Events

Shel Winkley is the Weather & Climate Engagement Specialist at Climate Central. His focus is to collaborate with meteorologists, journalists, scientists and other trusted voices to help them understand the science of attribution and identify when a fingerprint of climate change has influenced current and past weather events.

Winkley spent 17 years working as a broadcast meteorologist in local news. Prior to Climate Central, he spent almost 15 of those as chief meteorologist at KBTX, the CBS affiliate in Bryan-College Station. During that time, he also instructed the Broadcast Meteorology course at Texas A&M University and served as the meteorologist for Texas A&M Athletics. He started his career forecasting, presenting and chasing the weather in Amarillo, Texas.

He has earned multiple awards from the Texas Association of Broadcasters, EMMA awards from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation. He was also featured in The Atlantic for his role communicating the science of climate change as part of the Brazos Valley’s essential weather message.

Winkley holds a B.S. in Meteorology from Texas A&M. He carries a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation from the American Meteorological Society and was a past member and chair of the Board on Broadcast Meteorology.

• Professor, George T. Gladys Abell, Endowed Family Chair, Nautical Archaeology Faculty Fellows, MS in Maritime Archaeology and Conservation
• Nautical archaeology of the post-Medieval Era; construction and outfitting of ships; seafaring, shipboard life, and maritime communities; North American river, lake, and canal navigation; 19^th century steamboats and ship propulsion technology; warships and naval technology, 1450-1950; War of 1812 naval design and construction.
• My interests and research focus on ships, seafaring, and maritime activity in the post-Medieval era (from the 15th to the 20th centuries A.D). Ships of the War of 1812 have been a central interest since 1981 when I recorded the wreck of the U.S. Navy schooner Ticonderoga; this was followed by M.A. and Ph.D. projects on the U.S.N. 20-gun brigs Eagle and Jefferson. 

Dr. Robert (Bob) Holzweiss an Archivist and Deputy Director at the Bush Library and Museum to discuss historical gifts, documents and the 4141 locomotive at the museum.

Marcus Blum, Ph.D., joined the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service as the statewide wildlife specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management in 2025. Blum’s work focuses on mitigating negative wildlife interactions and damage, especially related to feral hogs and predators. In addition to resolving negative impacts for landowners, Blum helps landowners achieve specific wildlife management goals through ongoing research that addresses real-world challenges specific to regional ecology and habitat. Prior to this role, Blum was a research scientist with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, where he worked with numerous big game species ranging from moose to mule deer.