texas sea grant awards $17 million in research to support texas coastfeb 14 2018the texas sea grant college program at texas a&m university is announcing new grants totaling $17 million for seven two-year research projects at universities around the state to support coastal and marine ecosystems communities and economies following a competitive and rigorous peer-review process we have selected the seven best research projects that will advance knowledge integrate research and extension and result in broader impacts that benefit society said dr pamela t plotkin director of texas sea grant these research investments will generate substantial social economic and environmental impacts help develop the workforce and contribute to the sustainability of texas natural and built environments awards for the 2018- 2020 period are: the effects of shifting coastal wetland plant communities on the food webs that support coastal living resources dr anna armitage department of marine biology texas a&m university at galveston; influence of floods and droughts on particulate organic matter quality in a subtropical estuary texas dr amber hardison department of marine science college of natural sciences the university of texas at austin marine science institute; predicting salinity and temperature dynamics in copano bay texas dr robert hetland department of oceanography college of geosciences texas a&m university; resilient adaptation of interdependent built ecological and governance systems to sea-level rise impacts in texas coastal communities dr ali mostafavi department of civil engineering college of engineering texas a&m university; evaluating the relative habitat value of intertidal and subtidal oyster reefs to improve restoration methods dr jennifer pollack department of life sciences college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; development of in situ oyster setting for stock enhancement and restoration purposes in texas dr john scarpa department of life sciences college of science and engineering texas a&m university-corpus christi; and green infrastructure plans for flood and storm water hazards reduction in the texas coastal region dr shannon van zandt department of landscape architecture and urban planning college of architecture texas a&m university the overarching goals of texas sea grants research program are to support outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural physical social behavioral and economic sciences and engineering and to make research investments that will generate substantial positive impacts for the people economy and ecosystems of texas projects must also fit within one of the programs four focus areas: resilient communities and economies sustainable fisheries and aquaculture healthy coastal ecosystems and stem (science technology engineering and math) education and workforce development a partnership of the state of texas and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration texas sea grant conducts a competitive research grant program every two years that draws on the expertise of the states top scientists the programs coastal extension agents and specialists working in the field translate and communicate research results to stakeholders to meet the real-world needs of texans for more information contact dr pamela t plotkin texas sea grant director at plotkin@tamuedu or 979-845-3902 by cindie powell