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ESI Research Fellows
Department of Geosciences
Institute for Geophysics
Bureau of Economic Geology
Texas Natural Science Center
Marine Science Institute
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Department of Biological Sciences
Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Community & Regional Planning
Department of Geography & the Environment
Department of Anthropology
Department of Philosophy
LBJ School of Public Affairs
School of Human Ecology
Cockrell School of Engineering
Department of Geography & the Environment
Department of Anthropology
Department of Philosophy
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ESI Affiliated Researchers
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Philip Fay (Research Ecologist, USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory): Philip Fay is a research ecologist for the USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. from Kansas State University, and remained there as a postdoctoral fellow till 1998. Fay's research interests are in grassland ecosystem ecology, including carbon cycling, climate change, plant physiology, population, and community ecology. His current projects involve the prairie carbon cycles, ecological genomics, and rainfall studies.
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Richard Kiesling (Research Associate, University of Minnesota; Limnology Specialist, USGS): Richard Keisling is an aquatic ecologist and limnologist specializing in the field of water quality assessment and research. He is currently a Research Associate with the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota, as well as a Limnology Specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Water Science Center. He is interested in the impact of human activity on aquatic ecosystems, limnology, phycology, and water quality. |
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MaryLynn Musgrove (Geochemist and Hydrogeologist, USGS): MaryLynn Musgrove is a geochemist and hydrogeologist with the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey in Austin, Texas. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. From 2001 thru 2003 she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in both the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Kennedy School of Government. Her research interests include geochemical and isotopic applications to hydrogeology and paleoclimatology, groundwater and aquifer response to climate change, water resource issues, terrestrial paleoclimate, the interface between environmental science and science policy, and science outreach and education. |
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Jay L. Banner (Professor;
Director, ESI): Banner's research investigates how
the interactions that occur between the atmosphere-land-ocean systems are
preserved in the geologic record. This is explored using field, microscopic,
geochemical, and dating studies of 1) cave deposits as records of links between
climate change and hydrology, 2) limestones as records of the chemistry of
ancient oceans, and 3) modern urbanized aquifers. |
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Christopher Bell
(Assistant Professor): Bell's research centers on understanding
the complex dynamics of vertebrate faunal communities during the Quaternary
Period. Bell's research program concentrates on two terrestrial vertebrate
groups, squamate reptiles and small mammals, and focuses in part on the differences
and similarities in the responses of these groups to climate change. |
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Daniel Breecker
(Assistant Professor): Breecker's areas of expertise include soil biogeochemistry, calcic soils, stable isotope geochemistry. |
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M. Bayani Cardenas (Assistant Professor): Cardenas’ studies surface water and ground water hydrology. Current research topics include: 1) hydrodynamics of surface-ground water interactions, 2) hydroecology, 3) flow and transport in porous and fractured media, 4) energy budgets of rivers, 5) hydrogeophysics, 6) hydrologic applications of thermography, 7) biogeochemical processes in stream-aquifer systems and 8) architecture of fluvial aquifers. These broad topics are investigated using numerical modeling, laboratory experiments, and field campaigns. |
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Ginny Catania (Assistant Professor): Catania's areas of expertise include ice sheet mass balance, ice dynamics, subglacial hydrology, ice sheet stratigraphy, radar, GPS methods, uncertainty in ice sheet response to climate. |
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Robert L Folk (Professor
Emeritus): Since 1990 Dr. Robert L. Folk has been studying
minute ovoids in the 100nm size range, which he believes to be "nannobacteria",
independently living organisms. These objects have been found in minerals,
Martian meteorites, soils, the human body, and in waters. Objections
by biologists that these are "too small for life" are invalid as
several laboratories have cultured them. If they are indeed dwarf bacteria,
they may play an enormous role in chemical reactions on the earth's surface,
and their occurrence must be studied with high-resolutition the SEM (20,000
to 1000,000X) |
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Eric James (Analytical Geochemist, currently assisting Jay Banner with ESI):
James studies a wide range of geologic phenomena using geochemical methods.
His work has been on the sources of metals in mineral deposits in West Texas
and New Guinea using Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope ratios, Sr isotope ratios in fossils
for age and stratagraphic studies, and the trace element characteristics and
U-Th ages of cave deposits. |
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Gary Kocurek
(Professor): Kocurek studies desert landforms and
their representation in the ancient rock record. He is particularly interested
in how sand seas respond to changes in climate, sea level and tectonism. His
teaching centers on the basic principles that govern processes that operate
on the land surfaces of the Earth. |
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Randy Marrett
(Associate Professor): Marrett's research has focused on characterization
of fractured reservoirs, development of detachment folds, structure and regional
tectonics of the Sierra Madre Oriental (México) and the Central Andes (Argentina
and Chile), and comparisons of geologic with geodetic measurements of strain
rate. New work addresses temporal patterns of geyser eruption and
structure along the volcanic arc of the Central Andes. |
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Tim Rowe (Professor
and Director, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory - VPL):
The VPL collections include 250,000 cataloged specimens. About 60% are vertebrate
fossils that include among the most sensitive biological indicators of climate
and environment. These collections offer our most detailed look at how terrestrial
environments, particularly those of the Edwards Plateau, have changed over
the last 100,000 years. |
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Timothy Shanahan: Dr. Shanahan’s areas of expertise include paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, paleolimnology, sedimentary geology and geochemistry.
