TAMU - Faculty and Staff

Dr. Paul Montagna

In 2006, Dr. Montagna joined the HRI Team. He focuses on how organisms control and regulate marine ecosystems and coastal environments. This work is critical in guiding resource management decisions. He and his team closely examine bottom-living organisms and the various attributes of water quality. The increasingly important relationships between humans and the environment are considered in detail through his studies as he looks at the environmental flows, nutrients, and the ultimate impact on marine life.

He adapts his research to the real world by building relationships with business and industry. In the fall of 2009, "Shell Bank," the oyster shell recycling program, launched in partnership with local restaurants and the Port of Corpus Christi. Projects such as these recognize the need for cooperation and education of all of the stakeholders.

Dr. Michael Wetz

Dr. Wetz is a broadly trained marine scientist, with expertise in phytoplankton ecology and water quality studies. While grounded in aspects of coastal ecology, Wetz also conducts applied research aimed at solving vexing regional environmental problems. Recognizing that these problems are complex, and that solutions will often require balancing environmental as well as human (incl. economic) needs, Wetz strives to provide a sound scientific basis for stakeholder-led restoration/management efforts that gives due consideration to both human and environmental needs. In recognition of these efforts, Wetz has received several awards from local conservation entities, including:

1. Conservationist of the Year; awarded by the Coastal Conservation Association in recognition of water quality research and stakeholder-based restoration planning that Wetz led in Baffin Bay, and
2. Higher Education Award, awarded by the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation for "dedication to conservation of Coastal Bend bays and estuaries, namely Oso and Baffin Bays, through development of programs designed to assess water quality conditions in these systems".

Wetz led a volunteer water quality sampling program in Baffin Bay for 4 years. Results from that study are now guiding watershed restoration and protection efforts that are being coordinated by the Baffin Bay Stakeholder group, which Wetz co-chairs. Wetz is a member of the Nueces Estuary Advisory Council, a stakeholder group that is tasked with assessing the effectiveness of the water management strategies in the Nueces River Basin. Wetz is also a member of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Water Resources team, which focuses on understanding and reducing water quality problems in the Gulf of Mexico region. Finally, Wetz currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Gulf & Caribbean Research.

Dr. James Gibeaut

Dr. James Gibeaut is the Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Geospatial Sciences at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. He earned a B.S. in geology from Ohio State University, a M.S. in coastal geology from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of South Florida. He is a coastal geologist who uses optical, radar, and lidar remote sensing, GIS, and field surveys to measure and understand coastal change. He has studied shorelines in a variety of locations including Rhode Island, Florida, Texas, Alaska, Honduras, Venezuela, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. Currently, his main research focus is modeling the effects of relative sea-level rise and storms on coastal systems and projecting future change. His Coastal and Marine Geospatial Lab at HRI is also developing web applications and scientific data repositories for the dissemination of research results.

Dr. Jennifer Beseres Pollack

Dr. Pollack joined the Harte Research Institute in September 2018. Through her research, Dr. Pollack aims to provide science-based information to support resource management and conservation efforts and improve sustainability of coastal ecosystems. She examines the proficiency of restored habitats in replacing lost ecological functions, including water filtration, provision of nursery and feeding habitat for fish and invertebrates, shoreline stabilization, and enhancement of biodiversity. Because healthy habitats support productive coastal environments and resilient coastal communities, she and her team conduct extensive field research in oyster reef, salt marsh, Serpulid worm reef, and offshore oil platform habitats.

Dr. Xinping Hu

Dr. Hu joined the Harte Research Institute in September 2020 and also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Dr. Hu’s research focuses on a wide variety of topics that are centered on the carbon cycle science in estuarine, coastal, and oceanic environments. Using high precision water chemistry analyses, stable isotopes, as well as modeling techniques, Hu’s research examines ocean and estuarine carbon fluxes and acidification, hydrological controls on estuarine biogeochemistry, long-term changes in ocean margin carbon dioxide levels, and hypoxia-related issues in both estuaries and the coastal ocean.

As a National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awardee, Dr. Hu is committed to training the next generation of marine scientists, especially those from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds.

Dr. Greg Stunz

Greg Stunz, Ph.D., is the Senior Executive Director, HRI Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health and Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation Director. Because healthy oceans are critical for human health, Dr. Stunz conducts extensive field research in those areas. Whether getting "hands-on" with sharks, examining the how artificial reefs enhance the marine environment, or gathering data to develop sound sport fishing regulations, Dr. Stunz's research provides an objective foundation to build sound policy.

Kristina Alexander, J.D.

Endowed Chair for Marine Policy and Law. Ms. Alexander has practiced environmental law for over two decades. She served as the Legislative Attorney in natural resources law for the Congressional Research Service for over eight years, examining legal issues related to wildlife laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, and federal lands management on behalf of Members of Congress and their staff. Her work focuses on coastal issues affecting the Gulf of Mexico such as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, permitting related to aquaculture and energy development, and green stormwater infrastructure.

Dr. Dale Gawlik

Dr. Gawlick is the HRI Chair for Conservation & Biodiversity. Dr. Gawlik’s research focuses on waterbird ecology and conservation, wetland and intertidal ecosystems, restoration ecology, and the use of birds in aquatic ecosystem management. He has focused on how hydrologic processes in coastal and freshwater ecosystems control wading bird populations. He and his students have developed heron, stork, and ibis habitat models that link bird populations to the hydrologic management and restoration of the Everglades of Florida.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith coordinates Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems (CCME) activities for Dr. Paul Montagna and other CCME faculty and also serves as Coordinator for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Wildlife & Fisheries Team. Smith earned a Master's degree in Environmental Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2008 after a long management career in private business. His graduate research focused on environmental concerns and economic solutions for recycling municipal solid waste. He also supported faculty members in their research on chemosynthetic communities and ecosystem-based management in the Gulf.

For the next seven and a half years, he managed programs and projects for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, including a long-standing community-based habitat restoration partnership funded by NOAA and EPA and a unique training in Gulf restoration for conservation corps youth. He served as Project Coordinator for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Habitat Conservation and Restoration Team from 2009 to 2013 and then ascended to the role of Coordinator for the team through the end of 2014. Team projects completed under his term included sea-level rise assessment, regional and international policy analyses, regional sediment management, ecosystem services valuation projections, habitat restoration practitioners forums, GIS data portal, and US-Mexico habitat restoration and conservation collaboration.