UMCES offers opportunities to engage with our expert faculty online through free public seminars.
Watershed Moments Community Learning Series
Learning doesn’t stop when you leave school or exit the workforce; learning lasts a lifetime. It’s with that belief in mind that the Appalachian Laboratory created the Watershed Moments Community Learning Series. Learn about the land, sea, and air around us from regionally and nationally known experts and artists. By taking a multidisciplinary approach to the series, the Lab offers adult learners the opportunity to engage their right and left brains as they learn more about the pressing environmental issues of our day, from endangered species to climate change, from water pollutants to improvements in air quality. These events are free and open to the public.
Science for the Community
Learn about innovative research conducted at UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory from the scientists themselves! Science for the Community (S4C) seminars invite members of the public to discover how our scientists are developing new approaches to solving the environmental challenges facing Southern Maryland, our nation, and the world. All seminars are free of charge.
Community Science Talks
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory presents a series of Community Science Talks. Horn Point scientists will engage the audience with interactive talks about their environmental science research, and its impact on the Eastern Shore and around the world. The talks are free, and take place at several locations in Dorchester and Talbot Counties.
IMET Public Seminars
The Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology welcomes scientists and experts from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and other institutions to give presentations on their research areas and findings at Public Seminars.
Previous Seminars
Urban Seascaping: Principles and Practices for Co-Developing Cities with Shared Waters
April 26, 2022
Presented by Dr. Samia Rab Kirchner, Morgan State University
Climate adaptation science focuses on the assessment of sea force versus community values. In this webinar, Dr. Kirchner will present indigenous practices of managing land for water and heritage conservation from the Pacific Ocean, Arabia, and Persia. Dr. Kirchner will discuss the need to widen the approach taken by resource managers and scientists beyond individual discipline and expertise to work collaboratively in the nexus between Climate, Culture, and Civics.
World Harbour Project: Linking Urban Ocean Initiatives Around the Globe
March 29, 2022
Presented by Dr. Judy O’Neil, Horn Point Laboratory
The “World Harbour Project” has created a global network of cities and linked research programs to investigate urban harbor health and ecosystem functioning. Launched in 2014 by Australia’s Sydney Institute of Marine Science, the program now includes 31 partners across the Pacific, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, including the U.S. In this talk, Dr. Judy O’Neil will explore UMCES’ role in the project in both Baltimore Harbor and New York. She will discuss how innovation and an increased understanding of shared values and threats are helping to achieve the project vision of building resilient and productive global ports and harbors.
Solutions to Ship Introductions of Invasive Species
April 5, 2022
Presented by Dr. Mario Tamburri, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
Commercial ships transport over 80% of the world’s goods and materials and are fundamental to global economies. Unfortunately, large ocean-going ships are also, by far, the largest vector for the introduction and establishment of aquatic invasive species in coastal waters around the world, including the Chesapeake Bay. Invasive species, transported and released through both ships' ballast water and as biofouling organisms attached to ships’ submerged surfaces, can have significant impacts on various local economic, ecological, societal, and cultural resources. This presentation will discuss ships and invasive species, as well as CBL efforts to support wise regulations and effective innovations to solve the problem.
Metals in Urban Estuaries
April 12, 2022
Presented by Dr. Andrew Heyes, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
Contamination of the Chesapeake Bay and its waters extends beyond nutrients. Organic chemicals, “heavy metals” and trace elements once readily flowed into our urban waters unfettered, a practice clearly evident in our coastal sediments. While at lower concentrations than in the past, heavy metals continue to enter our coastal waterways, and urban expansion and climate change further compound this problem. In this presentation, Dr. Andrew Heyes will explore how metals such as mercury, chromium, copper and zinc have, and continue, to enter our urban waters. Through an understanding of the behavior of these elements upon arrival in the Bay waters, he will discuss how they may or may not impact wildlife and how we utilize this resource.
The Keystone Molecule: What Oxygen and its Depletion Tells Us About Coastal Ecosystems
April 5, 2022
Presented by Dr. Jeremy Testa, UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
Dissolved oxygen is a keystone molecule in aquatic environments. It is produced by photosynthesis to support food webs, it controls the recycling of key nutrients, and it is essential to the health and survival of most animals. As a consequence, our understanding of oxygen is central to our understanding of coastal ecology. This presentation explores the role of oxygen in estuaries worldwide, and how its depletion due to pollution and climate change is expected to change in the future.