Click here to see a New York Times article on Dr. Shanahan's work. |
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John Sharp (Professor):
Sharp's research interests include: 1) modeling flow
and transport in fractured systems; 2) use of geological and geophysical information
to characterize volcanic and sedimentary aquifers; 3) subsidence, thermal
history and convection in the Gulf of Mexico Basin; 4) hydrogeology of urbanized
areas; 5) water resources and hydrogeological evolution of semi-arid zones;
and 6) the Edwards aquifer. |
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Clark R. Wilson
(Professor and Chairman): Wilson's research program has included
the use of observations of changes in Earth's rotation, center of mass, and
gravity field to measure global water and atmospheric mass balance over time
scales of days to years. This has involved study of numerical models of the
global water cycle, oceans and atmosphere, and analysis of global sea level
change. |
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Zong-Liang Yang
(Associate Professor): Yang's research interests include: 1) mathematical
modeling of land-surface hydrology and its role in controlling weather and
climate, 2) characterizing vegetation and snow cover including their influences
on the surface energy and water balances using ground-based and remotely-sensed
datasets, 3) quantifying the relative role of land versus oceans in determining
rainfall in southwest and south central USA, 4) developing tools for assessing
the potential impacts of heavy precipitation associated with severe weather
on urban watersheds and flash flood prediction, and 5) investigating the impact
of vegetation-derived chemicals on Texas air quality. |
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James Austin
(Senior Research Scientist): Austin is a marine geologist
expert in undersea sampling and the interpretation of sedimentary data. His
most recent field studies have been near-shore sampling programs offshore
of New Jersey and California, focused on understanding the age and origin
of the surficial sediments.
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Donald Blankenship
(Research Scientist): Blankenship directs the Support
Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR), a national facility which provides
an airplane, geophysical instrumentation, and support personnel for over-ice
Antarctic research. The facility routinely collect gravity, magnetic field,
surface elevation, and ice-penetrating radar data, and provides an inexpensive
method for surveying vegetation, soil water content, and other near-surface
properties which are important for environmental analysis. |
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Ginny Catania
(Research Scientist): Catania conducts research and teaches about ice sheet and glacier changes both from
natural and climate-forced variability. This involves improving the
observational data sets that quantify cyrosphere change but also an improved
understanding of the dynamical processes that control ice flow.
In particular, Catania focuess on basal processes, the flow of water through and
beneath ice and grounding line fluctuations. |
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Ian Dalziel
(Associate Director, Senior Research Scientist, also Professor, Dept. of
Geological Sciences
): Dalziel's interests include
understanding the nature of life in extreme environments. He proposes to survey
of the Bransfield Trough, Antarctica, an environmentally isolated active rift
system which should possess thermal vents, etc., which are of interest for
biological and chemical study. He is also involved in planning the exploration
of the subglacial Lake Vostok, East Antarctica, which lies under nearly 4
km of ice and may have been isolated for tens of millions of years. |
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Katherine
Ellins (Program Manager): Kathy Ellins is the program manager at The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). As part of her responsibilities, Kathy oversees the Institute's funded educational outreach efforts and serves as UTIG's Public Information Officer. |
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Craig Fulthorpe
(Research Scientist): Fulthorpe is a marine geologist/sedimentologist.
He is interested in the geology of continental margins as revealed by reflection
seismic profiles and ocean drilling. His research focuses on the processes,
including sea-level change, tectonism, and ocean currents, responsible for
creating the preserved stratigraphic record on margins. |
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Charles
Jackson (Research Associate): Jackson's research
interests have the goal of distilling lessons from the history of climate
for the purpose of advancing our understanding of the physics of the atmosphere,
ocean, and cryosphere and their coupling. |
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Larry Lawver
(Senior Research Scientist): Lawver is interested in climate
over very long time scales, especially in how the global configuration of
tectonic plates affects global meteorology, ocean circulation, and tectonic
processes over periods of tens to hundreds of millions of years. |
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Hilary Olson
(Research Associate): Olson is a micropaleontologist
who applies various methods to evaluate Foraminifera collected from ocean-bottom
sediment cores. When combined with monitoring of heavy minerals, water nutrients,
and isotopic analysis, micropaleontological methods provide essential information
about past and present climate, and transport properties of ocean and atmospheric
currents. |
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Mrinal Sen
(Professor, Dept. of Geological Sciences, Research Professor, UTIG): Sen is an expert in numerical
modeling, very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), and the nonlinear inversion
of large data sets to find best-fit models. These methods are essential for
the analysis of marine seismic reflection data to obtain 3-D models of the
Earth's crust, but also apply to certain biological, meteorological, or environmental
problems especially where there is ongoing data collection and it is desirable
update models as new data are collected. |
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Paul Stoffa
(Senior Research Scientist and Director): Stoffa is an expert
in numerical modeling and nonlinear inversion methods, especially as applied
to geophysical problems. He is considering a collaboration to apply these
techniques to the modeling of commercial ocean fisheries. |
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Fred Taylor
(Senior Research Scientist): Taylor collects live
corals and drill cores of coral limestones from various sites in the South
