Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences in the College of Science

Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences

Richard Coffin, Ph.D.

Department Chair and 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.

Jim Silliman, Ph.D.

Assistant to the Chair and Professor

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

Organic geochemistry: Climate and environmental change and Differences in organic geochemical practices

Alessandra Garcia

Senior Administrative Assistant

Office: NRC 3500
Phone: (361) 825-2814
Email: alessandra.garcia@tamucc.edu

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Faculty in the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences

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.

Eugene Billiot, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 208
Phone: (361) 825-2680
Email: eugene.billiot@tamucc.edu

Understanding chiral separations with amino acid based surfactants.

Feri Billiot, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

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

Understanding chiral separations with amino acid based surfactants; distribution, fate and 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

Fatoumata Diawara, Ph.D.

Assistant Professional Professor

Office: CS 210
Phone: (361) 825-3293
Email: fatoumata.diawara@tamucc.edu

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

Pat Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.

Program Coordinator and Professional Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science

Office: CS 243
Phone: (361) 825-4061
Email: patrick.fitzpatrick@tamucc.edu

Research area: Hurricanes; storm surge; weather forecasting; ocean coupling; oil spills; sea breeze; numerical modeling; statistical and applied meteorology

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

Nasrin Hooshmand, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 250
Phone: (361) 825-2862
Email: nasrin.hooshmand@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.hooshmandlab.io/?page_id=507

Research interests: Nasrin Hooshmand earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Before joining Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences in 2024, she was a Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dr. Hooshmand is known for her work in nanoplasmonics, particularly her focus on light-matter interactions at the nanoscale to develop innovative solutions for sensing, environmental sustainability, nanomedicine, and healthcare. Her research, teaching, and leadership have earned several honors, including the 2023 Research Faculty-Community Leadership Impact Award, the 2021 Research Faculty Teaching Fellow Award, recognition in Leading Women @Tech (2021), and inclusion in the 2020 Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication.

Ben Karimi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry (Inorganic)

Office: CS 202
Phone: (361) 825-2399
Email: ben.karimi@tamucc.edu

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.

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.

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.

Valeriu Murgulet, Ph.D.

Geology Program Coordinator and Professional Associate Professor

Office: CS 205
Phone: (361) 825-6023
Email: valeriu.murgulet@tamucc.edu

Narendra Narayana, Ph.D.

Associate Professional Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 242
Phone: (361) 825-3644
Email: narendra.narayana@tamucc.edu

X-ray crystallography for structure determination of biological macromolecules

Mark Olson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 206
Phone: (361) 825-2857
Email: mark.olson@tamucc.edu
Website: http://www.olsonlaboratory.com

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.

Lindsay Prothro, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Geology

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

Galina Reid, M.S.

Instructor of Physics and Physical Science

Office: CS 130G
Phone: (361) 825-3685
Email: galina.reid@tamucc.edu

Physical science education, learning and understanding the natural phenomena

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

Jennifer Smith-Engle, Ph.D.

Program Coordinator and Professor of Environmental Science and Geology

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

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

Jeffery Spirko, Ph.D.

Physics Program Coordinator and Professional Associate Professor

Office: NRC 1111
Phone: (361) 825-6020
Email: jeffery.spirko@tamucc.edu

Barbara Szczerbinska, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Academics and Professor

Office: CI 370
Phone: (361) 825-3916
Email: barbara.szczerbinska@tamucc.edu

Neutrino Physics, Geoneutrinos, Dark Matter

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

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.

Hao Yu, Ph.D.

Associate Research Scientist

Office: NRC 3503
Phone: (361) 825-4105
Email: hao.yu@tamucc.edu

Greenhouse gas, marine carbon cycling, stable carbon isotopes, gas hydrate

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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Staff in the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences

Christian Amos

Lab coordinator

Office: CS 129
Phone: (361) 825-2125
Email: christian.amos@tamucc.edu

Huyen Bui

Lab Manager

Office: CS 129
Phone: (361) 825-2959
Email: huyen.bui@tamucc.edu

Gwyneth Mitchell

Administrative Associate IV

Office: CS 130D
Phone: (361) 825-5701
Email: gwyneth.mitchell@tamucc.edu

Irma Shutt

Administrative Associate IV

Office: NRC 3500
Phone: (361) 825-2991
Email: irma.shutt@tamucc.edu

Leah Swinney

Laboratory Coordinator I

Office: SL1 109
Phone: (361) 825-4912
Email: leah.swinney@tamucc.edu

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Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences Directory