Around Texas

Up-and-coming rodeo stars from across the country come to Tarleton State University for a chance to compete on the top college rodeo team in the nation. In this episode of Around Texas with Chancellor John Sharp, we meet a few of these young competitors and find out what makes them tick.

Red snapper populations in the Gulf are up, thanks to research being done at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Students looking for a job in the blue economy find what they need at Texas A&M-Galveston. And Chancellor Sharp talks with a biologist researching how an immortal jellyfish might be able to help humans.

With the help of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texans are producing some excellent wines and whiskeys. Meet the winemakers who are producing award-winning wines that hold their own against products from Napa and France. Plus, learn what it takes to make all-Texas whiskey.

Texas A&M University has been a favorite place for the CIA to recruit agents. Professor Jim Olson is a big reason for that. Jim is a professor at the Bush School, where he teaches courses on intelligence and counterintelligence. He also is a former spy. Chancellor Sharp sat down with Jim to talk about catching spies, Jim’s new book and threats to our national security.

Texas A&M-San Antonio is home to one of the first varsity-level esports teams in Texas. Chancellor Sharp learns about the esports craze and where it’s going. Also, Keller Cox, the head yell leader at Texas A&M, is an aspiring country music singer with a bright future. Keller takes us into a recording session in Austin as he tries to break into the country music industry.

This show is about legacies. You will meet Dr. Al Wagner, a food technology specialist whose contributions included work for NASA. He also served as a volunteer coach for the Texas A&M Rodeo Team. You also will meet Dr. Donny Hamilton, the retired director of the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M. He has done it all from restoring cannons from the Alamo to exploring sunken cities.

Learn about how The Texas A&M Transportation Institute – the premiere transportation research center in the country – is making our roadways safer… and crash-testing a few cars along the way too. Also visit the new Agriculture and Workforce Education Center, or AWEC, where students get trained in high-demand – and high-paying – fields, like welding, plumbing or pipefitting.

Last year, members of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M worried they might face a year without any Corps activities. Cadets talk about the challenges they faced. Also, Construction Science student Alex Richter built a machine to fabricate COVID barriers designed to make sure students could take classes in person.

EnMed students earn medical degrees and masters’ degrees in engineering from Texas A&M. Graduates will invent new and ultramodern medical devices. Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, head of EnMed, talks with Chancellor Sharp. Also, a small community uses autonomous vehicles to get medications to people who have trouble getting around.

This week, we take you from the stockyards to the table. Learn about a new program for veterinary students at Texas A&M Veterinary College and West Texas A&M. We also meet Southside Market and Barbeque owner Bryan Bracewell from Elgin and hear about how Texas A&M helped his business and others like it.

The VOOM Foundation is a special medical program made up of volunteers, including doctors, nurses and a lot of college students who share a desire to make life better for people in far-away Nigeria. VOOM’s founder - Dr. Vincent Ohaju, a native of Nigeria and a trauma surgeon in Bryan-College Station - and others talk about their involvement in the life-saving program.

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