Pacific. One research focus is to evaluate frequency and intensity of past
El Nino events, determined by evaluating annual growth bands, often in collaboration
with geochemists who evaluate sea-surface temperature and other environmental
parameters using isotopic methods. |
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Roberto Gutierrez (Research
Scientist Associate): Geodesy, GPS, LIDAR, remote sensing. Recent studies:
LIDAR studies of selected areas of Honduras impacted by Hurricane Mitch; LIDAR
studies of Texas Gulf Coast; high-resolution bathymetry. |
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Sue Hovorka (Research
Scientist): Sedimentology, applications of sedimentology to aquifer studies
and waste site characterization. Recent studies: Stratigraphic studies of
Edwards aquifer; geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide; K-12 educational
outreach. |
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Jeff Paine (Research
Scientist): Environmental geophysics, climate change, coastal studies. Recent
studies: Geophysical investigations of salinization; environmental applications
of shallow seismic techniques; airborne electromagnetic investigations Lower
Rio Grande Valley. |
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Bob Reedy (Research
Scientist Associate): Hydrology, unsaturated zone hydrology, monitoring. Recent
studies: Monitoring of natural settings and engineered barriers in semi-arid
settings; monitoring of unsaturated zone on Southern High Plains. |
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Bridget Scanlon (Senior
Research Scientist): Unsaturated zone hydrology, groundwater recharge, engineered
barriers, karst hydrology. Recent studies: Vadose zone studies of semi-arid
environments; recharge of Edwards aquifer; enhanced recharge of High Plains
aquifer. |
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Tom Tremblay (Research
Associate): Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, physical geography.
Recent studies: GIS applications for coastal studies, shoreline change analysis,
and geologic hazards; GIS database development in Texas-Mexico border area. |
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David Cannatella
(Curator of Herpetology): Reptile and amphibian
biodiversity and evolution. Research seeks to document the conservation status
of selected species of amphibians and reptiles in Texas and the southwest
through field studies with long-term monitoring of selected sites. |
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Dean Hendrickson
(Curator of Ichthyology): Phylogeny, evolution, ecology and conservation of
freshwater fishes and aquatic habitats, focusing on western North America
(U.S.A. and Mexico). Studies of karst biota provide indicators of aquifer
interconnections, with an eye toward applications of such data in environmental
impact assessments throughout the large karst regions of Texas and northeastern
Mexico. |
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Travis J. LaDuc (Assistant Curator of Herpetology): LaDuc's research focuses on the spatial and temporal distribution of herpetological biodiversity across the southwest, particularly using data collected from field studies in Texas. His research also focuses on the natural history of Texas reptiles and amphibians, including spatial ecology, feeding behavior, and morphology. |
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James Reddell (Curator of Non-Arthropod
Invertebrates): Systematics, taxonomy and ecology and conservation of karst
invertebrates of Texas, Mexico and Central America. |
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Edward C. Theriot (Professor and Director): Aquatic biology with an emphasis on systematics and ecology of diatoms, especially diatom evolution in the context of environmental change. Research goals are to improve understanding of the utility of diatoms as environmental indicators, particularly as indicators of naturally occurring local and global climate change. |
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Anthony F.
Amos (Research Associate): Tides and weather along
the Texas coast. Marine mammal stranding network, Animal Rescue Program. |
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Connie Arnold
(Professor Emeritus): Maturation and spawning, egg and larval
development, growth requirements of marine organisms, designing and testing
seawater systems, fish and invertebrate utilization of seagrass meadows as
a nursery area. |
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Edward J.
Buskey (Professor): Marine plankton ecology, sensory
perception and behavior of marine organisms, bioluminescence of marine organisms. |
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Kenneth H.
Dunton (Professor and Research Scientist): Physiological ecology,
in situ productivity, and trophic relations in estuarine marsh, seagrass and
algal communities; photosynthetic performance and UV effects on arctic and
antarctic macroalgae. Application of remote sensing and GIS in landscape and
global change studies. |
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Lee A. Fuiman
(Chairman and Professor, Department of Marine Science Director and Research Professor, Marine Science Institute): Biology and ecology of fishes, especially
fish larvae, including behavioral and physiological ecology and organismal
biology. Studies include predator-prey interactions and the effects of natural
and anthropogenic environmental variations on survival, growth, and health
of fishes. |
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Wayne S.
Gardner (Professor): Nitrogen dynamics
in the water column and sediments, nutrient-organism interactions in coastal
ecosystems, ammonium regeneration, nitrification, denitrification, microbial
food web dynamics. |
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G. Joan Holt
(Professor): Larval fish ecology and aquaculture with
emphasis on biological and physical factors that limit larval fish growth
and development. Research in Holt's lab includes studies of feeding dynamics;
ontogenic changes in nutritional requirements; larval fish transport and mechanism
of recruitment to estuarine nursery grounds. |
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James W. McClelland (Assistant Professor, Department of Marine Science and
Research Assistant Professor, Marine Science Institute and Environmental Science Institute): Jim’s interests are in the effects of human activity on water, carbon, and nutrient fluxes from land to sea; responses of estuarine and coastal food webs to changes in land-derived resources; and the use of natural tracers to follow water and water-borne constituents across the land-sea interface. |
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Paul A.
