TAMU-CC Conrad Blucher Institute Maps COVID-19 Spread

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Conrad Blucher Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is mapping the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas and around the Coastal Bend. The maps represent information confirmed by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“My colleagues Bryan Gillis and Dr. Lucy Huang have created sophisticated yet relatively simple and informative maps and dashboards to follow the COVID-19 progression,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, interim director of the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI).

Data is being provided in two formats: an interactive GIS dashboard and downloadable static maps, which are posted daily on the institute’s Facebook page.

Tissot said CBI is committed to providing relevant and accurate information to the public in informative and interactive formats.

“Geospatial information is a critical component in epidemiology,” said Texas A&M-Corpus Christi researcher Dr. Yuxia “Lucy” Huang, Associate Professor of Geographic Information Science and coordinator of the Geospatial Systems Engineering Program in the Department of Computer Sciences. “Maps visualize the spatial distribution of cases over space and time. Mapping diseases helps the public understand how the diseases are spread out, particularly around the area they are interested in.”

The public wants to know where high concentrations of the outbreak are and how close they are to hotspots. Maps can answer these questions, Huang said.

Huang said the team started by investigating existing dashboard products that were tracking COVID-19 in real time.

“Since we did not find any that focus on Texas, we decided to build one,” she said.

Presenting data in the form of a map gives readers the ability to quickly understand complex spatial patterns, said Bryan Gillis, Research Specialist at CBI. “In this situation, it’s common knowledge that the outbreak would be worst in urban environments but the spread along interstate corridors showed how continuing travel caused the virus to creep into smaller communities.”

Readers can quickly find their county on the maps, but at the same time seeing it on a map gives them greater context to what is happening around them, Gillis said.

“Take Kleberg County for example. They had zero confirmed cases (as of March 26), but just next door, Nueces County had 15 (as of March 26), and it’s known that many people commute between these two areas daily,” Gillis said. “So even if there is no outbreak in your area, you can anticipate the threat from a more realistic view.”

The experts said as the COVID-19 situation grew, the CBI team began investigating how they could efficiently and effectively provide information to the public. It started with a simple map showing ISD closures across Texas. Within a day, all ISDs were closed and they switched gears to mapping COVID-19 cases. The next day they were tracking new cases along with total cases because they felt it gave a greater picture of the worsening situation.

“Our biggest concern was ensuring our data was accurate and timely, because if we were going to publish time-critical information to the public we needed to be fully committed,” Gillis said.

One Island University student worker is assisting Huang to update time series data daily. Audrey Garza is a weather and atmospheric science major and geographic information science minor. Garza has been involved in several CBI projects.

As the group posts maps on social media, they are receiving a tremendous amount of feedback.

“We are receiving thousands of engagements on Facebook every day,” Gillis said. “We also see quite a few questions each day about the data and why State level data is different than local authorities. Because the State is going through a thorough vetting process of test results, we can say with certainty that a result is a true positive.”

Gillis said that doesn’t mean the data is perfect, and at times confirmed cases are reassigned to different counties once residency information is confirmed.

“The reason we class cases by residency instead of where they are being treated is your place of residency is where the case likely came from, not necessarily where you were tested or treated.”

The CBI team will continue to publish static maps daily and maintain the COVID-19 dashboard through the declared end of the outbreak. At the end of this crisis they will also convert all of their collected data for public use and scientific research.

The maps and dashboard only reflect official State of Texas data so the public is asked to continue to monitor updates and reports from local authorities for the most up-to-date and relevant information.

CBI Researcher Studies Individual Vulnerability to Communicable Diseases

By Darrell Pehr 

A study published by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researcher Dr. Yuxia “Lucy” Huang in 2012 shows striking similarities to today’s health crisis surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Huang was joined by scientists from New York, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, the National Institutes of Health and South Korea in the study, which looked at how communicable diseases are transmitted from individual to individual following a network of contacts in a population. The study focused on dangerous communicable diseases, particularly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and H1N1 flu.

“The role of individuals in the spread of these diseases is critical,” said Huang, Associate Professor of Geographic Information Science and coordinator of the Geospatial Systems Engineering Program in the Department of Computer Sciences. Huang, who came to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2008, also is a research scientist in the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science.

