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Detailed Information

Program of Study

The specific objective of the all-University Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES) is the training of qualified graduate students who are working toward the M.S. or Ph.D. degree and have research interests in fields of study that involve interactions between biological systems and physical or chemical systems in the marine, estuarine, or terrestrial environments. The program comprises six Areas of Specialization (AOS): Oceanography, Environmental Chemistry (and toxicology), Ecology, Environmental Molecular Biology/Biotechnology, Fisheries Science, and Environmental Science. Students work with their advisory committee to develop a customized course of study based on research interests and previous experience.

All students must demonstrate competence in statistics. Each student is required to complete a thesis or dissertation reporting the results of an original investigation. The research problem is selected and pursued under the guidance of the student’s adviser and advisory committee.

Research Facilities

Students may conduct their research either in the laboratories and facilities of the College Park (UMCP), Baltimore (UMB), Baltimore County (UMBC), or Eastern Shore (UMES) campuses; in one of the laboratories of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES): Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) at Solomons, Maryland; the Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) in Cambridge, Maryland; and the Appalachian Laboratory (AL) in Frostburg, Maryland; or at the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) in Baltimore, Maryland. CBL and HPL are located on the Chesapeake Bay. They include excellent facilities for the culture of estuarine organisms. The laboratories are provided with running salt water, which may be heated or cooled and may be filtered. Berthed at CBL are the University’s research vessels. At HPL, there are extensive marshes, intertidal areas, oyster reefs, tidal creeks, and rock jetties. AL, which is located in the mountains of western Maryland, specializes in terrestrial and freshwater ecology.

Specialized laboratory facilities for environmental research are located on the campuses. These facilities provide space for microbiology, biotechnology, water chemistry, and cellular, molecular, and organismal biology. There are also specialized facilities for the rearing and maintenance of both terrestrial and aquatic organisms of all kinds. There are extensive facilities for remote sensing of the environment. Extensive field sites for environmental research are available through the University’s agricultural programs and through cooperation with many other organizations in the state.

Financial Aid

University fellowships, research assistantships and traineeships, and teaching assistantships are available. In general, aid provides for full living and educational expenses. Some partial assistance may also be available. Research support from federal, state, and private sources often provides opportunities for additional student support through either research assistantships or part-time employment on research projects.

Cost of Study

In 2007–08, tuition for graduate students was $427 for Maryland residents and $921 for nonresidents for each credit hour. In addition, stipulated fees ranged from $315 to $540 per semester for each student. However, financial aid typically covers most of these expenses.

Living and Housing Costs

Commercial housing is plentiful in the area around the campuses. For students who are working at HPL or CBL, limited dormitory-type housing is available on site. Minimum living expenses for a year’s study at College Park or in the Baltimore area are about $15,000, exclusive of tuition and fees. Costs are lower at the UMES campus.

Student Group

About 185 students are enrolled in the program. They come from a variety of academic backgrounds. There are a number of international students. About 50 percent of the students are in the doctoral program, and 50 percent are working toward the M.S. Some of the master’s students expect to continue toward the doctorate. While most of the students are biologists, some come with undergraduate majors in chemistry, biochemistry, geology, economics, political science, or engineering. The program encourages and accommodates such diversity in its students.

Location

The MEES program is offered on the campuses of the University at College Park, Baltimore, Baltimore County, and Eastern Shore and at the UMCES laboratories and COMB. Students normally enroll on the campus where their adviser is located. Of particular relevance for the MEES program is the University’s location near Chesapeake Bay, one of the world’s most important estuarine systems, which in many aspects serves as the program’s principal laboratory resource.

The University

The University of Maryland is the state’s land-grant and sea-grant university. It has comprehensive programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels on the campuses at College Park, Baltimore County, and Eastern Shore. Programs in the health sciences and the professions are located in Baltimore. There are approximately 8,400 graduate students at College Park, 800 at Baltimore, 300 at Baltimore County, and 75 at Eastern Shore.