Montagna (Professor): Marine benthic ecology,
population and community ecology, organism-sediment interactions, trophic
dynamics, ecosystems ecology, modeling, environmental statistics. Using marine
invertebrate communities as indicators of environmental quality and the ecological
relevance of environmental indicators. Studies are currently being performed
on effects of contaminants on marine communities and populations, biomagnification
of contaminants in food chains, marsh restoration, and effects of freshwater
inflow on marine productivity. |
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Tamara K. Pease
(Research Asst Prof, Ph.D.): Sources, behavior, and cycling of organic compounds
in the marine and estuarine environments; use of specific organic compounds
to elucidate the sources and processes which control the distributions of
organic matter; biogeochemistry and microbial ecology; molecular stable and
radio-isotope organic geochemistry. |
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Peter Thomas
(Professor): Fish reproductive physiology, purification
and molecular actions of hormones, environmental endocrinology, applications
of endocrinology of fish culture, biochemical and environmental toxicology
of marine fishes, especially reproduction. |
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Richard Tinnin (Research Associate): Marine Education, visiting class program, teacher workshops, UT-Mustang Island Elderhostel programs, developing a Wetlands Education Center on-site at UTMSI. |
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Tracy
Villareal (Associate Professor): Phal (Aytoplankton
ecology, including growth physiology, ecology and biogeochemistry of oceanic
phytoplankton; harmful algal blooms including physiological ecology and occurrence/distribution
along the Texas coast. Villareal's lab uses a combination of laboratory culture
and field assays to determine what regulates phytoplankton species and the
role individual species or groups of species play in biogeochemical cycling. |
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Eric V. Anslyn
(Professor): Synthetic organic chemistry, molecular
recognition; development of novel synthetic receptors for monitoring and quantitation
of herbicides and insecticides in water (in collaboration with Jonathan Sessler);
development of immobilization methods for creation of sensor arrays (in collaboration
with John McDevitt and Dean Neikirk). |
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Jennifer S. Brodbelt
(Professor): Analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry;
development of novel mass spectrometric strategies for monitoring and quantitation
of pesticides in ground water and soil, with emphasis on fire ant killers;
development of new mass spectrometric methods to characterize binding selectivities
of novel organic macrocyclic ligands for waste remediation. |
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Andy Ellington: The Ellington lab works on the develoment of biosensors and platforms that can be used for environmental monitoring. They also develop tools for metabolic engineering that can be used for the development of biofuels and bioprospecting. |
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James A. Holcombe
(Professor): Analytical chemistry, atomic spectroscopy; design of metal binding
chelators formed from biopolymers (polypeptides) that have unique selectivities
and can be immobilized with activity retained on a number of different substrates
and can be used in remediation; metals of interest include heavy metals and
transition metals. |
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Michael J. Krische (Professor): Synthetic organic chemistry, catalytic reaction development; green chemistry for the value-added manipulation of basic chemical feedstocks, development of hydrogen-mediated C-C bond formations and related transformations that circumvent stoichiometric generation of chemical byproducts. |
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John T. McDevitt
(Professor): Materials chemistry; development
of new microfabricated sensor arrays that function analogous to an "electronic
tongue" in which photochemical sensors are capable of discriminating different
analytes, toxins, and bacteria. |
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Jonathan L. Sessler
(Professor): Synthetic organic chemistry,
molecular recognition objectives: design of new ligands to selectively bind
actinide cations and anions such as pertechnetate for remediation of radioactive
wastes (in collaboration with Eric Anslyn). |
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John M. White
(Professor): Surface chemistry; fundamental studies
of photocatalysis with small metal particles. |
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C. Grant Willson
(Professor): Polymers, photoresists; development
of new water-compatible photoresists for environmental applications. |
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John
C. Abbott (Lecturer; Research Associate with
the Texas Memorial Museum; Curator of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory Insect
Collection): Abbott's research focuses on the biodiversity, systematics, ecology
and behavior of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). He also studies the
population and evolutionary ecology of aquatic insects and their usefulness
as biological indicators of stream and watershed health. Additional interests
include the biodiversity and evolutionary ecology of lamellicorn beetles (Scarabaeoidea). |
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James Bull (Johann
Friedrich Miescher Regents Professor in Molecular Biology): Current research
is oriented toward solving basic questions about evolution mechanisms, specifically
the evolutionary significance of recombination and sex, molecular genetics
of adaptations, selfish genes, and cooperation. Research organisms are chiefly
bacteriophage because of the ease of laboratory manipulations afforded by
them. |
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Norma
Fowler (Professor): Dr. Fowler's research
encompasses the composition and maintenance of natural ecosystems, particularly
the grasslands of central Texas. These studies involve studying the effects
of herbivory and competition in structuring communities. |
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Lawrence E. Gilbert (Professor;
Director, Brackenridge Field Laboratory): Current research ranges from the
analysis of coevolved traits of insects and plants to experimental population
dynamics and developmental genetics of mimetic color patterns in Heliconius
butterflies, and the mechanisms of evolution and coevolution and rain forest
diversity. |