The study examined who might be at risk, where and when the risk occurs, and with whom these at-risk individuals might be in contact. The findings were then used in the development of health policies to control and prevent the spread of diseases, based on different scenarios.

The study simulated the population using Census data. It looked at where people would be during three times each day: daytime, pastime and nighttime. Location also was considered, whether at home, at a workplace, or at another location, such as a shopping mall or church. It also considered weekend behaviors, with the goal of mimicking the actual situation as much as possible.

“You need to build up this social network to figure out who contacts whom, where and when. That’s the critical part,” Huang said, “so we can know who are at risk, and when and where those people may be at risk of becoming infected. Because the study was based on individuals’ behaviors, we can check each person’s trajectory.” The study also looked at how likely each person was to become infected.

Huang agrees with the steps that have been taken with the COVID-19 epidemic.

The study noted that transmission of communicable diseases depends on three considerations: the contact of susceptible individuals with an infectious individual, the infection probability of these susceptible individuals, and the types of protective actions they take once they develop symptoms.

“If people practice social distancing, it will help prevent the disease from spreading,” she said. With family members living in China, Huang has seen how a population under pressure from a rapidly spreading disease can take action to slow its progress. Her brother and parents live in China, and endured long periods of quarantine as the country weathered the illness.

Taking steps to limit person-to-person contact is just as important in this country, and Huang feels the University is well-prepared for a transition away from face-to-face classes.

“The University provides fantastic support for faculty through the Office of Distance Education and Learning Technology for online teaching,” Huang said. “The resources are great.” Huang is a member of a campus committee that meets regularly to offer support for faculty members and offer strategies for successful online education.

United Nations and Conrad Blucher Institute: UAS for Sustainability and Resiliency

As part of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management section, CBI researchers Dr. Michael Starek, Ms. Melanie Gingras, and Dr. Gary Jeffress developed an application procedure for coastal monitoring to aid community resiliency using unmanned aircraft systems. The procedure outlined in their chapter can be applied to global efforts such as “Life of Land” which focuses on sustainable land use and “Zero Hunger” which aims to improve sustainable agricultural practices and crop security in developing nations. Read their chapter here.

Dr. Starek and Ms. Gingras continue to push the boundaries of UAS applications as they develop new procedures for environmental applications that include height modernization, marsh classification, coastal dune protections, and flood management.

Conrad Blucher Institute & Disaster Preparedness

The Conrad Blucher Institute has been supporting disaster preparedness for it’s local Corpus Christi Community to the Gulf Coast as a whole with aspirations to help on a global scale. Check out our video below to learn more about CBI and what we do!

1919 Hurricane Demonstrates how Past Speaks to Present

By Olivia Santos

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – To commemorate the 1919 Hurricane that ravaged the coastal city of Corpus Christi and claimed as many as 1,000 lives, the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Historical Forum along with the Mary and Jeff Bell Library hosted “100 Years After the Storm” on Friday, Sept. 13. The program, which was part of “Remember the Hurricane of 1919: 100 Year Anniversary,” featured guest speaker Mary Jo O’Rear, an Islander alumna, author, and historian along with a panel discussion led by faculty experts Dr. Lisa Comparini, Dr. Dan Jorgensen, Dr. Philippe Tissot; and Dr. Patrick Fitzpatrick acted as moderator.  

“It was a shocker. Everyone in Aransas Pass, Rockport, and Corpus Christi thought that we were in a safe haven, but the 1919 Hurricane was a catastrophe that hit the whole Coastal Bend,” said O’Rear in her keynote address.

During the program, O’Rear spoke on the attitudes and myths surrounding hurricanes in the Gulf Coast in the early 1900s. According to her book, “Storm Over the Bay: The People of Corpus Christi and Their Port,” Coastal Bend residents living at that time felt immune to the devastating forces that threatened the Texas coast after remaining unscathed by hurricanes that severely affected Galveston and Harbor Island in 1915 and 1916.

 “As scientists, we can give numbers, maps, and charts but curating stories of people who went through those events speak a lot more,” said Tissot, Conrad Blucher Institute Interim Director and Associate Research Professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. “The books we discussed will allow people to better relate with how horrible these experiences were and realize they don’t want to be in the paths of storms like these.”

Before hearing an excerpt from O’Rear’s book, the panel discussed topics that ranged from emergency management and federal government intervention, to the tools and resources that are available to predict weather scenarios. Most importantly, the panel touched on mindsets that parallel the attitudes and myths in previous century.

