J. Logan Respess

J. Logan Respess became Associate Director and Extension Program Leader of the Texas Sea Grant College Program in December 2008.  He is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Texas Sea Grant Extension Program and its personnel, currently comprising seven county marine agents and eight marine specialists, who are committed to addressing issues facing the state.

Respess received his B.S. in Marine Biology at Texas A&M University and his M.S. in Educational Technology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

A former Texas Sea Grant College Program marine agent with 10 years’ experience in two coastal Texas counties, the focus of his outreach career has shifted from leading projects to strategic planning and program and volunteer development. He most recently served as Extension Agent-Horticulture with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service for Travis County from August to December 1998. Previously, he spent more than six years as the Natural Resource Agent in Aransas County, a dual position with Texas AgriLife Extension and Texas Sea Grant, managing a large volunteer base and addressing issues related to coastal growth, economic development and nonpoint source pollution, and almost four years as the Marine Extension Agent in Matagorda County.

Respess also has worked as a contract research diver for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a marine technician for the Department of Oceanography, and a contract field biologist for an environmental consulting company.

His research project work includes:

Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Effort Studies

Estimated fishery impacts due to underwater explosives used to sever and salvage oil and gas platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Joint Global Ocean Flux Survey: Arabian Sea Process Study

Cooperative Studies of the Circulation of the Gulf of Mexico: Cross-Strait CTD and XBT sections in the Yucatan Channel from B/O Antares

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Operations Monitoring Experiment (GOOMEX): Phase I Sublethal Responses to Contaminant Exposure

Distribution and Abundance of Marine Mammals in the North-Central and Western Gulf of Mexico (GULFCET program)