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Laura Gonzalez (Lecturer): I am an Ecologist interested in both basic and applied population and community ecology of both marine and terrestrial organisms. Along the population lines, I am interested in the effect that the spatial dynamics of populations have on population productivity and on limiting species geographic ranges. My research approaches have included large-scale data synthesis from museum and lab specimens, and from publications as well as large-scale field sampling of bird populations in forests of western Mexico and marine intertidal invertebrates along the NE Pacific coast. In collaboration with other scientists, I have used phylogeographic approaches to understand the dispersal of marine invertebrates across their geographic range. In the near future, I am interested in expanding my research approaches to include both experiments and mathematical theory. |
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Christine Hawkes (Assistant Professor): Ecology has traditionally been an aboveground field of study, both conceptually and practically. Yet the more we explore belowground, the more evidence we have that soil microorganisms are fundamental to the functioning of aboveground communities and ecosystems. My current research is aimed at a mechanistic understanding of how plant-microbe interactions affect community and ecosystem processes. I am also interested in how these relationships will be influenced by alterations in climate, land-use, and species invasions. Recently I have begun using exotic species invasions as model systems, as they provide both novel interactions and a range of interaction histories. Because my research integrates several areas of ecology, I combine a wide range of techniques, including DNA-based microbial community analyses, stable isotopes, and large-scale plant community manipulations. |
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David Hillis
(Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor in Natural Sciences and Director of
School of Biological Sciences): Systematics is the focus Hillis' research
using the techniques of molecular genetics to study relationships among populations
species, and higher taxa. General areas of interest include phylogenetic relationships,
speciation patterns and mechanisms, molecular evolution (including the use
of experimental systems), and the consequences of hybridization and hybrid
zones. |
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Robert Jackson
(Adjunct): The movements of carbon and other substances through plant communities.
His research has focused in part on the effects of global warming on the plant
communities via changes in atmospheric and soil chemistry. |
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Robert K. Jansen
(Professor): The interface of systematics
and evolution. His work has utilized information from phylogenetic studies
as a guide to conservation priorities. He and his students have also looked
at the role hybridization of invasive species with native species has played
in the extinction of endemic plants. |
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Timothy Keitt (Assistant Professor):
Dr. Keitt’s research focuses on: land use change and conservation in Madascar, network theory applied to habitat-based conservation planning, and spatial and temporal scaling in ecological dynamics. |
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Mark Kirkpatrick
(Professor): Research in this laboratory involves
evolutionary biology using mathematical models of evolution. One area of particular
interest is sexual selection and the understanding of how the elaborate male
mating displays evolve. Another area of research is the evolution of morphological
growth, shape, and phenotypic plasticity. |
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Basset Maguire
(Professor): Structure and function in ecological
communities are related to each other by a formidable complex of causes and
effects. Dr. Maguire's interest is in how the more determinative interactions
affect characteristics and dynamics of communities and community sub-systems.
To investigate this, he uses small aquatic systems (of algae, protozoa, micro-metazoa,
etc). |
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Lauren Ancel
Meyers (Assistant Professor, Section
of Integrative Biology): Using a combination of theory, simulation, and microbial
experimentation, the Meyers lab addresses problems at the interface of evolution
and epidemiology. We build contact network models for predicting and controlling
the spread of infectious diseases; study RNA structural evolution through
simulation and bioinformatics; and investigate the evolution multispecies
bacterial biofilms in vitro. |
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Ulrich Mueller
(Associate Professor): Behavioral Ecology and
Molecular Ecology: Dr. Mueller's research aims at understanding the evolution
of organismal interactions, particularly the evolution of mutualisms and the
evolution of social conflict and cooperation. Current research focuses on
the coevolution between fungus-growing ants and their fungi and the evolutionary
ecology of halictine bees. |
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José
L. Panero (Associate Professor): Dr. Panero
has been involved in research of the floras of sensitive tropical areas such
as the rainforests of southern Mexico. He is documenting the diversity in
these areas and helping to describe the biotic diversity found there before
it is lost through habitat destruction. |
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Camille
Parmesan (Assistant Professor): Biotic
responses to global warming; foraging behavior and evolution of diet in butterflies. |
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Eric Pianka
(Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor): This research involves studies on
population and community ecology, evolutionary ecology, resource partitioning,
reproductive tactics, foraging theory, thermoregulation, metapopulations,
biogeography, species diversity, computer simulation of model systems, emergent
properties of ecological systems, disturbance, succession, and landscape ecology. |
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Mary Ann Rankin
(Professor; Dean, College of Natural Sciences):
Research in this laboratory focuses on the physiological basis of insect behavior
and life history characteristics. Recent research projects include: analyses
of the hormonal, environmental and genetic factors controlling migratory behavior
and reproductive development in several species of migratory insects; investigation
of the hormonal basis of wing polymorphism in insects; and analysis of various
aspects of circadian rhythms in honeybees, especially as they relate to foraging
activity. |
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Dick Richardson
Our research interests relate to ecological restoration
and conservation, particularly of prairies. We have found that functioning
of the soil ecosystem is critical for establishing and maintaining a healthy
plant community, and the recycling of organic matter from above ground growth
to below ground communities of species is greatly facilitated by herbivory,
particular by large ungulates like bison, and even livestock. For the beneficial
effects the herbivory must be controlled to avoid overgrazing, and to optimize
the deposition of dung so burial by insects such as dung beetles is effective.