Applying

Applications for admission in the fall semester must be completed by February 1; however, to be considered for financial support, it is better to apply by December 1. Some students are admitted for the semester starting in January, for which the deadline is September 1. Applicants must submit an official application to the University of Maryland Graduate School, along with official transcripts of all previous collegiate work, three letters of recommendation, and scores on the General Test (aptitude) of the Graduate Record Examinations. It is particularly important that a student articulate clearly in the application a statement of goals and objectives pertaining to their future work in the field. Because of the interdisciplinary and interdepartmental nature of the program, only students for whom a specific adviser is identified in advance can be admitted. Prior communication with individual members of the faculty is encouraged.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Baltimore Campus. Da-Wei Gong: molecular and cell biology of energy metabolism. Raymond T. Jones: pathophysiology of elasmobranch and teleost fishes. Silvia A. Pineiro: genomics, functional genomics, taxonomy and ecology of the Bdellovidrio and like organisms. Henry N. Williams: ecology of the bacterial predator, Bdellovibrio, in the Chesapeake Bay.
• Baltimore County Campus. C. Allen Bush: environmental molecular biology, molecular structure determination. Erle C. Ellis: landscape ecology, biogeochemistry, sustainable resource management. Upal Ghosh: experimental investigation, design, and modeling of physiochemical and biological processes that affect water quality. Raymond Hoff: optical properties of aerosols and gases in the atmosphere, pathways and fates of toxic organic and elemental chemicals in the environment. Jeffrey Leips: evolution of life history traits, specifically focused on understanding how the genetic architecture underlying these traits guides and constrains their evolutionary responses to natural selection. Laura Lewis: Biogeography of crop species; domestication and radiation of agricultural species; agro-ecology, germplasm management, genetic resources conservation; applied urban ethnobotany/ethnobiolgoy. Andrew J. Miller: surface-water hydrology and fluvial geomorphology, effects of human activities on watershed hydrology and river channels. Robert R. Provine: fish and waterfowl behavioral ecology. Brian E. Reed: sorption of organics/inorganics, surface chemistry, water and wastewater treatment, soil and site remediation. Youngsinn Sohn: applications of GIS and digital image analysis for addressing environmental problems, monitoring, and mapping. Philip G. Sokolove: endogenous rhythms and neuroendocrinology. Lynn C. Sparling: understanding the dynamical, chemical, and transport processes in the atmosphere and ocean that contribute to the observed spatiotemporal variability in chemical tracers and dynamical fields. Christopher Swan: benthic evolution and ecology, community ecology, limnology, systems, biostatistics. Claire Welty: fundamental understanding of transport processes in aquifers, mathematical modeling of groundwater flow.
• College Park Campus. Lowell W. Adams: wildlife biology, ecology, and management. Andrew H. Baldwin: wetland ecology, plant community ecology of coastal marshes and mangroves. Jennifer Becker: microbial communities that biodegrade xenobiotics, bioremediation of contaminated groundwater systems, anaerobic biological treatment processes for waste streams. Neil V. Blough: methods for detecting and identifying free radicals in condensed phases, impact of (photo)oxidative reactions on the transformation and fate of organic and inorganic compounds. Amy Brown: toxicology, epidemiology, effects of pesticides on human health. Kaye L. Brubaker: physical hydrology, numerical modeling, stream and estuary water-quality modeling. James Carton: physical oceanography, ocean modeling, atmosphere-ocean interactions. James Dietz: mammalian ecology and conservation. William Fagan: meshing field research with theoretical models to address critical questions in community ecology and conservation biology, ecological “edge effects” and spatial dynamics, ecoinformatics. Irwin Forseth: plant ecology and physiology. Oliver J. Hao: waste management and environmental engineering. Robert L. Hill: soil runoff, nonpoint source pollution in soil systems. Anwarul Huq: isolation, identification, and characterization of enteric bacterial agents using conventional, immunological, and genetic methods; mode of transmission of medically important pathogens; measures for prevention of disease. David W. Inouye: terrestrial ecology, especially plant-animal interactions. Patrick Kangas: modeling and measuring of whole ecosystems, with emphasis on management and ecology. Thomas Kocher: evolution of cichlid fish: evolution and development of the jaw and feeding behaviors and speciation. William O. Lamp: crop protection from arthropods through integration of crop management practices with arthropod-plant interactions, development of non-pesticide management tactics. Stephanie Lansing: anaerobic digestion, ecological waste treatment, treatment wetlands, nutrient cycling, energy analysis, ecological modeling. Paul Leisnham: ecology of native and invasive mosquitoes in water-filled containers, wetlands, and drainage systems; species that are affected both by human disruption and that present social, economic, and health risks. Marla McIntosh: sludge utilization in woodlands, genetic diversity of food crops. Bahram Momen: applied statistics, plant ecophysiology, environmental stress on plants. Judd O. Nelson: environmental toxicology of pesticides. Mary Ann Ottinger: effect of toxic substances on avian reproduction. Michael Paolisso: applied anthropology, environment and pollution, international and rural development. Kennedy T. Paynter Jr.: physiology and biochemistry of estuarine organisms, oyster reef restoration. Karen Prestegaard: watershed and wetland hydrology. Marjorie Reaka-Kudla: zoogeography, symbiosis, and behavior of marine crustaceans. Adel Shirmohammadi: impact of agricultural pest management practices on water quality. Frank Siewerdt: quantitative genetics theory, selection strategies, population genetics of Tribolium castaneum. Joseph Sullivan: responses of plants to various forms of environmental stress, both natural and anthropogenic; physiological mechanisms that enable plants to exist in a wide range of environmental conditions; how human activities such as stratospheric ozone depletion, global climate change, or urbanization may impact plant, agricultural, or ecosystem productivity or ecosystem structure and functioning. Daniel E. Terlizzi: plant aquaculture, phycology. David Tilley: ecological engineering, industrial ecology, ecological decision making for sustainable development. Alba Torrents: organic pollutants, soil/water interface. Ray R. Weil: disturbed-land revegetation, land application of organic wastes. L. Curry Woods: aquaculture, problems related to the domestication of striped bass, cryopreservation of sperm, physiological responsiveness to stress, selective breeding.
• Eastern Shore Campus. Isoken Aighewi: soil-water pollution, environmental soil chemistry. Eugene L. Bass: algal toxins, acclimatization of animals to environmental variables. Paulinus Chigbu: fisheries ecology, influence of variations in climatic factors on water quality and biota, culture of rotifers and copepods for use in rearing marine fish larvae, trophic dynamics in marine and freshwater environments, zooplankton ecology. Robert B. Dadson: soybean breeding, insect resistance, biological nitrogen fixation. Joseph Dodoo: coal technology, kinetic studies of coal pyrolysis. Thomas Handwerker: small-scale alternative crops. Jeannine M. Harter-Dennis: roasters chicken nutrition, reduction of fat. George E. Heath: food safety and drug residues, pharmokinetics. Ali B. Ishaque: marine ecotoxicology; behavior, transport, distribution, and fate of chemical stressors in marine environments. Andrea K. Johnson: assessing the health of Atlantic menhaden using several biomarkers of fish health: indicators of tissue damage, nutritional status, and exposure to environmental stressors. Gerald E. Kananen: analytical instrumentation, environmental pollutants. Joseph Love: ichthyology, advanced ecological methods. Eric P. May: responses of fish to injurious agents, markers of population health. Madhumi Mitra: paleontology, paleoecology, and paleoenvironmental studies of cretaceous-quaternary sediments of Atlantic coastal plain. Abhijit Naghaudhuri: integration of advanced technologies of mechatronics in the fields of precision