PEOPLE
Faculty
Philippe E. Tissot, Ph.D.
Dr. Tissot is a co-PI for AI2ES. He is the Conrad Blucher Institute Chair for Coastal Artificial Intelligence and an Associate Research Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Dr. Tissot’s research focuses on the development and operational application of AI methods for analysis and prediction of coastal processes. Projects include developing operational predictions for navigation, contributions to coastal conservation and emergency management, and work on relative sea level rise and coastal flooding. Dr. Tissot earned a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, and a Diploma in Physics Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne.
Michael Starek, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael J. Starek is an Associate Professor in Geospatial Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), Chief Scientist and Director of the Measurement Analytics (MANTIS) Lab with the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science. Dr. Starek holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and was formerly a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow of the U.S. Army Research Office in affiliation with North Carolina State University. His research focuses on the merging of geomatics, remote sensing, and geospatial computing for precise measurement and analysis of natural and built systems. Dr. Starek is contributing his experience of precise spatial measurements of the coastal environment and his experience in applying AI to such problems to the Coastal AI research component of the institute.
Scott King, Ph.D.
Dr. King is a Professor of Computer Science at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi and Director of Innovation in COmputing REsearch Labs (iCORE). His research interests are in coastal AI, smart environments, visualization and autonomous vehicles. Scott A. King received his PhD in Computer and Information Science from The Ohio State University in 2001, he also has an MS in Computer and Information Science from Ohio State, and a BS in Computer Science from Utah State University. He is a member of IEEE and ACM.
Anthony Medrano, Ph.D.
Dr. Medrano is an Assistant Professor in the Conrad Blucher Institute and the Department of Computing Sciences at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. Dr. Medrano works on spatial optimization, and is interested in using artificial intelligence to solve computationally demanding location problems. Dr. Medrano earned his PhD in Computational Geography from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), his Master’s in Multimedia Engineering also from UCSB, and his B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College.
Graduate Research
Evan Krell
PhD Research Assistant
Evan Krell is a Geospatial Computer Science PhD student at Texas A & M University – Corpus Christi, where he has previously received an MS in Computer Science. His research interests are in autonomous marine vehicles (mission planning and onboard computer vision), coastal AI applications, and explainable AI. Projects include using metaheuristics and deep learning for efficient marine route planning, onboard classification of turbid underwater imagery for data-driven sampling and developing XAI techniques to explain models whose inputs are rasters with hundreds of highly correlated channels.
José Congo
Ph.D. Research Assistant
José is a Ph.D. student in the Geospatial Computing Science program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, under Dr. Michael Starek. He has research experience in UAS Photogrammetry and GNSS techniques for georeferencing UAS imagery.
Marina Vicens-Miquel
PhD Research Assistant
Marina Vicens-Miquel is a Geospatial Computer Science PhD Student at Texas A & M University – Corpus Christi under Dr. Medrano. Marina’s research focuses on using AI techniques to solve Geospatial computer science problems, typically using UAV Imagery. She had worked in flood detection from UAVs using recurrent neural networks (RNN), and UAV damage assessment using deep learning. She is currently working on wet / dry shoreline geo-detection by applying deep learning analysis to UAV Imagery. Prior to starting her PhD, Marina earned a double major BS in Computer Science and Mathematics and competed on the TAMUCC NCAA Women ‘s Tennis team.
Miranda White
PhD Research Assistant
Miranda White is a Coastal and Marine System Science PhD student at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Her research focuses on assessing and communicating variability, uncertainty, and trustworthiness of an AI coastal model that predicts cold temperatures in the local lagoon. She is working collaboratively with NCAR and TAMUCC AI scientists and local stakeholders to improve stakeholder decision-making concerning sea turtle and fisheries conservation efforts during extreme cold events. Miranda earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Integrated Environmental Science at Bethune-Cookman University.
Undergraduate Research
Chantey Baca
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Chantey Baca is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physics and computer science with a focus on systems programming. She has been responsible for uploading, maintaining, and compiling the TCOON files into the digital library for anyone to access and utilize
Katie Colburn
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Katie Colburn is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. Katie works on drawing wet/ dry lines on images of the beach which will be used to program an AI to predict beach inundation. She also does work with historical images including scanning and cataloging coastal imagery. In the winter you can find her volunteering with Padre Island National Seashore to help cold-stunned turtles as another part of her job at CBI.
Christian Duff
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Christian Duff is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, pursuing a bachelor degree in Computer Science.
His research focuses on the prediction of water temperature using artificial neural networks for cold stunning events
Beto Estrada Jr.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Beto Estrada Jr is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a focus on information systems. He also has a minor in atmospheric science. His research focuses on manipulating real-time Coastal Bend ocean conditions and prediction data and visualizing them through interactive charts for stakeholders to utilize.
Matthew Kastl
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Matthew Kastl is an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the Conrad Blucher Insititute located at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. He is currently working towards a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Matthew’s contributions consist of helping to construct a camera array and data collection system. Using Sterio Vision Technology the array will be used to collect elevation information about a shoreline to later be used for AI training.
Ashley Marines
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ashley Marines is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Physics, minor in Computer Science, and minor in Mathematics. A student at Del Mar College transferring to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in Fall 2022. This summer, she is undertaking a group project as an intern with the AI2ES, which is taking part in the 2022 NSF REU program on applied computing research. Her current focus is prediction of water levels using artificial neural networks.
Hector Marrero
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Hector Marrero is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He works with new interactive touch screens that are being used in the hybrid work environment while learning about how to apply artificial intelligence methods to the environment through the AI2ES online content.
Anointiyae Beasley
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Anointiyae Beasley is a Computer Science major who will be transferring to TAMU-CC in 2023. She enjoys playing games and expanding her knowledge of the field during her free time. She has been a part of AI2ES since 2022 and looks forward to the new projects to come!
Raven Reese
Research Program Assistant I
Raven Reese is a research program assistant specializing in social media management for the AI2ES program at the Conrad Blucher Institute. Raven graduated from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, earning B.A. in English with minors in Creative Writing and Women and Gender Studies. She works to document events and research projects conducted by CBI AI2ES and communicate important developments in their work across social media platforms. She also operates as a primary editor for the AI2ES monthly newsletter. Outside of managing AI2ES outreach in the Gulf Coast, Raven is an assistant managing editor for the Windward Review, a student-led South Texas literary journal.
Savannah Stephenson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Savannah Stephenson is an undergraduate research assistant at the Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Savannah has not found a focus for her research yet but has interests in machine learning. When not at school or work Savannah enjoys analyzing popular media and writing fiction stories