Tom Arsuffi, Ph.D. is Professor & Director of the Llano River Field Station at Texas Tech University. He received his Ph.D. at New Mexico State University in 1984 and did a postdoctorate at the University of Georgia Marine Institute. His research interests are in aquatic and watershed ecology and environmental education.

Dr. Arsuffi has worked in a range of aquatic ecosystems. He teaches courses in Aquatic Biology, General Ecology, Stream Ecology, Environmental Impact Analysis, Invasive Species Ecology, Scientific Methods in Aquatic Resources, and Wetlands Ecology.

Arsuffi has publications in leading ecological journals, and has given invited and contributed presentations on his work at national and international aquatic, ecological, and scientific meetings. He has served as President of the Texas Academy of Science, Program Chair for regional and international scientific societies, Executive Board of the Organization of Biological Field Stations, Chaired the Executive Committee of Society for Freshwater Science, a reviewer for NSF, EPA, USDA panels, external reviewer for state science center programs, worked with the national media, received research/education grants over $10 million from numerous state, federal and foundation funding sources, completed 32 graduate students as adviser, served on over 50 graduate committees and was an invited representative for AIBS Congressional Visits Day to inform Congress on the research and education importance of Field Stations in the United States.

He served as a nationally selected member of the Science Review Panel, evaluating environmental studies associated with a major interbasin water transfer project in Texas, served as appointed member of the Senate Bill 3 Nueces River Corpus Christi Bay Basin and Bay Expert Science Team and is coordinator in developing a watershed protection plan for the Upper Llano rivers, funded by Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board through EPA’s Healthy Watershed Initiative.

Nathan Bendik is an Environmental Scientist Sr. for the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department. There, he leads the salamander conservation team that oversees the Barton Springs Pool Habitat Conservation Plan. Nathan has been involved in research and conservation of central Texas salamanders since 2003. He holds a B.S. in biology from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Bush is the Director of Environmental Science Academic Programs at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). She is also Director and founder of the TREE (Teaching and Research in Environmental Ecology) Program which is a program to develop underrepresented students into leaders in natural resources and conservation. She has taught several graduate classes, including Environmental Statistics and Advanced Plant Ecology. Initially, she taught laboratories, including Principles of Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Physiology, Plant Ecology, Plant Physiology, and Field Biology. Due to student interest, she has developed several new classes, which have subsequently been added to the curriculum. These are Wildlife Biology, Ornithology, and Conservation Biology. She has also taught a special studies topic on experimental design, analysis, and presentation.

The main focus of Dr. Bush’s research is in the area of plant ecology. Specifically, she has two major areas of interest. One area of interest is with grass-woody plant interactions and succession in grazed ecosystems, including arid and semi-arid grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. Of particular interest, are the major biotic and abiotic factors that impact the grass-woody plant interaction, and how these factors influence successional changes, which have occurred and are still occurring in many of these ecosystems. A second area of interest concerns rare, threatened, and potentially endangered species of plants. Over the last several years, Dr. Bush has been studying factors that influence the distribution of a federally threatened species of sunflower, Helianthus paradoxus. Results from experiments with this rare species and its more common relative, H. annuus, are leading to an understanding of why this rare species has such a limited range. She would like to be able to delineate several standard experiments, such as those used in studying this rare species, to use in studying other rare and threatened plant species.

Charlie Kreitler is a Senior Consultant with LBG-Guyton Associates in Austin Texas. He has over 40 years of working on Texas groundwater problems, first as a Research Scientist for the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, then as a Principal with LBG-Guyton Associates. He is also currently teaching a graduate course in the Energy and Earth Resources (EER) Program at the Jackson School of Geoscience (University of Texas at Austin) on groundwater resource evaluation. It is a course that integrates the technical and policy issues of groundwater development and management.

He has conducted several scientific studies on the Edwards Aquifer since the 1970’s. He has participated in the Aquifer Science Advisory Panel (ASAP) for the development of the MODFLOW numerical groundwater flow model of the Edwards as well as the Expert Science Subcommittee for the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program. His most recent hobby is visiting “important” springs in the United States.

