Jay Tarkington led students on an excursion into wetlands.

Students in the University’s Research Ethics and Professionalism class took a close-up look at Roseate spoonbills, herons and other winged coastal inhabitants during a July R/V Wetland Explorer expedition with Jay Tarkington, aquatic education program director. The students participated in a variety of activities while learning about the ecology of Texas bays. Tarkington also discussed the history of Aransas and Redfish bays.

In another outing, the students collected and studied living sea creatures at the Padre Island National Seashore. William “Buzz” Botts, education coordinator for Padre Island National Seashore, led the “Hidden Treasures” exercise where students used shovels, small nets and screens to collect ghost shrimp, small fish, mole crabs and coquina clams.