Institutes & Research

CREST Center for Sustainable Water Use (SWU)

Student Participants


Current Students

Vanessa Almazan
Major and Rank: Horticulture (Ph. D. student)
Project Title:  Agroecological effect of micro and nano plastics in irrigation water from the Rio Grande River
Major Advisor: Dr. Veronica Ancona-Contreras
Hafiz Muhammad Aamir

Major and Rank: Engineering, concentration in Chemical Engineering (Ph.D. student)

 Dissertation Title:  Functionalized carbon materials derived from waste to enhance heavy metal adsorption in wastewater treatment application

Major Advisor: Dr. Matthew Alexander

Desiderio De Leon

Major and Rank: Plant and Soil Science (M.S. student)

 Project Title:  Soil Amendment Strategies to Rehabilitate Freeze Damaged Citrus Trees for Sustainable Crop Management.

 Graduation year: May 2023

 Major Advisor: Dr. Shad Nelson

 

Corando Gallegos

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (Ph.D. Student)

 Project Title:  Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for Monitoring Groundwater Levels at an In-Situ Recovery (ISR) Uranium Mining Site

 Major Advisor: Dr. Lee Clapp

 

Jose Garcia

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (M.S. student)

 Thesis Title: Groundwater Modeling: Investigating the Water Levels of the Southern Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer within the Winter Garden Area

 Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

Olivia Garcia

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (M.S. student)

 Project Title:  Microplastics in agricultural water in the lower Rio Grande Valley (M.S. Thesis)

 Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Victor G Garcia

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (B. S. student)

 Project Title:  Analysis of Sediments and their Associated Micro-Nano-Plastics from Agricultural Lands and Coastal Watersheds

Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Janay Garza

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (B. S. student)

 Project Title: Effects of Wetlands Restoration on Water Availability

 Major Advisor: Dr. Tushar Sinha

Seth Kuby

Major and Rank: Plant and Soil Science (M.S. Student)

 Project Title:  Temporal variation of micro- and nano- plastics in water from the irrigation distribution system in the Lower Rio Grande Valley

Major Advisor: Dr. Veronica Ancona-Contreras

 

Kurtis M Kuypers

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (M.S./Ph.D. student)

 Project Title:  Modeling Temporal-Spatial Variations of Soil Moisture Availability in a Semiarid Watershed using SWAT (M.S. Thesis)

 Project Title:  Analysis of Sediment Transport in Nueces and Corpus Christi Bay, Texas (Ph.D. research)

 Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Julianna Leal

Major: Agribusiness (B. S. Student)

Project Title:  A systems approach to water resource management problem solving and visualization

Major Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner

Fabian Maldonado

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B.S. student)

 Project Title:  Investigating the Possible Factors Causing the Increase of Salinity Levels in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, Winter Garden Region

Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

Danielle Maynard

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (M.S. student)

 Thesis Title: Urbanization and its Strategic Development on Flooding in the Semi-Arid Tranquitas Creek Watershed, South Texas

 Major Advisor: Dr. Tushar Sinha

Eva Morgan

Major and Rank: Plant and Soil Science (B. S. Student)

 Project Title:  Deficient Irrigation Effects on greenhouse Jalapeno and Serrano Pepper Plant Production.

 Advisor: Dr. Shad Nelson

Juan Rodriguez

Major and Rank: Mechanical Engineering (B. S./M. S.)

 Thesis Title: The Design and Implementation of soil monitoring systems using UAV’s

 Graduation year: May 2023 (B.S.)

