Partial Accomplishments during my academic career
In order to set the record straight about my prior work, I have decided to include the documents in my possession that I was key to their development. Some of these delivered significant benefits to other individuals, or organizations. We are now past the statute of limitation, 7 years, by a significant amount so it behooves me to make this information known, in a public way, even though I am not posting this information in a prominent place on my websites, I am more or less posting for posterity in case I were to pass in some unexpected way. See academic Vitae -
online (2012) or
Pdf (2015)
Since leaving my "professional job" in 2007, at the highest level of Texas A&M University, I have experienced tremendous financial challenges. Although that could be a story of it's own, it is a matter of fact that I have not had a steady salary, or paycheck since I left the university in 2008. I did for awhile have a salary while I was teaching English in Colombia, South America (Oxford Center and University of Tolima in Ibague), but it was severely inadequate to take care of my child support obligations so I returned to the U.S. with grand plans to tackle that "debt" only to discover it to be a case "the best made plans of mice and Andy".
Since returning to the Midwest in 2011, I have not had but occasional odd jobs. For the entire time that I have been married to Sarah, I have only had occasional cash in my pocket. A number of times when I did do work, expecting to get paid well, I didn't get paid, or in one case money was taken from my bank account and a negative balance showed up.
Also, being in this situation, I suspect that many people think that I am lazy, or un-accomplished, or a mooch. Nothing could be further from the truth. In my life I have had upwards of 70, of all types. However, when I hunkered down, I always climbed to the top. As my academic CV attests, I have been extremely active. Usually holding down at least 2-3 jobs, while for many of my middle years, I was going to college full time.
With that as a cursory introduction to the background of this posting, I will now post downloadable documents of the more prominent projects that I have either lead, or been a co-lead on.
After spending two years working for the company AdventGX (10 months of the 2nd year not receiving a salary) I returned to the university with my tail between my legs in hope of getting a regular job. I approached Julie Barker, the Assistant to Dr. Richard Ewing, the Vice President for Research at Texas A&M. I was quickly told that they did have something for me to take charge of. That was the TEEMS (Texaco Energy and Environmental Multispectral Spectrometer) a $5,000,000 machine built by Texaco in, I believe, the early 1990s. It is quite a story in itself, for another time, but I spent nearly a year and half developing strategy for Dr. Ewing. He had two primary purposes 1) stimulate collaborative research across the various colleges at TAMU, around the technology, and GIS/remote sensing sciences (I ran with this in the area of practical application) 2) stimulate technology development for commercialization and to increase the university's ability to start business and generate revenue for R&D, and to bring same to Bryan/College Station, University and Texas.
After working with the TEEMS and learning about it's potential, it was as if the "lights went on". I produced two major sets of materials - the Vision for the University, and secondly a strategy to generate the "seed funding" to significantly grow the initiative. My stimulus for the STACI project came when I inadvertently got to attend a GIS conference in San Antonio. Mike Fritsch of Zoom and David Baraniak introduced me to Jack Dangermond, owner and President of ESRI, the largest GIS software company
Project STACI -
Proposal -
Team -
Budget taking the TEEMS device, via Systems Approach to Iraq to discover and eliminate IEDs $35,000,000 that Dr. Ewing never had a chance to read, because of the U.S. China Relations Conference, completing KAUST pre-proposal, and being embroiled in the fabricated "scandal" with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) (
see real story of Dr. Ewing's passing)
KAUST (King Abdulah University of Science and Technology) - 2/3 of the structural components of this proposal "The School and Library of the Future" were based on my PhD work, and developed further being the Visionary for AdventGX. I found out after the fact, having resigned, that Dr. Ewing intended me to be the "Head of Education" for this KAUST Center (see
letter of recommendation from Vice President's office)
In 2018 a huge fervor happened around the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the "building of a wall" and how terrible president Trump was for how he was handling the border issue. People on social media apparently become experts very quickly as they tend to be very opinionated, and critical.
Ironically, I have quite a history with the LRGV, starting with planting trees with a work group in 1989 with the Texas Nature Conservancy. Then I attended a training there in 1990 for the Boys and Girls Clubs, when I was working for the organization in San Antonio.
My work with the Texas Coastal Birding Trail at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department further expanded my interest. However, more importantly I have always appreciated the beauty of hispanic women, and also the hard working nature of Mexican people. I could write extensively about this as my work, and personal life took me to Mexico about 6 times from 1996 until 2005.
My interest here is post that I could be consider "an expert" on the LRGV, but I had to drop the whole subject due to it's complexity. I very seriously considered writing my PhD dissertation on the place, culture and dynamics of its position between our two nations. I even wrote about 5 term papers on the subject. But, I had to scrap the whole enterprise as being far to complex and difficult to examine from a multi-disciplinary perspective by myself. So, late in my PhD work I completely shifted to the research that I did complete looking at "
Nature Tourism in Cyberspace: an Examination of It's Geography and Character in the Network". Here are those 5 term papers on the LRGV that I completed between 1997-1999.
My Beginning to my rise to the top of Texas A&M University - AdventGX, U.S. China Relations and more
At the pinnacle of my professional life, I was selected 1st, out of
all the professors, and researchers to "spin" a company out of Texas
A&M University in 2003. The company still exists, NOT according to
my Vision. I moved in to the first office on Research Park at TAMU,
less than one block from the Bush, Sr. Presidential Library, occupying
the lead position at this abundantly wealthy university (petroleum and
military as foundations) in my humble work in environmental protection,
experiential education, youth, tourism, technology and rural economic
diversification and development. The project was the Technology Transfer
Commercialization Initiative (TTCI), and was the Vision of Dr. Richard
Ewing (2nd pic, with Christine Yang and yours truly).
In 2003, Dr. Ewing created the U.S. China Relations Conference. Of
course, because of political expediency, George Bush, Sr. took credit
and put is name to the conference when I got to attend in Beijing, China
(2005), Arnold Schwarznegger (4th pic) was the key-note speaker. I
actually introduced myself to Barbara in Beijing that year (3rd pic).
In 2007, I was part of the organizing team for the same conference in
Washington, DC. I got to shake George's hand. This chapter of my life
was the most tumultuous, difficult and exciting, I had experienced up to
then, but ultimately I decided to walk away from all of these
accomplishments when Dr. Ewing passed on Dec. 5 (my father's birthday,
and my father John Marvin had passed on Jan 12, the day before my
birthday). The ripples and effects of this "sacrifice", or better put,
demonstration of my Trust that God always sustains, and that when my
heart prompts me to jump off a cliff - Eye Jump, the implications are
now rapidly coalescing as I watch an amazing team of "heros" or "Leaders
who are hardly known" come together!
George, for a good portion
of my life I have harbored resentments. I am sorry. I release those and
ask for fore-giveness. As to release myself, and step out of the role of
Judge. I know this Mark's a new moment in time, of profound
proportions, but I cannot see the details. As I posted on Dr. Ewing's
memorial page, it seems appropriate to Share here
“I do the very
best I can, I mean to keep going. If the end brings me out all right,
then what is said against me won't matter. If I'm wrong, ten angels
swearing I was right won't make a difference.”
― Abraham Lincoln