While natural control of herbivory is facilitated by pack-hunting predators,
herders can easily simulate the appropriate behavior. When properly managed,
the livestock are also useful for revegetating areas if low fertility and/or
high erosion are limiting factors. If supplied with hay and the area seeded,
even mining wastes can become productive. For examples, there are links from
the class web site for Natural
Resource Management |
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Michael Ryan
(Clark Hubbs Regents Professor in Zoology): The
evolution and mechanisms of animal behavior to address sexual selection and
communication in frogs, and more recently, in fish; developing an integrated
understanding of the mechanisms of communication involved in mate attraction
with the evolutionary consequences of sexual selection. |
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Sahotra Sarkar
(Professor and Director, Biodiversity and Biocultural
Restoration Laboratories) |
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Beryl B. Simpson
(Professor): Dr. Simpson studies the systematics
and biogeography of flowering plants and is the Associate Director of the
Plant Resources Center. Her work documents present and past distributions
of plants in Texas, Mexico, and South America as well as their evolutionary
histories. |
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Michael C.
Singer (Professor): Singer studies the
evolution of diet breadth in plant-feeding insects and the origin and significance
of correlations between oviposition preference of female insects and performance
of their offspring. |
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Rasika
M. Harshey (Professor): Swarming motility
in E. coli: a model for understanding surface signal transduction. Microbial
cells can adsorb to almost any interface in an aqueous environment. Their
subsequent growth and reproduction results in a microbial biofilm. These biofilms
play a major role in medicine, industrial productivity and aquatic ecology. |
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Richard
J. Meyer (Professor): Most plasmids in
Gram-negative bacteria have a restricted host-range but some groups are widely
distributed among unrelated genera. These plasmids are disseminated primarily
by conjugation, which can result in DNA transfer to other bacterial species
and into eukaryotes. His laboratory studies how plasmid DNA is processed for
conjugal transfer. |
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Ian
J. Molineux (Professor): Genetics and molecular
biology of host-parasite interactions and mechanisms of translocating DNA
across cellular compartments. Collaborative projects include molecular evolution
and adaptation using bacteriophages as models, bacteriophage growth in bacterial
biofilms, and, with geologists, in microbial transformations and biodiversity
in mineral deposition and dissolution, bioremediation, and in seismically
active environments. |
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Dennis
R Schneider (Adjunct Associate Professor,
Director of Research and Development at Micro-Bac International, Inc., Round
Rock, Texas): Teaches Microbial Ecology (upper division) and is writing college-level
text for microbiology majors. Research interests are in the microbial physiology
of adaptation to extreme environments and biodiversity in microbial ecosystems.
Micro-Bac research includes the development of microbial methods for enhanced
oil recovery, bioremediation, and control of mineral deposition and corrosion. |
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Kent S. Butler (Associate Dean and Director, Community and Regional Planning): Urban and environmentalplanning, water resources planning and policy studies, sustainable planning and development. Butler conductsapplied research and planning projects at various scales with local, state and federal agencies and universitycollaborators. He works nationally and internationally on water resource planning projects, land use-environmental planning programs, habitat conservation planning, and coastal zone planning and development. |
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Steven Moore (Associate
Professor) Moore teaches design and a series of courses related to the philosophy,
history, and application of environmental technology. These topics naturally
lead to the critical study of Design With Climate issues and "sustainability"
as a cultural phenomenon. |
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Robert Paterson (Associate Professor) Robert Paterson, an award winning instructor, teaches graduate level courses in Environmental Impact Assessment, Brownfield Redevelopment, Natural Hazard Mitigation, Growth Management, Public Policy Dispute Resolution, Public Finance, and Growth Management. Dr. Paterson is also active in professional planning practice within Texas, providing multiple opportunities for professional development seminars and conferences for Texas APA planners. He has served on numerous state and regional planning advisory boards and task forces, the Texas APA Board as Awards Chair and Education Foundation
member, and is a regular contributor to the annual Texas APA conference. |
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Karl
W. Butzer (Dickson Professor of Liberal Arts and Director, Applied Geomorphology
and Geoecology Laboratory): Butzer, a member of the National Academy of Sciences,
studies and teaches about geomorphology, climate and global environmental
change, geoarchaeology, and human adaptations to environmental change in Africa,
Spain, Australia, and Mexico. He is currently leading a multi-year project
studying Holocene climate and fluvial system changes in the Texas/Mexico borderlands. |
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Kelley
A. Crews-Meyer (Assistant Professor, Digital Remote Sensing): Remote sensing,
GISc, regional and global change, Amazonian Ecuador, Thailand. Director, GISc
Center. She manages (with Paul Hudson) the Digital Landscape Laboratory for
remote sensing analysis of water resources and land use land cover change,
and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in remote sensing and GISc. |
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Peter
Dana (Lecturer and Research Fellow): geographic information science, global
positioning systems, participatory mapping, cultural geography |
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William
E. Doolittle (Erich W. Zimmermann Regents Professor and Chair, Department
of Geography and the Environment): Doolittle's work focuses on arid land and
water management over time, with a focus on the American Southwest, northern
Mexico, and Spain. A current research project is the impact of volcanic ashfalls
on arid water conservation by crop plants. Doolittle teaches courses on agricultural
ecosystems, geographical and GPS field methods, and Mexico/Southwest. |
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Robin
Doughty (Professor). Doughty works on issues of cultural biogeography,
including the place of animals and birds in human life. He has worked on a
variety of Texas birds (including the whooping crane) and is currently studying
the Albatross in the circumpolar South. |
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Robert
Dull (Assistant Professor and Director, Palynology Laboratory): Dull's
research has focused on reconstruction of past vegetation and paleoenvironments
in Central America and California; and relationships of prehistoric cultures,
prehistoric agriculture, and the archeologic record to past environmental
change. He curates the University's pollen collection. |
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Robert
K. Holz (Zimmermann Professor Emeritus): Holz introduced remote sensing
to the University of Texas, authoring one of the first textbooks in the subject
and developing both undergraduate and graduate classes and research facilities.
