First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Elizabeth,Pierson,Professor,"Dr. Pierson's areas of research include plant-microbe interactions, biological control, and sustainable agriculture. She also conducts research related to zebra chip disease of potato, microbe-insect interactions, and terrestrial plant ecology. She teaches the undergraduate course Garden Science and the graduate course Plant-associated Microorganisms, which is available to students in three different graduate programs. Dr. Pierson is active in graduate education, currently serving as a member of the Horticultural Sciences Graduate Program Committee and the MEPS admissions committee and as the advisor for the Horticulture Graduate Council. She also serves as a chair or member of graduate research committees and provides undergraduate laboratory research experience.",Professor||Adjunct Professor,Plant Pathology and Microbiology||Horticultural Sciences,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n1757e534
Susie,Dai,Associate Professor,"My research group is interested in evaluating environmental hazard substances, their interactions with the environment and species, and biological systems that can degrade and detoxify the pollutants. We have established broad analytical platforms to survey a wide spectrum of natural or man-made toxic chemicals such as mycotoxins, microcystins, agricultural, and industrial chemicals.
We integrate electrocatalysis/photoelectrocatalytic processes and material engineering with biological systems for 1) chemical degradation and 2) energy storage. Meanwhile, our laboratory has built a modern analytical tool suite, which includes mass spectrometry-based platforms for monitoring and surveillance, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry for protein structure dynamics analysis, and gel free mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis. We develop qualitative and quantitative methods for molecular characterizations, protein analysis and proteomics when working in different environmental systems.",Associate Professor,Plant Pathology and Microbiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n27690618
Boqian,Xu,Assistant Professor,"In my research, I delve into the intricate relationship between Ecological Footprint and energy. The Ecological Footprint represents the demand on the Earth's ecosystems, and a significant portion of this demand stems from energy consumption. By focusing on energy efficiency in the design and planning of 'Ecocities', I aim to reduce this demand. This involves creating urban environments that not only consume less energy but also utilize it more efficiently. My goal is to contribute to the Energy Institute's efforts in promoting sustainable energy practices that will ultimately lead to a reduction in our overall Ecological Footprint. This is the essence of my energy-related research interests and experience.",Faculty Affiliate||Assistant Professor,Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning||Energy Institute,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n3370ba0e
Angenette,Spalink,Assistant Professor,"I am a performance studies scholar whose research focuses on ecocriticism, a burgeoning subfield in performance studies that examines the intersections of performance and ecology. Ecocritical approaches to performance are critical because they expose performance practices and human attitudes that result in environmental destruction. Ecocritical approaches can also generate hope by creating new scholarly narratives that are grounded in research and aimed at promoting ecological and social justice. My research examines ecological aspects of theatre and dance as I study productions and performance-making techniques that focus on dirt, plants, fungi, and other ecological matter.",Assistant Professor,Performance Studies,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n47a706b4
Michelle,Lawing,Associate Professor,"Dr. Lawing is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology. She is primarily interested in using methods and models from modern ecology and evolutionary biology combined with evidence from the fossil record to inform our understanding of how species and communities respond to environmental change through time. Her work includes the investigation of geographic, evolutionary, and morphological responses of species and communities to environmental changes in the Late Pleistocene and throughout the Miocene to present. She is involved in developing species distribution models (SDM), geometric morphometric methods (GMM), and phylogenetic comparative methods (PCM). Before becoming an Assistant Professor, Dr. Lawing was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). She earned a PhD double major in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior and in Geological Sciences from Indiana University, Bloomington.",Associate Professor,Ecology and Conservation Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n4d1c74b5
Philip,Matich,Instructional Assistant Professor,"My research focuses on understanding the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that shape the behavior of top predators in coastal ecosystems, and how that affects the role they play in their respective food webs.",Instructional Assistant Professor,Marine Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n65093849
Lee,Fitzgerald,Professor and Curator,"My program is best described as evolutionary ecology and conservation biology of amphibians and reptiles. I use reptiles and amphibians as study systems at the community and landscape level to address the general questions, ""What are mechanisms influencing the fit between organism and environment?"", and ""How do community-level processes influence species persistence and distribution of species across the landscape?"" This program addresses various conservation issues, for example, habitat requirements of single species, determinants of local and regional diversity, or mechanisms determining the fate of invasive and native species.",Professor and Curator,Ecology and Conservation Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n65c121ba
Laura,Jurgens,Assistant Professor,"I study community and ecosystem resilience in coastal oceans and estuaries.My lab works to uncover key processes and interactions that maintain biodiversity and the function of coastal marine ecosystems in the face of multiple stressors. These include increasing climate variability, extreme events, reductions in important species like predators and habitat-formers, and species invasions. Our focus on extreme event ecology includes effects of major storms, heat waves, low-oxygen events, harmful algal blooms, and diseases. We use field and lab experiments, environmental and biodiversity monitoring, data synthesis and theory to investigate these processes in a variety of marine ecosystems, urban and remote, intertidal and subtidal, temperate and tropical. We also help build the science needed to support sustainable invertebrate fisheries. We're especially interested in helping small-scale and traditional fisheries weather the increasing uncertainty of global change.",Assistant Professor,Marine Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n70f0f1e7
Daniel,Roelke,Professor,Why is it that so many microscopic organisms can be found in a single drop of water? And how is it that these minute species can shape entire ecosystems? How might our knowledge of ecological principals governing these microbes be used to protect our living natural resources? Teaching and Research in the Roelke Lab addresses these questions. Understanding lower foodweb dynamics of aquatic ecosystems with an emphasis on interactions between biota and the physicochemical environment is the focus of much of this research.,Professor and Department Head,Marine Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n7db49674
Raul,Medina,Professor,Dr. Medina's research centers around the role that ecological factors play in the population genetics of arthropods. He is particularly interested in the incorporation of evolutionary ecology considerations into pest control practices. His laboratory is currently assessing how species interactions at macroscopic (host-parasite interactions) and microscopic (arthropod microbiomes) levels interact with genetic variation of agricultural pests and arthropod vectors of human disease. His research team is exploring if the same principles governing insect herbivores' adaptation to their hosts translate into arthropod parasites of animals. He is also interested in understanding the factors that make some biotechnology innovations in agriculture controversial in the public sphere.,Professor,Entomology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n807b8d90
Sanjay,Antony Babu,Assistant Professor,"Plants are in constant interactions with a large diversity of microorganisms, that belong to various biological kingdoms including archaea, bacteria, fungi and protista. In nature, these inter-kingdom interactions can be both cooperative and detrimental to the host-plants. My major research focus is to understand the dynamics of inter-kingdom microbiome-interactions and how it affects the crop production. We use cutting-edge culture-independent (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics) and culture-dependent (culturomics) methods combined with computational biology. We especially employ a systematics-based approach, so that we can identify individual organisms involved in these interactions, their biological functions, impacts on neighboring niches, and metabolic activity.
