houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
after serving as executive associate dean and associate dean for research in the texas a&m university college of geosciences for the past nine years dr jack baldauf has been named senior associate vice president for research and is now located in the texas a&m division of research in this role jack will provide leadership for our international programs space and environmental initiatives faculty development and recognition and strategic research planning said dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m before serving in his most recent position as college of geosciences executive associate dean and associate dean for research baldauf served in several roles including deputy director and manager of science operations for the integrated ocean drilling program and the ocean drilling program (now the international ocean discovery program) dr baldaufs gift for building teams and his talent for establishing interdisciplinary connections has elevated the entire research enterprise of the college and has led to major research initiatives across campus said dr debbie thomas dean of the college of geosciences we are exceedingly grateful for his energy vision and follow through and we are exceptionally proud that his talents are broadly recognized by campus leadership and throughout the geosciences community dr ping yang professor of atmospheric sciences and holder of the david bullock harris chair in geosciences will serve as the college of geosciences interim associate dean for research through april 30 2020 dr yangs superlative record of scholarship combined with his deep experience previously serving the college as department head of atmospheric sciences will be invaluable to us all and we are exceedingly grateful for his leadership thomas said a search advisory committee will conduct an internal search for the next associate dean for research in the spring of 2020 by leslie lee 09
dive team taking measurements in the waters off of antarctica photo by andrew klein
research in the antarctic is never an easy prospect; considerable preparation and planning are required for an excursion to the farthest reaches of the southern hemisphere for the sake of science though one aggie professor has taken on the challenges of the antarctic numerous times completing his 18th trip to antarctica earlier this year dr andrew klein eog teaching professor in the department of geography at texas a&m university sailed on a national science foundation-funded research excursion to the southern ocean from mid-april to early june the joint expedition to the antarctic was in consortium with dr charles amsler and dr jim mcclintock from the university of alabama at birmingham; dr katrin iken from the university of alaska fairbanks; and dr aaron galloway from the university of oregon
researchers cataloging specimens aboard the research vessel (photo by andrew klein)
the focus of the trip was to look at spatial variation in the composition of macroalgal communities along the western antarctic peninsula region from the palmer research station to south of the rothera research station there have been a few prior studies around rothera station and a couple other places in the region but not really any comprehensive investigation of the macroalgal communities along the southwestern antarctic peninsula klein said
one of the primary objectives of the mission was to understand what the controls are on macroalgae along the antarctic peninsula prior to the start of the expedition the hypothesis was that sea ice extent acts as a control on macroalgae off the peninsula since sea ice generally affects subsurface light with so little known about the study region there was also a need to identify what species of algae grow off the western antarctic peninsula and the macro-invertebrates that feed on that algae to study the algae at the different sites the research team performed a series of dives at each site during the dives vertical video transects were taken to identify what species of algae were present at that location in addition to the video transects specimens were collected at each site the hours of video recordings and specimen collection provided researchers with plenty of follow-up research to complete once they returned to the mainland for some of the dive sites it is believed that their team were the first to ever dive at the chosen locations while klein did not personally dive he performed role of dive tender the surface member of the diving team that makes sure to watch over the divers during a dive
diver getting hosed off after a dive (photo by julie schram)seals swimming with the dive boat (photo by andrew klein)
remote sensing in the antarctic with an expertise in remote sensing klein played an integral role in determining potential dive sites that the research team could investigate once out on the expedition we did an initial site selection of about 39 or 40 sites we might want to go to klein said then i got high resolution at ½ meter resolution where we could actually focus in on individual dive sites the team sampled 15 dive sites on the expedition the range of study sites between 64° south and 69° south provided researchers with different light conditions to study the macroalgae and gave a sense for how the different species of algae change with different amounts of light as part of the project klein developed time series datasets that represent sea ice extent in the study region since a central goal of the project was to understand the extent to which sea ice is playing a role in macroalgal communities it was key that they have accurate data showing the sea ice extent over the last ten years one of the problems is that most of the climatologies we have of sea ice are based on passive microwave where it works well in the open ocean but not so well in coastal areas he said im developing some alternate time series for the past ten years because it turns out that macroalgae generally lives ten years or so
