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Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

• Distribution and ecology of seaweed communities along the Texas coast
• Coral reefs of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan Peninsula
• Systematic and molecular botany of green algae (Chlorophyta; Caulerpa sp.)
• Water quality studies of non-point source pollution using molecular and microbiological techniques

Dr. Lehman was the first Research Scientist for the Center for Coastal Studies until he accepted a tenure track position with the Department of Life Sciences (TAMU-CC) in 1993. Currently, he is a Professor of Biology, Director of the Laguna Madre Field Station at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and maintains his link to the Center for Coastal Studies as a Research Associate.

Dr. Lehman is a graduate of Texas A&M University, College Station, with a Ph.D. in Botany specializing in the field of Phycology (seaweeds and freshwater algae). He earned a Master of Science in Biology with a Geology minor in 1983 and a B.S. in Secondary Education in 1980 from Corpus Christi State University (now TAMU-CC). He taught public school in Corpus Christi for ten years. His research interests are biofuel from algae, distribution and ecology of seaweed and seagrass communities along the Texas coast and Mexico, coral reefs of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, plants of the Texas Coastal Bend, and water quality studies of non-point source pollution using molecular and microbial techniques.

He is co-author of the books “Plants of the Texas Coastal Bend,” which won the Donvan Steward Correll Memorial Award for scientific writing in the field of the native flora of Texas by the Native Plant Society of Texas – 2008-2009, and “Plants of Webb County, Texas,” and penned the chapter on Coral Reef Algae (seaweeds) in the book “Coral Reefs of the Southern Gulf of Mexico”. Recent student projects include: Studies of the algal flora on the jetties at Packery Channel and Mansfield Pass, Texas; Black mangrove community structure along the South Texas coast; Bacteria (E. coli) source tracking in the Copano Bay watershed (Aransas & Mission Rivers) using Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis DNA fingerprinting; and studies on biofuel production by algae.