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Look how far we've come |
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HRI's coming of age |
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The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) started off in
2001 as an idea and a vision when Ed Harte donated $46 million and challenged
world-renowned scientists to "make a difference."
Six years later, HRI's elegant headquarters grace the entrance to
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Inside the HRI's doors, some of the
brightest scientists and researchers in the world are studying the Gulf
of Mexico and hoping that what they learn can help the entire planet.
In the past two years, activity at the HRI has
accelerated. "Until the building was finished we could only talk about what we
were going to do. Now we're actually doing those things," said Dr. Robert
Furgason, HRI's director.
Since its inception, the HRI has:
• Built a state-of-the-art facility at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
• Hired senior staff in several key programs
• Hired three endowed chairs to lead three of six research programs, with plans
to hire a fourth this summer
• Hired NOAA's former chief scientist and well-known author and speaker Dr. Sylvia Earle as program coordinator
• Appointed 16 research assistants and associates to work in the field and in the
HRI's high-tech laboratories.
• Became licensed to travel to Cuba
• Awarded two grants for work in Cuba
• Co-sponsored three underwater expeditions
• Organized the
State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit in March 2006
which brought together scientists from many nations to develop an
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international perspective on issues related to the Gulf of Mexico
• Created GulfBase information database
• Received a 1st place
Gulf Guardian Award in the Bi-National Category for the HRI's online database,
GulfBase.org
• Sent team to the Rio Grande Valley to conduct Gulf of Mexico
socioeconomic surveys
• Generated $1.2 million in external grants
• Prepared $1.7 million in new proposals
• Chosen as NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center
participant and hosted related meeting September 2006
• Hosted National Census of Marine Life meeting in November 2006
• Hosted Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean Workshop on Invasive Species with
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Feb 2007
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Student in new HRI lab; Ed Harte, Texas
Gov. Rick Perry and Dr. Sylvia Earle at Gulf of Mexico
Summit 2006; governors from Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Texas and Louisiana at
Summit 2006 |
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© 2007 Harte Research Institute
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