a research cruise to remember with 17 trips to the antarctic under his belt kleins 18th trip to the antarctic turned out to be the most exhilarating one yet to be able to dive at sites that in many cases may have never been dived at before klein said within the united states antarctic program most of the work on diving has really been limited to within small boating distances of palmer station very seldom do you have a research vessel where you are driving the agenda while being at sea for two months in the antarctic on a research vessel can be rather arduous work klein said that it is a unique opportunity and privilege to be able to go on a two-month cruise to the antarctic the team had numerous wildlife sightings including with seals penguins and whales while the cruise itself is finished there is still much work to be done many of the specimens gathered on the cruise still need to be analyzed and further work on the sea ice datasets that klein has constructed is still needed by rhett douris
nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraft (all photos courtesy of lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha)otrec team analyzing the hrc dataset on the nsf/ncar gulfstream-v aircraft
lidia huaman-chuquihuaccha a doctoral student in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university took part in a field campaign in costa rica from august 5 to sept 30 that aimed to collect a variety of observations that would help determine the form of convection occurring in the tropical east pacific and southwestern caribbean sea the two regions despite their close proximity exhibit quite different atmospheric conditions that give rise to very different forms of convection the tropical disturbances and their interaction with land surface and topography were also studied the organization of tropical east pacific convection (otrec) 2019 field campaign is led by the national center for atmospheric research (ncar) and the national science foundation (nsf) "otrec is my first field campaign and i have been involved with the aircraft and land-based dataset " she said "i flew on the ncar g-v aircraft from liberia airport and launched radiosondes in santa cruz and limon i interacted with professors and graduate students from different universities and i led weather and paper discussions with them"
the hcr attached to the ncar g-v aircraft is the large white wing-mounted podsetting up the radiosonde receiver before launching a radiosonde in santa cruz ne costa ricaradiosonde launch in limon sw costa rica
past field campaigns have investigated tropical deep convection in the east pacific (epic2001 and ecac) during active convective phases and the asian regional pacific (tparc/tcs08 and predict) during periods of active tropical cyclone development to gain insight into the atmospheric circulation in the east tropical pacific or how tropical deep convection can develop into tropical cyclones this field campaign made use of the ncar/nsf gulfstream-v aircraft to take measurements of the tropical environment in the southwest caribbean sea and the tropical pacific south and west of panama the aircraft deploys patterns of dropsondes and measures profiles of radar reflectivity and doppler velocity from the hiaper cloud radar (hcr) otrec also includes portable radisonde stations in costa rica and colombia and gps precipitable water instruments that measure the atmospheric moisture content from the analysis of temporal delay with the gps signal rainwater samples are also collected to analyze the oxygen isotope ratio and determine the stratiform and convective precipitation fraction the aircraft and land-based dataset complement each other and will help to increase our understanding of tropical convection in the east pacific and the interaction of tropical easterly waves with land surface and topography the otrec dataset will be used in her phd research huaman-chuquihuaccha said and it will help answer some questions about convection in the east pacific intertropical convergence zone by david coates
this summer texas a&m university college of geosciences student lance belobrajdic 21 was one of nine selected students to join the national aeronautics and space administration (nasa) pathways pilot program belobrajdic is currently an undergraduate student in the department of atmospheric sciences as well as a graduate student in the department of oceanography through the master of ocean science and technology (most) program belobrajdic is a military veteran and was named a 2018 tillman scholar
lance belobrajdic in the hindu kush mountains in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force)lance belobrajdic deploying a river drifter hydrology sensor in afghanistan in 2013 (photo courtesy of the us air force)