He specializes in the application of remote sensing to the solution of environmental
problems, especially in the Middle East and Texas/Mexico borderlands. |
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Paul
F. Hudson (Associate Professor): Hudson's area of specialty is in fluvial
geomorphology, with regional interests in Gulf Coastal Plain river systems.
His major areas of research and teaching include: (1) river channel adjustment
in alluvial river systems, particularly due to human impacts from engineering
and land cover change, (2) discharge and suspended sediment transport dynamics,
(3) channel metamorphosis in response to climate change and sea-level rise
during the Holocene, (4) Geographic Information Systems. |
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Troy
Kimmel (Lecturer and member, American Meteorological Society): Kimmel's
area of specialization is hazardous and extreme weather. He teaches a course
on hazardous weather, using web-based modules. He also teaches the university's
introductory course on weather and climate. |
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Gregory
W. Knapp (Associate Professor): Knapp works on adaptive dynamics, modeling
changes in human-environment relations as related to the microscale patterning
of soil and water in mountain and desert environments. He has worked on impacts
of global climate change on the high Andes, and is currently working on the
long term impact of volcanic eruptions on adaptive strategies in Ecuador. |
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Ian
Manners (Professor): Manners has worked on environmental aspects of oil
and energy development in the North Sea and the Middle East; he is also interested
in conservation issues in the Middle East and has often taught courses on
conservation issues. |
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Francisco
L. Perez (Professor and Director, Soils Laboratory): Perez studies plant
ecology; he focuses on the relationships between plants, soils, microclimate,
and geomorphic processes. Much of his work has focused on high mountain ecosystems
in the Andes, Hawaii, and Sierra Nevada mountains of California. He teaches
courses in process gemorphology, ecology of world vegetation, soils, mountain
geoecology, and environmental systems. |
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Rodrigo
Sierra (Assistant Professor and Director of Center for Environmental Studies
in Latin America): Sierra performs research on tropical land use and land
cover change, forestry, and environmental policy. He teaches courses on Geographic
Information Science and on enviroment and society. |
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Mark
Simmons (Lecturer and Research Fellow): Simmmons researches landscape
ecology and fire ecology at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and teaches
courses on ecological field techniques. |
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Kenneth
R. Young (Ph.D., Quantitative Landscape Ecology): Conservation, ecological
restoration issues, and ecosystem management, and have skills in landscape
assessment and analysis using GIS and quantitative methods. He will teach
courses and seminars in landscape ecology, international conservation, and
field methods. |
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Sam Wilson is interested in processes of cultural interactions in "contact situations". He conducts research on the emergence of complex forms of social and political organization in human history, and the relationship of communication technology to political structures. He has studied the culture of the indigenous people of the Caribbean and the events that have taken place after the arrival of Europeans. |
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Sahotra Sarkar (Professor and Director, Biodiversity and Biocultural
Restoration Laboratories) |
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David Eaton (Bess
Harris Jones Centennial Professor in Natural Resource Policy Studies and Director,
UT Austin Center for Environmental Resource Management in Latin America):
Policy interests: environmental engineering; health; agriculture; international
affairs. |
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Chandler Stolp (Associate Professor; Director, Center for Inter-American
Policy Studies) Stolp is an applied statistician and economist with interests
in research methods, policy decision making, regional development, and U.S.-Latin
American relations. His research focuses on western hemispheric economic integration,
regional economics, and public sector productivity. |
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D. Max Snodderly (Professor, Human Ecology/Nutritional Sciences and Institute for Neuroscience): Professor Snodderly studies primate visual systems and effects of nutrition on the retina. He teaches International Nutrition: Social and Environmental Policies (NTR 360), a course that examines relationships between nutritional needs of humans and social and environmental policies. |
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Ben R. Hodges (Assistant Professor): Ben Hodges' area of expertise
is in environmental and water resources engineering. His technical interests
include hydrodynamics, transport and water quality issues in lakes, rivers
and estuaries. |
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David
Maidment (Professor): David Maidment is a
specialist in surface water hydrology, and in particular in the application
of geographic information systems to hydrology. He has been cooperating in
this field with ESRI, manufacturers of Arc/Info and ArcView. He and his research
team have current projects applying GIS for flood plain mapping, water quality
modeling, water resources assessment, hydrologic simulation, surface water-groundwater
interaction, and global hydrology. |
