Faculty Listed by Campus

umces

Appalachian Laboratory

Mark S. Castro
mcastro@umces.edu
web site
Atmosphere-biosphere interactions, greenhouse gas fluxes, global environmental changes, effects of atmospheric deposition and human activities on nutrient dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems, the composition of the atmosphere

Mark Cochrane (*currently not accepting students)
mark.cochrane@umces.edu
web site
Understanding spatial patterns, interactions and synergisms between the multiple physical and biological factors that affect ecosystems; climate change, human dimensions of land-cover change and the potential for sustainable development; the drivers and effects of disturbance regime changes resulting from various forms of forest degradation, including fire, fragmentation and logging as well as the mitigating effects of forest and land management.

Emily Cohen
emily.cohen@umces.edu
web site
Understanding animal migration biology in the context of the full annual cycle; using field, lab, and remotely sensed data integrated with rigorous quantitative tools to: address fundamental questions about migration biology, understand how and why migration is changing and migratory species are declining, and develop tools for the inclusion of stopover and airspace habitats into conservation and management efforts for migratory species.

Eric Davidson (*currently not accepting students)
edavidson@umces.edu
web site
Biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, including the effects of management, land use change, and climatic change on soil C and N stocks, trace gas emissions from soils, and leaching of plant nutrients to streams and groundwater. Current study areas include the Brazilian Amazon Basin and Cerrado region and the forests of New England.

Cathlyn D. Davis (Stylinski) (*currently not accepting students)
Cathlyn.Davis@umces.edu
web site
Environmental science education and scientific inquiry in precollege classrooms; remote sensing and plant ecophysiology

Andrew Elmore (*currently not accepting students)
aelmore@umces.edu
web site
Land use and land cover change; ecohydrology; biogeochemistry; remote sensing and spatial analysis; effects of urban development and agriculture on stream ecosystems; impact of climate change om forest phenology and biogeochemistry

Katharina Engelhardt (*currently not accepting students)
kengelhardt@umces.edu
web site
Effects of species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services; community ecology and ecosystem ecology

Keith N. Eshleman
keshleman@umces.edu
web site
Watershed and wetlands hydrology; groundwater/surface water interactions; biogeochemical processes in upland and wetland ecosystems; hydrochemical modeling; ecosystem interactions with land use change

Matthew Fitzpatrick (*currently not accepting students)
mfitzpatrick@umces.edu
website
My research emphasizes the development and application of spatial modeling approaches for understanding and mapping past, current, and future patterns of biodiversity, with a focus on terrestrial systems, mainly plants.

J. Edward Gates
egates@umces.edu
web site
Wildlife, habitatd and landscape ecology; habitat fragmentation and alteration, connectivity, edge effects and boundary dynamics; habitat suitability for vertebrate species

Robert H. Hildebrand (*currently not accepting students)
rhilderbrand@umces.edu
web site
Ecology and conservation biology of running waters; watershed and stream habitat restoration; linking landscapes and populations

David M. Nelson (*currently not accepting students)
dnelson@umces.edu 
web site
Ecosystem responses to natural and human-induced variations in climatic and environmental conditions; study of plants and microbes in geologic and modern settings utilizing isotopic, paleoecological, genomic and biogeochemical tools

Xin Zhang
xzhang@al.umces.edu
web site
Environmental science and policy, coupled human and natural systems, biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen, earth system modeling, atmospheric-biosphere interactions.


Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Helen Bailey (Olde) (*currently not accepting students)
hbailey@umces.edu
web site
Spatial and movement ecology; habitat modeling; marine top predator ecology; environmental impacts of offshore energy. 

Hongsheng Bi
hbi@umces.edu
web site
Ocean-climate variability and ecosystem response; zooplankton community and population dynamics; application of satellite techniques in marine fisheries

Walter R. Boynton (*currently not accepting students)
boynton@umces.edu
web site 
Estuarine whole systems ecology, nutrient budgets, eutrophication, sediment nutrient dynamics, environmental policy

Lee Cooper
cooper@umces.edu
web site
Interdisciplinary aspects of biogeochemistry and ecology, including stable and radioisotope composition of organic materials and natural waters; aquatic plant physiology; high latitude oceanography and hydrology

Solange Filoso
filoso@umces.edu
web site
Biogeochemistry and nutrient dynamics in aquatic ecosystems; Impacts of human activities such as land use change, urbanization, and energy production on water resources; Effectiveness of stream restoration and other types of management practices at improving water quality of waterways