 Major Advisor: Dr. Selahattin Ozcelik

 

James Russell

Major: Agribusiness/Ranch Management (B. S./M. S. Student)

Project Title:  System dynamics models to explore sustainable water use decisions in diverse water-supply systems of south Texas

Major Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner

Taofiki Sailyu

Major: Electrical Engineering (B. S. Student)

 Project Title: Monitoring Groundwater Levels in a Region Dependent on Central Pivot Irrigation by using Wireless Sensor Networks

 Major Advisor: Dr. Nuri Yilmazer

 

Joseph Saenz

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S. student)

Project Title:  Evaluating Alternative Sustainable Water Sources for the Corpus Christi Area

 Project Title:  Updating the Historical Records of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer Groundwater Availability Model for Improved Model Predictions

 Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

 

Kendall (Cloud) Schroeder

Major: Agribusiness, (B. S./M. S. Student)

Project Title:  Outreach design and decision-support mapping for sustainable south Texas water use

Major Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner

Kaitlyn Smith

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S. student)

Project Title:  Investigating Standard Precipitation Index Data Within the Southern Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer to Update and Existing Groundwater Research Model

 Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

Kim Tanguma

Major and Rank: Range and Wildlife Management (M. S. Student)

Project Title: Measuring water and nutrients in rangeland grass species: What can we learn from drones?

Major Advisor: Dr. Humberto Perotto

 

Ricardo Javier Torres

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (M. S. student)

 Thesis Title: Effects of Wetland Restoration on Water Quality Indicators in the Arroyo Los Olmos Watershed

 Major Advisor: Dr. Tushar Sinha

Ilde Vivero

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S. student)

Project Title:  Analysis of Discharge Locations for Corpus Christi Desalination Plants

 Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

Eric Zamora
Major and Rank: Plant and Soil Science (M. S. student)
 
Project title: Effect of land management and cover crop mixtures on soil physicochemical properties in a Long-
term research field
 Major Advisor: Dr. Sanku Dattamudi
Amberly Zaragoza

Major and Rank: Plant and Soil Science (M. S. student)

 Project Title:  Evaluation of Soil Improvement Potential via Application of Cattle Paunch in South Texas Dryland.

 Graduation year: May 2024

 Major Advisor: Dr. Greta Schuster

Former Students

 

Alberto Aguirre

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (B. S.)

Project Title:  Flood hazard mapping using a recently developed Geomorphic Flood Area tool

 Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Kyle Barton

Major and Rank: Mechanical Engineering (M.S.)

Thesis Title: Investigation of RFID-Based Plant Growth and Inventory System

Graduation year: December 2022

Major Advisor: Dr. Selahattin Ozcelik

 Miriam Calderon

Major: Plant and Soil Science (M. S.)

Thesis Title: Identification of Fungal Plant Pathogens in Irrigation Water in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas by Metagenomic Analysis  

 Graduation year: August 2021

 Major Advisor: Veronica Ancona-Contreras

Annalysa Camacho

Major: Range and Wildlife Management (M.S.)

Thesis Title: Developing spectral signatures of South Texas grasses using multispectral sensors and UAVs

Graduation Year: August 2022

Major Advisor: Dr. Humberto Perotto

Genesis Cantu

Major and Rank: Mechanical Engineering (B.S.)

 Project Title: Wireless Data Monitoring System Using UAVs

 Graduation year: December 2022

 Major Advisor: Dr. Selahattin Ozcelik

 

Jessica Cervantes

Major and Rank: Environmental Engineering (B. S.)

Project Title:  Fluoride and Bromide levels in irrigation water in the Rio Grande Valley and its implications

Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Marilyn Coronado

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S.)

Project Title:  Agriculture Nutrition Effects of Increased Oil and Gas Activity from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in the Winter Garden Region of Southwest Texas

Graduation year: May 2022

Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

 

Samuel Ezekiel

Major and Rank: Mechanical Engineering (M. S.)

 Thesis Title: Remote Data Acquisition using UAVs and Arduino Systems for Agricultural Applications

 Graduation year: May 2021

 Major Advisor: Dr. Selahattin Ozcelik

 

Chris Flores-Lopez

Major: Agribusiness/Plant and Soil Science (B.S./M.S. Student)

Project Title:  South Texas Water Resource Mental Models: A Systems Thinking, Multi‐stakeholder Case Study

Major Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.

