Author: Cameron Castilaw
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Understanding Matagorda Bay
The Texas coast is known for its seven major bays and five minor estuaries that boast incredibly diverse wildlife and aquatic species and draw tourists from around the country. From popular swim spots like Galveston Bay to world-renowned fishing destinations like Baffin Bay, the variety and beauty of Texas bays have long been known. Tucked…
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Water quality monitoring during an eclipse
TWRI Research Associate Amanda Tague at Deer Creek during the total eclipse. (Photo by Cameron Castilaw, TWRI) Texas experienced a total solar eclipse for the first time in decades on April 8. A few members of the Texas Water Resources Institute water team got a unique view of the event while conducting regular water quality…
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TWRI celebrates Texas Soil and Water Stewardship Week
Texas Water Resources Institute has partnered with the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) and the Association of Texas Soil & Water Conservation Districts to highlight Soil and Water Stewardship Week and the importance of voluntary land stewardship in Texas. The statewide campaign is April 28 through May 5, 2024, and the focus…
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Meet TWRI’s newest staff members
The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) continues to grow in the new year with four additional staff members joining the team. Marisa Collura Marisa Collura began in late January, and is a program specialist II, leading and supporting various watershed management programs on a statewide basis. Also part of the monitoring team, she gathers and assesses…
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New internship program connects Aggies with hands-on water science
Students at Texas A&M University are gaining professional research field work experience thanks to a new water internship program by the Texas Water Resources Institute and Texas A&M’s College of Arts and Sciences. “The goal is for these students to get hands-on experience. They get to go out and collect surface water quality data, flow…
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Meet a scientist: Shankar Chellam
Shankar Chellam, Ph.D., will admit that education was not the highest on his priority list growing up. Not “a dummy in the field,” as he describes himself at cricket, he attended college on an athletic scholarship. It was there that he found an interest in science that would take his life on paths he had…
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New staff join TWRI team
Matt Stellbauer, Christine Fernandez and Dean Minchillo. (Photos by Ed Rhodes, TWRI.) The new year has brought some new staff and returning faces to the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI). Christine Fernandez Christine Fernandez joined TWRI’s business team in late 2023. As a business administrator for the institute, Fernandez manages a range of business activities, including…
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New research quantifies how much ag best practices help protect water quality
TWRI staff install a water quality sampler station for this research project in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Lucas Gregory, TWRI.) Do best management practices actually work? Sure, they sound nice, but can small land management changes really improve waterways for everyone? Yes, says recently published research co-authored by the Texas Water Resources Institute’s Lucas Gregory, Ph.D., Jason Gerlich, Ed Rhodes and Stephanie…
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Exploration Green shows stormwater management possibilities
Texas Water Resources Institute held its semi-annual Texas Watershed Coordinator Roundtable in Houston Oct. 9-10. The two-day tour and roundtable is part of the Watershed Planning Short Course program and brings together watershed coordinators and other water resource professionals from across the state. This roundtable’s focus was the Houston area. The largest city in Texas, Houston serves…
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New research aims to connect a continent
For the vast and diverse continent of Africa, communication can be a challenge. Between Africa’s 54 independent countries and over 2,000 unique spoken languages, it is not uncommon for one region or one water body to be known by a plethora of different names depending on who and where you ask. This causes issues for…