Michael Gonsior (*currently not accepting students)
gonsior@umces.edu
web site
Molecular diversity of natural organic matter; disinfection by-products; effluent organic matter characterization; marine debris and its impact on the world's oceans; natural organic matter in extreme environments; biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and chlorine

Jacqueline Grebmeier
jgrebmei@umces.edu
web site
Pelagic-benthic coupling on continental shelves, benthic ecology, invertebrate zoology, contaminant distributions, high latitude oceanography

Lora A. Harris (*currently not accepting students)
harris@umces.edu
web site
Systems ecology; theoretical ecology; primary producers from phytoplankton to macrophytes; ecosystem modeling

Andrew Heyes (*currently not accepting students)
heyes@umces.edu
web site
Biogeochemistry, trace metal chemistry, fate of human derived chemicals

Edward D. Houde (*currently not accepting students)
ehoude@umces.edu
web site
Fisheries science and management; recruitment mechanisms; effects of environment on reproductive success of fishes; ecology of marine and estuarine fishes, especially early-life stages

K. Halimeda Kilbourne (*currently not accepting students)
kilbourn@umces.edu
web site
Paleoclimate and Paleooceanography; causes of past climate variability and its implications for future climates, geochemical records of biogenic carbonates, learning from the geologic record of environmental change. 

Laura Lapham (*currently not accepting students)
lapham@umces.edu
web site
Methane biogeochemistry, marine methane seeps, gas hydrates, Arctic permafrost, sediment biogeochemistry, carbon and nitrogen cycling, sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, anaerobic methane oxidation

Dong Liang (*not currently accepting students)
dliang@umces.edu
web site
My research involves statistical issues in synthesizing environmental data sets. I focus on Bayesian hierarchical models and geo-spatial tools to fuse information from survey design and multiple sources. My research is collaborative with other MEES foundation areas, examples areas include Fisheries, Environmental Science and Policy, Environmental health, and spatial epidemiology.

Slava Lyubchich
lyubchich@umces.edu
web site
Time series analysis, forecasting, applied statistics, non-parametric inference, bootstrap, environmental modeling, random networks

Thomas Miller (*currently not accepting students)
miller@umces.edu
web site
Recruitment and population dynamics of aquatic animals; fish early life history; feeding and bio-physical interactions; aquatic ecology; blue crabs

Carys Mitchelmore
mitchelm@umces.edu
web site
Investigating molecular, biochemical and cellular responses of aquatic organisms to inorganic and organic pollutants; determining species-specificity; biochemical pathways and toxic effects; applying and developing novel biomarkers to existing and emerging environmental problems

Margaret Palmer (*currently not accepting students)
palmer@umces.edu
web site
Stream community and ecosystems ecology; restoration ecology; stream ecosystem structure and function; influence of land use, hydrology and geomorphology on health of running-water ecosystems

Christopher Rowe (*currently not accepting students)
rowe@umces.edu
web site
Physiological ecology and ecotoxicology of ectothermic animals. Research is focused on bioenergetic and resource-related effects of climate warming and environmental contamination.

Johan Schijf (*currently not accepting students)
schijf@umces.edu
web site
Aqueous geochemistry of trace metals, especially the rare earth and alkaline earth elements; uptake of trace metals by aquatic plants; trace metal coordination by siderophores and other biogenic organic ligands; using tree cores as archives of environmental metal pollution; environmental impacts of fossil energy production; physical chemistry of seawater; geochemistry of marine anoxic basins; inductively coupled plasma mass and atomic emission spectrometry; electrochemistry and potentiometric titration; ion chromatography

David Secor (*currently not accepting students)
secor@umces.edu
web site
Fish ecology; fish life history and migration studies; fisheries stock enhancement; migration and habitat use as behaviors controlling and regulating population dynamics

Mario Tamburri
tamburri@umces.edu
web site
Coastal sensor and sensor platform development; chemical ecology of marine organisms; ecosystem monitoring and marine conservation

Jeremy M. Testa (*currently not accepting students)
jtesta@umces.edu
web site
Coastal marine ecology, including eutrophication, nutrient cycling, and dissolved oxygen dynamics; interactions between biological, chemical, and physical processes in coastal ecosystems using a combination of experimental efforts, historical data analysis, and coupled biogeochemical-hydrodynmaic modeling studies to examine these aspects of estuarine and coastal aquatic science. 

