2023-2024 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES)
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JANET C. RUTLEDGE, UMBC Acting Graduate Program Director
M.S., Ph.D. (Degree Types )
Professors
BLANEY, LEE (Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin; Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Nutrient Recovery, Antibiotics, Animal Manure, UV processes.
BUSH, C. ALLEN, (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Environmental molecular biology, glycoprotein and polysaccharide structure determination using NMR and three-dimensional molecular dynamics.
CRONIN, THOMAS W. (Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Duke University; Vision science, visual ecology of marine animals.
ELLIS, ERLE (Geography and Environmental Systems), Ph.D., Cornell University; Bio-geochemistry, landscape ecology, managed ecosystems.
GHOSH, UPAL (Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., University at Buffalo, 1998. Fate and transport of toxic organic compounds in the environment.
LEIPS, JEFFERY (Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Florida State University; Evolution of life history traits, ecological genetics.
MENDELSON, TAMRA C. (Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Duke University; Evolutionary biology; Mating behavior of freshwater fishes.
MILLER, ANDREW J. (Geography and Environmental Systems), Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University; Hydrology, geomorphology, water resources, environmental problems.
REED, BRIAN E. (Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo; Sorption of organics/inorganics, surface chemistry, separation processes, water and wastewater treatment.
SOWERS, KEVIN (Marine Biotechnology), Ph.D., Virginia Tech; Anaerobic Microbiology, bioremediation, bioenergy.
SWAN, CHRISTOPHER (Geography and Environmental Systems), Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park; Stream ecology.
WELTY, CLAIRE (Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Groundwater flow and transport, water resource systems analysis, watershed hydrology.
ZOHAR, YONATHAN (Marine Biotechnology), Ph.D., University of Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris; Fish reproductive endocrinology, aquaculture.
Associate Professors
SCHREIER, HAROLD (Marine Biotechnology and Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University; Microbial molecular genetics and physiology.
WONG, TEN-TSAO (Marine Biotechnology), Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park; Molecular, cellular and applied aspects of fish germ cell biology, reproductive physiology and vaccine development.
Assistant Professors
BURNS, MERCEDES (Biological Sciences), Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park; Sexual conflict, Genitalic Diversity, Genomics, Mating Systems, Opiliones.
TRACY, ALLISON (Marine Biotechnology), Ph.D., Cornell University; Marine Health and Disease.
Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) is an inter-institutional graduate program of the University System of Maryland whose mission is to educate students to become the scientific leaders and problem-solvers of the future. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we train students to engage in scientific discovery, integration, and application to generate new knowledge and to solve environmental problems. Because it draws faculty from not only USM’s degree-granting but also from USM research institutions as well as from government and non-government agencies and other non-academic units, the MEES program affords students an unparalleled opportunity to combine the expertise of the best environmental scientists in the region to guide their program of study.
MEES offers masters and doctoral degrees in four Foundations including Environment & Society, Earth & Ocean Science, Ecological Systems, and Environmental Molecular Science & Technology. These specialties include such disciplines as restoration ecology, aquaculture, fisheries management, marine biotechnology, toxicology, remote sensing, and landscape ecology, among others. The title of the program emphasizes its strengths in marine and estuarine sciences, although the program spans environmental science as a whole, irrespective of habitat. The interests of students in the program are diverse, but generally center on some aspect of the interaction between biological, physical and/or chemical systems in the environment. Research activities range from studies of molecular mechanisms to fisheries ecology, chemical pollutants, or economics of environmental impact.
Program Specialties
Specialty areas depend on faculty expertise. Typical strengths at UMBC include environmental and molecular biology, marine biotechnology, aquatic ecology, landscape ecology, hydrology, geomorphology, biogeochemistry, and quality and treatment of water and soil.
In addition to the application materials required by the Graduate School, please include in the Personal Statement portion of the application your preferred foundation and (if available) any faculty members you have identified or like to work with. Of note, no student will be admitted to the MEES Program until an advisor is identified and secured and funding is confirmed. Before applying, prospective students should correspond directly with MEES faculty whose research interests are close to their own.
See the program-wide MEES website for more information on admission requirements and prerequisites.
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science maintains several field stations on the Chesapeake Bay and in Western Maryland. UMBC has excellent electron microscope facilities and extensive animal care facilities, as well as a greenhouse. The Department of Marine Biotechnology is based at the Columbus Center in downtown Baltimore’s inner harbor. Faculty and students have access to extensive research facilities, including an 18,000 square-foot, fully-contained, recirculating marine aquaculture facility, a versatile high-volume fermentation facility, and a wide assortment of advanced molecular and biotechnology instrumentation. The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering and the field offices of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and related USDA Forest Service personnel are co-located in the Technology Research Center (TRC) at UMBC. These entities jointly house a Spatial Analysis Laboratory and multiple wet laboratories for water quality, soil and sediment analysis. The Spatial Analysis Laboratory equipment includes high-end servers, storage devices, GIS workstations, one large-format plotter and one large format scanner all linked with a high- speed network. The Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering at UMBC has 3000 sq. ft. of laboratory space equipped with fume hoods, analytical grade water, and chemical resistant countertops. Analytical capabilities include state of the art gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, and spectrophotometers for the measurement of toxic organic compounds and metals in water, soil, and tissue matrices. Students studying remote sensing have access to state of the art technologies in the Department of Physics laboratories.
UMBC is conveniently located with respect to a variety of terrestrial, freshwater and marine/estuarine habitats and is near a large number of private, state and national research institutions, including the offices of NSF, NOAA and NIH; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; the USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratories; the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the EPA Mid- Atlantic Assessment Program. The MD-DE-DC District Office of the U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division is based in UMBC’s Research Park on campus.
A number of research assistantships are available to highly qualified candidates.
ProgramsMaster of ScienceDoctor of PhilosophyCoursesMarine, Estuarine & Environmental Science
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