People    

Photo of Dr. Christopher Marshall

Dr. Christopher Marshall
Director



Dr. Christopher Marshall is the Director of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research. He oversees the research consortium and its activities, the Upper Texas Coast Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network and the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital .





Photo of Theresa Morris

Theresa Morris
Program Coordinator
Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital Manager



Theresa Morris is a Program Assistant with the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research. Her primary duties are sea turtle rehabilitation and water quality control with our new sea turtle hospital. Theresa is also involved in the sea turtle stranding network and educational outreach.





Photo of Paige Breon

Paige Breon
Program Assistant
Nesting Program Manager



Paige oversees our long-term nesting program, the Sea Aggie Sea Turtle Patrol. We patrol 87 miles of beach from the Texas-Louisiana border to Surfside Texas. The mission is to relocate Kemp’s ridley sea turtle eggs, and any sea turtle eggs, to Padre Island National Seashore’s incubation facility where they can be better protected. This program involved 300+ volunteers from the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, Galveston community member, and students from Texas A&M University at Galveston.





Photo of John Arnett

John Arnett
Sea Turtle Technician



John oversees our UTV maintenance, deployment, and fuel supply for the Sea Aggie Sea Turtle Patrol. He is also involved in nesting program training, is a member of nest response team, and participated in all of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research’s Conservation Programs.





Photo of Dr. Khanh To

Dr. Khanh To
Postdoctoral Scientist



Dr. Khanh’s research focuses on the form, function, and evolutionary history of beaks. Her dissertation focused the keratinous beaks of birds. Now she and Dr. Marshall are working on the functional morphology of beaks in sea turtles. Specifically, she is investigating the morphological (attachment styles, crushing surface morphology, foramina patterns) and material property (keratin hardness, thickness, and composition) differences in the rhamphothecae (beaks) between durophagous (crushing) and non-durophagous turtles.





Photo of Madelyn Rupp

Madelyn Rupp
Ph.D. student



Madelyn is leading our in-water sea turtle field team and is interested the movement ecology of Galveston Bay Estuary System sea turtles using satellite and acoustic instrumentation. Her work uses Bayesian State Space Models and GAMMS to understand the drivers of sea turtle movement.





Back to topBack to top

Advisory Board      

Dr. Christopher Marshall, GCSTR Director and Professor of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University

Mary Kay Skoruppa, USFWS Texas Sea Turtle Coordinator, Fish & Wildlife Biologist

Dr. Donna Shaver, NPS, Padre Island National Seashore, Texas Sea Turtle Coordinator (pending)

Dr. Brian Stacy, NOAA Veterinary Officer & Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Dr. Debbie Thomas, Exec. Assoc VP for Acad. Affairs & Chief Academic Officer (TAMUG), Associate Provost (TAMU)




Back to topBack to top

Former Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research Scholars      

Photo of Justin Wilson

Justin Wilson
M.S. student






Photo of Dr. Danielle Ingle

Dr. Danielle Ingle
Postdoctoral Scientist






Back to topBack to top