“Constantly, there’s a push to say that we’re safer than we really are,” Tissot said. “I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime, but there will be other big storms hitting Corpus Christi. The key is to constantly prepare yourself, have a plan and follow directions. Also keep in mind the saying ‘Hide from the wind, run from the water!’’”

Those wanting to learn more about the 1919 Hurricane  can visit the unique photos and artifacts in the Special Collections and Archives of the Mary and Jeff Bell Library.

Red River Boundary Survey 2019

June 18-20, 2019

The first ever field course based on retracing original boundaries along the Red River in northeast Texas was held during the summer of 2019. The research started with an original boundary corner set by appointed Commissioners under the authority of the 1923 Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court Decision. Land surveying education at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is unmatched through applicable experiences directed by experienced instructors.

2019 FIELD CAMP COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Geographic Information Systems baccalaureate program in Land Surveying at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi with support of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science was pleased to announce a new elective course for our students where they received exposure to riparian boundary surveying along the Red River in Red River County, Texas. This course consisted of a week of riparian court cases review. It also exposed our students to field exercises retracing historic avulsion boundaries established by the Commissioners of the Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court and application of the gradient boundary method and 2000 Red River Boundary Compact along the Red River.

The Chapman Ranch in Red River County, Texas, hosted this year’s course. During this course, we refurbished a 95-year old wooden monument that once represented the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma which was currently in a state of decay. This was conducted as a memorial of the land surveying efforts of Author Stiles and Author Kidder, the appointed commissioners of the 1923 Oklahoma v. Texas Supreme Court and derived the gradient boundary method of determining riparian boundaries along navigable rivers in the State of Texas.

CBI’s MANTIS – New Hope in Old Appalachia

Since 2016, members of MANTIS Lab and CBI field crew have collaborated with the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (ANERR) Megan Lamb for week-long field campaigns supported by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) subsidiary, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS). Each year, the crew gathers Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) data for one site on the main barrier island, Saint George Island, and from several sites on “Little” Saint George Island (it is the western component of the island that was split away from Saint George Island by Bob Sike’s Government Cut in 1954). The Saint George Island site is NOAA’s Unit 4 SET site while the “Little” Saint George sites include several beach profiles (D341, R4, R41, and R29) and several historical photosites (Westpass, Bayside, and Sike’s Government Cut). This data collection is part of an NGS gulf-wide research initiative to develop and improve current Relative Sea Level Rise (RSLR) models for the gulf coast by gathering high-resolution spatial (elevation) data.

This year’s trip began May 20th and ended May 27th and included MANTIS’ director, Michael Starek, CBI’s Research Engineering Associates, Alistair Lord and Zachary Hasdorff, MANTIS Lab Manager, Melanie Gingras, and MANTIS master’s students, Jake Berryhill and Kevin Wilson. During the week, the crew used new platforms including the Wingtra WingtraOne and Phoenix Vapor 55 as well as tried-and-true platforms from previous Apalachicola field campaigns including the DJI Mavic, DJI Pantom 4, and Riegl VZ400 Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS). When georeferenced using RTK GPS control points, this data will generate point clouds that provide high spatial resolution data to monitor elevation changes as small as a couple centimeters as well as othomosaic imagery with pixel sizes on the order of 2cm GSD.

University Beach - A Brief History

By Richard Guerrero

Casting one’s gaze across its 1,200 feet of coarse quarry sand, it’s easy to forget that University Beach was once like the rest of the Ward Island shoreline on either side – defined by discarded concrete and construction materials – until its restoration was complete in 2001 after nearly seven years of research and planning as part of one graduate student’s thesis.

The history of University Beach, which sits adjacent to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is a complex one, according to Deidre D. Williams, Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science Coastal Research Scientist. A narrow beach between 50 and 100 feet wide was visible in aerial photographs from 1938 before eroding as a result of shoreline stabilization efforts to support the eventual commissioning of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in 1941.

“There was all of this exposed sand, and it was mobile. So when the shoreline was stabilized and elevated by placing riprap and rubble along the shoreline – something that is common in bayside communities all along the Texas coast – what we discovered is that a beach couldn’t naturally accrete (build) anymore,” Williams said.

