and english online at hazardshandbookcom and to download for free texas sea grant also has a  webpage dedicated to hurricane preparedness including links to informational videos and a comprehensive list of further resources " overall predictions for the 2022 atlantic hurricane season courtesy of noaa national weather service (nws) "the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa)'s climate prediction center announced in their may 24 2022 media briefing that they are expecting another highly active hurricane season this year noaa forecasters predict a 65 percent chance of an above-average season for 2022 which officially starts june 1 and continues through nov 30 these predictions include an estimated range of 14 to 21 named storms six to 10 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) likely the anticipated increase in hurricane activity this season is attributed to several climate factors including weaker tropical atlantic trade winds and the ongoing la niña weather pattern which is expected to continue through the atlantic hurricane season and warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the atlantic this atlantic seasonal outlook is for overall seasonal activity and is not a landfall forecast noaas climate prediction center will update the 2022 atlantic seasonal outlook in early august just prior to the historical peak of the season for more information on hurricane preparedness view the homeowners handbook to prepare for coastal natural hazards which is available in spanish and english online at hazardshandbookcom and to download for free texas sea grant also has a  webpage dedicated to hurricane preparedness including links to informational videos and a comprehensive list of further resources" " imperial barrel award team competes in 8-week international competitionthe team of texas a&m students was assigned an evaluation area in the eastern deep-water gulf of mexicomay 31 2022the texas a&m university imperial barrel award teamthe texas a&m university imperial barrel award (iba) team recently took part in in the 2022 gulf coast regional imperial barrel award competition sponsored by the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the iba is an international competition among several universities that utilizes geologic and geophysical skills to evaluate various assigned areas for oil and gas potential this years iba team included a geology masters student brendon britt; a petroleum engineering masters student jessica vieira; and three undergraduate geosciences students: christine buchwalter allison buffington and bronte heerdink the team identified three prospects evaluated their potential and presented their findings to selected aapg geological expert judges dr mauro becker professor of the practice in the department of geology and geophysics served as the faculty advisor tim powell and vernon moore members of the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory council (geodac) served as mentors to the team the department congratulates this years iba team on their outstanding work in a highly competitive field said geology and geophysics department head dr julie newman  the team was assigned an evaluation area in the eastern deep-water gulf of mexico the project was in a stratigraphically and structurally complex area where some oil and gas fields have already been discovered the students said during the challenging 8-week competition the team explored the deep-water gulf of mexico utilizing industry datasets while gaining firsthand experience in petroleum exploration subsurface mapping teamwork and presenting moore said the texas a&m group had to work as a team to complete the project in the allotted time frame and prepare for a final presentation the team encountered numerous challenges that are common in the industry and they excelled at those solutions powell said the students tackled challenges such as: loading seismic and well data to the workstations and working with kingdom seismic and well interpretation software becoming familiar with workstation and kingdom software work flows interpreting seismic horizons and generating structure maps at key intervals correlating well logs and integrating into the seismic volume interpreting potential reservoirs and mapping areal extent identifying potential source rock and migration pathways mapping complex salt structures and corresponding faults identify potential oil and gas prospects evaluation of oil and gas prospect potential resources identify key risks with each prospect organizing the final presentation the iba competition is an incredible hands-on opportunity for students because they get to experience the actual processes used in the oil and gas industry in both conventional and unconventional prospecting powell said these same processes are utilized in other geologic and geophysical based industries such as hydrogeology environmental carbon capture geothermal and others basic subsurface mapping and evaluation are a key component to an undergraduate or graduate degree in geology the skills used in the iba program are recognized by many oil and gas companies as advantageous for graduating students this years iba team has gained many new skills that will serve them well in the future they have completed a challenging program congratulations to them! " "the texas a&m university imperial barrel award (iba) team recently took part in in the 2022 gulf coast regional imperial barrel award competition sponsored by the american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) the iba is an international competition among several universities that utilizes geologic and geophysical skills to evaluate various assigned areas for oil and gas potential this years iba team included a geology masters student brendon britt; a petroleum engineering masters student jessica vieira; and three undergraduate geosciences students: christine buchwalter allison buffington and bronte heerdink the team identified three prospects evaluated their potential and presented their findings to selected aapg geological expert judges dr mauro becker professor of the practice in the department of geology and geophysics served as the faculty advisor tim powell and vernon moore members of the texas a&m geology and geophysics department advisory council (geodac) served as mentors to the team the department congratulates this years iba team on their outstanding work in a highly competitive field said geology and geophysics department head dr julie newman  the team was assigned an evaluation area in the eastern deep-water gulf of mexico the project was in a stratigraphically and structurally complex area where some oil and gas fields have already been discovered the students said during the challenging 8-week competition the team explored the deep-water gulf of mexico utilizing industry datasets while gaining firsthand experience in petroleum exploration subsurface mapping teamwork and presenting moore said the texas a&m group had to work as a team to complete the project in the allotted time frame and prepare for a final presentation the team encountered numerous challenges that are common in the industry and they excelled at those solutions powell said the students tackled challenges such as: loading seismic and well data to the workstations and working with kingdom seismic and well interpretation software becoming familiar with workstation and kingdom software work flows interpreting seismic horizons and generating structure maps at key intervals correlating well logs and integrating into the seismic volume interpreting potential reservoirs and mapping areal extent identifying potential source rock and migration pathways mapping complex salt structures and corresponding faults identify potential oil and gas prospects evaluation of oil and gas prospect potential resources identify key risks with each prospect organizing the final presentation the iba competition is an incredible hands-on opportunity for students because they get to experience the actual processes used in the oil and gas industry in both conventional and unconventional prospecting powell said these same processes are utilized in other geologic and geophysical based industries such as hydrogeology environmental carbon capture geothermal and others basic subsurface mapping and evaluation are a key component to an undergraduate or graduate degree in geology the skills used in the iba program are recognized by many oil and gas companies as advantageous for graduating students this years iba team has gained many new skills that will serve them well in the future they have completed a challenging program congratulations to them!" " christina belanger receives nsf career awardwith the prestigious award belanger will provide first-generation students the opportunity to participate in research aimed at building global benthic foraminiferal databasemay 23 2022dr christina belangerdr christina belanger assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsfs most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization belangers project is titled leveraging benthic foraminiferal biogeography to recognize ecosystem response to climate change and engage first-generation students in scientific inquiry this project aims to understand how ancient ocean ecosystems were altered by past warming events that serve as analogs for future global climate change wrote belanger in the project proposal dr belanger says she will create a mentoring program centered on first-generation students looking to get integrated into research where they can be involved in professional development networking and contribute to the scientific merit of the project belangers research will focus on building a global database of occurrences and abundances of benthic foraminifera species in both modern environments and in the paleontological record preserved in ocean sediment cores the goal will be to use species composition and morphology to identify low oxygen zones and increases in organic carbon export to the bottom ocean through geologic time dr belanger is the epitome of the teacher-scholar model of faculty excellence and is exactly suited for this prestigious award that recognizes early-career faculty who serve as academic role models in both research and education said department head of geology and geophysics dr julie newman an outstanding teacher both a montague - center for teaching excellence scholar and a recipient of an association of former students college-level teaching award dr belanger consistently teaches through research in her classes – from introductory level courses for non-scientists to graduate level we are incredibly fortunate and proud to have dr belanger as a member of our faculty this award will provide belanger the opportunity to support both graduate and undergraduate students to work on developing this extensive global database undergraduate will be provided a one semester stipend with the inaugural undergraduate group beginning fall 2022 by john sarao " "dr christina belanger assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university was recently awarded a prestigious career award from the national science foundation the faculty early career development (career) program offers nsfs most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization belangers project is titled leveraging benthic foraminiferal biogeography to recognize ecosystem response to climate change and engage first-generation students in scientific inquiry this project aims to understand how ancient ocean ecosystems were altered by past warming events that serve as analogs for future global climate change wrote belanger in the project proposal dr belanger says she will create a mentoring program centered on first-generation students looking to get integrated into research where they can be involved in professional development networking and contribute to the scientific merit of the project belangers research will focus on building a global database of occurrences and abundances of benthic foraminifera species in both modern environments and in the paleontological record preserved in ocean sediment cores the goal will be to use species composition and morphology to identify low oxygen zones and increases in organic carbon export to the bottom ocean through geologic time dr belanger is the epitome of the teacher-scholar model of faculty excellence and is exactly suited for this prestigious award that recognizes early-career faculty who serve as academic role models in both research and education said department head of geology and geophysics dr julie newman an outstanding teacher both a montague - center for teaching excellence scholar and a recipient of an association of former students college-level teaching award dr belanger consistently teaches through research in her classes – from introductory level courses for non-scientists to graduate level we are incredibly fortunate and proud to have dr belanger as a member of our faculty this award will provide belanger the opportunity to support both graduate and undergraduate students to work on developing this extensive global database undergraduate will be provided a one semester stipend with the inaugural undergraduate group beginning fall 2022 by john sarao" " mysterious dunes on jupiter's moon explained by scientists' new modelnew research co-authored by texas a&ms dr ryan ewing shows how dunes on jupiters volcanically active moon lo were formedmay 23 2022photo taken of io from nasa's galilleo missionscientists have known about dune-like structures on jupiters volcanically active moon io for some time but have been unable to reconcile how a planetary body with such a low-density atmosphere could create the classical wind-blown dunes like those observed on earth   in collaboration with scientists from rutgers university university of oregon the massachusetts institute of technology and the jet propulsion laboratory at the california institute of technology dr ryan ewing the robert r berg professor in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics proposed a new model for dune formation in the absence of strong atmospheric winds in a recently published article in nature communications this study attempts to expand scientists knowledge of how dunes can form on distant planetary bodies that have vastly different atmospheric conditions than those responsible for dune formation on earthridge field on io within kilometers of lava flow field taken from the published research articlethe challenges in interpreting the ridge structures on io were understanding how wind could be created and how sand could move where almost no atmosphere exists said ewing but the lava-frost mechanism to create the flows is an entirely new mechanism for generating dunes the lava-frost mechanism proposed by this research team relies on researchers knowledge that io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system through mathematical modeling and their understanding of sediment physics this team has shown that the interaction of ios lava flows and the widespread sulfur dioxide frost blanketing its surface the result can create a dense enough vapor to allow for grain transport and formation of the dune-like features observed from images taken during the 14-year nasa galileo mission with upcoming nasa missions to titan one of the moons of saturn and venus planned over the next several decades ewing said i am certain i will find myself trying to explain observations of dune-like patterns from these worlds as the new data come in the research this team has conducted on io will help explain the formation of these features that are present nearly everywhere in our solar system   by john sarao " "scientists have known about dune-like structures on jupiters volcanically active moon io for some time but have been unable to reconcile how a planetary body with such a low-density atmosphere could create the classical wind-blown dunes like those observed on earth   in collaboration with scientists from rutgers university university of oregon the massachusetts institute of technology and the jet propulsion laboratory at the california institute of technology dr ryan ewing the robert r berg professor in texas a&m universitys department of geology and geophysics proposed a new model for dune formation in the absence of strong atmospheric winds in a recently published article in nature communications this study attempts to expand scientists knowledge of how dunes can form on distant planetary bodies that have vastly different atmospheric conditions than those responsible for dune formation on earth" ridge field on io within kilometers of lava flow field taken from the published research article "the challenges in interpreting the ridge structures on io were