A research consortium led by Dr. Antonietta Quigg, professor of Marine Biology and associate vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at Texas A&M's Galveston campus, was awarded $2.54 million by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/) to conduct scientific studies of the impacts of oil on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and public health.

Dr. Jay Rooker, Dr. David Wells and Dr. Ron Eytan of Texas A&M Galveston Marine Biology are co-investigators on a research consortium led by Dr. Tracey Sutton from Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.