SEEMS News

August 2016

Construction of laboratory space began on the new campus in Port Isabel this summer. Three buildings are being erected to house research facilities, and a new dock will soon be built.

Several collaborations among SEEMS faculty have resulted in research grants funded by national and state agencies. A small selection of these grants totaling more than $1.4 million include:

  • GEOPATH-EXTRA: Stimulating Hispanic Participation in the Geosciences (SHIP-GEO), National Science Foundation (NSF). 2016-2019. $464,959. Chu-Lin Cheng, Juan Gonzalez, Jihoon Kang, Carlos Cintra, Jude Benavides, Elizabeth Heise.
  • A Wave Glider for studies of biofouling and ocean productivity. Department of Defense (DoD) - $452,029. 2016. Chip Breier, David Hicks, and Richard Kline.
  • Developing a predictive ecosystem model for the Lower Laguna Madre. Texas OneGulf Consortium, 2016-2017. $213,956. Chip Breier, David Hicks, and Hudson Deyoe.
  • The South Texas Banks Ecosystem: Oceanography, Biodiversity and Genetics. Texas Sea Grant Program, 2015-2017. $179,027. Diego Figueroa and David Hicks.
  • Defining the range of the South Texas Siren, development and validation of an eDNA assay for use with this species. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department State Wildlife Grants (TPWD-SWG). 2016-2017. $99,983. Richard Kline and Md. Saydur Rahman.