CREST-RESSACA
Research on Environmental Sustainability
of Semi-Arid Coastal Areas
(RESSACA)
at
Texas A&M University – Kingsville
NSF HRD-0206259
Kuruvilla John, Ph.D.
PI and Director, CREST-RESSACA
Associate Dean
Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering
Highlights
• Overview
• People
• Research
• Outreach
• Looking to the Future
At Texas A&M Kingsville,
research is a high priority,
and our record of
achievement far exceeds
expectations for a
university our size.
Rumaldo Z. Juárez
President
Presently, the enrollment in the
College of Engineering is over 1,200
Students. Texas A&M University –
Kingsville is one of the country’s
largest producers of Hispanic
engineering graduates and one of the
premier Hispanic serving institutions
offering advanced degrees at bachelor,
master and doctorate levels.
Our Vision
CREST-RESSACA serves as a center of excellence for ensuring
environmental sustainability for semi-arid coastal areas while
addressing the significant under-representation of Hispanics at
the PhD level in disciplines pertaining to environmental
engineering and sciences in South Texas.
Our Goals
1.
STUDENT DIVERSITY AND TRAINING
2.
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
3.
RESEARCH & EDUCATION
INTEGRATION
4.
PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS
5.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
6.
OUTREACH
7.
CAPACITY BUILDING
Partners
• University of Texas at Brownsville
• Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico
• Texas A&M International
University - Laredo
• Texas Water Resources Institute –
College Station
• Texas State University-San Marcos
• Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi
• Texas Engineering Experiment
Station-College Station
CREST
Personnel
CREST-RESSACA Family
•
Dr. Kuruvilla John, PI and Director
•
Ms. Rose Rodriguez, Associate Director
•
Dr. Kim Jones, Co-PI
•
Dr. Venkatesh Uddameri, Co-PI
•
Dr. Alvaro Martinez, Co-PI
•
Dr. Lee Clapp, Sr. Investigator
•
Dr. Jennifer Ren, Sr. Investigator
•
Dr. Yifang Zhu, Sr. Investigator
•
Dr. David Ramirez, Sr. Investigator
•
Ms. Joyce Coleman, Res./Edu. Integration Specialist
•
Ms. Sonya Flores, Accounting Specialist
•
Ms. Tamara Guillen, Secretary
CREST-RESSACA Ethnicity
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
AfricanNonAmerican Hispanic
Female
NonHispanic
Male
Hispanic
Female
Hispanic
Male
Hispanic:
Texas
52.5%
Kingsville
70.0%
University
61.6%
CREST-RESSACA
72.0%
Students By Gender
12
10
8
6
Female
4
Male
2
0
B.S.
M.S.
Ph.D.
Degree
Female
University
51%
College of
Engineering
17.0%
CREST-RESSACA
40%
M.S. Students
MS Students
•
•
•
•
Graduated
Leila Pezeshki
Aug. 2004
Impacts of physical and policy interventions on freshwater inflows to Corpus
Christi Bay
Employed as an Environmental Engineer by Lubrizol, Houston, TX
Santiago Galvan
Dec. 2004
Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Ambient Air Hydrocarbons in South Texas
Employed as an Environmental Engineer by Valero Refining, OK.
Tomas Vasquez
Dec. 2004
Environmentally Friendly Processes in Organic Synthesis: Novel Surfactantmediated Solvent-free Reactions in a Catalytic System
Pursuing Ph.D. at University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.
Celina Camarena
Aug. 2005
Effects of Anthropogenic Land Disturbances on a Semi-arid Regional Landscape
Water Balance in South Texas
Pursuing Ph.D. at Texas A&M University - Kingsville, TX.
•
Eric Davila
Aug. 2005
Grey minimax regret assessment of the MSW regionalization for the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, Texas
Employed as a Project Manager by Llano Grande Center, Edinburg, TX.
•
Martin Alcala
Dec. 2005
Solid Waste Compost Product Optimization for Nitrate Removal from Surface
Water Runoff
Pursuing Ph.D. at Texas A&M University - Kingsvlle, TX.
MS
Students
Scheduled
Graduation
Monica Hernandez
May 2006
Brianna Flores
May 2007
Irama Wesselman
May 2007
Josue De Lara Bashulto
May 2007
Yaneth Gamboa
Aug. 2007
Hongxia Gao
Aug. 2007
Marciano Sanchez
Aug. 2007
Ph. D. Students
PhD
Students
Cohort 1
Muthu Kuchanur
Scheduled
PhD
Graduation Students
Aug. 2006
Sustainable Groundwater Management in
Semi-Arid Coastal Regions
Ronald Brown
Dec. 2006
Richard Baber
Celina Camarena
Aug. 2007
Aug. 2007
Control of Nitric Oxide Emissions using Enhanced
Oxidation, Scrubbing and Biofiltration
Evaluation of Regional Scale Photochemical
Modeling Systems for Ozone Forecasting in South Texas
Aug. 2007
Aug. 2009
Effects of Anthropogenic Land
Disturbances on a Semi-arid
egional Landscape Water Balance
in South Texas
Martin Alcala
Zuber Farooqui
May 2008
Dec. 2006
Water Resources Management within a Small
Semi-Arid Watershed in South Texas
Jose Cabezas
Dec. 2007
Development of Membrane-Supported
Biofilters as a Permeable Reactive
Barrier Technology for Bioremediation
of Dichloroethene and Vinyl Chloride
Process Modeling and Design Optimization of a
Recirculation Aquaculture-Wetland System
Annette Hernandez
Roberto Castro
Scheduled
Graduation
Characterization of VOCs in the
Corpus Christi Urban Airshed
Long Term Trends and Ozone Forecasting in Urban
Areas of South Texas Using Statistical and Heuristic
Techniques
Brian Dyson
Cohort 2
Innovative Water Treatment with
Natural Materials and Media
Dec. 2009
Personnel Summary
• 19 faculty members (8 faculty in Environmental Engineering, 6 faculty
from other TAMUK departments, and 5 faculty in partnering
institutions)
• 80 students supported by CREST-RESSACA (55 Hispanic students
(68%) out of which 15 are Hispanic Females)
• 32 CREST-RESSACA students have graduated (20 B.S., 9 M.S.
and 3 Ph.D.).
