STUDENTS

Dr. Pablo Granados-Dieseldorff (GEOG), who received his Ph.D. at the December commencement, has been named Marine Program Director, Latin America, for Rare. He is in charge of leading the "Fish Forever Global Initiative," a project launched by Rare, the Environmental Defense Fund and UC Santa Barbara.

Dr. Kelly Lemmons (GEOG) won the Texas A&M University finals in the Three Minute Thesis competition. He now advances as the Texas A&M representative to the regional competition in February in San Antonio where he will vie with graduate students in the Southern States Division.

Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost for the office of graduate and professional studies, with Kelly Lemmons, winner of the 2013 TAMU 3 Minute Thesis competition.

The competition requires a graduate student to orally communicate the purpose, findings and significance of their dissertation or thesis in just three minutes. Success in the competition requires careful preparation and flawless delivery. The three criteria used by the panel of judges, composed of distinguished professors, are clarity of explanation, engagement with the audience, and excitation in the audience of a desire to know more about the topic (description contributed by Dr. Jonathan Smith, GEOG). 

SERVICE

Dr. Eric Riggs, assistant dean for diversity and graduate student recruitment and development, was named president-elect of the American Geosciences Institute at the Geological Sciences of America annual meeting in Denver, Colo. Riggs was described as having "a career dedicated to geoscience education, both in research and through a multi-year leadership role at the National Association of Geoscience Teachers."

AGI is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. 

Dr. Kate Miller (Dean) has been elected to the IRIS board of directors. IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) was founded in 1984 with support from the National Science Foundation. IRIS, a consortium of over 100 U.S. universities, including Texas A&M University, is dedicated to the operation of science facilities for the acquisition, management, and distribution of seismological data. IRIS programs contribute to scholarly research, education, earthquake hazard mitigation, and verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. 

CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Terry Wade (GERG) presented "Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Chemistry Perspective" at the First Symposium on Deep Sea Oil Spills in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, Oct. 28-30. Co-authors were Stephen Sweet, Dr. José Sericano, Dawei Shi, Dr. Anthony Knap, Norman Guinasso, Jr. (all GERG), and Dr. Piers Chapman (OCNG). 

Dr. Robert Duce, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former dean (OCNG/ATMO), represented the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board at SCOR (the International Council for Science's Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research), Nov. 25-28, in Wellington, New Zealand. He also chaired a meeting of the Ocean Studies Board at Oregon State University, Newport, Nov. 13-15.

The National Academies Advisory Group for the Gulf Research Program held its Texas state visit in Austin, Nov. 21-22, as the last of a five-state visit. Texas universities, funding agencies and NGOs were represented. The Advisory Group visited each Gulf state to inform about their new 30-year program of research to advance the health, environment and oil system safety in the Gulf and other outer continental shelf regions. The program is funded by BP and Transocean as part of the Deepwater Horizon legal settlements. Representing the College of Geosciences were the following: Research Perspectives Panel: Dr. Piers Chapman (OCNG), Dr. Matt Howard (OCNG), and Dr. Pam Plotkin (TXSG), presenting their programs, GISR, GCOOS and Texas Sea Grant, respectively. 

Dr. Plotkin provided an overview of Texas Sea Grant's activities and its experience in stakeholder engagement, discussed how the new NAS program will enhance Texas Sea Grant's efforts at the state and regional level, and described lessons the program has learned that can help NAS as it begins to engage the region. 

For the Academic Research Administrators Panel Dr. Tony Knap (GERG) and Dr. Gilbert Rowe (TAMUG) represented Texas A&M. Dr. Knap spoke on behalf of the Office of the Vice President for Research. All presented what they had identified as the most important issues in the Gulf. According to Knap, most agreed that what was most highly needed was a mechanism to sustain observations in the coastal zone. Knap observed that long, time-series observations, a commitment to ocean literacy and an understanding of the shedding of eddies from the Gulf loop current were critically needed to sustain the Gulf region. 

"I pointed out that for the most part there have been few legacies from other oil spills anywhere, and the only way that we will be more prepared for the next spill is to develop a long-term sustained monitoring program," Knap said. 

The IODP Expedition 341 (Southern Alaska Margin) editorial and sampling post-cruise meetings took place at IODP and the Gulf Coast Repository, Nov. 11-22. Twenty-nine shipboard and shore-based scientists from eight countries participated in the meetings. The scientists took over 22,000 samples from the five sites drilled this past summer to study the climatic and tectonic history of the Gulf of Alaska. 

As noted in the Dean's message, Dr. Wilford Gardner (OCNG) organized the recent UNOLs meeting at Texas A&M. At the opening session, he gave a keynote science talk. At a reception at GERG, hosted by the Dean's Office and organized by Janet Kling (Dean's Office), Dr. Tony Knap outlined plans for the future of GERG. Laura Caldwell (OCNG) provided invaluable logistical help. Thanks to the many others who made the workshop a success. The feedback from the participants was extremely positive, Gardner said.

County Coastal and Marine Resource Agents Terrie Looney and Rhonda Cummins and Outreach Specialist Rhonda Patterson (TXSG) staffed the Texas Sea Grant booth at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) conference in Houston, Nov. 7-9. 

Dr. Mona Behl (TXSG), research coordinator and climate change specialist, participated in the annual Renewable Natural Resources Foundation conference, "Congress on Coastal Resilience," College Park, Md., Dec. 11-12. 

Dr. Pam Plotkin (TXSG) participated in the marine biology indisciplinary retreat, Dec. 12-13, at TAMU-Galveston that involved students and faculty from TAMU, TAMUG and TAMU-Corpus Christi. 

Dr. Pam Plotkin (TXSG) was an invited participant to the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Bi-national Recovery Working Group meeting, Brownsville, Texas, in November. 

Dr. Lisa Campbell, postdocs Drs. Reagan Errera and Darren Henrichs and graduate student Darcie Ryan along with Dr. Rob Hetland's postdoc, Dr. Kristen Thyng (all OCNG), were well represented at the Seventh Symposium on Harmful Algae in the U.S., Sarasota, Fla., in October: 

Henrichs, D.W.,* R.D. Hetland, and L. Campbell. 2013. Predicted origins of Karenia brevis bloom formation along the coast of Texas using an individual-based model. 

Ryan, D.E.* and L. Campbell. 2013. Karenia brevis reference transcriptome assembly and transmembrane protein sequence discovery. 

Thyng, K.M,* R.D. Hetland, M.T. Ogle, X. Zhang, F. Chen, and L. Campbell. 2013. Physical mechanism for Karenia brevis bloom initiation in Texas. 

Alex Van Plantinga (GEPL Ph.D. student) presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America: "Tracing Brazos and Navasota River waters and quantifying evaporation with stable isotopes and conductivity."

(Abstract): Van Plantinga*, A., Winning*, D., Stockert*, E.M., Robertson*, J.R., Roark, E.B., and Grossman, E.L., 2013. Tracing Brazos and Navasota River waters and quantifying evaporation with stable isotopes and conductivity. Geol. Soc. America Abstracts with Programs, v. 45. 

*Indicates student