agriculture, environmental and marine sciences, and geosciences. Anthony K. Nyame. Joseph Okoh: carbon reaction chemistry. Salina Parveen: genotypic and phenotypic methods for detecting sources of fecal pollution in aquatic environments. Joseph Pitula: molecular biology of protozoan parasites. Douglas E. Ruby: population ecology and behavior of reptiles. Jeurel Singleton: aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate community ecology and population dynamics; population dynamics of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in reservoirs, lakes, and fish-rearing facilities. Yan Waguespeck: spectroscopic studies of temperature- and gas pressure–induced chemical changes.
• Appalachian Laboratory. Mark S. Castro: atmosphere-biosphere interactions. Andrew Elmore: land use and land cover change, ecohydrology, biogeochemistry, remote sensing and spatial analysis. Katharina Engelhardt: effects of species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services, community and ecosystem ecology. Keith N. Eshleman: watershed and wetlands hydrology and hydrobiogeochemistry. Robert H. Gardner: landscape ecology, ecosystem modeling. J. Edward Gates: behavioral ecology of vertebrates, habitat analysis and evaluation. Robert H. Hilderbrand: ecology and conservation biology of running waters, watershed and stream habitat restoration, linking landscapes and populations, dynamic modeling of watersheds. John L. Hoogland: vertebrate behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology of mammals. Cathlyn D. Stylinski: environmental science education and scientific inquiry in precollege classrooms.
• Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. Robert Anderson: biochemical toxicology, effects of stress on marine invertebrate immunology. Walter R. Boynton: nutrient cycling in estuarine systems, food-web studies. Lee Cooper: interdisciplinary aspects of biogeochemistry and ecology including stable radioisotope composition of organic materials and natural waters, aquatic plant physiology, high latitude oceanography hydrology. Lora Harris: systems ecology, theoretical ecology, primary producers from phytoplankton to macrophytes, ecosystem modeling. H. Rodger Harvey: sources and fates of organic compounds in aquatic environments. Edward D. Houde: fishery science, population dynamics, ecology of the larval stage. Sujay S. Kaushal: fate and transport of pollutants, biochemistry, limnology, organic geochemistry, environmental history. Roberta L. Marinelli: benthic ecology, animal-sediment interaction, benthic larval recruitment, modeling benthic processes. Thomas J. Miller: fish ecology, population dynamics. Carys L. Mitchelmore: molecular, biochemical, and cellular responses of aquatic organisms to inorganic and organic pollutants. Margaret Palmer: stream and estuarine ecology and hydrodynamics. Kennedy T. Paynter Jr.: physiology and biochemistry of estuarine organisms, oyster reef restoration. Christopher L. Rowe: physiological, population, and community responses to sublethal levels of pollutants. Johan Schijf: chemical oceanography, physical chemistry, aqueous geochemistry of trace metals, geochemistry of marine anoxic basins. David H. Secor: fisheries ecology, demographics, migration. Marcelino Suzuki: marine microbial ecology, application of molecular approaches to the study of aquatic microbes. Mario Tamburri: coastal sensor development, ecosystem monitoring. Robert E. Ulanowicz: estuarine food-chain dynamics, hydrological-biological modeling. Lisa Wainger: risk analysis and decision-support tools for prioritizing natural resource management options, invasive species risk assessment, wetland restoration prioritization. Michael Wilberg: stock assessment, dynamics of exploited populations, harvest policy development and application, statistical model selection and averaging. David A. Wright: comparative physiology of marine and estuarine animals, inorganic pollutants.