Current research projects
The research has several direct biotechnological applications, and the research in our lab focuses on the following:
1. Develop bioferlitizers/biopesticides: By disentangling the microbial functions that are essential for different growth stages of crop plants, we intend to develop ""soil probiotics"" to improve crop health. In order to achieve this, we study natural ecosystems and wild plants related to crops. The technology developed will be sustainable and environmentally friendly. Our current research focuses on developing microbial inoculum assemblages from teosinte (ancestor of modern maize) and transferring the microbiota to maize to improve pest and pathogen resistance.
2. Pathobiomes of plants: The concept of pathobiome is an emerging field in pathogen biology. In recent times, it has been noted that pathogens do not act alone in natural ecosystems, but along with a mob of other microorganisms. Deciphering the interaction between a plant pathogen and its associated microbiomes is necessary to understand pathogensis and also to design control measures. Research in my lab specifically focusses on mycosphere bacterial microbiota of pathogenic fungi. Our recent research focusses on pathobiomes associated with Fusarium wilt of cotton.
3. Indicators of microbial dysbiosis: Dysbiosis is a microbial imbalance caused by perturbation in an ecosystem or a niche. Plant microbiomes experience dysbiosis during biotic (disease) and abiotic (drought, flooding, heat etc) stress. We study dysbiosis to understand shift in microbial processes, detect stress indicators and design stress alleviation measures including developing microbial inoculum (biofertilizers).",Assistant Professor,Plant Pathology and Microbiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n809679df
Antonio,Rene,Associate Professor,,Associate Professor,Environmental and Occupational Health,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n8911bceb
Morgan,Treadwell,Associate Professor and Extension Specialist,"Dr. Treadwell's primary responsibility is to provide leadership and coordination of extension educational programs by transferring new technology and the latest scientific advances in rangeland ecology and management to landowners, Extension agents, clientele, specialists, youth, and other interested parties throughout District 7 and parts of District 2, 3, and 6. Her primary research objective is to disentangle the mechanisms that drive ecosystem structure and function in order to address important natural resource management issues. The current research interests involve integrated approaches for brush management, prescribed burning, livestock grazing management, population plant ecology, and youth natural resources education.",Associate Professor and Extension Range Specialist,Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n92053e79
Valentini,Pappa,Manager of the Graduate Office,"Agro-environmental science, carbon sequestration, water and energy management, climate change focusing on greenhouse gas measurements and mitigation in agricultural systems. Dr. Pappa makes significant contributions in the environmental sector by combining existing knowledge to improve methodologies and data analysis; and examining crops under different farming systems. Dr. Pappa also focuses on how efficient and integrated management of energy, food and water resources can help address several of the biggest global challenges, such as climate change, economic, environmental and social security, developing an overview of the current integration of energy, food and water. She explores how innovative approaches such as a circular economy may address future challenges.",Program Coordinator I,Biological and Agricultural Engineering,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nad61fbd7
Amanda,Adams,Adjunct Faculty,,Adjunct Faculty||Senior Lecturer,Biology||College of Arts and Sciences,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nad7c1e41
Ty,Werdel,Assistant Professor,"My research interests include the fields of Wildlife Management and Landscape Ecology. This work addresses questions that provide insight into the relationships between wildlife, native environments, and contemporary human-modified landscapes.",Assistant Professor,"Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management||Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences",https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nd1a05b9b
Xuejun,Dong,Associate Professor,"My program focuses on understanding soil-plant water relations and root/shoot processes for crop management in water-limited cropping systems. The leading research areas include (a) understanding plant biotic and abiotic stresses associated with water deficit and plant adaptation processes; (b) analyzing crop systems and developing new technologies to minimize risk, improve productivity and enhance soil quality and water conservation. I am currently serving as a guest-lecturer to a new graduate course, ""Root Biology"", which is cross-listed in MEPS and HORT at Texas A&M, College Station.",Associate Professor||Associate Professor,Uvalde Research and Extension Center||Texas A&M AgriLife Research,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nec170ca9
Genny,Carrillo,Associate Professor,"My research interests include exposure assessment and health outcomes, asthma in children, pediatric diabetes, children's environmental health, and public health disparities. My research is on the Texas-Mexico border.",Associate Professor,Environmental and Occupational Health,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nfcdce654