Environmental Science Program in the College of Science

Faculty in the Environmental Science Program
Advisors for the College

Environmental Science Program

Jennifer Smith-Engle, Ph.D.

Professor and Program Coordinator

Office: NRC 3502
Phone: (361) 825-2436
Email: jennifer.smith-engle@tamucc.edu

Coastal geology, coastal management, sedimentary geology, regional geology, coastal processes; coastal regulations and resource management; Late Pleistocene/Holocene coastal geology and geomorphology

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Faculty in the Environmental Science Program

Hussain Abdulla, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 211
Phone: (361) 825-6050
Email: hussain.abdulla@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.habdullagroup.com

Abdulla's Organic Biogeochemistry research laboratory specializes in aquatic environmental metabolomics, studying the fluxes, fate, and transformation of natural dissolved organic matter (DOM). The research group focuses on understanding the fate and transformation of natural DOM and organic pollutants and investigating how different aquatic species tolerate environmental stresses using environmental metabolomics approaches. Additionally, the lab is dedicated to developing advanced analytical methods for the sensitive and robust quantification of metabolites.

Mohamed Ahmed, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Geophysics

Office: NRC 2508
Phone: (361) 825-3278
Email: mohamed.ahmed@tamucc.edu
Website: https://ahmedlab.tamucc.edu

Applying geophysics, remote sensing, hydrogeology, modeling, and GIS to investigate a wide range of complex problems

Keisha Bahr, Ph.D.

Professor & Harte Research Institute Chair

Office: TH 134
Phone: (361) 825-3707
Email: keisha.bahr@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.bahrlab.com

Coral Reef Ecology, Eco-physiology; Climate Change Ecology; Ocean acidification and Carbonate Chemistry; Reef diversity, distribution, and community level structure and processes; Science Communication.

Loretta Battaglia, Ph.D.

Professor & Director of Center for Coastal Studies

Office: NRC 3213
Phone: (361) 825-2768
Email: loretta.battaglia@tamucc.edu

Coastal ecosystems; invasive species; wetland plant communities; multivariate statistics

Feri Billiot, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 207
Phone: (361) 825-6067
Email: fereshteh.billiot@tamucc.edu

Chiral separations with amino acid based surfactants; distribution, fate & effect of endocrine disruptors in the environment

Darek Bogucki, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: CS 251
Phone: (361) 825-2836
Email: darek.bogucki@tamucc.edu
Website: https://faculty.tamucc.edu/dbogucki

Small scale physical processes in the coastal ocean, including remote sensing, numerical methods in fluid dynamics, biological-physical interactions, sensors, and LIDAR

Gregory Buck, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: TH 236
Phone: (361) 825-3717
Email: gregory.buck@tamucc.edu

Molecular biology of prokaryotes; medical microbiology; virology; science education

Kirk Cammarata, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

Office: TH 338
Phone: (361) 825-2468
Email: kirk.cammarata@tamucc.edu
Website: https://faculty.tamucc.edu/cammarat

Plant responses to contaminated environments using molecular, biochemical and genomics techniques; Phytoremediation; Molecular characterization of epiphytic biofilms on seagrasses; Seagrass stress responses

Tianxing Chu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: RFEB 314F
Phone: (361) 825-2685
Email: tianxing.chu@tamucc.edu
Website: https://mantisresearch.org/faculty

Knowledge discovery with emergent remote sensing and geospatial techniques applied to real-world concerns such as modeling sea-level change and land deformation

Richard Coffin, Ph.D.

PENS Chair & Professor

Office: NRC 3500
Phone: (361) 825-2814
Email: richard.coffin@tamucc.edu
Website: http://icl.tamucc.edu

Carbon isotope geochemistry to study biogeochemical cycles in the coastal ocean and estuaries.

Sharon Derrick D-ABFA, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Forensics Coordinator

Office: TH 239
Phone: (361) 825-3637
Email: sharon.derrick@tamucc.edu

Forensic personal identification from the skeleton and bone trauma analysis.