understanding how wind could be created and how sand could move where almost no atmosphere exists said ewing but the lava-frost mechanism to create the flows is an entirely new mechanism for generating dunes the lava-frost mechanism proposed by this research team relies on researchers knowledge that io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system through mathematical modeling and their understanding of sediment physics this team has shown that the interaction of ios lava flows and the widespread sulfur dioxide frost blanketing its surface the result can create a dense enough vapor to allow for grain transport and formation of the dune-like features observed from images taken during the 14-year nasa galileo mission with upcoming nasa missions to titan one of the moons of saturn and venus planned over the next several decades ewing said i am certain i will find myself trying to explain observations of dune-like patterns from these worlds as the new data come in the research this team has conducted on io will help explain the formation of these features that are present nearly everywhere in our solar system   by john sarao" " chrissy wiederwohl awarded provost teaching excellence awardthe texas a&m oceanography professor was awarded the 2022 provost academic track faculty teaching excellence award by the center for teaching excellencemay 2 2022instructional associate professor and assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs dr chrissy wiederwohl has taught many lectures and labs over the course of her career at texas a&ms department of oceanography along with the many other projects and programs supporting oceanography students she was recently awarded the 2022 provost academic track faculty teaching excellence award by the center for teaching excellence for her tremendous efforts in undergraduate and graduate education the award recognizes wiederwohls excellence in teaching mentoring and leadership at texas a&m and in the field of oceanography previously honored with three different college level awards this is the first university level award for wiederwohl she was nominated for this award by dr jason sylvan and dr kathryn shamberger dr wiederwohl embodies the provost academic professional track teaching excellence award as a talented and visionary educator who is constantly working to enhance the learning experience for texas a&m students at all levels shamberger said dr wiederwohl's exceptional teaching occurs in the classroom and far beyond including in laboratories on research vessels through career development student and faculty mentoring and leadership at texas a&m among wiederwohls course offerings are multiple undergraduate and graduate lectures and labs her sections of the required introductory lecture and lab for incoming oceanography major freshmen and oceanographic field and lab methods include research cruises for students to learn and experience oceanographic concepts firsthand oceanography has some of the best students at texas a&m  from undergraduate to graduate students they are an amazing group of individuals and they make my job fun wiederwohl said it is so inspiring when your passion for the topics you teach aligns with eager and engaged students it makes the job so rewarding in addition to her teaching duties wiederwohl boasts a litany of other activities in mentoring and outreach from at-sea field trips for underserved and underrepresented high school and middle school students to oceanography camps for elementary students her influence reaches far beyond the texas a&m campus dr wiederwohl is one of the most talented educators i know and truly deserving of this award said texas a&m oceanography department head and professor dr shari yvon-lewis she is deeply involved with all aspects of education and innovative in her approaches to making learning accessible i always enjoy hearing the students talk about her enthusiasm and engagement it's great to see dr wiederwohl acknowledged for her tireless efforts sylvan said she is involved with so many aspects of our undergraduate and graduate programs that it's difficult to imagine what oceanography at texas a&m would look like without her the experience of all oceanography students is overwhelmingly and positively impacted by dr wiederwohl's work generations of oceanography undergraduate and graduate students have benefited from wiederwohls tremendous service to the department ""her instructional style service and mentorship comprise a unifying legend commonly discussed amongst oceanography undergraduates said dylan halbeisen former texas a&m undergraduate student on behalf of students both past and present ‘dr wiederwohl is indispensable she summons excellence from the classroom zoom room and stern deck emblazing and ensuring the luminosity of cohorts and colleagues alike"" ""i have learned a lot from dr wiederwohl over the years and i will continue to use what i have learned from her throughout my career in academia said alyssa alsante current texas a&m oceanography phd student she continues to improve and evolve her teaching practices while also creating a positive and engaging learning environment for everyone and i hope to carry that on to all my students in classes that i teach"" ""overall dr wiederwohls work in the multidimensional aspects of her apt appointment is impressive impactful rigorous and empathetic said dr christian brannstrom associate dean for academic affairs in texas a&ms college of geosciences chrissy is focused on student learning and success empathetic with student concerns driven by evidence-based practices and constantly seeking professional development opportunities"" as assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs and chair of the recruiting and admissions committee wiederwohl also ensures that oceanography graduate programs are on the cutting edge and is constantly working to improve diversity equity inclusion and justice within the geosciences she also serves as the faculty advisor for all oceanography professional masters students she co-developed and co-runs the departments graduate learning community (glc) a professional development workshop series that is required for all first-year thesis-based graduate students further dr wiederwohl supervises all oceanography graduate teaching assistants providing invaluable training mentoring and feedback " "instructional associate professor and assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs dr chrissy wiederwohl has taught many lectures and labs over the course of her career at texas a&ms department of oceanography along with the many other projects and programs supporting oceanography students she was recently awarded the 2022 provost academic track faculty teaching excellence award by the center for teaching excellence for her tremendous efforts in undergraduate and graduate education the award recognizes wiederwohls excellence in teaching mentoring and leadership at texas a&m and in the field of oceanography previously honored with three different college level awards this is the first university level award for wiederwohl she was nominated for this award by dr jason sylvan and dr kathryn shamberger dr wiederwohl embodies the provost academic professional track teaching excellence award as a talented and visionary educator who is constantly working to enhance the learning experience for texas a&m students at all levels shamberger said dr wiederwohl's exceptional teaching occurs in the classroom and far beyond including in laboratories on research vessels through career development student and faculty mentoring and leadership at texas a&m among wiederwohls course offerings are multiple undergraduate and graduate lectures and labs her sections of the required introductory lecture and lab for incoming oceanography major freshmen and oceanographic field and lab methods include research cruises for students to learn and experience oceanographic concepts firsthand oceanography has some of the best students at texas a&m  from undergraduate to graduate students they are an amazing group of individuals and they make my job fun wiederwohl said it is so inspiring when your passion for the topics you teach aligns with eager and engaged students it makes the job so rewarding in addition to her teaching duties wiederwohl boasts a litany of other activities in mentoring and outreach from at-sea field trips for underserved and underrepresented high school and middle school students to oceanography camps for elementary students her influence reaches far beyond the texas a&m campus dr wiederwohl is one of the most talented educators i know and truly deserving of this award said texas a&m oceanography department head and professor dr shari yvon-lewis she is deeply involved with all aspects of education and innovative in her approaches to making learning accessible i always enjoy hearing the students talk about her enthusiasm and engagement it's great to see dr wiederwohl acknowledged for her tireless efforts sylvan said she is involved with so many aspects of our undergraduate and graduate programs that it's difficult to imagine what oceanography at texas a&m would look like without her the experience of all oceanography students is overwhelmingly and positively impacted by dr wiederwohl's work generations of oceanography undergraduate and graduate students have benefited from wiederwohls tremendous service to the department ""her instructional style service and mentorship comprise a unifying legend commonly discussed amongst oceanography undergraduates said dylan halbeisen former texas a&m undergraduate student on behalf of students both past and present ‘dr wiederwohl is indispensable she summons excellence from the classroom zoom room and stern deck emblazing and ensuring the luminosity of cohorts and colleagues alike"" ""i have learned a lot from dr wiederwohl over the years and i will continue to use what i have learned from her throughout my career in academia said alyssa alsante current texas a&m oceanography phd student she continues to improve and evolve her teaching practices while also creating a positive and engaging learning environment for everyone and i hope to carry that on to all my students in classes that i teach"" ""overall dr wiederwohls work in the multidimensional aspects of her apt appointment is impressive impactful rigorous and empathetic said dr christian brannstrom associate dean for academic affairs in texas a&ms college of geosciences chrissy is focused on student learning and success empathetic with student concerns driven by evidence-based practices and constantly seeking professional development opportunities"" as assistant department head for engagement and graduate affairs and chair of the recruiting and admissions committee wiederwohl also ensures that oceanography graduate programs are on the cutting edge and is constantly working to improve diversity equity inclusion and justice within the geosciences she also serves as the faculty advisor for all oceanography professional masters students she co-developed and co-runs the departments graduate learning community (glc) a professional development workshop series that is required for all first-year thesis-based graduate students further dr wiederwohl supervises all oceanography graduate teaching assistants providing invaluable training mentoring and feedback" " scientists find gaps in global river and stream monitoringnew research co-authored by a texas a&m scientist analyzed placement of stream gauges that inform important global water datasetsapr 25 2022a stream gauge on the woodforde river a non-perennial stream in the ti tree basin north of alice springs in australia (credit: margaret shanafield / flinders university)a new study has identified gaps in data on streams around the world highlighting potential priorities for future installation of monitoring tools the analysis focused on stream gauges included in two global datasets including the large and widely used global streamflow indices and metadata archive a key source of information for hydrology research stream gauges are instruments that record the volume of water flowing through a specific location on a river or stream to assess whether certain types of waterways were overrepresented in these global gauging networks scientists combined data on the placement of over 32 000 gauges in the datasets with information on the characteristics of streams and their surrounding landscapes dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university co-led the research published today in nature sustainability stream gauges are located disproportionally in large perennial rivers draining more populated watersheds the study found gauges are sparsely distributed in protected areas and rivers characterized by non-perennial flow regimes both of which are critical to freshwater conservation and water security concerns as we respond to climate change and work toward conservation its important to recognize that the information we have from stream gauges is not completely representative said dr corey a krabbenhoft lead author of the study and research assistant professor at the university at buffalo the study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team led by krabbenhoft and primary authors allen dr peirong lin at peking university and dr julian d olden at the university of washington this study quantifies which river environments are most under-monitored by the global gauge network allen said we show where additional observations could have the greatest impact including observations from satellites for example the surface water and ocean topography (swot) satellite planned for launch in november 2022 will produce unprecedented observations of earths rivers swot and other earth observing satellites are an exciting path forward to help us fill in the gaps of the global river gauge network the datasets used do not include every stream gauge in the world gauges in regions that do not share data publicly will be missing along with data from streams that are monitored independently by organizations that do not integrate findings into public databases still the number of stream gauges covered in the study is large and comparable to the extent of datasets typically used in analyses of global hydrology research krabbenhoft said identifying biases in the placement of these gauges is vital as information from such datasets underpins important knowledge regarding the worlds freshwater resourcesdr george allen (credit: texas a&m geosciences)a stream gauge on kororoit creek a non-perennial stream in victoria australia (credit: tim fletcher / university of melbourne)this sort of data is the foundation for a lot of aquatic science data on where water is and what its doing and how its flowing is very fundamental krabbenhoft says one disparity we see is in the monitoring of non-perennial rivers which periodically dry up and stop flowing we need more data on these types of streams there are plenty of places across the world where we expect the number of streams that periodically go dry to increase in the future and in some cases these streams are part of larger river networks people rely on for their drinking water if the number of non-perennial streams increases in the future having a good understanding of how they function when they stop flowing and how long they stop flowing is critical information for being able to adjust water management priorities and understand how environmental change is impacting aquatic ecosystems worldwide the research was a product of the dry rivers research coordination network which was supported by funding from the us national science foundation to daniel c allen at penn state by texas a&m geosciences and the university at buffalo  " a stream gauge on the woodforde river a non-perennial stream in the ti tree basin north of alice springs in australia (credit: margaret shanafield / flinders university) "a new study has identified gaps in data on streams around the world highlighting potential priorities for future installation of monitoring tools the analysis focused on stream gauges included in two global datasets including the large and widely used global streamflow indices and metadata archive a key source of information for hydrology research stream gauges are instruments that record the volume of water flowing through a specific location on a river or stream to assess whether certain types of waterways were overrepresented in these global gauging networks scientists combined data on the placement of over 32 000 gauges in the datasets with information on the characteristics of streams and their surrounding landscapes dr george allen assistant professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university co-led the research published today in nature