Conrad Lamon is Manager and President of Statistical Ecology Associates, LLC. Dr. Lamon has over 30 years of experience planning and executing limnological studies to assess the physical, biological and chemical character of surface water sources of contamination and nutrient loading. Lamon has developed over 30 complex multidisciplinary scientific proposals, as a research scientist, assistant professor, post-doctoral researcher and graduate student who has worked with biologists, engineers, ecologists, hydrologists, economists and statisticians.

Lamon’s work has led him to propose modifications to existing statistical modeling approaches, using Bayesian methods, in order to properly propagate uncertainty for use in decision-making related to water resources management. These proposals addressed prominent, large-scale water resources issues, including the eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee in South Florida, salmonid PCB contamination in the Great Lakes Basin, the development of nutrient criteria for lakes and reservoirs of the continental U.S., shrimp productivity in Louisiana estuaries, fecal coliform contamination of shellfish resource waters in Louisiana and North Carolina, ecological water quality impacts of Hurricane Katrina, Great Lakes surface elevation declines, and eutrophication in Finnish lakes.

Jason Martina is an assistant professor at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. His primary research interests involve better understanding global change phenomena in wetland and grassland ecosystems.

His lab uses field, laboratory, and computational modeling techniques to test hypotheses concerning some of the most important drivers of global change, such as biological invasion, nitrogen deposition, and climate change.

While his lab mainly focuses on the causes and consequences of biological invasion, they also study nutrient pollution, disturbance, endangered species, and restoration of degraded ecosystems. Currently, in Texas, his lab is investigating the environmental factors that influence the successful establishment and spread of Arundo donax (giant reed), endangered wetland species associated with Weches Glades (eastern Texas), and the effects of fertilization, disturbance, and restoration on grassland ecosystems. He received his Ph.D. at Michigan State University and completed a postdoc at the University of Michigan studying the dynamics of plant invasions and their consequences to ecosystem function in Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

Chad Norris has a B.S. in Environmental Science with specializations in Geology and Biology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a M.S in Aquatic Biology from Texas State University. As a research assistant at TXST, Chad worked on a variable flows study in Comal and San Marcos springs that preceded the current biological monitoring program. Chad worked for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) for 22 years, serving in various roles.

Most recently he led the Groundwater Resources Program at TPWD where he was tasked with leading various multidisciplinary teams and was recognized as the state’s expert on springs. Additionally, he served on various scientific committees, collaborated on research related to freshwater springs and rare species, provided technical guidance to private landowners, and represented TPWD at various water planning and policy meetings. Currently, Chad is serving as the Deputy Executive Manager of Environmental Science and Community Affairs for the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA), where he is responsible for advancing the overall science programs at GBRA, including research prioritization and implementation, providing scientific and technical support to regional stakeholders, overseeing the Clean Rivers Program, and contributing technical and scientific expertise to the development of GBRA’s Habitat Conservation Plan.

Josh Perkin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Texas State University and Ph.D. from Kansas State University. His research program focuses on freshwater fishes affected by conservation challenges such as water shortages, habitat loss, and invasion of non-native species. He and his students work with fishes in rivers, streams, and springs across Texas and the United States. Josh teaches courses on the principles of fisheries management and statistical analysis and programming. He serves on the editorial boards of Fisheries Magazine and the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish and is a member of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Committee. Josh was named the Texas Chapter American Fisheries Society (AFS) Outstanding Worker of the year for Research in 2023 and Teaching in 2022, and in 2022 he was the recipient of the Early Career Fisheries Education Award by the AFS Education Section and Texas A&M University Dugas Early Career Award for Research Excellence. In 2024 Josh was elected as the next President of the Texas Chapter AFS.

John Sharp, Ph.D is a professor emeritus at the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. There, Dr. Sharp conducts research in hydrogeology, hydrology and environmental geology.

His current projects include: the crystalline rock aquifers of Texas, studies of the Edwards Aquifer, and evolution of regional flow systems.