Joshua Gallegos

Major: Chemical Engineering (M. S.)

Thesis Title: Groundwater Modeling of Kingsville Dome In-Situ Recovery (ISR) Mine by Uranium Resources, Inc (URI)

 Graduation year: December 2022

Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

Miranda De La Garza

Major: Environmental Engineering (M. S.)

Thesis Title: Evaluation of Rio Grande River's Hydrochemical Characteristics and Applicability for Irrigation

 Graduation year: December 2021

 Major Advisor: Dr. Jianhong Jennifer Ren

Sabrina Garza

Major: Plant and Soil Science (M. S.)

Thesis Title: Isolation, Identification, and Monitoring of Fungal Plant Pathogens in Irrigation Water from the Rio Grande River     

Graduation year: December 2022

Major Advisor: Veronica Ancona-Contreras

 

Ysenia Granados

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S.)

Project Title:  Agriculture Nutrition Effects of Increased Oil and Gas Activity from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in the Winter Garden Region of Southwest Texas

Graduation year: May 2023

Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

 

Lane Michna

Major: Agribusiness-Ranch Management, (M. S.)

Project Title:  The Use of Model Supported Case Studies in Undergraduate Agribusiness Courses

Major Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.

  Michael Ramos

Major and Rank: Chemical Engineering (B. S.)

Project Title:  Updating the Historical Records of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer Groundwater Availability Model for Improved Model Predictions

Graduation year: May 2022

Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya

 

 

 

Other Current/Former Students

  1. Amanda Montemayor, Range and Wildlife Management (B.S.), 2022, Project Title: Quantifying increasing temperatures from 2021-2060 using global climate models: Potential implications for woody cover encroachment, Major Advisor: Dr. Humberto Perotto.
  2. Joaquin Massa, Electrical Engineering (B.S.), Monitoring Groundwater Levels in a Region Dependent on Central Pivot Irrigation by using Wireless Sensor Networks, 2022, Major Advisor: Dr. Nuri Yilmazer.
  3. Jodi Swaenpoel, Environmental Engineering (B.S.), 2021, Project Title: Statistical Water Quality Modeling, Major Advisor: Tushar Sinha.
  4. Madilyn Dugosh, Environmental Engineering (B.S.), 2023, Project Title: Review on Water Quality Studies in South Texas, Major Advisor: Tushar Sinha.
  5. Isaac Olson, Major and Rank: Mechanical Engineering (B.S.), 2022, Project Title: Wireless Data Monitoring System Using UAVs, Major Advisor: Dr. Selahattin Ozcelik.
  6. Jorge Hernandez, Chemical Engineering (M.S.), 2021, Thesis Title: Water Salinity Parameters Analysis of the Winter Garden Region in the Southern Area of Texas, Major Advisors: Dr. Matthew Alexander, Dr. Joseph Amaya.
  7. Nicholas Cavazos, Major: Agribusiness (B.S.), Project Title:  Data review and analysis from a dynamic role-playing simulation game, Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.
  8.  Henry Burns, Major: Agribusiness, (B.S. Student), Project Title:  Data review and analysis from a dynamic role-playing simulation game; and Mental Models of Lower Rio Grande Valley Stakeholders, Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.
  9. Erica Salinas, Major: Agribusiness, (B.S. Student), Project Title:  Review of the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty and its contemporary consequences and proposals, Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.
  10. Caleb Reed, Major: Agribusiness (B.S.), Project Title:  Integrating diverse decision-making data from improved Decision Tree design for south Texas commodity production, Advisor: Dr. Benjamin L. Turner.

Non-CREST supported students contributing to the CREST through other resources or activities:

  1. Srinadh Kodali (M.S. Plant and Soil Science)
  2. Gabriel Cavazos (B.S. Agribusiness)
  3. Kristen Stewart (Ph.D. Rangeland and Wildlife Science)