sustainability stream gauges are located disproportionally in large perennial rivers draining more populated watersheds the study found gauges are sparsely distributed in protected areas and rivers characterized by non-perennial flow regimes both of which are critical to freshwater conservation and water security concerns as we respond to climate change and work toward conservation its important to recognize that the information we have from stream gauges is not completely representative said dr corey a krabbenhoft lead author of the study and research assistant professor at the university at buffalo the study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team led by krabbenhoft and primary authors allen dr peirong lin at peking university and dr julian d olden at the university of washington this study quantifies which river environments are most under-monitored by the global gauge network allen said we show where additional observations could have the greatest impact including observations from satellites for example the surface water and ocean topography (swot) satellite planned for launch in november 2022 will produce unprecedented observations of earths rivers swot and other earth observing satellites are an exciting path forward to help us fill in the gaps of the global river gauge network the datasets used do not include every stream gauge in the world gauges in regions that do not share data publicly will be missing along with data from streams that are monitored independently by organizations that do not integrate findings into public databases still the number of stream gauges covered in the study is large and comparable to the extent of datasets typically used in analyses of global hydrology research krabbenhoft said identifying biases in the placement of these gauges is vital as information from such datasets underpins important knowledge regarding the worlds freshwater resources" dr george allen (credit: texas a&m geosciences)a stream gauge on kororoit creek a non-perennial stream in victoria australia (credit: tim fletcher / university of melbourne) "this sort of data is the foundation for a lot of aquatic science data on where water is and what its doing and how its flowing is very fundamental krabbenhoft says one disparity we see is in the monitoring of non-perennial rivers which periodically dry up and stop flowing we need more data on these types of streams there are plenty of places across the world where we expect the number of streams that periodically go dry to increase in the future and in some cases these streams are part of larger river networks people rely on for their drinking water if the number of non-perennial streams increases in the future having a good understanding of how they function when they stop flowing and how long they stop flowing is critical information for being able to adjust water management priorities and understand how environmental change is impacting aquatic ecosystems worldwide the research was a product of the dry rivers research coordination network which was supported by funding from the us national science foundation to daniel c allen at penn state by texas a&m geosciences and the university at buffalo " " weather forecasters nationwide use texas a&ms online weather data platforms developed by faculty and staff in the department of atmospheric sciences and college of geosciences the weather data interface and high-definition weather platforms provide free access to useful weather forecasting data for meteorologistsapr 15 2022for more than 20 years weather forecasters across the country have turned to texas a&m for online weather data that is uniquely simple and powerful the weather data interface (wdi) is a text-based live query system that provides data from both observations and numerical model results meteorologists find the wdi particularly useful because it allows users to get the model prediction at any standard airport location anywhere in the country said instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences dr don conlee it is also a good interface for retrieving the aviation weather observations as one of the members of the university corporation for atmospheric research (ucar) we have access to unidata worldwide weather data which enables us to provide it to other users conlee said chris mouchyn senior it professional in the college of geosciences and dr gyorgyi szunyogh research scientist in atmospheric sciences help maintain the wdi about 17 000 unique visitors per month use the wdi helping meteorologists all over the country get reliable data texas a&m also developed and maintains the hdwx (high-definition weather) site which was established by conlee mouchyn and a previous faculty member over 12 years ago the original purpose of hdwx was to equip a chart base for the weather center housed on the 12th floor of the o&m building when dr conlee and his colleagues were building the weather center in 2009 they wanted to recreate the benefits of traditional paper chart walls the weather charts satellite and radar images provided on the hdwx webpage are all in hd resolution (which was not common at the time) so the name hdwx was chosen those charts are also frequently used in class for teaching purposes and students find themselves becoming very comfortable with the available charts  a few years ago to meet the needs of graduated former students seeking to use it off-campus and the community at-large hdwx became an open-access site today students staff and faculty in atmospheric sciences continue to collaborate and innovate to serve the meteorological community and the public by joy lai " "for more than 20 years weather forecasters across the country have turned to texas a&m for online weather data that is uniquely simple and powerful the weather data interface (wdi) is a text-based live query system that provides data from both observations and numerical model results meteorologists find the wdi particularly useful because it allows users to get the model prediction at any standard airport location anywhere in the country said instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences dr don conlee it is also a good interface for retrieving the aviation weather observations as one of the members of the university corporation for atmospheric research (ucar) we have access to unidata worldwide weather data which enables us to provide it to other users conlee said chris mouchyn senior it professional in the college of geosciences and dr gyorgyi szunyogh research scientist in atmospheric sciences help maintain the wdi about 17 000 unique visitors per month use the wdi helping meteorologists all over the country get reliable data texas a&m also developed and maintains the hdwx (high-definition weather) site which was established by conlee mouchyn and a previous faculty member over 12 years ago the original purpose of hdwx was to equip a chart base for the weather center housed on the 12th floor of the o&m building when dr conlee and his colleagues were building the weather center in 2009 they wanted to recreate the benefits of traditional paper chart walls the weather charts satellite and radar images provided on the hdwx webpage are all in hd resolution (which was not common at the time) so the name hdwx was chosen those charts are also frequently used in class for teaching purposes and students find themselves becoming very comfortable with the available charts  a few years ago to meet the needs of graduated former students seeking to use it off-campus and the community at-large hdwx became an open-access site today students staff and faculty in atmospheric sciences continue to collaborate and innovate to serve the meteorological community and the public by joy lai" " atmospheric data from indias 2020 lockdown reveals how black carbon affects climateco-authored by texas a&m scientists new research on atmospheric conditions in india in 2020 shows how levels of black carbon and dust are related to climate and monsoonsapr 14 2022panoramic view of mumbai skyline (getty images / anwarali kapasi)using atmospheric data collected in india during covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 an international team of scientists has found that black carbon in india regulates dust loadings in the entire country the researchers also found that black carbon-dust-climate interactions caused the indian summer monsoon season to start later than usual during the 2020 lockdown black carbon in india modifies the atmospheric winds which determines dust transport from the middle east and the sahara and local dust emissions explained dr xiaohong liu professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and a corresponding author of the research recently published in nature communications black carbon a type of aerosol from human activities was dramatically reduced in northern india in april-may 2020 during covid-19 lockdowns liu said surprisingly we found that dust which is a natural aerosol also reached a record low in india by analyzing the atmospheric data we found that the low dust level was caused by reduced atmospheric heating of black carbon during lockdowns which induced the easterly wind anomalies and thus reduced the dust transport from the middle east and the sahara we found that aerosol-climate interactions delayed the outbreak of the subsequent indian summer monsoon in 2020 dr zheng lu an associate research scientist in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university is also a co-first-author of this research  india is a hotspot for air pollution and has heavy black carbon and dust levels the researchers explained atmospheric aerosols such as black carbon and dust can scatter and absorb incoming solar radiation thus heating the atmosphere and cooling the surface these changes can then further alter atmospheric circulation temperatures and precipitation black carbon is a strong absorber of solar radiation by heating the atmosphere it can induce vertical motion of the atmosphere and change temperature vertical profile thereby affecting atmospheric stability cloud amount and atmospheric circulation liu said aerosols in the indian atmosphere include carbon produced locally from incomplete combustion of fuels biomass-burning aerosols such as black carbon from crop residue burning and natural dust both local from the thar desert and transported from remote deserts such as the sahara and the middle east the accumulation of dust and black carbon in northern india acts as a heat pump liu explained and can reinforce rainfall during the pre-monsoon and summer monsoon seasons and black carbon and dust deposits on snow over the tibetan plateau and the himalayan region can accelerate snow melting however detecting the effects of black carbon and dust on the indian climate remains challenging due to climate feedbacks and natural climate variability thus the periods of covid-19 lockdowns in india gave scientists a window into previously unseen scenarios of indias climate inputs the precipitous reduction of air pollution during lockdowns provides a unique testbed for detecting the aerosol effects on weather and climate by comparing satellite and ground-based observations of meteorological states during lockdowns against those in the historical polluted period liu said our results of aerosol-climate interactions indicate co-benefits of future indian aerosol-reduction for air quality human health and climate change by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " "using atmospheric data collected in india during covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 an international team of scientists has found that black carbon in india regulates dust loadings in the entire country the researchers also found that black carbon-dust-climate interactions caused the indian summer monsoon season to start later than usual during the 2020 lockdown black carbon in india modifies the atmospheric winds which determines dust transport from the middle east and the sahara and local dust emissions explained dr xiaohong liu professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university and a corresponding author of the research recently published in nature communications black carbon a type of aerosol from human activities was dramatically reduced in northern india in april-may 2020 during covid-19 lockdowns liu said surprisingly we found that dust which is a natural aerosol also reached a record low in india by analyzing the atmospheric data we found that the low dust level was caused by reduced atmospheric heating of black carbon during lockdowns which induced the easterly wind anomalies and thus reduced the dust transport from the middle east and the sahara we found that aerosol-climate interactions delayed the outbreak of the subsequent indian summer monsoon in 2020 dr zheng lu an associate research scientist in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university is also a co-first-author of this research  india is a hotspot for air pollution and has heavy black carbon and dust levels the researchers explained atmospheric aerosols such as black carbon and dust can scatter and absorb incoming solar radiation thus heating the atmosphere and cooling the surface these changes can then further alter atmospheric circulation temperatures and precipitation black carbon is a strong absorber of solar radiation by heating the atmosphere it can induce vertical motion of the atmosphere and change temperature vertical profile thereby affecting atmospheric stability cloud amount and atmospheric circulation liu said aerosols in the indian atmosphere include carbon produced locally from incomplete combustion of fuels biomass-burning aerosols such as black carbon from crop residue burning and natural dust both local from the thar desert and transported from remote deserts such as the sahara and the middle east the accumulation of dust and black carbon in northern india acts as a heat pump liu explained and can reinforce rainfall during the pre-monsoon and summer monsoon seasons and black carbon and dust deposits on snow over the tibetan plateau and the himalayan region can accelerate snow melting however detecting the effects of black carbon and dust on the indian climate remains challenging due to climate feedbacks and natural climate variability thus the periods of covid-19 lockdowns in india gave scientists a window into previously unseen scenarios of indias climate inputs the precipitous reduction of air pollution during lockdowns provides a unique testbed for detecting the aerosol effects on weather and climate by comparing satellite and ground-based observations of meteorological states during lockdowns against those in the historical polluted period liu said our results of aerosol-climate interactions indicate co-benefits of future indian aerosol-reduction for air quality human health and climate change by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " nsf-funded deep ocean drilling expeditions will be led by texas a&m scientistssailing aboard the world-renowned joides resolution research drill ship dr julia reece and dr jason sylvan will each co-lead a 2-month south atlantic research expedition this yearapr 11 2022drilling thousands of meters down into the ocean to sample and study deep ocean crust that is millions of years old tomorrow the international ocean discovery program (iodp) embarks upon a two-expedition scientific drilling project to the south atlantic ocean with a texas a&m university scientist at the helm of each expedition funded by the national science foundation (nsf) and supported by 22 nations iodp is a multidecadal research program that explores earth's history ecology and structure recorded in the sediments and rocks beneath the oceans these south atlantic transect iodp expeditions will sail on the joides resolution a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd for the past 37 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution on behalf of nsf embarking april 12 from cape town dr jason sylvan associate professor and assistant department head in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and dr rosalind m coggon of the university of southampton uk will serve as co-chief scientists of iodp expedition 390 through june 7 it is incredible to see it finally happening after all the preliminary work pandemic-related delays and shuffling of personnel sylvan said but here we are sailing with scientists from all over the world and asking exciting questions about changes in earth's environment during the last 61 million years"" then iodp expedition 393 will sail june 7 - aug 7 with dr julia reece assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and dr damon a h teagle of the university of southampton uk serving as co-chief scientists""the two expeditions