• ASEE Profiles of Engineering Colleges (2005 data) shows 33 M.S. and
2 Ph.D. Hispanic graduates in Environmental Engineering nationwide.
• CREST-RESSACA (2002-2007) graduates will include 12 M.S. and 2
Ph.D. Hispanic students through Fall 2007.
Research
RESSACA AT A&M - KINGSVILLE
AND PARTNERING INSTITUTIONS
Focus Areas
LLAR : Living Labs for
Academics and Research
ESM : Environmental
Systems Modeling
EI : Environmental
Informatics
• Regional Environmental Concerns
Core
Competencies
#1. Environmental Modeling & Informatics
• Ground Water Resources
• Ecological Restoration
• Environmental Decision Support Systems
• Environmental Forecasting
- Artificial Neural Networks
- Fuzzy Logic
• Multimedia Modeling for Environmental Assessment
• Optimization Analysis
- Waste Management
- Water Resources
• Urban & Regional Air Quality Issues
• Water Quality in River Systems
• U.S. / Mexico Border Issues
• Sustainability & Decision Support
#2. Sustainable Technologies
• Bioreactor Landfill
• Coastal / Shoreline Stabilization and
Restoration
• Desalination
• Environmental Sensors
• Innovative Biological Treatment
Systems - Air and Water
• Industrial Air Pollution Control Systems
• Rangeland Hydrology and Ecosystem
Management Practices
• Wetland Technologies for Water
Treatment – Natural and Constructed
Research Facilities
Constructed
Rio
Wetlands
River
Water
for Aquaculture
Quality
AirGrande
Quality
Monitoring
Station Site
Field Air
Scale
Biofiltration
Ambient
Monitoring
Biofiltration
Informatics Labs
Lab
Soil Moisture
Measurements
Hydrocarbon
Characterization
Lab
Highlights
•
39 peer reviewed journal publications, 17 submitted
articles and over 50 conference proceedings.
•
Leveraged over $ 5 million in external sponsored
grants within the Ph.D. program at A&M – Kingsville
since inception of the center from federal, state, local
and private sources.
•
CREST-RESSACA senior investigator, Dr. Jianhong(Jennifer) Ren, was awarded an NSF Early Career
Award in 2005
•
Received $1 million for the TAMUK-STEP project
from NSF for recruitment and retention initiatives in
STEM disciplines.
•
3 CREST students placed 1st or 2nd in 7 different
student poster competitions at state-level regional
conferences beating out students from flagship
institutions in Texas.
Recent Research Grants
• DoD DURIP – ICP-MS & NMR ($400,000)
• NSF MRI – High Performance Computing Center
(HPCC) ($200,000)
• NSF STEP – TAMUK-STEP ($999,994)
• NSF CREST – Multiple supplemental awards
• TCEQ – Air Quality Planning and Research Activities
($450,000)
• S. Texas Biofuels – Biofuel Research at TAMUK
($150,000)
Education and Outreach
Sponsored
Conferences
Conferences
• 4th Annual Rio Bravo / Rio Grande Environmental Conference;
CREST & Rio Bravo Association, Kingsville, Texas (April 2003)
• Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy
(SCERP) Annual Conference, Laredo, Texas (February 2004)
• Modeling and Decision Support for Environmental Systems, San
Antonio, Texas (April 2005)
• Conference on Sustainable Technologies for Environmental
Protection, South Padre Island, Texas (October 2005)
• Environmental Sustainability: U.S./Mexico Border Issues,
Monterrey, Mexico (November 2006)
Seminars, Short-Courses,
Internships, etc.
• Facilitated several short courses on Green
Engineering, GIS, ICP-MS training.
• Sponsored Environmental Engineering Seminar
Series.
• Students participated in a Smithsonian sponsored
GIS workshop in Puerto Rico.
• Students participated in several summer internship
opportunities with industries and regulatory
agencies.
Seminars & Short-Courses
Summer High School Outreach
• Project Grad
• Future Engineers Summer Institute
• Upward Bound Math & Science
Undergraduate Research Opportunities (URO)
• Based on the NSF-REU framework Research
- year
Experience
for Teachers
• Participation levels:
• Teachers from local high
• 6 enrolled in 2004
schools
• 24 currently participating at TAMUK
• Four week research experience
• 2 at partnering institutions
• Technical papers and creation
• Deliverables include technical papers,
progress
reports,
and
of lesson
plans
& modules
progress toward GRE preparation • Participation in NASA sponsored
GLOBE training.
Newsletter
CREST-RESSACA MIS
Challenges
• Recruitment and retention
- high quality students
- on-time graduation
- high caliber faculty and staff
• Research
- ensure multi-disciplinary research focus
- solutions-oriented deliverables
- accommodate evolving research interests of faculty and
students while ensuring that project goals are attained
• Manage expectations of viable partnerships and collaborations
• Keeping track of data and moving targets.
QUESTIONS / COMMENTS