It was Williams who heeded the call to restore the beach. She started working at the Blucher Institute in the late ‘90s as an undergraduate who wanted to gain research experience.

“Initially, I thought I wanted to work with aquifers, but I found that it was even more interesting to study coastal environments, so this led me to studying beaches and inlet systems,” Williams said.

Williams said the Blucher Institute began studying the morphology of the near-shore sand bar system as an academic exercise in the early ‘90s. CBI’s-then Director Dr. Nicholas Kraus shared details about the beach’s history with then-University President Dr. Robert Furgason and then-Vice President Ray Hays; both University leaders expressed enthusiasm for a feasibility and functional design project to restore the beach and studies soon followed.

To help pay for the project’s studies and ultimate construction, the Island University partnered with the Texas General Land Office (TGLO).

“As part of my thesis, we designed the beach, we initiated the permitting for the beach, we conducted modeling to see if it was even possible to restore the beach and if so, what structures would be required,” Williams said. “We looked at all iterations of what the beach could look like, including sand only – ultimately it was determined that structures would be most the most effective option to stabilize the beach. Then we had to determine how many structures and how large they would need be to secure the beach long term.”

The design Williams came up with is a concept based on the fewest number of structures required to maintain the beach: two terminal groins, or shore perpendicular structures at each end, and three detached breakwaters (shore parallel structures). Working closely with CBI was the Corpus Christi firm Shiner Moseley and Associates. The firm developed the final engineering specifications from the functional design. After five months of construction, which included the transportation of sand from an old Nueces River tributary, University Beach was completed in August 2001. The overall project cost was $1.5 million and was made possible by the cooperation and support of the Island University, the Blucher Institute, the City of Corpus Christi and the TGLO.

Following the beach’s restoration, Williams published her thesis, “A Recreational Beach Fill for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: Coastal Processes and Functional Design” in 2002. She is grateful to University administration for supporting her and providing this opportunity to fuel her passion for stewardship of our beaches. Williams now leads two long-term monitoring programs related to the management of beaches locally and all along the Texas coast (Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act (CEPRA), Beach Monitoring Program) as well as the Packery Channel Monitoring Program.

The issue of renourishment was a challenging one to contend with. Even with the containment structures, Williams theorized the beach would need to be renourished with additional sand after a decade. In fact, the design has proven to be far more effective than the modeling effort and analysis predicted.

Deidre D. Williams, Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science Coastal Research Scientist

“We’re going on 18 years and we have done no maintenance, which would be an expensive endeavor due to transportation costs; this is a self-sustaining project due to the cellular design,” Williams said. “This is very unique in the world of beaches.”

Nesting Shorebird Season: Take Caution When Visiting the University Beach

By Richard Guerrero

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Shorebird nesting season, which is from early April to early August, is here and birds have begun to lay their eggs on University Beach at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, which is located across Ocean Drive from the Performing Arts Center and along Corpus Christi Bay. Nests of Least Terns, a Wilson Plover, and a Killdeer have already been identified along the central section of the beach, and fencing and signage has been placed around nesting sites by volunteers from the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Coastal Bend Audubon Society.

“The most important thing to remember is that avoiding the nesting area is critical for a successful nesting season,” said Deidre Williams, Coastal Research Scientist at CBI. “Human and animal activity can frighten the birds and cause them to abandon their nest, leaving the eggs or baby birds exposed to predators and the heat.”

When at University Beach, visitors must take extra care to keep clear of the fenced areas, obey the warning signs, and stay at least 150 feet away from shorebirds. Additionally, not all nests are located within the fenced areas and beachgoers need to pay special attention to their surroundings as the nests blend in with the sandy surface and are easily missed. For more information on Federally protected shorebirds, visit the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service web site. 

According to the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program (CBBEP) website, there are several other ways visitors can avoid disturbing the shorebirds:

• Keep dogs on a leash and away from areas where birds may be nesting (city leash law)

• Properly dispose of trash to keep scavengers away

• Never abandon fishing line or other gear, and remove it if you find it

• Do not fly traditional kites or kites for kitesurfing near areas where birds may be nesting

• When birds are aggravated, you are too close

• Leave the area if shorebirds fly at you

Those interested in bird-watching during nesting season can observe from the bluff along Ocean Drive since it offers an ideal elevated view of the birds and is less invasive than walking on the beach. BUT if the birds take flight that means you need to move away.

