Dr. Shirley Honored for Participation in Partnership Program

Dr. Thomas Shirley, endowed chair for biodiversity and conservation science at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, was honored by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program for his part in an expedition to explore World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico, during the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST) meeting May 17 in Washington, D.C.

Shirley, who has served as principal investigator on numerous manned submersible research projects, joined with scientists from the Mineral Management Service (MMS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to explore six sunken ships in the Gulf of Mexico to determine the potential of deep water oil and gas structures to create suitable habitat for marine life.

The team’s research resulted in a report titled “Deepwater Program: The Archaeological and Biological Analysis of World War II shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico; A Pilot Study of the Artificial Reef Effect in Deepwater." Shirley was joined on the expedition by doctoral student Aaron Baldwin, now an assistant professor at Sheldon Jackson University in Sitka, Alaska.

Graduate student Morgan Kilour, who received her master’s degree in biology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s spring commencement, assisted Shirley with his research.