Research Resources

Research and Creative Activity Resources

Listed below are various research and creative activity units at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, some of which provide opportunities for graduate student training.

Antonio E. Garcia Arts & Education Center

The Garcia Center is located in a primarily low-income Hispanic neighborhood in the heart of Corpus Christi’s West Side. It was established in 1993 by the City of Corpus Christi as a Center for Hispanic Arts and became affiliated with The South Texas Institute for the Arts in 1997. In 2004, the College of Education and Human Development of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi assumed the management and direction of the city-owned facility and expanded its mission. The mission of the Garcia Center is to provide students and their families opportunities for constructive engagement in activities that enhance their education and promote lifelong learning. With the help of local, state, and federal funding coupled with the efforts of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faculty, staff, and students, the Garcia Center provides a safe environment for children to participate in a myriad of after-school and summer programs. Program focus areas include academic achievement, health and wellness, art, literacy, and counseling.

Blanche Davis Moore Early Childhood Development Center

The Early Childhood Development Center features a school for young children on the University campus. It also serves as a human resource laboratory where student learning can be observed, modeled, and investigated. The research and training mission of the Center is founded on providing comprehensive educational and family support services to residents of the Coastal Bend Region of South Texas. The research agenda focuses on observation and investigation of basic processes of human development, student learning, and effective teaching in a context of a multicultural, multilingual, and mixed-age environment.

Bioacoustics Laboratory

Organized under the Texas Engineering Experiment Station in 1987, the Bioacoustics Laboratory was transferred to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 1997. The Lab’s mission is the development and dissemination of knowledge in bioacoustics and related fields. In support of this mission, the Lab carries on an active research program and supports undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education courses both on and off the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi campus. Additionally, the Lab maintains a growing and accessible systematic collection of digital audio recordings of natural and anthropogenic sounds.

Office for Business and Economic Research (OBER)

The Office for Business and Economic Research (OBER) supports the mission of the College of Business by promoting faculty research and service to the community. OBER is the primary vehicle for providing service to the business community. Faculty members may elect to run their consulting projects through OBER. OBER is a self-sufficient unit, which requires charging a fee for its services.

Center for Coastal Studies

The Center for Coastal Studies, established in 1984, is an interdisciplinary marine science research unit of the College of Science and Engineering. The Center focuses on basic and applied research, ecological monitoring, public education outreach, and graduate level education/research programs, concentrating on the Texas coast but also extending throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The Center has funding from several state and federal agencies that support graduate students. Work conducted by students while supported at the Center often serves as the research underpinning master’s theses in biology or environmental science. Scientists at the Center are regularly recruited to conduct environmental and conservation-related research on the gulf coast of Texas. Their endeavors contribute significantly to the knowledge and understanding of coastal and marine environments.

Center for Educational Development, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER)

The Center for Educational Development, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), which was initiated in 2001, facilitates and coordinates grants, research, publications, symposia, and new initiatives for the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. CEDER also serves as a center to facilitate evaluation and research for other educational agencies in Texas. The annual conference, sponsored by CEDER, provides an opportunity for graduate students and faculty to present their research and their new program initiatives.

Office for Information Assurance, Statistics, and Quality Control (OIASQC)

The Office for Information Assurance, Statistics, and Quality Control (OIASQC) leverages the skills of university experts working together with community leaders to meet the increasing demands for secured information environments and improved quality of education, government, health care, and business. The mission of OIASQC is to become the primary South Texas and Gulf of Mexico resource of information assurance, modeling, statistical and quality improvement services, and software engineering for the education, government, health care, and private sectors.

Center for Virtual Medical Education

Established in 2007, the Center for Virtual Medical Education (CVME) provides cross-disciplinary expertise and resources to educational, governmental, and business entities in the development of three-dimensional virtual learning platforms that are rigorously researched, developed, and tested extensively for reliability and validity. The center’s signature project is Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab, a virtual learning platform that replicates true-to-life physiological and pathophysiological states in three-dimensional virtual space. The CVME operates as a pool of training resources for military medical training, professional certification and credentialing, professional development, and graduate medical education.

Center for Water Supply Studies

The Center for Water Supply Studies was organized in 1991 to initiate cross-disciplinary research on water resources and other water-related issues in South Texas. Housed within the College of Science and Engineering  , the Center focuses on research and education to develop professionals and leaders who can recognize and address water issues. Through active new research, the Center provides information needed to evaluate alternative strategies for local and regional management of surface and subsurface water resources. The Center provides science students with the opportunity to pursue research in the broad areas of water resources. It also provides data on issues related to water supply to regional governmental entities.

Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center (CBBIC)

Created in 2009, the mission of the CBBIC is to produce successful firms that will leave the program financially viable and freestanding. Among the goals are to enable and accelerate the growth of emerging innovative companies for the purpose of creating jobs, revitalizing neighborhoods, strengthening local and statewide economies, and promoting entrepreneurial economic development endeavors such as commercializing new technologies. CBBIC also provides executive level education in the greater South Texas Coastal Bend area, offering professional continuing education, seminars and 26 workshops.

The overriding philosophy is that the university is an integral part of a thriving community and that those who sustain us must also be sustained by a robust university contributing back into the economic community system in which we thrive. We provide clients access to appropriate rental space and flexible leases, shared basic business services and equipment, technology support services, professional PhD level consulting, student internship programs, coursework modeling and interaction, educational classes, and assistance in obtaining the financing necessary for company growth.

Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science

The Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science serves as a research center enhancing surveying and geospatial engineering science research and application of research knowledge, with primary emphasis on Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. The Division of Nearshore Research (DNR), a scientific and technical division under the Blucher umbrella, assists in the preservation and enhancement of the Texas coastal resources and ecosystems. The major component of DNR is the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON), which monitors over 40 scientific data collection stations along the entire Texas coast with real-time data on tides, winds, currents, temperature, and barometric pressure. The Texas Spatial Reference Center, also a division of the Institute, works with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to provide accurate height information by integrating Global Positioning System (GPS) technology with existing survey techniques.

An academic member of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), the Institute is expanding its cooperation with international organizations. The Institute has a national reputation for developing innovative geospatial engineering science research and serves as a focused resource area for geospatial datasets relevant to the coastal environment. Researchers include scientists, professional surveyors and engineers who develop and apply geospatial technology solutions. University students are employed in research projects. The Blucher Institute was endowed by Conrad M. Blucher, a lifetime resident of Corpus Christi and Nueces County Surveyor.

Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies

The mission of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies is to support and encourage the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf of Mexico. The Harte Research Institute began operating in 2002 and occupied a new approximately 56,736 sq.ft. laboratory facility in 2005. The Institute’s research focus areas include coastal and marine policy and law, coastal and marine geospatial science, ecosystem studies and modeling, marine biodiversity/conservation science, socioeconomics, and ocean and human health. The Institute is a leading marine science and policy research institute on the Gulf of Mexico. The Institute was created with a $46 million endowment from Edward H. Harte, longtime resident of Corpus Christi and former owner/publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

National Spill Control School

The National Spill Control School, established in 1977 and housed within the College of Science and Engineering, promotes education on environmental issues. The primary focus of its programs is in presenting continuing education short courses on-campus or on-site for personnel involved in spill prevention and the control of oil, hazardous materials, and hazardous waste. Other areas of interest include allied safety concerns and improving knowledge in these fields through research and targeted education programs.

Social Science Research Center

The Social Science Research Center (SSRC) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi provides administrative support for research conducted by the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts. Through the SSRC, faculty engage in survey research, program evaluation, secondary research (data collection), and other forms of research, consulting, and professional training. Recent and current research projects concern crime and delinquency, educational attainment, economic indicators, substance abuse, citizen satisfaction with government services, transportation issues, social service networks, business and workforce indicators, youth issues, and program evaluations.

The Art Museum of South Texas

The Art Museum of South Texas is located at 1902 North Shoreline. The museum is housed in two connected architectural gems—the earlier one designed by Philip Johnson and the more recent structure designed by Ricardo Legorreta. The museum has been affiliated with the University since 1995. The museum is available for graduate students to use as a research tool through exhibitions of visiting works of art as well as of works of art from the permanent collection. Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi students have the opportunity to intern with one of the curators at the museum in order to advance their knowledge of art history. Graduate students also have opportunities to teach and apply practical career experiences through programs at the museum. In addition, the Art Museum sponsors visiting artists, lectures, films, symposia, and other events that enrich Texas A&M-Corpus Christi students’ knowledge of their field of endeavor.

University Galleries

The University has two art galleries. The Weil Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on Ward Island and includes exhibitions of leading contemporary artists among its varied offerings. It was founded in 1979.The Islander Art Gallery is the Art Department’s off-campus exhibition venue. Founded in 2005, it is located at the corner of Staples Street and Weber Road in the Hamlin Shopping Center. This spacious facility offers the university and community access to the work of nationally recognized artists as well as departmental faculty and alumni. All graduating MA and MFA thesis exhibitions are presented in this facility. The graduate painting studio is housed at the rear of the Islander Gallery. This state-of-the-art facility provides graduate painting students with an inspirational and safe painting environment.