are critical for our understanding of the interconnected earth system such as the relationships between lithosphere hydrosphere atmosphere and biosphere reece said drilling in this very systematic way along a transect perpendicular to the mid-ocean ridge axis allows us to investigate how the oceanic crust and everything around it changes as it cools sinks and ages over millions of years by studying these sediments and igneous rocks that record environmental conditions and rapid climate change in the past we will be able to better predict our planets future including how subseafloor life ocean circulation patterns climate etc may respond to further anthropogenic influences"" expeditions 390 and 393 together referred to as the south atlantic transect will recover deep geologic core samples from six drill sites along the western flank of the mid-atlantic ridge in water depths ranging from 3 000 – 5 000 meters and with ocean crust up to 61-million-years-old crust at these sites has been transported progressively westwards as a result of seafloor spreading from the mid-ocean ridge these sites will fill critical gaps in the sampling of ocean crust with regards to crustal age spreading rate and hydrothermal and geochemical processes it is exhilarating to follow the path of the scientific ocean drilling pioneers who explored the south atlantic over 50 years ago to prove that seafloor spreading along the mid-ocean ridges produces new oceanic crust coggon said that crust forms the basins that hold the oceans – but it is not simply an inert container for the seawater our strategy of drilling along a crustal age transect has been designed to investigate how seawater and the rocks that hold it interact – contribute to and record changes to the long-term evolution of our planet and allowing life to thrive deep beneath the seafloor carrying 52 international scientists these two expeditions will recover sediment records of climate change and ocean circulation patterns in the atlantic ocean investigate the history of hydrothermal interactions between the cooling ocean crust and the ocean and the microbial communities that live deep beneath the seafloor sediment cores that span both space and time will allow scientists to investigate the responses of atlantic ocean circulations patterns and earths climate system to rapid environmental change – including through past intervals of elevated atmospheric co2 in addition to serving as the science operator of the joides resolution texas a&m also houses one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories learn more about iodp and follow the expeditions on twitter facebook and instagram by leslie lee college of geosciences " "drilling thousands of meters down into the ocean to sample and study deep ocean crust that is millions of years old tomorrow the international ocean discovery program (iodp) embarks upon a two-expedition scientific drilling project to the south atlantic ocean with a texas a&m university scientist at the helm of each expedition funded by the national science foundation (nsf) and supported by 22 nations iodp is a multidecadal research program that explores earth's history ecology and structure recorded in the sediments and rocks beneath the oceans these south atlantic transect iodp expeditions will sail on the joides resolution a premier scientific research vessel for deep-ocean drilling owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd for the past 37 years texas a&m has operated the joides resolution on behalf of nsf embarking april 12 from cape town dr jason sylvan associate professor and assistant department head in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and dr rosalind m coggon of the university of southampton uk will serve as co-chief scientists of iodp expedition 390 through june 7 it is incredible to see it finally happening after all the preliminary work pandemic-related delays and shuffling of personnel sylvan said but here we are sailing with scientists from all over the world and asking exciting questions about changes in earth's environment during the last 61 million years"" then iodp expedition 393 will sail june 7 - aug 7 with dr julia reece assistant professor in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m and dr damon a h teagle of the university of southampton uk serving as co-chief scientists" """the two expeditions are critical for our understanding of the interconnected earth system such as the relationships between lithosphere hydrosphere atmosphere and biosphere reece said drilling in this very systematic way along a transect perpendicular to the mid-ocean ridge axis allows us to investigate how the oceanic crust and everything around it changes as it cools sinks and ages over millions of years by studying these sediments and igneous rocks that record environmental conditions and rapid climate change in the past we will be able to better predict our planets future including how subseafloor life ocean circulation patterns climate etc may respond to further anthropogenic influences"" expeditions 390 and 393 together referred to as the south atlantic transect will recover deep geologic core samples from six drill sites along the western flank of the mid-atlantic ridge in water depths ranging from 3 000 – 5 000 meters and with ocean crust up to 61-million-years-old crust at these sites has been transported progressively westwards as a result of seafloor spreading from the mid-ocean ridge these sites will fill critical gaps in the sampling of ocean crust with regards to crustal age spreading rate and hydrothermal and geochemical processes it is exhilarating to follow the path of the scientific ocean drilling pioneers who explored the south atlantic over 50 years ago to prove that seafloor spreading along the mid-ocean ridges produces new oceanic crust coggon said that crust forms the basins that hold the oceans – but it is not simply an inert container for the seawater our strategy of drilling along a crustal age transect has been designed to investigate how seawater and the rocks that hold it interact – contribute to and record changes to the long-term evolution of our planet and allowing life to thrive deep beneath the seafloor carrying 52 international scientists these two expeditions will recover sediment records of climate change and ocean circulation patterns in the atlantic ocean investigate the history of hydrothermal interactions between the cooling ocean crust and the ocean and the microbial communities that live deep beneath the seafloor sediment cores that span both space and time will allow scientists to investigate the responses of atlantic ocean circulations patterns and earths climate system to rapid environmental change – including through past intervals of elevated atmospheric co2 in addition to serving as the science operator of the joides resolution texas a&m also houses one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories learn more about iodp and follow the expeditions on twitter facebook and instagram by leslie lee college of geosciences" " yue zhang leading doe-funded secondary organic aerosols researchthe research will answer key questions about the physicochemical properties of aerosol particles and aerosol-cloud interactionsapr 4 2022dr yue zhang assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently awarded large-scale research project funding from the environmental molecular sciences laboratory (emsl) a us department of energy office of science user facility sponsored by the biological and environmental research (ber) program titled connecting the physicochemical properties with ice nucleation properties of secondary organic aerosols formed from multiphase chemical processes the project will address gaps in scientists understanding of how secondary organic aerosols or soas interact with clouds this project will provide new insights on how the soas generated from multiphase reactions an important pathway for trace atmospheric gases to directly interact with particles will affect aerosol physicochemical properties and aerosol-cloud interactions zhang said the outcome will be useful for improving current models in predicting aerosol transformation and future climate  aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere some aerosols consist of mineral dust and sea salt zhang said that the majority of the fine particles whose diameters are smaller than 25 micrometers and detrimental to human health and the climate consist of other compositions such as organic carbon sulfate and nitrate including organosulfates formed by the atmospheric chemical interaction of sulfate and organic carbon the complex physicochemical properties of these particles will have important implications on the health and climate effects of aerosols  we are excited about this research because we will be able to systematically generate complex and realistic aerosol particles mimicking those formed in the ambient environment zhang said then we will be able to work with experts at emsl and use state-of-the-art instruments to understand the impacts of aerosol physicochemical properties on our climate thirty-five projects were allocated resources from emsl and scientists from each project will receive up to two years of access to emsls world-class expertise and instrumentation zhangs research team plans to analyze the morphology mixing state phase state and other physicochemical properties by working with the research team at emsl  collaborators on the project will include dr swarup china dr alla zelenyuk dr gourihar kulkarni and other scientists from pnnl  ice nucleating properties of soa are poorly understood and i hope this project will shed light on the building blocks of organics aerosol to better represent ice formation properties in a cloud model kulkarni said   undergraduate researchers and graduate students in zhangs laboratory including students from underrepresented groups will also participate in this project he noted zhangs aerosol research work is also supported by national science foundation the microscopic images and other physicochemical properties of the soa obtained from this emsl collaboration will improve knowledge in the climate effects of aerosol particles and connect scientific questions in other projects as well helping us better understand and predict the earths atmosphere by leslie lee college of geosciences " "dr yue zhang assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently awarded large-scale research project funding from the environmental molecular sciences laboratory (emsl) a us department of energy office of science user facility sponsored by the biological and environmental research (ber) program titled connecting the physicochemical properties with ice nucleation properties of secondary organic aerosols formed from multiphase chemical processes the project will address gaps in scientists understanding of how secondary organic aerosols or soas interact with clouds this project will provide new insights on how the soas generated from multiphase reactions an important pathway for trace atmospheric gases to directly interact with particles will affect aerosol physicochemical properties and aerosol-cloud interactions zhang said the outcome will be useful for improving current models in predicting aerosol transformation and future climate  aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere some aerosols consist of mineral dust and sea salt zhang said that the majority of the fine particles whose diameters are smaller than 25 micrometers and detrimental to human health and the climate consist of other compositions such as organic carbon sulfate and nitrate including organosulfates formed by the atmospheric chemical interaction of sulfate and organic carbon the complex physicochemical properties of these particles will have important implications on the health and climate effects of aerosols  we are excited about this research because we will be able to systematically generate complex and realistic aerosol particles mimicking those formed in the ambient environment zhang said then we will be able to work with experts at emsl and use state-of-the-art instruments to understand the impacts of aerosol physicochemical properties on our climate thirty-five projects were allocated resources from emsl and scientists from each project will receive up to two years of access to emsls world-class expertise and instrumentation zhangs research team plans to analyze the morphology mixing state phase state and other physicochemical properties by working with the research team at emsl  collaborators on the project will include dr swarup china dr alla zelenyuk dr gourihar kulkarni and other scientists from pnnl  ice nucleating properties of soa are poorly understood and i hope this project will shed light on the building blocks of organics aerosol to better represent ice formation properties in a cloud model kulkarni said   undergraduate researchers and graduate students in zhangs laboratory including students from underrepresented groups will also participate in this project he noted zhangs aerosol research work is also supported by national science foundation the microscopic images and other physicochemical properties of the soa obtained from this emsl collaboration will improve knowledge in the climate effects of aerosol particles and connect scientific questions in other projects as well helping us better understand and predict the earths atmosphere by leslie lee college of geosciences" " montana etten-bohm named a winner of ams conference oral presentation competitionmar 30 2022montana etten-bohm a phd candidate in the department of atmospheric sciences was selected as a winner of the oral presentation competition at the american meteorological societys 27th conference on probability and statistics which was held virtually earlier this year she presented a recent study in a talk entitled using advanced statistical models to predict lightning in gcms with coauthors lin zhu dr courtney schumacher dr mikyoung jun and dr yangyang xu   etten-bohm will graduate with her phd this may and in august will join the faculty at university of north dakota's department of atmospheric sciences as an instructional assistant professor by joy lai " "montana etten-bohm a phd candidate in the department of atmospheric sciences was selected as a winner of the oral presentation competition at the american meteorological societys 27th conference on probability and statistics which was held virtually earlier this year she presented a recent study in a talk entitled using advanced statistical models to predict lightning in gcms with coauthors lin zhu dr courtney schumacher dr mikyoung jun and dr yangyang xu   etten-bohm will graduate with her phd this may and in august will join the faculty at university of north dakota's department of atmospheric sciences as an instructional assistant professor by joy lai" " yige zhang honored with fw clarke awardthe geochemical society bestows the honor on one scientist per yearmar 30 2022dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university has been honored with the 2022 fw clarke award from the geochemical society he will receive the prestigious clarke medal at the geochemical societys goldschmidt conference in july zhang is recognized for his contributions to the application and refinement of lipid biomarker proxies for paleotemperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide reconstructions including development of the ""methane index"" and ""ring index yiges contributions to the improvement of paleoproxies exemplify his leadership in the field  this award is well-deserved said dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography department head our planet earth has such a rich history including history of climate change zhang said we had geological periods that were so warm that the temperature of the tropical ocean was literally the same as my shower and there were intervals that was so cold that places like new york or chicago were under thick ice sheets but we need specialized tools such as proxies based on lipid biomarkers or ‘molecular fossils to read the climate signature from archives like marine sediments and one of my research focuses is to develop or refine these tools to better get the job done  the clarke award is the highest honor for early-career scientists in geochemistry and it annually recognizes one early-career scientist for a single outstanding contribution to geochemistry or cosmochemistry published either as a single paper or a series of papers on a single topic  there was stiff competition for the clarke medal this year with a large number of nominations spanning the many diverse fields of geochemistry and it is a credit to yige that he rose to the top of this elite group