Joseph David Felix, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry and CMSS Program Coordinator

Office: NRC 3508
Phone: (361) 825-4180
Email: joseph.felix@tamucc.edu
Website: http://felixlab.tamucc.edu

Stable isotope biogeochemistry; Transport, fate, and air-sea-land exchange processes of volatile organic compounds and reactive nitrogen; Bulk and compound-specific stable isotope analysis method development

Dale Gawlik, Ph.D.

HRI Endowed Chair for Conservation and Biodiversity

Office: HRI 314A
Phone: (361) 825-2045
Email: dale.gawlik@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harte.org/research/conservation-biodiversity

Research interests: waterbird ecology and conservation, wetland and intertidal ecosystems, restoration ecology, and the use of birds in aquatic ecosystem management.

James Gibeaut, Ph.D.

Endowed Associate Research Professor

Office: HRI 215A
Phone: (361) 825-2060
Email: james.gibeaut@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harteresearch.org/research/geospatial-sciences

Coastal geology using topographic Lidar, remote sensing, GIS, and field surveys to measure and understand coastal change

Patrick Larkin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 203
Phone: (361) 825-3258
Email: patrick.larkin@tamucc.edu

Plant biochemistry and genetics; fate and metabolism of nutrients and toxins, diversity and dispersal, conservation.

Chuntao Liu, Ph.D.

Professor of Atmospheric Sciences

Office: NRC 1109
Phone: (361) 825-3845
Email: chuntao.liu@tamucc.edu

Research area: Remote sensing of cloud, precipitation and severe weather.

Cherie McCollough, Ph.D.

Professor of Science Education

Office: TH 337
Phone: (361) 825-3166
Email: cherie.mccollough@tamucc.edu

Dr. McCollough is interested in environmental education issues that are related to ecology and life sciences and has research experience both in the public schools and higher education.

Shawn McCracken, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology

Office: TH 142
Phone: (361) 825-3303
Email: shawn.mccracken@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.mccrackenlab.com

Dr. McCrackens interests lie in the ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change at community to ecosystem scales, directed at the development of management strategies and policy to preserve landscape wildlife biodiversity.

Richard McLaughlin

HRI Chair and Professor Emeritus

Office: HRI 311C
Phone: (361) 825-2010
Email: richard.mclaughlin@tamucc.edu

Marine policy and law

Paul Montagna, Ph.D.

HRI Chair and Professor

Office: HRI 122E
Phone: (361) 825-2040
Email: paul.montagna@tamucc.edu

Ecosystem studies with a focus on benthic components, freshwater resources, water quality, ecosystem modeling, and environmental statistics; and integrating natural science with human dimensions research.

Riccardo Mozzachiodi, Ph.D.

Professor of Neuroscience

Office: TH 335
Phone: (361) 825-3634
Email: riccardo.mozzachiodi@tamucc.edu

Neurobiology; biological basis of learning and memory; behavior

Dorina Murgulet, Ph.D.

CMSS Program Coordinator and Professor of Hydrogeology

Office: NRC 3103
Phone: (361) 825-2309
Email: dorina.murgulet@tamucc.edu
Website: https://artesian.tamucc.edu/index.html

Physical and Contaminant Hydrogeology; Hydrology and Water Resources; Groundwater/surface water interactions; Coastal hydrogeology.

Tesneem Nusayr, Ph.D.

Professional Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences

Phone: (361) 825-2841
Email: tesneem.nusayr@tamucc.edu

Ioana Pavel, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: TH 235
Phone: (361) 825-3824
Email: ioana.pavel@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.pavellab.com

Our team is dedicated to finding interdisciplinary solutions to address Public Health challenges, with a focus on Human Health and Environmental Health.

Ingo Pecher, Ph.D.

Professor of Coastal and Marine System Science

Office: NRC 2515
Phone: (361) 825-4141
Email: ingo.pecher@tamucc.edu

Geophysical studies of seafloor processes. Fluid expulsion, cold seeps, gas hydrates, shallow gas, geohazards, seafloor sedimentation and erosion. Analysis of seismic, echosounder, multibeam and sidescan sonar data. Geophysical well logs. Marine heat flow. Integration of geochemical, sedimentological and geophysical data.

