June 2007 - 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.
