Texas Sea Grant Awards Research Funding to Seven Islander Grad Students

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – From oyster reefs to bacterial-algal interactions and red snapper data, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is a research hub in the fields of biology, coastal and marine system science, marine biology, and chemistry. Thanks to grants recently provided by the Texas Sea Grant College Program at Texas A&M University, seven Island University graduate student researchers can further pursue their marine or coastal related projects.

The Texas Sea Grant College Program’s Grants-In-Aid of Graduate Research Program awarded $49,804 in research grants for the 2019-2021 funding cycle to a total of 20 graduate students from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University, and Texas A&M University at Galveston. Recipients received up to $2,500 to support Texas-relevant research efforts, such as fieldwork expenses, laboratory analysis, the purchase of testing materials, or more. 

The 2019-21 Grants-In-Aid recipients from A&M-Corpus Christi are:

  • Elizabeth DiBona, a biology graduate student, for her research proposal titled, “A holistic approach to assess the impact of microplastic fibers during fish development.”
  • Kendall Johnson, a marine biology doctoral student, for her research proposal titled, “Global significance of anaerobic oxidation of organic matter by sulfate reduction: Insights from lipid biomarkers.”
  • Wing Man Lee, a marine biology doctoral student, for his research proposal titled, “Comparison of nitrogen (N) sources in Baffin Bay and San Antonio Bay under different freshwater inflow regimes using compound specific isotope ratios in amino acids.”
  • Dominic Swift, a marine biology doctoral student, for his research proposal titled, “Assessing MHC-dependent mate choice in the dusky smoothhound (Mustelus canis) and blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus).”
  • Terry Palmer, a coastal and marine system science doctoral student, for his research proposal titled, “Quantifying the biomagnification of contaminants in epibenthic marine fauna.”
  • Jill Thompson-Grim, a marine biology graduate student, for her research proposal titled, “Does the configuration of decommissioned oil and gas platforms affect red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) density and total biomass in an artificial reef site?”
  • Hao Yu, a coastal and marine system science doctoral student, for her research proposal titled, “Contribution of sediment methane to the atmosphere from Subtropical Lagoons of Corpus Christi, Texas.”

The grants are awarded after a competitive proposal review process and are designed to promote scientific excellence and achievement.

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