“With the help of the Islander community, we hope that the Least Terns and other protected shorebirds will have another successful nesting season resulting in the young reaching fledgling status,” said Williams, whose thesis project was the functional design of the University Beach.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Nesting is usually initiated in early April and concludes by end of July. Eggs are incubated for three weeks, and young take approximately three to four weeks before they are capable of flight.  The extent of nesting season depends on whether the first nesting attempts are successful or if birds have to re-nest after a failure or destroyed nest.

To learn more about the CBI and the University Beach, visit https://cbi.tamucc.edu/CHRGIS/University-Beach/.

Conrad Blucher Institute Welcomes Dr. Philippe Tissot as Interim Director

By Richard Guerrero 

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With a new year comes the beginning of a fresh chapter for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI). Dr. Philippe Tissot, who has served as CBI’s associate director since 2011, took on a new role as interim director on Tuesday, Jan. 1. As an Islander and a CBI researcher for nearly 20 years, Tissot strives to continue CBI’s positive impact and its close relationship with the community while pushing CBI to be an industry leader in geospatial science research and engineering.

When Tissot, who grew up in the mountains of Switzerland, first arrived in Texas to pursue a doctoral degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University in 1988, he had no idea how much he would come to love the city of Corpus Christi. After vacationing with his wife at Padre Island National Seashore, he became infatuated with the Coastal Bend’s natural beauty and wide-open beaches.

Ten years later, Tissot found his home at the Island University’s CBI. With a family legacy of more than 100 years, CBI was dedicated in 1987 to foster surveying education and research. Since then, the institute has joined the United Nations-Global Geospatial Management (UN-GGIM) Academic Network, collaborated with leading area organizations like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Texas General Land Office, and the Port of Corpus Christi, as well as cultivated research with positive ecological impact, among a plethora of achievements. 

“It’s been great working for an institute that has deep roots in our city,” shared Tissot, whose current research focuses on coastal modeling, including relative sea level rise and its impact. “We are a good team that’s been together for a long time.”

In the early 2000s, Tissot, along with his colleagues, began using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze environmental data sets. By the mid-2000s, they had implemented AI-based operational models to analyze water levels, temperatures, and currents.

With these technologies, Tissot and other CBI experts can make predictions that allow agencies like the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the National Park Service, and the National Weather Service as well as volunteers to mobilize and prepare for emergencies, such as flooding or sea turtle cold-stunning events. Tissot has contributed broadly to the field and has served as the chair of the American Meteorological Society Committee on the AI Applications to Environmental Science for the past two years.

At CBI, scientists have advanced methods to analyze massive modern surveying technology sets by incorporating AI techniques into these analyses.

“We use AI for a lot of the data that comes from lidar and unmanned aerial systems (UAS),” said Tissot. “It’s tens-of-millions if not hundreds-of-millions of data points, so there’s a lot of power in using AI to cluster the data and automatically identify different parts of an image or rectify parts of the data set to obtain more accurate 3-D maps.”

Since Tissot’s first day at CBI, surveying research has quickly increased with technological advancements. Exciting new research is performed at CBI using larger environmental data sets, and technologies like lidar, which is a surveying method that uses light technology, UAS, and rapid indoor positioning systems, which were not available 20 years ago. His colleagues, Dr. Michael Starek, associate professor of geospatial systems engineering (GIS), and Dr. Tianxing Chu, assistant professor of GIS, are paving the way with their students in using these new technologies. 

During his 12-18-month period as interim director, some of Tissot’s initiatives include building a strong relationship with private businesses, reinventing information technology at CBI, helping new faculty to get a good start, partnering with international collaborations, and renewed efforts in recruiting. He will be assisted by Gina Concannon, interim associate director, and James Rizzo, assistant director of operations. 

His predecessor, Dr. Gary Jeffress, professor of geographic information science at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, will continue leading efforts in CBI’s collaboration with UN-GGIM.

“CBI activities are at the cutting edge of emerging technologies and with a substantial overlap with private-sector needs,” said Tissot. “Over the past 10 years, Dr. Jeffress and I, in collaboration with Dean Frank Pezold and our institute colleagues, have worked to create a very integrated unit – with faculty, researchers, staff, and students all working seamlessly. We look forward to continuing along this path with our students and partners.”