Jennifer Pollack, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Biology and HRI Chair for Coastal Conservation & Restoration

Office: HRI 210A
Phone: (361) 825-2041
Email: jennifer.pollack@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harte.org/research/coastal-conservation-restoration

Field research experience in temperate salt marsh creeks, semi-arid estuaries, and polar regions

Lindsay Prothro, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Geology

Office: CS 247
Phone: (361) 825-4062
Email: lindsay.prothro@tamucc.edu

Toshiaki Shinoda, Ph.D.

Professor of Atmospheric Science

Office: SL 105
Phone: (361) 825-3636
Email: toshiaki.shinoda@tamucc.edu
Website: https://faculty.tamucc.edu/tshinoda

Climate dynamics, Atmosphere-ocean interaction, Physical oceanography

Jim Silliman, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: NRC 3510
Phone: (361) 825-3718
Email: james.silliman@tamucc.edu

Organic geochemistry: Climate and environmental change and Differences in organic geochemical practices, Biogeochemistry, Environmental chemistry

Michael Sollitto, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, School of Arts, Media, & Communication

Office: BH 327
Phone: (361) 825-2443
Email: michael.sollitto@tamucc.edu

Organizational assimilation. The role that coworker relationships play in employees' adjustment and eventual departure from their organizations.

Michael Starek, Ph.D.

Professor of Geospatial Systems Engineering

Office: NRC 3407
Phone: (361) 825-3978
Email: michael.starek@tamucc.edu
Website: https://mantisresearch.org/faculty

My research explores the merging of geomatics, remote sensing, and geospatial computing for science and engineering problems. Expertise includes LiDAR, autonomous sensing & UAS, photogrammetry, machine learning, and GIS.

Greg Stunz, Ph.D.

Professor of Marine Biology and Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health

Office: HRI 311C
Phone: (361) 825-3254
Email: greg.stunz@tamucc.edu

Marine biology, marine ecology, marine fisheries ecology, fisheries, estuarine ecology, environmental biology

Philippe Tissot, Ph.D.

Associate Research Professor

Office: NRC 2801
Phone: (361) 825-3776
Email: philippe.tissot@tamucc.edu

My main research interest is the application and development of machine learning based techniques

Travis Washburn, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science

Office: NRC 2514
Phone: (361) 825-3427
Email: travis.washburn@tamucc.edu

Benthic ecology, biodiversity, deep-sea environments, coastal pollution, invertebrate biology, ecosystem services, environmental regulations, oil spills, mining, estuaries, hydrothermal vents/cold seeps, nodule fields

Michael Wetz, Ph.D.

Professor of Marine Biology

Office: HRI 210B
Phone: (361) 825-2132
Email: michael.wetz@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harte.org/research/coastal-ecosystem-processes

Phytoplankton ecology, estuarine and coastal food webs and biogeochemical cycles, effects of climatic and anthropogenic change

Kim Withers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: NRC 3205
Phone: (361) 825-5907
Email: kim.withers@tamucc.edu

Feiqin Xie, Ph.D.

Professor of Atmospheric Sciences

Office: NRC 3507
Phone: (361) 825-3229
Email: feiqin.xie@tamucc.edu
Website: https://faculty.tamucc.edu/fxie/

My primary research interests are in atmospheric remote sensing and atmospheric dynamics.

Hua Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Office: RFEB 319C
Phone: (361) 825-2467
Email: hua.zhang@tamucc.edu
Website: https://wesa.tamucc.edu

Hydrology, water resources management, geospatial analysis, infrastructure resilience, environmental systems analysis

Lin Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Chemistry

Office: NRC 1109
Phone: (361) 825-2095
Email: lin.zhang@tamucc.edu
Website: http://zhanglab.tamucc.edu

Compound/Position Specific Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Analysis in Amino Acids and Application in Oceanography and Ecology. Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry of Greenhouse Gases in Alaskan Peatlands.

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Environmental Science Program Directory