Marine Biology Faculty

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Contact Information


Contact:

Marine Biology Program

David Portnoy
Program Coordinator
Phone: 361-825-2859
Email: marb@tamucc.edu

Tidal Hall, Room 336
6300 Ocean Dr
Corpus Christi, TX 78412

Advising: 361-825-3928

For all questions about our Undergraduate Marine Biology program, contact Dr. Kim Withers kim.withers@tamucc.edu

Program Coordinator

David Portnoy
David Portnoy

David Portnoy, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Ruth A. Campbell Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 138
Phone: 361-825-2859
Email: david.portnoy@tamucc.edu
Website: https://marinegenomicslab.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Portnoy is currently an Associate Professor in Marine Biology.

Faculty

Keisha Bahr
Keisha Bahr

Keisha Bahr, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 242
Phone: 361-825-3707
Email: keisha.bahr@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.BahrLab.com



We seek to understand how organisms respond to natural and anthropogenic environmental change.

Chris Bird
Chris Bird

Chris Bird, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

Office: TH 234
Phone: 361-825-6024
Email: chris.bird@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

I am broadly interested in using molecular genomics to advance our understanding of marine species

Kirk Cammarata
Kirk Cammarata

Kirk Cammarata, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

Office: TH 338
Phone: 361-825-2468
Email: kirk.cammarata@tamucc.edu
Website: http://faculty.tamucc.edu/cammarat

    Curriculum Vitae

We study seagrasses and their associated communities as indicators of environmental conditions and change.

Jeremy Conkle
Jeremy Conkle

Jeremy Conkle, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: HRI 104
Phone: 361-825-2862
Email: jeremy.conkle@tamucc.edu
Website: https://c-hawq.org

    Curriculum Vitae

Fate, transport and health (ecosystem and human) impacts of pollutants, particularly emerging contaminants and marine plastics in coastal and marine environments.

Barnabas Daru
Barnabas Daru

Barnabas Daru, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology; Curator of the Ruth O'Brien Herbarium

Office: TH 141
Phone: 361-825-3489
Email: barnabas.daru@tamucc.edu
Website: https://barnabasdaru.com

    Curriculum Vitae

My research has sought to address two main goals that are fundamental to ecology and evolutionary biology of plants.

Donna Devlin

Donna Devlin, Ph.D.

Research Professor

Office: CS 106
Phone: 361-825-3935
Email: donna.devlin@tamucc.edu



Joe Fox
Joe Fox

Joe Fox, Ph.D.

Harte Research Institute Endowed Chair and Full Professor

Office: HRI 210B
Phone: 361-825-2463
Email: joe.fox@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Fox is heavily involved in research development with Marine Resource Development.

Simon Geist
Simon Geist

Simon Geist, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: TH 337
Phone: 361-825-4164
Email: simon.geist@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.facebook.com/geistlarvallab

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr Simon Geist started the Early Life History Research lab in 2015.

Derek Hogan
Derek Hogan

Derek Hogan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: TH 137
Phone: 361-825-5883
Email: james.hogan@tamucc.edu
Website: https://derekhoganresearch.wordpress.com

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Hogan’s research is at the interface of population ecology and conservation biology

Chris Hollenbeck
Chris Hollenbeck

Chris Hollenbeck, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: TH 140
Phone: 361-825-6022
Email: christopher.hollenbeck@tamucc.edu



Dr. Hollenbecks research is focused on using modern genomics.

Xinping Hu
Xinping Hu

Xinping Hu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: SL2 104
Phone: 361-825-3395
Email: xinping.hu@tamucc.edu
Website: http://hulab.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Oceanic carbon cycle; Ocean acidification; Sediment early diagenesis; Carbonate geochemistry; Stable isotope biogeochemistry

Patrick Larkin
Patrick Larkin

Patrick Larkin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Office: CS 203
Phone: 361-825-3258
Email: patrick.larkin@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Plant biochemistry and genetics; fate and metabolism of nutrients and toxins, diversity and dispersal, conservation.

Shawn McCracken
Shawn McCracken

Shawn McCracken, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology

Office: TH 142
Phone: 361-825-3303
Email: shawn.mccracken@tamucc.edu
Website: https:/www.mccrackenlab.com



Dr. McCrackens interests lie in the ecological and evolutionary responses

Paul Montagna
Paul Montagna

Paul Montagna, Ph.D.

Endowed Chair for Ecosystems Studies and Modeling

Office: HRI 210A
Phone: 361-825-2040
Email: paul.montagna@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harteresearchinstitute.org/people/paul-montagna

    Curriculum Vitae

Ecosystem studies with a focus on benthic components, freshwater resources, water quality, ecosystem modeling, and environmental statistics; and integrating natural science with human dimensions research.

