Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU)

The CESU Network provides research, technical assistance and education to Federal land management, environmental, and research agencies and their potential partners. The CESU is structured as a cooperative and joint venture agreement among Federal agencies and universities, and serves a selected biogeographic area of the country. Information on the CESU network can be found at http://www.cesu.org.

The University of Texas, through the Environmental Science Institute (ESI), is a partner of the Gulf Coast CESU. Texas A&M University, Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, is the Host Institution of the Gulf Coast CESU. The project was awarded in August 2002.

The CESU award is a blanket contract that would cover any project developed jointly between a university partner and a federal agency partner. The contract enables work to proceed rapidly via a brief statement of work without competitive bidding or proposals. All other contract terms have already been negotiated. A 15% overhead rate on all direct costs has been negotiatied. To participate in a project a federal agency has to identify a university partner. As agencies contact UT about upcoming projects, these will be forwarded to faculty listed on the ESI website who can be found by a keyword search.

Partner Federal Agencies Include:

• Department of Interior:
  Bureau of Land Management
  U.S. Geological Survey-Biological Resource Division
  National Park Service
• Department of Agriculture:
  Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Department of Defense:
  Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Partner Universities Include:

• Auburn University
• Louisiana State University
• Mississippi State University
• Southern University and A&M College
• Texas A&M University, College Station
• Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
• Texas A&M University, Galveston
• Texas A&M University, Kingsville
• Troy State University
• University of Central Florida
• University of Florida
• University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• University of Texas, Austin
• Coastal Conservation Association
• The Nature Conservancy of Texas

CESU Contact Person at UT:

Dr. Paul A. Montagna
The University of Texas at Austin
Marine Science Institute
750 Channel View Drive
Port Aransas, Texas 78373 USA
Telephone: 361-749-6779
Facsimile: 361-749-6777
e-mail: paul@utmsi.utexas.edu