the nasa pathways program was designed to hire interns with interdisciplinary academic and career interests to provide opportunities to work and explore careers during their academic year this summer the program expanded a new multi-center track to rotate students around the human space flight centers throughout their internships instead of a traditional internship that was stationary at one nasa center this track allows student to gain hands-on experience in diverse and mission-focused team environments and to explore the three nasa centers: marshall space flight center kennedy space center and johnson space center my interest and journey toward nasa started when i was in the military he said belobrajdic enlisted in the air force in 2006 and served in the special operations weather team (sowt) as an environmental reconnaissance unit we went out places where there was no environmental sensor or data and collected those for aircraft operations said belobrajdic through that training and fieldwork i got tied into atmospheric and environmental data and became interested in the science field after military service belobrajdic became curious in where meteorologists work at nasa and researched career pathways at nasa and found the pathways program belobrajdic started his rotation on may 28 at the kennedy space center (ksc) along with two other interns
nasa pathway interns at the kennedy space center: stephen grabowski from purdue university mckynzie perry from university of alabama at huntsville and lance belobrajdic (from left to right) (photo courtesy of stephen mcconnell nasa)lance belobrajdic (2018 awardee) and blaze belobrajdic (2019 awardee) who is belobrajdics brother and currently a texas a&m engineering student at the pat tillman leadership summit (photo courtesy of the pat tillman foundation)
during the summer at ksc belobrajdic participated in diverse projects the first project focused on the environmental control and life support system (eclss) which provides the atmosphere of a space capsule including pressure heat control and water the second project was measuring in situ sea surface temperature near the space center to provide better climate forecasts for launching rockets belobrajdic investigated different in situ temperature sensors compared to satellite sensor measurements lastly belobrajdic worked with the tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) to test its efficiency and accuracy on measuring upper atmosphere layer wind speed
nasa ksc apollo 50th anniversary (photo courtesy of nasa interns)nasa ksc tropospheric doppler radar wind profiler (tdrwp) antenna farm (photo courtesy of nasa)
it was an awesome experience this summer said belobrajdic i cannot wait for my next internship at the other two space centers next year i want to thank dr don conlee and dr chrissy wiederwohl who are my most advisors at texas a&m university he said also thanks to dr lisa huddleston at nasa who guided me into this career pathway and dr katherine rice and dr kristin smith both meteorologists at ksc who i worked with primarily for more information about the program visit the nasa pathways intern program webpage learn more about the master of ocean science and technology program by bumsoo kim
iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with vice president barteau and president young (photo by tim fulton iodp jrso)
the joides resolution is a ship operated like no other a drillship operated solely for the scientific research of the international ocean discovery program (iodp) the joides has circumnavigated the globe many times over and is capable of drilling six miles beneath the ocean surface all while serving as an international hub of unparalleled geoscience research data and collaboration and its operated and managed by texas a&m university through the college of geosciences after more than 10 years without a port call in the united states the busy joides resolution docked in san diego sept 15-22 providing a rare opportunity for non-expedition-members to tour the ship in-person and a delegation from aggieland leapt at the chance to step aboard the delegation included texas a&m president michael k young vice president for research dr mark a barteau vice president for government relations and strategic initiatives michael oquinn assistant vice president for government relations michael j hardy joy monroe manager of development operations in the office of the president dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas chair of the college of geosciences advisory council jill urban-karr iodp director dr brad clement hosted the delegations tour through the vessel sept 17 i want to express my gratitude to the many talented staff members – aboard the ship and here on campus – who work tirelessly to keep the spirit of exploration and discovery alive at texas a&m young said exploration and discovery is always a team effort and i would like to thank the many aggies who warmly welcomed us in san diego the joides resolution drills into the ocean floor to collect and study core samples and scientists use data from the ships expeditions to better understand climate change geology and earths history texas a&m has served as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) since 1985 it was such a thrill to be able to showcase some of the incredible science that only the jr can achieve thomas said it was truly amazing to see the jrso team at work during the san diego port call congratulations to dr brad clement for his exceptional leadership of the entire jrso team earlier this year the national science foundation (nsf) extended funding for texas a&m to serve as the science operator of the joides as a facility of iodp through sept 30 2024 the new agreement totaled more than $350 million over 5 years and is the largest federal research award currently managed by texas a&m the joides resolution is owned by siem offshores subsidiary overseas drilling ltd (odl) which has extended the ships charter contract with the texas a&m research foundation through sept 30 2024