said dr ethan grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics co-director of the stable isotope geosciences facility and nominator of zhang for this award the award consists of an engraved silver medal an honorarium and a certificate fw clarke was a chemist who determined the composition of the earth's crust and he has been called the father of geochemistry by leslie lee " "dr yige zhang assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m university has been honored with the 2022 fw clarke award from the geochemical society he will receive the prestigious clarke medal at the geochemical societys goldschmidt conference in july zhang is recognized for his contributions to the application and refinement of lipid biomarker proxies for paleotemperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide reconstructions including development of the ""methane index"" and ""ring index yiges contributions to the improvement of paleoproxies exemplify his leadership in the field  this award is well-deserved said dr shari yvon-lewis oceanography department head our planet earth has such a rich history including history of climate change zhang said we had geological periods that were so warm that the temperature of the tropical ocean was literally the same as my shower and there were intervals that was so cold that places like new york or chicago were under thick ice sheets but we need specialized tools such as proxies based on lipid biomarkers or ‘molecular fossils to read the climate signature from archives like marine sediments and one of my research focuses is to develop or refine these tools to better get the job done  the clarke award is the highest honor for early-career scientists in geochemistry and it annually recognizes one early-career scientist for a single outstanding contribution to geochemistry or cosmochemistry published either as a single paper or a series of papers on a single topic  there was stiff competition for the clarke medal this year with a large number of nominations spanning the many diverse fields of geochemistry and it is a credit to yige that he rose to the top of this elite group said dr ethan grossman professor and michel t halbouty chair in texas a&ms department of geology and geophysics co-director of the stable isotope geosciences facility and nominator of zhang for this award the award consists of an engraved silver medal an honorarium and a certificate fw clarke was a chemist who determined the composition of the earth's crust and he has been called the father of geochemistry by leslie lee" " oceanography graduate students receive society for underwater technology scholarships two texas a&m oceanography graduate students received $2000 scholarships to further their research and studiesmar 29 2022the society for underwater technology – us branch (sut-us) awarded two of its 2021 scholarships to texas a&m oceanography graduate students samantha longridge and christena hoelscher sut is an international society founded in 1966 and includes members from over 40 countries longridge and hoelscher joined the community that supports similar interests in ocean science underwater technology and offshore engineering its a really cool program with people from different backgrounds like engineers physical oceanographers and biological oceanographers intermingling in this one society hoelscher said longridge noted that suts webinars seminars and mentorship program are very helpful to students in ocean sciences the $2 000 scholarships were awarded to longridge and hoelscher over two semesters and four students from other universities also received the scholarship i would like to thank professors dr steve dimarco   dr chrissy wiederwohl and dr henry potter for their support in my studies and applying for this scholarship longridge said thanks to dr timothy delapena and dr kyeong park department head for the department of marine and coastal environmental science at texas a&m galveston this scholarship was very helpful in relieving a lot of stress with the financial support hoelscher said it allowed me to better focus on writing my thesis and defending my research longridge and hoelscher both received their scholarships in the second year of their masters degree program by justin agan ‘18 " "the society for underwater technology – us branch (sut-us) awarded two of its 2021 scholarships to texas a&m oceanography graduate students samantha longridge and christena hoelscher sut is an international society founded in 1966 and includes members from over 40 countries longridge and hoelscher joined the community that supports similar interests in ocean science underwater technology and offshore engineering its a really cool program with people from different backgrounds like engineers physical oceanographers and biological oceanographers intermingling in this one society hoelscher said longridge noted that suts webinars seminars and mentorship program are very helpful to students in ocean sciences the $2 000 scholarships were awarded to longridge and hoelscher over two semesters and four students from other universities also received the scholarship i would like to thank professors dr steve dimarco   dr chrissy wiederwohl and dr henry potter for their support in my studies and applying for this scholarship longridge said thanks to dr timothy delapena and dr kyeong park department head for the department of marine and coastal environmental science at texas a&m galveston this scholarship was very helpful in relieving a lot of stress with the financial support hoelscher said it allowed me to better focus on writing my thesis and defending my research longridge and hoelscher both received their scholarships in the second year of their masters degree program by justin agan ‘18" " ping yang named texas distinguished scientist van de hulst light scattering award honoreeboth awards recognize extraordinary scientific contributionsmar 25 2022dr ping yang has been named the 2022 texas distinguished scientist and the van de hulst light scattering award honoreethe texas academy of sciences (tas) recently named dr ping yang university distinguished professor in the department for atmospheric sciences and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the 2022 texas distinguished scientist this honor reflects distinguished contributions to science through research and publication that have garnered recognition at the national and international level tas said and recipients must have spent a significant portion of their careers in texas earlier this year yang was also named the recipient of the 2022 van de hulst light scattering award he will present a van de hulst lecture at the next international electromagnetic and light scattering conference (location tbd) the van de hulst award is the most prestigious award in the field of electromagnetic and light scattering by particles and the award selection is determined by an international committee dr yang continues to redefine superlative and these two most recent honors reflect how deeply admired and respected he is by the community said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m we are so fortunate to have a colleague as gifted and respected as dr yang yang holds the david bullock harris chair in geosciences at texas a&m has served as associate dean for research since 2019 and served as head of the department of atmospheric sciences from 2012 to 2018 his research focuses on light scattering radiative transfer remote sensing and numerical modeling of the optical properties of nonspherical particles and its applications yang is a fellow of the american physical society the optical society of america the electromagnetics academy the american geophysical union the american meteorological society and the american association for the advancement of science  by leslie lee " dr ping yang has been named the 2022 texas distinguished scientist and the van de hulst light scattering award honoree "the texas academy of sciences (tas) recently named dr ping yang university distinguished professor in the department for atmospheric sciences and associate dean for research in the college of geosciences at texas a&m university the 2022 texas distinguished scientist this honor reflects distinguished contributions to science through research and publication that have garnered recognition at the national and international level tas said and recipients must have spent a significant portion of their careers in texas earlier this year yang was also named the recipient of the 2022 van de hulst light scattering award he will present a van de hulst lecture at the next international electromagnetic and light scattering conference (location tbd) the van de hulst award is the most prestigious award in the field of electromagnetic and light scattering by particles and the award selection is determined by an international committee dr yang continues to redefine superlative and these two most recent honors reflect how deeply admired and respected he is by the community said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m we are so fortunate to have a colleague as gifted and respected as dr yang yang holds the david bullock harris chair in geosciences at texas a&m has served as associate dean for research since 2019 and served as head of the department of atmospheric sciences from 2012 to 2018 his research focuses on light scattering radiative transfer remote sensing and numerical modeling of the optical properties of nonspherical particles and its applications yang is a fellow of the american physical society the optical society of america the electromagnetics academy the american geophysical union the american meteorological society and the american association for the advancement of science  by leslie lee" " texas a&m awarded $54 million from national academies gulf research programtexas a&m oceanographer dr steven dimarco will lead the new research consortiummar 22 2022the gulf research program (grp) of the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine has announced $54 million in research funding awarded to texas a&m university from the understanding gulf ocean systems (ugos) program  the funding will establish the gulf consortium for offshore risk reduction engaging stakeholders (gulfcores) which will be led by dr steven dimarco professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and team leader for ocean observing at texas a&ms geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) gulfcores will complement and enhance existing modeling and observational capabilities by providing adaptive sampling observations from glider float and drifter platforms dimarco said the consortium will also actively engage stakeholders and industry to ensure sustainable transitions to operations that support end-users dimarco said that gulfcores will execute an observational program to support numerical modeling and develop a plan to incorporate study outputs into existing operational agency and industry activities  our team is excited about the opportunity to work with the national academies grp and the other consortia on this project he said because of the decades-long experiences in providing observations that are critical to accurate and reliable forecasts we have a dream team positioned to improve the well-being of the gulf of mexico community when coupled with texas a&ms unique relationship with offshore industries i am confident that our work will lead to a safer and more sustainable gulf  the texas a&m-led project is one of three awarded as part of ugos third phase (ugos-3) and the three consortia will work collaboratively to apply existing and emerging data to improve operational forecasting of the gulf of mexico ocean dynamics including the loop current and its eddies  one of the gulf research programs core priorities is to make data-rich scientific information available to decision-makers in the gulf said donald f boesch national academies senior scholar i am confident that our ugos program will result in major advances in the practical use of scientific understanding of the highly dynamic gulf of mexico and how it is changing in our warming world  gulfcores will be an international consortium including scientists from eight partner institutions: rutgers university university of miami university of south florida university of southern mississippi woods hole group inc texas a&m university - corpus christi harte research institute universidad nacional autonoma de mexico (unam puerto morelos mexico) and ensenada center for scientific research and higher education (cicese ensenada mexico) and four collaborating institutions: gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) ocean sierra llc codar inc and shell exploration company co-principal investigators for gulfcores are: dr tony knap  and dr kerri whilden texas a&m gerg; felimon gayanilo texas a&m university - corpus christi; and dr jorge brenner and dr barbara kirkpatrick gcoos enhanced predictions of gulf of mexico currents and eddies will help avoid risky conditions for oil drilling and production thereby reducing risks to offshore workers ugos said improving operational forecasting will also help improve oil spill response weather forecasting and the sustainable management of the gulfs rich fisheries resources deep and fast-moving the loop current is of interest to industry and weather forecasters as well as to the scientific community due to sometimes unpredictable changes in its velocity temperature and position its deep warm eddies can supply heat to tropical storms moving over them allowing the storms to rapidly intensify ugos scientists said this was apparently the case last year when hurricane ida quickly grew from a category 1 to a category 4 hurricane before it made landfall ugos noted that if the loop current had behaved differently during the deepwater horizon oil spill it could have pushed oil beyond the gulf causing damage to a much larger area   along with the texas a&m-led consortium the two additional new ugos-3 projects are: advancing gulf of mexico operational forecasting with application to fisheries industry safety and natural hazards (goffish) – led by florida state university; and an operational system using real-time subsurface observations to improve loop current forecasts – led by the woods hole oceanographic institution thanks to the incredible and ongoing work from the ugos investigators we have a solid foundation of knowledge on the loop current with more new data and discoveries happening every day said michael feldman grp senior program officer the ugos-3 researchers will build on that understanding to have a lasting impact on forecasting accuracy and capability supporting both end users and the communities that live and rely on the gulf of mexico the national academies gulf research program is an independent science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster it seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science practice and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the gulf of mexico region and the nation the program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants fellowships and other activities in the areas of research and development education and training and monitoring and synthesis  by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences " "the gulf research program (grp) of the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine has announced $54 million in research funding awarded to texas a&m university from the understanding gulf ocean systems (ugos) program  the funding will establish the gulf consortium for offshore risk reduction engaging stakeholders (gulfcores) which will be led by dr steven dimarco professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and team leader for ocean observing at texas a&ms geochemical and environmental research group (gerg) gulfcores will complement and enhance existing modeling and observational capabilities by providing adaptive sampling observations from glider float and drifter platforms dimarco said the consortium will also actively engage stakeholders and industry to ensure sustainable transitions to operations that support end-users dimarco said that gulfcores will execute an observational program to support numerical modeling and develop a plan to incorporate study outputs into existing operational agency and industry activities  our team is excited about the opportunity to work with the national academies grp and the other consortia on this project he said because of the decades-long experiences in providing observations that are critical to accurate and reliable forecasts we have a dream team positioned to improve the well-being of the gulf of mexico community when coupled with texas a&ms unique relationship with offshore industries