MSI segment airs Sunday
Ongoing series on PBS television eyes Gulf Coast

The program in a statewide higher education series that features The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (MSI) is due to be broadcast Sunday, May 20, on PBS station KEDT-TV in Corpus Christi.

The series, "State of Tomorrow," was produced in cooperation with the Texas A&M University System, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System, University of Houston System, University of North Texas System and The University of Texas System. It explores challenges in Texas in areas that include public health, homeland security, energy policy, economic development and education, said series producer George Sledge.

In the third segment, the one that airs Sunday, MSI scientists join researchers from the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi in explaining the Gulf Coast through their eyes as they explore the environmental health of this beautiful and vital area of our state.

Today, over-fishing, reduced fresh water in-flow, and human encroachment are threatening the delicate balance of the Gulf's ecosystem. The episode discusses what these scientists have discovered and the solutions they propose to preserve our coastline for generations to come.

"All of these are issues that are facing Texas," Sledge said.

Reporters and cameramen visited with Drs. Ed Buskey, Joan Holt and Ken Dunton of MSI as well as Tony Amos, director of the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK), which is housed at MSI.

"We talked about the importance of research and continued observation of the ecosystem," Sledge said.

They also followed Amos on one of his "island runs," trips down Mustang Island beaches where he's been recording beach conditions for more than 25 years.

Dr. Lee Fuiman, director of MSI, talks about the "big picture of research and why it's important," Sledge said.

Also featured in the third episode is a visit to Tornado Alley, in Lubbock, where the devastating tornado of May 1970 has never been forgotten. Twenty-six people were killed, 500 were injured, and more than $530 million in property was damaged.

"We could have done a whole episode on the Marine Science Institute," Sledge said. "It's so complex and there are so many issues, it was difficult to cut down (to fit the allotted time)."

Episodes to follow include educators and leaders talking about how we'll have to adapt to global economic competition; a visit to "eyes in space," the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of West Texas; robots clustering on the UT San Antonio campus, where they're learning to seek out hazards of our 21st-century world like improvised explosive devices - and will eventually take on jobs too dangerous for humans; University of North Texas forensic anthropologists working on laboratory advances designed to prevent anybody from getting away with murder, far ahead of the science in CSI; and other segments.

Though it first airs on Sundays at 5 p.m., the series will be repeated throughout the week on KEDT-TV.