Welcome to SERF
The Shoreline Environmental Research Facility (SERF), located in Corpus Christi, Texas,
is a research facility affiliated with the Civil Engineering Department of Texas A&M
University (College Station, TX). SERF is a multi-million dollar complex comprised of
multiple wave tanks, on-site laboratories, a machine shop, and office space. The research
infrastructure also includes several high-frequency (HF) radar sites situated along the
Texas coast as well as multiple real-time monitoring stations in Corpus Christi Bay.
The research activities at SERF focus on the study of coastal environments and the
processes controlling contaminant fate, effects and remediation.
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General Information Mission Statement About the Facility Institutions and Contacts Site Description Directions Personnel Telephone Directory Administrative Links |
Contact Information Shoreline Environmental Research Facility 4305 Waldron Road Corpus Christi, TX 78418 Fax: (361) 937-1348 Admin and Control Building: (361) 937-2677 Deployment Building and Control Building: (361) 937-2689 |
SERF News
October 3, 2005
Researcher Desiree Trujillo attended the
Oceans 2005 Conference as an
exhibitor for the Office of Naval Research (ONR),
demonstrating a
CyberCollaboratory prototype for the CLEANER community.
The CyberCollaboratory is a joint project of the
University of Illinois and
Texas A&M University, funded by the
National Science
Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, through
TRECC. TRECC is a program of the University of Illinois, administered by NCSA.
For an online demonstration of the CLEANER CyberCollaboratory, along with further information on CLEANER, visit
http://cleaner.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.
September 2005
The National Science Foundation’s
newly-minted CLEANER Project Office (funded by
the National Science Foundation) recently hosted a workshop in Washington DC
(Sept 21-22, 2005). SERF Director
Dr. Jim Bonner presented the CLEANER Planning
Grant for the coastal margin, which he is also a Principal Investigator.
July 2005
SERF Director
Dr. James Bonner
attended the inaugural biennial Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors’ (AEESP)
Research and Education Conference July 23 – July 27, hosted by Clarkson University.
Dr. Bonner gave two presentations during the conference; one oriented to Engineering Education
(an NSF-funded project at Texas A&M University) and the other presentation was
CLEANER oriented.
The conference drew researchers, professors and students representing more
than 70 universities and five countries together to explore advances in environmental
education and research. Learn more about the AEESP by visiting their website at
http://www.aeesp.org/.
June 8, 2005
During the week of May 24th, SERF Researcher
Desiree Trujillo participated in Fleet Week in NYC, NY.
Ms. Trujillo and colleagues
at the
University of Illinois, demonstrated SERF's High-Frequency Radar
data visualizations within a collaborative web portal being developed as
part of the CLEANER initiative to various media,
including writers from Scientific American and
Wired, as well as to Captain John Kamp,
Assistant Chief of Naval Research for the
Office of Naval Research (ONR).
These demonstrations took place aboard the ONR’s Alfloat Lab (see photo).
May 17, 2005
This week Dr. James Bonner and
Ms. Desiree Trujillo are attending the
2005 International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC)
in Miami Beach, Florida.
Dr. Bonner will be presenting a
research poster on SERF's recently developed system (BUBA), which merges data from both a GPS and a Fluorometer into a single file and presents it real-time as a color-coded ship track. Ms. Trujillo is presenting her poster
on SERF's system for data collection, storage and (web) visualization.
December 17, 2004
SERF Director Dr. James Bonner was a co-organizer of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Workshop:
Sensors for Environmental Observatories in late November. The
objectives of this workshop were to:
- Map out strategies to ensure sensor technologies are developed for long-term autonomous deployment;
- Build a sensor capacity for the environmental observational networks for the high priority parameters identified within research community reports;
- Build a multidisciplinary community of researchers who will help interested federal agencies develop research plans that meet these needs; and
- Provide community guidance to help shape future NSF program announcements in this area.
This week Desiree Trujillo, a Research Associate at SERF, is participating in the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) in Anchorage, Alaska, where she is presenting her research and resulting paper, Accuracy of Surface Current Velocity Measurements Obtained from HF Radar in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas.
July 1, 2004
The Shoreline Environmental Research Facility Director of Operations, Frank Kelly, is attending a workshop/symposium on "Coastal Ecosystems of the Gulf" in Veracruz, Mexico this week. The workshop focuses on the integration of research groups in various disciplines studying the Gulf of Mexico. Visit the workshop website here to learn more.
May 20, 2004
SERF and University Outreach: Helping Students Explore Career OpportunitiesMr. Mark Beaman, Geologist and Research Associate for the Shoreline Environmental Research Facility at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, conducted presentations for University Outreach students this school year at area high schools. He spoke about the wonderful and exciting career opportunities for students interested in Geology. His presentations centered on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and how they are used to survey the Earth to collect information for research and projects. Students were shown aerial photographs of the Corpus Christi area as well as Land Sat Imagery of Texas.
For more information about the GIS Program at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi contact Mark Beaman.
March 12, 2004
The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project at SERF will begin field sampling again starting the week of March 15, 2004. Teams will be deployed weekly through the end of August 2004. The TMDL field teams will be sampling streams in South and Central Texas that are impaired for Dissolved Oxygen, Bacteria, or both. The teams will be taking routine water samples as well as bacterial samples and 24hr dissolved oxygen measurements at each stream location.
February 20, 2004
SERF/TEES-CC expands HF Radar coverage along the Texas Coast. To read more about the HF Radar project visit the
project page.
Click thumbnail to enlarge image of coverage area (opens in a new window).