i am confident that our work will lead to a safer and more sustainable gulf  the texas a&m-led project is one of three awarded as part of ugos third phase (ugos-3) and the three consortia will work collaboratively to apply existing and emerging data to improve operational forecasting of the gulf of mexico ocean dynamics including the loop current and its eddies  one of the gulf research programs core priorities is to make data-rich scientific information available to decision-makers in the gulf said donald f boesch national academies senior scholar i am confident that our ugos program will result in major advances in the practical use of scientific understanding of the highly dynamic gulf of mexico and how it is changing in our warming world  gulfcores will be an international consortium including scientists from eight partner institutions: rutgers university university of miami university of south florida university of southern mississippi woods hole group inc texas a&m university - corpus christi harte research institute universidad nacional autonoma de mexico (unam puerto morelos mexico) and ensenada center for scientific research and higher education (cicese ensenada mexico) and four collaborating institutions: gulf of mexico coastal ocean observing system (gcoos) ocean sierra llc codar inc and shell exploration company co-principal investigators for gulfcores are: dr tony knap  and dr kerri whilden texas a&m gerg; felimon gayanilo texas a&m university - corpus christi; and dr jorge brenner and dr barbara kirkpatrick gcoos enhanced predictions of gulf of mexico currents and eddies will help avoid risky conditions for oil drilling and production thereby reducing risks to offshore workers ugos said improving operational forecasting will also help improve oil spill response weather forecasting and the sustainable management of the gulfs rich fisheries resources deep and fast-moving the loop current is of interest to industry and weather forecasters as well as to the scientific community due to sometimes unpredictable changes in its velocity temperature and position its deep warm eddies can supply heat to tropical storms moving over them allowing the storms to rapidly intensify ugos scientists said this was apparently the case last year when hurricane ida quickly grew from a category 1 to a category 4 hurricane before it made landfall ugos noted that if the loop current had behaved differently during the deepwater horizon oil spill it could have pushed oil beyond the gulf causing damage to a much larger area   along with the texas a&m-led consortium the two additional new ugos-3 projects are: advancing gulf of mexico operational forecasting with application to fisheries industry safety and natural hazards (goffish) – led by florida state university; and an operational system using real-time subsurface observations to improve loop current forecasts – led by the woods hole oceanographic institution thanks to the incredible and ongoing work from the ugos investigators we have a solid foundation of knowledge on the loop current with more new data and discoveries happening every day said michael feldman grp senior program officer the ugos-3 researchers will build on that understanding to have a lasting impact on forecasting accuracy and capability supporting both end users and the communities that live and rely on the gulf of mexico the national academies gulf research program is an independent science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster it seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science practice and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the gulf of mexico region and the nation the program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants fellowships and other activities in the areas of research and development education and training and monitoring and synthesis  by leslie lee texas a&m college of geosciences" " knauss marine policy finalists receive official host office placements executive and legislative host office placements mark the beginning of the knauss fellowship for lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins mar 8 2022texas sea grant knauss fellows lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins have received their official host office placements effective feb 1 2022 howe-kerr is an executive fellow at the national science foundations division of ocean sciences office of the division director while higgins is a legislative fellow working at the office of senator brian schatz of hawaii i am excited to apply my scientific experience towards policy and management solutions that tangibly address climate change and ocean conservation howe-kerr said i am also looking forward to learning how researchers can be more civically engaged in national policy as a phd student at rice university howe-kerr studies coral reef microbial ecology by tracking the microbiomes of coral colonies she examines how viruses algae and bacteria can be used to support resilience in coral reef ecosystems she is interested in learning about the intersection of science and policy to tackle multifaceted issues higgins a phd student from the university of oklahoma studies the interactions between bivalves and environmental microbiomes which have an increasingly clearer connection with each other and their ecosystems he is also interested in the relationship between the language used in scientific policy documents and the legislative outcomes higgins said i'm excited for the chance to play a role in federal science policy and learn about the intricacies involved in integrating scientific knowledge with decision making on a national level it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun! higgins and howe-kerr are part of the 43rd class of the knauss fellowship and join nearly 1 500 professionals who have received hands-on experiences transferring science to policy and management through year-long appointments with federal government offices in washington dc knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs applicants who are successful at the state program level are then reviewed by a national panel of experts for an inside look at the fellows experiences visit the knauss blog media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585   " "texas sea grant knauss fellows lauren howe-kerr and ed higgins have received their official host office placements effective feb 1 2022 howe-kerr is an executive fellow at the national science foundations division of ocean sciences office of the division director while higgins is a legislative fellow working at the office of senator brian schatz of hawaii i am excited to apply my scientific experience towards policy and management solutions that tangibly address climate change and ocean conservation howe-kerr said i am also looking forward to learning how researchers can be more civically engaged in national policy as a phd student at rice university howe-kerr studies coral reef microbial ecology by tracking the microbiomes of coral colonies she examines how viruses algae and bacteria can be used to support resilience in coral reef ecosystems she is interested in learning about the intersection of science and policy to tackle multifaceted issues higgins a phd student from the university of oklahoma studies the interactions between bivalves and environmental microbiomes which have an increasingly clearer connection with each other and their ecosystems he is also interested in the relationship between the language used in scientific policy documents and the legislative outcomes higgins said i'm excited for the chance to play a role in federal science policy and learn about the intricacies involved in integrating scientific knowledge with decision making on a national level it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun! higgins and howe-kerr are part of the 43rd class of the knauss fellowship and join nearly 1 500 professionals who have received hands-on experiences transferring science to policy and management through year-long appointments with federal government offices in washington dc knauss finalists are chosen through a competitive process that includes several rounds of review at both the state sea grant program and national levels students that are enrolled in or have recently completed masters juris doctor (jd) and phd programs with a focus and/or interest in marine and coastal science policy or management apply to one of the 34 sea grant programs applicants who are successful at the state program level are then reviewed by a national panel of experts for an inside look at the fellows experiences visit the knauss blog media contact: sara carney texas sea grant communications manager scarney@tamuedu 713-435-9585  " " sediment cores from ocean floor could contain 23-million-year-old climate change cluestexas a&m oceanographers are examining ancient methane gas ocean cores that reveal clues about global and environmental changesfeb 18 2022methane gas bubbles rising from the ocean floor (photo credit: justin kim)sediment cores taken from the southern ocean dating back 23 million years are providing insight into how ancient methane escaping from the seafloor could have led to regional or global climate and environmental changes according to a study from two texas a&m university researchers dr yige zhang  assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and doctoral student bumsoo kim have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the oceanographers examined cores – sediment samples from deep parts of the ocean floor – from the oligocene-miocene era roughly 23 million years ago from areas near tasmania and antarctica in the pacific sector of the southern ocean there are billions of tons of carbon stored beneath the ocean floor as gas hydrates – ice-like crystals composed of water and natural gas past releases of methane are believed to be related to huge earth events such as global warming and subsequent climate shifts for a long time people thought that methane released from the ocean floor could go into the atmosphere and directly contribute to the greenhouse effect leading to rapid warming and even mass extinctions zhang said but this idea is no longer popular in the last decade or so because we lack direct evidence of methane release in earths history also modern observations show that even when methane gases are released they rarely make it to the atmosphere however kim and zhang are now able to document past methane release by using markers that consume methane these methane-eating substances are preserved in sediments for tens of millions of years the researchers said they could provide direct evidence of methane release from different places in the southern ocean we saw that a methane release occurred during a peak glaciation about 23 million years ago zhang said glaciation is the formation movement and recession of glaciers and the process mostly commonly occurs in antarctica and greenland when large ice sheets form they draw in a tremendous amount of water that could lower the sea-level by tens to hundreds of feet zhang added that the methane gas release and its after-effects led to ocean acidification and hypoxia (a lack of oxygen in the water) something that has been observed after the deepwater horizon incident in 2010 when large amounts of methane were released in the gulf of mexico one implication of our study is that if gas hydrates start to decompose in the future due to ocean warming places like the gulf of mexico could suffer severely from ocean acidification and expansion of the low oxygen ‘dead zones kim said the project was funded by texas a&ms t3 grants and texas sea grant by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing & communications " methane gas bubbles rising from the ocean floor (photo credit: justin kim) "sediment cores taken from the southern ocean dating back 23 million years are providing insight into how ancient methane escaping from the seafloor could have led to regional or global climate and environmental changes according to a study from two texas a&m university researchers dr yige zhang  assistant professor in the department of oceanography at texas a&m and doctoral student bumsoo kim have had their work published in the current issue of nature geoscience the oceanographers examined cores – sediment samples from deep parts of the ocean floor – from the oligocene-miocene era roughly 23 million years ago from areas near tasmania and antarctica in the pacific sector of the southern ocean there are billions of tons of carbon stored beneath the ocean floor as gas hydrates – ice-like crystals composed of water and natural gas past releases of methane are believed to be related to huge earth events such as global warming and subsequent climate shifts for a long time people thought that methane released from the ocean floor could go into the atmosphere and directly contribute to the greenhouse effect leading to rapid warming and even mass extinctions zhang said but this idea is no longer popular in the last decade or so because we lack direct evidence of methane release in earths history also modern observations show that even when methane gases are released they rarely make it to the atmosphere however kim and zhang are now able to document past methane release by using markers that consume methane these methane-eating substances are preserved in sediments for tens of millions of years the researchers said they could provide direct evidence of methane release from different places in the southern ocean we saw that a methane release occurred during a peak glaciation about 23 million years ago zhang said glaciation is the formation movement and recession of glaciers and the process mostly commonly occurs in antarctica and greenland when large ice sheets form they draw in a tremendous amount of water that could lower the sea-level by tens to hundreds of feet zhang added that the methane gas release and its after-effects led to ocean acidification and hypoxia (a lack of oxygen in the water) something that has been observed after the deepwater horizon incident in 2010 when large amounts of methane were released in the gulf of mexico one implication of our study is that if gas hydrates start to decompose in the future due to ocean warming places like the gulf of mexico could suffer severely from ocean acidification and expansion of the low oxygen ‘dead zones kim said the project was funded by texas a&ms t3 grants and texas sea grant by keith randall texas a&m division of marketing & communications" " from first-generation student to texas a&m donorjoanne and lee billingsley reflect on their fond texas a&m memories and their inspiration for giving to the department of geology and geophysicsfeb 2 2022the billingsley family (all photos courtesy of lee and joanne billingsley)joanne and lee billingsley hiking togetherforty years ago joanne and lee billingsley were young graduate students at texas a&m pushing their two children around campus in strollers while also completing difficult courses and conducting research time has flown by and they recently shared some of their inspiration for establishing the joanne '75 and lee billingsley '75 endowed scholarship in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m we are so deeply grateful to joanne and lee for their investment in the future of geology and geophysics! said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m their beautiful endowment not only provides critical support for students but also provides us with a critical resource to recruit and retain more amazing students one scholarship made all the difference growing up dr lee billingsley had never heard of texas a&m until it was time to begin applying to universities i grew up in albuquerque new mexico and as a bit of a lark i applied to texas a&m and made a visit just to see what it was like he said i was the first in my family to go to college and we were learning how it all worked on that first visit lee met dr robert berg the then head of the department of geology and geophysics and after discussing his test scores with him berg offered him a $500 scholarship that one scholarship was very valuable because it allowed me to qualify for in-state tuition; so i took the offer and majored in geology billingsley said freshman year was quite an adjustment for me i was in the corps of cadets and i didnt know anything about that either before coming to texas a&m a member of squadron 2 billingsley adjusted to the rigors of life as a cadet and made life-long friendships he went on to become a member of the prestigious ross volunteers i still have friends to this day who are from the outfit that i was in he said were still friends and we still get together once a year and when we get together its like weve never