texas a&m geosciences dean thomas and vice president barteau aboard the joides resolution (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)iodp jrso director brad clement conducts a tour with the texas a&m delegation including geosciences dean thomas and president michael young (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)
the joides resolution at sunset at the dock in san diego (photo by: tobias höfig iodp jrso/)the joides resolution crew pulls the lines aboard at the departure from san diego (photo by: tim fulton iodp jrso)
the upcoming expedition to the guaymas basin will advance our understanding of the limits of life in extreme environments to the processes that form ocean basins to the impact of tectonic events on global climate thomas said one of iodps three main ocean sediment core repositories is housed in the iodp facility on the texas a&m campus as well as the technical support research and publication staff of the jrso the jrso is responsible for overseeing the science operations of the joides resolution archiving the scientific data and samples and logs that are collected and producing and disseminating program publications beginning in january 2020 thomas will sail on the joides resolution for two months as she serves as co-chief scientist for expedition 378: south pacific paleogene climate which will investigate the record of cenozoic climate and oceanography through a drilling transect in the far southern pacific ocean by leslie lee '09
julia reece named montague-center for teaching excellence scholarthe geology and geophysics assistant professor was awarded the prestigious award for impactful teachingoct 1 2019dr julia reecedr julia reece assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was named the 2019 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence (cte) dr reece has earned her reputation as one of our best classroom instructors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head even for her students in large classes she has developed field trips hands-on activities and demonstrations to help students learn students appreciate how well-prepared and organized she is and that she shows passion for the subjects she teaches equally important students know that dr reece cares about them as individuals and works hard to help them succeed for the past 28 years each texas a&m academic college annually selects one tenure-track assistant professor to receive the prestigious montague-center for teaching excellence (mcte) scholar award the awardee is selected based on their ability commitment and interest in teaching undergraduates each montague-cte scholar receives a $6 500 grant to research and develop innovative teaching techniques the outcomes of these teaching developments continue to benefit the educational community by being made available to other texas a&m faculty through the cte the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program started in 1991 and is named for the founding donor kenneth montague 37 the mcte program supports the endeavors of the cte to provide leadership and services that contribute to the improvement of teaching at texas a&m the center for teaching excellence exists to support the educational mission of texas a&m university through evidence-based professional development opportunities for both faculty and student success by ali snell
dr julia reece assistant professor in the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics was named the 2019 montague-center for teaching excellence scholar for the college of geosciences by the texas a&m center for teaching excellence (cte) dr reece has earned her reputation as one of our best classroom instructors said dr julie newman geology and geophysics department head even for her students in large classes she has developed field trips hands-on activities and demonstrations to help students learn students appreciate how well-prepared and organized she is and that she shows passion for the subjects she teaches equally important students know that dr reece cares about them as individuals and works hard to help them succeed for the past 28 years each texas a&m academic college annually selects one tenure-track assistant professor to receive the prestigious montague-center for teaching excellence (mcte) scholar award the awardee is selected based on their ability commitment and interest in teaching undergraduates each montague-cte scholar receives a $6 500 grant to research and develop innovative teaching techniques the outcomes of these teaching developments continue to benefit the educational community by being made available to other texas a&m faculty through the cte the montague-center for teaching excellence scholars program started in 1991 and is named for the founding donor kenneth montague 37 the mcte program supports the endeavors of the cte to provide leadership and services that contribute to the improvement of teaching at texas a&m the center for teaching excellence exists to support the educational mission of texas a&m university through evidence-based professional development opportunities for both faculty and student success by ali snell
the loess plateau in central china researchers analyzed soil carbonates from the plateau to quantify ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (photo courtesy of jiawei da nanjing university)