• Horn Point Laboratory. William Boicourt: physical oceanography, continental shelf and estuarine circulation. Shenn-yu Chao: physical oceanography, continental shelf and slope circulation, western boundary currents. Louis A. Codispoti: chemical oceanography, oceanic nitrogen cycle. Victoria J. Coles: observation and modeling of seasonal to climate-scale variability in ocean circulation. Jeffrey C. Cornwell: nutrient, metal, and sulfur cycling in estuaries and wetlands. Byron C. Crump: microbial ecology, bacterial and Achaeal diversity, organic matter and nutrient cycling. William C. Dennison: coastal ecosystem ecology, ecophysiology of marine plants. Thomas R. Fisher Jr.: nitrogen cycles in Atlantic coastal plain estuaries, nutrient cycling in tropical lakes. Patricia M. Glibert: phytoplankton and microplankton ecology, nitrogen cycling, photosynthesis. Lawrence W. Harding: biological oceanography, phytoplankton physiology and ecology. Raleigh R. Hood: phytoplankton production and light response, modeling of primary production. Todd M. Kana: phytoplankton physiology. W. Michael Kemp: systems ecology, watershed nutrient budgets, submerged aquatic vegetation. Victor S. Kennedy: ecology and dynamics of benthic communities, particularly bivalves. Evamaria W. Koch: ecology of submerged aquatic vegetation and coastal seagrass ecosystems. Andrew Lazur: food and baitfish culture, integration of aquaculture with agriculture for nutrient reduction. Ming Li: geophysical fluid dynamics, ocean mixing processes, numerical modeling, biological/physical interactions, marine pollution. Thomas Malone: phytoplankton ecology and nutrient cycling. Donald W. Meritt: oyster aquaculture and restoration. Laura Murray: wetlands, seagrass ecology. Roger I. E. Newell: physiological and behavioral adaptations of invertebrates, especially bivalve mollusks. Elizabeth W. North: biological-physical interactions, hydrodynamics and particle trajectory modeling, ichthyoplankton and zooplankton ecology. Judith O’Neil: cyanobacteria ecophysiology, plankton trophodynamics. Cindy Palinkas: continental margin sedimentation, formation and preservation of sedimentary strata in the geological record, deposition and accumulation of fluvial sediment in the coastal ocean. Michael R. Roman: zooplankton ecology, plankton food-chain energetics, detrital food chains. Lawrence P. Sanford: physical oceanography, geophysical boundary layers, turbulence and mixing processes. J. Court Stevenson: marsh ecology, nutrient loading in coastal watersheds. Diane Stoecker: role of heterotrophic and mixotrophic protists in food webs.
• Center of Marine Biotechnology. Hafiz Ahmed: biological roles of galectins in early embryo development and immune function, structure-function studies of galectins. Robert M. Belas Jr.: sensory transduction and genetic regulation of gram-negative bacteria. Feng Chen: bacterio- and phytoplankton production; biomass and growth in aquatic environments; ecological interaction among marine viruses, bacteria, and phytoplankton; phylogenetic relationship and coevolution among marine microorganisms. J. Sook Chung: response of crustaceans to the neurotransmitters, neurohormones, hormone, and pheromones that regulate critical life-cycle events. Shiladitya DasSarma: halophilic archael genomes; structure, function, and evolution of genomes. Shao-Jun (Jim) Du: cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling differentiation of muscle and nerve cells during embryogenesis. Russell T. Hill: natural products from marine microorganisms, actinomycete molecular biology and ecology, use in bioremediation. Rosemary Jagus: developmental regulation of gene expression in sea urchin embryos. Zvi Kelman: biochemistry and molecular interactions, biochemical characterization of DNA replication, DNA replication of Archaea. Zeev Pancer: vertebrate adaptive immunity, antigen receptors of jawless vertebrates. Allen Place: biochemical adaptations in marine organisms. Frank T. Robb: genetics of thermophilic marine bacteria. Eric Schott: parasites and pathogens of estuarine invertebrates, evolutionary adaptations of protistan parasites to the host and environment. Harold J. Schreier: adaptation of microorganisms to extreme environments, biochemistry and molecular biology of Archaea. Kevin R. Sowers: molecular genetics and adaptation of anaerobic archaebacteria. John M. Trant: reproductive physiology, molecular endocrinology. Gerardo Vasta: cellular nonself recognition and cell-cell interactions. Yonathan Zohar: physiology and endocrinology of fish reproduction.

Correspondence and Information

University of Maryland
Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences
0105 Cole
College Park, Maryland 20742
Telephone: 301-405-6938
Fax: 301-314-4139
Email: mees@umd.edu