missed a beat in his geology coursework billingsley was invigorated by the practical applications of the concepts the geology professors were so practical and the work was so interesting he said i didnt know anything about the oil and gas business when i came to texas a&m but a lot of those professors had worked in the industry and they equipped us with so much practical knowledge i would ask ‘why do we need to know this and they always had a practical example building a life together then freshman year in chemistry class i met a girl we were just friends and then after some time getting to know each other we went on a date and that was joanne my wife joanne billingsley then joanne croft had come to texas a&m from san antonio and majored in education instruction and curriculum together they made hundreds of aggie memories from midnight yell and aggie football games to both graduating in 1975 during the second half of my undergraduate tenure i greatly benefited from a work-study program in the department of education joanne said i was able to interact with professors and staff to learn more about my future profession as a teacherlee billingsleyjoanne billingsleyafter graduating in 1975 the young couple moved to colorado where joanne began her teaching career and lee earned a masters in geology from colorado school of mines  then in 1979 they returned to texas a&m this time with a baby in tow i was pursuing my doctorate and joanne was earning her masters degree and we had one baby when we showed up and we had another while in graduate school he said those were some of the most fun years weve ever had she had classes in the afternoon and i had classes in the morning so she would bring the babies to me in the geology department in the afternoon and we would play in the bottom floor of the building the kids rolled down ramps in rolling office chairs there and then wed go to the texas a&m farm and pretend it was our zoo and then finally eat dinner in the msc cafeteria it was such a special time and we have a lot of fun memories of those years joanne earned her masters degree in school and public health education from texas a&m in 1981 their family grew to three children and she went on to teach school for 16 additional years eventually becoming an award-winning educator in texas and a leader in training teachers lee completed his phd in geology in 1983 and then began working in the oil and gas industry in 1983 he founded an independent exploration and production company sandia oil & gas corp when it was purchased by abraxas petroleum corp in 1998 he began serving as vice president of exploration at abraxas petroleum where he supervised both conventional and unconventional prospect generation and execution he has also been very active in professional organizations and served as president of american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) from 2006 to 2007 legacy and vision in 2007 joanne was named texas regional teacher of the year and she is now a nationally acclaimed author educational consultant presenter and author; her books include aim to grow your brain and making words real i am passionate about supporting educators and sharing creative strategies for building brain-friendly language-rich interactive classrooms she said lee billingsley is now the founder and president of windridge oil & gas lp and together they have been continuous supporters of texas a&m  their two sons michael billingsley 03 and matthew billingsley 05 also graduated from texas a&m their oldest child anne probably already felt she had been to a&m as a baby and toddler the billingsleys joked so she graduated from southwestern university looking back i was just a little out-of-state student when i first came to texas a&m and i desperately needed that scholarship he reflected if i hadnt had that im not sure what would have happened we wanted to pay it forward i had an opportunity because of a scholarship from other aggies before me so this gift was a chance to continue that for the next generation so that they will have opportunities as well by leslie lee 09 " the billingsley family (all photos courtesy of lee and joanne billingsley)joanne and lee billingsley hiking together "forty years ago joanne and lee billingsley were young graduate students at texas a&m pushing their two children around campus in strollers while also completing difficult courses and conducting research time has flown by and they recently shared some of their inspiration for establishing the joanne '75 and lee billingsley '75 endowed scholarship in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m we are so deeply grateful to joanne and lee for their investment in the future of geology and geophysics! said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences at texas a&m their beautiful endowment not only provides critical support for students but also provides us with a critical resource to recruit and retain more amazing students one scholarship made all the difference growing up dr lee billingsley had never heard of texas a&m until it was time to begin applying to universities i grew up in albuquerque new mexico and as a bit of a lark i applied to texas a&m and made a visit just to see what it was like he said i was the first in my family to go to college and we were learning how it all worked on that first visit lee met dr robert berg the then head of the department of geology and geophysics and after discussing his test scores with him berg offered him a $500 scholarship that one scholarship was very valuable because it allowed me to qualify for in-state tuition; so i took the offer and majored in geology billingsley said freshman year was quite an adjustment for me i was in the corps of cadets and i didnt know anything about that either before coming to texas a&m a member of squadron 2 billingsley adjusted to the rigors of life as a cadet and made life-long friendships he went on to become a member of the prestigious ross volunteers i still have friends to this day who are from the outfit that i was in he said were still friends and we still get together once a year and when we get together its like weve never missed a beat in his geology coursework billingsley was invigorated by the practical applications of the concepts the geology professors were so practical and the work was so interesting he said i didnt know anything about the oil and gas business when i came to texas a&m but a lot of those professors had worked in the industry and they equipped us with so much practical knowledge i would ask ‘why do we need to know this and they always had a practical example building a life together then freshman year in chemistry class i met a girl we were just friends and then after some time getting to know each other we went on a date and that was joanne my wife joanne billingsley then joanne croft had come to texas a&m from san antonio and majored in education instruction and curriculum together they made hundreds of aggie memories from midnight yell and aggie football games to both graduating in 1975 during the second half of my undergraduate tenure i greatly benefited from a work-study program in the department of education joanne said i was able to interact with professors and staff to learn more about my future profession as a teacher" "after graduating in 1975 the young couple moved to colorado where joanne began her teaching career and lee earned a masters in geology from colorado school of mines  then in 1979 they returned to texas a&m this time with a baby in tow i was pursuing my doctorate and joanne was earning her masters degree and we had one baby when we showed up and we had another while in graduate school he said those were some of the most fun years weve ever had she had classes in the afternoon and i had classes in the morning so she would bring the babies to me in the geology department in the afternoon and we would play in the bottom floor of the building the kids rolled down ramps in rolling office chairs there and then wed go to the texas a&m farm and pretend it was our zoo and then finally eat dinner in the msc cafeteria it was such a special time and we have a lot of fun memories of those years joanne earned her masters degree in school and public health education from texas a&m in 1981 their family grew to three children and she went on to teach school for 16 additional years eventually becoming an award-winning educator in texas and a leader in training teachers lee completed his phd in geology in 1983 and then began working in the oil and gas industry in 1983 he founded an independent exploration and production company sandia oil & gas corp when it was purchased by abraxas petroleum corp in 1998 he began serving as vice president of exploration at abraxas petroleum where he supervised both conventional and unconventional prospect generation and execution he has also been very active in professional organizations and served as president of american association of petroleum geologists (aapg) from 2006 to 2007 legacy and vision in 2007 joanne was named texas regional teacher of the year and she is now a nationally acclaimed author educational consultant presenter and author; her books include aim to grow your brain and making words real i am passionate about supporting educators and sharing creative strategies for building brain-friendly language-rich interactive classrooms she said lee billingsley is now the founder and president of windridge oil & gas lp and together they have been continuous supporters of texas a&m  their two sons michael billingsley 03 and matthew billingsley 05 also graduated from texas a&m their oldest child anne probably already felt she had been to a&m as a baby and toddler the billingsleys joked so she graduated from southwestern university looking back i was just a little out-of-state student when i first came to texas a&m and i desperately needed that scholarship he reflected if i hadnt had that im not sure what would have happened we wanted to pay it forward i had an opportunity because of a scholarship from other aggies before me so this gift was a chance to continue that for the next generation so that they will have opportunities as well by leslie lee 09" " wendy jepson named american association of geographers fellow chancellors edges fellowjepson is an internationally recognized water security researcherjan 28 2022dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university was recently named a fellow of the american association of geographers (aag) the aag fellows program recognizes geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography and jepson and eleven other honorees were recognized as the 2022 class of aag fellows jepson is an internationally recognized leader in water security issues and has conducted and presented water security research in numerous countries a fulbright scholar (brazil 2016-2017) she is a recipient of several national science foundation grants that focus on water security jepson has long been at the forefront of finding solutions to water security issues but she is also committed to addressing the pressing problems that geography faces as a discipline the aag announcement read the aag is therefore pleased to recognize dr wendy jepson as an aag fellow she was also honored as a texas a&m chancellors edges fellow earlier this academic year the chancellors enhancing development and generating excellence in scholarship (edges) fellowships honor mid-career faculty members making significant marks in their disciplines thirteen distinguished texas a&m faculty members received the honor in 2021 jepson has led several international research projects to examine water governance water security and environmental justice for the benefit of advancing community and human wellbeing her individual research focuses on latin america principally brazil and mexico with emerging research interests in africa including ethiopia and west africa as one of the founders of the household water insecurity experiences – research coordination network (hwise-rcn) jepson has helped the network develop a cross-cultural indicator for household water security the hwise indicator challenges the water industry to not only consider its infrastructure but also the experiences of the people using that infrastructure thus providing a strong incentive for change she also serves as the associate director of research (social science) at the texas water resources institute at the texas a&m agrilife center in dallas she joined the institutes leadership team in 2020 and as associate director works to develop and move forward initiatives that address pressing water security and resource issues facing texans as well as developing research to pursue those efforts jepson has served as aag national councilor been awarded the aag enhancing diversity award and has contributed to the enhancing diversity committee the committee on the status of women in geography and the aag climate action task force  by leslie lee " "dr wendy jepson university professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university was recently named a fellow of the american association of geographers (aag) the aag fellows program recognizes geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography and jepson and eleven other honorees were recognized as the 2022 class of aag fellows jepson is an internationally recognized leader in water security issues and has conducted and presented water security research in numerous countries a fulbright scholar (brazil 2016-2017) she is a recipient of several national science foundation grants that focus on water security jepson has long been at the forefront of finding solutions to water security issues but she is also committed to addressing the pressing problems that geography faces as a discipline the aag announcement read the aag is therefore pleased to recognize dr wendy jepson as an aag fellow she was also honored as a texas a&m chancellors edges fellow earlier this academic year the chancellors enhancing development and generating excellence in scholarship (edges) fellowships honor mid-career faculty members making significant marks in their disciplines thirteen distinguished texas a&m faculty members received the honor in 2021 jepson has led several international research projects to examine water governance water security and environmental justice for the benefit of advancing community and human wellbeing her individual research focuses on latin america principally brazil and mexico with emerging research interests in africa including ethiopia and west africa as one of the founders of the household water insecurity experiences – research coordination network (hwise-rcn) jepson has helped the network develop a cross-cultural indicator for household water security the hwise indicator challenges the water industry to not only consider its infrastructure but also the experiences of the people using that infrastructure thus providing a strong incentive for change she also serves as the associate director of research (social science) at the texas water resources institute at the texas a&m agrilife center in dallas she joined the institutes leadership team in 2020 and as associate director works to develop and move forward initiatives that address pressing water security and resource issues facing texans as well as developing research to pursue those efforts jepson has served as aag national councilor been awarded the aag enhancing diversity award and has contributed to the enhancing diversity committee the committee on the status of women in geography and the aag climate action task force  by leslie lee" " tonga eruption is one for the record booksdepartment of geology and geophysics professor dr andreas kronenberg explains why the recent tonga eruption was one of the strongest ever recordedjan 26 2022in this handout photo provided by the new zealand defense force an aerial view from a p-3k2 orion surveillance flight of homes covered in ash on jan 17 2022 nomuka tonga tonga was struck by a tsunami caused by an undersea volcano erupting in the pacific ocean on jan 15 (new zealand defense force via getty images)the recent violent volcanic eruption on the pacific island nation of tonga is believed to be one of the strongest ever recorded and future eruptions could be possible according to a texas a&m university geophysicist dr andreas kronenberg  professor and holder of the michael t halbouty chair in geology at texas a&m said the eruption on tonga likely ranks among the strongest in at least 30 years the polynesian country has about 170 islands and is 500 miles east of fiji the eruption caused a huge ash cloud to form on many of the islands killed at least three people and could be heard in new zealand and seen from space in general the volcanoes around the