Riccardo Mozzachiodi
Riccardo Mozzachiodi

Riccardo Mozzachiodi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office: TH 335
Phone: 361-825-3634
Email: riccardo.mozzachiodi@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Mozzachiodi’s research interest is in behavioral neurophysiology.

Dara Orbach
Dara Orbach

Dara Orbach, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 231
Phone: 361-825-3217
Email: dara.orbach@tamucc.edu
Website: https://daraorbach.weebly.com



The FABEMM! (Functional Anatomy and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals!) lab uses innovative techniques.

Frank Pezold
Frank Pezold

Frank Pezold, Ph.D.

Dean and Life Sciences Professor

Office: CI 372
Phone: 361-825-2349
Email: frank.pezold@tamucc.edu
Website: http://fishlab.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Fish diversity, systematics, ecology and conservation

Jennifer Pollack
Jennifer Pollack

Jennifer Pollack, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Harte Research Institute Endowed Chair

Office: HRI 210A
Phone: 361-825-2041
Email: jennifer.pollack@tamucc.edu
Website: https://www.harteresearchinstitute.org/research/coastal-conservation-restoration

    Curriculum Vitae

In the Coastal Conservation and Restoration group, we provide science-based information.

Ed Proffitt
Ed Proffitt

Ed Proffitt, Ph.D.

Full Professor of Life Sciences

Office: TH 139
Phone: 361-825-2358
Email: ed.proffitt@tamucc.edu
Website: https://edproffitt.wixsite.com/coastal-ecology



The Ed Proffitt & Donna Devlin Coastal Ecology and Genetics lab is focused on ecological consequences of global climate change.

John Scarpa
John Scarpa

John Scarpa, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Aquaculture

Office: TH 339
Phone: 361-825-2369
Email: john.scarpa@tamucc.edu
Website: https://sci.tamucc.edu/departments/life-sciences/fisheries-and-mariculture/index.html

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Scarpa’s current research includes developing oyster mariculture.

Frauke Seemann
Frauke Seemann

Frauke Seemann, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Marine Biomedical Science

Office: TH 332
Phone: 361-825-2683
Email: frauke.seemann@tamucc.edu
Website: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7294-6829



Being a globe trotter (Hong Kong (Postdoc), France (Ph.D. ecotoxicology)) with German roots (M.Sc. marine biology).

Blair Sterba-Boatwright
Blair Sterba-Boatwright

Blair Sterba-Boatwright, Ph.D.

Professor of Mathematics

Email: blair.sterbaboatwright@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Applied statistics (particularly to ecological data), Bayesian statistics

Greg Stunz
Greg Stunz

Greg Stunz, Ph.D.

Professor of Marine Biology and Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health

Office: HRI 311C
Phone: 361-825-3254
Email: greg.stunz@tamucc.edu
Website: http://fisheries.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Marine biology, marine ecology, marine fisheries ecology, fisheries, estuarine ecology, environmental biology

Jeffrey Turner
Jeffrey Turner

Jeffrey Turner, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 240
Phone: 361-825-6206
Email: jeffrey.turner@tamucc.edu
Website: https://turnerlab.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Welcome to the Laboratory for Microbial and Environmental Genomics (micro-omics).

Benjamin Walther
Benjamin Walther

Benjamin Walther, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marine Biology

Office: TH 336
Phone: 361-825-4168
Email: benjamin.walther@tamucc.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/waltherfishlab

    Curriculum Vitae

My lab studies fish migration, trophic interactions and ecosystem processes.

Michael Wetz
Michael Wetz

Michael Wetz, Ph.D.

Professor of Marine Biology and Harte Research Institute Endowed Chair

Office: HRI 316
Phone: 361-825-2132
Email: michael.wetz@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Wetz’s lab is working on several issues related to coastal ecosystem processes.

Kim Withers
Kim Withers

Kim Withers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Interim Director of Center for Coastal Studies

Office: NRC 3205
Phone: 361-825-5907
Email: kim.withers@tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

I have been at Texas A&M University -Corpus Christi for the last 26 years.

Wei Xu
Wei Xu

Wei Xu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Marine Biomedical Science

Office: TH 331
Phone: 361-825-2676
Email: wei.xu@tamucc.edu
Website: https://leh.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

As the Principle Investigator of the Laboratory of Environmental Health (LEH).

Lin Zhang
Lin Zhang

Lin Zhang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: HRI 104
Phone: 361-825-2095
Email: lin.zhang@tamucc.edu
Website: http://zhanglab.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

Compound/Position Specific Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Analysis in Amino Acids and Application in Oceanography and Ecology. Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry of Greenhouse Gases in Alaskan Peatlands.

Paul Zimba
Paul Zimba

Paul Zimba, Ph.D.

Professor and Former Director of the Center for Coastal Studies

Office: NRC 3213
Phone: 361-825-2768
Email: paul.zimba@tamucc.edu
Website: https://ccs.tamucc.edu

    Curriculum Vitae

I have worked in aquatic ecology for over 30 years.