Lisa Wainger
wainger@umces.edu
web site
Risk analysis and decision support tools for prioritizing natural resource management options; invasive species risk assessment; wetland restoration prioritization; ecological and economic indicators for communicating relative costs and benefits of natural resource change

Michael Wilberg
wilberg@umces.edu
web site
Stock assessment; dynamics of exploited populations; harvest policy development and application; statistical model selection and averaging

Ryan Woodland (*currently not accepting students)
woodland@umces.edu
web site
Trophic and food web ecology, anthropogenic effects on coastal ecosystems, stable isotope ecology, ecological connectivity across coastal ecosystems


Horn Point Laboratory

Donald F. Boesch (*currently not accepting students)
boesch@umces.edu
web site
Use of science in environmental policy & management, particularly related to understanding the causes of and solutions to coastal eutrophication

William Boicourt (*currently not accepting students)
boicourt@umces.edu
web site
Physical oceanography of shallow waters, estuaries, river plumes; remote sensing and autonomous samplers; physical-biological interactions and food web dynamics

Shenn-Yu Chao
chao@umces.edu 
web site
Physical oceanography; continental shelf processes; western boundary currents dynamics; lower atmosphere circulations; estuarine circulations; numerical modelling of mesoscale processes in the ocean

Lou Codispoti
codispot@umces.edu
Arctic Ocean processes, nutrient and carbon budgets, descriptive physical oceanography, coastal upwelling and chemical oceanographic instrumentation

Victoria J. Coles (*currently not accepting students)
vcoles@umces.edu
web site
Physical and biological response and feedbacks to climate variability and change; Observation and modeling of ocean circulation and ventilation, biogeochemical tracer, and ecosystem cycling

Jeffrey C. Cornwell
cornwell@umces.edu
web site
Sediment biogeochemistry; burial of sediment and associated chemical constituents; nutrient exchange in sediment; influence of tidal marshes on ecosystem N and P balances

Jacob Cram
jcram@umces.edu
web site
I am a microbial ecologist whose research focuses on entire microbial communities. I am interested both in which organisms are present and in how those those organisms affect and in turn are shaped by their environment. My group observes micro-organisms in their native environments through molecular biology techniques and microscopy. We also use statistical and mechanistic models to integrate data and better understand microorganisms in their environments, as well as perform experiments to see how entire communities respond to perturbations.

William Dennison
dennison@umces.edu
web site
Coastal ecosystem ecology; ecophysiology of marine plants; bioindicators in nearshore environments; assessing ecosystem health

Thomas R. Fisher, Jr. (*currently not accepting students)
fisher@umces.edu
web site
Biogeochemistry and hydrology of watersheds, denitrification, nutrient inputs to estuaries, cycling and primary production of aquatic systems

Clara Fuchsman (*not currently accepting students)
cfuchsman@umces.edu
web site
The Fuchsman lab studies how biological organisms (bacteria, viruses, zooplankton) affect biogeochemical cycling in the ocean. Low or zero oxygen waters are our speciality, but we are also interested in oxygenated systems for comparison.

Patricia M. Glibert
glibert@umces.edu
web site
Transformations and fate of nitrogen in marine and estuarine systems; ecology of phytoplanktons; effects of eutrophication; growth and physiology of harmful algal bloom species

Matthew Gray (*currently not accepting students)
mgray@umces.edu
web site
Oysters and other marine invertebrate provide numerous benefit to coastal communities and local environments. As an ecophysiologist, my research focuses on understanding the physiological response of marine invertebrates to current and future environmental conditions (e.g. ocean acidification) and the ecological benefits provided by these organisms over space and time.  My studies are intended to broaden our knowledge base and provide relevant information to help inform stakeholder, management, and policy in Maryland and elsewhere.

Raleigh Hood
rhood@umces.edu
web site
Phytoplankton production and light response, modeling of primary production and pelagic ecosystems, phytoplankton physiology, bio-optical oceanography

Joe Jurisa
jjurisa@umces.edu
web site
I am a physical oceanographer mainly focused on mixing and transport processes in estuarine and coastal systems.  My research focuses on understanding the mixing and transport processes driving the water mass transformation in the estuarine and coastal regions as these processes ultimately control the fate of freshwater and the water mass structure on the continental shelf.  I develop novel analytical tools and utilize numerical models along with observational oceanographic and meteorological data in an attempt to capture and advance the understanding of the underlying physical processes.

Victor S. Kennedy (*currently not accepting students)
kennedy@umces.edu
web site
Reproduction and larval behavior and ecology of bivalves; crab and fish foraging behavior; ecology and dynamics of littoral and sublittoral benthic communities; global climate change

Ming Li
mingli@umces.edu
web site
My research spans several areas in oceanography, including estuarine and coastal dynamics, turbulence, sea level rise, and regional impacts of climate change. I am also actively engaged in interdisciplinary research to address pressing environmental problems such as hypoxia, ocean acidification, and harmful algal blooms.

Sairah Malkin
smalkin@umces.edu
web site
Biogeochemistry and microbial ecology, particularly in sediment environments; benthic ecology; coastal and large lakes ecology.  Current projects are investigating the ecology of sulfur oxidizing bacteria in coastal marine systems.

Donald Meritt
dmeritt@umces.edu
web site
Oyster aquaculture and restoration

Laura Murray
murray@umces.edu
web site
Ecology of marine and estuarine wetland communities; research experiences for environmental education.

William Nardin
wnardin@umces.edu
web site
We have 2 new projects and I am looking for candidates with engineering background to work on quantify metric's design of coastal restoration projects. Those projects involve mostly modeling and some fieldwork. Knowing how to pilot a drone is preferential.

Nicholas Nidzieko
nidzieko@umces.edu
web site
Effect of mixing and circulation on biogeochemical processes and fates in coastal ecosystems

Elizabeth North
enorth@umces.edu
web site
Fisheries oceanography with emphasis on shellfish in estuaries; Three-dimensional habitat and particle trajectory modeling; Carbon capture with microalgae; Stakeholder-driven research

Judith O'Neil (*currently not accepting students)
joneil@umces.edu
web site
Harmful Algal Bloom dynamics; plankton nutrient and trophodynamics; Cyanobacteria ecophysiology

Andrea Pain
apain@umces.edu
web site
My research links terrestrial and coastal processes by looking at the quantity and quality of water flowing from land to sea, including both stream runoff and groundwater. Streams and groundwater both contribute carbon and nutrients to the coast but vary in composition due to differences in how they flow through the landscape. I am interested in how terrestrial processes impact the quantity and quality of freshwater delivery to the coast and implications for ecological and biogeochemical processes in coastal regions, particularly in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

Cindy Palinkas
cpalinkas@umces.edu
web site
Continental-margin sedimentation; formation and preservation of sedimentary strata in the geological record; deposition and accumulation of fluvial sediment in the coastal ocean

James J. Pierson (*currently not accepting students)
jpierson@umces.edu
web site
Zooplankton ecology; how individual behaviors affect population dynamics; how zooplankton individuals and groups function within an ecosystem; microplastic distribution and transport in estuaries; broadening participation in geoscience and ocean science.

Louis V. Plough
lplough@umces.edu
web site
Population genetics of marine animals, quantitative genetics and experimental breeding of shellfish; oyster biology and aquaculture; ecological genomics of stress adaptation in marine animals; larval biology of marine invertebrates

Michael R. Roman
roman@umces.edu
web site
Biological oceanography; zooplankton ecology

Kenneth Rose
krose@umces.edu
web site
Dr. Rose is the France-Merrick Professor in Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration at Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.  Prior to coming to UMCES, Dr. Rose was a professor at Louisiana State University and a research staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research centers on using mathematical and computer simulation modeling to predict and better understand fish population and food web dynamics in estuaries, lakes, reservoirs, and oceans.

Lawrence P. Sanford (*currently not accepting students)
lsanford@umces.edu
web site
Coastal and esturaine physical oceanography; fine sediment transport mechanics, geophysical boundary layers, turbulence, surface and internal waves

Greg Silsbe
gsilsbe@umces.edu
web site
Biological oceanography with an emphasis on the role of phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle. Satellite remote sensing; phytoplankton physiology; African Great Lake limnology.

Lorie Staver (*currently not accepting students)
lstaver@umces.edu
web site
The common denominator in my work has been the role of nitrogen in aquatic plant ecology. I am most interested in how to build resilience into restored coastal habitats, given that most of these sites are impacted to some degree by eutrophication, and are also on the front lines of climate change and sea level rise. I am currently collaborating with others on biogeochemistry, restoration genetics, geomorphology, and the application of facilitation theory to vegetation establishment methods in tidal marsh restoration.

J. Court Stevenson (*currently not accepting students)
court@umces.edu
web site
Coastal zone resources and water quality management; ecology of marsh and sea grass systems; effects of sea-level rise on wetlands and coastal shorelines; environmental history of Chesapeake Bay and its watershed

Jian Zhao
jianzhao@umces.edu
web site
I am a physical oceanographer seeking to understand multi-scale oceanic processes and their roles in the global climate system. My approach is observational, using both traditional and modern innovative instrument platforms – such as autonomous underwater vehicle– coupled with numerical modeling, to explore fundamental physical processes.