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Danny Reible (Bettie Margaret Smith Chair of Environmental Health Engineering, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering): Dr. Reible is the Bettie Margaret Smith Chair of Environmental Health Engineering a the University of Texas and Director of the EPA supported Hazardous Substance Research Center/South & Southwest, a consortium of Louisiana State University, Rice University, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech and the University of Texas. He joined the University of Texas in 2004 after 23 years with Louisiana State University. Dr. Reible leads both fundamental and applied efforts in the assessment and management of risks of hazardous substances, especially as they apply to contaminated sediments. He has authored or edited four books and more than 100 refereed publications. Dr. Reible has led the development of in-situ sediment capping and currently leads a large demonstration of active capping technologies in the Anacostia River in Washington DC. Dr. Reible was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. He is a Professional Engineer (LA) and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineering. He is a member of the National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. |
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David T. Allen (Melvin H. Gertz Regents Chair in Chemical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at the University of Texas at Austin):
Dr. Allen’s research addresses issues related to air quality in Texas. He was a lead investigator in one of the largest and most successful air quality studies ever undertaken: the Texas Air Quality Study (www.utexas.edu/research/ceer/texaqs). His current work is focused on using the results from that study to provide a sound scientific basis for air quality management in Texas. |
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Hal Alper: Dr. Alper’s research is in the area of cellular and metabolic engineering. The goal of this work is to engineer a variety of host cells to produce important chemicals such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial commodity chemicals. Alper’s approaches focus on the integration and implementation of genetic tools and knowledge for the design, production, and elicitation of phenotypes relevant to biotechnological processes and medical interest. |
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Charles Buddie Mullins (Professor of Chemical Engineering and Z. D. Bonner Professorship): Professor Mullins has expertise in surface chemical kinetics and
dynamics. He is currently studying the interactions between atmospheric gases and model aerosol surfaces and in particular water-ice surfaces and organic surfaces constructed of self-assembled monolayers. Ultrahigh vacuum, surface science, and molecular beam techniques are employed in these studies. |
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John
H. Richburg (Associate Professor, Head, Division
of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Director, Toxicology Training Program, and Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Toxicology): Dr. Richburg's laboratory
research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of testicular injury culminating
in germ cell death after exposure to environmental toxicants. Current projects
are centered on understanding the signaling systems that play a role in toxicant-induced
germ cell death via apoptosis, or
programmed cell death. Recent work has implicated the Fas signaling system
in the initiation of germ cell apoptosis induced by environmental toxicants.
Toxicology
Graduate Program |
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James
S. Dyer (The Fondren Foundation Centennial Chair In
Business, Ph.D., Department of Management Science and Information Systems):
Dr. Dyer's research and teaching interests include risk management and capital
budgeting, including work related to the management of environmental risks.
He is the Area Editor for the field of decision analysis for the journal Operations
Research. For example, he designed the decision process and performed the
analysis used by NASA to select the trajectories for the Voyager Spacecraft.
These two spacecraft successfully accomplished their mission of gathering
scientific information regarding Saturn, Jupiter, and their moons. More recently,
he was asked by the Department of Energy (DOE) to lead a team to evaluate
alternatives for the disposition of weapons-usable plutonium that remains
when nuclear weapons are disassembled. |
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Linda Golden (Marlene and Morton Meyerson Centennial
Professor In Business, Ph.D., Department of Marketing Administration): Linda
Golden's research areas include advertising, consumer behavior, process improvement/redesign. |
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James P. Barufaldi (Ruben E. Hinojosa Regents
Professor In Education And Distinguished Teaching Professor, Ph.D.): Barufaldi's
special areas of interests are curriculum design, instructional strategies,
implementation, evaluation, professional development, and science teacher
education. He is currently investigating the process of building successful
collaboratives in the science education community and variables, which may
contribute to high intensity, sustained collaboration. |
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LeeAnn Kahlor (Assistant Professor): Kahlor looks at predictors of public knowledge, information seeking, and information processing concerning personal health risks (e.g., consumption of contaminated water) and risks to the environment (e.g., pollution of the Great Lakes). She is currently studying how and why some people actively seek information about global warming and others actively avoid it. |
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Susan Schwinning (Assistant Professor): Susan is an assistant professor at Texas State University, San Marcos. Her area of expertise is the ecology of plants in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly the use of resource pulses by plants on time scales from days to decades. She is now pursuing this interest in the hydrologically complex environments of the Edwards Plateau to improve understanding of interactions between surface hydrology and plant physiological and population dynamics. |
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