MEES IN THE NEWS

january 2025 - foundation spotlight: Ecological Systems

NEWS ARCHIVE

MEES RESEARCH CENTER

floating wetland technology: mitigating nitrogen pollution isabel butler-viruet (ECOL SYS, ‘19)

Isabel Butler-Viruet is a third year MEES doctoral student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) set to graduate this Spring 2025.   Advised by Dr. Jeremy Testa, Isabel is interested in understanding how coastal ecosystems respond to nutrient enrichment and how these further respond to nutrient concentration decrease and other mitigation strategies.   Isabel’s  doctoral research is currently focused on floating wetlands and their potential for nitrogen removal on mesohaline water of the Chesapeake Bay.   The results aim at providing well-constrained estimates of nitrogen uptake and further understanding how floating wetlands can help mitigate the effects of nitrogen pollution. 

Prior to joining the MEES Graduate Program, Isabel attributes her desire for knowledge from her mother who always encouraged her to pursue her passions.  Isabel graduated from high school with honors, and was selected for a highly competitive and prestigious undergraduate scholarship in 2011 to the Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico.  Isabel graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science in 2015.   Isabel first joined the MEES program in Fall 2019 as a Master’s student, but soon switched degrees and joined the doctoral program in Fall 2021.  The purpose of Isabel’s doctoral research is to investigate floating wetlands and their potential for nitrogen removal when deployed in estuarine systems, to identify major nitrogen removal pathways beyond plant assimilation, to develop a model to quantify floating wetland nitrogen removal dynamics, and to explore the implications, gaps and future steps for floating wetland technology in estuarine waters. During her career in MEES, Isabel participated actively in graduate student government, playing a formative role in launching at the Chesapeake Bay Laboratory’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and has been an active member in DEI activities.  Isabel served as the student representative to the academic council, and advocated for student needs and improvements to student life to the lab's to leadership. She served as a mentor to REU student Olivia Lopez, and has volunteered with several community outreach programs where she has spoken about Chesapeake Bay ecology to local scouting and school groups. She even translated the UMCES Principles of Conduct to her native language of Spanish.

Isabel is co-chair of the UMCES Graduate Student Council (GSC), actively organizing and advocating for the UMCES student body. She has organized professional development opportunities for UMCES students, such as a multi-day science communication workshop with UMCES’ Integration and Application Network. She also works closely with the Assistant to the Vice President of Education to ensure the student handbook is up to date and develops guidance for student onboarding across the labs. In her final year at MEES, Isabel was awarded the highly prestigious John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, which through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Sea Grant awards highly qualified graduate students with one-year, paid fellowships working in federal government offices in Washington, D.C.  For more on Isabel, please click here.

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Dr. gordon custer

global change, microbial communities & agricultural systems

Dr. Gordon Custer is an Assistant Professor of Soil Microbial Ecology at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.  Dr. Custer recently joined the MEES faculty and his research is focused on understanding the effects of global change on microbial communities. A recent August 2024 PSU article detailed a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (AFRI) grant for projects investigating the ways microbiomes — the microorganisms in a particular environment, such as in soil or a living organism — can affect disease dynamics in agriculture. Dr. Custer, who served as the lead investigator on one of those projects, led a group of researchers on this two year project aimed at improving microbial inoculant success and the interannual effects of biological amendments in soil.  The study looked at contributing to the effort to have more resilient, efficient and ecologically responsible agricultural systems for sustainable food production.  The project focused on a fungus (Rhizophagus irregularis), an arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus that can enhance plant nutrition and plays an important  role in plant immunity and physiology, and a common bacteria (Bacillus lichenformi) found in soil which are both associated with microbial mediated phosphorus acquisition in plants.  Phosphorus, one of the three main nutrients commonly found in fertilizer, is a key component of plant cell division and development, helps plants convert nutrients into usable building blocks for growth and protects the ground cover against erosion as well as enhancing the equity of fruit, vegetable and grain crops.  Current understanding of the variable efficacy and effects of these microbial inoculants is limited, the project aimed to assess those effects on plant performance using an experimental approach growing plants in a climate controlled greenhouse and employing a suite of biogeochemical measurements and soil assays and analysis the associated temporal patterns over two growing seasons.  At the end of each growing season, Dr. Custer and the research team hopes this work will lead to a decreased dependance on synthetic agrochemicals in production agricultural systems and help promote sustainable practices in agriculture.  The preliminary trials suggested that a single application of commercially available phosphorous-solubilizing bacteria at low rates can prompt iron uptake.  The project also proposed developing an outreach activity aimed at high school students from URMs in agroecology, and Dr. Custer worked with students from a local high school (Parkside High School) in Salisbury, MD. In collaboration with the UMES Extension greenhouse manager Dr. Nadine Burton- Stubbs, the goal of this activity was to increase high school student interest and awareness in soil microbial ecology, agroecology and soil sciences.  The high school offers a certificate in Horticulture through its Career and Technology Education (CTE) program and runs the largest student-led greenhouse in the United States.  Dr. Custer has already lectured to two sections of nearly 30 students with additional plans to offer research internships to students at UMES. Students will help Dr. Custer carry out the research proposed as part of this grant. For more information on this grant, please click here. 

