Dr. Lee Blaney. Photo Courtesy: UMBC
July 13, 2022 - Congratulations to our very own Dr. Lee Blaney, Associate Professor of the Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on being promoted to Professor!
Dr. Lee Blaney, a UMBC MEES Faculty member is a strong educator who engages, teaches, and mentors students in the classroom, lab, and field and was recently awarded the 2022 University System of Maryland Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. His teaching philosophy is to provide a safe, yet robust, collaborative learning environment where students are challenged to think critically and outperform what they expect of themselves. Blaney’s students describe his style as approachable, challenging, enthusiastic, and respectful. He cultivates curiosity in his students and seeks out opportunities to connect with students and faculty across majors, departments, and the USM. Congratulations Dr. Blaney!
nOAA - MEET OUR SCIENTISTS
SHadaesha green (Ph.D, ‘22)
July 1, 2022 - Check out NOAA’s very in-depth and inspiring interview article with our very own Shadaesha Green (ENMB, Ph.D., ‘22), who now works in NOAA’s Office of Education, where she works as a program specialist on the Environmental Literary Program, which provides grants and in-kind support for programs that educate and inspire people to use Earth system science to improve ecosystem stewardship and increase resilience to environmental hazards. This Hampton University grad came to the MEES Graduate Program advised by Dr. J. Sook Chung (UMCES), and while in the program, was awarded the prestigious John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship (2021). Her dissertation was focused on the reproductive biology of deep sea crabs. She graduated with her Ph.D. this past Spring 2022. We at the MEES Graduate Program are so very proud of our students and alumni! Congratulations, Shadaesha! For more information, please click here.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2022 MEES MEMORIAL & MEES GRADUATE PROGRAM AWARD RECIPIENTs!
MEES GRADUATE DEBBIE MORRIN-NORDLUND MEMORIAL AWARD REID EVANS MENZER AWARD PROGRAM AWARD
Aubrey Tingler Photo Courtesy: UMCP/ENST
Samara Nehemiah Photo Courtesy: UMCES/CBL
Tan Zou Photo Courtesy: UMCES/AL
Claire Nemes Photo Courtesy: UMCES/AL
Kohma Arai Photo Courtesy: UMCES/CBL
Stefenie Shenoy Photo Courtesy: UMCES/CBL
July 1, 2022 - Congratulations to all the recipients of the 2022 MEES Memorial & Graduate Program Awards! Samara Nehemiah (advisor Dr. Michael Wilberg), Tan Zou (advisor Dr. Xin Zhang), and Aubrey Tingler (advisor Dr. Paul Leisnham) are the newest recipients of the prestigious and highly competitive Debbie Morrin-Nordlund Memorial Award; and Kohma Arai (advisor Dr. David Secor) and Claire Nemes (advisor Dr. Emily Cohen & Dr. Matthew Fitzpatrick (co-advisor)) were awarded the prestigious Reid Evans Menzer Memorial Graduate Award, and our very own Stefenie Shenoy (advisor Dr. Jeremy Testa & Dr. Lora Harris) earned the prestigious MEES Graduate Program Fund Award! This is a well earned recognition of all your hard work. The MEES program is very proud of you!
JULY 2022 - NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
Monthly Spotlight: National Mental Health Awareness Month (July 2022) - A recent NIH study which investigated the role of exercise in the management of mental health disorders analyzed the efficacy of aerobic exercise training on the treatment for depression. Rui Xu, (Ph.D., Fall 2019) is a UMB MEES student advised by Dr. Shaojun Du who is currently investigating the system governing the formation and development of skeletal and cardiac muscles. Here is a preliminary paper published this past November 2021 entitled “Overexpression of Lifeact-GFP Disrupts F-Actin Organization in Cardiomyocytes and Impairs Cardiac Function”.
Faculty Focus: Dr. Shaojun (Jim) Du, is Professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore’s School of Medicine and a longtime MEES faculty member. Dr. Du is also a faculty member at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland. Dr. Du’s major scientific expertise and research achievements lie in using transgenic and genetic approaches to elucidate the molecular regulation of embryonic development and muscle cell differentiation, and the application of transgenic technology in aquaculture. For more information, click here.
MEES Research Corner: Dr. Shiladtya DaSarma, a long time MEES Faculty member, is a Professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMB) and at the Institute of Marine and Biotechnology (IMET). Dr. DaSarma is a pioneering microbiologist well-known for his contributions to the genomics, molecular biology, and biotechnology of Archaea and the field of Astrobiology. He has published over 150 scientific papers over his career and mentored many students. He founded the UMB GPILS genomics track and is the UMB institutional representative for the system-wide MEES graduate program. Check out his presentation in IMET’s technology webinar where he presented along with Dr. Jacyln Winter (University of Utah) on harnessing the unique biology of extremophiles for the discovery and development of new therapeutics. Click here to watch - “Extreme Biotech: Understanding Extreme Biology to Impact Human Health”.