A message from Interim Dean of Science & Technology
Dr. Jennifer Smith-Engle

A sea-change is a profound transformation, and one is transforming the College of Science and Technology. Dr. Diana Marinez has stepped down as our dean after 11 years. Among her notable impacts, she encouraged College involvement in K-12 science/math education, strengthened faculty research, and enhanced efforts to recruit and mentor underrepresented, economically-disadvantaged students to science and technology careers. A search for a new Dean is underway, and I am serving as Interim Dean.

This Fall an inaugural class began the Ph.D. in Coastal and Marine System Science, which leverages science, math, and technology faculty expertise with newly-hired Harte Research Institute (HRI) Endowed Chairs. We welcome Dr. Thomas Shirley, HRI chair in marine biodiversity and conservation science, also a professor of biology in our college.

Dr. Eugene Billiot received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for junior faculty, the CAREER award to promote undergraduate research participation. Dr. Mario Garcia will explore ethics education in computing through an NSF grant. Dr. Carl Steidley and colleagues are planning a new Ph.D. program in computer science with funding from an NSF Minority Institutional Infrastructure grant. Dr. Alex Sadovski is conference chair for a 2005 international conference on computing in Shanghai, China. Dr. Ian McDonald and students are logging oceanographic research cruises to the frozen Beaufort Sea, offshore British Columbia, southern Caribbean, and northern Gulf of Mexico this year. Dr. Gary Jeffress is resurveying Texas coast benchmarks to improve flood planning.

Congratulations to all our faculty, staff and students on their many achievements. They are an exceptional group, and we are proud of them.