Prior to joining the UMES faculty, Dr. Custer’s post-doctoral work was at Penn State with Dr. Francisco Dini-Andreote.where his research combined invasion biology and microbial ecology to study the complex ecological phenomenon of community coalescence and multi-species invasions in microbial communities. Dr. Custer graduated magna cum laude and earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry at King’s College in 2014 where his undergraduate capstone project, under the advisement of Dr. Tammy Tintjer and Dr. Julie Belanger, aimed at better understanding the ecology of forage species, crops that are a vital part of livestock production and can also help with soil quality, erosion prevention, and nitrogen accumulation.  Specifically, the research explored how alkaloids concentrated in the reproductive tissues (seed heads) produced by a fungus which lives within the tall fescue, a common drought tolerant grass, and the Morning Glory, a flowering plant which can negatively impact the reproductive health of the animals that graze on it leading to a phenomenon known as “fescue toxicosis”.  This experience spurred Dr. Custer’s interest in the complex world of plant-microbe interactions and the fundamental aspects of invasion biology. Dr. Custer earned his Master’s in Plant Sciences at the University of Wyoming in 2018.  Co-advised by Dr. Bill Stump and Dr. Linda van Diepen, Dr. .Custer’s master’s thesis focused on the belowground effects of spruce beetle infestation, particularly on microbial diversity and function. The thesis research expanded into Dr. Custer’s doctoral research in Ecology at the University of Wyoming where the focus was on studying several problematic invasive plants and their direct effects and it sought to understand how management decisions, like herbicide application, could affect belowground processes. Dr. Custer earned his doctoral degree (magna cum laude) in Ecology with a graduate minor in Statistics from the University of Wyoming in 2021.  Dr. Custer is currently recruiting MEES students, please visit his website here.

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MEES RESEARCH CENTER

toxin-antitoxian (TA) systems: algenair & marine molecular ecology

Daniel Fucich (Ph.D, ‘20) is currently the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at AlgenAir (along with another MEES doctoral alum Kelsey Abernathy) a Pittsburgh based biotech company aimed at applying the incredible potential of algae to improve indoor air quality.  Advised by Dr. Feng Chen,  Daniel earned his doctoral degree in MEES from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences in Fall 2020.  Daniel’s doctoral research focused on toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, which are genetic elements in bacteria that regulate cell growth and are involved in bacterial virulence, in picocyanobacteria genomes.  Picocyanobacteria contribute significantly to the ocean’s primary production.  A type of picocyanobacteria, synechococcus is present in all marine habitats and appears to have the capability to adapt and tolerate nearly any environment and climate.  Daniel’s doctoral research studied the prevalence of these toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems and other stress response elements in picocyanobacteria in the Chesapeake Bay and their ecological implications.  

Prior to joining the MEES graduate program, as a high school student, Daniel was motivated to pursue science as a career goal after taking an AP Biology class taught by an extraordinary teacher.  His excellent academic and  scholastic efforts, achievements and service involvement. earned Daniel the Chancellor’s Scholarship at Duquesne University; a prestigious and highly competitive award offering full tuition remission.  Under the advisement  of Dr. Joseph McKormick, Associate Professor and Chair of the Biology Department at Duquesne University, Daniel’s undergraduate research focused on bacterial spores as a vaccine delivery system using Stretomyces coelicolor as a model species.   In Summer 2013, Daniel received a stipend to continue the research which was extended to 2014 along with an additional ASMBM (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) scholarship.  Daniel earned his B.S. in Biology graduating with honors (cum laude) from Duquesne University in 2015. Daniel joined the doctoral MEES program in Fall 2015, and under the advisement of Dr. Feng Chen at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore, Daniel was awarded the Ratcliffe Environmental Entrepreneur Fellow (2018).  Daniel served as the MEES Graduate Student Association President and presented his doctoral research at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference in Marine Molecular Ecology (2017).  Daniel garnered extensive teaching experience serving as teaching assistant for two undergraduate biological science (BSCI) courses on the principles of ecology and evolution.  Daniel graduated with his doctoral degree in MEES in Fall 2020, and along with fellow MEES alum Kelsey Abernathy founded AlgenAir.  

 The Aerium, AlgenAir's first commercial product, is a natural air purifier that uses algae to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase oxygen indoors. Forbes recently featured the company’s collaboration with Pittsburgh International Airport in an article describing  an eight-foot-tall installation of the Aerium that was built in the airport's xBridge, a 10,000-square-foot innovation center custom-built to nurture the evolution of the industry and inspire creative solutions to aviation’s many challenges.  The Aerium holds around 125 gallons of spirulina algae and has the same photosynthetic capacity as more than 5,000 houseplants.  In the article, fellow MEES alum Kelsey Abernathy, co-founder and CEO of AlgenAir, said living technology combines algal bioremediation with energy-efficient engineering to combat indoor air pollution and enable the future of green buildings.  

“Modern buildings have elevated indoor CO2 levels, which are harmful to the respiratory health of people inside," said Abernathy. "The aerium uses microalgae's incredible photosynthetic power, which consumes CO2 and produces oxygen more effectively than [..] plants. (link)

Daniel aims to learn something new every day, and aspires to conduct independent research while teaching at the university level. For more on Daniel and AlgenAir, please click here.

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