pacific rim are much more powerful and explosive than hawaiian-type volcanoes mostly because of the volatile content and magma compositions in them kronenberg said this is why we are concerned about the volcanoes in the oregon washington and alaska regions kronenberg said however the tonga subduction zone is a large one and the entire southwest pacific has what we call ‘stratovolcanoes these are extremely powerful volcanoes and are also the kinds that include mt vesuvius that covered pompei in italy and mt st helens which exploded a few decades ago mt st helens which exploded in 1980 is considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in us history and killed 57 people the largest eruption ever is believed to be the eruption of krakatoa which exploded near indonesia in 1883 and killed more than 36 000 people some have compared the tonga eruption as similar to krakatoa and nasa has said the tonga explosion was at least 500 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on hiroshima in 1945 krakatoa was truly epic and tonga was obviously devastating kronenberg said and it appears that water entering into the volcano internally added to its explosiveness the result can be tsunamis because they can be triggered by any disturbance of the seafloor that quickly moves large volumes of seawater such as faults that suddenly change the shape of the seafloor could the tonga explosion mean future eruptions in the area are possible it is possible such an eruption could trigger nearby activity kronenberg said but it is not necessarily guaranteed this is a controversial topic when discussing earthquakes and subsequent eruptions especially in areas over 10 to 15 miles from the original eruption by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications " in this handout photo provided by the new zealand defense force an aerial view from a p-3k2 orion surveillance flight of homes covered in ash on jan 17 2022 nomuka tonga tonga was struck by a tsunami caused by an undersea volcano erupting in the pacific ocean on jan 15 (new zealand defense force via getty images) "the recent violent volcanic eruption on the pacific island nation of tonga is believed to be one of the strongest ever recorded and future eruptions could be possible according to a texas a&m university geophysicist dr andreas kronenberg  professor and holder of the michael t halbouty chair in geology at texas a&m said the eruption on tonga likely ranks among the strongest in at least 30 years the polynesian country has about 170 islands and is 500 miles east of fiji the eruption caused a huge ash cloud to form on many of the islands killed at least three people and could be heard in new zealand and seen from space in general the volcanoes around the pacific rim are much more powerful and explosive than hawaiian-type volcanoes mostly because of the volatile content and magma compositions in them kronenberg said this is why we are concerned about the volcanoes in the oregon washington and alaska regions kronenberg said however the tonga subduction zone is a large one and the entire southwest pacific has what we call ‘stratovolcanoes these are extremely powerful volcanoes and are also the kinds that include mt vesuvius that covered pompei in italy and mt st helens which exploded a few decades ago mt st helens which exploded in 1980 is considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in us history and killed 57 people the largest eruption ever is believed to be the eruption of krakatoa which exploded near indonesia in 1883 and killed more than 36 000 people some have compared the tonga eruption as similar to krakatoa and nasa has said the tonga explosion was at least 500 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on hiroshima in 1945 krakatoa was truly epic and tonga was obviously devastating kronenberg said and it appears that water entering into the volcano internally added to its explosiveness the result can be tsunamis because they can be triggered by any disturbance of the seafloor that quickly moves large volumes of seawater such as faults that suddenly change the shape of the seafloor could the tonga explosion mean future eruptions in the area are possible it is possible such an eruption could trigger nearby activity kronenberg said but it is not necessarily guaranteed this is a controversial topic when discussing earthquakes and subsequent eruptions especially in areas over 10 to 15 miles from the original eruption by keith randall texas a&m marketing and communications" " frequent exposure to disasters leads to lower scores for mental healthjan 25 2022image furnished by nasapeople who experience a series of disasters are likely to suffer a significant drop in their mental-health scores a newly published study from the texas a&m university school of public health shows the more frequent the experience the lower the scores according to the study we discovered the reverse of the adage ‘what does not kill you makes you stronger said the studys lead author garett sansom research assistant professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at the school of public health sansom and a team of texas a&m researchers studied individuals from the houston area which is susceptible to hurricanes and flooding as well as industrial emergencies the results of the study were published recently in the journal natural hazards from 2000 to 2020 the state of texasone of the most prone to natural disastersexperienced 33 federal emergency management agency (fema) declared major disasters the team used a 12-item short form health survey to gather information the survey assessed cumulative impacts from exposure to evaluate changes over time producing a composite score for both mental (mcs) and physical (pcs) health the majority of the respondents reported that they experienced many hazardous events over the past five years hurricanes and flooding (9635 percent) were the events experienced the most followed by industrial fires (9608) chemical spills (8684) and tornados (7982) the team found that when individuals experienced two or more events over the past five years their mcs averages fell below the expected national levels sansoms co-authors include courtney thompson and lindsay sansom both from the department of geography; leanne fawkes graduate research assistant in environmental and occupational health; and elizabeth boerlin doctoral student in occupational safety and health more at the school of public health " "people who experience a series of disasters are likely to suffer a significant drop in their mental-health scores a newly published study from the texas a&m university school of public health shows the more frequent the experience the lower the scores according to the study we discovered the reverse of the adage ‘what does not kill you makes you stronger said the studys lead author garett sansom research assistant professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at the school of public health sansom and a team of texas a&m researchers studied individuals from the houston area which is susceptible to hurricanes and flooding as well as industrial emergencies the results of the study were published recently in the journal natural hazards from 2000 to 2020 the state of texasone of the most prone to natural disastersexperienced 33 federal emergency management agency (fema) declared major disasters the team used a 12-item short form health survey to gather information the survey assessed cumulative impacts from exposure to evaluate changes over time producing a composite score for both mental (mcs) and physical (pcs) health the majority of the respondents reported that they experienced many hazardous events over the past five years hurricanes and flooding (9635 percent) were the events experienced the most followed by industrial fires (9608) chemical spills (8684) and tornados (7982) the team found that when individuals experienced two or more events over the past five years their mcs averages fell below the expected national levels sansoms co-authors include courtney thompson and lindsay sansom both from the department of geography; leanne fawkes graduate research assistant in environmental and occupational health; and elizabeth boerlin doctoral student in occupational safety and health more at the school of public health" " texas a&m expert: intense texas tornadoes are rare in winterstorm specialist dr christopher nowotarski says tornadoes can occur in winter months in texas but they are rarely intense jan 19 2022photo credit: gettythe houston area recently was hit by several tornadoes and its proof that a tornado can happen year-round in texas said a texas a&m university storm expert dr christopher nowotarski  associate professor of atmospheric sciences said that  six tornadoes hit houston on jan 8-9 though such storms are relatively uncommon for southeast texas this time of year between 1951 and 2019 the records show that 222 tornadoes occurred in december in texas 196 occurred in january and 211 in february out of a total of 8 971 texas tornadoes in that time period he said january is the rarest month for tornadoes in texas with just 22% of all tornadoes in texas occurring in january may is the most frequent month with almost 31% of all tornadoes occurring during that month dr nowotarski added that in the houston region the tornado threat is more evenly distributed throughout the year with a greater portion of tornadoes occurring in winter compared to other parts of the state the good news about tornadoes this time of year is that they tend to be weaker than in spring months he said of the six recent houston-area tornadoes dr nowotarski said that three of them were classified as ef-1 and the other three at ef-0 meaning they had winds of no more than 110 miles per hour significant tornadoes – those of ef 2 or higher – can and do happen any time of the year in texas but violent tornadoes of ef-4 and higher though rare any time of year tend to occur less frequently during the winter months in texas he said all of the tornadoes in the houston area were relatively weak and had a short track length and this is consistent with whats typical for january tornadoes in texas by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications  " "the houston area recently was hit by several tornadoes and its proof that a tornado can happen year-round in texas said a texas a&m university storm expert dr christopher nowotarski  associate professor of atmospheric sciences said that  six tornadoes hit houston on jan 8-9 though such storms are relatively uncommon for southeast texas this time of year between 1951 and 2019 the records show that 222 tornadoes occurred in december in texas 196 occurred in january and 211 in february out of a total of 8 971 texas tornadoes in that time period he said january is the rarest month for tornadoes in texas with just 22% of all tornadoes in texas occurring in january may is the most frequent month with almost 31% of all tornadoes occurring during that month dr nowotarski added that in the houston region the tornado threat is more evenly distributed throughout the year with a greater portion of tornadoes occurring in winter compared to other parts of the state the good news about tornadoes this time of year is that they tend to be weaker than in spring months he said of the six recent houston-area tornadoes dr nowotarski said that three of them were classified as ef-1 and the other three at ef-0 meaning they had winds of no more than 110 miles per hour significant tornadoes – those of ef 2 or higher – can and do happen any time of the year in texas but violent tornadoes of ef-4 and higher though rare any time of year tend to occur less frequently during the winter months in texas he said all of the tornadoes in the houston area were relatively weak and had a short track length and this is consistent with whats typical for january tornadoes in texas by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " " december 2021 in texas hottest on record in more than 130 yearsthe state climatologist says last month was the warmest december since 1889jan 4 2022the dallas skyline (getty images)last month texas experienced its warmest december on record since 1889 said dr john nielsen-gammon  a regents professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university who also serves as the state climatologist from dallas through abilene to del rio temperatures averaged 5 to 9 degrees above normal making december 2021 the warmest december in more than 130 years its like the entire state moved south for the winter said nielsen-gammon amarillo got dallass normal temperatures dallas got corpus christis normal temperatures and austin got brownsvilles normal temperatures not only is it by far the warmest december since the beginning of comprehensive weather records it will probably also turn out to be the warmest winter month period said nielsen-gammon february 2017 holds the current record for warmest winter month in texas with an average temperature of 584 degrees the official state record for warmest december is held by december 1933 at 533 degrees the 20th-century average for december is 469 degrees he noted texas has never had any month more than 10 degrees above the 20th-century average until now nielsen-gammon said he thinks that when all the data are in december 2021 will average nearly 12 degrees above the long-term average although data is limited there does seem to have been one other december in recorded history with comparable warmth: december 1889 observing practices were different but its clear that december 1889 was an unusual month also nielsen-gammon said  the first decent cold front of that month was on dec 29 one bad result of the very warm weather  it has made texas drought situation even worse the hot weather has exacerbated drought conditions throughout the state  according to the us drought monitor  more than two-thirds of the state is in drought and 10 percent is in extreme drought in much of west texas it hasnt rained for over two months nielsen-gammon said the high temperatures increase the rate of evaporation drying out everything and leading to increased wildfire risk climate change has caused texas seasonal temperatures to average about two degrees warmer than in the 20th century global warming didnt cause this december to be record-setting but it did contribute to the margin of victory he said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications " "last month texas experienced its warmest december on record since 1889 said dr john nielsen-gammon  a regents professor of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university who also serves as the state climatologist from dallas through abilene to del rio temperatures averaged 5 to 9 degrees above normal making december 2021 the warmest december in more than 130 years its like the entire state moved south for the winter said nielsen-gammon amarillo got dallass normal temperatures dallas got corpus christis normal temperatures and austin got brownsvilles normal temperatures not only is it by far the warmest december since the beginning of comprehensive weather records it will probably also turn out to be the warmest winter month period said nielsen-gammon february 2017 holds the current record for warmest winter month in texas with an average temperature of 584 degrees the official state record for warmest december is held by december 1933 at 533 degrees the 20th-century average for december is 469 degrees he noted texas has never had any month more than 10 degrees above the 20th-century average until now nielsen-gammon said he thinks that when all the data are in december 2021 will average nearly 12 degrees above the long-term average although data is limited there does seem to have been one other december in recorded history with comparable warmth: december 1889 observing practices were different but its clear that december 1889 was an unusual month also nielsen-gammon said  the first decent cold front of that month was on dec 29 one bad result of the very warm weather  it has made texas drought situation even worse the hot weather has exacerbated drought conditions throughout the state  according to the us drought monitor  more than two-thirds of the state is in drought and 10 percent is in extreme drought in much of west texas it hasnt rained for over two months nielsen-gammon said the high temperatures increase the rate of evaporation drying out everything and leading to increased wildfire risk climate change has caused texas seasonal temperatures to average about two degrees warmer than in the 20th century global warming didnt cause this december to be record-setting but it did contribute to the margin of victory he said by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications"